LABOR REARMS FOR 1950

...We would not presume to fix his exact place in the procession of great men Who have walked this earth, but it is safe to say that it will remain a hallowed one...

...The startling \ phenomenon of millions throughout the world reeling with genuine grief at news of his passing on April 12, 1945, is matched only by the religious reverence in which these same millions still hold him...

...Your pinions meant a lot last November...

...and, second, that we have managed to raise up leaders who knew how to grapple with what they found...

...Before us is a long, hard floor fight," said Mr...

...of the Federation to write their iejiresentatives and Senators...

...A violation of the caucus vote1 makes possible ejection from the Democratic Party and the consequences of Joss,of party patronage and committee assignments...

...For niiost Congressmen it is the first opportunity to return home and examine their political fences since the opening of the session...

...This is neither the time nor the place to debate whether or not Yalta, and a host of other actions—domestic as well as foreign—could have been avoided, and so enabled us to stay the whirlwind which has since been reaped...

...Whether the liberal forces in this Congress can muster tho Totes to carry out the liberal program which we expected, remains to be seen, On many issues the 81st Congress is dominated by the same reactionary Republicans who led their party to disaster in the old 80th Congress...

...And a second objection is that the Dixiecrats might absent, themselves from the caucus and thereby escape being bound- by It: But the idea of the caucus should!be watched and not .dismissed' from mind...

...The AFL, the CIO, and the independent Machinists have organized home solicitation of Congressmen during the Easter recess...

...And Secretary - Treasurer George Meany oMd] "We want the Thomas-Lesinski [Taft-Hartley repealer) bill passed as i.vWt are making no concessions to ht enemies of labor...

...Mr...

...Murray added the meeting with Congressmen must be made a "first and important order of business," and said that he wanted reports from CIO affiliates on such meetings by April 25, the day the Congressional recess ends...

...It is not necessary to recount here the reasons—these, are well known to the smallest schoolchild...

...Democrat of Unlontown, Pa., a labor lawyer before he became a freshman Congressman last November, is spearheading a move to call a caucus of Democratic members of the House in order to bind them to vote for repeal' of the TaftHartley Act - Under party rules, a petition signed by 25 Democratic members of the Bouse makes It mandatory for the Democratic leadership to call a caucus meeting...

...Murray said, "must take full advantage of tho coming Easter congressional recess to win additional and badly needed support for the Thomas-Lesinski bill and the entire Fair Deal program...

...One of the lasting contributions of the Roosevelt era is' that if made conscious "use of these antitheses, and in so doing aroused the awareness of the American people...

...If it is to flower into maturity, we must look beyond the New (or Fair) Deal...

...Mr...

...But when that is said, we have only voiced a platitude, however sincerely...

...his home district and an open mvitaton for some one to challenge him in the next party primary...

...And for most voters this will be the first opportunity to reach their Congressmen directly to tell them what they think of them to date...

...Harvey Brown's suggestion of disciplining the Dixiecrats, who so far have not been deprived of such party prerogatives as federal patronage In their districts, a%l chairmanships of important Congressional committees, assumed the possibility of reality from another quarter this week, • • • REP...

...All three sound as if they mean fight, although each places a.somewhat different stress on method...

...They point out several objectipns which could have an important bearing in a close vote in the caucus...

...CIO President Philip Murray called ' 900" local CIO officers .to meet with enators and Representatives during « Eastern recess and Impress then) 1th the "fact thatjabor and the peo- , • «re dissatisfied with the record of the 81st Congress during its first three . months...

...83 pledges ready to sign such a petition, f In the caucus a two-thirds vote binds all' those present to vote under party discipline...

...Hiey still do...

...Party leaders in Congress arc definitely cool to the idea right now...

...It wx>uld be more fitting, therefore, to temper our apotheosis of Roosevelt with the sober realization that we cannot induce progress or peace from emotional reminiscence, nor organize our legions in the name of a spirit and of a philosophy which belonged to the pre-atorriic era...

...In my experience, the average ciiisen in the United States is bright enough to tell his enemies from his friends...

...Brown, "not only on TaftHartley repeal, but on every single piece of progressive legislation from housing to health insurance...

...We stand now, as we did at one point during his regime, on the brink of a frightening catastrophe...

...Let Conire** know how you feel about labor ejrfiktion/" AFL...

...We must define new objectives, new ideas, new faiths, which, while stemming from New Dealism—yes, and from classic liberalism and Socialism—will transcend its limitations...

...This is the moment to pledge ourselves to restudy the age of Roosevelt in a mood befitting a wartorn generation which has not yet found peace...

...Those reactionary Northern Republicans have taken in enough reactionary Southern Democrats to block action on a number of important bills...

...So take a minute and eHte a postcard or a letter...

...President William Green said JlUntly: "We are going all-out in 1950 o eliminate the last vestige of reac- ¦¦ ionary control of Congress...

...First, any Democrat" who ran for Congress on a platform of supporting the, Taft-Hartley Act is exempted by -the rules' from being re> quired to oppose it now...

...After the reports are in following the Easter recess, the White House may acquire such confldence.**At the current writing the confidence is not particularly evident...

...To Mgi your say,"'said the AFL, "write IKMHr Senators and Congressmen NOW "id'fell them what you think...

...This is the time to express doubt arid criticism, to begin tireless inquiry and research, to essay a fresh evaluation—for the "New Deal" (and its later progeny, the "Fair Deal") is not adequate to the problems presented by our bitter postwar experience...

...We must realize that New Dealism represented the final (though belated) fruition of nineteenth century ideas, and that now we are...

...We must learn how to walk by ourselves...

...The greatest-of these leaders were "ideologists"— indeed, our history has been one of unceasing ideological conflicl between what, roughly, we call Jeffersonism and Hamiltonism...

...What an opportunity for vigorous and creative minds...

...Congressman to '•now that a bad vote on repeal of the 'a/t-Ha'rtlcy Act means a bad record Optra* organized labor it concerned...

...The occasion selected for the counteroffensive is the traditional Congressional recess during Easter Week...

...D. C. — After ww three months of dazedly watch¦ jng the Truman Fair Deal program being battered from pillar to post, the liberal-labor forces of the nation this weeSf opened a counter-offensive against the Republican-Dixiecrat coalition which today, acts as-if last November never happened...

...prepared tr> enter—though we are a half century late—upon a voyage of discovery of the century of the atom...

...We believe that most of these reactionaries from the South would accept party discipline if they knew that refusal *would cost them their standing in the Democratic Party, "As for the Republican Party in this Congress, Us leaders appear to believe if they can succeed in blocking all humanitarian legislation, the GOP will be returned to power as the majority party in 1950 by a tremendous popular vote...

...Because of the drastic and possibly serious consequences involved, the calling of a party caucus in Congress* over a controversial piece of legislation is rarely attempted unless the Administration is prepared for a showdown tight and feels confident of winning it...

...We must, at last, place the New Deal in its proper context as a political crawling stage for most of us...

...THIS AWAKENING HAS JUST BEGUN...

...Quite properly, Franklin D. Roosevelt belongs to all mankind for all time...

...It is said that Americans are not ideology-minded, and that we have been -successful—>-where Europe was not—because we have been pragmatists...

...This is merely a crude rationalization of, first, the fact that we have been favorably endowed by nature...

...HARVEY BROWN, president of the independent International Association of Machinists, was even brusquer and blunter in his language, He denounced the record of the Republican Party in Congress and demanded that the Democrats "discipline" the Dixiecrats who refuse to go along with the Administration...

...The very depth and extent of our crisis—discouraging as it appears from one view—provides the perfect atmosphere in which exploration and discovery flourish...

...We must summon up whatever was beneficial in the New Deal, for present and future use...

...The Republican leaders seem to think the plain people in this country are stupid...

...At this writing, Rep...

...But we must also have courage— if only out of honest deference to the memory of a dead world leader— to discard the kind of expedients, and to avoid the truly serious errors, which characterized much of the Roosevelt period...

...More than that, it usually means undermining the position of the rebel with the party organization in...

...This week organized labor pulled a rally after its bad first round with Congress...

...The CIO and all of its affiliates...

...It has definitepossibiltes, and corlsldefing the fighting qualities of President Truman it has tho type of appeal that might win-it the Presidential approval...

...Under what other circumstances are great leaders and great ideas born...

...It is up to us to replace the makeshift vessel which Franklin Roosevelt steered with a craft which can scale the stilldistant, but still-discernible horizon...

...0 Jjr . * • * THE AFL APPEARED to place greater faith in letters, urging all member...

...It would be easy to proclaim this a moment of re-dedication to the ideals for which Roosevelt stood...

...TONY CAVALCANTE...

...Cavalcante has...

...OUR "FATHER" IS GONE...

...And we want 'very Senator and...

...The FDR Era and Our Own By Daniel James RARELY HAS A MAN BEEN DEIFIED SO SOON after his death as has Franklin D. Roosevelt these last four years...