Dear Editor
DEAR EDITOR Notes Wisconsin Was Not First to Have a Primary Donald Robinson, in reviewing Robert M. La Follette in the February 8 New Leader, fell into the usual error of attributing the origin of...
...I do not know what Dr...
...Yours got first attention, though...
...Bohn says no examples of "yellow" trade-unionism by MRA were given by the ICFTU...
...The report was discussed in the presence of virtually all members of the board...
...Miami Harry Dropkin I need The New Leader more than I need whatever else $5 could buy me...
...I hope he will go on to give us more conversations with this "anti-Communist fellow-traveler," including such subjects as "the reign of terror," the valiant conduct of those who plead the Fifth Amendment in order to protect their friends, the innocence of Alger Hiss, and the necessity of defending against that charge all who are characterized as Communists except possibly Malenkov...
...I was present in the Executive Board room in Stockholm when the report was presented...
...It was discussed at some length, but there was no visible disagreement on the findings...
...With but two exceptions, the replies were anti-MRA...
...Bohn knows or can easily find out where all ICFTU money comes from, but can he say the same for MRA...
...The following trade-unionists in posts of leadership criticized MRA in statements to the ICFTU: K. Baxter of the New Zealand Federation of Labor, Donald MacDonald of the Canadian Congress of Labor, Harinarath Shastri of the Indian National Trade Union Congress, Eiler Jensen of the Danish Federation of Labor, Ludwig Rosenberg of the German Federation of Labor, Walter Reuther of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, Robert Bothereau of the French Force Ouvriere, and Arthur Deakin of the British Trades Union Congress...
...Even Mississippi, not usually the progressive leader of the nation, had a primary the year before the Wisconsin law was adopted...
...DEAR EDITOR Notes Wisconsin Was Not First to Have a Primary Donald Robinson, in reviewing Robert M. La Follette in the February 8 New Leader, fell into the usual error of attributing the origin of the political primary to Wisconsin...
...Frederick A. Leedy As a retired person living on a moderate income, I have little extra money to spare, but I cannot refuse some help to The New Leader when it is in need of financial assistance...
...I cannot understand what Dr...
...Religious beliefs are not the ICFTU's business...
...It isn't much, but the best of wishes for success in your fund-raising campaign accompany it...
...Are its findings accurate...
...These replies are summarized in the ICFTU Information Bulletin for September 15, 1953...
...The ICFTU in its report said that it would fight MRA whenever and wherever the latter tries to interfere in trade-union matters...
...You will also find that South Carolina, Florida and other states preceded Wisconsin, though the erroneous statement appears in most textbooks...
...Since we are an organization with trade-union affiliates in 75 countries, it would be undemocratic, to say the least, to criticize any religion or religious dogma...
...New York City Arnold Beichman Press Officer, ICFTU Readers Rally to Support 'New Leader' Fund Drive I got married last fall and the money has been a bit tight, so I decided at the end of the year to let my New Leader subscription go...
...It was on the basis of replies by trade-union leaders in New Zealand, Canada, India, Denmark, Germany, the United States, France, Japan, Great Britain, Italy and elsewhere that the report was prepared...
...The thought of being without it, however, and the copies which you continued to send, have caused me to change my mind...
...Dr...
...After the December 1952 decision, the ICFTU polled all its affiliates, requesting their information, opinions and experience with MRA...
...The Secretariat did not "spring" anything...
...Bohn creates an unfair and misleading impression by implying that there was some kind of steam-roller in operation...
...On the contrary, the ICFTU discovered such activity in an MRA source (MRA Information Service, August 30, 1952) and, more important, detailed numerous cases of direct interference by MRA in labor-management situations...
...This leaves the impression that the ICFTU is a dictatorial organization dominated by an executive board which bars debate on major issues...
...It is a small contribution, but you should see the other requests on my desk...
...Seattle Henry T. Buechel Praises Recent Article on 'Anti-Red Fellow-Traveler' I was delighted with Louis Jay Herman's article, "Old Fellow-Travelers Never Die" [The New Leader, March 1...
...Most irrelevantly, Dr...
...Bohn means when he says: "It soon became evident, moreover, that the ICFTU had never heard of the attack until it was sprung and could take no responsibility for it...
...There were some criticisms of its contents and some amendments were offered, but none of the criticisms or amendments were substantive...
...I find The New Leader about the most valuable single periodical that I read...
...The real questions are simple: Is the ICFTU telling the truth about MRA...
...Now for the charge that the report was not presented to the congress itself...
...Bohn says the ICFTU report on MRA "had barely been introduced at a, meeting of the executive board...
...Chicago Janet M. Geister Enclosed is a check for $5 to help you keep publishing...
...As far as finances are concerned, I would challenge Dr...
...The report was accepted with some amendments...
...Far from keeping the MRA report a. secret from the congress delegates, the daily bulletin published during the Stockholm congress and distributed to all delegates said on July 4, 1953 that "it was unanimously agreed that while religious convictions are a personal affair, in which the Confederation has no right to interfere, the Moral Re-Armament movement, whether it be a religious movement or not, has clearly no competence whatsoever in matters of industrial relations, and that free trade unions would be well advised to be on their guard against any interference from quarters whose financial backing was in any case somewhat dubious...
...Charles G. Hamilton Holds 1CFTU Attack on MRA Was Supported by Affiliates William E. Bohn's column in the February 15 New Leader attacked the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions for its criticism of Moral Re-Armament...
...At the ICFTU Executive Board meeting in Stockholm, in July 1953, preceding our Third World Congress, the ICFTU Secretariat presented its report and findings on MRA...
...Bohn points out that the ICFTU attack on MRA has been picked up by Pravda, thus suggesting that the anti-Communist ICFTU has unwittingly helped the enemy...
...New York City Prof...
...Alexandria, Va...
...I am replying to his allegations not in order to worsen an already unhappy situation, but to explain why and how the ICFTU took the position it did...
...I want to make clear that the ICFTU is in no way critical of MRA's religious aspirations and philosophy...
...Thanks a lot for a fine weekly...
...That pledge to resist MRA's incursions into the area of free trade-unionism still stands...
...Paul R. Hays...
...I have attended three ICFTU conferences—in Milan, Berlin and Stockholm—and I can state as fact that any delegate can raise any question, talk on any subject and call for consideration or reconsideration of any decision...
...Bohn means by "barely introduced...
...Corinth, Miss...
...Two labor spokesmen who favored MRA and so wrote to the ICFTU were T. Nishimaki of the Joint Council of Japanese Trade Unions and Giulio Pastore of the Italian Confederation of Labor...
...Bohn to get the list of names, identities and affiliations of contributors to MRA, the dates of contributions and the amounts—and by "names" I mean individuals, not anonymous foundations...
...The ICFTU Executive Board, in December 1952, voted a study of MRA to see whether or not this organization was encroaching upon the trade-union field...
...Were the findings democratically voted upon by the ICFTU...
...You are to be congratulated on the splendid articles you have been publishing...
Vol. 37 • March 1954 • No. 11
