Dear Editor
DEAR EDITOR Joseph T. Shipley's Meat Is One Reader's Poison Preview night, we attended Sidney Howard's Madam, Will You Walk. My husband and I endured the second act out of mistaken courtesy to...
...The industrial dispute which led to the fall strikes began as long ago as June 1952, when Confindustria (the National Association of Industrial Employers) agreed to discuss the consolidation into a single package of various fringe benefits and supplementary wage allowances which had accumulated during the postwar years...
...CISL—7 places...
...CISL—5 places...
...To make this point even clearer, let me cite the results of shop-committee elections during 1953 in some of the major Italian industrial concerns situated in zones which, in the past, were largely dominated by Communists...
...as such, it cannot and does not tolerate party interference of any kind...
...The CISL denounced the Communist policy as contrary to the true interests of the working class, and the Italian, workers, by refusing to join the strikes called by the Communists, clearly showed their preference for the policy advocated by the CISL...
...The most frequent argument is to remind the opponent that at some bygone period he expressed a varying view—so it is clear that any enlargement of outlook is regarded as a sin...
...Magona d'Italia" Steel Mill, Piombino (Leghorn), 1,000 workers, November 1953...
...CISL-4 places...
...The results of these elections, compared to the preceding ones, show that the Communist CGIL lost 1,068 places while the CISL gained 1,093...
...The high degree of responsibility and moderation with which we approached the issue and the conciliatory attitude displayed by the CISL throughout the long period of negotiations are a matter of public record...
...And to label anti-McCarthyism an obsession recalls the dear divines of the Thirties who were sure that opposition to Hitler was an obsession...
...I deeply regret that I cannot quote some of the speeches verbatim...
...It has become a convenient habit on the part of some Italian employers to describe even the most legitimate trade-union conflict as motivated by political considerations...
...If the CISL is not taking part in a trade-union agitation or strike, the workers simply refuse to join it...
...It gyrates...
...CGIL—1 place...
...In this respect, Italian workers are showing a marked preference for the CISL...
...Italian Aircraft Co., Sesto Calende (Varese), 1,000 workers, September 1953...
...Shipley writes, but with a dismal silence, broken by a few sighs...
...there has been more stealing in the past year than in the previous twenty...
...In the audience, however, it was greeted not with the "belly laughter" of which Mr...
...CGIL—4 places...
...The CISL is not a Christian Democratic organization, Its membership includes workers of different political views and religious beliefs...
...CISL—6 places...
...2. It is true that the two general strikes which occurred at that time were under the auspices of the CISL, but it is not true that the CISL decisions were caused by a series of conflicts within the Christian Democratic party or that I allowed alleged personal disagreements with the then Prime Minister Pella to influence my decisions...
...Ruches now informs us that we were some 6,000 miles off the mark...
...Charles G. Hamilton Correction In The New Leader of February 8, Pyrrhus J. Ruches was described as having been "born and raised in Albania...
...This country is suffering from lack of confidence in the good faith and good sense of our so-called leaders in Congress, so that most of us welcome what seems like an honest talk by a President, bypassing the scratching and biting that seem part of any political process today...
...My husband and I endured the second act out of mistaken courtesy to each other...
...I am sure that American unions would also have struck after twenty months of vain attempts to settle the issue by negotiation...
...A rabble-rouser, in the usual acceptance of the term, is one who, through oratorical tricks, shouting, dramatic climax, illogic and purely emotional appeal, rouses the mob to action against someone or something...
...As an example, let me note the campaign launched in January 1951, and continued throughout that year, to oppose the widespread strike movement sponsored by the Communist CGIL for indiscriminate wage increases...
...To claim that labor has a monopoly beyond any corporation suggests that the writer has never heard of Alcoa or of the fact that in many states only a fraction of labor is organized...
...New York City Mrs...
...its leaders owe their posts not to membership in any political organization but exclusively to their personal ability as leaders and the confidence of the membership...
...James Lipsig Italian Trade-Union Leader Challenges Stevens's Report The New Leader of December 28, 1953 carried an article by Edmund Stevens containing comments on the Italian trade-union situation, and particularly on the Italian Confederation of Labor Unions (CISL), which are incorrect and misleading...
...It pleads...
...To label democracy as rabble-rousing hardly suggests any knowledge of American history or of logic...
...CISL—5 places...
...To refer to the farmers as "the most pampered section of our economy" is remarkable self-righteousness...
...It pants...
...Is there any shame in listening to other men who express a constructive outlook...
...Italian Metal Works, Lucca, 2,000 workers...
...CGIL— 1 place...
...Italian Petroleum Co., Cortemaggiore (Piacenza), 1,000 workers...
...Some CISL leaders do belong to the Christian Democratic party, but others are members of the Social Democratic party, the Republican party and other political groupings...
...Will Herberg's "Government by Rabble-Rousing" article struck a very sour note—not so much for the content as for the most unfortunate title...
...Most radio-forum appearances by Senators or Representatives expose them as men of no courtesy, no manners, and only one objective: to shout down and discredit their opponents...
...Rome Giulio Pastore, MP Readers Take Issue with Herberg on Rabble-Rousing I have been a reader of your paper for only a short time and found it extremely interesting and satisfying until the January 18 issue...
...Hollywood, Calif...
...Hitler, Mussolini, Vishinsky, et al.— and Huey Long as well as Joe McCarthy—fall into this category...
...The nearest approach to criticism of political detractors that Mr...
...As General Secretary of the CISL, I should like to make a few corrections: 1. The national strikes in Italy last fall were in no way related to the political situation...
...For a number of years, this organization has striven constantly to lead the Italian workers toward trade-union policy clearly and profoundly different from that of the Communist Confederation...
...CGIL—3 places...
...this is a pretext to avoid meeting the workers' demands...
...CGIL-4 places...
...It was the play's coup d'etat...
...It is a well-known fact that the CGIL no longer dares to call political strikes, as it was accustomed to doing during the years of its unchallenged power...
...I have before me a pamphlet showing the results of 2,648 shop-committee elections, in which tens of thousands of workers were involved...
...A number of Italian reactionary newspapers, among them Candido of Milan, circulated this rumor in an attempt to conceal the true reasons for the industrial conflict...
...Then we learned that we both wanted the same thing—out—and we bolted...
...But time is a wonderful healer, and I have happily forgotten...
...I cannot imagine how Joseph T. Shipley could have erred so far and so flagrantly in bis review [The New Leader, January 4] of this absurdity-in-dubious-taste...
...Margel Gluck How can you find space for a contributor who cannot tell the difference between FDR and McCarthy...
...he was born in Chicago, Ill...
...The appeal to hate and intolerance is always at the root of his effort...
...CISL—6 places...
...CGIL— 1 place...
...The Communist CGIL is still the largest in membership, although by a small majority...
...Rather, pompous, burdened nonsense without rhyme, without...
...The results are as follows: Chemical and War Products Factory BPD, Colleferro (Rome), 6,500 workers, November 1953...
...They were for something, not against...
...CISL—4 places...
...Any other theme, gone wrong, embarrasses just the box office...
...Roosevelt ever allowed himself was a kind of light and humorous satire...
...McCarthy uses it freely...
...It lapses...
...Stevens says that the CISL is losing influence and cites as proof the results of some shop-committee elections...
...Shipley fairly glows about the flash of hellfire which lit up the stage...
...Reggiane Metal Works, Reggio Emilia, 1,500 workers, October 1953...
...Herberg does not read the papers...
...Corinth, Miss...
...To say that corruption is the mark of the Democratic party indicates that Mr...
...nor can it successfully conduct purely economic strikes on its own...
...Nothing is so blue in the face as whimsy that doesn't come off...
...3. Mr...
...This sort of attempt literally embarrasses the audience...
...SCI Foundry Works, Cornigliano (Genoa), 2,200 workers, October 1953...
...The CISL exercised a great deal of patience in the face of the dilatory tactics of the employers, always hoping that a solution could be reached without resort to a strike...
...The CISL is completely independent of any and all political parties...
...The real strength and prestige of a labor organization cannot, however, be measured exclusively in numerical terms...
...CGIL—3 places...
...As to my alleged personal disagreements with Pella, this statement is absolutely unfounded...
...FDR's fireside chats contained no such fuel for intolerance...
...Turn of phrase trick of sheer theater" indeed...
...It is not, however, the most influential in determining national trade-union policies...
...just without...
...A mob is created by an appeal to the worst in human nature, and hate is an essential to a rabble-rouser...
Vol. 37 • February 1954 • No. 7
