U.S. Labor vs. Mikoyan

...The Russian visitors were taken into the union library and they looked over the book stacks...

...But Reuther would not be sidetracked...

...Also present were IUE Secretary-Treasurer Al Hartnett and Carey's assistant, George L. P. Weaver...

...When you ask Communists about a problem or try to discuss an area which involves their sins and shortcomings, they always try to change the subject and to swing the talk around to the sins of capitalism...

...landings in Lebanon...

...he also produces John Herling's Labor Letter, an authoritative news report on activities in U. S. trade unions...

...Afterward, the UAW guides went back to see what book held such a fascination for their Soviet visitors...

...We still have problems," he said, "but we are able to participate in solving these problems through trade union action and as citizens...

...But Mikoyan shrugged this off with a remark that the labor leaders in the room were "blindly" supporting American foreign policy, which he characterized as "aggressive" in Guatemala, when the Jacobe Arbenz regime was overthrown, and in the U.S...

...It was important, they believe, for Mikoyan to know, not to guess, how American labor felt about Communism...

...asked Mikoyan," I like to drink what my host drinks...

...Abandoning this unfruitful tack, Mikoyan brought the talk back to Berlin...

...In fact," he said, the "Soviet Union does not want any kind of war, even with the old conventional weapons and methods...

...At this point Mikoyan smiled a little and agreed that the matter ought to be looked into...

...Following the dinner given for him on his first night in Washington by Motion Picture Association President Eric Johnston, which was attended by business and political leaders...

...Relatively little coverage, however, was given to one of Mikoyan's less pleasant encounters in this country: his luncheon with five U. S. labor leaders...

...One particular volume caught the eye of a Russian visitor, and he beckoned the others to come over to gaze at the title...

...I was in Berlin at the time of one of Hitler's so-called elections in 1933...

...Reuther rejected this idea as unworkable...

...This is an old Communist trick," he said...

...As a riposte, Carey made a fragile joke about the Soviet Union not having a capitalist party...

...This dissolved any possible illusions about so-called political independence from Kremlin control of any of the satellite countries...

...Carey allayed the Ambassador's fears and urged, "Come on to our house...

...And Beirne asked—and the same question was later raised by William C. Doherty—whether the Soviet Government would guarantee absolute freedom of movement and access to an American trade-union delegation to the Soviet Union...

...Mikoyan stressed his belief that the first step toward reunification of Germany could be accomplished through confederation of East and West Germany and through closer co-operation between them...

...By this time, the excellent meal catered by the nearby Statler Hilton was almost forgotten...

...Since Mikoyan's schedule included many meetings with top American business leaders, this conference with labor must have given him what he could have gotten nowhere else— 1) a strong sense of American labor's distaste for Soviet policy and 2) a realization of American labor's competence and sophistication in handhng the Soviet line, whether it is peddled through the hard sell or the soft...

...The only war the American labor movement and the American people are interested in is a war against mankind's ancient enemies—poverty, disease, hunger and illiteracy...

...WASHINGTON SOVIET Deputy Premier Anastas I. Mikoyan, who has just returned home from his two-week visit to this country, indicated a desire to meet the representatives of American labor within 24 hours of his arrival here...

...And while the interpreter was spelling this out, Mikoyan broke in again and observed sharply: "The American trade-union leaders are more antagonistic toward the Soviet Union than were the American capitalists whom I have met...

...In this way, the Soviet Government sought to use the world trade imion movement as a vehicle for Soviet foreign policy...

...But it would be difficult on such short notice for them to assemble," the Soviet Ambassador said...

...At this point, Joseph Beirne steered the conversation back to foreign policy: "Mr...

...It is because the American trade-union leaders understand the Communists better than the American capitalists...

...The only adequate resolution of the question must rest on a genuinely free election, properly guaranteed by UN supervision, and participated in by all the people of East and West Germany...

...Reuther hit out at Mikoyan's maneuver...

...The problem of Berlin, he said, could not be worked out in a vacuum, but as part of a comprehensive consideration of the whole German question...

...He said emphatically as if replying to Reuther's point, "An important consideration in discussing the future of Germany is the fact that in East Germany there is social ownership of the means of production, and the fact that the workers own and control the means of production...

...Mikoyan, it is impossible for American workers to develop a faith and trust in the Soviet's stated belief in self-determination for smaller nations, with the memory of Hungary still fresh in their minds...

...Speaking from experience as a CIO delegate to the WFTU in Paris, and to the Soviet trade unions in Moscow in the mid-1940's, Carey retorted: "The trade unions of the West made every reasonable effort to work out an agreement, but the Soviet Union itself made the serious error of trying to capture the official machinery of the WFTU through Soviet control of Communist-dominated unions throughout the world...

...Geographically, he said, Berlin would be an island surrounded by Soviet-occupied territory...

...Reuther emphasized that the late Ernst Reuter, Mayor of Berlin, and Willy Brandt, his successor, were not men who would knuckle down to Communist control...

...It was Leon Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution...

...But the talk began so quickly and maintained such a steady beat that the waiters, not wishing to see the food go to waste, finally dished it out and served each discussant where he sat...

...But American labor leaders freely disagree, often and publicly, with our Government's policy, without fear of going to jail...

...In fact," he said, "we constantly use this fact as an incentive and example to Russian workers to improve their production...

...they were men dedicated to a truly free Berlin...

...We should not permit such mistakes to keep us in conflict any more than neighbors should allow past mistakes to dominate future relations...

...We have seen it many times here and abroad...

...The original plan was to have an orderly buffet, with each man moving to the table to pick and choose...

...You don't know the facts," he said, "Why don't you come to Russia and see for yourselves...

...I think this position is really a repudiation of our responsibility as trade unionists, one that all Americans must have...

...How can the Soviet Union reconcile its professed desire for peace with the fact that time after time it creates new pressure points and the very tension that today threatens world peace...

...The five trade union leaders who met with Mikoyan believe strongly in the value of the get-together...

...Let the German people decide," Reuther said...

...No Russian leader of a Soviet trade union could truthfully say he can exercise such a right to disagree with the Soviet Government...

...Here was a situation where the workers of Hungary, attempting to achieve self-determination, were brutally slain or imprisoned by Soviet military power...

...To this Mikoyan used a softer answer: "If the Russian trade unionists made mistakes, no doubt the unions in the West also made mistakes during that period...

...Certainly," he insisted, "the Soviet Union would not permit Chancellor Konrad Adenauer to dictate the terms for a unified Germany...

...If the East German Government did anything which displeased the Kremlin in foreign policy, the Soviet Government would move in and crush the East German Government in Hungarian style...

...Moreover, he said, the first of these freedoms was freedom of speech...

...And he added, "Berlin is not an economically viable unit...

...Take the current crisis in Germany," Reuther went on...

...At this point, the American labor leaders let Mikoyan know that they understood how closely identified he was with the suppression of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956...

...labor's "blind" support of U.S...

...Here Jim Carey recalled the "basic error" of the Soviet trade unionists in the World Federation of Trade Unions, with which the Congress of Industrial Organizations, the British Trades Union Congress and others were affiliated until 1949...

...Mikoyan and you would lunch with some of my colleagues at the Philip Murray Building, the union headquarters, tomorrow...

...Mikoyan peered at Reuther...

...No, no," Reuther said, "this is not the example of the kind of elections we suggest...

...On the seventh floor, in the Woodrow Wilson Room, waiting for Mikoyan, Menshikov, interpreter Oleg Troyanovsky, son of the former Soviet Ambassador to the U.S., and Serge Mikoyan, son of the Deputy Premier, were five vice-presidents of the AFL-CIO: Carey, United Auto Workers' President Walter P. Reuther, Letter Carrier's President William C. Doherty, Communication Workers' President Joseph A. Beime, and Brewery Workers' President Karl Feller...

...Mikoyan insisted that here the American trade union leaders were wrong again in their supposition that Russia is not aware of the higher standard of living of the American workers...

...Your claim," he said, "that the East German Government is independent of Moscow domination might have carried somewhat more weight if you had made such a claim before Soviet military power intervened to crush a representative government in Hungary—but not now, after the brutal intervention of Soviet troops in Hungary...

...What are you having...

...Finally Mikoyan spoke, "This was true only during a short period...

...Reuther also pointed out that the Soviets themselves admit that American workers enjoy a standard of living far above that in the Soviet Union: "That's why they resent Soviet propaganda which is directed at them and other workers and which would have the world believe that the American workers are wage slaves who are being exploited by a ruthless and inhuman system of 'Wall Street capitalism.' It's about time that the Soviet Union quit playing this broken propaganda record...

...foreign policy...

...Zhivago...

...This seemed to be an attempt to rewrite history by rearranging its dramatis personae...

...He proposed again that Berlin be made a "free city," with freedom of access for everyone—East and West—to Berlin, to be guaranteed by an international commission and with all sides removing their troops...

...Mikoyan quickly replied by assuring the freedom of an American trade-union delegation to travel and visit any place in Russia except restricted areas, atomic-energy and missile installations...

...Menshikov said it would be a great pleasure if Carey would come to lunch at the Embassy the next day...

...Reuther faced Mikoyan: "Both the Soviet Union and America have the technological capacity to destroy each other," he said, "so war is out of the question as a means of settling differences...

...He saw precedents for such a move in the early history of both the United States and Russia...

...Then Reuther recited rapidly the facts of the transformation of conditions in the automotive industry...

...Reuther declared that the Soviet Union continues to oppose a solution of the German problem based on a free and democratic vote because, in the recent free election in Berlin, the Communists received less than three per cent of the vote...

...Let me tell you, there is no essential difference between a vote under Hitler and the votes conducted in the Soviet Union and in East Germany...

...That goes to show," said Reuther to Mikoyan, "it's easy for the Soviet Union and America to agree on 'pious phrases,' but the test of sincerity and good faith does not rest in general declarations, but in their practical implementation...

...Then the meeting broke up because Mikoyan was due to meet Vice President Nixon...

...Reuther pointed out that Mikoyan was confusing historical facts: Kurt Schumacher was the Social Democratic leader at the time, not Ollenhauer...

...Mikoyan could hardly wait for his interpreter to finish to agree with the sentiments just expressed...

...So it was Scotch...

...The Kremlin might as well cut off its efforts to propagandize the American workers, because it will not be successful in overthrowing our economic and social system...

...Mikoyan, let me tell you that programatically there is more difference between the policies of the Republican party and the Democratic party than there was between the Menshevik party and the Bolshevik party at the time of their split...

...War of any kind is an immoral method of settling disputes...

...At this point the American trade-union leaders said: "All right, let's take the time...

...All representative groups in the United States consider the Government of East Germany a puppet of the Soviet Union...

...Mikoyan seemed about to protest, but was silent...

...Mikoyan replied that the "trade union centers" of the West had demonstrated impatience and intolerance and had not given the WFTU a real opportunity to work out its problems...

...All right," the Americans said again, "we'll answer questions about Guatemala and Lebanon when you have answered ours on Hungary...

...But the Soviet Union would support a war of peoples for freedom, against aggression and for self-determination...

...Absent from the meeting was AFL-CIO president George Meany, who told Carey he wouldn't care to break bread with Mikoyan...

...Carey asked Mikoyan what he would have to drink...

...Reuther abruptly brought the discussion back to what he called the global error of Soviet propaganda, which he said had changed little in the past 40 years: "Your propaganda has no relation to the present-day world as far as America is concerned...

...Many, he said, are workers and trade unionists and former members of the Social Democratic and the Christian Democratic parties...

...This question of freedom to read was further illustrated by an incident Reuther recalled for Mikoyan which occurred during a visit made by a Russian trade union delegation to the Detroit headquarters of the United Auto Workers shortly after the end of World War II...

...Mikoyan simply responded by assuring the union leaders of his admiration for FDR and the Four Freedoms...

...Reuther then picked up Mikoyan's reference to U.S...

...The Americans brought up the subject of Boris Pasternak and Dr...

...Vodka was there, if he wished...

...Specifically, he asked, "Would such a delegation be able to visit prisons and labor camps and talk to workers on the job and in their homes without interference...

...You should know the reason for that," Reuther explained...

...Oh yes," Reuther said, "I have some personal understanding and experience of the background of political parties in Germany...

...But Mikoyan disregarded this and said: "The leadership of the Soviet Union sees no difference whatsoever between the Republican party and the Democratic party...

...Scotch," said Carey...

...The total destructive power of nuclear weapons makes peace a condition of human survival...

...When Beirne brought up the fact that the American people and trade unionists had frequent and regular opportunities to influence the direction of the U.S...

...In the mind of the average German there is no essential difference between the totalitarianism of Communism and Hitlerism...

...Now," he said, "on Berlin, the American labor movement supports the Government's foreign policy...

...Then Reuther shot hack with a comment that seemed to stop Mikoyan for a full minute: "Mr...

...Mikoyan leaped at this and pointed to the result of the last election held in East Germany, where the Communists won almost unanimously...

...Such an election is not a democratic expression of the democratic will of the people...

...Here we present what is virtually a verbatim account of that meeting...

...At one stage, Mikoyan launched a bitter attack on Erich Ollenhauer for his leadership of the Social Democratic party after World War II...

...Mikoyan would not say whether he had read the book...

...Mikoyan, trying to turn the conversational tables, retorted, "If the record is broken, how can we play it...

...This, said Carey, we are prepared to practice today...

...Mikoyan retorted somewhat sharply that the East German Government was "democratically" chosen, and he again cited the character of their leaders as proof...

...Two days after the labor session with Mikoyan, Meany denounced the Soviet leader as a "double-crosser" of the Hungarian people...

...The Soviet Government is trying to exploit the situation of Berlin and the division in Germany for tactical reasons in the cold war...

...In his first Kremlin press conference after his return home, Mikoyan observed that the "rudest statements" about the Soviet Union came from these union leaders...

...Mikoyan listened to the story and was not amused...

...Because under all three there is only one party for the electorate and only one list of candidates...

...Mikoyan By John Herling Much newspaper space, and a corresponding amount of radio and television time, was devoted to what Soviet Deputy Premier Anastas I. Mikoyan has himself described as the "reasonable approach on the part of American businessmen" to his visit here...

...Mikoyan then charged that the American trade-union leaders were prejudiced...

...Carey raised his glass to toast the Four Freedoms, since this day, January 6, marked the 18th anniversary of the announcement of the Four Freedoms by Franklin Delano Roosevelt...

...They consider it of major importance that Soviet Deputy Premier Mikoyan take back to his Kremlin colleague, Nikita Khrushchev, a first-hand account of American labor's opinions...

...Then Carey wondered whether Mikoyan was over here to show Republicans how to hold on to power, since he had managed to do so through the "administrations" of Lenin, Stalin, Malenkov and now Khrushchev, but the light tone didn't last long...

...Carey then picked up the theme of the evolutionary advances in the American labor movement since Mikoyan's last visit more than 20 years ago, saying that improvements have been registered not only economically but also in political and social areas...

...He noted, too, that there was "strong dispute" at the luncheon, and that United Auto Workers' President Walter Reuther came at him strongly on the questions of Hungary and Berlin, but he "repulsed" the attacks...

...In a final effort to prove his bona fides, Mikoyan said that under the Soviet plan Brandt would be permitted to remain Mayor of West Berlin and there would be no change in Berlin's Government...

...For a few minutes the discussion veered to talk about literature...

...The current Berlin crisis is made in Moscow...

...Carey thought a moment and replied, "It might be more interesting if Mr...

...He scored "those who feel we can meet the Soviet challenge at the conference table, and that the threat of human destruction, of total war, is enough assurance for our protection...

...Then, all Americans present had to explain that a "broken record" is one that is cracked and out of date...

...Being caught up and corrected made Mikoyan testy...

...This is a decision the German people should make through a democratic vote, participated in by all the people of Germany, and supervised by a commission of the United Nations...

...Government, as witnessed in the recent election, Mikoyan tried to take the offensive...

...Well" Reuther shot back, "the free world would not consent to have the terms for a unified Germany dictated in the Kremlin...

...But he launched into a personal attack on Pasternak and tried to dispose of him as "the son of a millionaire" who saw through the eyes of the old regime...

...Again Beime came back to the question of Hungary and again Mikoyan tried to divert the discussion by raising other questions...

...Such an insignificant Communist vote clearly indicated, he said, "that despite the fact that Berlin had a long history of a militant working class and political action, the people of Berlin emphatically reject the Communists...

...The American trade unionists saw little hope in such a formula, whioh they regarded as another devious Soviet maneuver...

...John Herling writes a syndicated column on the labor scene for leading American newspapers...

...But pushed again to discuss Hungary, he refused to take up the subject on the ground that it would take considerable time to examine the subject properly and refute the American charges...

...Then he pointed to what seemed to him sure-fire evidence that the United States had a second-rate labor movement: "You do not even have a labor party in America...

...Mikovan then gave in some detail the history and background of the leaders of East Germany...

...Ironically, he remarked he was glad to hear that the American trade unions had such influence, that he really had not realized that "you could exercise such influence on your Government...

...Soviet Ambassador Mikhail Menshikov telephoned the home of James B. Carey, President of the International Union of Electrical Workers, whose headquarters on Washington's 16th Street are directly across from the Soviet Embassy...

...The next day Mikoyan and his party strode across the street with police escort to the IUE's headquarters — one of the more modest union buildings in Washington, Reporters and photographers who had been using the union lobby to keep out of the cold while waiting for Mikoyan's exits and entrances at the Embassy fou;nd themselves with a new story...