DIFFERING OPINIONS AND THE LABOR PRESS
Wright, Chester M.
DIFFERING OPINION? AND THE LABOR PRESS By Chester M. Wright Editor, International Labor Now Service P'DTTOR, THE NEW LEADER: In your issue of January 13 I find most of tbe first page devoted...
...Won again devotes nearly two pages to Professor Dewey's views...
...Trade union papers have far more freedom than do Socialist Party papers...
...Woll, except insofar ss your article relates to International Labor News Service...
...Tbe International Labor Press of America is proud of him...
...Woll will have anything to say about the other faces of your peculiar attack...
...this time permitting the trade union directors to be heard in full...
...They Insist that they had no hearing and no trial...
...We did this so thoroughly that some of our friends believed that we were obsessed with it Perhaps we were.' We had seen unions bout to a "sick industry" after decades of wonderful sacrifice only to nave them almost destroyed by the Communists...
...Won, this news service and the American Federation of Labor...
...They are not easily misled or used ss pawns...
...In that position, however, I came in intimate contact with a great deal of hard and fast rule-making on the board of management which represented the party...
...How widespread this feeling was it is impossible to tell, but It was present...
...This would be to follow tbe policy which The New Leader is following in permitting all views to be expressed on these matters...
...Woll's Views and Gompers* Remember that one labor man, Mr...
...Give Dewey and Brookwood a Hearing We notice that in the L L. N. Service Mr...
...We cannot afford to lose their good opinion and sympathetic publicity, especially eonsattortog the hope of doubling the membership of the trade unions this year...
...It will be less easy, even for gullible persons, to believe that henceforth...
...We try to follow this ideal...
...It appeared in the issue of January, 1927, bearing the title, "Communists in Control" That article was thought to be so informing and effective that it was reprinted as a leaflet by the American Federation of Labor and distributed throughout he country...
...I am merely taV,Ttc up your reference to International Labor News Service, because I am the responsible editor, elected by the conventions, proud of our service and Jealous of unfairness toward it...
...It would also be a fine gesture to obtain a full rehearsing for Brookwood...
...It was bis life-long view...
...Dewey, who has been defending the Soviets which have been' bitterly fought by Mr...
...o certify that tbe foregoing were concurred in by the Trades Assembly, Jan...
...It seems to us that this is the essence of democracy...
...This news service, which furnishes news and features, is bought and paid for by the papers that use it and it is not had on any other basis...
...He did...
...Then some astonishing material regarding Mr...
...It was followed by a tew magazine articles...
...by tbe Judge who presided at the trial, and by the complete breakdown of- afl the prosecution evidence, it is obvious that the reason for their continued imprisonment is the fact that the release of Mooney and Billings would expose a most vicious frameup in California...
...Wright's statement that among Communists we "may have cherished friends," aa seriously meant...
...jM a passible program for the labor 9JJJ*X Father Ryan suggested pushjjhl III titan for unemployment insur¦ts-4securing the five-day work week tab toM mean s smaller portion of Jfttaajt In work, with corresponding tor the workers, employment for *T*Bxm and consequently the oonof a larger share of the prodIndustry and the re-investment of "*ai*ar share in roan-eliminating malt ** pre8ent^¦¦hfag the unorganised" workers, W *-*rb...
...This organisation has roughly 300 members, holds annual conventions and has officers and an executive board...
...We have noticed that ILNS material has been highly colored to support the administration of the A F. of L. and attack progressive tendencies in tbe labor movement...
...Late in the afternoon of that day no declaration of principles or program bad been written and an appeal was made to the editor to draft one...
...Nobody can dictate for this news service a policy contrary to the policies and principles of the American Federation of Labor and retain bis power long enough to repeat the offense...
...But even this is not the whole story, Brother Wright...
...Then another discouraging thing happened...
...We may be wrong...
...Tour article says: "As President of the International Labor Press (which owns International Labor News Service) Won Is able to control the news that goes into papers using the rxjvs clip sheet (though it is not a clip sheet...
...These are tbe reasons why_we raised the questions we did...
...We heartily approve the sentiment, on the other hand, that a news service should represent the views of the organization which ft serves...
...Whereas:—They are forced to endure this persecution despite tbe ever strengthened conviction in their innocence on the part of all familiar with tbe case, despite the international protest of workers, despite the affirmation of their guiltlessness by all but one of tbe living members of the original Jury...
...Wright one of the ablest tabor Journalists to this coontry...
...We can think of no more splendid thing to do or one more calculated to assuage the wounded feelings of tbe members of his organization...
...It is not possible to mark a difference between the American Federation of Labor and what you term "the administration...
...nwiest pbilosophicsl writer, re* •aw Van-President Matthew Woll of at jirifsr Federation of Labor as beaast ssiintirr of a Commission of the Sssaeraoon of Industrial Inquiry, ¦1 itatrm*" of a sub-committee of that aaasasibb...
...The editor of this paper spent weary nights working on material which he bad been collecting for years for a book* on American Communism and Its deeds...
...It would also add force to Mr...
...We hope that Brother Wright will use his in«tu«>c+ to this generous end and that out of such proceedings will come good feeling and satisfaction that Justice has been done...
...It will be done, and whatever aid this publication can give will be cheerfully given to achieve this important work...
...sad be it further that s copy of these resolui to the President of the Am¦ation of Labor, and a copy toe-President Woll...
...We do not regard Mr...
...I do submit, however, that the implication is impertinent, unjust, unwarranted and far from what ought to be and fairly enough Is the field of a Socialist Party publication, unless, of course, the party is still vain enough to try to cling to its old practice •of trying to dictate to the labor movement, even at tbe risk of doing more damage.than good...
...9, 1929, Prof...
...This certainly to not the idea of "Soviet and Fascist organizations...
...It is J?our privilege not to like that state of affairs, but it also is the business of trade unionists who are not Socialists to see to it that the trade union movement makes progress in spite of an sort of opponents...
...The same tabor man contributed much to the condemnation of Professor Dewey, an honored member of the Teachers' Union...
...Explains "HNS* International Labor News Service to owned by an organization of labor papers and editors known as tbe International Labor Press of America...
...It was a terrible tragedy...
...On this board are men who know trade ™wiim and know editing...
...Ws accept it, but we cannot accept and we do not believe that trade unionists in general can accept any approach to company unionism aa friendly or desirable...
...to progress could be reported on orBntotton of tbe automobile workers, and assagh the convention adopted tbe asjpa sf doubling unkm membership In *-.—»!¦ year, the outlook will be dlsBBBBfeg indeed if no more progress is Bass to this direction than last year, -aw b scute danger that, with a reafajab aarjtt of prosperity present, the sabs at the movement may fall into a •*st quiescence so long as their par*aar organizations are reasonably safe, ••ana of Inertia Is a fundamental and •a*** factor in life...
...Let us say flna'ly that your paper has at times protested a sort of friendship—even If a very superior one—for the trade unions...
...Nor, finally, did the representatives of the party stick to their own definition of what might be accepted as the party's policy for editorial and news purposes...
...We do not mean the opinions of reactionary publications that support the open shop and company unionism...
...Their long service to the labor movement has yielded rich fruits...
...Perhaps our approach to the problem and the tone used was not tbe best...
...Manifestly, our product must be of a continuously meritorious character, or we should soon have no clients...
...An editorial hi The Christian Century" was especially bitter, so bitter that we do not care to quite it...
...Then the more sympathetic religions press expressed strong disapproval...
...We remembered that fine paassge to the Declaration of > dependence regarding tbe need of paying "a decent respect to tbe opinions of -nanrmd...
...Brother Wright, but we were grieved because of the effect which the news of the actions against Brookwood and Professor Dewey bad upon quite s number of trade unionists and the Socialists who had given 'yeoman service in combatting the Communists...
...ais^ farther jaUml that It is the sense of tbe Ifcsa-ia-y Trades Assembly that the asaSb of the United Mine Workers Inasisbssl Unkm of forbidding its memaab bare anything to do with tbe Civic las-SBBB should be followed by the ExPsaflM Cbuneil of the American Federate...
...We believe that the material we printed last week on company unionism cannot be reconciled with the Preamble of the American Federation of Labor, -art th decisions of national conventions, and with frequent interpretations of trade union principles by tbe late Samuel Gompers himself...
...it is in fundamental conflict with that idea...
...a. WsBl "Tit*—* President" The •'administration" of a trade union movement is composed of officers electel by conventions of delegates...
...This document, with a few minor alterations, when read to tbe delegates, was adopted unanimously...
...h* ^ aaasbal by -be Schenectady Trades j asadtr -° regular meeting convened fat fas Fiwlilf nt Wall should fortha-Safl-T to the charge of Prof...
...That straggle tans weHuined s» to daSs, and win conttone so long as there an diverse interests between the two...
...From that period the influence of the madmen in the trade unions declined...
...MINING SHUTDOWNS El—<FP).—More bard 3™"* Etoois coal diggers when 32^™ Co...
...Very Truly yours, CHESTER M. WRIGHT...
...We wish that every section of the labor movement would be as consistent in this respect as we have tried to be...
...the avowed purpose of I gjafc, t-eordrnt to Prof...
...Washington, D. C. v Schenecatady floor Asks Woll Explain mg&» Assembly Wants Wpmlo Reply to Dewey (Merges on Company livjeBisni Negotiations ajajCTADY, N. Y.—Disturbed, beS^SiOf *n article In the New ReESg Professor John Dewey who dej^gf flaw Mr...
...The assistant editor of The New Leader was asked to write an article on this struggle in the needle trades for tbe "American Federationist...
...We are engaged also in fighting labor's enemies and the only authority competent to define labor's enemies is labor—which means the American Federtioo of Labor, the organized and representative body of wage earners of America...
...The New Leader was glad to feature them as other labor Journals did...
...Perhaps you mean the pro-Soviet tendencies of Prof...
...in semi-skilled and unskilled 5 ^J* -b* chief problem, he pointed JS**" "No parties r groups or in_ ** are to blame for the present 9 aa hi the number of union mem1 Jsjlulheless...
...mine at Benton, tog"* 100 miners, ckeed down indeMnnber °f other mines in ™-*w oontemplate shutdowns...
...They are not Communists...
...Or was it that you felt this a good tune to Jump, not only on Matthew Woll, but on a group of trade unionism's progresslve, constructive and helpful activities...
...WHEREAS: The true reason for their Incarceration lies in the fact that their organizational activity among the workers made them class anemias of the rulers of California, this student group at the University of Wisconsin condemns the Mooney-Blllings frameup as a flagrant instance of working class persecution and calls for the immediate and unconditional release of these two class war prisoners...
...The trade union directors of Brookwood are members of A F. of L. organizations...
...You have warded your whole article in adroit fashion, bat you have left not doubt about yonr meaning, however much your words may leave you room to quibble if later you should want to quibble...
...Before proceeding further, we want to say that we consider Mr...
...We have fought the good fight for trade unionism,' especially against the Communists, but this material was discouraging...
...To Free Mooney and Billings MADISON, Wis.—A resolution adopted by the Liberal Club of the Umversity of Wisconsin, says: "Tom Mooney and Warren K. Billings are undergoing their twelfth year of suf.ering in their cells at the San Quentln and Fetosm Penitentiaries in the State of California...
...I have been, from the first, the editor and for more than a year I also have been the business manager...
...Tabor...
...Soewty, generally recognised as Am^j...
...Wisconsin University Liberals Urge Calif...
...Had be not in the early years assumed the presidency we probably should have had no such organization, nor would we be likely to have this news service...
...If I may say so, about as presumptuous a piece of business as I have seen in many a month This is not because there to anything about Mr...
...However, the party had and has the right to expect its publications to adhere to party policy, even though that implies traducing the trade union movement and its elected leaders...
...Be did...
...Freedom sf tbe Press" If these statements were true your paper should be the last to complain, for if there is any organization which controls the voice of its press with a vengeance it Is the Socialist Party, which is, I believe, excelled in that distinction only by the Soviet and Fascist organisations...
...Abraham Oahan's recent article in The New Leader which questions some fundamental views of Socialists is not Inconsistent with loyalty to his party...
...During the years when tbe Communist activities were wrecking unions in this city we threw an our mfiasnos In tbe scale against them...
...Matthew Woll is beyond all question the fittest man available for tbe presidency of the International Labor Press of Anvrira...
...The Friendly Press Aroused We do not want to dictate...
...They will never be favorable to trade unionism...
...Sections of it were reported in the daily press and also in A F. of L. news services...
...We invited this presentation of dissenting views as well as others that appeared in the last issue on the current discussion...
...We have to mind pub'Jcationa that are more or leas sympathetic with the aims of labor organization...
...On December 21 of that year over 300,000 members of 17 trades were represented by about 400 delegates...
...Democracy is based not upon unquestioning obedience but on continuance of discussion if members desire it while loyally carrying out decisions...
...Matthew Won was a WSg of a commission of the National *j^T^|ni ,Hrr which plans cooperation lLbbi company unions and trade unTrades Assembly of this city has j^asposly adopted a resolution ask^KJjllB answer Professor ""Dewey's The resolution* read, ^aarsat, the mast Insidious attack of _aws«e» of trade-unionism on organanfeaor has been made through the JJajjgneilt of so called "company un^^Ttuuyj large industries formerly jgaasml aider tbe American Federation at)**: sad fsaarass...
...in an issue of the New Re"jaj isj|srf~' dated Jan...
...But tbe lank and file of trade unionists and tbe local organizations Justly expect that papers pretending to be trade union papers shall follow the policies of the American Federation of Labor and expound its principles...
...That is, naturally, for him to decide...
...He to sn honored member of his profession and is respected as a member of the Teachers' Union...
...There is sonasthlag I want to obviate, that I am trying to give my life's work to obviate, that tbe straggle shall not be so bit* tor and costly...
...Dewey...
...Any paper may stop it at any time...
...WoU which, we believe, have not been approved by the American Federation of Labor...
...It must be done...
...You resort to indirection and say that he "is able" to do so...
...B* Should realize that the pres?|UttlQn critical, particularly In £ i"^* increase in company unions, I *at sttraordinary efforts will have ¦ •*•» right now If the labor moveM * to grow and to perform the S ~* *Sj left to It even in this nch f^[^-*-sfled country...
...There is no disagreement on this score...
...I do not know whether Mr...
...Dewey, is to a*s notai Vivendi, or plan of coopead ii ii employers having "com5Z jjton' sad regular trade unions...
...3ome of our friends think so Others do not Be that as It may, we win conclude with two suggestions which may be of some sen-ice...
...The Liberal Club of the University of Wisconsin cans upon afl socially conscious students and honest intellectualls thruout the country to Join their voices vrith that of the labor movement, demanding the freedom of these two class war victims...
...When the uprising occurred in the New York unions against the wreckers tote to 1926 it took the form of the "Committee for the Preservation of Trade Unions...
...We talked to trade unionists who were gloomy...
...Of course, I resent your statement that this news service has been "highly colored to support the administration of the A F. of L.," as If that ware a crime...
...It la not my purpose to discuss vour dlssertation on Mr...
...Woll, led in condemning Brookwood, a labor college under the supervision of these loyal trade unionists...
...Of course, you do not say that Mattew Woll does control this service...
...For example, consider this stobnaent by Mr...
...Today It is practically wiped out...
...A sweeping bearing with the opportunity to submit testimony and to be cross-examined by all concerned would be in accord with the best traditions of democracy as practiced by the trade union movement in all countries...
...tbe whole thing being...
...Why did you have to resort to this petty, spiteful, mean sad Jealous thing...
...Dewey and of Brookwood, among the Communists of which you may have cherished friends...
...The only restriction should be good faith and loyalty to decisiosn made by the organization through Its democratic agencies, providing rt does not subvert the fundamental aims of the organisation...
...It makes painful reading...
...This -news service is and must be an American Federation of Labor mstitutkm, by which I mean that it belongs within the labor movement, is owned within the labor movement, serves papers that are within the labor movement and has no real purpose ' =ept to help make better newspapers to better serve the labor movement...
...It is tbe presumption of the official organ of the Socialist Party in reverting to jbe old time Socialist >»T«+-t--t of playing supreme Judge oa the trade union movement...
...It is important that 2...
...They include members of the Pennsylvania Federation of Tabor, of tbe International Ladies' Garment Workers, of the Teachers' Union, of the Women's Trade Union League, of tbe Railway Clerks, of the Hosiery Workers...
...That is his right, but would it not be a fine thing and the fair thing to ask Professor Dewey, to present his own convictions through the same channel...
...AND THE LABOR PRESS By Chester M. Wright Editor, International Labor Now Service P'DTTOR, THE NEW LEADER: In your issue of January 13 I find most of tbe first page devoted to Matthew Woll...
...We are now calling attention to some of it...
...We have seen It only occasionally and for that reason we wondered whether it could have been used to support certain views represented by Mr...
...jEr...
...It has filled us with apprehension...
...Finally, we urge New York trade unionists to shake off any pessimism they may have felt and give all their energy to rebuilding the structure which the Communists did their best to destroy...
...Woll that should bar him from discussion, for there is not...
...John fasji sdttog forth his reason for serv¦ ajajiat chairman of a sub-committee i affa tort referred to by Prof...
...You imply .that there to something wrong in the idea that Matthew Woll has—if he has—the power to dictate the poncy of this news service...
...At the same time, we believe, it S not inconsistent wKh « news service or s publication representing the organization to permit members to express honest views that suggest changes in form of organisation, policy, and so on...
...It seemed that reorganization of unions in New York would be hampered...
...we may be right...
...Chester Wright Attacks our Criticism of Woll...
...All this is but part of the service we have rendered to the trade unions to New York and elsewhere...
...It would be absurd, for example, to use the L L. N. S. for ofsetol labor party propaganda or any other policy to which tbe American Federation of Labor is not committed...
...We are sure that men and women of the type of James H. Maurer, Fannia M Cohn, Abraham Lefkowitz, Rose Schneiderman and others have no sympathy for Communism or its teachings...
...Woll's attitude toward accepted trade union principles was called to our attention...
...We fought them to the tost ditch...
...It certainly was-not encouraging for some active labor men...
...we are engaged in supporting the labor movement as it is from day to day, the composite of many kinds of men and women, the greatest' amount of unity that can be developed out of millions of individuals banded together, the expression of labor's trade union desires ss they are an not as seers, prophets and fool friends would like to have them...
...This was the editorial comment which appeared in many of the more decent newspapers regarding the actions in relation to Brookwood and Professor Dewey...
...Wright's assertion of tbe liberality of the trade union press...
...we may be in part right on some matters and part wrong on others, but we hope that no man is too high in the councils of the tabor movement to have his views tested in the arena of democratic discussion...
...Doubts Oar Friendship You accuse this news service of attacking "progressive tendencies" in the labor movement, but you do not specify...
...After aO, someone has to be president, Just as someone has to be editor...
...They are not happy in seeing their work condemned and condemned in a way that, in the view of their many friends, is regarded as unfair...
...Well, we are not engaged in making"the labor movement over...
...Was ft that you felt the Jumping to be good because of the Jumping that has been indulged in by Prof...
...Justly what fault a Socialist could find with that state of affairs I do not know...
...His series of articles on the sorrow and misery which had overwhelmed the Cuban trade Unionists under the Bsachado dictatorship a few years ago was also a rare achievement in labor Journalism...
...It can be done...
...The American Federation of Labor, as I know through long experience and considerable intimate contact, exercises control only over the organs and material which it directly publishes...
...It made us bitter that men should be guilty of this fearful vandalism...
...The fact is that we have more each year...
...He has been its president for many years...
...New Leader Asks Hearing for Brookwood and Dewey By The Editor of The New Leader VJ7E are flea sad to run tbe above ss " an excellent contribution to our discussion although it to chiefly devoted to a oon Hi deration of an Incidental mention of the International Labor News Service...
...Dissenting Views Given a Hearing Returning to the theme of labor Journalism and democracy, we believe that The New Leader baa always set an example...
...Inasmuch as that is something he has never tried to do, there is, to be sure, little to discuss...
...A good many years ago I edited tbe New York Call over a period of three years, an experience which I am glad cannot be repeated...
...The condemnation of Brookwood was, by implication, a condemnation of these men and women trade unionists...
...Clianawa before ato U. & industrial "-——'—*— to IBM: there to a constant struggle which hat been going en from time kwaaaaaortol between tbe sjsalPa possessors and those wbs produce wealth, and that struggle has manifested itself to different forms, as" different banes, to different wiiiliiss...
...23, Father Ryan Sees Labor Movement In Great Danger later John A Byan of tbe National MMb Welfare Association spoke at hssssod labor College last Sunday on 'Tatter m the Labor Movement Driftto" Tbsre Is danger that the labor aasnsnt wO sink into a condition of asks, srif-sadsned materialism,'' he ak "Tit recent A P. of L. convention as a don sad weOnigh disappointing ahfc Ho great forward steps were takto Iter* was discussion of tbe tnjuncSa nS, but no Important resolutions SB) Baaed, sad tbe convention even MM to endorse the anti-injunction bill Sna asaslm i Norris, Blaine and Walsh • ssBtog forward...
...MrAGompers htcluded this view to his volume on "Labor and tbe Common Welfare" which appeared to 1918...
...And they use It...
Vol. 8 • February 1929 • No. 3
