A DECLARATION OF PROGRESSIVE PRINCIPLES
A Declaration Of Progressive Principles EDITOR'S NOTE: The Progressive presents below the full text of several of the major planks, dealing with national and international postwar problems, which...
...The result was a peace treaty which violated these basic ideals and sowed the seeds of World War I. The eminent American historian, Charles A. Beard, has summarized the Progressives' concept of the sound basis, upon which a truly American foreign policy should be built: "The supreme object of American foreign policy should be to protect and promote the interests, spiritual and material, of the American people, and subject to that mandate to conduct foreign affairs in such a manner as to contribute to the peace and civilization of mankind...
...Simply stated, the challenge is this: Can the United States, which has built the greatest and deadliest war machine in the world, harness its great skills and ingenuities, its men, money, materials, and machines—harness all these to build an economy of full employment and abundance for all...
...2Provide the federal, as well as state and local ? units of government, with useful -inventories of needed work...
...Progressives will cooperate in supporting sincere efforts made by the United States representatives at the peace table to secure a just and lasting peaee...
...This, we believe, is one of the paramount tasks of our time—to free American enterprise from bondage to corporate giants, national and international, who have for too long chained us to an economy of scarcity...
...We affirm our unalterable opposition to territorial aggrandizement for the purposes of imperialism, discrimination against races or peoples, monopoly or cartel control of trade, insupportable indemnities, the oppression of peoples or the selfish exploitation of their natural resources, and the prolonged military government of conquered or occupied nations...
...The people of this country are generous by nature and tradition...
...Progressives are deeply concerned by ominous signs that our government is repeating the tragic mistakes which frustrated the fulfillment of the hopes and aspirations of peoples everywhere in World War I. Then we failed to secure the acceptance by our allies of our war aims as set forth in the Fourteen Points prior to the conclusion of hostilities...
...Our failure to hold out hope to the oppressed peoples of enemy, occupied, and neutral countries robs us of a powerful weapon of political and psychological warfare which could result in the saving of many 'American lives...
...Progressives are determined to fight for a dynamic program which will permit nothing to stand in the way of full production and full employment...
...We oppose the determination of boundary questions without the consultation of the peoples concerned, as in the case of Poland or any other people in similar circumstances...
...PROGRESSIVES believe that there can be no compromise with the forces of Nazism and Fascism...
...Progressives do not believe it is the function of an all-powerful government to operate or even to regulate our entire national economy...
...If monopoly is allowed to dictate the policies of reconversion to peacetime production, the consequences will be disastrous...
...Timid souls shudder at the future and shrink from the challenge of the age in which we live...
...Progressives oppose letting these plants fall into the hands of monopolies...
...A Declaration Of Progressive Principles EDITOR'S NOTE: The Progressive presents below the full text of several of the major planks, dealing with national and international postwar problems, which were adopted at the statewide convention of the Progressive Party of Wisconsin at Milwaukee May 6 and 7. The accompanying box telescopes the remainder of the platform planks of national interest...
...We condemn all efforts to create disunity among our people for selfish political ends...
...But to attain this noble objective the basis of our cooperative action must rest upon an American foreign policy dedicated to the elimination of the causes of war...
...AS VICTORY in this war approaches, the American people will face the greatest economic challenge of all times...
...3Create a reservoir of hope and confidence, so ? that "each little recession need not create a panic...
...The disposition of the 15 billion dollars worth of government plants will play a major role in determining the shape and course of our postwar economy...
...Monopolists have corrupted the expression "free enterprise" by acting as if it means the freedom of monopoly to crush independent business...
...The extension of economic activity in America after the war will depend in large measure upon the opportunity for independent business men to pioneer new industry...
...They wish to discharge their responsibility as citizens of a great and powerful nation...
...There never was a time when the need of humanity was greater than now for genuine cooperation among nations for the attainment of a just and lasting peace...
...Such a program of public works would serve as an insurance against severe economic dislocations...
...Progressives believe in the preparation and formulation now of a sound program of useful public works, to be used only when and where necessary to take up the slack in private industry as may develop in the years after the war...
...We shall continue to give our wholehearted support to vigorous prosecution of the war to an early and successful conclusion...
...We do believe that it is the function of a people's government to provide equality of opportunity for all, regardless of color, creed, or class...
...Progressives reaffirm their profound conviction that in the last analysis our greatest contribution to world peace will be determined by what America does for Americans...
...Action now would accomplish several major purposes: 1Assure returning veterans that they need not ? go on breadlines or sell apples if private industry fails to provide full employment...
...We believe that the peaceful solution of the complex economic, ethnic, and political problems of Europe manifested by hundreds of years of blood lusts can be solved democratically upon the basis of close cooperation of the nations in a united Europe...
...Instead, we favor the right of self determination for small nations by referenda held under international auspices which will guarantee an expression of the popular will free from coercion in any form...
...Progressives are convinced that we have nothing to fear but inaction, reaction, hysteria, and fear...
...6We urge more extensive support of producer ? and consumer cooperatives and public corporations modeled on the Tennessee Valley Authority to provide a continuing yardstick by which to compel the adherence of monopoly business to a program of abundance and full employment...
...Our primary task is to make democracy and equality of opportunity living realities here at home...
...If we wait until the acute need is upon us, the result can only be a hastily formed, ill-advised program of made-work— boondoggling...
...4We call for more effective government aids to ? independent business which is the backbone of a genuine American system of free enterprise...
...IT IS IMPORTANT for us to remember that the issues of postwar economics are being shaped here and now...
...These commitments must lay the groundwork for a peace devoid of harsh indemnities and vengeance and prepare the way for a peace settlement which will strike at the causes of war...
...3We protest the Administration's reduction of ? appropriations in its budget for the anti-trust division...
...encourage the democratic forces in all countries to join with us in the attainment of political democracy and economic security...
...There is ample evidence that the realistic foreign policy of our most powerful allies is dictated by their respective national interests...
...Specifically, 1We demand that our government prosecute and ? uproot monopolies which have masked their operation under the guise of wartime emergency...
...We advocate a policy for the disposition of these facilities which will strengthen independent business and at the same time provide employment for returning war veterans and displaced war workers...
...It will depend upon the ability of the competitive part of industry to prevail over the monopoly philosophy of scarcity...
...This is our manifest destiny, for as President Roosevelt has said, "Unless there is security here at home, there can be no lasting peaee in the world...
...These declared objectives must be the guiding policies of any organization of free, sovereign nations set up to preserve the peace...
...5We advocate that independent business-should ? receive preferential treatment in purchasing surplus industrial war machinery, plants, and materials...
...We are convinced that it is the destiny of America to show to the whole world that men can have freedom and security, that men do not have to barter away their liberty for a loaf of bread, that economic democracy is possible under political democracy, that a free America can provide a higher and better standard of living for all its people than can any dictatorship or' any regimented economy—whether it be of the right or left...
...They know from bitter experience that the lasting friendship of peoples or nations cannot be bought by the prodigal distribution of our production, wealth, and natural resources...
...We favor revision of the patent laws so as to permit immediate public utilization of all the benefits of science and invention...
...One of the most effective methods of providing equality of opportunity for a is to destroy the enemy of economic democracy —national and international monopoly...
...2We support strengthening of anti-trust laws to ? permit a more efficient and more relentless campaign to abolish monopolies...
...If the United States is to attain its rightful place in world affairs, our foreign policy must be firmly based and vigorously conducted on the enlightened self interest of this nation...
...WE URGE the government to use whatever bargaining power we still possess as a result of the astronomical amounts of manpower, money, material, and natural resources we are contributing to the war effort to secure now from our allies firm commitments...
...Progressives are convinced, however, that victory has been delayed by the failure of our government and the governments of associated nations to formulate and proclaim to the peoples of the whole world a clear and dynamic declaration of war aims which would appeal to the peoples of all countries...
...and promote cooperation on such specific issues as relief, health, trade, communications, and airways...
...By putting our own house in order we can prove to people everywhere that men can have both freedom and security...
Vol. 8 • May 1944 • No. 21
