MICHIGAN LOOKS AHEAD
Fountain, Clayton W.
Michigan Looks Ahead By CLAYTON W. FOUNTAIN SOMETHING new has been added in Michigan. It is the Michigan Commonwealth Federation, a political movement which calls itself "the party of the common...
...This is no narrow group of laborites and proletarian intellectuals, demanding Utopia on a silver platter, in order to prove to the masses that democracy is at best a tool of the capitalists, and that a violent revolution is necessary to win the good life...
...Speakers against block affiliation of labor unions to MCF were so emphatic in their opposition to this idea that one Detroit daily paper described its defeat as "THIRD PARTY REJECTS CIO RULE...
...George A. Don-dero, a reactionary Republican notorious for his opposition to all progressive legislation, and John Hicks, an obscure lawyer running on the Democratic ticket...
...It began within the anti-Communist CIO caucus as a demand for a "labor party...
...CIO officialdom opposed the "third party" proposal, saying they agreed with it in principle, but that "this was not the time...
...Devotion To Democracy The democratic character of MCF is clearly stated in the first three planks of its platform, which read as follows: "I: We pledge to fight unfalteringly against fascism, militarism, and oppression in all its forms, and against the economic and political conditions which breed fascism...
...They started out with a committee to "organize a Farmejc-Labor Party...
...There was a Farmer-Labor Party in embryo a few years back, but it foundered and miscarried on rocks of labor sectarianism...
...It is not an extension of trade unionism into politics...
...But we oppose the use of the military power of a world organization for purposes of upholding imperialist regimes and undemocratic governments...
...On the contrary, MCF aims to convince that majority which is the common people that political democracy is a libertarian and humanitarian weapon which can be used to attain economic democracy...
...Among these forms are public corporations, cooperative institutions, outright Federal ownership, or private enterprise where it meets the requirements of public welfare...
...II: We propose the principle of a world organization of free nations for the purpose of preserving peace, exchanging goods, promoting free access to essential raw materials, and developing democratic cultural relations between peoples...
...Petitions were drafted and circulated...
...The outcome of the study conference was a vote to form a "third party" to be known as the Michigan Commonwealth Federation...
...The philosophic tone of MCF is set in Article III of its constitution, wherein the objective of the party is defined as follows: "The MCF is dedicated to the task of establishing through education and political action a social order in tical party of and for the common people...
...Finally, after lengthy discussion, both on the convention floor and in hotel rooms, a majority of the delegates voted for a resolution instructing the Michigan State CIO Council to conduct a survey of CIO membership in the state to determine opinion on the issue...
...A variety of forms of ownership must mark a democratic society...
...and they are eager to strengthen the party by recruiting enough farmers, professional men and women, technicians, and business men to give the party functional balance...
...They know that MCF's trade union origin is its major weakness...
...To work for a truly democratic society, and to oppose all totalitarian forces threatening democracy...
...It will strive to bring to our public life a new type of public servant, and will never endorse or support the candidate of another party...
...The resolution further provided that, if a majority of the CIO members were found to favor a "third party," the State CIO Council was to proceed with the organization of the party...
...Ill: We pledge ourselves to defend the American democratic form of representative government from attacks by private economic power and political bureaucracy...
...Devotion to democracy is further stressed in the following sections of the MCF declaration of principles: "An abundance which gives to all the full measure of wealth and happiness made possible by our human and economic resources is entirely possible, provided that we extend the principles of democracy...
...It recognizes that, in a highly complex industrial society, the middle classes (including millions whose middle class status is purely mental) hold the balance of political power...
...and, as a result of this process of fusion of ideas, it emerges unbossed and proudly independent...
...These two features, more than anything else, serve to distinguish MCF from most other third party movements...
...For The Common People The thing that is new about MCF is its rejection of the old doctrinaire theory of proletarian political action...
...They hope to build MCF into such a party—not a labor party, not a farmer party, not a business party, but a party of the common people, expressing the hopes and aspirations of the average American citizen...
...David Lewis of the Canadian CCF was the key speaker at this study conference...
...and, at the same county convention of the League, there was carried, after prolonged debate, a resolution recommending to the Michigan State CIO Council that the CIO take the initiative in forming an "independent political party...
...and, within a few weeks, sufficient signatures had been obtained to place the MCF on the ballot for the November election...
...We aim to encourage and facilitate total participation of the people, regardless of race, color, religion, nationality, or sex, in the democratic processes of government, from the community level on up to the Federal administration...
...The beginning of MCF runs back through a period of bitter political bickering within the CIO section of the labor movement...
...The birth of MCF at this time is significant for two reasons: First, it breaks with all old guard left-wing traditions at two points...
...After several preliminary meetings, a study conference on the formation of a "third party" was called for the first week in March, 1944...
...To fight now for a national plan to use our total resources of men and materials after the war, for the production of civilian goods, as our resources are now being used to produce war goods, placing public welfare ahead of private profits...
...From its very inception it has been a product of several trends of political thought...
...There were also some independent non-Marxist trade unionists who supported the demand for a "labor party...
...Second, it is extremely significant that MCF originates in the heart of American industrialism...
...To fight for economic democracy, giving the people full control over the basic means of producing and distributing the necessities of life...
...The majority of the trade unionists in MCF feel keenly about this analysis...
...Not For Labor Politicians Early in December, 1943, the Michigan State CIO Council, together with the CIO Regional Office, held a political conference in Lansing, Mich...
...When the Michigan State CIO Convention met in Detroit in June, 1943, the "third party" resolution was an issue of heated controversy...
...Beginnings Of MCF Since the organization of the UAW-CIO, of which Michigan is pretty much the core, the political importance of the state has risen to its highest level...
...It is not built around any one personality...
...Six MCF candidates, one for United States Congress, three for state senator, and two for state representative, have been nominated to run for office in the November election...
...That is why tl»ey are out to build MCF from the ground up, on a base of active and articulate neighborhood clubs, out of the organizational and educational activities of which will flow a program constantly keyed to the needs and ambitions of the people in the community...
...We offer no universal blueprint which maps out in detail plans for operating society...
...It was at this convention that the "third party" movement divorced the labor party philosophy completely and took other steps which make it unique in American political history...
...At the outset of the convention, the labor party theorists were roundly defeated when they attempted to change the name of the movement to "Michigan Labor Party...
...It is on the basis of this theory that the MCF platform and program are founded...
...In its membership application the MCF requires applicants to approve of the following principles: "1...
...By democracy we mean the opportunity for all to participate fully in the planning, production, and enjoyment of our social resources...
...These principles sharply differentiate MCF from the old line revolutionary proletarian parties...
...MFC possesses another feature which serves to distinguish it from some American "third party" movements...
...To build a political party for the common people, democratically controlled 'from the bottom up.' "2...
...Then, in the Spring of 1943, Wayne County Labor's Non-Partisan League voted to change its name to the Progressive Labor League...
...Communists screamed for national unity and denounced the "third party" proposition as a dirty Trotskyist act of sabotage...
...Then a call was sent out for an MCF constitutional and nominating convention to be held in Lansing, Mich., on July 28, 29, and 30, 1944...
...A proposal to provide in the constitution^ for block affiliations of trade unions to the party was also defeated by a heavy.majority...
...At this meeting, the "third partyites" demanded a report on the survey of CIO opinion on "independent political action...
...and the proposals outlined in these documents are not impossibly Utopian, but actually within the reach of an aroused and enlightened electorate...
...After the defeat of the block affiliation proposal, it was clear that the MCF was not to be made a playground for the sportive exhibitions of heavy-weight labor politicians...
...There was nothing unusual about this, since Socialists and Trot-skyists (and sometimes Communists, according to the line of the moment) had for years been crying in the woods for "independent labor political action...
...The CIO officials' report was unsatisfactory to "third party" advocates...
...There was considerable "labor party" talk within the Wayne County (Detroit) Labor's Nonpartisan League, which carried the political ball for the CIO in Detroit...
...Hammond is opposing incumbent Rep...
...It is the Michigan Commonwealth Federation, a political movement which calls itself "the party of the common people...
...The MCF campaign will be centered around the race of its chairman, Mathew B. Hammond, prominent Detroit trade unionist, for a seat in Congress...
...Early in 1942, the "labor party" program began to pick up support...
...and that these middle classes will support rightist totalitarianism, rather than permit a "labor" government to come to power...
...Unlike the eastern regions, where third party polities has always been tinged with European radicalism, Michigan has no third party historical background of any importance...
...and it does not project a program of total state ownership or domination of the economic system...
...It is their belief that the rise of an American variety of fascism can only be averted by the growth of a democratic party in which all useful functional groups can see a hope of advancing their interests...
...It is therefore noteworthy that the MCF, which decries labor sectarianism, appears in a state heavily populated with organized industrial workers...
...By democracy we further mean the rejection of centralized bureaucratic control by private monopolies or by the state...
...In his remarks, he cautioned against the "labor party" philosophy and stressed the non-sectarian character of the CCF...
...The "third party" boys then held a rump meeting and voted to proceed with the formation of an "independent political party...
Vol. 8 • September 1944 • No. 39
