NAACP Faces Crucial Choice At Convention

By George LavanThe 46th Convention of the National Association for

the Advancement of Colored People will meet in Atlantic City June 21-26 under very different circumstances thanla s t yea r’s convention. A s an® --------------------------------------------------------ed ito ria l in the June 10 Kansas C ity C a ll rem arks:

“ L a s t year th is tim e, we tho ugh t the day fo r f il in g suits to end segregated schools was over, The Supreme C ourt had spoken. O ur thoughts turned to o ther areas such as housing and pub lic accommodation.’ ’

U n fo rtu n a te ly th is proved to be w ish fu l th in k in g . The h is to ric v ic to ry o f the Negro people, recorded in the M ay 17, 1954 Supreme C ourt decision decla ring segregation in schools unconstitu ­tiona l, was fo llow ed by a year o f b it te r s t r ife 'between the w h ite suprem acists and the opponents o f segregation. The rac is ts showed de te rm ina tion to re ta in in p rac­tice w h a t they had lo s t in the legal ba ttle .

A nd then, in its M ay 31, 1955 ru lin g , the Supreme C ourt th rew its w e igh t on the side o f the J im Crow forces. Under th is ru lin g segregated schools can continue to exist fo r an inde fin ite num ber o f years. How long i t w il l be depends to a g re a t ex ten t on the k ind o f desegregation cam paign the N A A C P maps ou t a t th is convention.

TW O O P IN IO N SJudg ing fro m reports in the

N egro press there are lik e ly to be two currents o f op in ion among the delegates on the Supreme C o u rt’s im p lem enta tion decision.

Some delegates m ay believe, as the top leaders o f the N A A C P do, th a t the recent high c o u rt’» ru lin g was not a setback b u t a v ic to ry . The N A A C P ’s ch ie f a tto rn ey , Thurgood M arsha ll and Roy W ilk in s , president o f the Asso­c ia tion , have expressed “ g ra tif ic a ­t io n ” w ith the decision and “ con­fidence” th a t the South “ w i l l proceed w ith o u t delay on p ro ­gram s o f desegregation.”

A d iffe re n t op in ion has been voiced in lead ing circ les o f the N A A C P . In M ississipp i, N A A C P state leader, D r. A . H. McCoy, who heads the fig h t to b r in g Rev. George Lee’s lynchers to justice, greeted the h igh cou rt’s recent ru lin g w ith the s ta tem ent: “ I t looks like the Supreme C ourt doesn’t believe in ou r C onstitu tion e ith e r.”

Judge C. R. Johnson, president o f the Kansas C ity N A A C P , said: “ I th in k the cou rt was a li t t le un rea lis tic in appa ren tly expect­ing those o f the deep South, who have a lready avowedly opposed the decree to now accept it . The fa c t th a t no defin ite tim e lim it was named could extend l i t ig a ­tion over the school segregation issue fro m 15 to 20 more years in some areas.”

Uos Angeles N A A C P presi­dent, Thomas G. Neusom said: “ A decision a llow ing low er courts to decide when i t is possible to

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P u tt in g Pressure on F o rd

Ford workers picket the L inco ln -M ercu ry p lan t at Metuchen, N . J., in one o f many s tr ik e s by Ford workers in various pa rts o f the cou n try to put pressure on the company to get a sa tis fac­to ry settlem ent, The s tr ikes were a ll in it ia te d by the rank and file.

Eisenhower Aids Dixie Position on Reserves

By Myra TannerIn his televised press conference of June 8, Eisen­

hower publicly backed the Southern segregationists. The administration had been trying to get its military reserveprogram , a disguised version of®-------------------------------------------------------un ive rsa l m il ita ry tra in in g , pass­ed through Congress. Represen­ta tiv e Adam C layton Powell (D -N .Y .) added an amendm ent to the b il l b a rr in g segregation in the reserve forces in the N a­tio n a l Guard. House sponsors o f the b il l then delayed action in deference to the Southern race- haters.

Instead o f b las ting the w h ite suprem acists fo r p a ttin g th e ir ig n o ra n t pre judice ahead o f the common desire o f both ca p ita lis t pa rties to m ilita r iz e the U n ited States, E isenhower blamed those who were in s is tin g on equa lity , a p rinc ip le th a t Republicans and Dem ocrats a like cla im they stand fo r — a t least d u rin g election campaigns.

W ORDS A N D DEEDSEisenhower says he is fo r

equa lity . B u t his a ttack on the Powell amendment as “ extrane­ous” and “ erroneous” demon­stra tes th a t fo r him i t is pure ly a m a tte r o f po litica l expediency.

E isenhower’s a ttack on the a n ti-J im Crow forces fo llow ed the Supreme C ourt decision to tu rn over the an ti-segrega tion school f ig h t to the low er courts. The Supreme C ourt decision pe r­m its inde fin ite postponem ent of desegregation in the schools and now E isenhower wants i t post­poned in federa lly-financed p ro ­jects.

Rep. Powell defended his non­segregation amendment by re ­

m ind ing E isenhower o f a s ta te­ment made two years ago. A t th a t tim e the P resident sa id : “ I do not believe one cent o f feder­al funds should be used fo r seg­rega tion .”

O bviously E isenhower did no t mean w ha t he said. E q u a lity , democracy — these are not p r in ­ciples a t a ll to the representa­tives o f B ig Business in W ash­ing ton . And Pow ell indicates he knows th is on ly too w e ll. In de­fend ing the correct position th a t the non-segregation amendment was “ m anda to ry ,” Pow ell did no t do so on the ground tha t i t was the on ly correct, decent and honest th in g to do, bu t on the ground th a t “ when the colored peoples are being wooed by communism, we cannot a ffo rd to do an y th in g to suggest th a t we are go ing backw ard.”

Powell finds i t necessary to appeal to E isenhower’s own se lf- in te rest. I f U.S. 'B ig Business wants to dom inate the colon ia l w orld , i t can’t “ a ffo rd ” the ug ly habits o f J im Crow.

The fig h t against segregation is c lea rly s t i l l in the hands o f the Negro people and the labor movement, as i l a lways has been. There is no use in appeals to the “ be tte r” na ture o f the Democrats a n d Republicans. They aren’t one h it in terested ip equa lity . O nly when serious pressure is applied, do they move.

Where Jim-Crow School F ight Stands Today

THE MILITANTPUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE INTERESTS OF THE WORKING PEOPLE

Vol. X IX — No. 25 267 NEW YORK, N. Y., MONDAY, JUNE 20, 1955 PRICE: 10 Cents

Auto Workers Protest Pacts With Wave of Local StrikesWalkouts Hit Speed-up And Wage Inequities

By Ben HainesJUNE 15 — On the day following announcement of

the Ford-Reuther agreement, June 6, a spokesman for the company said that 69 plants and parts depots employing114,000 w orkers were a ffec ted by® -------------------------------------------------------the so-called “ w ildca ts .’’ _« ^ _ a b bSouth Gate GM

Union: “We Don’t Want Ford Deal”

On the day fo llo w in g R euther’s agreem ent w ith General M otors, June 13, the company reported tha t 51 plants, in vo lv ing 140,000 GM w orkers, were closed as a resu lt o f s tr ike .

Reuther greeted the settlem ent w ith an a ttitu d e o f tr iu m p h m ixed w ith a heavy dose o f re lie f. The bosses expressed g ra te fu l praise to “ W a lte r” fo r the “ t ru ly m agnificent jo b ” tha t was done. B u t the w orkers in the plhnts dissented — by the hundreds o f thousands.

Even today, three days a fte r the agreem ent w ith General M otors, 22 GM p lan ts are s t ill closed by s trikes in vo lv in g 62,400 according to a New Y o rk T im es’ estim ate.

Supplem entary unem ploym ent insurance is a ll very w e ll and good. .But GM w orkers, out. in C a lifo rn ia (see South Gate s to ry on th is page) expect to have troub le g e ttin g unem ploym ent compensation law s changed in the boss-controlled state leg is la tu re . The. Ohio Semite has already re ­jected the f irs t a ttem p t to get state laws revised.

Besides, how many auto w ork- el's w ill ge t la id o f f before the date o f e l ig ib i l ity comes around? The Am erican M otors Corp. producer o f Nash and Hudson, h'as ju s t la id o f f 3400 w orkers a t two W isconsin p lan ts in a “ down­ward ad jus tm en t in production .’ ' W hat w i l l happen to the e lig ib i lity o f thousands o f GM or Ford w orkers who w ill be la id o f f a t the end o f the year?

One th in g is sure. R euther’s so-called G A W does no t com­pensate, as fa r as the w orkers are concerned, fo r the m urderous speed-up and (he m ountain o f grievances tha t have accumulated in the plants. The wave o f un­authorized w alkou ts dem onstrate th is qu ite em phatica lly .

B U F F A L O S T R IK E SIn B u ffa lo 4200 w orkers a t the

Ford S tam ping P la n t and 1200 production w orkers a t the Ford Assem bly p lan t walked o f f th e ir jobs on June 6 a fte r the F ord- R euther agreem ent had been reached. Local un ion o ffic ia ls op­posed the s trikes and eventua lly go t the men back on the job. B ut the w orkers, in the m eantim e, made known th e ir concern fo r local health and safe ty problem s and above a ll th e ir d isgust w ith the new contract. One w o rke r on the B u ffa lo p icke t line expressed his in d ig na tion at the union bureaucracy by asking, “ W ho are those clowns w o rk ing fo r — the

(Continued on page 4)

By C. ThomasLOS A N G E LE S , June 13 — A

spontaneous w a lkou t shut down the big General M otors I ’ ontiac- O ldsm obile-Buick p lan t in South Gate, C a lifo rn ia , la s t Tuesday (June 7) over company arrogance in a rb it ra r ily re jec tin g Local demands and in protest over the way negotia tions fo r a new con­tract were being conducted by the Rcuther-led union com m ittee in D e tro it. The w a lkou t ended today when 'm em bers o f CIO U n i t e d A utom obile W orkers, Lqcal 216, voted to re tu rn to w ork pending the outcome o f na­tion a l negotiations.

The G M -U A W five-year con­tra c t expired on M ay 29. When no agreem ent was reached by th a t date the con trac t was ex­tended to Tuesday, June 7. W ord flashed through the GM p la n t here Tuesday th a t there was to be another extension to June 12. The reaction was no t long in coming. The men had <read about the Ford agreem ent in the local newspapers. They did no t like w hat they read. Less -so a f te r an o ffic ia l o f the C a lifo rn ia State U nem ploym ent o ffice announced th a t the te rm s o f the U A W -F o rd , o r any s im ila r agreement, would not app ly in C a lifo rn ia unless and u n til the state unem ploym ent c o m p e n s a t i o n measure H'as amended.

BODY SHOP F IR S TF irs t to w a lk out at. 9:30 P. M.

Tuesday were the w orkers o f the Body Shop on the n ig h t s h ift. T he ir w o rk was heavy, ha rd and d ir ty . T h e ir grievances the m ost acute. By m id n ig h t the .plant was shu t down. A mass m eeting o f the n igh t s h ift workers adopted a reso lu tion addressed to the Rcuther-led ne go tia ting com m it­tee s ta tin g th a t the workers in GM wanted no “ Ford settlem ent.” They demanded im m edia te action to compel the corpora tion to accede to the modest demands o f the Local L’ nion.

W hen the day s h ift workers ap­peared Wednesday m orn ing a gen­era l mass m eeting was held in which the reso lu tion adopted the n ig h t be fore was confirmed. M an­agement, o f course, hu ffed and pu ffed and refused to meet w ith the Local ne go tia ting com m ittee

(Continued on page 4)

CIO and U n ited A u to W orkers Pres. W a lte r R euthe r ( r . ) shakes hands w ith F ord M o to r nego tia to r John S. Bugas a fte r union o ffic ia l accepted Ford o ffe r o f a sem i-annual unem ploy­m ent insurance supplem ent scheme instead o f a guaranteed annual wage plan. Num erous s tr ike s expressed widespread d issatis faction at fa ilu re to se ttle grievances.

American Stalinists Kremlin’s Turnabout on Tito

By Daniel RobertsKhrushchev’s admission in Belgrade on May 26 that

charges of “ fascist” and “ imperialist agent” hurled against Yugoslav leaders were frame-ups, has the U.S. Stalinist D a ily W orke r dancing like a cat®-

Ranks Display Bitter Resentment at Handling Of Their Grievances

By George BreitmanDETROIT, June 13 — An estimated 175,000 General

Motors workers were on strike today despite the contract agreement reached this morning between the UAW-CIO and GM. The GM contract follows the same general lines as the contract signed with Ford last week, and the GM walkouts resembled those that shut down many Ford

---------------------------® p lan ts a week ago.I t is p la in th a t la rge numbers

on a ho t t in roo f.The U.S. C om m unist P a rty

leaders fa ith fu l ly echoed a ll the K rem lin slanders agairrst the Yugoslav Com m unist P a rty ever since the S ta lin -T ito break in 1948. Khrushchev’s adm ission p u t them on the g ridd le as accom­plices in a g ig a n tic cam paign o f lies and frame-uips.

Now they have to squirm out o f w ha t they said about T ito being a “ fasc is t.” They have to p o rtra y T ito as a va lian t figh te r fo r Socialism , which is how they described him before the 1948 break. A t the same tim e they must t r y to g ive a p lausib le ex­p lanation as to w hy theyslandered him as a paid agent of im peria lism a fte rw ards.

Assigned to dish ou t the new ■version about the Y ugoslav lead­ers to CP members and sym ­pathizers is Joseph C la rk , one o f the n im blest fa c t- ju g g le rs on the D a ily W orke r s ta ff.

However, the best C la rk can do in the June 8 D a ily W orke r is to

repeat the m iserable Khrushchev a lih i fo r the te r ro r cam paign launched b y S ta lin aga inst Y ugo­slavia.

A ccord ing to th is a lib i, i t was re a lly Beria , fo rm e r head o f the M VD , who invented the lies about T ito and o th e r Yugoslav CP heads and “ duped” the Soviet leaders, the “ in fa llib le ” S ta lin included. Beria is unable to re fu te th is s to ry since be h im e lf was shot in 1953, a fte r having been fram ed as a “ tool o f U.S. im p e ria lism .”

To be sure, in order to t r y to square cu rre n t pra ise fo r T ito w ith the v io le n t denunciation of the past, C la rk states, “ T ito is ce rta in ly n o t beyond c r it ic is m .” He has even been “ dead w ro ng " on several occasions in the past.

B u t “ the crim e o f Beria, Abakum ov and th e ir like , i t ap­pears, was th a t they seized upon instances o f genuine p o lit ic a l d i f ­ferences o r even erroneous views, and fab rica ted charges o f con­spiracy. I t tu rns ou t they did so

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Los Angeles - The Typical

Cold-War City— By Farrell Dobbs —

N ationa l Secretary Socia lis t W orkers P a rty

LOS A N G E L E S — In th is pe­riod o f rap id change one must check yeste rday’s facts against today’s events or r is k fa ll in g be­hind th e ' tin ies.A case in po in t would be to as­sume th a t movie p r o d u c t ion is s t i l l the ch ie f in ­dus try of th is c ity .

A lthough Los Angeles rem ains the movie cap i­ta l o f the w o rld , F a rre ll Dobbs i t looms more im p o rta n tly to ­day as a co ld-w ar c ity . A boom, tr igg e re d by large-scale arm s production, has trans fo rm ed the area in to the na tio n ’s th ird la rg ­est in du s tria l center.

To grasp the new' re a lity o f the area i t is necessary to look beyond the c ity proper and ex­am ine the w’hole o f Los Angeles county. C u rren t estim ates place the county popu la tion a t fivem illio n . A ju m p o f a lm ost a m illio n has taken place in the las t five years, w h ich is likeadding a c ity the size o f Boston.

W ell over 600,000 people are employed in m anufacture . A i r ­c ra ft stands fo r th as the la rges t sing le in d u s try w ith a pa y ro ll o f 184,000. A rise in electronics production, now em p loy ing 70,- 000 people, accounted fo r one-fo u rth o f the area’s in d u s tr ia l g ro w th d u rin g 1954. A round 55,000 w orkers fun c tio n in the ga rm en t trade w'hich has m ush­roomed since W orld W a r I I and is s t i l l g row ing , especially in the sportsw ear line.

O ther production in the d i­versified economy includes auto, chemicals, e lec trica l products, m achinery, steel. Am ong non- m an u fac tu ring basic industries interconnected w ith the area are

(Continued on page 3)

Singapore Paralyzed by General StrikeSingapore, B r it is h im p e ria l­

ism 's southeast A s ia bastion where a hand fu l o f enorm ously w ea lthy people live in fan ta s tic lu x u ry among m illio ns who don’t have enough to eat, is in the g r ip o f a general s trike .

The s tr ik e began on the a f te r ­noon o f June 1 when m ilita n t bus and tra c tio n w orkers le a rn ­ed o f the governm ent’s double- cross a rre s t o f union loaders w ith whom i t had been nego tia ting . I t has now spread to o ther in ­dustries. T h ir ty -s ix unions rep ­resenting- 70,000 members have called fo r s tr ik e action u n til the union leaders are freed.

H IG H SCHOO L S T U D E N TST his general s tr ik e is round

two o f the g re a t o rgan iz ing wave w'hich has swept the B r it is h

.colony a t the t ip o f the M alayan

peninsula. A m onth ago round one ended w ith the w orkers and students o f S ingapore g iv in g the B r it is h overlo rds a sound troun c­ing. In th a t f ig h t h igh school students came out in mass to support the s tr ik in g bus drivers. When police tr ied to smash the p icket lines w ith clubs and guns a general s tr ik e fo llowed by r io t in g spread throughout the c ity . The em ployers and the governm ent gave in and the bus d rive rs emerged w ith th e ir own union ra th e r than a company union the o ff ic ia ls had tried to force on them.

When ¡ha t ba ttle was won, the unions which had s truck in s o lid a rity re turned to w'ork. A few economic s trikes continued. One such U’as the s tr ike o f 1,300 harbor w orkers (c le rks , store- men and fire m e n ) fo r h igher

w'ages and im proved W'orking conditions. That s tr ik e is now in its seventh w'cek.

Some weeks ago 36 unions representing 70,000 w orkers served notice th a t unless the ha rbo r w o rkers were g iven a settlem ent by June 13 they would w a lk out in so lid a rity . On June 12 i t looked as i f the gen­era l s tr ik e would be averted. T rade union leaders had been in session w ith the “ lib e ra l” C hief M in is te r o f Singapore and an agreement, reached.

DOUBLECROSSThe un ion is ts d idn ’t rea lize

th a t th is was an im p e ria lis t doublecross. W h ile the C h ief M in is te r was agree ing to th e ir proposals a t his home, his police were busy ra id in g un ion head­quarters, seiz ing th e ir papers,

p ro pe rty , etc. Then f iv e o f the union heads were arrested under the b ru ta l “ emergency reg u la ­tion s ” by which the B r it is h have ru led S ingapore fo r the las t seven years.

The emergency regu la tions do not req u ire th a t charges against arrested people be made public. M oreover those arrested can be im prisoned fo r tw o years w ith ­out being b ro ug h t to t r ia l . The o ff ic ia ls are leak ing stories of “ com m unist conspiracy” and the ca p ita lis t press th roughou t the w orld ju s tif ie s the a rrests on the same grounds, bu t i t is an open secret th a t the arrests were an a tte m p t to behead the gen­era l s tr ike o f its leadership.

Labor-, o ff ic ia ls in Singapore issued a sta tem ent decla ring th a t the “ fa c t th a t the arrests and ra ids were set in to m otion

a fte r the ta lks (w ith the gov­ernm ent) had been successful has dem onstrated the in s in c e rity o f the governm ent in saying they seek a peaceful settlem ent.”

So fa r the s tr ik e has been peaceful. However, the deploy­m ent o f 4,500 police and p rep­ara tions o f the B r it is h troops are ominous.

Dunlop Rubber, Ford M otor Co., N a tiona l Carbon and C ar­bide and o ther U.S. im p e ria lis t ho ld ings are shut down by the s trike .

NEXT WEEK“ W a ll S tree t’s Hand

In A rge n tin a 's F igh t W ith the C atholic Church”

By Sam Marcy

o f auto w orkers, even though they may be a m in o rity , are d issatisfied w ith the settlem ents. These w a lk ­outs, ne ithe r approved nor w e l­comed b y the Reuther bureau« cracy, were p r im a r ily p ro te s t dem onstrations, la ck ing adequate p repa ra tion , p rogram and leader­ship. B u t they were d ram atic dem onstra tions ju s t the same — which m arks one d iffe rence fro m the s itua tion in 1950 when the five-year con tract was imposed on the workers.

W hatever the w orkers th in k o f the 1956 con tract, few o f them copsidCT it worse.._tihan the 1£50 con tract. Y e t there were no such w alkouts in 1950. I t is tru e th a t these w a lkou ts expressed the dis­content and im patience o f a m in o rity o f the w orkers. B u t in 1950 n o t even a m in o rity staged such dem onstrations.

Even i f the w a lkou ts don 't las t long, even i f they don’t achieve "he ir ob jective o f changes in local conditions, they are im ­p o rta n t fo r show ing th a t the re is a gap between the U A W bureau­cracy and the U A W ranks, and th a t th is gap has been w iden ing over the years.

T H E N E W A G R E E M E N T SThe m ain fea tu res o f the new

agreements a re : a supplem enta l unem ploym ent bene fit p lan , to cost the corpora tions no m ore than 5 cents an ho u r per em­ployee; th ree - year con tracts ; s lig h t ly increased annual im ­provem ent fa c to r, co s t-o f- liv in g escalator, pension, vacation and insurance clauses; an add itiona l paid ho liday; and wage increases fo r some sk illed c lassifications. For ¡most w orkers i t means a cash increase o f on ly 6 cents an hour th is year.

U nder the old con tract, the corpora tions had w h a t the y have been p ra is in g as “ five years o f labor peaye and s ta b ility ,” d u rin g which th e ir p ro f it soared to record heights and the w orkers, hobbled by no -s trike clauses and a con­serva tive leadership, were unable to o ffe r e ffec tive resistance to speedup and corpora tion s ta llin g on grievances'.

W hat the corpora tions wanted th is year was a con tinua tion o f such “ labor peace.” To get it , they were w illin g to make con­cessions to the union. F ina nc ia lly , they were in position to a ffo rd substan tia l concessions. One U A W o ffic ia l estim ated th is week th a t GM “ stands to make a p ro fit o f tw o and th ree -quarte rs b illio n do lla rs th is year.”

The corporations' g o t essentia lly w ha t they wanted, and cheaper than they probably expected. W a lte r R euther estim ated the cost a t 20 cents an hour per em­ploye, b u t even the c a p ita lis t press regarded th is figu re as in ­fla te d . They pointed out, fo r example, th a t the supplem ental unem ploym ent benefits m ay cost the corpora tions considerab ly less than the five cents an hour m axim um they agreed to.

W hatever the corpora tions gave w ith one hand, they w ill be able to take i t hack w ith the other, in the fo rm o f increased speedup and autom ation, aga ins t w h ich the new con tract provides no ad­d ition a l p ro tection fo r the w o rk ­ers (and, in some im p o rta n t instances, less).

F o r g e ttin g such a favo rab le a g r e e m e n t , the corpora tions

(Continued on page 3)

T h e y ’re H a p p y — B u t N o t W orkers

Page Two T H E M I L I T A N T Monday, June 20, 195$

20 YEARS OF THE CIO — V II

GM Sit-Down of '3 7 - “Gettysburg” of the CIOBy Art Preis

Class co llabora tion and class s trugg le— tw o irreconc ilab ly op­posed theories and methods w hich have a lw ays contested w ith each o ther in the labor movement — strove fo r supre­macy w ith in the CIO from its s ta rt. Th is clash o f theories and methods was especially b itte r d u rin g the C IO ’s cruc ia l f irs t tw o years.

The top CIO leaders were class co llab o ra tion is t to the hone. They sought “ peaceful coexist­ence” between p reda to ry cap ita l and exp lo ited labor — between robber and x'obbed. They believed they could persuade the em ploy­ers th a t unions are a “ benefit” to the cap ita lis ts themselves and thereby secure ga ins fo r the w orkers by the sim ple means o f “ reasonable discussion” across the conference tab le .

In add ition , they denied the c a p ita lis t class na tu re o f the governm ent and the m a jo r p o lit ­ica l machines, Republican and Dem ocratic, p a rtic u la r ly the la t ­te r p a rty . Lew is appears to have bad an a lm ost touch ing fa ith in the honesty o f c a p ita lis t p o lit i­cians and to have placed an in ­ord ina te dependence on Roose­v e lt to g ive the C IO s trong backing in its developing steel and auto cam paigns. Lew is held th is view a ll the m ore s trong ly because the Dem ocratic P a rty grac ious ly accepted m ore than a m illio n do lla rs fro m the U n ited M ine W orkers and Labor’s Non- P a rtisan League to help finance Roosevelt’s 1936 election cam ­pa ign. There is no evidence th a t Roosevelt and the Dem ocratic

leaders had agreed to any qu id & pro quo-— any re tu rn fo r value received. Lew is ju s t assumed it . D idn ’t the cap ita lis ts a lw ays ge t substan tia l re tu rn s fo r th e ir p o lit ic a l con tribu tions? W asn’t la bo r’s money ju s t as good ?

F o rtun a te ly fo r the success of the CIO, the concepts o f the top CIO leaders did n o t a lw ays p re ­dom inate. The s tr id e n t notes o f the class s tru g g le broke through the “ class ha rm ony” chorus and set the dom inant tone d u rin g the decisive days o f the rise o f the CIO. The bridge to v ic to ry p rov­ed to be not the conference board, nor the inside tra ck to Roosevelt in the W hite House, bu t the p icket line — above a ll, th a t “ inside p icke t line ,” the s it- down.

F o llo w in g fo rm a tio n o f the I.N P L to help re-e lect Roose­ve lt, the CIO launched its b ig o rgan iz ing drives in mass p ro ­duction in d u s try . Lew is and his lieutenan ts had determ ined th a t the spearhead o f the CIO o ffe n ­sive would be in steel. Lew is was p a r tic u la r ly concerned w ith steel because o f its im portance f o r . the m iners union. He used the m ost eloquent o f argum ents — the o f fe r o f a $700,000 cam­pa ign fund ($500,000 fro m the m iners and $100,000 each fro m the Ladies ■ G arm ent W orkers and A m a l g a m a t e d ' C lo th ing W orkers un ions) to sw ing the old A m algam ated Association o f Iron , Steel and T in W orkers leaders in to the CIO. On June 13, 1936, ten days a f te r the A m algam ated Association had been absorbed, the CIO leaders o f f ic ia lly announced the opening o f the steel drive.

The Second UAW ConventionThe d rive was placed in the

hands o f a Steel W orkers O r­gan iz ing Com m ittee composed com ple te ly o f top o ffic ia ls of unions outside the steel in du s try , w ith the exception o f T ighe and Joseph K . G a ithe r o f the A m a l­gam ated Association. M ost o f the steel com m ittee were select­ed fro m Lew is ’ own o ffic ia ldom in the U n ited M ine W orkers. P h ilip M u rra y , Lew is ’ f i r s t lie u ­ten an t in the U M W , was named SWOC d irecto r. There was not a rea l steel w o rke r in the lo t. The steel w o rkers had a hand­picked leadership imposed on them fro m the top. F ro m the s ta r t , the voice o f the ranks was s tif le d and th e ir in it ia t iv e chok­ed' o ff.

The steel o rgan iz ing cam paign, however, was conducted in style. M u rra y sent 433 fu ll- t im e and p a rt- t im e organ izers in to the steel areas. T h ir ty - f iv e reg ional o ffices were opened and a paper, Steel Labor, was issued. A nd , as a special inducem ent, the SWOC asked no dues. I t was no t u n til A p r i l 1937, a fte r the U jS. Steel con tract was signed, th a t the SW OC began to collect $1 a m onth dues; in June, 1937, a $3 in it ia t io n fee was added.

In December, 1936, Lew is and M yron C. T ay lo r, then board cha irm an o f U.S. Steel, engaged in secret “ e x p lo ra to ry ” discus­sions on the p o ss ib ility o f a union con tract. Jus t w h a t would have come o f these discussions i f they had proceeded w ith o u t any outside in te rven ing fa c to r is hard to say. The C IO fro n t sud­denly and d ra m a tica lly sh ifted fro m swank hotel suites and skyscraper o ffices to the g r im ­m er ba ttle fie ld o f the massive in d u s tr ia l p lan ts o f General M o­tors. W ith o u t a by-your-lcave to Lew is o r anyone else, the GM w orkers challenged the auto in ­d u s try ’s g ian t in an im m ediate showdown ba ttle . The GM s it- down s tr ik e o f the w in te r o f 1936-1937 became the m a jo r

po in t o f CIO combat. F lin t, M ich., became the “ G ettysburg” o f the CTO.

The U n ited A utom obile W o rk ­ers, w h ich jo ined the CIO fo rm ­a lly in J u ly 1936, was the clos­est to a rank-and-file contro lled o rgan iza tion in the new CIO. B y th e ir own e ffo r ts in ba ttle against the A F L E xecutive Council, the auto w orkers had established th e ir own in te rna tiona l un ion in 1935. A t the U A W ’s second con­vention, the la s t week o f A p r il and beg inn ing o f M ay, 1936, they com pleted the jo b by oust­in g W illia m Green’s handpicked president D illon , and e lecting th e ir own o ffice rs under th e ir own cons titu tion . The f irs t f ig h t at the convention occurred over D illo n ’s a ttem p t to prevent the sea ting o f the m il ita n t Toledo delegation, com pris ing 17% o f a ll delegates. I t was these ve t­erans o f the Toledo A u to - lite and C hevro le t s tr ikes who set the pace.

T h is convention unan im ously adopted a reso lu tion ca llin g fo r fo rm a tio n o f a na tiona l labor pa rty . O nly a personal plea from Lew is to the convention, w ith an impassioned appeal by the newly-elected U A W presi­dent Hom er M a rtin , secured pas­sage o f a la s t-m inu te r id e r to the po litica l reso lu tion to sup­p o rt Roosevelt in the fo rthco m ­in g na tiona l elections. P rinc ip les o f union democracy were b u ilt in to the cons titu tion and p rac­tice o f the U A W so f irm ly then th a t 18 years o f bu reaucra tiza ­tion have not eradicated them e n tire ly . The convention rejected a reso lu tion to bar “ com m un­is ts ” and opened the union to a ll auto w orkers regardless o f race, creed, re lig ion , na tional o r ig in or po litics . I t m ust be added tha t young m ilita n ts o f a ll rad ica l tendencies, especially the Socia list P a rty , whose le f t w ing then included the T ro ts k y ­ists, and the Com m unist P a rty , played a most active and in f lu ­en tia l ro le in the convention.

The Lightening Before the StormThere were several flashes o f

lig h tn in g before the GM storm . On N ov. 13, 1936, a spontaneous sit-dow n s tr ik e ha lted operations o f the F ishe r Body No. 1 p lan t in F lin t . The union won its po in t and the U A W started to sign up new members by the hundreds. R obert T rav is , a m em ­ber o f the 1935 s tr ik e com m ittee in Toledo C hevro let, and W ynd- ham M ortim e r, a Cleveland auto w o rke r on the U A W board, were sent in to F lin t .to a id the drive . Both o f them were a l­ready under S ta lin is t in fluence, b u t they were s t i l l fresh from s tr ik e strugg les and retained a good b it o f th e ir na tive m il i­tancy.

In the next several weeks there were successful s it-dow n occupations o f p lan ts a t Bendix, in South Bend and M id land Steel Products in D e tro it, and a five-day sit-dow n a t Kelsey- Hayes wheel p la n t in D e tro it. M eanw hile, a s tr ike fla re d a t F ish e r Body in A tla n ta , Georgia, over the discharge o f fo u r men w e a rin g union buttons. When the A t la n ta w orkers appealed fo r an extension o f the w a lkou t, the CIO s tra teg is ts term ed such a move, “ prem ature .” F o u r weeks

la te r, a s tr ik e erupted a t the Kansas C ity F ishe r p lan t. On Dec. 21, Lew is and the U A W leaders w ired Knudsen o f Gen­era l M otors fo r a collective b a r­g a in ing conference. They were to ld to take i t up w ith local p la n t managers,

D isgusted w ith s t a l l i n g around, some 7,000 w orkers at Cleveland F ishe r Body, o rgan ­ized by M o rtim e r, w en t on s tr ik e Dec. 28, 1936. They announced they w ould no t re tu rn u n til a na tiona l GM con tract was sign­ed. More than a thousand s t r ik ­ers occupied the p lan t. Two days la te r, on the m orn ing a fte r they had presented m anagem ent w ith a con tract demand, w orkers in F isher Body P la n t No. 2 in F lin t saw inspectors who sup­ported the un ion being tra n s fe r­red. They sat down. A t P lan t No. 1 th a t evening, the n ig h t- s h if t saw im p o rta n t dies being loaded onto tru cks and boxcars fo r Grand Rapids and Pontiac. They, too, sat down. The produc­tion o f bodies fo r a ll GM cars came to a ha lt.

W ith in th ree weeks, 15 other GM un its were closed by strikes, in c lud in g the F leetwood and Cadillac p lan ts in ' D e tro it, and p lan ts in Janesville , W is., Nor-1

The scene o f a s it-dow n s tr ik e a t a General M otors p lan t in 1937. ^he headline comes from the New Y ork T im es o f January 1, 1937. D u ring the s it-dow n wave, s im ila r scenes were witnessed in hundreds o f p lan ts th roughou t the coun try .

wood, O., A tla n ta , S t. Louis, Kansas C ity and Toledo. A t the most cruc ia l stage o f the s tru g ­gle, the F l in t C hevro let No. 4 p lan t, where m o to r assembly was centered, was seized and occupied by the s tr ike rs . By the end o f the s tr ik e , some 140,000 o f G M ’s 150,000 production w o rkers e ithe r sat down o r “ h it the b ricks,” as tra d itio n a l p ick ­e tin g in a s tr ik e was described.

V ic to ry o r defeat fo r the GM w orkers depended on a simple s tra te g y : keeping th e ir buttocks f irm ly planked on $50 m illio n w o rth o f GM p rope rty u n t il they got a signed con tract. G M ’s s tra teg y was to get the workers out o f the p lants by hook or crook so tha t the po lice,deputies and N a tiona l Guard could d is­perse them by force and v io l­ence. A l l th e maneuvers between Lewis and the U A W leaders on (he one hand and Roosevelt, Frances Perkins, M ich igan ’s Governor F rank M urphy and General M otors on the other, in ­volved the s it-down issue essen­t ia lly .

In his book C.l.O . In d u s tria l Un ion ism in A ction , published la te in 1937, the fo rm e r H a rva rd economist who became CIO Re­search and Educational D irec to r, J. Raymond W alsh, stated f la t ­ly th a t the CIO leaders had not called the GM s trike . “ The CIO high command, preoccupied w ith the drive in steel, tr ie d in vain

to prevent the s tr ik e ;1 i t was fed by deep springs o f resentm ent among thousands o f men against a corpora tion gross ly de re lic t in its ob liga tions,” w ro te W alsh. There was c e rta in ly no s tr ike ca ll and no broad s tr ik e s tra t­egy.

¡It was no t u n til Jan. 3, when the s tr ik e was a lready spreading like a brush fire th rough the GM plants, th a t 200 U A W dele­gates convened in F lin t , created a board o f s tra teg y and au tho r­ized i t to call a fo rm a l corpora­tion -w ide s tr ike . The next day GM was served w ith a set o f e igh t demands, in c lud in g : union recogn ition and a signed con­tra c t; abo lition o f p iece-work; the 30-hour week and s ix -hou r day; tim e-a nd -a -ha lf fo r over­tim e ; m in im um pay ra tes; re in ­sta tem ent o f discharged un ion­is ts ; a sen io rity system ; sole co llective ba rga in ing r ig h ts fo r U A W ; and union pa rtic ip a tio n in re g u la tin g the pace o f the be lt-lines.

Once the GM s tr ik e was un ­der w ay, Lew is pu b lic ly voiced the C IO ’s approval. On Dec. 31, 1936, he declared: “ The CTOstands square ly behind these sit-dow ns.” When G M ’s K nu d ­sen demanded evacuation o f the p lan ts before considering collec­tive ba rga in ing , Lew is repeated the demand fo r a na tiona l con­tra c t em bodying sole co llective b a rga in ing r ig h ts .

The “Battle of the Running Bulls”On Janua ry 2, GM secured the

f irs t o f its in junctions. A Judge ■Black issued an order to vacate the p lan ts and to desist fro m p icke tin g c o m p a n y prope rty . W hen the s h e r if f a ttem p ted to read the order, .the sit-dow ners laughed h im out o f the plants. Thousands o f o ther w orkers con­tinued th e ir mass p icke t lines on the outside. B u t the in ju n c tio n was never enforced; i t was dis­closed th a t Judge B lack was a GM stockholder, w ith 3,365 shares then valued a t $219,000.

On Jan. 8, 1937, came the an­nouncement o f the fo rm a tio n o f the F lin t A lliance as “ a vo lun­ta ry m ovem ent o f employes who w ish to re tu rn to th e ir w o rk and are aga inst the s tr ik e .” T h is back-to-w ork movem ent, open to a ll c itizens a t la rge and not on ly GM w orkers, was headed by George E. Boysen, ex-m ayor and fo rm e r Buiek paym aster.

A d irec t phvsica l clash came on Jan. 12, 1937. The company had shut o f f the heat th a t a f ­ternoon in an a ttem p t to freeze ou t the sit.-downers in F ishe r Body P la n t No. 2. Several hours la te r the F lin t police announced there would be no m ore food a l­lowed to enter the p la n t fo r the s tr ike rs . The cops blocked o f f the entrance and then knocked down a ladder to a w indow th rough which supplies were be­in g shipped. A un ion sound truck w ith W a lte r R euther’s b ro th e r V ic to r at the m icrophone called on the police to end th e ir blockade. The plea was ignored.

A body o f p ickets fin a lly stormed the entrance, fo rc in g the -po lice aside and c a rry in g coffee and bread in to the s it- downers. A round 9 P.M., h a lf o f F l in t ’s police force suddenly fe ll w ith clubs on the p ickets a t the entrance. Some were scattered, others were driven in to the p lan t. Tear gas was fired in to the p lan t. Police sent vo lleys o f buckshot th rou gh the w indows. The s tr ik e rs fou gh t back w ith e ve ry th in g from hurled nuts and bolts to soda pop bottles. A ■three-hour ba ttle ensued- D u ring

the course o f the s trugg le , the s tr ike rs captured the s h e r if f ’s car and three police cruisers. When the police reform ed ranks a t m idn ight to make a new a t­tack, the s tr ik e rs brought in to p lay th e ir “ secret weapon” — a p lan t fire hose th a t soaked the police w ith freez ing w a te r and fin a lly drove them back to the o ther side o f a bridge lead ing to the p lan t gates. T w en ty -fo u r s tr ik e rs had been in ju re d ; 14 had gunshot woundfe. The “ B a t­tle o f the R unning B u lls ” was the last a ttem p t to recapture any GM p lan t by force. GM amtounced i t would not t r y to use strikebreakers, a move i t could scarcely em ploy anyway so long as the p lan ts were oc­cupied by s tr ike rs .

W h a t force fa ile d to do, GM sought to achieve th rou gh guile . The new ly-elected Dem ocratic G overnor M u rp h y inv ited G M ’s Knudsen and U A W President M a rtin to Lans ing on January 15. A f te r a m eeting , M u rp h y announced th a t a truce agree­m en t had been reached fo r the sit-dow ners to leave five o f the m a jo r s truck p lan ts on the week-end and then GM would s ta rt to negotia te on Monday. The C adillac and Fleetwood w orkers in D e tro it m arched out o f the p lan ts w ith banners and brass bands. The next day, Sun­day, January 17, the F l in t w o rk ­ers were to leave th e ir fo rts . Then the union learned th a t GM had w ired Boysen o f the F lin t A lliance th a t “ we stand ready a lw ays to discuss w ith vour g roup” as w e ll as the le g itim a te union.

The truce blew up. W orkers who were h a lf w ay ou t o f some p lan ts rushed back in and took defensive posts. O thers, p re pa r­in g to leave, rem ained and lock­ed the doors. N ow the siege was on in dead earnest. Lew is an­nounced: “ GM was caught in a bare-faced v io la tio n o f the a rm ­is tice and so the evacuation o f the p lan ts was stopped. The men are not go ing to leave them .”

Lew is believed his ace-in-the-

hole was Roosevelt. The un ion leader sought to g e t the P res i­dent to come ou t f irm ly in sup­p o rt o f the GM w orkers. On Jan. 21, Lew is to ld a press con­ference: “ The ad m in is tra tionasked labor fo r help to repel th is a tta ck [on Roosevelt in 1936 elections] and labo r gave i t help. The same economic roya lis ts now have th e ir fangs in labor. The w orkers o f th is coun try expect the ad m in is tra ­tion to help the w orkers in every legal w ay and to support the w orkers in General M otors p lan ts .”

Roosevelt's rep ly the ne x t day was a cold rebuke to Lew is : “ O f course I th in k in the in te rests o f peace th a t there come mo­ments when statem ents, conver­sations, and headlines are no t in order.” A few days la te r he sought to balance th is o f f w ith a c ritic ism o f GM Board C h a ir­man A lfre d P. Sloan, when the la tte r refused to con fe r w ith Lew is in Secretary o f Labor P e rk in ’s o ffice . Roosevelt said th is was a “ ve ry un fo rtuna te de­cis ion” and le ft i t a t th a t.

GM was not averse to in te r ­vention by Roosevelt, i f no other course was open. The De­tro it News had come out in the th ird week o f the s tr ik e w ith a fron t-page ed ito ria l, “ L e t Roose­ve lt Do I t . ” GM understood Roosevelt’s role very w e ll. H is task was, not aid to the workers, as Lewis assumed, but to get the company o f f the hook w ith the sm allest possible concessions. These would be represented as a “ p a tr io tic ” response to the P resident’s request, not as a surrender to union pressure.

On January 31, Madame P er­k ins th re w the a d m in is tra tio n ’s w e igh t on the side o f GM by te ll in g the press th a t she had proposed to Sloan the day be­fo re th a t »the s tr ike rs were to q u it the p lan ts “ as an expres­sion b y the union o f good fa ith in General M o to rs ” before any nego tia tions were to begin.

¡Subsequently, a t the m ost c r it ic a l po in t o f the s trike , Roosevelt phoned fro m the W hite House to Lew is in D e tro it to t r y to persuade Lew is to agree to a one-m onth con tract in re ­tu rn fo r g e ttin g the w orkers to

leave the occupied p lants. He raised the o ffe r to two and then three months, b u t Lew is stood firm fo r a m in im um o f a s ix - month pact.

W h ile the shadow p lay was being enacted by Lew is, K nud­sen, M urphy, Perkins and Roose­v e lt between W ashing ton, De­t r o it and Lansing, the live dram a was un fo ld ing in F lin t. There 1,500 members o f the N a tiona l Guard, sent by M urphy, set up an encampment in prepara tion fo r d r iv in g the s tr ike rs ou t o f the p la n t i f so ordered. The company next sought ano the r in ­ju nc tio n as the legal basis’ fo r com pelling M urphy to use the troops to invade the p lan ts and force the s tr ik e rs out.

On Tuesday, February 2, GM found another com p lian t judge, Pau l V. Gadola, who issued an in ju n c tio n o rd e rin g the s tr ik e rs to evacuate the tw o F ishe r p lan ts by 3 P.M., Wednesday. A c r it ic a l challenge faced the F ish ­er Body sit.-downers.

A n tic ip a tin g the F ishe r in ­junc tion , the s tr ik e rs moved on Feb. 1 to ' occupy a s t i l l m ore s tra te g ic p lan t, C hevro let No. 4 where the C hevro let m otors were assembled — a rea l bo ttle ­neck. The leader o f the Chevro­le t un ion is ts was K e rm it John­son, a m il ita n t le ft-w in g Socia l­is t. C hevro le t No. 4 had no t been shut down, as i t was no t ce rta in w hether the un ion had s u ffic ie n t s treng th in the p lan t. A bold s tra tagem was devised to capture the p la n t by re in ­forcem ents fro m the outside.

A diversion was created. Sev­era l thousand s tr ik e rs marched to C hevro let P la n t No. 9 fro m the un ion headquarters. They were led by Roy R euthcr and Powers Ilopgood. GM in fo rm ers, as had been expected, had t ip ­ped o f f m anagem ent about the m arch on No. 9. A rm ed F lin t detectives and company guards had been ins ta lled in the p lan t. The w orkers inside began y e ll­in g " s i t dow n !” and a fo r ty m inute ba ttle was waged inside the p lan t. The 'Women’s E m er­gency Brigade organized and led by Gcnora Johnson (now D o llin g e r), fou gh t he ro ica lly on the outside, smashing the w in ­dows to p e rm it the te a r gas to

(^escape from the p lan t.D u rin g th is d iversion, 400

C hevro let No. 4 men, w ith some squads fro m No. 6, marched bold ly in to the No. 4 p lan t, shut d o w n operations, barricaded doors and gates and set up pa-' tro ls . Steel -gondolas, w e igh ing hundreds o f pounds apiece, were piled aga inst doors and w indows fro m flo o r to ce iling . T ha t n igh t, troops w ith bayonets marched om inously ou ts ide— but M u rp hy did no t dare to give an order to a ttack.

The nex t day, when Judge Gadola issued his in jun c tion se tting a deadline fo r the fo l­low ing day, the s tr ik e rs held meetings and voted to hold the p lan ts a t a ll costs. The F isher No. 1 w orkers w ired Gov. M u r­phy: ‘ ‘Unarm ed as we are, the in troduc tion o f the m il it ia , sher­if fs , or police w ith m urderous weapons w i l l mean a blood bath o f unarm ed w o rkers . . . We have decided to s tay in the p lan t. We have no illus ions about the sacrifices w h ich th is decision w il l en ta il. We fu l ly expect tha t i f a v io len t e f fo r t is made to oust us m any o f us w il l be k illed , and we take th is means o f m ak ing i t known to our w ives, to ou r ch ildren, to the people o f the state o f M ich i­gan and the coun try th a t i f th is re su lt fo llow s fro m the a ttem p t to eject us, you are the one who m ust be held responsible fo r our deaths.”

E a rly the next day, a ll the roads in to F lin t were jam m ed w ith cars loaded w ith un ion ists from D e tro it, Lansing, Pontiac and Toledo. More than a thou­sand veterans o f the Toledo

A u to -L ite and Chevro let s tr ikes were on hand. W a lte r Reuther, then head o f the D e tro it W est Side local, b rough t in a con tin ­gent o f 500. Rubber w orkers from A kron and coal m iners from the P ittsbu rgh area jo ined the forces ra lly in g to back the F lin t s tr ike rs . No police were in s igh t. The w orkers d irected t ra f f ic . Barred by troops w ith machine guns and 37 -m ilim e te r how itze rs from F ishe r No. 2 and Chevro let No. 4, the w o rk­ers from o ther areas fo rm ed a huge cordon around F ishe r No. I .

B u t when the showdown came, the s h e r if f refused to t r y to en­force the in junc tion . He passed the buck to G overnor M urphy . M urphy sta lled , fe a rfu l o f com­m it t in g po litica l suicide i f he used the troops against the w orkers. On F ebrua ry 8, the company tr ied to freeze the s tr ik e rs ou t once more by tu rn ­in g o f f the heat. The s tr ike rs opened a ll w indows and th re a t­ened to freeze the f ire - f ig h tin g equipm ent in the p lan ts , thus causing a v io la tio n o f G M ’s fire insurance contracts and leav ing its p ro pe rty unprotected by in ­surance. GM howled a t M u rp hy to enforce the in ju n c tio n and he, in tu rn , w en t scream ing in rage to Lew is : “ Y ou ’ve g o t to do som eth ing about th is , M r. Lew is. I demand th a t you do som eth ing.”

Lew is rep lied : “ I did no t ask these men to s it-down. I d id n o t ask General M otors to tu rn o f f the heat. 1 did no t have any p a rt o f e ith e r the s it-dow n s tr ik e or the a tte m p t to freeze the men. L e t General M o to rs ta lk to them .”

A Rank and File UprisingThis was the lite ra l tru th .

The GM s tr ik e was an up ris ing o f the rank and file . I ts leader­ship was m a in ly local young w orkers w ith rad ica l social and p o litica l views. A sho rt w h ile la te r, most o f them, lik e those under S ta lin is t leadership, who became the most, se rv ile sup­po rte rs o f Roosevelt, and the R euther brothers, who broke th e ir S ocia lis t P a rty connections, became more and more adapted to cap ita lis t po litics and class co llabora tion . But fo r tha t one b r ie f period o f the h is to ric GM sit-dow n, they were s t i l l close enough to the m ilita n t ranks, s t i l l s u ff ic ie n tly im bued w ith socia list ideas and the tra d itio n s o f the old IW W and socialist f ig h te rs to rise w ith the masses. The men they were then would have sp it upon the men they were to become.

Once more, a f te r he had pleaded w ith Lew is to be tray the s tr ik e rs , Gov. M urphy tr ie d the th re a t o f troops to fr ig h te n them . On the n igh t o f Feb. 9, the N a tiona l Guard in F lin t, w ith 1,300 re in forcem ents, were a lerted to seal o f f a ll h ighw ays and p reven t re in forcem ents fo r the s tr ike rs . The s it-dow ners re ­fused to budge; they made weapons o f defense in assem bly­line fashion and w aited the a t­tack.

Late tha t n ig h t, M u rp hy again w ent to Lew is and showed him an o rder he had signed fo r the troops to em pty the p lan ts by force the n e x t day. Lew is to ld h im : “ T om orrow m orn ing , Isha ll personally enter General M otors p la n t C hevro le t No. 4. I sha ll o rder the men to d isregard you r order, to stand fas t. I sha ll then w a lk up to the la rges t w in ­dow o f the p lan t, open it , d ivest m yse lf o f m y ou ter ra im en t, re­move m y s h ir t, and bare m y bosom. Then when you order you r troops to f ire , m ine w ill be the f i r s t breast th a t those bu lle ts w i l l s tr ik e .”

M urphy, his nerve broken, fle d from the room. General M otors, fe a rfu l th a t any a ttack on the s tr ike rs in th e ir determ ined mood would mean devastation o f its p lan ts and m achinery, crack­ed. The m uscular rum ps o f the GM w orkers pressed down on the chests o f G M ’s corporate own­ers u n til they cried “ U nc le !” On Feb. 11, 1937, GM signed a s ix - month agreem ent. I t provided tha t the company would not recognize o r deal w ith any o ther o rgan iza tion in the 17 p lan ts closed by the U A W . th a t a l l un ion is ts and s tr ik e rs would be reh ired, ’th a t un ionism coultT be discussed on company p rope rty , d u rin g lunch and rest periods, and th a t nego tia tions would p ro ­ceed. at once on wages, hours, production speedup, and o the r issues.

I t wasn’t much o f a deal by present standards. B u t i t was an in s p ir in g v ic to ry to a ll A m erican labor in 1937. The flood-gates o f class s tru g g le were opened. The c ry “ s itdo w n !” echoed fro m one corner o f the land to the other. One m onth a f te r the end o f the GM s tr ike , some 193,000 w o i'kcrs engaged in 247 s it- downs; nearly a h a lf m illio n took up th is weapon before 1937 ended. The num ber o f a ll s tr ikes rose from 2,172 in 1936 to 4,740 in 1937, w ith l,861,000i w orkers involved. T ha t is the w ay the CIO was b u ilt and consolidated.

(N e x t week. The S it-D ow n W ave and the L it t le Steel S trike .)

Previous ins ta llm en ts o f “ 20 Years o f the C IO ” may be ob­tained by w r it in g to the M il i ­tan t, 116 U n ive rs ity Place, New Y o rk 3, New Y o rk . The cost is 10c. per issue. A ll new subscribers to the M ilita n t, fo r the du ra tion o f the series, w i l l receive free copies o f previous ins ta llm en ts on request.

...S ta lin ists " Explain”(Continued from page 1)

to cover up th e ir own conspiracy.” T h is closes the m a tte r as fa r as C la rk is concerned.

He has le f t ou t a t r i f le . A s a resu lt o f these “ d iffe rences o f op in ions” hundreds o f alleged ■Titoites in the B a lkan countries and the S ov ie t U n ion were hanged and shot. H/undreds o f thousands were sent to prison o r slave labor Camps, inc lud ing m any o f the m ost devoted figh te rs fo r social­ism. There they rem ain to th is day. The Soviet governm ent has not li f te d a finge r to libera te them although a ll were v ic tim ized be­cause o f “ fab rica ted changes of conspiracy.’’

C la rk , too, passes these fram e- up v ic tim s over in silence.

SW P D E M A N DOn June 1, F a rre ll llobhs, N a ­

tio n a l Secretary o f the Socialist W orkers P a rty , cabled K h ru sh ­chev dem anding tha t “ in in te rest o f the USSR and w orld w ork ing class . . . The] release from prisons and slave labor camps a ll v ic tim s o f th is fram e-up .”

Dobbs also demanded th a t Khrushchev open the records of ¡purge tr ia ls in E ast European

countries to inves tiga tion by an in te rna tiona l c iv il libe rties com­m ittee. In addition he demanded th a t the Moscow tr ia ls o f the 1930’s be reexamined by such a body.

I f C la rk were genu ine ly con­cerned w ith co rrecting a fram e- up, he would endorse the SWlP demand. B u t th is is too much to expect fro m an apolog ist fo r the K rem lin .

A lthough the S ta lin is t fram e- up artists- were forced to back down in Y ugoslavia and ad m it th a t th e ir previous charges aga inst the cou n try ’s leaders were fab rica tions, they have no in te n ­tion o f ending the fram e-up system in the Soviet bloc its e lf. F o r th is is an essential fea tu re o f th e ir d ic ta to r ia l ru le in defense o f bureaucra tic priv ileges.

B u t m ilita n ts th rou gh ou t the w orld w o rk ing class movement w ill w an t to see jus tice done to a ll v ic tim s o f the S ta lin is t fram e- up system.

They w il l tea r th rou gh the silence o f the K re m lin apologists and ra lly to the demand fo r free ­in g a ll v ic tim s o f the S ta lin is t te r ro r machine.

THE MI LI TANT ARMYW ith the f in a l week o f the

M il ita n t subscrip tion cam paign com ing up, the f lo w o f le tte rs

and subs in to the o ffic e is increas- i n g . A g e n t s th rou gh ou t the cou n try are o r­gan iz ing fo r the f in a l push. N ext week we w ill c a rry a fu l l re ­p o rt on the s ix- week cam paign, w ha t i t accomp­lished, w h a t we

can learn fro m i t and where we go fro m jie re . M eanw hile, there is p len ty to do and fro m where we are s it t in g i t looks like p len ty is be ing done.

The T w in C ities w i l l celebrate the cam paign w ind-up w ith a social a f fa ir fe a tu r in g M il ita n t punch (an old M innesota re­freshm ent th a t packs a te r r if ic w a llo p ). Helen Sherman w rite s : “ W ith every new sub the in ­fluence o f the M il ita n t spreads — and to m ore than one person, you can be sure. The consistent re c ru it in g o f now readers is

ce rta in ly in s p ir in g the M inneap­olis cam paign.”

John Tabor sends in some subs and w rite s : “ N a te K in g ” is the h igh scorer in New Y o rk Local. He ju s t keeps p lug g in g and asks his frien ds to take a sub to the best paper th is coun try has.”

M a ry B lack o f P ittsbu rgh , re ­ports th a t the subs they are sending come fro m w orkers who have been M il ita n t readers over a period o f tim e.

A batch o f fo u r new subs, one renewal as w e ll as an F .I. renewal, was sent in by N ick Pappas fro m San Francisco.

Helen Baker who covers the Seattle f ro n t w rite s : “ A nn Med- sen and Leon Cope sold seven papers on th e ir new rou te and have the prom ise o f tw o subs. C la ra Kaye go t a donation o f $1.50 fo r a sub fo r someone who isn ’t able to a ffo rd one. So th a t w i l l be in as soon as we decide whom to g ive i t to .”

B u ffa lo has been do ing a f in e job on new subscrip tions. F o r every f iv e renewals they have sent in fo u r new ones.

Page ThreeS ubscrip tion $3 per ye a r;

•1.50 io r 6 month». F o re ig n : •4.50 p e r y e a r; $2.25 fo r 6 m onths. C anad ian : $3.50 per year; $1.75 fo r 6 m onths. Bundle O rde r» ; 5 o r more copies 0c each In U .S ., 7c each In fo re ign countries.

t o e MILITANTPublished W eekly A n the In te res ts o f the W o rk in g People THE MILITANT PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION 116 U n iv e rs ity P I.,' N . T . 3. N . Y . Phone: A L 6-7466

E d ito r : M U R R Y W EISS Business M a na g e r: DO R O TH Y JOHNSON

Signed a rtic le » by co n tr ib ­u to rs do not necessarily rei>- resent The M ili ta n t ’ s policies. These are expressed in It»ed ito ria ls .

"E n te re d as second class m a tte r M arch 7. 1944 a t the Post O ffice a t New Y ork. N .Y ., under the ac t o f M arch 3. 1879."

Vol. X IX — No. 25 M onday, June 20, 1955

T H E M I t I T S N T

The GA W and Political ActionIn a nationally syndicated article, June

12, Professor Sumner Slichter, dean of Harvard economists, cajls the guaranteed annual wage principle that auto workers got from .Ford “ supplementary unemploy­ment compensation.” He then points out that it is another example of the tendency of labor to achieve certain benefits by collective bargaining rather than by legislation.

Many will say the main thing is to achieve these benefits one way qr another, but to achieve them. True. But it is also worth while for workers to figure out the best and most efficient way — and to make su,re that by achieving it one way, they aren’t sacrificing other benefits they want and need.

Is this true with the GAW now won from Ford and General Motors? We think so. We also, think it is true about the pension and health-welfare plans won at the cost of great struggle by the unions. All of these things and more are necessary. We participated in the figh t for each of them. Yet there is a grave weakness in having to get them through collective bargaining and strikes rather than through political action.

Many workers will reply, “ But we couldn’t get them through political action, the only way we could win them was through negotiations and strikes.” That’s true. But it raises this question: Why cannot the powerful labor movement of this country, which spends so much time and energy and money for political action, win adequate pensions, free national health insurance and union-wage unemployment compensation through legislation? The reason is that the political action program of the union bureaucracy is bankrupt. Despite all the union wealth and energy expended supporting “ friends of labor” no important legislation for the workers results.

Let’s be specific. Could legislation have done a better job on the so-called GAW than the contracts signed with Ford and GM did? The GAW supplement to unem­ployment compensation will average $9 a week for 26 weeks. I f major unemployment oocurs and the $55 million fund out of which Ford will pay these benefits begins ■^-rget-loWj-as has happened-to the United

,-rfine Workers health-welfare fund, then the benefits will be cut.

I f the unions had an effective political program there is no reason why the present inadequate unemployment com­pensation laws couldn't be changed to provide increases of much more than $9 a week and for 52 weeks a year.

Slichter points out some other defects that result from doing it by contract

rather than legislation. For example sup­plementary compensation through union contract rather than law benefits only that part of the working class in unions. By legislation all workers in the country — organized and unorganized — would benefit. This could be of great help in organizing that 50% or more of the work­ing class that is still unorganized.

Furthermore there are many unions in “ depressed” industries that have no prospect of winning the supplementary un­employment compensation now. Take the CIO Textile workers in the cotton-ravon industry for example. Three years ago they had to accept a 6%% wage cut. At present they have been on strike for two ryonths — not for a wage increase but against a 10c. an hour cut the bosses are demanding. Wouldn’t increased unemploy­ment compensation by legislation be better for them?

Reuther’s GAW principle (also the pen­sion plans) ties the individual worker to the plant even though from choice or need he might want to change jobs. What about someone who has to move to another city ? He loses the benefits he has piled up. Or the worker who can get a better job in another plant? He has to sacrifice the benefits he has earned. I f there were na­tional legislation this wouldn’t happen, The benefits would go with the worker to whatever job or city he moved.

Finally there is a big defect in getting things through contracts that should be got through legislation. I t is that to get them the union leaders have to sacrifice demands that can be best got through collective bargaining or strike action. For example Reuther, in order to get his GAW “ principle,” had to be silent on the demand for a 30-hour week at 40-hours’ pay. He had to trim wage demands. He had to abandon any attempt to do anything on speed-up and all the other issues that are causing the Ford and GM workers to go out on strikes.

What’s the answer? Get the labor move­ment to use both its arms effectively — the political as well as the economic; the vote as well as the strike. That means or- ganizing a Labor Party that will get results in Washington and the state capitols instead of the yun-around.

Then benefits that can best be won b.f legislation will be won that way. Benefits that can best be won by militant union action can be won that way. And when the two arms of Labor — the political and the economic — are used together the workers can do anything — including running the country for the benefit of the workers and farmers and not for Big Business.

Why the Ford Workers Dislike ContractD E T R O IT , Juno 13 — From

a ll ind ications, next week’s vote a t C IO A u to W orkers ’ Ford Local 600 on acceptance o r re ­jec tion o f the proposed Ford con tract w i l l b ring out a re la ­tiv e ly h igh No vote, despite the recommendations o f W a lte r Keu- the r and his fo rm e r opponent, C a ll S te lla to , 600 president.

The f i r s t signs o f d isappo in t­m ent and opposition to the con­tra c t came when w ildca t s trikes by sk illed and production w o rk ­ers shu t down m ost o f the Rouge p lan t last week. A f te r the w ildca ts were ended, the d isappointm ent and opposition became strengthened when the w orkers had an o p p o rtu n ity to become acquainted w ith the de­ta ils o f the con tract.

They are lea rn ing tha t the so- called Guaranteed Annual Wage, fo r which so many o ther de­mands on wage and w o rk ing conditions were surrendered, has more shadow (o r “ p rinc ip le ,” as Reuther would put i t ) than sub­stance.

They have learned fo r example, tha t w orkers w ith up to 10 years sen io rity ( th a t is, the b u lk of those who would be a ffected in an y th in g b u t a com plete shu t­down) would have to w o rk 32 hours a week fo r 92 weeks be­fo re they could accum ulate 26 cred its, the m axim um allow able under the plan.

B u t th is would no t en title such an employee to 26 weeks o f supplem entary compensation, because th a t in tu rn would de­pend upon w h a t p ro po rtion o f $55,000,000 (the m axim um o f the fu n d ) was ac tu a lly available. Thus a w o rke r w ith 10 years’

S te lla to T ries to E x p la in

Ford U A W Local 600 Pres. C arl S te lla to (cen te r) shown te llin g w orkers outside Rouge P lan t th a t s tr ik e deadline has been extended. When he reported the settlement, a t a la te r m eeting, some w orkers booed him and 5,000 s tru ck in p ro test against a mere 8-ccnt raise fo r too l and diem akers.

sen io rity who had accumulated, 26 cred its w ould be en titled to on ly a l i t t le m ore than 5 weeks o f supplem entary benefits i f the fund were a t the 13% level.

They also learned, fo r ex­ample, th a t they w ou ld n o t be e lig ib le fo r such bene fits i f they were la id o f f fo r d isc ip lin a ry reasons o r i f i t were a conse­quence o f “ ( i ) any s tr ike , slow­down, w ork stoppage, p icke ting (w hethe r o r no t by employees,

o r conceited action, a t a Com­pany P la n t o r P lants , o r any dispute o f any k in d in v o lv in g employees, w hethe r a t a Com­pany P la n t o r P lan ts o r else­where, o r ( i i ) any fau l,t a t t r ib u ­tab le to the ap p lican t o r ( i i i ) any w a r o r hostile a c t o f a fo re ign power . . . o r ( iv ) sab­otage, o r insurrection , o r (v ) any act o f God.”

T h is is broad enough to per-' m it the com pany to declare

¡•»workers a t the Rouge p la n t in Dearborn in e lig ib le i f members o f Jehovah’s W itnesses were to p icket the F ord je t engine job in Chicago.

Ford w orkers are d issatis fied w ith a th ree -yea r con tract. They are unhappy about the lack o f an across-the-board wage raise. But they are above ¡111 discon­tented by the U A W leadership ’s unw illingness to f ig h t to im ­prove p lan t w o rk ing conditions th a t have s low ly but s tead ily worsened in the long period o f the five -ye a r con tract.

Reuther has boasted o f the un ion ’s “ g e ttin g a fo o t in the door” on the G AW . In a c tu a lity , i t is the company th a t has suc­ceeded in open ing the door w ide to the complete e lim in a tio n o f the union as a defense fo r w o rk ­ers aga inst the, speedup.

In the m ost vic ious clause ever w r itte n in to a U A W con­tra c t, F o rd is g iven the r ig h t in the new con tract to discharge w o rkers even i f the y w o rk A B O V E e x is tin g standards o f production. I t has also won the r ig h t to in s is t upon fu lf i l lm e n t o f standards even w h ile they are under dispute.

The clause in question, A r ­tic le V , Section 5, reads as fo l­low s:

“ Employees p a rtic ip a tin g in unauthorized w o rk stoppages o r slowdowns (e ith e r a t a ra te be­low o r above the established standards) sha ll be sub ject to discharge. W here a standard has been placed in e ffe c t by the Company, and such standard is in dispute, the employees are required to w o rk under the d is­puted standard w ith the same

diligence and e f fo r t as i f the re were no d ispute .”

BOSS’ S T R A T E G YThe com pany was sm art

enough to g e t th is clause ap­plied, a t present, fo r the ro llin g m ill d iv is ion . They counted on the cowardice o f the leadership to ge t i t accepted since i t con­cerned on ly a m in o r ity o f the w orkers. The demands o f the tool and die w orkers fo r a Wage increase to remove some o f the inequ ities w ith the jo bb ing shops were also those o f a m in o r ity . The same goes fo r the demand o f w orkers in the' m a n -k illin g fo u n d ry fo r an e x tra n ick le , and the demand o f the m aintenance w orkers fo r p ro tec tion aga inst outside con tractors. These were a ll demands o f “ m in o ritie s ,” and thus were disregarded.

The old, s trong un ion p r in c i­ple, “ an in ju r y to one is an in ju r y to a ll, ” is be ing destroyed by the com pany as i t p lays one group o f w o rke rs aga ins t an­other. W ith the connivance o f the union leadership, the s treng th o f in d u s tr ia l un ionism , u n it in g a ll w o rke rs as w orkers, is being changed in to its opposite.

The need o f the tim es is fo r the s trong resta tem ent o f th is old p rin c ip le and its fus io n w ith new ideas and new needs — a sho rte r w ork week, a Labor P a rty , a new k ind o f leadership in the unions. T h is need was never m ore c le a rly s ta ted than in the recent set o f negotia tions.

La s t week’s w ild c a t s trikes , lim ite d as they were, po in ted to the eventual fu lf i l lm e n t o f th is need.

...Local Strikes Protest Auto Contracts

Latin-American Students on March“ Students on ‘Mai'ch’ In South Amer­

ica,” reads a headline in the June 11 Christian Science Monitor. This, along with reports of woi’kers’ strikes, is heartening news for all lovei*s of freedom and social progress; conversely, it sends shivers down the spines of the U.S. State Department and the oil, mining, banking, fru it and other imperialists who batten off the wealth of Latin America.

For the marching of students in Latin America is the sure harbinger of political and social revolution. This is true of other colonal and semi-colonial countries. I t is true because the students in these im­perialist-ridden parts of the world often represent the conscience and courage of the population.

Traditionally Latin American students have dared speak out and act against the m ilitary dictators and Wall Street puppets

even when others are cowed by fear and terror.

A t such moments the students, spokes­men for the silent masses, — dare all. They take the police beatings and deporta­tions. Their imprisonment and hunger strikes have often served to shock the workers and peasants into revolutionary action.

According to the same dispatch, “ Here in Chile, the Ibanez government is reeling — this is no exaggeration — before the students.” In Peru the despot Odria is similarly being assailed. More power to these heroic young people. They are the advance skirmishers for the great armies of workers and peasants who will finally oust the militarists and imperialist pup­pets and establish socialism, thus reclaim­ing Latin America for the people of Latin America.

The New Line on TitoIs Tito a “ fascist” and “ imperialist

agent” ? Or is he a valiant fighter for Socialism? Yesterday the Stalinists slan­dered him as the one. Today they flatter him as the other.

In either case their protrayal of Tito bears no relation to ’the truth.

For example, in the June 8 Daily Worker, Joseph Clark undertakes to erase the previous Stalinist frame-up against the Yugoslav leaders.

He answers a letter fi*om a rank and file CP member, who states, “ The Com inform exposure of Tito was not an error. I t was as necessary as Lenin’s exposure of Kautsky.”

I t is clear that the rank and file member was taken in by. the poisonous inventions cooked up by th§ MVD frame-up artists at the time of the Stalin-Tito bi-eak and subsequently. A t the same time he implies legitimate criticism of such acts as the Yugoslav leaders’ support of the Western imperialist intervention in civil war in Korea.

That stand was a betrayal of the strug­gle for socialism and was denounced as such by revolutionary socialists, who were

also protesting the Stalinist frame-up of the Titoists.

But Clark is not a revolutionary social­ist. He is a Stalihist hack.

He has no real difference in principle with the type of opportunism Tito displayed during the Korean war. For the Yugoslav leaders at that time were simply following the method of the reac­tionary Stalinist theory of building Social­ism in one countx'y to its logical conclusion. They sacrificed considerations of interna­tional working class revolution in exchange for promises of material aid fi’om imperial­ism. This is standard operational procedure for the Stalinists.

Clai'k’s criticism of the Yugoslavs’ con­duct dui'ing the Korean war is so mild, so considei'ate, it amounts to a whitewash job, whereas previously Clark was one of the fiercest slanderers of the Tito regime.

Neither method — neither slander of political opponents, nor whitewash of op­portunist betrayal — can educate the van­guard of the workers movement for the struggle against capitalism.

What is needed on all questions is the method of revolutionary socialism — to tell the truth fearlessly.

chopped i t down and c u t i t up th in , f t pays no benefits fo r a whole year. The m axim um benefits w ill be $25 a week added to un ­em ploym ent compensation fo r a m axim um o f 26 wee!®. But most workers won’t be e lig ib le fo r e ithe r m axim um . Reuther h im se lf said, two days before accepting the Ford o ffe r , th a t i t would average about $9 a week fo r la id -o f f w o rkers . I f there is a serious depression and the lim ited tru s t fund runs ou t o f money, the workers w i l l be ou t o f luck and collect no th ing a t a ll.

The question is being argued: D id R euther ge t even the “ p r in ­cip le” fo r which he was w illin g to le t ju s t about eve ry th in g else go by the board? Reuther na tu ­ra l ly c la im s he did, but the answer is s t i l l uncerta in . The corpora tions are ju s tified in p o in t­in g to the m any lim ita tio n s , res tric tio ns and safeguards they loaded onto Reuther’s p lan . Ques­tions o f q u a n tity can a ffe c t questions o f qua lity . I t m ay ye t tu rn out that, w h a t R euther won was on ly the shadow o f a p r in ­ciple.

L ike the corporations, R euther wants “ labor peace” and is h ig h ly satisfied w ith the new contracts. B u t you would have to look fa r and wide to find a U A W member in the D e tro it area who th in k s the new contracts represent a b ig v ic to ry fo r the un ion; and then, lik e as not, i t would be a U A W o ffice r ra th e r than a rank and file w orker.

There s im p ly isn ’t much en­thusiasm here over the sup­plem ental unem ploym ent benefits. Maybe i t is d iffe re n t w ith w o rk ­ers in the newer auto p lants, who have less -seniority on the average than those here. A nyhow , the w orkers here, even according to the ca p ita lis t papers, ap­pa ren tly are “ not im pressed” by th is fea tu re o f the con tract, and th in k i t less im p o rta n t than some o f th e ir demands on w o rk in g con­d itions th a t were dropped w ith l i t t le discussion in to the waste­basket under the ba rga in ing table.

T h is does no t mean th a t the m a jo r ity o f the G!M and Ford w orkers are go ing to vote aga inst the new contracts. They are

c r it ic a l o f some clauses and in ­clined to dism iss the R euthe rite cla im s about a “ b ig v ic to ry .” B y the unauthorized w alkouts a la rge number showed th e ir readiness to fig h t, b u t a t the same tim e a m a jo r ity were ap pa ren tly re lieved that! they d id ge t some sm all con­cessions w ith o u t having to s tr ik e fo r them.

I f the new comtract means essentia lly a tem porary con tinua­tio n o f the sta tus quo between the corpora tions and the union, then i t also means essentia lly a tem porary con tinua tion o f the present re la tions between the union ranks and the un ion leader­ship. The w orkers know th a t w ith a more m il ita n t leadership they could have won much m ore in th is yea r’s negotia tions, and they would have fo llow ed such a leader­ship. B u t m ost o f them do not see the way to g e t a m ore m i l i ­ta n t leadership now.

W H A T W A L K O U T S SHOWIn th is context, i t w ou ld be

hard to v iew the w a lkou ts o f las t week a t Ford and th is week a t GM as the be g inn ing o f a fu l l -

. . . Los Angeles » The Typical Cold-War City(Continued fro m page 1)

o il, gas, m in ing , a g ricu ltu re , fish ing. The a rr iv a l o f 433 m er­chant ships in local harbors d u r­ing M arch gives some idea o f the scope o f com m ercial a c tiv ity .

In d u s tr ia l expansion and popu­la tion g ro w th have spurred a construction boom. A m u ltitu de o f one-fam ily houses spraw l across h ill and va lley . New homes o f o rd in a ry types’ sell fo r re la tiv e ly low down paym ents w ith long term m ortgages o f fro m 20 to 30 years.

'B ig insurance ou tfits hold m any o f these m ortgages. The P ruden tia l Insurance Co. alone issued over $8 m illio n in housing loans lo ca lly d u rin g the f ir s t two m onths o f 1955. In do ing so the P ruden tia l assumed the d irec t ro le o f land lord over w ou ldrbe home owners pay ing o f f m o rt­gages.

These financier-land lords o ften discourage com m unity o rgan iza­tion among tenants, no m a tte r w hat the o r ig in a l purpose m ay be. They fea r general associa­tion may lead to fo rm a tion of tenants groups capable o f res is t­in g ev ic tion o f home buyers who can’t meet m ortgage paym ents.

F ear o f m ortgage de fau lts is no doubt ju s tified . The whole lo ­cal boom is founded p r im a r ily on w a r production. A ccord ing to the Cham ber o f Commerce the a irc ra f t in d u s try has cu rre n t a ir force contracts to ta llin g $6 b illion .

The same source rep o rts elec­tron ics production runs m a in ly to radar, sonar and s im ila r m il­ita ry apparatus. Industries lik e o il and chemicals also ge t a b ig cut o f the w ar-p roduction pie. N o th in g about the present pros­p e r ity re flec ts any fundam enta l soundness in the ca p ita lis t econ­omy. The bubble can break a t any tim e.

Sensing the a r t if ic ia li ty o f the boom, the w o rkers usua lly tend to get a ll they can w h ile they can. M axim um fa m ily ea rn ing pow er is developed by p u ttin g in

overtim e, ta k in g ex tra jobs and through both husband and w ife w ork ing .

POSSESSION A N D D E B TSW ith increased income they

tend to live a l i t t le be tte r, go ing in fo r in s ta llm e n t buying on a la rg e r scale and perhaps s ta r t ­ing paym ents on a new home. Tw o-car fa m ilie s are qu ite com­monplace in th is c ity o f vast distances where public tra n sp o r­ta tio n is abominable.

A ltho ug h they appear prosper­ous in term s o f possessions, m any fam ilies are heavily in debt fo r (h e ir purchases. The loss o f as l i t t le as a wee.k’s pay can in some cases th ru s t them (o the b r in k o f cris is .

Even though the fa m ily bud­get m ay rem a in in balance, fe a r s t i l l haunts the household. I t arises fro m concern about the atom ic fa ll-o u t, the th rea t o f an H-bom b w a r and the rea liza tion th a t next tim e th is coun try won’t be spared fro m death and des­truc tion . To make th in gs worse the w orkers see a th re a t o f un ­em ploym ent unless w a r produc­tion continues and even then they fe a r autom ation w i l l s tr ip m any o f th e ir jobs.

Deep fee lings o f in secu rity develop, causing the fa m ily to tu rn inw ard in search o f escape from exte rna l re a lity . Opiates are sought in the fo rm o f TV , o r p u tte r in g around the house and garden, o r t in k e r in g w ith “ Do i t Y o u rse lf” gadgets. Much o f the new tu rn to re lig io n and the success o f B il ly G raham ’s rev iva l c ircus can be a ttr ib u te d to th is fundam enta l cause.

U nder the hypnosis o f th is “ new n o rm a lity ,” a m a jo r ity o f the popu lation stands momen­ta r i ly im m obilized both econom­ica lly and p o lit ic a lly . They ac­cept cap ita lism and ca p ita lis t po litics. They provide a base fo r the un ion bureaucracy and, in th is c ity , a means fo r m a in ta in ­in g the open shop in m any spheres.

Y e t the hypnosis is fa r from

burs ts ; when unem ployed w o rk ­ers face ev ic tion fro m th e ir homes and seizure o f th e ir autos and T V sets; when pious preach­ing fa ils to qu ie t the pangs o f hunger and the superm arkets s t i l l demand cash fo r groceries.

Once gripped by social cris is , Los Angeles m ay w e ll leap fro m the rea rguard to the vanguard o f the labor movement, as did M inneapolis in 1934. On January 1 o f th a t year M inneapo lis was one o f the w orst open shop c ities in the coun try . E ig h t m onths and th ree b it te r s tr ike s la te r i t stood among the m ost dynam ic o f union towns.

W hen the Los Angeles w o rk ­ers act they can be expected to f ig h t fo r m ore than sta ffe r un ion con tracts and the defeat o f the open shop holdouts. They can be expected to move tow a rd the Labor P a rty p o lit ic a l road and in the process g ive a push to the whole labo r movement.

These com ing s trugg les w il l be g re a t events to w ork tow ard , bu ild in g p a tie n tly and pe rs is t­e n tly today in order to he lp p re ­pare success tom orrow .

[F a r re ll Dobbs recen tly com­pleted a na tiona l to u r d u rin g which we published h is on-the- spot reports and analyses o f the economic and p o lit ic a l s itua tion in some o f the m a in in d u s tr ia l centers o f the coun try . Comrade Dobbs is now com ple ting these reports in a n u m b e r'o f a rtic le s .]

scale rad iea liza tion o f the w o rk ­ers. They are evidence, ra th e r, o f fru s tra t io n and not-w ho lly-defined discontent w ith the polic ies o f the leadership by an im p o rta n t section o f the m em bership; p ro o f th a t m ilita n c y has n o t been drowned ou t in the general atmosphere o f conservatism which was produced by the economic s itua tion and is consciously fos ­tered by the R eutherites; and advance indica tions o f the rada- ca liza tion th a t is bound to come when economic conditions de­te rio ra te , as they in ev ita b ly w ill.

There are some 'who under­estim ate the w o rkers ’ discontent, m ere ly because much o f i t is passive now. T h a t was ev iden tly w hat Carl S te lla to d id las t week. A t the U A W convention in M arch, a lm ost one - th ird o f the delegates voted fo r h im when he ran fo r office because they fe lt he represented an a lte rna tive to the R euther type o f leadership, or m ig h t serve as a check on it . The b ig Rouge Local 600, the m ain center o f anti-Reuthertso ii in the U A W , la s t m onth re-elected h im president by an ove rw he lm ing m a jo r ity because they looked to h im to defend th e ir in te rests a t the Ford ne go tia tin g table.

But S te lla to went a long w ith R euther in the negotia tions, and look fu l l respons ib ility fo r the con tract th a t proved to be un­popu lar at the Rouge. H av ing done th is , he also had to o rder the s tr ik e rs back to w ork. H is s tand ing among the m ilita n ts in Local 600 is the re fo re con­siderably low er today than i t was last m onth.

P r im a r ily , th is is because S te l­la to had no p rogram in the nego tia tions d if fe r in g fro m R euth ­e r’s. B u t i t ’s also because S te l­la to made a fa lse estim ate o f the sentim ents o f a la rge section o f h is own local. He overestim ated th e ir complacency and under­estim ated th e ir m ilita n cy .

Conservatism is s t i l l dom inant in the awito p lants, bu t i t is not un ive rsa l; there are m any who are ready to f ig h t even now — am ong both the sk illed w orkers and the p roduction w o rk ere. W ha t they lack is a p rogram th a t can ra l ly the o ther w orkers around them and enable them to w in rea l concessions fro m the corpora tions. S upp ly ing th is p ro ­gram , and he lp ing to c rys ta llize the leadership o f the com ing le ft w ing th a t w i l l challenge both the corpora tions and the Reuther bureaucracy, is the main job o f class-conscious w orkers today.

M ore than e ig h t m illio n per­sons in the South, according to recen tly released s ta tis tics o f the U.S. D epartm ent o f Commeree, s t i l l receive incomes below $500 a year.

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(Continued fro m page 1)should fe d g ra te fu l to the U A W leadership, which asked re la tive ly l i t t le and settled fo r less.

“ R E A S O N A B L E ” R E U T H E RReuther approached the ba r­

ga in ing table no t in the s p ir it o f Struggle, b u t o f conc ilia tion and compromise. He took a s tr ik e vote, .bluit acted as though a stroke would be the greatest catastrophe in the w orld . H is main emphasis was on showing how “ reasonable” his demands were and th a t they would benefit ra th e r than h u r t the employers.

H is ch ie f i f no t on ly in te res t in the nego tia tions was h is g u a r­anteed annual wage p lan . Even here, he said, he was m ore in ­terested in estab lish ing a “ p r in ­c ip le ” than in mere do lla rs-and- cents, fo r which he professed a certa in lo f ty disdain.

T h is kind o f ba rga in ing was r ig h t up the corpora tions’ a lley. Since a ll Reuther asked fo r was a “ p rinc ip le ,” they gave him som ething th a t could be labeled one.

As fo r the p lan its e lf, they

complete. Much resentm ent is expressed jn the p lan ts against hard and hazardous w o rk ing conditions, especially the s t if fe n ­ing speedup pressures. A t Gen­era l M otors a b ig labor tu rn ­over takes place because o f bad job conditions. Since the w orkers can usually find new jobs today they tend to q u it instead o f s tay in g to f ig h t i t out w ith m an­agement.

A n exception to th is tendency occurs am ong m in o r ity peoples w o rk in g in in d u s try . D is c r im in ­ation in h ir in g leaves them less choice o f jobs, so they usua lly s tick i t ou t a t GM and o ther speedup hells o f the c ity . T h e ir insecure position was reflected in la y o ffs a t Consolidated Steel d u rin g the recent slump. H a rd ­est h it were •Mexican-Am ericans, who comprise one-th ird , and N e­groes, who cons titu te one-tenth o f the to ta l w o rk force.

M in o r ity peoples have found qu ite a few jobs in the spo rts ­w ear line o f the ga rm en t indus­try . There they have fa lle n v ic ­tim to a steady decline in rates th a t has cu t wages to about h a lf the W orld W a r I I figu re . In fa c t wage rates fo r the ga rm en t in ­du s try in general are be low the average paid in mass production industries. T h is is no t su rp ris ­in g since on ly one-eighth o f the ga rm en t w orkers are organized, due to bu ng lin g leadership and the c r ip p lin g e ffe c t o f the T a ft- H a rtle y law . on the union.

Conditions lik e these create re ce p tiv ity to c lass-strugg le p o l­icies despite the general a tm os­phere o f pass iv ity . W orker? are present who w ill respond to an ind ic tm en t o f the c a p ita lis t sys­tem as a whole and to a tra n s i­tiona l program tow ard socialism . T h a t is shown by a loca l steel w o rke r who said, “ The M il ita n t makes me th in k .”

W H E N B U B B L E B U R S TS ocia lis t a c t iv ity am ong these

elements today w i l l he lp p re ­pare fo r the s trugg les to come when the Los Angeles - bubble

The Negro Struggle— — — — — By John Thayer ------------------------- THE MILITANT

i

Something of Value?Robert Ruark’s “ Something of Value,”

published two months ago has climbed to se’cond place on the best seller list. I t is a Book-of-the-Month Club selection. Holly­wood is to make a movie of it. I t will in­fluence the ideas of many about Negroes in general and African Negroes in par­ticular.

Ruark is a columnist for the reactionary Scripps-Howard newspaper chain. He belongs to the violent-language school of column writing founded by Westbrook Pegler. He loves such themes as the need to get tough with juvenile delinquents instead of “ coddling” them and why the death penalty should be used more. From North Carolina originally, he now lives abroad much of the time. Franco Spain is his favorite residence. A big-game hunter, he has spent a good deal of time in Kenya and is very friendly with, and admiring of, the white ruling class there.

The aspect of Ruark’s novel that has drawn the comment of all the book review­ers is its brutality. In this epoch of capital­ist decay with its world wars, fascism, A-bombs, etc., cruelty and death have be­come more and more prominent aspects of life. These are legitimate subjects for novelists and their fascination for such bona fide artists as Hemingway and Mai- raux has often been commented on. For Ruark, however, they are the only im­portant things. His book contains endless floating, minutely-detailed descriptions of beheadings, castrations and countless other forms of torture and killing. I t is a super-sadist Mickey Spillane work set in Africa.

Ruark starts with a plot device often used to depict both sides in a conflict. As in the old Blue-and-the-Grey plays and novels about the American civil war we start o ff with two boyhood friends, whose- paths diverge as they grow up until at the climax they meet on the battlefield on op­posite sides. In “ Something of Value” the two boys are Peter, the white boy, son of a big farmer, and Kimani, the African, son of the plantation foreman. Peter becomes the fearless white hunter, who switches from killing big game to killing Mau Mau, while Kimani becomes a Mau Mau leader.

Now this is a plot device to present the hopes, ideals and fortunes of the opposite sides in a conflict. But Ruark soon drops all pretense of this and uses it to doubly damn the Africans. They are damned by his presentation of the white side and then

they are damned again by their own words and deeds as he presents them. Kimani is represented as not really believing in the aims of the movement he fights for. He is with the Mau Mau through accident, op­portunism and because he can’t get out. The movement itself is portrayed by Ruark as devoid of decency or ideals, the diaboli­cal scheme of a megalomaniac African, spoiled by too much education (Jomo Kenyatta) and of conspirators from Russia.

Ruark makes no claim of having got this picture from Africans or of even hearing their side of the story. On the contrary he got it from the whites of Kenya. As evidence it is, therefore, absolutely worth­less. But his descriptions of the treatment of Africans by the white volunteer militia has value as evidence. He got this informa­tion firsthand from his friends — the white gentlemen farmers and businessmen Who are engaged in this bloody work.

Thus “Something of Value” has some value. Not as a literary work, for it is spiritually debasing. Not as an explanation of the civil war in Kenya, for it is viciously one-sided. But it does give us a picture of the racist mentality and sadistic deeds of the white rulers of Kenya. I t is not unfair to them since it comes from the pen of one of their most ardent admirers. The book has the same kind of value that H itler’s “ Mein Kampf” had for the student of fascism.

Here are a few samples from Ruark’s account of the white settlers’ police action. Peter (the hero) and another volunteer, in order to make a young African give information, take him with five other prisoners, who can’t be made to talk, out of the concentration camp into the forest. As an object lesson they dig the eyes out of the firs t victim, an old man; castrate the second, a young man; cut the heart out of the third, a boy, while he is still alive; the tongue is cut out of the fourth; then the head cut o ff the fifth . The gruesome results of these torture-murders are then thrown over the fence of the prison camp for the edification of the “ barbaric” prisoners.

Another exploit of Peter, the superman hunter and beau ideal of the author, is participation in a surprise attack on the mountain hideout of a Mau Mau band. With great relish Ruark describes the killing of each and every man, woman and child.

(Concluded next week)

Our Best Investment---------------------------- By Robert Chester ---------------------------------- -

Driving to work through hectic New York morning tra ffic can have its com­pensations. You hear the latest weather report, learn the latest h it tune and catch up on the news. I have been attracted, however, to the financial news programs that are becoming more frequent. They are usually sponsored by some fancy in­vestor outfit having four or more names, like Smith, Jones, Kerrigan, Chambers and Co.

The programs present some interesting facts, like the recent South American coffee price-fixing agreement or the latest merger. But the main pitch is aimed at the aspiring investor. Did you know that R. H. Macy has paid a dividend every year for 25 years? Or that municipal bonds ? -e tax free? I f this excites your appetite for some ready income write for a fancy brochure and add your name to the sucker list.

Stocks are at a 25 year high. Twenty- five years back — that’s 1929! But any mention of that black year is strictly verboten in the financial newscasters’ copy. A fter all, their interest is to suck in the small investors — and not scare them away. These silken-tongued salesmen would rather use the moral approach.

“ Participate in building America’s fu­ture,” they urge.

These outfits, dangling riches before our eyes, never concern themselves with the source of all this wealth. The explanation that it comes from the labor of the Amer­ican worker, sweating away at the highest rate of exploitation the world has seen, is simply denounced as subversive propa­ganda.

Even that super-sweatshop, the Ford Motor Company, tried to get in on. the act. I t offered a fancy stock scheme to the Ford workers, instead of a guaranteed annual wage, hoping to convince them that every worker is a potential capitalist and needn’t depend on a union contract for security. There is nothing like a few shares of stock, they reasoned, to make the most radical worker a dyed-in-the-wool con­servative. The Ford workers saw through this without trouble, and the scheme died painlessly.

The real investment today is not in the stock market which is soaring upward preparing for a stupendous fall. True wealth lies in the stored-up fighting strength of the working class which alone has thp power and organization to take a topsy-turvy society and set it on its feet again.

Notes from the NewsR U N A W A Y R U N S IN T O U N IO N . The A m e r­

ican S a fe ty Razor Co. w h ich ran aw ay fro m B roo k lyn to S taunton, Va., lo s t its f ig h t bo keep its new Southern w orkers fro m organ iz ing . The C IO E le c tr ica l W orkers won in a landslide. In over 600 votes on ly 24 were fo r “ no un ion.” The local newspaper propagandized fo r the company w ith ed ito ria ls th a t “ im pos ition o f B rook lyn wage scales here w ould tend to d is ru p t the en tire local economy. . The w orkers appa ren tly f ig u re th a t is ju s t the k in d o f d is rup tion the Southern economy needs.

* * *T H E U.S. S E N A T E , Jgne 8, passed the Dem o­

cra tic -sponso r ed m in im um wage b il l ra is in g h o u rly pay fro m 75c. to $1.00. T h a t’s ten cents m ore than E isenhower proposed and 25c. less than the labo r m ovem ent demanded. B u t the Democrats re jected E isenhow er’s proposal to extend the le g is la tio n to cover m ore w orkers. T h is w ill be studied fo r possible action n e x t year, say the Dem ocrats.

* * *

A L IC E N S E TO S T E A L w ouldn ’ t b r in g in m ore e x tra p ro fits fo r the m eat packing in du s try than sex d iffe re n tia ls in pay. I f the m ea t products business had to pay women a t the same ra te as men, i t would cost an e x tra $4,706,352 a year, the C IO U n ited Packinghouse W orke rs o f A m erica

estimates. N egro women are a t the ve ry bottom o f the pay scale.

* * *

E Q U A L P A Y FOR E Q U A L W O R K b ills have been introduced, in both houses o f Congress. Representative Green (O regon) in in troduc ing her b i l l said “ when women are underpaid they s u ffe r u n ju s t d isc rim ina tion . . , T h is tends to undercut the wage standards o f male w orkers .” Both House and Senate Labor Com m ittees held hearings on s im ila r b ills in previous sessions but ne ithe r reported them ou t favo ra b ly .

* * *

T H E SHO RTER W O R K W E E K has become more preva lent in un ion con tracts d u rin g the la s t tw o years, reports the A F L Research Departm ent. A lm ost one w o rke r in s ix now w orks less than 40 hours, bu t on ly one th ird o f th is group is in m anufactu ring .

* * *

W ESTBR O O K P E G LE R A N D T H E H E A R S T C O R PO R ATIO N w i l l have to pay the $175,001 libe l s u it won hy newspaperman Quentin Reynolds, the U.S. C ourt o f A ppeals has ru led. T h is is the la te s t stage o f the ba ttle th a t began in 1049 when P eg ler changed Reynolds w ith be ing a coward, a w a r pro fiteer, and absentee w a r correspondent, a nu d is t and a man o f loose m ora ls and suspect politics.

V O LU M E X IX M O N D A Y , J U N E 20, 1955 N U M B E R 25

Score M a y o r’s S trike b rea k in g

S tr ik in g members o f the U n ited E lectrica l, Radio and Machine W orkers (independent) p icket the c ity ha ll in New B rita in , Conn., p ro testing M ayor E dw ard Scott’s sponsorship of a company- s tr ikeb rea k ing po ll. W orkers, on s tr ik e against Landers F ra ry & C la rk fo r three months, have backing o f a ll A F L and CIO unions in the town.

...Auto Walkouts Protest Speed-up(Continued fro m page 1)

bosses or the w orker? L e t’s get some guys in there who w ill f ig h t fo r us.” (See the rep o rt on the Ford Rouge figh t on Page 3.)

N early 5,000 GM w orkers in Trenton, New Jersey, won th e ir demands in a t.wo-day w a lkou t. They demanded the same wage scale th a t p reva iled in D e tro it. As a resu lt o f th e ir m ilita n t local action, these workers got an ex tra eleven cents an hour.

The Chevro let and F isher Body factories in N o rth T a rry tow rij New Y o rk , are s t i l l closed. W ith 5,000 workers on s tr ike , questions o f sen io rity in re h ir in g and job- tra n s fe r preference are s t i l l un ­settled.

R E U T H E R ’S T H R E A T SW h ile General M otors th rea ten­

ed the w o rke rs w ith im m ediate f ir in g as punishm ent fo r w a lk ­outs, the union bureaucrats rushed around like forem en t r y ­ing to herd the w orkers back on the job. Reuther sent a te legram to a ll local union leaders o rdering them to “ w ork tire less ly tow ard ending these unauthorized w a lk ­outs’’ and warned th a t the “ union- can not assure pro tection against resu ltin g d is c ip lin a ry aotion.”

Reuther fo rg o t th a t he isn ’t the union. The union consists o f the men and women in the plants. W ith o u t these pien and women, Reuther can’t “ p ro te c t” anyone.

L IN D E N GM S T R IK EThe events o f June 7 at G M ’s

Buiek-O ldsm obile-Pontiac assem­bly p la n t in Linden, New Jersey,

revealed the mood o f the rank and file auto w orkers. Accord ing to a ll reports w hat happened a t L inden is typ ica l o f m any other p lants.

A m eeting was organized by n ig h t s h if t w orkers in f ro n t of the main gate. A s w orkers began a rr iv in g fo r the n ig h t s h ift, on ly a hand fu l entered the p lan t. The rest gathered in groups w a itin g fo r the outcome o f the meeting. M ost o f thorn held lea fle ts d is ­tr ibu te d by' shop com m ittee men “ w a rn in g ” the men against ta k in g ■hasty action. The aiir was punctured w ith shouts o f “ L e t’s go hom e!” “ S hu t the damn p lan t dow n !” “ W here’s the p icke t lin e ? ”

One group o f w orkers was d is­cussing scheduled a lte ra tio ns in the p la n t which would enable the company to speed up the assembly lines fro m the present 55 cars an hour to 70 an hour.

In another group a w orker commented, “ I ’ve been w o rk ing overtim e fo u r solid m onths and I ’m tired . I hope we go on s trike fo r a t least a week so I can get a rest.”

When the m eeting go t under w ay a spokesman fo r the n ig h t shift, stood on two pop cases. He p u t the decision fo r s tr ik e up to the w orkers, saying lie would s tr ike or w o rk whichever they wanted.

“ W E ’RE T H E U N IO N ”W hile he was ta lk in g an old-

t im e r rem arked to those around h im , “ W hat we need ou t here are a couple o f rad ica ls. These guys are a fra id to do an y th in g .”

A local o ffic ia l then spoke, w a rn in g the workers o f the con­sequences o f a “ w ildca t.” When he pointed out th a t there was no th ing the union could do to help them i f they walked out, a w orker shouted a n g r ily from the crowd, “ W hat do you mean — there is no th ing the union can do to help us? W e’re the u n io n !" O thers jo ined in w ith , “ T h a t’s r ig h t. We’re the un ion.”

The w orkers fin a lly entered the p la n t w ith the understand ing th a t the re would be another special m ooting the fo llo w in g day a t which the local president who was out o f tow n would re p o rt on the local agreement.

However, la te r th a t n ig h t some 70 production w orkers w a lked out o f the p lan t, th re w up a p icke t line and shut the p la n t down fo r one day before re tu rn in g to work.

When s tr ik e action fina lly sub­sided one young m ilita n t com­mented, “ The next tim e we go, we’ll be organized.”

A u to w orkers a ll over the coun try knew th a t th is tim e th ings were be ing settled a t the top. They weren’t ye t prepared, w ith e ithe r a program - o r o rgan­iza tion to remedy th a t. But ne ither were they go ing to le t it pass unchallenged. A t least 250,- 000 protested w ith s tr ik e action. N o th ing tha t Reuther got in the negotia tions could change the ever-present fact o f the speed-up. Even i f on ly fo r a few days, the rush o f ears down the production line had to be stopped.

. ..Doesn’t Want Ford Deal Says L A . G M Union

(Continued fro m page 1)u n til the w a lkou t te rm inated . F rom D e tro it came th rea ten ing communiques. John W . L iv in g ­ston, U A W vice-president in charge o f GM ordered the m em ­bers o f Local 216 back to w o rk cha rg ing they were “ sabotag ing national nego tia tions.’ ’ A no ther mass m eeting was called fo r Thursday to act on the messages f r o m R euther - L iv ing s ton in D e tro it.

A t the mass m eeting the Local 21G rank and file booed R euther’s new Regional D irec to r, B io le tt i, re ite ra ted th e ir opposition to the Ford agreem ent, again demanded action to force m anagem ent to concede the Local demands and •rejected the “ re tu rn - to - w o rk ” u ltim a tu m o f R euther-L iv ing iston.

W hen in fo rm ed o f the action taken by the m em berhip o f Local 2 Id , L iv in g s to n rep o rted ly said: I f you don’t go back to w ork you’re on you r own. The Local would g e t no hearing on its demands, he added, u n t il the men returned to w ork. The im p lica tion was th a t resp on s ib ility would rest w ith the Local leadership fo r fa ilu re to ga in the demands which the membership fe l t were o f m ore im m ediate im portance than the so - called Guaranteed A nnua l Wage “ p r in c ip le ” embodied in the Ford agreement.

B e ing assured th a t there would bo no reprisa ls against any o f the men p a rtic ip a tin g in the w a lkou t the Local leadership advised the men to re tu rn to w m -kpend ing the outcome o f na tiona l negotiations. Sum m ing up the a t t i tu d e 'o f the men a t the m eeting w h ich voted to re tu rn to w ork, the local .press reported one o f the rank-and-file union spokesmen as saying : “ W e’re go ing back at the insistence o f the in te rna tiona l officers. I f we and o ther locals get rooked, we’l l see about ca llin g a convention and ge tting more new leadership.”

YO UNG W O R KERSThe w a lkou t dem onstra tion o f

the GM w orkers here disclosed some ve ry s ig n ifica n t fac ts pregnant w ith m eaning fo r the fu tu re o f the A m erican labo r movement. F irs t , i t was the young worker®, the “ recent h ires” who spearheaded the action. The n ig h t s h ift a t GM South Gate was ju s t recently begun as p a r t o f m an­agem ent’s p lan o f stepped - up production in prepara tion fo r

possible s trike . M ost o f the w o rk ­ers on n ig h t s h if t have on ly a fe w weeks to a few m onths sen io rity .

Second, the Body Shop w h ich in itia te d the action, is com prised m a in ly o f Negro, M exican -A m er­ican and o ther m in o r ity w orkers.

T h ird , the p icke t lines were manned by the young new ly-h ired w orkers w h ile the “ o ld -tim e rs ” w ith few notable exceptions were conspicuous by th e ir absence.

F ourth , many o f the young w orkers were veterans o f the Korean w ar, and re la ted th e ir w a r experience w ith th e ir present con­d itio n as GM employees. As one young Korean veteran expressed i t : “ You got a coffee break even when they were shooting a t you in Korea — bu t not in G M !” (The demand fo r a coffee break, m orn ing and afte rnoon , is one o f the Local demands.)

R E C R U IT TO U N IO NI t is reported th a t m any o f the

recen tly h ired w orkers jo ined the union r ig h t fro m the p icke t line. (The ru le is th a t a new m an does not have to jo in the un ion fo r 90 days.) In one instance a young veteran who had been h ired the previous day came bo w o rk th e ’ fo llo w in g m orn ing and seeing the p icket line grabbed a p icke t sign and jo ined the march. There was no defeatism in these young m il i­tan ts and they did not hesitate to challenge the m ig h ty G'M cor­poration, and the Reuther-led bureaucrats a t the head o f the union. I t is out o f th is m a te r ia l and th rough such experiences th a t the new union leadership is being forged. That is a good augu ry fo r the fu tu re .

( In add ition to the demand fo r a coffee break, the m ain demands o f Local 216 are fo r adequate .re lie f, p ro tective c lo th in g and gloves when p e rfo rm in g ce rta in typos o f labor, cleanup tim e when certa in jobs a re done, and Other w o rk in g conditions.)

A N a vy re c ru it in g poster on Neav O rleans’ Cana l St. p ic tu red three eager-looking seamen, the f irs t o f whom wanted “ adven tu re ,’’ the second “ secu rity ,” and the th ird “ education.” Underneath an anonnymous sa lt scraw led in em­phatic le tte rs , “ I w an t o u t!” —• from Labo r’s D a ily .

...NAACP Conv. Faces Crucial Issue(C ontinued from page 1)

in tegra te , means we are go ing to have to file law su its in every l i t t le cow county in the South because in every case, they are go ing to cla im i t is a question o f fa c t as to when in te g ra tio n can be effected, and th e ir s itua tion is d iffe re n t.”

Thus i t is clear tha t many N A A C P members, inc lud ing some in the leadership, fee l th a t they m ust face the fac t th a t the Supreme C ourt cap itu la ted to the S outh; its im p lem enting ru lin g gave the South eve ry th ing i t could w ith ou t a c tu a lly revers ing the o r ig in a l decision; i t d idn ’t even take the phoney “ m iddle -of- the-road” position proposed by E isenhower’s S o lic ito r General. That, a t least, called fo r a 90-day l im it fo r the f ilin g o f plans fo r desegregation hy local school boards.

The toothless enforcem ent order the Supreme C ourt handed down, has no tim e l im it on anyth ing . -It is v ir tu a lly the p rogram o f “ in ­defin ite delay and local op tion ” th a t the N A A C P a tto rneys argued against so v igorously .

A B A L A N C E S H E E TThe N A A C P convention w ill

have the op po rtu n ity to draw a balance sheet o f the whole school segregation f ig h t to date. Some o f the entries m ig h t be as fo l­lows.

The May 17, 1954 decision: This was a legal v ic to ry which crowned decades o f s trugg le by the Negro people and its a llies in the labor movement. The need to placate the an ti-U .S . fee lings o f the colored peoples o f the w orld , who th rough a n ti - im p e r ia lis t revo lu ­tions have emerged as a trem en­dous force, had much to do w ith the co u rt’s action.

Beg inn ing o f desegregation in the border states last Septem ber: Defeats in G reenbrier County, W est V irg in ia , and M ilfo rd , Delaware; v ic tories in Ba ltim ore and W ashington, D. C. However, the in te g ra tio n in these la tte r c ities is very lim ite d as yet. Much o f i t is token, as Dr. M a rg a re t Butcher, N A A C P school expert, has shown.

The a n ti- in te g ra tio n r io ts and student dem onstra tions: A v ic ­to ry fo r the w h ite suprem acists in one area emboldens those else­where. Th is was dem onstrated by B ry a n t Bowles’ leap to in fam y in the W ashington and B a ltim ore disturbances on the basis o f his success in M ilfo rd .

In B a ltim ore and W ashington, Bowles and his K u K luxe rs had the in it ia t iv e th rou gh ou t the disturbances. He go t the head­lines, gave the press and T V in ­terviews, held mass m eetings, etc. The Negro and labor o rgan iza­tion s were caught by surprise and fa iled to*take command o f the s itua tion . Plans should be made fo r N A A C P -labo r cooperation to meet such disturbances. Negro and labor leaders should go on ihe a ir and TV , te ll in g th e ir m em ­bers and the general public w hat is involved and w haf to do. Mass m eetings in support o f in te g ra ­tion should be held. C ar pools and escorts should be organized fo r tak in g ch ildren to and from school. Jo in t com m ittees embrac­in g a ll opponents o f J im Crow should be organized to s t if fe n the backbones o f the o ffic ia ls and to see th a t the police enforce the law and no t th e ir prejudices.

S tra teg y in the year in te rva l between the two ins ta llm ents o f the Supreme C ourt’s decision: The D ix ie c ra t elements under­stood na tiona l po litics be tte r than th e ir opponents. The unUisual procedure o f the cou rt in no t o rdering its decision enforced im ­m ediate ly was the t ip -o ff . I t could on ly mean th a t i t wanted to see which way the w ind was blow ­in g before i t ru led on im p lem ent­ing. I t is a m axim o f Am erican po litics th a t the cou rt “ fo llow s the election re tu rn s ,” th a t is, i t keeps its ear to the ground and decides much on grounds o f ex­pediency.

The Southern w h ite suprem a­cists, led by Gov. Byrnes, a fo rm er member o f the Supreme C ourt, who knows how i t makes up its m ind, beat the drum s, made threats, vowed they would never subm it, etc. The Negro and labor leaders, however, were meek as lambs, pra is ing the cou rt to the I

skies fo r the firs t h a lf o f the decision and im p ly in g tha t no m a tte r w hat the second h a lf m igh t be they would not get angry.

Sm all wonder the justices decided they had already done enough fo r the Negro people by g iv in g them the “ p rin c ip le ” o f desegregation and th a t i t was now best to appease the angry South by le tt in g i t keep the ‘‘p ractice ” o f segregation.

HO W TO W INT ha t is a balance sheet to date.

The N A A G P is la y in g plans fo r a v igorous cou rt b a ttle to t r y to ge t some enforcement. T h is is commendable and necessary. B u t i t isn ’t enough. Today’s s itua tion s tro n g ly resembles th a t o f labor back in 1933. Then the govern­m ent th rough Section 7 (a ) o f the N R A lega lly gave w orkers the r ig h t to fo rm unions o f th e ir own choosing and to ba rga in collec­t iv e ly . B u t the legal p rinc ip le was fa r fro m the practice. The whole h is to ry o f the 1930’s is the h is to ry o f labo r’s f ig h t to p u t in to practice the p rin c ip le which the governm ent had “ g iven” it . So i t is w ith desegregation. The h igh cou rt has given the Negro people the legal “ p rinc ip le ,” bu t i t w ill take ha rd s trugg le to pu t i t in to practice.

Detroit Fri. Night Socialist Forum

•The New A u to Contract

F rid a y , June 24, a t 8 P. M.

•No fo rum J u ly 4 weekend

•

H ollyw ood and Social Significance

F rid a y , Ju ly 8, at 8 P. M.

•A t 3000 Grand R iver, Rm. 207

Donation 25c.F ree fo r Unemployed

Num erous developments w ill help in th is heroic ba ttle . The m ilita n t s p ir it o f the Negro peo­ple in the South w i l l pay g rea t dividends. New and progressive moods are v is ib le in ce rta in layers o f the w h ite m iddle class o f the South — p a rtic u la r ly among the students. M ost im p o rtan t, the w h ite and N egro w orkers o f the South are now ready to do w hat th e ir N o rthe rn bro thers did in the 1930’s — build unions. T h is is the m eaning o f the recent s tr ik e wave there.

S IG N IF IC A N T PRO PO SAL

I t is s ig n ifica n t th a t the m ost m il ita n t proposal on school desegregation came fro m a con­ference o f w h ite and Negro mem­bers o f the CIO Packinghouse W orkers U n ion held recen tly a t A tla n ta U n iv e rs ity ( in defiiance o f G eorgia’s J im Crow la w s ). Th is conference, c it in g governm ent seizures o f mines and ra ilroads du ring s trikes , called fo r federal seizure and in te g ra tion o f South­ern schools th a t refused to desegregate.

Book - A - Month Plan

June Selection

MotherBy Maxim Gorky

Great Russian, novel o f socia lis t s trugg le aga ins t Czarism

Special June Price

$ 1.00(p lus 15d m a ilin g charge)

Paym ents m ust accompany order

•P IO N E E R P U B L IS H E R S

116 U n iv e rs ity Place New Y o rk 3, New Y ork

A n o th e r im p o rta n t developm ent is the g ro w in g loss o f confidence o f the N egro people in the Re­publican and D em ocra tic ' pa rties. The f lim -f la m m in g th a t has been go ing on in Congress on c iv i l r ig h ts is po w e rfu l p ro o f th a t both B ig Business pa rties p re fe r to woo the D ix iec ra ts ra th e r than g ra n t concessions on c iv il r ig h ts .

Labor is le a rn ing a s im ila r lesson — a t a slower pace —■ about its Dem ocratic “ friends.” T h is education o f labo r and the N egro people can pay o f f in the end by the decision to bu ild a new p a rty — a Labor P a rty , th a t w ill be owned and con tro lled by the w orkers, the N egro people and o ther exp lo ited and oppressed sections o f the A m erican people.

Chicago•

“ Peaceful CoexistenceAnd the B ig 4 Conference”

•Speaker: Marjorie Ball

•Sat., June 25, 8:30 P. M .

F ine A r ts B ldg.410 So. M ich igan Ave.

Room 613•

Discussion — Questions Refreshments

Donation 25c.

Twin Cities20TH ANNUAL STRAWBERRY

FESTIVAL •

Sunday, J u ly 3, 2:00 P. M .•

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•F e a tu rin g :

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