They want to forget!

BOSTON — Governor Robert
Bradford (R) has rejected like a
red-hot coal the offer of a bronze
bas relief to Sacco and Vanzetti,
the “good shoe maker and poor
fish peddler”’ executed here 20
years ago for a crime they did
net commit.

His Excellency said he could see
“no useful purpose in stirring up
the bitter passions and prejudices
of 20 years ago.”

The committee offering the
plaque, the work of the late Gut-
zon Borglum, told him that “at no
time in the history of our country.
has it been more important than
now to upon citizens every-
where the need to resist the threat
to individual civil liberties.”

It called for “renewed determmt
ation to preserve and extend the
individual civil liberties in our
bill of rights.”

Included in the group sponsoring
the memorial to the victims of the
most notorious frameup in U.S.
history were Mrs. Franklin D.
Roosevelt, former Governor Her-
bert H. Lehman of New York, Dr.
Albert Einstein and CIO President

Philip Murray.

‘All-out-effort’, but...!

LONDON—Unable to compel
miners to return to 44 hours a
week without overtime pay, the
British government agreed to pay
overtime after 37% hours and to
allow miners the choice of spread-

ing their extra hours over the
week or working Saturday.

The move was interpreted as a
rebuff to US officials, who had
made plain that. they would not
consider England was making
an all-out effort toward recovery
unless the | government forced
workers to accept longer hours
without compensation.

The miners agreed to put for-
ward their best production efforts
but insisted that recovery must
not be based on exploitation.

Eating up ‘nest egg’

CLEVELAND — The Cleveland
Trust Co. one of the nation’s
largest banks, reports that living
costs are cutting into the amount

_ of savings of families in all of its
52 branch banks.

Moreover, says the bank's
monthly bulletin, there is evidence
that many families are forced to
draw on past savings to pay cur-
‘rent living expenses. Even count-
ing a claimed 66 percent pay mse
for the average worker between
1929 and 1947, the bank admits

whose wages have not jumped 66
percent.

Back Louis to win

LEXINGTON, Miss.—Rep. John
Rankin (D-Miss.) of un-American
Activities committee fame, charged
today that Joe Louis, heavyweight
boxing champion, is leading a fight
to have the Senate refuse to seat
him if he is elected to succeed
the late Senator Theodore G.
Bilbo.

Rankin said Louis also is cir-
culating a petition to have him
thrown out of the House. .

In a campaign speech here,
Rankin said, “a bunch of Com-
munist-inspired northern Negroes
headed by Joe Louis are cir-
culating a_ petition seeking to
deny me my seat in the» Senate
after I have been elected, and
even asking that: I be thrown out

By ALLAN L.

FLETCHER

SAN FRANCISCO—(FP)—Its resentment against the Taft-Hartley act translated into plans for concrete political
action, the turbulent 2-week session of the AFL’s 66th convention has ended. Marked from beginning to end by power-
ful behind-the-scene maneuvering and furious floor exchanges, the gathering of 700 AFL leaders created a new political arm,
Labor’s Educational and Political League, to fight those who voted for the slave labor law, but at the same time
decided to live with the act so long as it was on the books. The latter issue forced the most bitter debate of the session,
as President John L. Lewis of the United Mine Workers

ization from “groveling” before
“this first ugly savage thrust of
fascism in America.”

Overriding his opposition, the
convention amended its constitu-
tion to strip the title of vice-
president from its officers and
by the maneuver eliminated the
need for them unanimously to
sign non-Communist affidavits re-
quired by the law.

Receiving reports from AFL
members who are chief labor
advisers to U.S. military gov-
ernment in both German and
Japan, the convention reaffirm-
ed its support of the Marshall
plan, denounced) Communism
and the policies of Soviet Rus-
sia, and urged the U.S. to make
greater use of trade unionists
in the formation and execution
of its foreign policy. .

A major portion of its organ-
izing plans, too, was dedicated
to the anti-Communist campaign
as the convention “ordered. inten-
sified activities in Alaska, Hawaii
and Puerto Rico. In Hawaii par-
ticularly this seemed to indicate
a head-on clash with the CIO,
which has already consolidated
the island’s three main industries
—pineapple, sugar and _ shipping.
Although major speeches at the
convention by General Mark
Clark and American Legion Com-
mander James F. O’Neil urged
preparedness for imminent war
and called for universal military
training, the AFL reaffirmed its
opposition to such training in
peacetime.

The convention pledged to keep
wages “at the highest possible
level” and encouraged the forma-
tion of consumer cooperatives as
one of the ways to beat high
prices. j

Highlights of the 66th AFL
convention sessions include:

@ The raising of a fund of

three million dollars to fight
the Taft-Hartley law at home—
and “Communism abroad.” This
sum is to be realized by special
assessments on . membership
unions, increasing the per capita
tax of national and international
unions by approximately 4%4-5c.
The AFL Council had urged
that the ceiling on laws govern-
ing assessments be lifted entire-
ly, but the committe on laws
found this “inadvisable.”
@ Part of the AFL drive fund
will be earmarked to conduct a
campaign against the CIO in
Hawaii, Puerto Rica and the Vir-
gin Islands, on the grounds that
the existing CIO unions there
are “seriously infested by Com-
munists and communist sympath-
izers in all elements of society,
and especially in the ranks of
labor.” ?

European International Trades
Secretariats are to be contact-
ed by the AFL, with the objec-

fought a losing battle to keep

the 7,600,000 member organ-

tive of convening an inter-Amer-
ican union federation next year
in opposition to the World Fed-
eration .of Trade Union which
the AFL Executive Council re-
gards as “communist-dominated.”

Close attention will also be
given to the Latin-American
unions of the Latin-American
Federation of Labor, which the

SEN. ROBT. ‘EAT LESS’ TAFT

AFL convention also tagged with
the ‘red’ label and in neéd of
‘saving.’ ila , :

@ James S. Killen, chief labor
adviser to General Douglas Mac-
Arthur, in addressing the AFL
convention, stressed the need of
food to Japan as “the one thing
that’ will combat the increasing
threat of Communism in Japan.”
Killen declared that many Japa-
nese workers are desirous 0’
joining the WFTU, but that the
U.S. occupation authorities “are
discouraging this” and looking to
the AFL for assistance.

@ Matthew Woll, member of
the AFL ‘committee on interna-
tional labor relations’ denounced
the WETU, declaring it to be an
“instrument of Soviet imperialist
interests,” and tying the WFTU
in with the formation of “the
new cominterm” Woll intimated
that the AFL would seek to
“strip” the WETU of such bona
fide trade union affiliates as the
“British Trade Union Congress,
the labor unions from the Neth-
erlands, Scandinavian countries,

Switzerland and Latin America.”
@ Decided in opposition to any

of the House. igo
_ FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1947 _

Meat strike end seen
in Swift settlement.

The Toronto plant of the Swift Canadian Co. will be in

operation this week it was announced by officials of Local
208, CIO Packinghouse Workers Union. _

With union voting almost
that an overwhelming majority
are for the proposed 13-cent an
hour national average settlement.

About 800 employees are involved |.

in Toronto. The union has asked
a 17% cents average increase.

The pact with Swift Canadian
—which must be ratified by the
company’s 3,500 , employees—con-
tains these terms: i

1. A general increase of 10 cents
an hour. :

2. Additional increases at some

plants, ranging from 1% cents to
three cents an hour. .

3. Union security — the same
maintenace of membership which

the union has had for three years.

cents an hour.

completed, officials announced

4. A wage reopening clause call-

‘ing for 15 days’ notice.

5. Weekly overtime after 44
hours of work.

6. Incorporation of the com-
pany’s sickness-and-accident policy.
' All wage increases are retro-
active to last August 1, expiration
date of the last contract.

Fred W. Dowling, Canadian di-
rector of the UPWA, said the
contract also-provides for an extra
five-cents-an-hour increase in
starting rates at some plants,
bringing total boosts from 10
to'18 cents, The union struck for
an average increase of 17 cents,
to bring the .basic wage to 92

|| executive council recommendation
‘|‘to delete the title of vice presi-

jhe began, in low and penetrating

third political party; created an
“AFL political arm” which will
be known as “Labor’s Educa-
tional and Political League” and
will adhere to the Gompherean
policy of “supporting labor’s
friends and defeating its enemies
in both established parties in the
1948 elections.”

@ Rejected CIO’s invitation to
join forces politically in the
coming elections, indicating that
the CIO’s affiliation to the
WETU which the AFL holds to
be ‘communist-dominated’ and
therefore in opposition to U.S.
foreign policy, as the main ob-
stacle to AFL-CIO unity.

@ Called upon all its officers
and those of its affiliated unions

to sign the non-Communist affi-

davit required by the Taft
Hartley law “no matter how ob-
noxious” they personally re

it.

@ Opposed President Traman’s
request for a $25 million doyalty,
probe’ of all civil servants. Sup-
ported an alternate measure to
carry out a loyalty probe on 4
smaller scale.

With the exception of John L-
Lewis, all the former vice-
dents were unanimously re-elect
ed ‘to the AFI Council, which
retains all its previous powers.
The ovation given Meany by the

delegates indicate him as Green's’

probably successor to leadership
of the AFL,

Lewis declines to act
on AFL ‘headless’ body

SAN FRANCISCO—(FP)—The

AFL has voted t?

change its constitution to permit compliance with the Taft
Hartley law. After heated debate that often struck a sharply
personal note and finally broke into the open the undercover

strife that has been seething since
the convention began, the 700 dele-
gates passed by more than the
necessary two-thirds majority an

dent from the roster of its execu-
tive officers.

The action thus eliminates the
need for the entire executive coun-
cil to: sign unanimously the anti-
Communist affidavits required by
the law and which President John
L. Lewis of the United Mine
Workers has_ single-handedly
opposed.

In so doing the convention over-
rode Lewis’ bitter opposition and
turned a deaf ear to his impas-
sioned speech, in which he turned
lose the vials of his biting sar-

JOHN i. LEWIS

casm against the act and those
who would “grovel” before
Lewis declared he would refuse to
stand for reelection to the “de-
basd” executive council if the
measure were passed. :

Taking the floor for the first
time since the convention started,
Lewis stalked to the podium be-
fore a hushed and tense audience.
“Thou shalt not muzzle the ox,”

tones. “So say the Scriptures.
But Congress has designated the
15 million organized workers of

America as cattle and’ placed an]:

economic muzzle on each of you.”
“And what are you going to
do about it? Oh er wee so. 3s
you're going to change your
constitution. God help us!”
The law, he said, is the “first
ugly savage thrust of fascism in
America” brought about by an al-
liance between industrialists and
the Republican majority in Con-
gress “aided and abetted by

it. | -

those Democrats who still be-
lieve in human slavery.” . ‘

,

Holding aloft a copy of the
act, he declared it contained tw?
lines saying labor has the right
to organize “and 73 pages daring
labor to try to organize.” AS
the rapt audience watched his
every gesture, Lewis lashed 3
the “outcry and lamentations of
great labor leaders saying that
all, indeed is lost unless they
can grovel on their bellies and

come under this infamous act.” —

Lewis said the convention’s a&

tion to comply with the act would —
gravely undermine its efforts t0
rally public support for the rep

of the law. Pointing out that the
act made compliance optional, be
said the AFL should have decided
unanimously to ignore the act

depend upon its economic powe!

as it did in pre-Wagner act day® —

He warned that should the
convention “grovel” before the
act it might have more to

about at its next convention be —

cause “when the enemies of
labor find out how easy you are;
they'll give you more to rum
from.”

“But,” he roared, shaking his
shaggy head, “I tell you this.
The United Mine Workers will
not run with you... . if this

issue is passed, I will not be ? ©

candidate for reelection. to
debased board.”

Asserting he was not trying
to “hold a gun to the head of
the convention,” Lewis said that

“on this particular issue, I don’t —

think this organization has ? -
head. I think its neck has ae

grown up and haired over.”
In a later session, John L. Le
accused other powerful member
of the AFL of trying to ‘pus
around” the United Mine Wore
in a punitive move because Of
refusal to sign the affidavits ™@
quired by the Taft-Hartley law.

convention October 15, referrée Ie
its executive council for act
ment charges that UMW Distre™
50, Lewis’ far-flung
of other national AFL Ms
Lewis reminded the AFL t
tween 1940 and 1946, while
miners were in the CIO, the S—
eration had itself sponsored
rival miners’ union and had sin
larly invaded the UMW’s JU

diction over chemical workers:

“When you talk to me about

said, “talk out of both sides
your mouth instead of O8@ —
_Accusing the AFL of “wie
ing your dirty linen on

the :
pages of the newspapers,” Lee

ed that since the UMW
Joined the federation District bd
has been “pulling its P'

“If you want,” he said, ane
unpull them and see y?
have more complaints bY
next convention. Saas

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—P.

Lewis’ charge came as the ie

organizine
’ : © :
arm, had invaded the june Be

that Be
fed

the subject of jurisdictions,” fs