Yorld Events Papo Sitates — the native snething more than sople and the labor bcs are regarded by the "| of labor leaders as a = of Hitler's desperate Stance and Axis hopes iversions behind the Honts in the hope that Fconfusion may come & peace. ss definite connection ‘fifth column conspir- ably the position of e Tatt-Fish group — ppendence on a weak- erican war economy peding labor into an trikes. wis has become the attack by the great ©US labor men, in- ‘ge number of AFL / union heads, who aim a Serious danger ;ifert and the whole _\bor. wder, addressing a “ae Communist Party amittee last ‘week, pihe attitude toward ehe declared: pxpose the Lewis con- jolate it in the labor @¥e must expose his Rreck the Roosevelt pi aS not narrow per- Sinship but fascist | er Hitlerism.” ‘fagracterization of the Gade it apparent that © of the miners was ‘direction that would ©o0m the main stream hovement. And upon \th which US labor © forcing Lewis into d depended the speed e the US would get "% st supreme effort at ®eler this year. ra bslum-—filled, debris- hled “Paradise Val- Shad defended their the “superior” race; Bes they say that the Hns are a lot of hot ® much equality you've Bchis is an imperialist Bay and England both and that the colored stick together (“can’t Pyour destiny lies with = anti-unity group are santi-strike bill sup- B bosses who try to Out of the ranks of or, who start whisp- ==0s that Negroes are Et jobs. To people of For unity means their they prefer disunity » Tace wars to the €rtoup are the some t and often reaction- rites” from the South, Tth with the Negroes high wages, bringing Wl the prejudices of landlords and crop poled in the idea of arity — which they » Was denied by their mouth existence and only had economic causes — they. were quick to agree that no mat- ter how skilled, Negroes should be elassed as laborers at — as the labor-baiters were quick to insist— laborer’s pay. So, in almost 24 hours of con- tinuous fighting, 29 people were killed. Twenty-five of them were Wegroes. Fifteen were shot by police called in to preserve law and order. Despite curfew regula- tions, mobs turned out every night to see the “fun.” The Hearst papers took the expected anti- labor, red-baitine line. The Ku Faux Kian, without benefit of white robe and fiery cross, but with enthusiasm, was in its ele- ment. Negro apartment houses and halls were burned to the sreund. Members of Wegro resi- ments stationed in nearby camps who attempted to secure arms and So to the defense of their families, Were put under moilitary arerst Police tossed tear as through the windows of Wesro homes. “This is not an isolated inci- dent,” protested far-sighted white and Negro leaders in a meeting With the city’s Mayor, “but part of an organized national fifth col- umn conspiracy to break our unity and disrupt the home production front.” They asked an immedi- ate roundup of Klan members, To date, little action has been = taken. Although 900 men and wo- men have been jailed, some of them were no more than bystand- ers, Many of them just casually interested in the riots. In the meantime, the real guilty men are still at large. And a lot of them, feel many sections of labor, are very much in the public eye Tight now. Specifically, they point to several whose actions, while perhaps not immediately re- Sponsible for the riots, can be blamed for a lot of the disunity which exists in America at war. Among them, labor feels, are such men as Senators Taft, Nye and Wheeler, and Representatives Fish, Hoffman and Rankin — all of them anti-labor, all of them now springing to the defense of Her- mann Max Schwinn and Hans Diebel, accused in Federal indict- ment of conspiring to cause dis- loyalty and mutiny by men in the armed forces. One of the few heartening events to come out of this black spot in Detroit’s history took place in front of the city hall, where a gang of white youths began to close in On a Negro. Three young sailors, none of them more than twenty, stepped in and broke it up. “He isn’t doing you Suys any harm,” said one sailor, “so leave him alone.” “What's it to you?” Snapped one of the white assailants. “Plenty,” said the sailor. “There was a colored guy in our outfit and he saved a couple of lives. Besides, you guys are Stirring up something that we're trying to- stop.” British Labor The Unity Issue Remains The fourth war-time conference of the British Labor Party last week rejected the British Communist Party's proposal for affiliation, but the discussion on the proposal, as well as other actions of the conference, marked it as a milestone in the British labor movement's development. The Communist proposal was re- jected by a vote of 1,951,000 to 712,- 000 but the feature of the debate Was the strong stand of Will Law- ther, head of the Powerful Mine Workers’ Federation in favor of uniting with the Communists, As the press remarked, Law- ther’s support of the British CP evoked a “sensation” in the con- ference. He declared that the Bri- tish Communists were not as bad as had been painted, and recalled that during the Spanish war, the Labor Party had supported Cham- berlain while the Communists, now proven correct, supported the Span- ish Republic. ; it was significant that the main Speech against affiliation came from the Minister of Home Se- curity, Herbert Morrison, who a day earlier had been defeated by the conference for the key post of treasurer. Another highlight of the con- ference was the overwhelming support for continuation of the electoral truce with the Conserva- tive Party, which was, in effect, a Labor Party mandate for the continuation of the Churchill gov- ernment. National Labor Awaits The Decision After seven weeks of intensive work, during which it heard and decided upon several notable cases like the Montreal tram- way workers, the National War Labor Board last week heard the final public submission on the matter of labor relations and war- time wage control. Now labor awaits the Board’s report. Labor union delezates, who journeyed from as far east as Wova Scotia and as far west as British Columbia to state the case for labor and to present briefs pre- pared by their unions, returned to report to their fellow wokers that the case for a workable labor code had been proved, and that all that remained was for the Board to agree, establish such a ‘win-the- war code, and set the wheels roll- ing towards greater production. Canadian labor feels that the Board has rendered a fine servy- ice to Canada by holding this in- quiry. The most active coopera- tion was given the Board by unions from coast to coast, regardless of affiliation. In every brief present- ed by bona fide labor organiza- tions, several points were emphas- ized: That the present government la- bor policy is provocative of strikes; that the employers who want to fight unionism are not curbed by existing legislation; that the pres-_ ent conciliation machinery is clumsy and inefficient; that sub- standard wages must and can be lifted without causing inflation; that collective bargaining rights should be established by federal law; and that unions are for com- plete participation in the war, for An injured US airman is helped out of an American pl oS = SOS ane by comrades after a bombing foray over Sicily. higher production, and are ready to sacrifice to win the war against fascism. Employers briefs, on the whole, Were wary of collective bargain- ing; some took a strong anti-labor Stand, even going so far as to op- pose unions because they said they “believed in protecting workers rights.” When the Board’s report will be Made known is indefinite, but la- bor hopes that it will make sub- stantial recommendations leading toe a concrete labor policy for total war, “Strikes. Now Mean Suicide” “Striking in wartime means suicide, and this is our war— the people’s war.” ; Such was the idea behind statements of the Canadian Con- eress of Labor to the effect that “labor has kept its mno-strike pledge. The current strikes in Galt, Hamilton and Lauzon (Que-— bec shipyards) were imposed on the workers by the government and the employers. They were lock-outs by -the employers in defiance of the government la- bor policy. The Canadian Congress of Labor is against strikes in this war.” : The pledge was repeated by Pat Conroy, secretary-treasurer of the Congress at a meeting of 524 rep- resentatives from 114 locals of GIO unions attending the Second Em- ergency Labor Conference in Toronto last week, called to dis- cuss what action should be taken by organized labor to support the workers. locked out at Galt and Hamilton. The conference, after hearing delegates reports, set up a com- mittee to “give information, co- ordinate activity, and direct as- ‘sistance wherever required” and to "provide for “immediate support both moral and financial to the Galt and Hamilton strikers.” In answer to delegates who asked strike action in support of the Hamilton and Galt workers, Conroy said: “This is a people’s war. If we concentrate on fight- ing employers, we'll have to let Hitler go.” And that, he declared, would be Suicide for labor. St. Laurent Has No Jurisdiction If former members of the Communist Party who have an- nounced their intention of building a new party form a group whose constitution, objects and actions are not contrary to the provisions of the law, Justice Min- ister St. Laurent will keep strictly “hands off,” according to an answer he made in the House of Commons. Speaking in French, St. Laurent declared: “The minister of justice has but to apply and carry out ex- isting regulations.” He added that the regulations had been twice submitted to the House for exam- ination, and from what he had learned they had been approved and concurred in by the House. He failed to mention, however, the failure of the government to carry out the proposal of a parlia- mentary committee which ap- proved the lifting of the ban on the Communist Party. Referring to newspaper items reporting that “certain persons” intended to hold “such @ confer- ence” to consider laying founda- tions for a “new political organ- ization,” St. Laurent admitted that it was not in his power to pre- vent citizens from holding a meet- ing for awful purposes. Only if the new party were formed for the purpose of operat- ing “in a manner declared illegal by Section 133 of the Criminal Code” would it be the duty of the government to prosecute, he added.- a h-.