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Page 10

B.C. LUMBER WORKER

December 21, 1950

ie et yaad the TWA. tn ti fel

‘within the CIO.

speaker dealt with the early history of
installment he deals with more recent

IWA’s Great Part In Crusade
To Fight For Human Rights

PART HI

As a boy I joined the
Miner’s Union and for years the
miners dreamed of security. In
the days when we had no social
security laws, it was cheaper to
kill men than mules. The fear of
mine explosions was no greater
than the fear of leaving families
with no security. The Union
would dig graves and see to it
the best way they could that no
woman or child went hungry. We
begged for security,

Not until the terrible mine dis-
aster in 1909 in Illinois did they
pass a Workmen’s Compensation
Law, which became effective in
1912, We asked for old age pen-
sion and hospitalization and we
were told they had poor houses
for old people. But through the

“CIO today, we have brought
greater happiness in the lives of
our aged members. We have
brought pensions and hospitaliza-
tion for their families,

Great Crusade

Your Union is taking its part
in this great crusade. I must
compliment your officers for their
vision and courage. Can the
Communist Party get these
things for you—of course not.
They belie and condemn the
agreements. Today we have the
steelworkers, auto workers, rub-
ber workers and many others
covered and the great march of
the CIO goes on. Your industry
is one of the most dangerous in
the nation and your members
know what these things mean,

Shrines

Tt was the labor movement
that first came out for free edu-
cation. - Men were deported for
ieining unions. Your Canadian
delegates probably know that a
man is buried in Canada who
Was deported to Australia from
England, The labor movement
is responsible for getting these
men released. In our own coun-
try in Philadelphia during the
last century, men were sentenced
to the penitentiary with the
charge of treason for joining
unions. .

No worker in the world has
paid a bigger price than the
American workers to build these
organizations. The hills are dot-
ted with the graves of men,
Women and children who died for
this cause,

It cost more in human life to
build our movement than to build
churches, The labor movement
has its many shrines. We must
go on building bigger and
stronger and serving humanity
more, We must have faith, We
must remove all obstacles.

Gross Betrayal

When the war ended, the unity
in the CIO stopped. The boys
began to follow the Commie line

and failed in their solemn pledges
given to the CIO. I come to that
chapter now. The most glaring
betrayal of workers by so-called
representatives was by those who
thought more of their adherence
té the Commies than the desires
of their members.

Economic Aid

We had met in London and
created the Federation of World
Trade Unions. A resolution
adopted by that body, in effect
said, “when the war ends vic-
torious for the Allies, it is our
solemn duty as trade unionists to

support a program of aid to the
people in the devastated areas—
food, clothing and shelter to pre-
yent disease and starvation. We
must send machines and mate-
rials to rebuild their shattered
industries.” And the Russian
delegation: voted for this.

In 1947, at the CIO Convention
held in Boston, a resolution was
adopted unanimously to support
this idea, This was done by
rising vote. Jim Mattles, of the
UE, and otliers spoke in favor of
the resolution. President Murray
called the contents of the resolu-
tion carefully to the attention of
the delegates. s

Another resolution was adopt-
ed in Boston unanimously again,
that we do not take action on
political) endorsements at this
time but we would wait for a
meeting of the Executive Board
to be held in January,

“President Fadling, is this
correct? You were there.”

PRESIDENT FADLING:
“That is right.”

The next day the real act of
treason was committeed. The
Communist Party called together
some of their leaders who were
also leaders of our unions and
told them they had committed a
great error in supporting the
resolutions on aid to devastated
areas of the world and on politi-
eal action,

The Party was against the
plan (which later became the
Marshall Plan). They were told
to support the Third Party with

Wallace as its leader, This they
can’t deny.
Immediately, the official or-

gans of some of these unions—
FTA, OUPWA, Longshoremen
and others—on their front pages,
and without consulting their
membership, endorsed the Third
Party with Wallace for President
of the United States, in violation
of their solemn pledge to the
ClO. President Murray wired
them requesting they respect
their decision as union men and
wait for action of the Executive
Board.

Immediately he was painted as
a dictator and the Murray fight
began. In January, the CIO

Executive Board met and still re-
frained from endorsing anyone at
the time, waiting for develop-
ments. In September of 1948, at
a meeting of the Executive Board
they had the nerve and temerity
to get up before that Board and
request in the name of unity, as
they put it, that we do not en-
dorse anyone even though they
had endorsed Wallace, Ben Gold
pleaded with President Murray
that we endorse no one. Your
President Fadling recalls that
and voted solidly with the CIO.
We told them to go to hell and
we endorsed Truman.

The policy was to tie your
hands behind your back and leave
them free to do as they pleased.
This act exposed them clearly as
tools of the Commies and not true
representatives of labor. Through
their treacherous conduct, they
almost succeeded in bringing
about the election of big busi-
ness candidate into the White
House. Thanks to the men and
women everywhere in the trade
union movement, who were not
swayed by these totalitarian
methods, this was avoided.

You as union men believe in
the principle of majority rule and
when members vote, you adhere
to the vote of the majority. ...

World Confederation

You cannot debate with or
reason with people who blindly
accept totalitarian philosophy.
You are not going to run the
union successfully with that
conception, Wherever we find
them we are out to supplant
them and look upon them as
enemies of the labor movement
who will destroy the things we
try to build.

Last November, after trying
hard to work with the Russians
and the boys behind the curtain,
and finding out that we could not,
we met in London and establish-
ed a new Free Federation of
Trade Unionists. We built it with
the Danish people, the Dutch, the
French, the British, Belgians,
Italians, Greeks and others. The
American Federation of Labor
joined with us in starting this
world trade movement, free from
government domination. The CIO
and AFL worked together and
liked it,

We are going to fight for
human rights everywhere. Let
me say to the Canadian boys,
I want to personally congratu-
late you for the fight you boys
have made in Canada, I say
that the results are a credit to
this organization. There is one
place in the world where you
don’t have a gun at a border
and that is between Canada
and the United States. Let's
keep it that way.

SAGA AA AA AIRE LIT ENE IE IA RANG EEA AEA SAARI

|

by... Allan S. Haywood

Allan S$. Haywood, CIO Vice-President was recently described by a
feature writer in the Saturday Evening Post, as « man of limitless energy
in labor's battles, and with unbounding faith in the purposes of the trade

union movement,

- Because his address before the

International Convention of the WA in

Minneapolis this year was of historic interest, it has been reproduced by

this publication in installment form,

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