OL’ BILL

SHORT JABS

HE obscenities of the witch-hunt now going on in the United

States are following pretty closely on the pattern of the same
kind of absurd hysteria we were treated to in the past, remote and
immediate. They lack the religious flavor of the early efforts of the
scoundrelly Cotton Mather and his New England brethren, still under
the influence of the Pilgrim Fathers who fled from England to escape
religious persecution, only to establish a worse brand of persecution
in the new world: the same superstitious bigots to whom intolerance
was a laudable quality and of whom Ingersoll wrote that “the Pilgrim
Fathers landed on Plymouth Rock but many good people in America
today believe it would have been better for the country if Plymouth
Rock had landed on the Pilgrim Fathers.”

Of the New England preachers headed by the psycopathic Mather,
it can be said confidently, that religous intolerance reached its peak
with them and that their only claim to historical: recognition is for
the hanging and burning of the so-called Salem
witches, about 200 innocent and friendless women
who were victims of these ignorant, superstitious
and intolerant 17th €entury un-American de-
secendants of the Pilgrim Fathers. They were pun-
ished for no crimes they had committed, but to
Satisfy the monstrous self-delusions of the pro-
genitors of the present-day un-Americans, religious
and social. The same thing applies to the victims
of the committees headed by Dies, Rankin and
others set up by the Congress and Senate. It is
true of all the side-shows functioning in the land
of dollar diplomacy, the spy investigators, the
committees to clean out the unions, the alleged
courts trying men for their political opinions as
in the trial of the twelve Communist leaders, whic
exposed for the frameup it is.

h is now being

The form of these things. has changed but the content and ob-
jectives remain the same. The witnesses in the New England witch
trials were the ignorant and neurotic members of the community,
children in most cases, scared by threats of the flames of hell, drag-
ooned and coached by the hypocritical monsters of the Cotton Mather
type to utter the accusations in which they had been well primed by
the preachers. These bigots made the Salem witch-hunts of history,
and not the mass of the New England people who, to their credit,
put a stop to it in the end.

/

We see the same thing practically today. The present witch-hunt
hysteria is the work, not of the American people, but of a small
group of 20th century Cotton Mathers and the financial interests who
stand to profit by their infamous inquisitions. The present-day wit-
nesses may not be children in years but they are in intellectual and
moral fiber. Other reasons than the fires of hell may be responsible
for their presence on the side of the persecution, but they are coached
and dragooned just. as in the original Cotton Mather's day.

The pattern of that persecution today, although differing a litle
from the i7th century style, is no different than it was in the early
days of this century. Witnesses are called upon to explain what Com-
munism is. If they don’t know anything about it, that is a small
matter. Edgar Hoover or some of his G-men will coach them to give
the answers wanted by the judges, even though they may not know
anything about it either. Nevertheless, these experts are called to
inform the court of a prejudiced professional judge who commits
the accused to jail for “contempt” (which they may be only trying
to hide) if they so much as open their mouths.

Sometimes the experts give the game away unintentionally. I
remember one such case during the Palmer “Red’’ hysterics in the
early twenties. An attempt like the present one was being made to
outlaw the Communist party. Boston was the scene of the attack
on freedom of opinion. William J. Burns then occupied the position
now held by J. Edgar. Hoover as chief sleuth for the American gOv-
ernment. Among his witnesses was one who posed as an authority

on Communism.

The Communist party was new in the U.S. then and it was no
doubt impossible to find and “expert” who could claim, like Whittaker
Chambers, to have been a member. But a small matter like that could
not faze William J. Burns. So he had an expert to tell the judge all
about Communism. a

Woodrow Wilson was still president of the U.S. A little while
before these hysterical proceedings he had written a book; the name
of which, if I remember correctly, was The Greater Freedom. The
lawyer for the defense, in his examination of the “expert,” read a
passage from a book and asked the expert if it sounded like Com-
munism. Without any hestitation, the expert answered “That is ad-
vocating rank Communism and the man who wrote it should be
deported from our country.” The lawyer handed the book to the judge
to read the passage for himself. It was President Wilson’s book, The

Greater Freedom. So much for the “experts.” ;
The day is not far distant when the masses of the American

people will do as the New Englanders did 300 years ago, clean out of
political life these obstacles to human progress.!

—

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45 EAST
HASTINGS

-| strategy.

Right-wing labor leaders —
aided Taft-Hartley sellout

By MARY DOBBS

The Jong months of retreat

NEW YORK.

and compromise by the Truman

administration and right-wing leaders of organized labor have ended in
complete betrayal of the pledge to repeal the anti-union Taft-Hartley

act.

Senator Robert A Taft succeeded
in winning adoption of a bill vir-
tually as bad as the Taft-Hartley
law which he sponsoréd two years

ago, had an air of familiarity
about it. The betrayal was, in
fact, foreseen by left-wing labor

leaders who had been warning—
to no avail—that right-wing lab-
or’s policy of blind reliance upon
President Truman could only end
in disaster.

A review of the past five months
shows a record compounded by
Truman demagogy, shameless sell-
outs by right-wing union leaders
and the deliberate demobilization
of the workers.

The process of betrayal began
immediately after ‘Truman’s re-
election on a program that in-
cluded a pledge of complete re-
peal of the Taft-Hartley act and
restoration of the Wagner’ act. No
sooner were the returns in, how-
ever, than Truman’s secretary of
labor, Maurice Tobin, announced
it would be necessary to comprom-
ise. From that point on, com-
promise became the official slog-
an of the Taft-Hartley “fight”,
just as it keynoted the strategy
of the entire Truman “Fair Deal”
program.

AFL President William Green
and CIO President Philip Murray
quickly adapted themselves to this
Step by step, they let
themselves be drawn into the fa-
tal pattern of retreat which even-
tually became a rout.

The first major error

The scene in the U.S. Senate on June “30, when Republican

ed “two package” strategy of
pressing first for outright repeal
of Taft-Hartley and then discuss-
ing separate legislation to amend
the Wagner act. Instead, they ag-
reed to bind repeal of Taft-Hart-
ley and amendments to the Wag-
ner Act together in one bill.

The door was thus opened for
chamges in the Wagner act,
under wkose beneficent provi-
sions the CIO and AFL had
achieved their rapid growth.
The first amendments proposed
were seemingly harmless. Then
came the dynamite-packed am-
endments — providing retention
of the requirement that union
officials sign anti-Communist af-
fidavits and a plan for govern-
ment siezure of  strikebound
plants. Right-wing labor leaders
went along with these proposals,
some Openly, some behind the
scenes,

* * *

First showdown came in the
House of Representatives in May,
when only the courageous role
played by Representative Vito
| Marcantonio, sole Progressive in
that Chamber, blocked passage of
the Wood bill, another version of
the TPaft-Hartley act. There too
compromise had been tried, but
failed, when reactionaries—recog-
nizing the’ administration’s weak-
ness—brushed aside the adminis-
tration proposals in favor of the
Wood bill.

Failing to learn the lessons of

came|the House debacle, the administ-

when they abandoned the so-call-|ration and right-wing leaders re-
% ;

peated the same strategy in the
Senate, resulting in the disastrous
defeat of June 30. The Senate bill
is so bad that both the administ-
ration and right-wing labor lead
ers have announced they will ab-
andon all attempts to repeal the
Taft-Hartley act at this sessio®
of Congress. and wait until 1950:

If the Senate bill is pushed
through Congress, Truman \V :
be ablé to claim credit for veto
ing it and, at the same time
still haye the Taft-Hartley law
in effect. In the 1950 congres>
sional elections he will again be —
able to campaign demagogically
on the slogan of a Taft-Hartley
repeal. The right-wing labor lead
ers are now resgined to “living”
for at least another two years
under the Taft-Hartley law, mor
can they accuse Truman of du-
plicity since they shared in the —
betrayal at every step.

The right-wing labor leader
blame the failure to win Taft —
Hartley repeal on the congressio?
al coalition of Republicans 22
southern Democrats and say th®
only thing to do now is to wait
for. the next congressional ele¢-
tions. They conceal the fact that
at no point did Truman make 42
attempt to force rebel Democrats
in Congress to support ana fight
for Taft-Hartley repeal or 2BY
other part of his program. ,

Although’ this overwhelming 4&
feat for labor was inherent in thé
strategy adopted by Truman, Mul
ray and Green, at no stage of th®
fight was it inevitable. The sm
core of left-wing labor leaders "® —
peatedly pointed out that the fight
could be won, if the full stren
of the 15 million organized work-
ers in this country was put into
motion and if the policy of 2? —
peasement and subservience ;
Truman was exchanged for a mil
itant policy.

es Ee

‘WHAT TO DO WHEN UNEMPLOYED’

| UE protects members in layoffs

4 TORONTO

With Canadian industry sched-
uled for heavy layoffs before 1949
comes to a close it is not surpris-
ing that progressive unions such
as the CIO United Electrical, Ra-
dio and Machine Workers have
taken steps to protect their mem-
bership from the red tape they
could stumble over when apply-
ing for unemployment insurance.

What To Do When You Are
Unemployed is a UE booklet which
serves as a guide to the member-

ship, covering all phases of pos- |

sible difficulties. The booklet
stresses that mass unemployment
is on the agenda and that more
and more workers will become
the victims of the reckless policies
of employers and the government
“that today are depriving work-
ers of jobs.” ;

What the UE would like to
see is higher wages and shorter
hours; an end to speed-up; and
end to discrimination and fav-
oritism in layoffs; better unem-
ployment insurance on a non-
contributory basis; government
large-scale spending on public
works td assure jobs for all. -

In the meantime immediate ad-
vice for men and women, many
of whom are finding themselves
unable to get a job for the first
time, is needed. The booklet em-
phasizes the workers’ right to un-
employment insurance, warns him
to see his union steward before
leaving the shop if he is laid off,
tell him what happens when he
applies for benefits and how to
truthfully answer all questions.

%

The booklet describes the unem-
insurance contribution
system, explains what the word
“unemployed” means when _ bene-
fits are applied for, what the ben-

ployment

last, what to do to continue Me
draw benefits, what jobs a work:
er is permitted to refuse (healt?
reasons, strike, low wages, ete.)
and what to do’ if benefits 2°

efits will be, how long they will | denied.

in the U.S.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JULY 8, 1949 — PF.

UE urges public ens

Leading a delegation of unemployed members of United Ele
trical, Radio and Machine Workers (CIO) to Washington, preside
Albert ,A. Fitzgerald (left) told U.S. federal works administrate?
Jess Larson (right) that. a campaign for public works project®
will be pushed by UE to help cut

down serious unemployme?

AGE *