The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-11-03

his progress still retained some ves-
 tiges of loyalty to his class, as well
 as a fragment of respect for the officials of the Federation. That was the reason they were able to
 keep him in some relative sem
 blance> of restraint by a word of
 warning or impotent threats of im- possible action.
 The racketeer is an altogether different bird of prey. He is almost invariably 8 thug who never did a days work in any craft unless it is one taught in State prison. He is an outsider who blasts his entrance in- to a union from the bootleg or vice world with gun in his fist and who stays in power with a machine gun at his back: He reigns not from a sense of gratitude on the part of through their fear of "the spot,' and dread of the tossed "pineap- ple".
 l. To this type of criminal, threats from the officers of his own inter- national or national union are a joke and all the thunders of de- nunciation from the A. F. of L.. Building in Washington so much piffle. { know of one such free- booter whose local was threatened with the revocation of it's charter If 1t did not remove him from of flee. With 8 bodyguard behind him
 and another in front of him, the offender walked to the nearest tele- graph office and wired his inter- national president. Come and get it." At last reports he was still hold ing sway with his power untouch- ed.
 To imagine that a creature; like this will be at all annoyed by radio broadcasts attacking him or that he will be converted to a better life because the charter of his interna- tional union will bessuspendedaif if 1t does not get rid of him is nonsense. In the first place, having risen to power by force, nothing. but force of the same kind which got him in will get him out. Secondly, he knows that while. the constitution of the Federation says nothing about the suspension of charters by the executive council, it is speci- fic in saying that no international charter can be revoked except by a two-thirds roll-call vote of the delegates to an annual convention. And convention revocations of in- ternational-union charters are scar cer than the proverbia1 hen's teeth. The reluctance of delegates to vote out .of existence an insubordinate, disobedient union is largely due to the natural human conviction that what can be done to one organiza- tion this year may be done to the voters own next year. It is prim- arily g case of you to-day, me to- morrow"
 It is an unpleasant truth that, provided 1t acts in accordance with it's accepted constitution, the Am erican Federation of Labor is more power1ess to extermfnate the rack eteer in its own house than. the Federal Reserve Board is to wipe out the bank racketeeer, the Sec retary of the treasury to abolish the shakedown among prohibition enforcement sleuths, or Wall Street to stop plundering of public-utility pirates. There is, however, a rem- edy which might prove effective, although 1t is put forward with complete knowledge of its inapplic- ability by the Federation and with a thorough realization that any suggestion offered in the sincerest friendliness is sure to be resented and suspected. Especially in view of the fact that the idea comes from Russia.
 About the blackest bete noir in the eyes of the A. F.. of l.. is the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. Compared with 1t, the National As- sOciation of Manufacturers is a beneficient friend whose activities are accompanied by the fiuttering of angelic wings; the yellow-dogS contract Is the workers Magma Charta; and the inclusion in the,| ranks of the A. F. of I. of profess sional uplifters, millionaire liberals and university economists who just love the toilers, a consummation to be devoutly prayed for and enthu- siastically encouraged.
 To our home-bred intelligents, advanced thinkers, and years- ahead d-of- -their-time educators who knew everything good about the U. 8. s. R. and nothing put evil of the A. F. of L., this attitude of mind and action is both reprehen- sible and indefensible. But to any, one who knows 8 litle about both unions, the reasons for the Feder- ation's stand are understandable and the grounds upon which they rest not undeserving of commenda- ton and support. This, too, remem- beringI its past attachment for Senor Morones in Mexico and the rosy C. R. o. M.
 The A. F. of L. holds the ana- thema the economic, social. and po- litical principles upon which the U. s. 6, R. is run. It has a feeling of sympathy for the Russian work ing classes over whom the Com7 munist dictators are tyfannizing their own ends with all the callois- ness of the most. cold -blooded cap- italist. Hostile critics of the Fed eration declare the anathema to De