Montana labor news., 1934-05-31
The Washington Scene
BY Len De Caux

exception of Gen. Johnson's planned
out-burst of denunciation, the reaction
OF Washington politicians and govern
ment officials to the report of the Nat.
Recovery Review Board, headed by
Clarence Darrow, was extremely eau
tious. After all the preliminary pre-
cautions against premature explosion,
they seemed TO fear that when the
bomb had exploded it might be follow
ed by a whole series of explosions II
they were not careful
Democratic leaders tried to narrow
the matter to a debate between Oar
row and Johnson and avoid definite
comment Republican leaders, who
might have welcomed a report they
could use for their political purposes,
had 10 deplore "socialistic trends" in
the report while processing to be i'm
pressed by its indictment against the
NRA.
Both groups had the feeling that the
report had carried things too far"
The administration forces would not
have minded a report confining itself
to detailed complaints, which they
could have pacified by minor conces-
sions or buried in parliamentary de-
bate and legal techniealities. The Re-
publican opposition would have relished
chance to step forward as the vicar
ious champions of the little fellow
if it had not been for the outspoken
supplementary report and its call tor
a planned economy, with socialized
ownership and control" !"
The remarkable feature OF the whole
report, as we'll as its supplement, is the
way in which it reflects the confused,
often vacillating and often rebellious
sentiments Of that whole social group
which is sometimes referred to as the
little businessmen, the middle class or
the petty bourgooisie And nearly all
the Washington politicians who have
specialized in speaking ostonsibly for
this group, were embarrassed almost
to silence when these little fellows
appeared to find voice OF their own.
The Fascists have not been the first
to discover the political uses of the
little businessman and his kind, ii they
will consent to be spoken for. Many
politicians in so-called democratic coun-
tries have built profitable careers on
the pose of championship for the lit
tie fellow" alleged to be ground be
tween the upper and the neither mill
stone This line has enabled them
to use the little businessmen as tools
against labor, "the neither milestone,
without making it obvious that the sup
posed champions are themselves part
OF the upper milestone" OF big bus
mess and finance capital
Actually the little businessmen S
group are not so much ground between
two stones as they are constantly be-
ing pulled between two powerful for
ces capital on the one hand and
labor on the other. The more pros
porous OF them are willingly, and the
less prosperous often unwittingly, used
to suppress the rising demands of la
Dor, through appeal to their reaction
ary tendencies to get business by CHS
cling on wages, etc. But on the other
hand, the more far sighted and hard
pressed see that the monopolistic trend
of capitalism is constantly pushing
them down and out, so that they might
as well align themselves with the class
whose sufferings they will soon share,
il they are not sharing them already.
But the pull between these two for
ces and the uncertain status of the
middle group lead to such contradic-
tious and vacillations as NRA Counsel
Donald Richberg had no trouble in
finding in the report He pointed out
for instance that in one part the re-
port said that "all competition is saw
age, wolfish and relentless" while in
another it said that "a return to the
antitrust laws for the purpose of res
toring competition we believe to be one
of the great needs of the times
The growing perception among the
section of little business closest to the
workers that mighty slim future a
waits them under the inevitable mono
polistic trends of a profit system, was
reflected in the supplementary report.
This pointed out that the maintenance
of profits under government sanction
means restricting production, lowering
wages and monopoly sustained by
government "regimented organi-
zation for exploitation" The only
hope it saw for American small busin-
ess-men was in "the planned use Of
Americas resources following social