Montana labor news., 1934-10-25
Wings Over Washington

WASHINGTON.-(FP)-Tw coun-
tries where the progress of the New
Deal is being watched with sympa-
thetic interest and approval are Hit
ler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy.
Both Fascist dictators see in it much
to vindicate their own theories of gov
eminent.
Mussolini recently declared his be-
lief that the New Deal is "basically
sound" But he deplored the fact that
strikes are still permitted, recommend
ing closer cooperation between cap
ital and labor" and tribunals in case
Of discord." mo citizen in the Fascist
state" Mussolini said, has the anti
social right of rebelling against any
law OF the COLLECTIVELY"
The herding of American textile
strikers into concentration camps was
hailed with glee by the Nazi press, as
showing how Germany has led the
way. Expansion of government on
troll and other New Deal policies have
won its praise for Roosevelt as first
Mai Fuehrer of America"
Both Mussolini and Hitler agree
that the United States is taking only
the first lettering steps to full-blooded
and robust Fascism. But they may
rest assured that the same kind of
~financiers and industrialists who
trained them in the way they should
go are also on the job to guide the
baby footsteps of an American Fas-
cism.
OF late the U. S. Chamber of Com
merce, the Natl. Assn. of Manufactur-
ers, the American Liberty League and
and a lot of heavy industrialists have
been making a publicity splurge. Us
ually big business prefers to work be-
hind the scenes while its Hitlers strut
the stage. But once in awhile, as now,
it sallies forth with banner unfurled,
trying to act the crusader. On close
inspection, however, its banner only
reveals the skull and %crossbones of
social piracy-though nowadays the
%crossbones seem to revolve and grow
more and more like a Fascist swastika.
The Chamber is now telling us what
it would like the NRA to grow up to
be. The N. A. M. puts its suppressed
desires into the shape of questions to
candidates for Congress. The heavy
industrialists (willy OF nilly, as the
case may be) have had their secret
deliberations at Hot Springs, Va, pre-
scented in detail in the daily press.
Meanwhile tie Liberty Leaguers have
been sparring around till they get a
big-shot newspaperman, right from
the presidency of the National Press
Club, to prompt them to some knock
out publicity.
The Chamber of Commerce ought to
be an authority on the NRA, since it
has Dragged of mothering it. But
now, like an unnatural mother, it
seems to turn on its offspring, for its
special committee urges that "the Ma
tional Industrial Recovery Act should
not be r~e-enacted or extended" But
wait. A natural mother after all, it is
just pushing the y%oungster from its
apron-strings. For the committee goes
on to say that legislation to succeed
the MIRA should preserve its benefits
and avoid its disadvantages.
What are the benefits" cited? Ex-
emption from antitrust laws is men
toned as one, and permission for each
industry to formulate and to put into
effect rules of fair competition and
fair trade practices which receive gov
ernmental approval"
Speaking Of disadvantages" the
committee asks amendment of the So
called labor clauses" It wants it
established that neither the right Of
a minority group to deal collectively
nor the direct right of individual bar
gaining is p~recluded." 1t would forbid
a closed union shop, and President
Hartman of the Chamber has de-
manded Incorporation of trade unions
so that they may be subject to damage
suits.
The Chamber and the National AS
ISOLATION of Manufacturers are both
worried about stopping strikes, and
the N. A. M. also takes a knock at
unemployment insurance and relief
and old age pensions, which (rather
than RFC loans to b%usiness) it sees
as "a private right to publicly con-
trolled funds"
Frankest of all are the heavy indus
t%rialists, who demand the right to I'M
limited profits, describe wages as too
high, ask to work their employees I'M
limited hours and oppose social insur-
ance. Minimum wages, they say,
should be set at the lowest point be-
low which the employers future labor
supply would be endangered.
All these impatient Spokesman of
big business should be reminded that
Rome wasn't built in a day, even if
Mussolini's march on Rome seemed
quick action. If they play the cards
of the New Deal Alright, and if labor
is docile, they may yet see American
workers regulated into cooperation"
with capital a la Mussolini, and strikes
(Which the NRA administrator already
dubs as riot and rebellion") out
lawed as "anti-social."
Increased profits through govern
ment-protected monopoly are already
their lot; and when the heavy hands
of Mussolini's tribunals in case of
discord" take hold, wages may be cut
directly, as well as indirectly, and
hours heightened, until the world is
made a better place for bosses on the
approved Fascist model.