Evening star., 1935-02-17
C0-0PERATWEPLAN
FOR M|NNESOTANS
due TO Be BEATEN
Farmer.La Movement Is
Magnet to Radicals,
| However.
| MEETING FOR YOUTH
| ATTRACTS ATTENTION
Gov. Olson and John strachey
Dispute Benefits Of Commu.
nism on Platform.
BY JERRY VESSELS.
r~tAl - rrL Gk

ST. PAUL, Mimi, February 16.-
Far from ready to qualify as Utopian
proving ground for drastic socialistic
schemes, Minnesota, through its cur
rent Legislature, appears prepared
to crush the proposed cooperative
commonwealth.
But the notoriety the Farmer-Labor
conceived plan has received has made
| the North Star State rallying ground
for individuals and organizations seek
ing a convenient base of operations
under sympathetic environment.
Such was the magnet for the latest
assemblage of radicals. ranging from
light pink to bright red. And the
session, just concluded this week,
brought youth into the picture to
match fervent hopes and opinions
with the seasoned crusader"
1t was two-day congress Of young
people sponsored by the National
League for Independent Political Ac-
ton which is headed by Howard Y.
Williams, militant Farmer-Laborite.
He is credited with having drafted
the flaming third party platform call
ing for socialization Of Minnesota in
dustry, something which developed
into a veritable boomerang that cost
the Farmer-Labor faction control of
the State Legislature and nullified
well conceived plans TO seize full con-
troll of all State offices.
Crusaders Arrive.
So the juvenile crusaders
swarmed into st. Paul, many Of them
riding the rods from lumber camps
of Minnesota, Michigan and Wiscon-
sin and others travelling likewise from
the large Midwestern packing centers
which have become fertile fields for
agitators of various blends and
beliefs.
The farm areas sent along o few
delegates. and there was a scattered
representation from colleges and re-
| ligious societies, the latter doubtless
! inspired by the fact that until recent
years Williams was a preacher of
. more or less note in St. Paul.
Naturally, there was a generous
attendance by socialistically inclined
groups at the University Of Mime
sofa, whose latest triumph centered
around the abolition of compulsory
military drill by the university Board
of Regents. This action, incidentally,
has reduced a once well-manned
regiment to a mere corporals guard.
As for the youths conference, 1t
strikingly resembled the various other
meetings here in recent months, in
that Gov. Floyd B. Olson, enthusi-
astically rated by many hereabouts
as potential presidential material,
was quite the center Of attention.
Governor Hits Strachey.
The personable chief executive,
himself not so many years out of the
ranks of the college boy crusaders"
drew tremendous response from the
gathering with a speech during
which he judiciously chastised John
Strachey, the Englsh-bred Com
munist, who was present. for re-
Gently referring to the Farmer-Labor
movement as "the worst kind of a
program" and CHASING Gov. Olson
as an opportunist. However, Olson
later complimented the Communists
indirectly.
Contrasting his own Farmer-Labor
party with the Communist move
ment, Olson declared the latter
always are talking about what they
are going to do when the great day
comes. but they talk vaguely and
have no definite program"
The Governor said he believed In a
step-by-step procedure to secure "a
decent social order" II am willing"
he said, Ito 60 down the road with
any shade of opinion that Is going
down the road-until I come to my
croSs-road. I believe there is good
in the liberal movement, the So
cialist movement and the Communist
movement. But am against ac-
cepting any dogmas and say with
the Communists, there Is the prece-
dent on which we'll build our new
ORDER"
Gov. Olson referred to his own CO.
operative commonwealth plan as
being based on no idea Of nationaliza-
ton or State ownership, but rather
Of private collective" ownership of
industry, with the State aiding CO.
operative enterprises as at now helps
private industry, financially and
otherwise" "In other words" he
added. I'VE are a great deal more
modest than the Communists"
When 1t came Strachey's time to
talk, he pointedly referred to Olson's
remarks: "Of course 1t is convenient
politically to disassociate ones self
from the Communists"
Farmer-Labor Friends.
The -Englishman then continued:
I'VE Communists never have and
never shall regard the rank and file
Of the Farmer-Labor party as our
foes. The Farmer-Labor party be-
lieves in the abolition Of capitalism
and so we Communists are with that
party as we are with all anti-capitalist
groups.
II do not pretend to know just what
the situation here Is and what are
the best tactics to effect abolition Of
the capitalist system, but do know
that our Labor party in England was
inherently doomed to failure because
1t couldn't face the collapse Of capital
ism and resulting greater unemploy-
ment."
The spirit Of the conference was
kept at high pitch by a speech by
DR.. Benjamin Lippincott of the Uni
versity Of Minnesota faculty, who told
his youthful auditors that the GRIM
inal syndicalism act means that IF
you disagree with those who rule you,
you are a criminal syndicalist and
can be Jailed"
When 1t came time to issue the Gus
tomary resolutions, the conference IA
vored most of the old radical standhys
but added o few with Q new twist q
kuuo