Montana labor news., 1936-05-07
Washington Weekly
BY PAUL w. WARD
LEWIS, BERRY AND ROOSEVELT

LEWIS, BERRY AND ROOSEVELT
None of the important develop
ments of the week seems to me so
vitality related to the public's welfare
as the formation here a few days ago
of Labor's Ncn-Partisan League. This
new organization, despite the fact that
it has George l. Berry at its helm and
was formed primarily to promote Roo
sevelt's rejection, contains the germ
OF the most promising third-party
movement the country has yet seen.
1t contains that seed because its &C
tual organizers are men of proved
leadership, heads Of large and power
full unions who, in addition to having
imagination, humor, and boldness,
speak the language OF the great mass
of Americans instead OF the MARKHAM
dialect, which to those masses is just
SO much frightening gibberish. They
also have the patience, the hardness,
and the talent for administrative detail
so fatally lacking in those who to date
have attempted to lead the third
party movements. | refer, OF course,
to John L. Lewis, president OF the
United Mine Workers, and Sidney
Hillman, president Of the Amalgamat-
ed Clothing Workers, and in so speak
ing of them | do not %canonize them
but stop and wait with fingers crossed
for them to produce the fruits OF which
they are capable.
Meanwhile let me not a few facts
about the league and its origin. Its
CESSATION - by Hillman out Of Lewis
was remarkably brief and hurried.
What brought il into being almost
overnight and without advance notice
wa the fact that Dan Tobin, car of
the transfers and one of the least adj
mirable of American labor leaders, was
all set to be handed by Jim Farley the
Craftsmanship OF a committee to direct
R~oosevelt's rejection campaign in la
Dor circles. Tobin's appointment, typi-
cal of Farley's talent for choosing the
worst forces in every field with which
to make campaign alliances, would
have been a feather in the cap of the
A. F. of LIS reactionary high COM
mand. By the same token it would
have been a blow to the Committee for
Industrial Organization, in which Lew
is and Hillman are the ringleaders, if
for no other reason than that Tobin
typifies the kind of labor leadership
that the c. l.. 0. forces threaten far
more than they threaten craft union
ism. Tobin's acute realization of this
fact has led him recently to circularize
all teamsters' locals with an edict COM
handing them under threat Of expul-
sion to shun the c. I. O. and all its
friends as they would the plague.
To thwart Tobin and his henchmen,
the Non-Partisan League was rushed
into existence by Hillman and Lewis.
To give it the guise OF an Admins
tration-created agency, they picked
Berry as its chairman and let him
announce the leagues creation with
the aid Of a overnment-employe press
agent-less than twenty-four hours
after Roosevelt had granted a zero-hour
extension Of Berry's term as Coordina-
tor for Industrial Cooperation. The
announcement surprised and chagrined
the Democratic National Committee,
had not been consulted, stunned
Bill Green, and Infatuated Tobin and
his pals. Berry lost no time in stating
that the primary purpose OF the league
was to line up all organized labor's
votes for Roosevelt's rejection. Berry's
presence at its helm was a sufficient
guaranty TO the capital press corps that
the league had no other purpose. He
is known to the corps as a man who
individually idolizes Roosevelt and, in
addition, could not under any consid-
Grafton be lured away from the Dem
ocratic Party, A Tennesseean of slight
literacy, some animal intelligence, and
cunning to capture and hold
the presidency OF the printing press
mems union Berry will make an ad-
mirable foil for the Hillman-Lewis pur-
poses so long as there is his loyalty
TO Roosevelt to hold him in line. Roo
sevelt, to be sure, is the immediate
by the combination, for it is one
that will get votes.
Ultimately, however, Roosevelt may
lose by the combination, for if he wins
reelection, as seems certain, he will
to dictate the choice of his sue
in 1910, and here L.abor's Non
Partisan League or its successor and
assigns, promises to stand in the way.
It was not for nothing that the word
'nen-partisan" was inserted in the lea
name. 1t was the careful choice
Of Lewis and Hillman, and signalizes
their determination to keep the league
being a mere adjunct Of the Dem
ocratic machine. 1t was their way of
serving notice that the league reserves
The right, outside the Presidential race,
o support Progressives, Socialists, Far
ner-Laborites, or any other candidates
n State and Congressional elections
whom its members believe would best
the interests of the working class