Evening star., 1937-03-28
Real Meaning Given to
''ROosevelt Revolution"
BY OVEN L. SCOTT.

labor leader, not the President, promises
to force a revolutionary shift in the
course Of national events through the
power of an idea
People not long ago had about de-
cided that the much discussed revolu
ton of the Roosevelt administration
was to be found in tho technique for
spending as much money as rapidly as
possible. They had looked for some
thing more definite in the N. r. A. and
the A. A. A., and 1t failed to develop.
There had been talk of revolution in
the midst of the last political campaign.
Few paid very close attention.
Then came the sit-down strike. Some
Sensed the revolutionary possibilities in
that labor weapon. There followed the
Presidents attack on the Supreme Court.
More people began to wonder about
what was stirring. Again Mr.. Roosevelt
was watched for the cue.
But, it now turns out, the real under
lying develovment was going on outside
the Government-guided by q man not
very widely known as late as two years
ago.
John Lewis used to be seen during
the code-making days in the Summer
of 1888. walking up and down first
floor corridor of the Department Of
Commerce Building here, deep in
thought. He then was generating the
idea that since has flowered into what
the country sees today.
At that time the workers of the coun-
try were being sold by the Government
on the idea of organizing to bargain
collectively with their employers. Will
liam Green, as president of the American
Federation of Labor, was talking of TO-
900 900 union members by Christmas.
But, while tht old-line labor leaders
squabbled over which union would get
which workers. the employers carried
out a company union flank movement
and came away with the gains.
Lewis became lone wolf in the labor
movement. He had his idea for one big
union of all workers in each industry
His United Mine Workers were organized
on that principle Under his direction
they struck in 1888 and got what other
unions did not get-exclusive bargaining
rights in vast industry.
When N. r. A. collapsed and then
died, John Lewis kept alive the one big
union idea. Out of it grew the Com
mittee for Industrial Organization, which
he heads The c. I. O. swept out to
organize the masses of unorganized
workers of the country
Then Lewis expanded his idea In
stead of organizing workers merely for
purposes of bargaining with employers
about wages and hours of work, why not
organize them at the same time for
political bargaining purposes with poll
ticians? Votes count in democracy;
workers have the bulk of the Nations
votes if they can be induced to WELD
their voting power on class basis
Government-once controlled or influ-
| enced-can do what the power of strike
or Of argument alone cannot do.
Todays revolution is found in the
mounting evidence that organized labor
is preparing now to test its political
as well as its economic power
Old Samuel Gompers, father of the
American labor movement, had froWned
on the idea of throwing labor into
politics. John Lewis has busted off the
idea and is using it to make profound
changes in the history of the country,
X
The first results are surprise even to
Lewis himself. He went into the 1896
campaign with a hastily thrown to-
gether organization known as Labor's
Nom Partisan League. What that set-up
did awed many politician and played
an important part in the size of the
Roosevelt plurality. That help-in the
form of huge numbers of active cam
paign workers and in more cash than
any other contributor provided for either
party-placed President Roosevelt under
direct obligation Lewis has not been
slow to remind Mr. Roosevelt of that
obligation when his cause has needed
help.
The new c. l. O. unions are going
in for mass demonstrations. This past
weeks display in Detroit was an initial
example of what may become a tech
nique for testing official backbones. An
other came when the Lewis political or
ganization gathered it's leaders in Wash
ington to remind individual Senators
and Congressman of the labor attitude
toward the Presidents Supreme Court
plan. Legislators met this bit of lobbying
with response that caused optimism to
sweep the administration camp.
Even when organized labor in this
country kept out of party politics, Off
cials high and low have had healthy
regard for labor sentiment as expressed
by accredited spokesmen. Now that
Lewis is offering the threat of a con-
centrated vote running into the millions,
the result is yet to be tested fully.
First samples are conclusive enough
to demonstrate that political revolu-
ton seems definitely under way.
That is just one section of the Roose-
welt revolution that John Lewis is mold
ing out of the experience of the last
four years.
The other section is more obvious. 1t
shows in the field of economics, but stems
in part from the developments in the
field of politics. Here, defenses built by
businessmen over the years, and per-
fected by them under N. r. A., are found
to be crumpling rapidly.
Even John Lewis himself has made
private admission of an amazement
over the sweep taken recently by the
idea of independent labor organization
and by the worker interest in collective
bargaining. His organization actually
has had difnculty keeping up with
movement that 1t had expected to lead
not to follow.
X X
But apparently the November election,
affording q demonstration of labor's
newly organized political power, not only
caused employers to alter their attitude
toward outside unions, but did some
thing to the thinking of workers as
well.
After that eIectio, an organization