Evening star., 1938-09-04
UNION CONGRESS
+ IS SEEN DOOMED
Session Opening Tomorrow
in Mexico City Stunned
by Many Leaders.
By CARLOS ]. YIDELA.

Newspaper Alliance. e' ''"
NEW YORK, Sept. A-The rivalry
between the American Federation of
Labor and the Committee for In
dustrial Organization will spread be-
yond the limits of the United States
this coming Labor Day, as the Latin
American Trades Unions Congress
opens in Mexico City under the
auspices of the Confederation of Mexi-
can Workers. Ieftist organization
led by Vicente Lombardo Toledano.
An invitation to attend this congress
was extended to William Green, presi-
dent Of the A. F. Of L., but Mr.. Green
refused 1t. declaring that I'VE think
this Mexico City conference is being
promoted to advance Nhe radical cause
in all the Latin American countries"
The c. I. @. Is expected to be repre-
sented by John L. Lewis Invitations
also were forwarded to the Interna.
tional Federation Of Trades Unions,
OF which the A. F. of L. is a member,
and on whose executive board sit
representatives of Britain, Belgium,
Norway. Sweden and France. So far
only Leon Jouhaux OF France, with
two associates, and Edo Fimmen, q
Hollander have accepted and made the
trip to Mexico.
Meetings Main Purpose.
Ostensibly, the main purpose Of the
Mexico City gathering is to create 4
n-American labor organiza ton which
would operate throughout latin
America, presumably following the
lines laid by the Mexican Confedera-
ton of Workers &C. T. NJ. There
already exists, on paper at least,
Pan-American Labor Confederation,
created by Samuel Gompers some 20
years ago and af1lliated with the
A. F. of L.
II new Pan-American body
emerses from the Mexico City gather
ing. It's activities would clash with the
principles advocated by the A. F. of L.
Mr.. Green made it clear, at the quar-
terly meeting Of his Executive Council
held in Atlantic City August 25 that
the A. F. Of L. would fight to the finish
any effort to spread Communist doc
trines in the Western Hemisphere.
Lombardo Toledano, head of the
Confederation OF Mexican Workers. is
a man Of avowedly Communist ten
denotes. At the age Of 40. he finds
himself now opposing Luis N Morones,
mead OF the weakened Crom Mex
ican Regional Workers Confedera-
tom. with whom he was asso-
ciated for nine years and OF whom he
at one time spoke highly
New Organizati ton Set Up.
Morones, man who. like many
others in the Mexican labor movement,
became rich from the product of his |
leadership, saw his star set few years
back. Lombardo Toledano then with
drew from the Crom and formed a new
organization. allying himself with the
Communists. attacking the then Iron
man" OF Mexico. Gen. Plutarco Elias
Gales. to whom he owed many favors,
and taking a trip to Russia. whence
he returned thoroughly imbued with
the Moscow tenets.
There Is little danger however. of
any Pan-American group spreading
radical doctrines in the countries be-
low the Rio Grande. For one thing.
several of them have enacted laws
against extremist propaganda of all
kinds. and then there is such a diver
sity Of conditions from one nation to
the other that the application Of
single rule to all would be foredoomed
to failure.
Agitation has been and is still car
ried on surreptitiously by groups such
as the Peruvian Apra, which operates
from Mexico. But this is underground
propaganda, emanating from the
printing press, and its appeal is mainly
to student and intellectual groups.
rather than to the working people
itself. That a well-organized move
ment to further extremist tenets
openly can function in Latin America
under present conditions can be dis
missed as an idle thought.
Position Not Secure.
In Mexico itself the position of Lom-
bardo Toledano is anything but Sc
cure: and the fate of his Mexican
Confederation of Workers. or c. T. NJ.
as 1t is popularity called. is closely
allied to his. 1t is known that Lom-
bardo wanted President Cardenas to
hand the appropriated oil industry to
his group. Cardenas refused - Re-
Gently a shortage of 100000 pesos
(some s70.O00) was discovered in the
accounts of the oil workers union in
San Luis Potosi. leading to a first
class scandal and to the introduction
in the Mexican Congress of bill pro
tecting workers against dishonest
leaders"
Although this was not meant to be
aimed specifically at Lombardo Tole-
dano, it has served to emphasize that
the government is ready to "crack
down" when necessary. Added to the
failure of Lombardo Toledano's mass
demonstrations against newspapers
which criticized him and to the strong
stand taken against him by powerful
Aorroe lilo cor, ArHro,,