Evening star., 1938-10-09
A.L.P.PREPARES
FOR SHOWDOWN
New Political Unit Hopes
Showing to Encourage
Use as Model.
BY the Associated Press.


NEW YORK, Oct. 8.-The American
Labor party, for the first time offering
a Statewide ticket, is preparing
urgently for a double showdown in No.
vember.
Scarcely less important than the
election itself to this young and pug
nacious left-wing group is the fact
that the result either will speed or put
the brakes on the plans of leaders for
the formation of national organiza-
ton.
The A. L. P. is but 2 years old, with
it now undertakes, and an official
though tentative tabulation disclosed
today the magnitude of the job
In addition to adopting as its own
most of the Democratic Statewide
ticket-headed by Gov. Lehman and
Senator Wagner for reelection and
Representative James NJ Mead for the
other senatorial seat-A. L. P. has more
than 200 candidates throughout the
State. All of them are considered by
it to be fundamentally friendly to the
New Deal, a first requisite for its sup
port.
140 Strictly A. L. P.
| Of these 200-odd about 140 are
strictly A. L. P. men. The others are
nominees of the major parties who
have been accepted in the A. L. P.'s
program Of occasional coalition.
The party has 35 congressional can
didates, representative of about every
large center in the State-New York,
Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany
| % of whom are straight-out Labor
party designees.
Moreover, it is backing more than
130 candidates for the State Assembly
and twoscore for the State Senate,
the majority being its own choices.
Heretofore, it has been actually, al
though not avowedly, a New York
City party. In 1895 in its first elec-
tion it polled $4,000 votes here for
President Roosevelt and 10000 in all
the rest of the State. But in 1887,
it turned in 482,00 for Mayor F. H.
La Guar5ia and claimed some $1,000
upstate. Now, it claims a balance of
power in the State.
Sympathy for Farmer.
Alex Rose, the executive secretary.
recognizes that so far A. L. P.'s appeal
has been essentially to urban labor,
but Mr. Rose claims the partys
"adroitness and courage" already have
received favorable notice from the
| country at large. Too, every effort
IS being made to suggest to the farmer
sympathetic concern for him.
A strong Statewide showing for
the party in November, its leaders
say, would encourage it's use as a
model in other States. That is why
extraordinary efforts are being made
to poll the biggest possible vote next
month.
A. L. P. founders disclaim any con-
scious major imitati of the British
Labor party but there are some
marked similarities
A. L. P. uses occasionally what 1t
calls the technique of collaboration
with other parties in specific circum-
stances; the British Labor party.
when it was founded 38 years ago,
adopted policy of readiness to CO.
operate with any party which for the
time being may be engaged in pro-
noting legislation in the direct inter-
est of labor"
A. L. P. was founded in the main
by old-time leftists and Labor lead
ers either in or friendly to the COM
mittee for industrial organization;
the British Labor party was formed
by conference of trades unions, along
with socialist bodies, held under a
resolution passed by the Trades
Union Congress.