The Wrangell sentinel., 1938-07-01
Wrangen Alaska
 JulyI 193S


 Wrangell. Alaska
 July 1, 1888 Editor Sentinel:
 Will you please give space to theI following clipping from the Alaska Labor Dispatch, as it explains the stand of Local 72 regarding Harry Lundeberg's activities.
 The Lundeberg clique has taken .sThe Road Baek"-baek to an af- filiation with Yandeleur, Beck, Ryan and the rest of the dues coll lecting, strike-breaking agents. Such is the tragic fate of a once militant and progressive union uni der the leadership Of an blindly ambitious clique, who see nothing involved in their unity-wrecking policies but their own personal for tunes.
 How ironic the latest maneuYerI of the Lundeberg clique to affiliate with the AFL is! In 1884, the West Coast rank and file threw off the incubus of the AFL dictatorship which was strangling every attempt Of the maritime workers to better their wages and conditions. The fight, was long and bitter, costing human lives and sacrifice, and thousands of dollars earned by the blood and sweat of the workers, but the rank and file accomplished it's purpose. Ryan, Hunter, Sharrenberg, and the whole gang of racketeers, were driv-l en off the West Coast waterfront For the first time democracy lift-I ed it's battered head on the West Coast seaboard and grinned freely and proudly.
 But as the spirit of the rank and file grew stronger and expanded, 1 the spirit of conscience of Harry Lundberg and his clique weakened l and shrank. Whatever had carried Lundeberg along with the power full tide of democracy and progress, l slowly began to die as he perceived that he wasn't going to be the top man in the maritime labor move ment, that there were other leaders with more vision, with more intel ligence, with more unselfishnesssI who stood in his path.
 Harry Bridges on the West Coast and Joe Curran on the East Coast, 1 were beginning to dwarf Lundeberg in stature as maritime labor leaders. l The maritime unions in America were beginning to move rapidly tO-i wards a National Maritime Federal tion, an organization in which l Lundeberg feared he might play only a minor role. His fears were partly justified by the fact that he wasn't the acknowledged leader of the Maritime Federation of the Pa cific, and he felt that in a national organization he might be pushed even further in the background. This decided him. He began spiking every attempt at national unity, using his machine in s. U. F. headquarters to sabotage tablishing the dual "Seafarers Fed whole towards this unity. He began to raid brother unions in the Mari time Federation and butted up against the solid wall of these un- ions Unable to dominate the Feder- ation, he tried to wreck it by es- tablishing the dual "Seafarers Fed eration." The storm of protest from the West Coast rank and file forced him to abandon this scheme.
 Desperate at his rapidly waning prestige among his own member ship, Lundeberg began to raid N. NJ. U. ships in earnest. From mere ly pulling N. M U. men off West Coast ships, he progressed to al "museling in" campaign on East Coast lines, starting with the Shep pard and Lukenbach lines.
 Again the maritime workers on all coasts registered their unmistak- able disapproval of these tactics.
 The moment was approaching when Lundeberg and his clique would face the united wrath of the S. U. P. membership. Something had to be done and quickly to eireum