Montana labor news., 1939-08-31
BOOK REVIEW
"The Stars and Stripes Forever" BY
Elliot Paul. Random House.
1893 On. $3.50,

Elliot Paul. Random House.
1893 PIP. $3.50.
1.-THE Stars and Stripes Forever"
is a fast moving, thoroughly pro-
labor novel. Based on an actual
strike and written by an outstanding
American novelist whose previous
book, 1.-THE Life and Death of a
Spanish Town." was a popular SEN
%sation, this new novel by Elliot Paul
tells a story which every member
of a trade union will recognize as
his own.
Everyone remembers the Reming-
ton-Rand strike in Middletown,
Conn, a few years ago, when boss
Jimmy Rand invented and per-
fected the Mohawk Valley formula
for strike breaking, success guaran-
teed OF you get your money back.
There is reason to suspect that Mr..
Paul has based his novel on that
bitter strike, with appropriate
changes in the names of places and
people. The town of Meldon might
well be Middletown, Starret-Loring
could be Remington-Rand, and the
union-busting president, Mark Lor-
ing, might himself pass for Jimmy"
Rand in disguise.
The story of that hard-fought
struggle is here, told in the terms of
the workers who lived, and died,
through it. We get a closeup of
their thoughts and actions as human
beings fighting for their rights. We
get a closeup also of an industrialist
who is willing to see them shot down
before he will recognize and bar
gain with the union they had chosen
to represent them. This book is not
built on the hypocritical pretense
of offering "both sides of the ques-
ton Rather, it is the work of a
man who has already looked at both
sides, and found the right side.
Mr.. Paul gives us an intimate
glimpse of the Mohawk Valley
formula" in action. The citizens
committee, whose members are in
hook to Mark Loring; the fake cleo
ton held in the plant under Loring's
supervision; the forced strike and
the rumors of a permanent shut
down; the finks imported from New
York to provoke violence and break
the strike; the court injunction to
prevent picketing and destroy
morale; and finally, when the whole
community has been agitated and
terrorized, the black to work move
ment" which breaks the strike and
leaves Mark Loring on top of the
world while the strikers bury their
two dead and nurse their many
injured.
AS a sort of preamble to his book
Mr.. Paul has aptly chosen extracts
from the Wagner Act. The novel
itself is a vivid testimonial to the
need for maintaining this Magma
Charta of labor. More effectively
than a dozen political speeches can,
it brings home the clear purpose Of
the Act as a guarantee of demo-
cracy and the bill of rights. It
demonstrates that the very employ
ers who complain most loudly that
the Wagner Act destroys their rights
are, like Mark Loring, themselves
guilty of flouting the basic rights
of their employees and dominating
their lives.
American labor needs more novels
like 'The Stars and Stripes For
ever" 1t conveys what the BIASED
press will never do, a genuine un-
d~erstanding of the viewpoint of la
Dor in its search for a place in the
sun. Because it is his story, every
member of a trade union should
read it. Highly praised by critics
and by some of the nations pro-
gressive leaders, it should be read
as well by everyone who wants an
understanding of working America.