The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1940-11-14
Facing The Fac+s
With PHILIP PEARL

Americas workers proved on Elec-
tion Day that they were intellectually
capable" of answering John L. Lewis.
In his Enthusiastically dictatorial
way, Lewis said to the workers.
"Vote as tell you to or | quit" The
voters answered:-"We accept your
resignation"
At this writing Lewis has not yet
resigned. AS soon as the returns start
ed coming in he retired into the 81
lences and he stayed there. But from
now on it doesn't matter very much
What Lewis says or does. He's
through, washed up, finished once and
for all, now and forever, as an i'm
portant factor in the American labor
movement.
What is going to happen next is
anybody's guess. 1t may still be pos
sible that Lewis will try to put in one
of his stooges to succeed him as CIO
boss and seek to continue to run the
show from behind the scenes. But he
can't get away with that The boys
and girls in the CIO, who had the
courage to rebel against his dictator
ship, have now tasted victory and
they are not going to place their necks
under his heel again. BY this time
they should be wise to Lewis type of
shenanigans and none of the old
lodges will delude them. Unless
Lewis gets out, they'll kick him out.
And then, unless all signs fail, they
will demand labor unity.
It's In the Cards
This is no idle or wishful or specu-
lative prediction. It's in the cards.
1t can't be stopped and no one with
a sincere devotion to the best inter-
ests of the American labor movement
wants it stopped.
There are two reasons why we are
so emphatic in our conclusions. The
first is that the rank and file of work
ers in both the AFL and the CIO, as
we'll as the American people generally,
are sick and tired of being involved
in a labor war that was wished on
them by John L. Lewis and which
served no other purpose than to pro-
mote his personal ambition.
Now that the CIO boys and girls
have seen through Lewis colossal con-
ceit, they can't see him at all. They
are weary of the fruitless and bitter
battle that he has forced them to wage.
If he tries again to stand in the way
of their desire for unity, they will
trample all over him. We remember
the reception of delegates to the
Amlagamated Clothing Workers Union
convention gave Lewis in New York
last Spring. They stood up on their
seats and chanted eve want peace,
we want unity" If they felt that way
then, how much more acutely must
they and the representatives of other
CIO unions feel now the need for
labor peace.
The second reason for the newt
ability Of reunion-and perhaps an
even more compelling one-is the
growing recognition among all Ameri-
cans that the one indispensable thing
in our nation today is unity. National
unity would be somewhat farcical
without labor unity. Therefore, if we
Judge the temper of the American peo-
pie rightly and if we can read the
clear mandate of the election, labor
unity must come soon. In the face
of threat to our American democracy
from the forces of evil abroad, all in
ternal differences and quarrels must
be composed.
Communists Faithful to Lewis
There are few CIO union officials
who may not want labor peace. Let
us face this fact squarely. We refer
to those CIO leaders who are Com
munists or under Communist influence.
There is no point in going over the
list here again. We've named them
time and time again and by now the
entire country knows who they are.
These Communists union leaders are
the ones who have consistently backed
Lewis in his refusal to consider peace
with the American Federation of La
Dor. They are also the only CIO lead
ers who backed Lewis in his boomer
ang blitzkrieg against President Roose-
velt.
The Communist leaders in labor do
not want peace. They do not want a
strong, united American labor move
ment. They do not want a strong,
united America.
On the contrary, their aim is to
divide and weaken organized labor and
to hamper and sabotage Americas de-
fense program. There is no room for
such traitorous agents Of Stain in the
American Federation of Labor. There
is no room for them in America.
1t is quite possible that Lewis may
now attempt to split up the CIO just
as he tried to break up the Ameri-
can Federation Of Labor in 1885 by
forming the CIO If he does, he can
rely on the support and following of
Harry Bridges, of Joe Curran, Of Mike
Quill, Of Morris Watson, of Ben Gold,
of Harold Pritchet and other such
worthless.
But we venture to predict that his