The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1941-05-08

affected only naval defense indus
tries. That was the pretext under
which the reactionary Naval Affairs
legislation. However the committee
struck out the words naval defense"
wherever they appeared in the bill and
substituted national defense" We
mention this as an illustration of the
underhanded tactics behind this afro
cious measure. The House Naval At
fairs Committee has no business pass
ing on legislation affecting labor gen.
orally. Such bills should be consid-
cred by the House Labor Committee.
But the anti-union forces behind this
bill knew the Labor Committee never
would have reported out such a meas
ure.
How in the world the freezing"
feature of the Vinson Bill would help |
national defense is beyond our COM
prehension. Its only purpose is to help |
antiunion employers to resist organ
ization Of their employees.
The "cooling-off" period has been
advanced as a form of compulsory
mediation. 1t is nothing Of the sort.
1t merely would help employers break
strikes. No legislative compulsion will
ever bring about the 100 per cent
labor cooperation vital to the success
Of the defense program. The Vinson
Bill, if adopted, will only create dis
content, distrust and bad feeling. 1t
should be killed quickly.
Mr.. Smith Goes to Town
The second provocative item that
got us hot under the collar was a
speech made in Washington by Edwin
S. Smith, member of the National
Labor Relations Board, at meeting
of the National Federation for Con-
stitutional Liberties, an organization
which fought the draft law and which
functions in harmony with the Amer
lean Peace Mobilization, which follows
the Communist Party line. The only
other speaker at the meeting was Har-
: old Christoffel, the CIO leader of the
J Allis- Chalmers strike which had Com
: munist inspiration.
: Of all things, Mr.. Smith in his
speech undertook to defend Com
munists and Communism. He actually
, said Communism and Fascism are
: poles apart, despite the working
5 agreement between Stain and Hitler.
5 He denounced the linking of Com
munism and Fascism in an unholy alli-
ance as propaganda"
We think that even Stain, Hitler
/, and Mussolini would have gotten a
2 laugh out of Mr.. Smiths speech. At
any rate, they surely would have ap-
. plauded. So did Mr.. Smiths audience,
S which was made up largely Of Com
1 munists and party-liners. At the con-
. clusion of his remarks, the audience
\ sang a Communist anthem while Mr.
t Smith smiled. He will stop smiling
S next August when his term expires
and President Roosevelt gives him the
: gate.
n MIR. Murray Is Taken To Town
e While Mr.. Smith was going to towr
y for the Reds, poor Phil Murray was
: being taken to town by them We still
y believe that the President name
2, only of the .CIO has no more use fol
f Communists than we have. When he
e was elected last November it wa:
o freely predicted that he was going tt
is clean up the Commies in the CIO
What boomerang those prediction:
turned out to be! Mr. Murray is being
e cleaned up and liquidated by the Com
e mics instead.
= The other day Mr.. Murray wa
m forced to write letter to all CI(
l. aftiiates urging them to aid the de
o fense of Harry Bridges, against whom
'e the Government is conducting new de
is portation proceedings on the groun'
Sc that he is or was Communist. W.
don't believe Mr.. Murray did this o
n his own free will. We believe he tool
ID orders like soldier in the ranks
Sc which he still is despite his title.
m The question as to whether Bridge
is or was Communist is strictly
is legal one. We mean that it has to b
o proved in court. No one in the labo
s. movement doubts that he is and al
rd ways has been Red. No one in tn
as labor movement believes for momen
in that Bridges is reformed Red. He i
just as he always was. But commo
o knowledge is one thing and lega
+ proof is another.
I'd However, at time like this w
m think the courageous thing for MI
ne Murray to do would have been, a
to least, to keep hands off. That is, if h
of were his own boss. The power fo
evil that Bridges wields as West Coas
~ leader of the CIO must be just a
ty embarrassing to Mr.. Murray as it
mt to the Government. He would be re
re ieved, we think, if the Governmer
ed deported Bridges. Yet he has now er
Is. dorsed him and burned his bridge
'r. behind him.
nd