The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-11-04

| organization battles, is good pit like the convention of any major poe lltical party. A maximum of 10 dele- gates Is elected for every union with a national membership of more than 300,000. Smaller unions get smaller apportlolaments of delegates, but the convention Is weighted SO the smaller units have . dlSproportion. ately large representation to keep them from being run over. The total accredited delegates will number between 60 0and 700. Phil Murray, as 0. I. Q. president, will preside and name the committees.
 ba
 JOHN MAY SPEAK HIMSELF
 Biggest influence will be whether or not John L. Lewis attends. Pass age or even serious consideration of anti-strike legislation by Congress, inclusion of wage-hxtng provisions in the price control bill, defeat of Lewis in the captive coal mine strike all these or any one Of them might bring Lewis out Of his sulking cor- ner raring and snorting.
 If Lewis goes to the convention, labor politicians say he would do 50 as q means of attacking President Roosevelt and Sidney Hillman. The points Lewis holds against Roosevelt are beliefs and charges that the President Is not sufacIertly pro-la- hor, that he, has sold out the defense effort to Wall street, that he has used dollar.a-year men and eXclud- ed labor from management of the defense effort, that he has emascu- lated the National Labor Relations Board, that he has supported wire tapping, artt-strike legislation, the poll tax, that he has indulged in red batting, that he approved lowering the income tax base and did not ap. prove a sufficiently high tax on ex- cess profits, that he used federal troops to break strikes. For all these things, John Lewis hates the Pres. ident.
 Against Hillman, Lewis holds his stand in the North American plane plant strike. his refusal to approve a contract to the Currier company which would have employed 0. I. o. building trades labor on housing project in Michigan, his refusal to push Phil Murray's plan for labor participation In defense manage nent. These are the same things for which Lewis is hated, feared and mistruSted by many non-labor eie- ments of the population. Tn spite of them, Lewis may not go to the con- yerltior, may let the 0. !. o. which he created stew in it's own juices of turmoil, factionai fights, incompe- tent secondary leadership.
 FOREIGN POLICY FIRE
 Next to Lewis. the most important issue before the convention Is for eign policy. The convention can adopt wlshy.washy resolutions of aid to Britain, or It can come out with two-fisted platfoFm-way ahead of RooSeVelt's Stand-for ops position to FasciSi1, Nazlsri and perhaps party line Communism. Last year shat Issue was fIneSsed at the lntistence of Lewis. An effort will be made to put over c resolu. ton opposiEg second 4. E. F., and 1t will Dc fought bitterly by the left wing groupg. But on the outcome Of these c. !. 0. foreign policy reSo. lutiolls the country will Do abe to guage to what extent 0. I. O. is willing to support defense and In. directly from that, to what extent the country will De in for labor dis. turbanceS or peace.
 The question Of unity with "A. ?. of L. is futile.
 Phil Murray, III for the past three months, will be . candidate for re. election as president unless his doc- tor tells him he can't take 1t. How strong Murray will Dc is c question. Deeply religious, Murray iS c leader Of the. Catholic forces in c. I. O., which are almost as strong aS the left wing forces and which might give battle to the leftists on aid to Russia. Murray Is perhaps the only man in the c. I. o. leadership who can get the support Of oil factions.
 c. I. Q. therefore goes into It's convention strong in numbers, with Ford and Little Steel licked in the past year and organization work started in the petroleum and chem. icai industries, It Is weak ii its dis. Sersions and divisions. It iS, a force which can make or break defence, and that's why It's important.