The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1941-11-13
Facing The Focts
With PHILIP PEARL

The Scripps- Howard newspapers,
whose touching concern for labor's
welfare is matched only by the
ferocity with which they attack every
fundamental labor safeguard, want to
know by what right we presume to
criticize John l.. Lewis for his ugly
failure to cooperate with the national
defense program All right, We'll tell
them.
The American Federation of Labor
has the right to speak because it rep
resents five million free American
workers who enjoy and exercise their
right to free speech on the same basis
as any newspaper.
1t has the right to criticize because
it has done everything within it's
power to help the national defense
program.
From the beginning the American
Federation Of Labor has gone down
the line 100 per cent in support Of
President Roosevelt's foreign policy.
Can the CIO or John l.. Lewis or the
Scripps- Howard newspapers, for that
matter, say as much?
From the beginning, the American
of it's influence to avert, prevent and
end as quickly as possible any inter
[ ruptons of defense production due to
strikes. For instance, the AFL and
| it's subordinate departments and af-
filiated unions adopted no-strike poll
cies. The AFL Executive Council rec
commended to the President the Gre
alton of the National Defense Media
! ton Board
Can the CIO or John l.. Lewis say
as much?
The Record Speaks
! Now, let us progress from policy
to performance. Official figures show
that less than one per cent of the
members of the American Federation
of Labor have engaged in defense
strikes. Can the CIO or John l.. Lewis
point to such a record?
| Countless AFL unions have initiated
and carried through stabilization
agreements with their employers and
with the Federal defense agencies,
barring strikes during the life of such
contracts. Can the ClO or John L..
Lewis match that?
| OF course, they can't And the rea-
son is that they haven't tried to help.
When the defense emergency began,
Stain was pal of Hitler's. Lewis
and the CIO Communists opposed the
Presidents national defense policy
and program. They showed their op-
position by giving active aid and en-
couragement to Communist inspired
strikes. Now that the Communists in
Soviet Russia are fighting for life
against Hitler, the Communists in the
ClO have suddenly become patriots
and are themselves condemning the
policies of their former supporter
Lewis.
| Is there, or was there ever any such
state of affairs in the AFL? On the
contrary. The AFL cooperated with
the Government even when it hurt,
even when a CIO leader like Sidney
Hillman was placed in charge of the
defense labor program. Mr.. Hillman,
himself, has publicly attested to the
patriotic support given to the Govern
ment by the AFL building trades
unions and other AFL organizations.
OF course, there have been occa-
sional strikes by AFL unions. Let it
be remembered, however, that these
were local, not national, in character.
Let it also be remembered that the
leaders of the American Federation
of Labor were the first to deplore
these strikes and worked their heads
off to get them settled as promptly as
possible.
Hidden Motives
How, then, can anyone with clear
mind and clear conscience attempt
to place the AFL in the same boat
with the CIO as regards the national
defense program?