Evening star., 1942-01-19

through pressure on the Roosevelt
administration by labor group,
numerically and politically the most
powerful in all our history.
Pearl Harbor's tragedy ended any
possible public sympathy for strikes
or work stoppages The record OF
industrial peace since December 7
has been excellent. 1t has intro
duced, on the other hand, no stop
page OF labors ambitions. A change
in strategy. however. has become
necessary.
No longer will the jurisdictional
strike or rivalry between C. I. o.
and A. F. L. organizers as cause
of labor disturbance be tolerated.
The A. F. L.-C. I. o. merger would
end all this and make possible
concentration on other more impor
tant objectives.
Defense Contract Control Seen Aim.
The first and foremost objective
by labor is to get control Of the
Offices or bureaus or agencies in
Government that award or allot de-
tense contracts. This would mean
q chance to persuade non-union or
even union employers to accept
compulsory unionization plans and
1t would mean tremendous increase
In the power of national unions
and locals to sell their members
the idea Of the influence Of the
unions in obtaining work. Some
new reason for unionization besides
the getting of higher wages has to
be developed. And the c. I. o. has
gotten more publicity in that di-
rection than any other organization
by means of its industry council
plans.
These plans are by no means con-
fined to the auto industry. where
the Reuther scheme was first pro-
mulgated. There are C. I. o. in
dustry-labor council plans for almost
every basic industry, including steel. !
copper, lumber, aluminium. Each |
council would create regional and
local machinery and the Federal
Government would be asked to es-
tablish national defense board to
set forth rules and regulations gov
erning the industry councils.
The so-called parent of all the
industry-labor council plans-the
Murray plan-provides:
"All legal and executive authority
must be delegated to the councils
for the purpose of carrying out the
task for which the councils have the
responsibility for fulhllment."
Called State Socialism.
These plans in some respects re-
semble Communism and in some
respects Fascism. But that they are
q form of state socialism, wherein
private enterprise management
would be restricted and where labor
enters the managerial function
without any corresponding financial
risk, can no longer be doubted. In
answer to this argument, labor
spokesmen say Government is pro-
viding much of the capital anyway
1t Is the prospect that Government
money will enter the picture so
penetratingly as to introduce Gov
eminent ownership and State social
ism as a legacy Of the war period,
which has led to the oft-repeated
charge that the war is being used
to eXpoit socialistic doctrines and
that the New Dealers are not averse
to some such scheme.
Obviously united labor movement
can do more than divided or fac
tional setup. Labor union dues now
run into the millions every year
and there is plenty of money for
big salaries and for the retention Of
the personnel of most of the C. I. o.
and A. F. L. local officials who might
a year or two ago have been afraid
Of the merger as a means Of losing
their jobs.
Truman's Recommendation.
incidentally, the Senate commit
tee headed by Senator Truman,
Democrat. in its report Of last week
puts Its finger on the problem Of
labor discipline which lies ahead.
It says:
Another major weakness is the
structure of the major union organ
izations, A. F. L. and c. I. O., which
makes 1t difficult for the leaders,
who in the main are intelligent,
responsible and patriotic, to exer-
else effective control over their own