Evening star., 1943-05-21
Mr.. Lewis Turns Back

'NNs 1SWIS UIuS OO(N
The move by John L. Lewis to take
his United Mine Workers back into
the American Federation of Labor
has unloosed flood of speculation
which leads nowhere. For the simple
truth of the matter is no one, with
the exception of Mr.. Lewis and prob
ably a few close associates, knows
precisely what lies back of this un-
expected maneuver.
1t seems reasonable, however, to
draw certain conclusions. For in
stance, there is little ground to sup
pose that Mr.. Lewis would apply for
re-admission to the AFL at the sacri-
nee OF any of his own influence as
labor leader. Since there is no evi-
dence that the position of the UNIV,
as labor group, has been weakened
by separation from the parent organ
ization, the logical inference is that
Mr.. Lewis expects reaffiliation to
strengthen his hand in dealing with
the CIO and in the furtherance of
his political objectives.
In this latter connection, it Is
worthy OF notice that the petition for
re-admission was sponsored by w. L.
Hutcheson, head of the powerful
United Brotherhood of Carpenters,
and thrice chairman of the Repub-
llcan National Committees labor
division. These two, united in their
opposition to President Roosevelt.
and working together within the
framework of the AFL, might be able
to exert a considerable influence in
the next election. Nor is it likely that
Mr.. Lewis and Mr.. Hutcheson would
stand entirely alone among the top
AFL officials in opposition to the
present administration. There have
been other rumblings of discomfort,
SUCH as the recent speech by Matthew
VOL, In which the AF'L vice president
declared that "the time has come for
labor to declare its independence of
unconstitutional government dicta-
ton and the intrigues and machina-
tlons OF politicians" All in all, if Mr..
Lewis intends to take the same polit-
1cal tack In 1914 that he took in 1910,
1T can hardly be doubted that reaffll-
1ation with the AFL would strengthen
rather than diminish his influence.
Much the same thing is true of his
fight with the CIO, in whose ranks.
incidentally, Mr.. Roosevelt finds his
most ardent political support. Mr..
Lewis own break with CIO, which he
helped to organize after leaving the
AFL, apparently has been both COM
plete and trreparable. Yet, standing
alone, he was constantly faced with
the possibility that rapprochement
between the AFL and CIO might be
worked out which would reduce his
influence to zero. But by returning
to the AF'L while the CIO continues
TO remain outside, he might be able
TO prevent any reconciliation, or, at
least, to exert considerable influence
over It's terms. At the same time, this
might be deemed good business by
the AFL, for the addition of a strong
union with upwards of 100000 dues
paying members to it's ranks GER
ta1nly would not weaken it's bargain
Ing position In any dicker with the
CIO.
Whether any or all of these specu-
latlons are valid remains to be seen.
Time alone will show what Mr.. Lewis
really has in mind. But, meanwhile,
1t can hardly be doubted that this is
the most significant development in
troubled labor picture which has
occurred since that day in 1885 when
Mr.. Lewis stalked out of the AFL to
launch new experiment in union
ism-an experiment which now has
brought him back to his starting
point.