Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-12-03
John l. Lewis Invited
To Return Home
Move by AFL Seen as Counter
to CLIO Political Activity
By John H. Cline.


There is reason to believe that the
come home" invitation which the
American Federation Of Labor sent last
week to John l.. Lewis and his United
Mine Workers may be more fruitful
than earlier efforts to heal this breach
in the ranks of organized labor
A great deal of water has gone over
the dam in the nine years since the
imperious boss Of the mine workers and
his fellow believers An industrial union
ism left the AFL to set up the Commit
tee for Industrial Organization, prede-
cessor of the present Congress of Indus
trial Organizations. That break came
in 1885. shortly after Mr.. Lewis had
been beaten in the AFL convention by
to organize workers in the mass indus
tries on vertical or industrial union
basis, rather than along craft lines.
There are those who think that Mr..
Lewis still is the strongest figure in
American labor but in the early days
Of the CLIO hardly any one doubted It,
His organizational efforts were extraor-
dinarily successful. In 1885. when he
thought that Franklin Roosevelt was
"the greatest man who had sat in the
White House since George Washington
and Abraham Lincoln" Mr. Lewis
Clipped in with nearly $500, 900 in loans
and gifts from the UNIV treasury to
help finance the Presidents first CAM
paign for reelection.
BY 1887, however, the President and
Mr.. Lewis had reached the parting of
the ways, notably as a result of harsh
verbal exchanges during the sitdown
strike episode, and by 1910 the break
had become complete. In October Of
the latter year Mr.. Lewis came out
openly for Wendell Willkie, contending
that the President could not be elected
for third term without labor's support
and promising to resign as head of the
CLIO If the union workers did not follow
him into the Republican camp When
1t became apparent that the other CLIO
leaders and the bulk of the CLIO men,
bership had maintained their political
allegiance to the President, Mr.. Lewis
kept his promise and withdrew from the
CLIO, taking his mine workers with him.
During all of this period, Mr.. Lewis
had been carrying on a lively feud with
William Green, president of the AFL.
In 1910, for instance, he told the CLIO:
II have explored the mind of William
Green and give you my word there is
nothing there" Mr.. Green though no
match for the UNIV boss in the use of
razor-edged language, had been ham,
mering away on his own account. and
on the surface at least there appeared
little prospect that the two men could
be brought together. Yet by mid
summer. Of last year the stage seemed
set for a reconciliation which would
bring Mr.. Lewis and his 100000 miners
back into the AFL fold.
Mr.. Lewis had applied for readnission
and had sent in a check covering the
costs thereof as an evidence of good
faith. But for some reason the deal
fell through. Officially. it was said that
the AFL could not take back the mine
workers until jurisdictional questions
arising out Of the organizing activities
of District so, the UNIV "catch-all"
union, had been settled. Mr.. Lewis, on
the other hand, was represented as in
sisting that the UNIV be readmitted
first. and that the jurisdictional prob
lens be settled later. Whether there
was more to it than that does not
appear, but in any event the plans fell
fhroy,r1, <L1
continued to go their separate way.
Meanwhile, however, another national
election has been held, resulting in an
other political setback for Mr.. Lewis
and triumph for the CLIO and its
Political Action Committee which must
be anything but reassuring to the AFL
leaders as they contemplate the future
and what 1t may hold for their organ
ization. If labor is to undertake larger
political role in the future, and that
seems entirely evident, both Mr.. Green
and Mr.. Lewis must be wondering where
their organizations are going to fit into
the picture, and whether this is not
the last chance to close ranks if they
ever expect to do so. At any rate, the
fact Is that the AFL last week took the
initiative in extending a cordial invita-
ton to Mr.. Lewis and his mine workers
to move back into the old family circle.
r
1t was not clear whether the dispute
as to District so and its jurisdictional
offspring has been resolved, but the
Inference was that the mine workers
could make their own terms on this
sccore. The only dissident voice was
that OF the president of the Progressive
Miners, rival mine union group. who
told the AFL convention delegates that
they were kidding themselves" If they
thought they could have peace and
harmony with Mr.. Lewis back in the
family. Mr.. Lewis, he said, had done
everything possible to disrupt the AFT,
and his District so had been continually
"ra1ding" other unions. This delegate
spoke for himself, and himself alone.
however. Mr.. Green made a fervent
plea for the return of the miners and
said that whenever it becomes neces-
sary for me to leave to establish unity
I am wiling to do so' Others among
the AFL leaders, men like Matthew
VOL and John P. Frey, spoke in sim
liar vein, and it was also noted that
several speakers attacked the War Labor
Board and, indirectly, the President, in
terms scarcely less harsh than those
which Mr. Lewis himself has employed.
oil