The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1944-11-24

Il
4 in Butte and Anaconda where com
pany domination is greatest and wher'
the only source of news is the com
pany press that the greatest major it.
+ of voters supported Roosevelt AMI
Erickson. Erickson Jared very wei
in Butte and Anaconda 1t was pre-
: cisely in these company towns, where
red-baiting reached it's greatest inten
, sity, that Erickson won. Red-baiting
is not the answer.
Some people feel that the election
was stolen by the ACM. That it is
not possible that the people of Mon.
tana voted as the returns show. But
the facts do not bear this out In
Butte and Anaconda where the com.
pany could have stolen votes Erickson
won. The election was lost in the
outlying, scattered districts and rural
areas where the company couldn't
very well have stolen the vote.
Another answer" we hear is that
the Democratic party, or an important
section of it, did not support Erickson.
This is true and it is true that Ford
has a political machine which worked
for him. But it is also true that this
same element failed to give President
Roosevelt any substantial support
The sections of the Democratic party
and of the press that gave substantial
support to Roosevelt also supported
Erickson. Let's not kid ourselves.
Sure there was opposition to Erick-
son, and still more opposition of much
longer standing to Roosevelt. But the
people knew what Roosevelt stood for.
The real answer lies within the pro-
gressive movement The campaign
was lost by default. 1t was lost be-
cause Erickson made retreat after re-
treat until he backed himself off the
map. 1t was lost because Erickson
was able to influence a section of the
leadership of the Montana Council for
Progressive Political Action to re-
treat with him. 1t was lost because
Erickson failed to support and en-
courage and inspire the people and
their organization. Proof of this lies
in the fact that where no retreat was
made, in Butte and East Helena and
Anaconda and Great Falls and Cut
Bank and Plentywood, the campaign
won. In these places the people re-
fused to give up; they fought with
courage and determination in spite of
the weakness of the candidate They |
refused to apologize to the reaction
aries; they refused to repudiate the |
Communists and the PAC and the |
win-the-war program. They refused |
to retreat and they won a great vic |
tory even though the election was |
lost.
The Butte Council does not want to
raise these issues merely to be crit
ical. Our purpose is rather to ex-
anime some of the real reasons for
Erickson's defeat so that we can
march on stronger and more united
than ever, and so that in the future
our Montana Council for Progressive
Political Action can take Montana
away from the Anaconda company
and make it the property of the peo-
pie. We are convinced this can be
done. But it can only be done by
loiloWiuS Ii din, OpeH, anu dSSfeS-
sive policy.
We feel that the mistake that lost
the election was made after and not
before Erickson was encouraged to
run and endorsed. We think the
state council was correct in choosing
Erickson as its candidate. The mis-
take was made at the time the COM
pany made it's first attack against
Erickson and he started backing off
and apologizing. When Erickson
started protesting that he was not a
Communist, that he had not asked for
CLIO support, that there was no such
hing in Montana as PAC, then was
he time we made the mistake that
cost us the election. The people
couldn't know what Erickson stood
or, if anything. Many thought he
vas just another spare tire candidate
or the ACM.
Our mistake was in letting Erick-
on get away with it. Our state Of
icers will recall some of the recon-
nendations made by the Butte council
BEGINNING with the first retreat
these recommendations were as fol-
ows That we take the offensive in
he campaign; that our state officers
ave heart to heart talk with Erick-
on and try to develop a better work
ng relationship with him; that dis
uptive and reactionary elements in
he labor movement, particularly in
BUTTE, be ignored; that we get out
nore aggressive literature and get it
tut on time; that the services and
of Jerry O'Connell be used
o the fullest advantage; and that
very effort be more to provide more
nd better service and leadership to
he various county councils along the
ines of the Primer and Handbook
Or Progressive Political Action Coun-
lis" which was developed and fol-
owed in Butte.
In a word, the mistake was that of
ecoming frightened when the com
any made it's red-baiting attacks We
eel that our state, council and can
luch better by sticking to the issues
{ the campaign and even by telling
lie people and the company that we
ctually believe in the win-the-war
rogram, that Communists and CLIO
nd ALL trade unionists and farmers
nd others are working together to
in a common program for the COM
on people We should have told the
that if we got half chance