Evening star., 1944-11-29

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New Dealers of Frank r. Kent.
Mr.. Biddle's type and the CIO labor
leaders. So far as Government pol
icies and actions are concerned they
are In the dominant position. Sc
far as political strategy is concerned
they, clearly, intend to call the
tunes. Any one who doubts this
need only recall Mr.. Biddle's ex-
hortation to his friends to hold the
political TRENCH" war or no war
Also, they might recall the recent
action of the CIO convention in
making the Hillman PAC a per-
manent institution and ordering its
expansion in various directions.
The avowed purpose of the "lib-
eral' and labor elements, now that
they have an administration more
heavily obligated to them than any
preceding one, is to thrust them
selves more deeply into politics.
No Outward Sign.
There has been as yet no outward
sign Of this, but the private confer
ences that are occurring among the
liberals" the labor leaders and the
New Dealers are significant and i'm
portant. These are the groups which
are going to fix the direction and
supply the impetus for this admin
lstration. These are the groups
which spanked the campaign, made
the fight, bore the br,lnt of the at
tack and-so they claim and believe
delivered the votes. Now that the
election has been won, they regard
1t as their mandate and are eager to
accept it.
They no longer refer to it as "the
New Deal; they like to call it "the
new spirit" and to believe that the
coming four years will show greater
progress" along liberal lines" than
the IL years just past. And the key
note of the new spirit" is aggres-
siveness. That is the new stategy.
Everybody among the insiders"
must be aggressive-even toward Mr..
Roosevelt himself.
The idea, quite often privately ex-
pressed by the advanced thinkers,
is to build a fire under the Presi-
dent; to make him more liberal;
to keep constantly "prodding" him
SO as to check any tendency,
through inertia or for any other
reason, to lapse toward conserva-
tisr1.
Drive Against Conservatives.
To this end, the drive against the
conservative Democrats in the off,
cisl family is to be continued and
enhanced. The resignation Of, Mr.
Hull, because of his health, is a
cause of great rejoicing among
these groups, as otherwise there
was no chance at all of getting him
out. The appointment of Mr.. Stet-
tinius, strongly urged by Mr.. Harry
Hopkins, is far more acceptable
to them than would have been that
of Mr.. Byrnes, not that the former
is exactly a true liberal" in their
sense, or the latter a greedy re-
dictionary" but Mr.. Byrnes highly
esteemed Mr.. Baruch, Mr.. Jesse
Jones, Senator George and other
regular Democrats of 'the old
school,"
If this is to be the kind of ad-
ministration the new spirit" boys
are determined it shall be, there Is
no place in it for the Byrneses, the
Joneses and the Baruchs. That Is
the way they argue.
The man they want in top post
and the man they will continue to
press upon the President is Mr. Hen
ry Wallace. They would have liked
him as Secretary of State, but soon
or late there is confidence he will
be landed in an influential position
Of cabinet size. Actually, Mr.. Wal
lace is being promoted for the 1948
presidential nomination as the labor
candidate. BY that year the belief
is that the CIO through its PAC,
will have become the greatest po-
litical force in the countrywide
great, in fact, to be resisted by the
Democrats, with whom 1t is now al
lied.
IOWCIlul SAo LUUUys
Unquestionably, in the next four
years the CIO lobby will be the most
powerful lobby in Washington-not
only on labor matters but on all pub
lie questions. There has not been
much in the last few years upon
which this organization has not had
Its say. There will be less in the
next few.
In the plans now being made and
the conferences now being held
there Is little place for a regular
Democrat. Chairman Hannegan,
traditionally, will become Postmas-
ter General and will run Democratic
headquarters, but he will not be in
the planning or strategy groups.
Regular Democrats in key posi-
tons are scheduled to be scarcer in
this than in any Roosevelt admins
tration The real headquarters will
be the CIO headquarters. It is they
with whom, as Mr.. Biddle so aptly
said, the New Deal is tied up. 1t is
this labor ally which will be the
strong right arm of the revived lib
eral movement"
Mr.. Hillman repeats over and over
that his PAC is a "nonpartisan"
agency and not aiming to take over
the Democratic party. But that is
what is sometimes called "the old
phonus bolognus." The CIO and its
PAC, like the Communists, are well
inside the Democratic party now and
expect to stay there. That was their