Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1944-09-15
The
Beam
By
Clayton W..
Fountain

M sSS33&
Word comes from Europe
that the bits and pieces of the
labor movement are function
ing as the dynamo that gives
the underground its drive.
There is nothing unusual
about this. In every corner
of the world where a struggle
is waged against tyranny, or
ganizations of workers are al
ways in the thick of the fight.
What is unsual about the news
from Europe is that the iden-
tity of those who shared their
beds with the Nazis in the oc-
cupied countries is being re-
vealed very slowly, or not at
all.
1t is matter of record, al
though not generally known,
that the well-heeled fraternity
in France, Poland, Belgium,
etc, shed few tears when Hit
lerism came knocking at their
doors. Those of the fat purses
and the big estates, stepped in
the practice of placing profits
above the common good, were
not too perturbed by the ar
rival of the storm troops.
They had heard that Hitler
ism had a way of putting the
@. T. on labor unions, which
are always menace to prof
it's; and they reasoned that
anything which wrecks un-
ions could not be too bad.
FIGHT CONTINUED
So the fight for freedom
continued during the occupa-
ton.
And though the world did
not realize it, the lineup of
combatants was pretty much
the same as it had been prior
to the war. The well-heeled
and the privileged decided
that they could best preserve
their privileg and their
riches by collaborating with
the Nazis.
This was not a new idea.
We have seen manifestations
of the same basic philosophy
in this country when indus
trialists hired goons and gang
sters to wreck unions and
break strikes.
The only difference was
that the goons and the gang
sters, having obtained poll
tical power in several Euro
pean countries, were operat-
ing on a national scale in the
old country.
NATIONAL POLICY
In other words, strike e.
breaking and union-wrecking
was national policy in Ger
many and Italy. The Axis
agents carried this policy into
the occupied countries. There
they found people in high
places who agreed with the
policy. 1t was a natural.
The sleek bosses of the
Gestapo dined at the tables of
the aristocrats and drank
toasts to the destruction of
unionism and democracy.
1t was natural that those
labor leaders who escaped the
firing squad should become
leaders of the underground.
They were trained in the tac-
tics of fighting for freedom.
They knew who it was that
stood in the way of the growth
of democracy. They were not
surprised to see the bankers
and the industrialists opening
their arms to the invading
NaZis.
So when it came to a con-
tinuation of the fight for free
dom in the occupied coun-
tries, the lineup of combat
ants did not change.
The workers were still on
the side of justice and frater-
nifty; the bosses were on the
side of oppression, privilege
and Hitlerism.
AIR is CLEARED
Thus the air has been clear
ed politically in some sections
of Europe. Plenty of people
have learned in the course of
the Nazi occupation that the
financiers and the industrial
lists are actually, with few ex-
ceptions, enemies of democ-
racy.
1t has also been disclosed
to plenty of people that the
labor unions are fighters for
freedom and democracy. The
bits and pieces of the labor
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