Evening star., 1944-07-24
BY BLAIR MOODY.

organize Americas average fam
lilies, union and otherwise, on a
block by block basis for mass polit-
ical action, promises to be the most
far-reaching political development
of 1914. 1t is something brand new
in American politics, and something
the country will have to reckon with,
now and in the future.
The move already has been
branded by conservatives as "slush
fund" a Nstion-w wide Tammany, a
grab by labor on the make" for
dominance over the White House,
Congress, and the Nations eco
nomic, social and political future
1t is charged that CLOS Political
Action Committee headed by Sid
ney Hillman, with headquarters in
New York and Washington and IA
regional Offices throughout the
country. is an attempt to capture
the Democratic Party by storm and
install a Government of the people,
by the CIO, for the CIO.
Mr.. Hillman. Philip Murray. presi-
dent of the CIO, and the other men
motivating it. say that is exactly
what the Political Action Committee
is not.
Call 1t a Crusade.
They call it a crusade to arouse
the great mass of voters to act in
their own behalf, A political ma
chine, yes, but the sort of political
machine, as Murray and Hillman
point it, that will prevent the pro-
cesses of democracy from falling
into the hands of the unenlightened
and the selfish.
The committee and its technically
nonunion sister organization, the
National Citizens Political Action
Committee, are advertised as non
partisan Their announced purpose
is to educate" the voters, get them
registered and urge them to vote
Unions have been barred in the
Smith-Connally Act from giving
money to Federal candidates or
campaign committees. To meet
this, the Citizens Committee was
formed to raise money from indi-
viduals, union and nonunion. In
purpose and policy, the organiza-
tions are as one. In personnel, the
Citizens Committee is broader and
includes many liberals with no
labor affiliations.
Mr.. Hillman says that Congress
never has. and never will, pass a
law barring any citizen or group OF
citizens from spending money to
discuss political issues and pass the
word" on candidates.
Want Pro-Labor Congress.
There is no pretense that the CIO
groups "nonpartianship" extends to
the issues and personalities of the
1914 campaign. It's leaders admit
that its immediate purpose is to help
re-elect Mr.. Roosevelt and to install
a pro-labor Congress.
Even at the height of the bitter
Truman Wallace presidential fight
in Chicago. Mr. Hillman made it
clear that the committee was for
Mr. Roosevelt whatever happened.
1t makes no bones about its hos
tility to the dominant forces in the
COP. and it's presidential candidate
Gov Thomas E. Dewey 1t is out to
crack the bipartisan clique of
t-wingers which dominates the
present Congress.
But the basic philosophy of these
political action groups, Messrs. Hill
man and Murray say, goes much
deeper. In the postwar era, they
declare, the United States can 60
forward to prosperity and stand
ard of living of which no other
nation dared dream, or it can crash
into chaotic depression which
would ruin millions of American
homes, overthrow the capitalist sys-
tenn and upset our form of govern
ment itself.
Is the Political Action Committee
really front" for the imposition OF
radical policies of government? In
part, the answer to that, of course
depends on how you define radical
Mr.. Murray's Statement.
Here's what Mr.. Murray says
about it: "One basic principle on
which progressive labor leaders are
agreed today is that labor cannot
be prosperous unless the country as
a whole is prosperous.
I'VE work steadily, of course, to
advance the interests of our union
membership; but We realize that
those interests are, in the long run
linked up closely with the interests
of the farmers, of business and pro-
fessional men. of white-collar men
and of the general public.
I'll T1-.