Evening star., 1945-02-09

OAb 0APRSAo Va
Mr.. Roosevelt, Frank r. Kent.
for whose New Deal it has strong
distaste, of a South, soidly Demo.
cratic largely because the Repub.
licans formerly were the recognized
party Of the Negroes, long after the
President had made the Negroes
Democratic. That, perhaps, is the
most conspicuous example of in.
consistency and uninte1ligence, but
there are others almost equally sur.
prising and nearly as difficult to ex.
plain. One Of these has developed
in the present fight over the work
or fight" bill, passed by the House
and now pending in the Senate com.
mittee.
This is the limited national serv-
Ice bill which the chiefs of stats
and the President urge as essential
to the war effort. While the Ma
tional Association of Manufacturers
opposes, the really effective opposi-
ton comes from CIO and AFL la
Dor leaders. Philip Murray and Will
liam Green.
Fear Labor Slavery"
BY these the bill is regarded as a
plan for labor slavery" and the
radical press of New York violently
assails 1t as the work or Jail" bill.
These have put themselves in full
opposition to the Commander in
Chief, whom they supported, and
the united military and naval heads.
But whom do we find now gallop-
ing to the rescue of the work or
fight" bill? Whom do we find be-
hind the Army and Navy and
against the professional labor
bosses? Who is it who now says that
this labor slavery" stuff is all nom
sense and that work or fight" is
right? Why none other than the
Communists. That's who, Mr.. Brow
der and his doughty band of broth
ers have made it plain that they
disagree with the C1O and AFL
chiefs.
They have further made it plain
that the CIO is by no means a unit
behind Mr. Murrays position. On
the contrary, CIO Communicated
mated unions are making it known
in Congress that they are for, not
against, the work or fight" pro-
posal. The Daily Worker has daily
editorials demanding its passage,
and Representative Marcantonio,
who enjoys active Communist sup
port. voted and spoke for the bill in
the House.
Strange, Unexpected Split.
Commendable as it is, this is
strange and unexpected split. Here
tofore the Communists have worked
with the labor bosses, supported
them, sometimes dominated them,
We'd with them in believing about
'labor's rights" but never opposed
them on clean-cut issue.
There is at least plausible expla-
nation of why they are doing it on
this issue. Regardless of their earn
est protestations of complete inde-
pendence, Communist policy in this
country is still made in Moscow.
Russia believes that a labor draft
will help this country to fight the
war more effectively and bring about
the German collapse more quickly.
This is the immediate and urgent
Russian goal. Hence Russia is for a
labor draft, work or fight law for
Americans. Hence, American Com
munists, refusing to follow the lead
of the American labor bosses, line up
behind the President and military
authorities for the bill.
If there is any other explanation
of the Communist stand on this
matter it has not been suggested. In
this connection it is interesting to
note that the Liberal party of New
York, which gave Mr.. Roosevelt
some 100000 votes last November,
is strongly against the bill. while
the Communist-dominated Ameri-
can Labor party, which gave him
more than 100000, favors it-as in
dicated by Mr.. Marcantonio's vote.
Curious Twist Seen.
It is curious that in this vital mat
ter Mr.. Roosevelt should find his
most ardent and eulogistic advocates
of the last campaign, his most vio-
lent opponents now, while support
comes from the Communist element
for which his campaign propa-
gandists were constantly apologiz-
ing or ignoring.
It all goes to show that politics in
these United States is a very queer
beast, indeed. One never can tell
how a supporting group or faction
or party is going to act after an elec-
tion. In this case the Communists.
for their own reasons, are helping
in q good cause. Word came from
Russia. Russia is for our work or
fight law because that is the way to
hit Hitler hard and quick. Russia