Evening star., 1946-05-06

Now another-and quite severe
strain Is being put on the South's
democracy. Recently. the CIO
through Mr.. Sidney Hillman's PAC
announced drive to "organize" the
South as it never has been organ
lied before. More than a million
dollars is to be spent. Many hun
dreds of organizers are to descend
upon the section. Unprecedented
propaganda is to be spread. The
whole business is to be done in q
big way with large ballyhoo.
AFL to Join Battle.
The AF'L also is going to make a
"drlve' in the South, but the GIG
drive is of greater political impor-
tance. To appreciate the probable
effects of this, it is necessary to con-
slider several things-CD that senti-
ment in the South against the CIO
with its admitted Communist flavor
is stronger than in any other part
of the country; CD that the leading
champion of the so-called fair en-
ployment practices bill, twice de-
feated by filibustering Southern
Democrats, is the CIO; go that the
CLOS advocacy of minimum wage
of IS cents an hour, of an un-
amended OPA. of Henry Wallace
and unrestrained public eXpendi-
lures, is offensive to most Southern
Democrats.
Finally, there is the obvious fact
that the CLOS organizing efforts in
the South will be largely among the
colored people of the South. Though
that is not announced. it is never
theless the fact-and so recognized
inside and outside the CIO. It could
not be otherwise. The colored. who
make up so large a part of the
population in the South, present
the most fertile field for the CIC
organizers. Cultivation of them al
ready has begun by the Commu-
nists, who are urging the colored
to register as Democrats, in order to
nominate for Congress "our friends
While anxious not to be publicly
linked with the Communist organ
izers, the CIO organizers undoubt-
edly will work on the same lines
There are no others. Now, no one
who knows anything about the South
can regard this prospect without ap-
prehension. 1t seems impossible to
avoid an increase in bitterness and
bad feeling.
Another Break Possible.
Weighing all the circumstances,
If the Democratic national manage
ment should continue in 1948 the
same kind Of political closeness and
subserviency to the CIO that
marked the campaigns Of 1896,
1910 and 1914, the possibility of
another break in the Solid South
should not be too lightly dismissed.
In three campaigns the South has
stood by the Democratic ticket
while 1t detested the Democratic
alliance with the CIO, disliked the
New Deal policies, realized it was
being played for a sucker.
Some day the South, fed up, may
revolt again. If this CIO drive to
"organize" goes as far as the CIO
organizers plan, 1916 and 1946
easily may be the time In this
connection Joseph and Stewart
Alsop report in their column that
Chairman Hannegan, who until re-
Gently had been insisting that the
party must continue its CIO 'tie-
up" has cooled off" toward the
CIO, been "disillusioned" as to its
political power. Partly, this is at
tributed to practical and thorough
checkup of CIO membership in
Chicago by Boss Eddie Kelly, with
the resulting discovery that con-
siderable proportion of the 2oO,-
000-claimed membership does not
vote Democratic and is not Demo-
cratic; and partly to the fire which
indignant Southern Democrats
have built under Mr.. Hannegan.
In other words, the suggestion Is
that the South not only has been
played for sucker by the national
party management, which has
allied itself with the CIO, but that
the national party managers also
have been played for suckers by
the CIO, whose voting claims are