Evening star., 1946-07-13
HiIImon Fought for
Political Alliance
Saw Democratic Party as Vehicle
for Achieving Labor's Aims
By Jay g. Hayden

BY Jay u. Hayden
The death of Sidney Hillman is likely
to have profound effect in the fields
both of partisan politics and Of labor
organization.
Principal organizer of both the Amer
ican Labor party in New York State
and the CIO Political Action Committee,
Hillman worked with all his might to
maintain the union between these po-
htical offshoots of organized labor and
the Democratic party.
For example, he tried unsuccessfully
to persuade the American Labor party
to support John J. Bennett, the James
A. Farley candidate who defeated Sena.
tor James M. Mead, who was backed
by the late President Roosevelt, for the
Democratic gubernatorial nomination in
New York State in 1912.
The key purpose of Hillman in all
his political maneuverings seemed to be
to establish labor-union control of the
Democratic party. To this end he coun-
seled strongly against any union labor
break-away from President Harry Tru-
man, although he did send message
to all members of Congress condemning
the Presidents antistrike bill as con-
tanning "the most extreme and auto
cratic controls over the liberties and
Democratic rights of American workers
ever seriously proposed"
For World Labor Unity.
More than any other man, also, Hill
man served as amalgam between pro-
and anti-Communist elements in both
the political organizations he sponsored
and the union labor movement. This
was SO not only domestically but in
his vigorous promotion of the new
World Federation of Trade Unions, de-
signed to bring the communized unions
of Russia into association with labor
organizations in the United States,
Great Britain and other democratic
countries.
With Hillman removed, the fight for
and against communism in all these
areas is bound to be intensified.
Curiously enough, Hillman in spite
of his political traficking with Com
munists and other extreme leftists, was
a conservative as to employer -employe
relationships. Not only did he boast
that his own Amaigamated Clothing
Workers had launched no major strike
for more than Is years. but through his
union-owned banks in New York and
Chicago he loaned money to clothing
manufacturers to keep their plants rum
ming during periods of depression.
Hillman reached the peak of his
political power during the 1914 presi-
Dental campaign, when President Roose-
welt was said to have directed Robert
E. Hannegan, the Democratic national
chairman, to clear everything with
Sidney"
Had Political Power.
This utterance by the President was
denied; but there is no doubt that Hill
| mans word was responsible for the
rejection of James F. Byrnes, present
Secretary of State, for Vice President,
and the choice of Mr. Truman in his
stead. Thus Hillman was peculiarly
responsible for the succession of Mr..
Truman to the presidency.
It is true also, of course, that Hill
man preferred Henry A. Wallace for
Vice President, and it was only because
the conservative influence in the Demo-
cratic party, emanating chiefly from
the South, was sufficient to defeat
Wallace that the choice between Byrnes
and Truman was posed.
To great extent the split between
North and South within the Democratic
party-which now has lost for President
Truman all control of Congress-was
caused by the late President Roosevelt,s
unfailing Difference to Hillman.
Senator Josiah W. Bailey of North
Carolina forecast this development In
1943, when, in speech in the Senate,
| he declared:
When Sidney Hillman and his Com
munist crew in the name of the CIO
come into the Democratic party, will
60 out
Mr.. Hillman's arrival in the Demo-
cratic party was signalized unmistak-
ably by the events in 1914, and the
Southern Democrats in Congress. typi-
| fled by Senator Bailey, scarcely have
| voted since on the same side with their
Hillman- party colleagues
from the industrial sections of the
| North and West.
| North American Newspaper AllianceJ
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