Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1946-05-03
May LeaUe Reds
On Political Limb

On Political Limb
I never realized before that New
York was NOT an "early" town.
When transportation is normal
can buy a New York newspaper in
Washington on my way to work.
On the other hand, in New York
at the same hour T:30) I found
there were no newsstands open be-
tween the club where I stayed on
57th street to the subway station,
nor in the subway where got on, or
where I got off, 40 minutes later.
Of course the crowds were pour
ing southwark in the subway at that
hour and they had been able to buy
their papers when they got on, but
in the normally busy area of the SOS
the natives were not abroad in suf-
ficient numbers at 7:30 to justify
the presence of news vendors.
On the streets at the end of my
run which is about 200th street
(Kingsbridge station in the BRONX
the stands were open and most of
the people who bumped against me
as I reached for the staid Times
and the Republican Herald Trib-
une, were buying the left-wing PM.
PM can't be called Communist
since Editor Ingersoll is not Com
munist but while he was off to the
wars it hewed pretty close to the
party line. The Daily Worker,
however, is considered to express
the official wishes" of the Com
munist party and, according to most
of the other newspapers these
wishes come direct from the
Kremlin-or maybe next door.
Heretofore the Communists have
supported the American Labor par
ty which is New York party which
in general embraced Democratic,
New Deal, CLIO supporters and had
the cooperation of the Communists.
Now the war is on between the CLIO
and the Communists and ructions
are expected to arise in any cor
ner.
Nevertheless, when the Russian
delegate walked out of the United
Nations security council meeting, it
was SdlO llldl ulllll WdlhGu DdCk
the American Labor-CIO planning
board had decided to withhold sup
port of Senator Mead, Democratic
possibility in the race for the New
York state governorship. This move
was looked upon by conservative
papers like the SUN as if the Amer
lean Labor party were willing to
plan its political strategy according
to the attitude of Moscow toward
the United Nations. Since in the
council meeting when the Iran af-
fair came up Secretary of State
Byrnes led the fight against the
Russian stand. The fact that he lat
er offered the resolution which la
beled the Russian reply as satisfac-
tory and postponed the discussion
of Iran in which Ambassador
Gromyko had refused to take part
beyond the time that the Russians
themselves had demanded, the left
wingers went to bed satisfied.
However critics of the American
Labor party and the CLIO still insist
that they are now on record as hav-
ing tried to line up American votes
to please foreign power. What
the repercussions of this little fur
ry will be remain to be seen. If this
is supposed to be an evidence of
left-wing displeasure over the Dem
ocratic administrations foreign pol
icy and subsequent events have not
removed that displeasure, the ques-
ton remains, where will the left
wingers go?
John Lewis, whose love for the
Democrats evaporated when he
couldn't collect on his generous do
nation to the Roosevelt campaign
fund, is expected to become a hun
dred per cent Republican when it
comes to the next presidential cleo
ton.
1t would take a great stretch of
the imagination, however, to visu-
alize either the communist append
age of CLIO, of the non-Communist
C1O-PAC head, Sydney Hillman,
embracing the elephant. It has al
ready been demonstrated that the
Communists are becoming anything
but an asset to the Democratic par
ty and Hillman probably would be
glad to get rid of them.
Where the Communists will 20 is
question. 1t is not likely that
they and such fellow travellers as
are willing to travel with them would
essay third party. But politicians
hereabouts believe that they will be
able to shift their weight about in
such manner as to upset more
than one state and congressional
political applicant.