Montana labor news., 1946-02-28

llcXt OF a radio talk delivered on
Z-Bar network Open Forum program
by William McMurphy, December J..
l94s.)
Congress sand the Truman admins
t%ration, too. must share the RESPONSE
bility for this crisis.
While our economic royalists were
busy eiiectiing wholesale layoffs in
thei %rplants, the full-employment bill
floor. While these same m%onopolistic
despots were effecting demotions, down.
ward reclassiiications on the 10 band
reductions in the work-week, the Re-
publicans and Tory Democrats in Con-
grcss were busy killing the proposal
for an increased unemployment COM
pensation bill.
The workers and plain people Of
America remember the promises of their
congressman on past-war planning and
, r%econvcrsion. They remember the eco
nomic bill OF rights enunciated by
{ Franklin ID. Roosevelt, which President
Truman has pledged to support. They
t know well the unprecedented war prof.
It's made by industry while their own
|, income was froze and the cost OF living
S steadily increasing. 1t is their right
| q demand security from the government
t and jobs at a living wage from indus
1 t-y.
In this situation nc Communist party
supports and fights Tor 4 program Tor
v Increased purchasing power for the
: massee which alone can postpone eco
+ monte disaster. With regard TO strike
l.. actions. we say that labor does no.
0 strike in a frivolous manner The work
d ers know what it means to go out OF
strike, what it costs not only to then
/, but to the public as well. However
strikes can be avoided, not by disrc'
! parding. but only by recognizing labor.
- Just demands. Whether labor must re.
Il sort TO strikes or rely upon other mean
< will be determined by the labor move
d mcnt itself in each given Circumstance
> and when such decisions are made w
Communists support them fully.
: Now, a few words on our state situa
ton.
In Montana. as elsewhere. there i
growing concern among workers am
70 farmers over the rcconvcrsien crisis
!. The program OF the Anaconda com
y. pany, largest employer and ,irtua
n owner OF the state, is precisely that o
y. Big Business throughout the rest OF IT,
r country. During the war their hug
A. profits were protected by legislation an
a they were able 10 keep wages to a min
an imum under the Little Steel iormul;
H. Now they want rcconverslon on thci
own terms with chcapcned wages an
weakened trade unions to deal with.
&c Already the lumber workers j
; western Montana and the typoeraphies
70 unions in scvcra lof our cities hay
ii been forced to strike over this issu'
a. Also, the miners and smeltermen
Butte, Anaconda and Great Falls hay
~ quite rightly voted to reject a propose
g. contract that offered no wage increase
rs Farmers and merchants, too, arc pre-
IL testing more and more voluably over at
nc verse conditions. The economic an
,r- political stranglchold oil corporations {
,lv Montana has given it the doubtful di
t~inction Of being the only state in II
Union to have a declining populatio
The intelligent farmer and small bus
- nessman knows that a declining pop
lation plus declining purchasing pow
Tor those who remain i'll the state do
!. not add up to prosperity and securlt
These signs point uncrrinsly TO bit
- struggles ahead for Montana labor al
!: farm organizations il the monopo
program for deeper exploitation OF I
states resources and its working pcoI
is TO be defeated. To be SUGGEST
ing these struggles must be wagcd not or
ana on the economic front but in the ?
on litical field as well.
de- The most vital single issue now bcic
ely Montana people is the establishment
ex- a Missouri Valley Authority pattern
IN after the Tennessee Valley Authori
en- Unqucstionably this project would tran
are form our states declining economy IL
ope one 0 Thriving, prosperous cconoi
any growth. 1t would give many thousar
Of our hard-prcsscd workers, iarm'
Co and merchants a new lease on life;
ory would oiicr assurances OF economic
ha't curity to returning serviccmen and
'opc would bring about the building OF II
lote industries with an accompanying
ISM flow OF new people to our state.
But this whole program is icop'
diced today because it is opposed
~. the big shots Of Big Business a
~. their political lackcys III Washingt
-, In this state the ACM-Montana Poy
combine leads the assault on Mn
They find willing tools for their pro-
ganda campaign against it in the re
%tionary Whcclcr-Ford political clio
80 that controls the state government.
proof was ever necessary that Cover
-. Ford is nothing more than a hal
maid OF Montana's corporations, it
borne out by the spectacle of his rec
-. trek about the nation to mouth
' %company's views on MNA.. AID if pr
"e' is needed that .Sena; Wheeler does
price very highly his connection with
ACM and Montana Power in this ST;
it is most certainly evidenced by
CIV fact that he is willing to risk his pol
cal neck in coming elections by polite
nv " s~abotaging pending MNA legislat
.IAA in Washington.
met The meaning OF all this for Mont
rc- people and their democratic organi
calls IONS IS 'ha' poii"oa' acton y Il