St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1947-11-14

to make money but that they need
money to make successful cam
paigns or build successful organiza
tons.
II good people will not assist the
politician then he either has to turn
to the bad or stop running for Of
flee. Napoleon said that an army
marches on its stomach; so in part .
does a political party and whether
it will be a good political party de-
ponds on who feeds it. 1t is :
hypocrisy to scream about cOrrup-
ton in politics if you are not will
ing yourself to spend some time
and money to insure honest politics.
II your organization is to be
successful, it must show great
wisdom in selecting its officers,
and the officers must be indi-
viduals who are willing to give
their time and talents to doing a
successful job. Such people must
be hard-wOrking, diplomatic, and
able, and they are hard to find.
But, above all the membership
must day by day and week by week
demonstrate its interest in the or
ganizatiOn. Nothing can so quickly
kill an organization as the apathy
of large part of the members.
It's very nice to have dinners once
| every three months or mass meet
ings once a year, but if that is the
extent Of the organizations activity
then the eloquent speeches at these
affairs might as well be funeral
messages read over the dead body
of the organization.
II you are to cooperate in an
organization you must cooperate
on the basis Of agreement about
common principles. Let me ex-
plain what | mean. You can't have
a successful trade union if part of
the members are for trade-uniOn-
ism, and part are against. Meetings
could not be held to discuss the
detectives of higher wages and
shorter hours because all the time
would be spent in arguing the ques-
ton which would come first; should
we have a union at all? In fact
the overwhelming majority of or
ganized workers agree on the basic
principles and detectives of the
trade-union movement. That is why
the trade unions can move ahead
successfully to some Of their OBJ
jectives.
And that is why | have always
argued to the pain and bewilder-
ment Of some Of my friends-that
democratic liberals and Communists
cannot work together in the same
organization. Though they seem
to have temporary agreement about
immediate goals they do not in fact
have ultimate agreement about
either goals or methods. If demo.
cratic liberals are democratic lib
erals and Communists are Com,
, munists then at one point they mus
spend all their time arguing about
irrecOncilable goals. The 1905
, represents a graveyard of front
organizations" which testify t.
I this simple truth.
1 That is that cooperation must b'
q on the basis of agreement on prin
Ciples. If an organization is to de
something besides get power i
I must agree on its goals, and ther
4 it must refuse to take into it.
organization anyone who does no
p agree with its principles.
: The Urban League would not &C
A cept the support Of Gerald L. X
q Smith because that would mean i
would spend all its time arguing
the worth of racial equality or that
it would have to make "A deal with
him that would compromise it!
principles. The Urban League ha,
no truck with the Smiths or Win
rods because it is sincere in moving
ahead to its goal Of racial equality
In the same way all political organ
iZations ought to decide what theil
moral goals are; it ought to stat,
them; and then enlist people wht
agree that these moral goals ar,
good. 1t is very tempting (and yer!
easy) to make deals with all kind
Of people who don't share YOU
: ideals, but you usually end up witt
I patchwork program that doesn'
do much for anyone and doesn'
fool the people in the long run.
| Finally, any political organiza
ton which hopes to make itself eff
fective at the polls must recognize
that the most important part o
! politics is the nominating process
1t does no good to vote if you hav,
choice between two scoundrels
And the way to make sure tina
candidates are good men instead o
scoundrelS is to take the nominal
ing process by the tail. This mean
that you must caucus. Now tn
caucus is a time honored American
custom which dates back to San
Adams in Boston garnet but SOM
people seem to think that there i
something wrong about it. Blu
this fact is clear: II you do no
caucus you can be sure that some
one else will. The boss has alway
known that if one hundred peopl
- dispense their vote over six or seye
I candidates he can nominate hi
candidate II he can get ten peopI
to agree beforehand.
Most people are now aware @
Il Nksa -