Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1948-09-10
by Victor G. Reuther

Behind the headlines that tell
of the struggle for Berlin there
is a bigger story - the story of
the struggle to build and preserve
free and united Europe and to
create a peace that will last be-
yond our time.
l want, in the next few min
utes, to tell you something of the
struggle in Berlin and the rest
of Germany as it bears on those
larger issues. l have just return
ed from Berlin after a month of
intensive travelling in England,
France, Austria, and Germany.
l spoke to government and
Itrade-union leaders throughout
Western Europe. / had two long
private conversations with Gen
eral Clay, Military Governor of
the American Occupation Zone in
Germany. I flew into Berlin on
the day our air lift reached it's
peak load Of 5000 tons. ] ex-
perienced the daily round of life
in the blockaded city, where 2h
million men, women, and chill
dren in the western sectors de-
pend for survival on the Ameri-
can and British planes that land
at 3-minute intervals at the Tenn
pelhof Airfield.
And everywhere I went, 4
found Europeans asking these
questions: Will America use its
great power and wealth wisely
under the Marshall Plan - use
it to build a free and United
Europe? Or will we attempt to
force the energies and hopes of
the European peoples into the
mold of American free enter
prise, in exchange for the econ
omic aid that Europe must have
to survive? Will We break the
heart of European democracy
and surrender Europe's future to
Communism or a revival of the
NaZi movement? Will we pull
out and return home and let
Europe stew in its own juice, as
we did after the first world war,
until our boys have to hit the
beaches again, in Italy and
France?
These are practical questions,
as practical as any of the issues
of domestic policy. For the Mar /.
shall plan is in danger. 1t is
threatened as much by the con-
fusions of our own European pol
icy as by any curren or impend-
ing Communist efforts to dis
credit or impede it. And IL the
Marshall program fails, or If it
succeeds only in doing the wrong
things, then Europe will become
the battle-ground of another war.
The center of the struggle for
the body and soul of Europe is
Germany, and Berlin is Ger
heart. Through the mid
die of that ruined and beleaguer-
ed city lies democracy's frontier.
Seen from that line, through the
eyes of German anti-fascists who
have known the inside of Hitler'S
concentration comps, American
policy in Germany is only half
an answer to the challenge of
Communism. We. the American
people, must find the other half
of the answer, the half that goes
beyond firmness and toughness
to democratic wisdom. If we real
ly want to stop Communism -
and not just investigate it - then
we had better lend an ear to
these forgotten men of Berlin,
the men who during the past
three years have risked their
lives to halt the westward expan-
sion of red totalitarianism. We
must help them to develop in
Germany a democratic alterna-
tive to Communism.
Who are these German demo-
Gratis? Most of them are trade
union leaders. One high Ameri-
can authority in Germany con-
fided to me that he was surprised
to learn that almost every act
of the occupation involved dis
with representatives of
the trade-unions. The German la
bor movement today is stronger
numerically than it was before
EIitler's rise to power - and
these officials are its spokes-
men. The trouble is that their
counsel is not taken seriously
and that American pol
have not clearly rec
ognized the importance of their
unions in the growth of German
democracy.
spoke at great length with
many O1 lncoS uiiOii ASouSiS %
Most of them had endured from
six to ten years in Dachau or
or another of the
Nazi concentration camps. Out
If SO whom l met personally in
Berlin alone, 26 had lived be-
1ind Hitler's barbed wire. And
ali of them had been and remain
n the forefront of the drive
which has turned back the Com
nunist campaign to seize con-
rol of the trade-unions in Ber-
in.
Today, as a result of the cour-
lge and vigor of these anti-Com-
nunist leaders, an overwhelm-
ng majority of the trade-union-