The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1949-05-26
Unions Replacing Machine
As Key To City Politics

| The election OF FRANKLIN IL.
Roosevelt Jr. to Congress from a
Manhattan district last week, un-
derlines an important change in
the basic structure of American
politics. Support of the trade union
movement, not the nod of an old
line political machine, is the great
est asset candidate for public Of
flee can have.
Just a week before young RoOse-
welt shellaced the Tammany nom
inee in New York's goth Congress
ional District, Jersey City union
voters made the same point when
they overturned the 80 year rule
Of Boss Hague.
The history of organized labor in
northern big city politics is an in
teresting and seldom understood
one. Over a hundred years ago in
fant unions along the east coast
had their political action leagues
which fought-often successfully
to break the hold that the merchant
aristocracy then had on state and
city government.
During the latter half of the
10Th century a tremendous number
of people-many from Europe, but
big number too from the less
prosperous parts of rural America
poured into the cities. Most of
them weren't ready for unionism.
Such little protection as they re-
ceived from the hazards of indus
trial life came from the vote-get-
ting machines - usually Demo
cratic.
Organized labor was a rather
small minority in the metropolitan
areas. The principal opposition to
the Democratic machines was the
Republican party. Usually it too
ran a machine operation, occasion
ally posing as the champion of good
government against corruption of
the more successful machines.
Often independent liberals and all
or part of the trade union move
ment joined with the Republicans
in purging city administrations,
temporarily.
But the Repubican-good gov
ernment- labor coalitions couldn't
hold together. Not only were. the
Republican organizations unwilling
to meet labor's social demands on
the cities, but their Congressional
representative consistently oppos-
ed labor's national Legislative pro-
grams.
So, except for brief periods when
a particular Democratic machine
became too crooked to stomach
most unions tended to work along
with it.
But the picture has changed.
Union members now constitute a
major fraction of the voters in
most big cities. Direct benefits
from union action, and social leg
islation, not the handouts of the
bosses, are the workers projections
against the hazards of an unstable
economy.
Unions are demanding, and get
ting, more of a role in drafting
party programs and choosing can
didates. And now they are in al
position to demand that the welfare
of the people, not the machine, be
the key to Democratic city politics.
That's what labor in New York
did when it told the Tammany
crowd it wouldn't go along with its
attempt to perpetuate machine
rule, and side-track the candidacy
of FDR Jr., whom the unions think
will be an outstanding liberal Con-
gressman.
With it's election of Roosevelt,
NY labor has sounded the death
knell of the racketeers' grip on the
Democratic party in Manhattan. 1t ,
has proven that the boys in the !
back room can't defy the organized |
workers and get away with it
even when they have the tacit sup
port of Rep. Vito Marcantonio and
his pro-Communist American Labor