The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1950-10-12
Comment On
World Events


now employing one Of the strongest
forces in the world-education--ir
their tough battle to thwart Com
munist designs on the French
labor movement.
Operating on the sound theory
that workers armed with knowledge
are better able to protect their in
terests, Force Ouvriere (the non.
Communist trade union federation
has launched a unique workers edu-
cation program. The students" in
clude machinists, miners, mech
anics and laborers. Some 300 trade
unionists from the provinces OF
France and North Africa have al
ready attended the classes, held in
small room in FA's Paris head
quarters building.
In groups Of from 30 to 40
middle-aged worked, many with
sketchy academic training but vir-
tually all with years of first hand
experience in the plant, have gath
cred together to grapple with com
plicated economic problems. In the
Today study period allotted tc
each group, they've heard more
than a dozen lectures on subjects
ranging from trade union organiza-
tion to the Marshall Pan-anC
participated in vigorous debate.
y i y
On the agenda is a discussion OF
Communist methods and influence
in trade unions and the use of trade
unions in Communist strategy
This is of great importnce in
France because free unions are still
engaged in a fierce struggle with
Communicated unions for control
of the French labor movement.
Another lecture given to each
group of provincial workers is on
the Marshall Plan. The teacher
Guy Jerram, speaks in simple Ian
guage, illustrating his points with
examples which are easily under
stood by the non-academic but
eager Student" body. They want
to know why France needs a Mar
shall Plan, what it means in terms
of economic recovery, and who
makes this aid possible.
AS Jerram develops his lecture,
adults who had known little about
the economic position of their coun-
try in the world of commerce begin
to understand the elementary facts
of the French situation. For in
stance, Jerram tells them that
96R of the cotton and 81 percent
of the wool needed by France must
be imported and that most of their
shirts, clothes, and overcoats come
from foreign countries. He points
out that almost none of the French
textile works could operate without
imports of cotton, wool and silk.
u i K
Jerram gives other figures on
imports and then puts the question:
Where does France get the dollars
to buy the raw materials and ma
chimes to keep its factories going?
He answers that, for years, dol
lar aid under the Marshall Plan is
helping to close this gap and give
France a chance to adjust its pro-
ductive machinery to the economic
needs of the nation. In the mean
time, widespread unemployment
and economic chaos are averted and
France grows stronger.
Who makes this aid possible? In
the development of the
Marshall Plan idea in America,
Jerram gives a large share of the
credit for the program to American
trade unionists and the average
U. S. worker. He points out that
the program was courageously sup
ported by organized labor in the
U. S. and that every American
citizen pays, on the average, taxes
to the equivalent of 49,
O00 francs per year.
Among the subjects discussed inI
the Today course are labor educa-
ton, evolution of the labor move
ment and the Importance of tradeI
unions for the working class, struc-
ture of the labor movement, migra-
ton of workers, trade unions inl
Eurnne the right to strike inl