The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1951-10-04
The 'Reuther Movement

I'm ITS lbleSl issue Inc Union, winch
is published in indianapolis and
claims to be the oldest labor news
paper in the United States flat
footcdly makes certain rather re-
makable statements about the labor
boss domination Of the so-called
Americans for Democratic Action
which while rumorcd for a long time
has not previously been given this
Kind Of publicity.
Considering the nobility of its pro-
fcssed purposes, it proclaimed politi-
cal independence and the high charac-
ter of its president, Mr.. Francis Bid
die. Attorney General under the late
Mr. Roosevelt, the charges made by
The Union would seem to call for
some kind of answer from the ADA.
The chief of these is that the Ameri-
cans for Democratic Action receive
one third from the unions; that
Omitted Labor Policy Committee"
members Walter Reuther, James B.
Carey, A. j. Hayes and Emile REEVE
are all ON the national board of the
ADA; that David Dubinsky, the
labor movements foremost Socialist"
is also on the board that with Du-
biusky backing him, Reuthor dom-
mates the ADA. with an undisputed
hand
If these assertions are true, the
widely proclaimed independence of
the ADA. is a hollow sham and what
it actually has become is the open
political arm Of the new labor crowd
which follows Reuther and Carey of
the CIO and Dubinsky Of the AFL.
The Union further insists that ADA.
is now a thinly disguised socialistic
outfit which expects to be the domi-
mating force in American national
politics not later than 1856 and to
elect Walter Reuther President of the
United States.
There may be no truth in this
charge Of socialism but it is indisput-
ably true that from its inception the
labor bosses, particularly those of
the Clio, have been influential in the
ADA; that the former left-wing
New Dealers who have been pushed
to the front in the organization have
in the past worked hand and glove
with these labor bosses; that some Of
these labor bosses are chock-full Of
personal political ambition and cher
ish visions of an American labor
party along British lines.
This was made clear year ago in
the great labor campaign against
Senator Taft in Ohio Before the
election and when the labor bosses
We're full of confidence that their
united effort, plus their unlimited
funds and unrestricted anti-Taft
propaganda, would drive Senator
Taft, branded by them as Public
Enemy No. L. out Of public life, one
of their foremost journalistic spokes
men forecast that the Taft defeat
would mean an American labor party
in 1852. OF course, the Taft victory
dealt a body blow to this idea, but
there is no doubt at all that at the
time it was seriously cherished
The allegation in The Union that
the same labor bosses who ran the
campaign against Taft have now
taken over the A. ID. A. and are plan
ming to use it as the nucleus for the
American labor party movement in
1856 is the first sign since the Taft
election that the plans of these am
bilious labor bosses have by no means
been abandoned. On the contrary,
they appear more determined than
before. The mere fact that after the
terrific beating which they took in
Ohio last year they could still be
working in the same direction is evil
dence of how deeply rooted the idea
is and the extent to which they are
prepared to go. If they had beaten
Senator Taft instead of having been
badly beaten by him, of course, they
would have been much farther adj
vanced toward the labor party than
they are now. AS matter of fact, if
they had then won it is difficult to see
how they could have been prevented
from dominating the whole American
political scene.
The demonstration in Ohio that
they can be defeated, even when
united and fully equipped, has GER