Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-07-01
CHAPTER v
BY VICTOR RIESEL

on the rackets. But you reall!
are not forced to decide whether
you want to be live slave or {
dead hero. Many have stood VI
and have survived.
Back in the Murder, Inc. days
the men-and women. too whit
fought back outlived Dutcl
Schultz. Arnold Rothstein, Leg
Diamond, Lepke and theil
troops" 1t took Just a littl,
courage. such as the Hatter'
Union leader, Alex Rose. founc
in several hundred hat worker.
one day in the Thirties.
The matters were mad-f1ght'
Ing mad. They had heard thai
the mob was planning to move
In on one Of their big shops
Word was that the hoods were
under orders to take over physi.
cally early the next day.
Mr.. Rose. a veteran Of AL.
lenby's Near Eastern Army
could have hired thugs and shot
it out. Instead, he called to.
gether 200 hat workers. men anc
women. They agreed to march
on the threatened shop
Hoods Back Down
The next morning they de.
ployed on the sidewalk in from
of the factory entrance. Wher
the gun-toting hoods arrived
they found the middle aged hat.
workers standing solid showing
Ghandi-like passive resistance
There was tough talk from the
hoods. But the rank-and- file
union members stood steady.
The mobsters had two alter
natives. They could have moved
down scores Of men and women
Or they could walk back to the
f1eabag hotels in which they
were quartered while awaiting
calls for $l5-a-day sluggings
They walked away. The matters
have not been bothered since
The mob never pushes its luck
1t never goes in for improbable
business. When the matters
made it look improbable. they
left them alone. But this did
not stop the unions fight on
the mobs. Only a few weeks ago
Mr.. Rose persuaded his union
annual convention to call for a
Labor FBI"-a special agency
to get after racketeering ele-
ments in organized labor" Mr.
Roses proposal calls for trained
investigators and the establish
ment of a clearing house" of
anti-crime information.
The Hatters Union is one of
the smallest in the AFL-CIO.
Mr.. Roses colleague, David Du-
binsky. leader of the powerful.
100000 member international
Ladies Garment Workers Union,
had a far tougher problem.
David and Goliath
The Communists had brought
the big time mobs into the needle
trades. BY the time Mr.. Dubinsky
took over the presidency Of the
1LGWU, the hoods held artillery
positions in the industry which
only a political atomic bomb
could shake loose.
Little David took on the
Goliath. Back in 1910, Mr.. Du-
binsky decided to hit the crime
cartel head on. He was the first
to introduce an antiracket reso-
luton at an AFL convention
Joe Fay of the Operating En-
gineers took personal insult and
that evening Fay swung at Mr.
Dubinsky in the bar Of the
Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans
Fay did not quite connect and
the two men were soon rolling
the length of the long lobby
That night bodyguards paced
outside Mr.. Dubinskys room
while the late AFL president
William Green fretted over all
this fuss in public. When Mr.
Dubinsky got to the convention
floor the next morning, the
resolution was as watered down
as the third drink in a Bourbon
street pub in New Orleans.
But that was only the be-
ginning. Mr.. Dubinsky has
fought the mobs for years. He
was the first to urge Government
aid and even laws which might
be helpful in beating back the
mob. Some years ago I sug-
gested he see Joe Kaitz, one of
the top anti-crime fighters in
the land. They talked. Soon
afterwards, Mr.. DubinSky set up
his own anti-crime unit headed
by an investigator suggested by
Mr. Kaitz.
Funds Untouched
AS a result, the hundreds Of
millions of dollars in the many
funds of the International Ladies
Garment Workers Union have
been untouched = and seven
union employees found guilty Of
unethical practices were heaved
out.
At the recent ILGWU conven-
ton. Mr. Dubinsky and ALL
CIO president George Meany
lashed out at union men who use
their locals and positions to set
up or cut into profitable busi-
nesses.
MI Dubinsky's fight is far
from over and he is the first to
admit it. But he is fighting
back. There are others. There
is Joe Curran, leader Of the Ma
tional Maritime Union. There
is Paul Hall Of the Seafarers In
ternational Union, who has stood
up against the mobs Of the
waterfront and against the mar
cotics smugglers.
For his trouble the mob sent
q killer with shotgun to track