Peace or Plot?

"We find on the one hand," reported the resolutions committee at the A. F. of L. convention in Denver last fortnight, "the dominating and fulminating Caesar of the C. I. O. marching his Roman legions to the White House with bludgeoning threats, while on the other hand we find the Machiavelli of the same C. I. O. pursuing the methods typical of that old master of cunning and conniving, working through the catacombs of politics, pouring oil upon the troubled machinery of national politics so that where the one smashes through in ruthless effort at conquest, the other follows after with soft words, with the trappings of intellectualism and the tenuous and slithering tactics of the ancient masters of deception and ensnaring. We refer to one called Sidney Hillman."

For once an A. F. of L. spokesman had turned out a brand of invective as good as that of John L. Lewis. The report, attributed to the pens of little Matthew Woll and'John P. Frey and adopted by a convention vote of 25,616 to 1,227, recommended that the A. F. of L. executive council be empowered to expel suspended C. I. O. unions at its own discretion. The rebel unions marked for first expulsion were John L. Lewis' United Mine Workers of America and Sidney Hillman's Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America--C. I. O.'s twin financial pillars. Least likely to be ousted was David Dubinsky's International Ladies Garment Workers, for Mr. Dubinsky has long wanted peace. Moreover, Mr. Dubinsky, who has always played second fiddle to Mr. Hillman in the needle trades, though his union is bigger, is now in a jurisdictional war with Mr. Hillman.

So A. F. of L. tried a double maneuver, appealing over the heads of the C. I. O. high command to the C. I. O. rank & file, with the idea of driving wedges between:

1) Mr. Dubinsky and Mr. Hillman, and

2) Messrs. Hillman & Lewis and their own union members. To Mr. Lewis' miners the report spoke of ". . . officers who levy upon them huge assessments for the serving of personal ends." To Mr. Hillman's clothing workers it mentioned ". . . undue special assessments for purposes of political aggrandizement." As for Mr. Dubinsky's garment workers, A. F. of L. could not believe that they would ". . . long tolerate invasions of their jurisdiction, the ignoring and belittling of their officers, the whispered and undercover ridicule of their leaders. . . ."

Since John Lewis had a pretty good hunch that something like this would happen at Denver, he scheduled a national conference of all 32 constituent C. I. O. unions which opened last week in Atlantic City's Hotel President, where the C. I. O. was conceived at the A. F. of L.'s historic 1935 convention.

There were no social functions, no civic ceremonies. All sessions were to be closed but President Heywood Broun of the American Newspaper Guild got them opened after the first day. Like A. F. of L., C. I. O. declared for a Japanese boycott, condemned the National Labor Relations Board. It unanimously resolved that contracts were sacred. It announced that it had spent $1,745,968 in the past 16 months, more than $900,000 on the steel strike alone. But just as C. I. 0. was A. F. of L.'s principal business, so A. F. of L. turned out to be the most important concern of C.I.O.

By its appeal to the C.I.O. rank & file, by failing to order summary expulsions, by retaining its standing committee to meet with C.I.O., A.F. of L. left the public impression that only the personal stubbornness of the C.I.O. leaders stood in the path of labor peace. C.I.O. had to do something and do it quickly. Forthwith its Committee on Resolutions brought forth an offer, which was unanimously approved and dispatched in a 747-word telegram to the A.F. of L. convention in Denver. Also aimed at rank & file rather than leaders, the message rehearsed C.I.O.'s triumphs and suggested a peace conference of 100 A.F. of L. men and 100 C.I.O. men.

So shocked was William Green to receive this surprise peace proposal that he was reported to have turned deathly pale. Re-elected for his ijth consecutive term last week, Bill Green sincerely wants peace but it would probably mark the end of his reign. His first reaction was a flat rejection of the offer as "insincere."

But the shoe was now on the other foot.

C.I.O. had called the A.F. of L.'s bluff--if bluff it was. After two days' cogitation A.F. of L. dispatched a 1,380-word reply. In Atlantic City John L. Lewis had been indisposed, reputedly from eating bluefish, but A.F. of L.'s message acted like a tonic. He strod through the hotel lobby, his big hat cocked belligerently over his shaggy brow, a fat Corona Perfecto tucked in the corner of his mouth, and opened the morn ing's business with a pistol crack from his gavel. Fidgeting through a report of the United Rubber Workers, he then boomed: "The Committee on Resolutions."

The rebel unionists settled back with a swallowed-the-canary attitude as Lee Pressman, C.I.O.'s swart, handsome general counsel, read the A. F. of L. telegram. They smirked at a passage which held the C.I.O. offer more "propaganda than expressive of a real desire for peace and unity." They roared with laughter when the message continued: "Nevertheless, the

American Federation of Labor will want to rise above such unworthy motives and impracticable procedures."

After the telegram was read Mr. Lewis asked Philip Murray, resolutions committee chairman, if he wanted to analyze it.

Murray (scratching his head): Er, I wasn't even thinking of it. ...

Lewis: You might correct Mattie Woll's English.

Murray: It is obvious from the preamble that this telegram reflects a confused state of mind.

Lewis (tipping back in his chair): Do you think it was written under great emotional stress?

Continuing to insult each other at long range, C.I.O. and A. F. of L. exchanged messages once more, bringing total telegraph bills to $58.08 for C.I.O., $99.76 for A. F. of L. Upshot was that C.I.O. .picked not 100 but ten men to meet with A. F. of L.'s standing peace committee in Washington Oct. 25. Whether by purpose or coincidence, that is the date set by Secretary of Labor Perkins for her Governors' State Labor Conference.

Labor politics at best are unpredictable.

Whither last week's spectacular doings might lead was more than any seasoned labor observer dared hazard. Realists in both camps knew that the original issue --craft v. industrial unionism--was nearly dead, that Bill Green's new issue of de mocracy v. autocracy was stillborn. The big problem remaining was how to reconcile the personal power and ambitions of a handful of potent personalities. But one thing was certain: the will for peace is stronger today in both A. F. of L. and C.I.O. than at any time in the past two years.

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