Amerikai Magyar Szó, 1955. január-június (4. évfolyam, 1-26. szám)
1955-03-31 / 13. szám
March 31, 1955 AMERIKAI MAGYAR SZÓ 23 POT - POURRI UNITY OF AFL AND CIO - A HISTORIC EVENT According to all indications the organic unity of the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations will be a reality before 1955 comes to an end. This event is a historic one. Just as 19 years ago the birth of the CIO was a historic need and necessity, so the unity of these two great labor organizations is a MUST today from the most elementary point of view of all of labor. 19 years ago, the basic mass production industries could not be organized by the reactionary, craft-minded bureaucracy of the AFL. A new organization, the CIO, had to come into being to do that monumental job. This was done, and steel, auto, rubber, electrical, chemical, textile and a number of other industries were organized into industrial unions. Why Unity is a Must at the Present Time? Workers in our country today are faced with great and grave problems. Let us see what some of these problems are: 1. Automation The big corporations are installing at an ever greater pace new, improved machinery—displacing workers by the thousands. Let us quote only two examples that illustrate what we mean. In the February 12, 1955 edition of Business Week, a big business publication, the Armstrong Industrial Products Corp. l'eports the following: “Cork is one of nature’s best heat insulators. That’s why, using steam heat, it used to take at least 6 hours of baking to set the binder of a 2-inch-thick mat. Often the outside of the mixture was “overcooked” before the center was done. Now, a mat three times as thick is baked electronically in about 4 minutes... 270 times as fast as the 18 hours required to bake three 3-inch mats by the old steam method. Now listen to a speech, delivered by a representative of the General Electric Company-before the National Association of Manufacturer in December of 1954: “Our Company task, therefore, is to double output during the decade ahead... if we can increase the productivity of our workers by 100 percent in the next ten year period, we will not need to'increase our labor force over the present level.” To put up a successful fight so that automation shall benefit the workers istead of wmrsen their conditions, a united labor movement is necessary. 2. Decentralization Decentralization is a fancy name. It meaips nothing else but a scheme on the part of the manufacturers to move their factories from highly organized areas to non-union, low wage locations. The movement of factories caused tens of thousands of workers to lose their .fobs. Many communities are becoming ghost towns. This menace is growing by leaps and bounds. In fact without bounds. Listen to the same General Electric representative in his referred to above: , “So far as decentralization af people is concerned we have merely scratched the surface” What the company wants is: “Further physical decentralization of plant, with more ‘small-plant’ atmosphere.” “So we may expect to hear more of GE plants like Edmore, Michigan; Limerick, Maine; Jonesboro, Arkansas; Linton, Indiana; and Waynesboro, Virginia.” This company plan spells wholesale unemployment for workers in the company’s established plants, and widespread rate cuts and speedup for all of the company’s workers. This menace of decentralization cannot be fought successfully without a united labor movement. 3. Anti-labor Legislation The great corporations and big monopolies use their representatives in Congress to enact laws beneficial to them and detrimental to labor. They have applied all the provisions of the Taft-Hart- ley Law with ever greater vengeance. In addition, other measures such as the “Right to Work” were placed on the statue book of 17 states and the infamous Brownell Communist Control Law was enacted the effects of which are not felt as yet, because the government failed to put its provisions into effect. These antilabor laws, and the witch-hunts conducted by the Senate and House Committees prevented organization of the unorganized, while the workers, divided abong themselves, fought one another with great vehemence. To defeat these anti-labor laws, and to organize the unorganized— unity is indispensable. Shall We Fight for 'Ideal” Unity? Now, while unity of CIO and AFL is almost an accomplished fact, requiring only the O. K. by the representative conventions, there are ultra-radicals coming forward with proposals saying that unless all these proposals are accepted by the AFL there shall be no unity. To indicate how phoney- some of these proposals are, let us mention one condition brought forth by one CIO leader recently: He stated that there shall be no unity unless . .. “the old fighting spirit of the CIO is accepted as one of the conditions...” The fact of the matter is that most of the CIO unions lost the “old fighting spirit” that characterized the CIO in its formative stages. The fact of the matter is that many AFL unions put up better fights for wages and working conditions during the past few years than did some CIO unions. The most important single fact is that unity of the two organizations, achieved through pressure of the membership, will make it possible to revive the very militancy some of the CIO leaders TALK about. Their talk can be translated into ACTION only if unity is established. We certainly do not agree with Reuther, Meany and Co. who state that unity is needed in order to fight Communism at hotne and abroad. But we are of the opinion that it would be equally wrong not to have unity until and unless a complete militant platform is accepted by both organizations. We believe that once unity is established, the pressing events will force the united labor movement in self-defense to make measures to — 1. Organize the unorganized 2. Fight for higher wages and shorter hours 3. Defeat anti-labor legislation 4. Defend Civil Rights 5. Fight for free trade of all nations—and the maintenance of peace. During the last few years, the great labor unions spent mjjlions of dollars and most of their man-power to fight one another by raiding. This immobilized labor. This is the reason why during the year 1954, one of the best years for the corporations, the majority of the workers reveiv- ed less than 5c an hour wage increases. It was the worst year for labor since 1946. Increased profits on the one hand, reduced standard of living on the means, if this trend continues, that the already existing economic An official of the Metropolitan Museum of Art recently was visited by an agency fellow who wondered whether the museum had any paintings of a peach by an Old Master. “No” the official answered. “We have apples, pears, grapes and assorted vegetables—but sorry, no peaches." To soften the impact of this news, he asked sympathetically what the agency man wanted it for. “Well’ came the reply, “We have this TV commercial where an. electric shaver shaves the fuza off the skin of a peach, and we thought it might add something to it to have the painting in the background.”. Wouldn’t be surprised if next time I’d see Mona Lisa as a “background” for a tooth-paste or maybe a depilatory ad! “Make your smile famous like Mona Lisa’s! Use Goo Gloo toothpaste!” ★ Comment of a press gallery wit, after Val Peterson, Civil Defense Administrator, described the effects of radioactive fallout from hydrogen bombs: “The best way to handle this situation is to be dead.” ★ TREND OF THE TIMES. The story is being told of an author who brought an article to a magazine. The editor said he’d buy it if the title were changed, in keeping with the new trend. The author suggested: “I Romanced a Boa Constrictor”... “No, the editor said. “It’s not topical”. Tlie author suggested, “I Romanced a Boa Constrictor to Escape From The Reds”... “You’re on the right track,” said the editor. He bought the article when the title was changed to “I Romanced a Boa Constrictor to Escape From Reds, and Found God”. j (Continued on page 24) crisis will deepen. To prevent a new. devastating economic crisis with all the mass misery and starvation, unity of labor is a must. . .For the all the above states reasons we are of the opinion that any further delay in uniting the labor movement can be beneficial only to the employers and harmful to the workers. We are .of the opinion that once unity is established, events will take place that will be beyond the control of the reactionaries in the united labor movement. It seems to us once unity is established the pi'ogressive elements in the united labor movement will have a better opportunity to mobilize the workers to carry out a program that will meet the needs of the day. Nothing should stand in the way of uniting the AFL and the CIO. James Lustig REVIEW OF THE MONTH k . .................-___ ___■■ .. ^
