The Chicago star., June 28, 1947, Image 1

About The Chicago star. (Chicago, Ill.) 1946-1948

Image provided by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

                
THE CHICAGO
★
—1 g 3 £
Published fn, _.
Weekly v
Vol. 2. No. 26
We've just
begun fight!'
An Editorial
JUNE 23, 1947 shall become known in Amer
ican history as a day of national shame.
On this day the Congress of the United States
arrogantly defied the expressed will of the over
whelming majority of the American people by
enacting into law the yicious Taft-Hartley anti
labor biiL
But June 23, 1947 shall also become known
as THE DAY OF THE GREAT AWAKENING.
For from ths day on we shall witness events
which were not part of the calculations of the
puny men who wrote and passed this act to the
tune of Big Business.
If the gentlemen of the National Association
of Manufacturers are jubilant today, they shall
have ample reason for regret tomorrow. With this
rash deed they have opened the eyes of many
who yesterday were blind.
* * *
THEY have shown the people the true face
of the enemy and the immense danger that con
fronts American democracy. They have proven
that it is they who are the real menace to our
democratic rights and standard of living, and not
the “Reds,” or the labor movement.
They have disclosed themselves as the repre
sentatives of economic chaos, depression and
industrial strife.
And lastly, they have exposed to the light
of day the naked reactionary character of the
bi-partisan coalition in Congress, of the dismal
failure of the Truman leadership, and of the
need for a new party of the common people,
* * *
LET the bankers and industrialists of Wall
Street and LaSalle Street read the past pages of
•American history. They will learn that it was
the nefarious anti-sedition laws of the 1790’s that
were followed by the great popular democratic
upheaval which brought Thomas Jefferson into
power in 1800.
It was also the popular opposition and revul
sion to the Dred Scot decision in 1857 that gave
impetus to the emergence of the then new pro
gressive Republican Party which brought Abra
ham Lincoln into power in 1860.
>. June 28, 1947 66
It is with this in mind that Senator Claude
Pepper correctly declared: "Political history has
been written here. Congress has done more than
Henry Wallace ever did to give lift to a third
party. We have seen a demonstration that neither
party can muster a l n““Congress for
liberal proposals."
. • * * *
IT IS already abundantly clear that Labor
cannot and will not take this blow lying down.
Already protest strikes are taking place in various
industries, and ’ proposals have been made for a
nation-wide one-day united labor action. Union
after another has declared that this bill is illegal,
is unconstitutional, and will be fought to the very
end.
A deep feeling of indignation and anger smol
ders in the breasts of every union man, of every
progressive fair-minded citizen. But indignation
and anger are not enough. This is the time for
deep thought and action. The lessons of this defeat
must become branded into the consciousness of
every union man, of every progressive thinking
person. Only thus can this setback become a tem
porary one to be followed by the victory of the
common people.
1. Above everything, this is the time for
UNITY. The divisions in the ranks of organized
labor must end. The factional struggles must
cease. There must be a united CIO in Chicago, in
Illinois, and nationally. There must be unity be
tween the CIO, AFL and Railroad Brotherhoods.
This is the time for conferences on a city, state
and national scale to unite the powerful divided
armies of labor into one single army of democratic
progress. This is the time for the "All-Chicago
Labor Committee" to come to life and take leader
ship.
* * *
TOGETHER WITH labor unity, there must be
unity between labor and all sections of the people
for whom this bill also spells chaos and disaster
—the middle class, small businessman, the farm
ers, the Negro people. This unity must extend to
every progressive issue and cause—the fight for
rent control, for an anti-lynch law, for civil
liberties.
■ ■ +mm mm —mm
At your service
Taft-Hartley have become fighting words.
In this fight, the Chicago Star has its work cut out
for it.
Its pages will now become the organ of this battle
for freedom and the living standards of the American
people.
It will report all phases of the "fight back" cam
paign. Its legal advisers will attempt to handle ques
tions as they arise.
That's why you and your friends, your shopmates,
your union brothers need the Star more than ever.
(See Page 11)
5«
2. The people must unite POLITICALLY.
They now can see that, neither the Republican
Party or the Democratic Party can carry out their
will. Nor can they have illusions about Harry
Truman. It was the policies of his administration
(for example, the smashing of the trainmen's and
coal miners' strikes) that gave grist to the mill of
the most reactionary Republicans and poll-tax
Democrats.
The people must forge their own political
instrument in the shape of a new party of the
common man. They must build now so that every
congressman who voted for the Taft-Hartley Bill
is defeated in 1948.
And we are confident that this will happen
if we are to judge from the cry already heard
through-out the country—“ Wallace in ’48”!
* * *
3. THE Taft-Hartley Bill is clearly unconsti
tutional. Its’ provisions violate the spirit and letter
of the Constitution and its Bill of Rights. It will
have to be fought in the courts and elsewhere
with every means at labor’s command, for labor
cannot make the attempt to “live with” this act.
That is why the movement for the repeal of
this act must begin now and must continue until
it is erased from the statute books. When the
early American labor movement was facing simi
liar attacks, it's slogan was "AN INJURY TO ONE
IS AN INJURY TO ALL". All of labor must act
to defend every organization and individual who
becomes the victim of this law.
* * *
With the enactment of the Taft-Hartley Bill,
reaction has won an important victory and labor
and the people suffered a severe blow. A battle
has been lost, of that there can be no question.
But this is not the time for despair or pessimism.
This is the time for fighting back as never before.
The people have the power and strength, once
they are united, know the enemy and how to fight
him, to overcome all obstacles and to emerege
•victorious. In the words of a fighting President.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, we say together with all
of labor: "We have lust begun to fight."