Communists, Tough and Bold

With a whoop and a holler, last week the Communists crawled out of the walls, where they had been lying low since Hitler marched into Russia, and took over the C.I.O. electrical workers union. By the time the hollering ended, electricians had a new president who would probably know better than to speak out against Reds as his predecessor had; and nobody had any doubts left that the Communists' fight to dominate U.S. labor would still be tough and ruthless.

One of the most vigorous in C.I.O.'s prolific family, the electrical union had grown like a beanshoot under the smart leadership of young, tense James B. Carey, who is also secretary of C.I.O. and very close to C.I.O.'s ailing President Murray (wh hates Communism with a pungent, Catholic fervor). The electrical union was held up as an example to other, duller unions. Only one thing marred the picture. It was infested with Reds.

Carey knew it as well as anyone. The left-wingers had been his willing workers almost from the time he started organizing his union in 1934. They had helped him build up a 250,000 membership, but they had also stepped into the key spots and clung to them.

Twenty-nine-year-old Mr. Carey is an earnest supporter of the Roosevelt foreign policy nnd closely identified with the defense program. Last week, as his electrical workers convened in Camden, N.J., Carey's mind was made up to two resolves. He would put his workers, three-fourths of whom were engaged in defense work, squarely behind the President's defense program. He would rid his union of isms -- Fascism, Naziism, Communism. He was confident he could do it all.

But scarcely had young Mr. Carey drawn a resolute breath before the Communists popped out. They supported the President all right in his program of all-out aid to Russia, Britain and China, and incidentally repudiated old friend John L. Lewis* But a compact, fast-stepping minuscule minority seized control, persuaded the delegates to kill every anti-Red resolution Mr. Carey suggested. Carey-men on the floor flopped helplessly. The radicals argued that Carey had too many jobs, climaxed the session by getting the electricians to short-circuit Carey and oust him from the presidency.

Elected to his position was quiet, obscure Albert J. Fitzgerald, no Red, international vice president and president of the New England district. Re-elected were pinko James J. Matles, director of organizations, and pinko Julius Emspak, secretary-treasurer, who expect to run the union now that Carey is gone.

*Crowed the Daily Worker: "The declaration of the electrical workers makes it plain that the isolationist viewpoint of John L. Lewis ... is not shared by the majority of C.I.O. workers."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.