John L. v. the Strong Boy

Peace proposals have raised rows before, but this one took the cake. It was not so much the proposal itself as the man who made it: proud, devious, embittered John L. Lewis.

There was assuredly much sweetness in Mr. Lewis' proposal--that A.F. of L. and C.I.O. reunite, kiss and be friends--but there was a notable lack of light. Skeptical searchers soon claimed that they had flashed some light into a dark corner of the plan: an understanding between Lewis and the boss of the A.F. of L.'s carpenters, Big Bill Hutcheson, who is just as hardboiled, almost as ambitious, as John Llewellyn Lewis. The reported Lewis-Hutcheson deal was to retire A.F. of L. President William Green, outflank C.I.O. President Philip Murray, and seize control of U.S. labor. But Mr. Lewis had badly miscalculated the temper of Mr. Murray, his onetime devoted follower.

Ever since it became apparent that Lewis, when he relinquished the C.I.O. presidency, did not intend to give up control of C.I.O., Murray's indignation has been deepening. Lewis' "peace plan," a surprise to Murray, was the last straw. With cold, Gaelic anger, Murray told his old boss that it was Philip Murray, not John Lewis, who was boss of C.I.O.

From A.F. of L. came bleats of innocence, blats of criticism. Big & little labor shots, newsmen, columnists joined in the clamor. The racket shook the windows of the White House.

The President was naturally concerned at the possibility of Lewis and Hutcheson, both isolationists, both Republicans, getting control of a labor movement of some 10,000,000 (claimed) members. Moreover, the President could well understand, as Mr. Murray pointed out, that peace negotiations at this point might absorb a lot of time and energy that labor should be expending on the war effort. Something had to be done, quickly. Mr. Roosevelt sent for Murray.

The President proposed a kind of unity without peace. To make it work, he set up a six-man committee which would consult with him on all questions of labor participation in defense work.*

Executive boards of both A.F. of L. and C.I.O. were willing. To sit on the committee, A.F. of L. promptly picked Mr. Green, Secretary-Treasurer George Meany, the teamsters' boss Uncle Dan Tobin. C.I.O. picked Mr. Murray, the autoworkers' R. J. Thomas, the electrical workers' Julius Emspak. Messrs. Lewis and Hutcheson were conspicuously omitted.

At week's end, a semblance of peace had returned to the house of labor. Almost to a man, C.I.O.'s executive board backed President Murray. Murray let John Lewis know that he expected him to take a back seat, as Murray had taken a back seat when Lewis was president. John L. Lewis kept a glowering silence. If he had thought Murray was a pushover, he had been wrong. Said Phil Murray, looking more like a strong boy of labor: "This man Lewis never saw the day when he could lick me."

*Theoretically, Sidney Hillman's job. But the President is a political realist.

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