The Red, Red Face

Ever since 1934 the U.S. Government has insisted that Australia-born Harry Bridges, California labor leader, is a Communist. Just as insistently the Communist newspaper, the Daily Worker, has denied it. Last week, while Bridges' appeal from a deportation order (TIME, June 8) was pending, the Daily Worker slipped.

In a story from the Worker's Washington bureau, Longshoreman Bridges was identified as a "West Coast Communist leader." More than 10,000 copies of the edition were run off before someone caught on. While squads of employes scurried out to retrieve as many copies as possible, presses were stopped and the sentence changed to read: "West Coast maritime leader."

Headlined the New York Times: "Is Red Paper's Face Red!" Said a Daily Worker deskman: "It was a typographical error. . . . This sort of thing happens sometimes. You see, the boys down in the composing room get to throwing the word 'Communist' around, and. . . ."

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