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Show THE SEARCHLIGHT The A. F. of L. Welcomes Lewis Craft unionism finally has taken the measure of John L.-Lewis. The old warrior has lost his nip. Bill Hutcheson, Mathew Woll, and other A. F. of L. guardians of the craft system have taken him into camp. The roaring lion of the United Mine Workers has emerged a bedraggled old black sheep, bleating at the corral gate of the A. F. of L. If taken at face value, it’s a pitiful sight. The gesture of welcome extended by the American Federation of Labor to the prodigal John L. carried no relaxation of the old unyielding conditions that have barred the road to labor peace and unity. All jurisdictional claims must be resolved in favor of the A. F. of L. craft system before the United Mine Workers will be re-admitted inte full fellowship in the Federation. What a come-down for John! He knows that William Green, Mathew Woll, Bill Hutcheson, and their associates will rejoice at his discomfiture. He knows they will push him around and humiliate him at every opportunity as a payoff for the jibes and abuse he heaped on them for eight long years. We quote below a sample of the harpooning John handed out to the craft boys with such gusto while the going was good. ‘The occasion was his address at the CIO convention in 1940. Discussing a resolution asking that steps be taken to bring labor peace, Lewis sald: “Why the resolution read here this afternoon by one of the speakers said that we should go into a peace conference, or explore the mind, or explore the possibilities. We have explored every proposition. What have we all been doing? The AFL convention authorized the Kxecutive Council to negotiate with John for the readmission of his coal miners. But it conditioned its authorization upon John’s first coming to terms on jurisdictional issues. Mathew Woll, AFL vice president, said: “T have been an explorer in the American Federation of Labor. Explore the mind of Bill Green? Why Bill and I had offices next door to each other in the Same corridor for ten years. I was a member of the same Executive Council that he was for one year. I have done a lot of exploring in Bill’s mind, and I give you my word there is nothing there.* “This formula is designed to protect the interests of every affiliated organization. This Council is not going to bargain away the jurisdictional rights of any organization merely to admit the United Mine Workers.” Lewis pleaded to be taken back into the A. EF. of L. with his district.50 intact. He wanted to preserve a few shreds of his old prestige. He offered to adjust any jurisdictional questions immediately after his re-affiliation had been accomplished. He wanted the public to believe that he hadn’t lost his shirt in bargaining with the A. F. of L. But the old bosses of the craft organizations would have none of it. The Federation, while quite willing to accept his per capita tax, denied John L. Lewis a single face-saving concession. He must now stay out in the cold or accept the harsh terms of the men he once held up to ridicule and scorn. He must submit to the hard-boiled jurisdictional vivisectionists who control the American Federation of Labor, or stay in his own back yard. “Explore Mathew Woll’s mind? I did. It is the mind of an insurance agent, who used his position as an officer of the American Federation of Labor, and a member of the (Continued on following page) *We do not subscribe wholly to the Lewis estimate of William Green. Elsewhere we reproduce a statement of Mr. Green’s comparing the merits of industrial and craft unionism. That statement is an able and accurate appraisal of the case. Certainly or clearer Mr. Lewis statement has not produced a truer reflecting the superiority of industrial unionism. And Mr. Lewis is president of the United Mine Workers of America, a pioneer in the industrial type of organization in modern production. |