OCR Text |
Show News AJx BehindM By PaULMaLLON Released by Western Newspaper Union. THOMAS FORCES RETAIN CONTROL OF AUTO UNION WASHINGTON. A revolution in union labor organization is being frequently predicted but it may be a long time coming true. As an aftermath of the Reuther-Thomas Reuther-Thomas contest for control among the auto workers, reports have sprung -""""xvK"1 up that Walter Reu- i , ther (CIO) is hob- , J W nobbing with Dave 1 v Dubinsky (AFL) r with a view to P Ac " 4 bringing the auto ' x workers into the AFL. A co-related j J rumor has John I S - 1 Lewis, the puffing mine boss, taking Thomas hold of AFL with his dominating character, shunting William Green aside, in anticipation anticipa-tion of developing one big union in AFL and trimming the CIO. The facts involved in the report are more apparent than real. Reu-m..:8.5,.vTON Reu-m..:8.5,.vTON ther is a socialist. F v4x!A 14 is true enough he ki" won what might be --x. x superficial "con- IA trol" of the UAW v - I in the recent con- ! ' i ?! ? I vention but it is a x; ' control so definitely s - - 1 limited he cannot S"v j exercise it much. I? L He won tna presl" ; d e n c y, ousting Rcuther Thomas, but the fo r c e s behind Thomas packed the executive committee com-mittee against Reuther by a margin, mar-gin, which my superior sources inside in-side labor calculate at 13 to 9. In the Thomas majority are labor politicians poli-ticians who run the gamut from conservatism to communism and do not for a moment doubt the presence pres-ence of the communists. UNION MEMBERS OPPOSED COMMUNISTIC PROGRAM Their obnoxious practices for Thomas at the convention, caused Reuther's election. Most UAW delegates dele-gates did not care much about ousting oust-ing Thomas, at least a plain majority major-ity did not, until the communists became be-came so active in behalf of Thomas. The commies made it easier for Reuther to get the presidency, because be-cause the majority in the union has a particular distaste for its own communist element when, in specific spe-cific cases, like this one, it can see plainly what they are doing, although al-though In cases outside the union, involving domestic and international internation-al affairs the majority is frequently misled by its communist minority. But Lewis, since his return to the AFL executive committee, has not EswawyMa been doing any-f any-f thing about this or & l ! w N other labor revolu-- tion matters. In- , 'V deed, he has made i J A no move against ; s - -p Green, or to assert his bulk, or any " V move whatsoever. K A ' Lewis is not a so-' so-' X "Z- cialist Dubinsky, though this fact is Lewis utye known. (Most labor people count Dubinsky as a Republican in view of his strong political po-litical resistance to CIO and the communists.) Lewis Is a free enterprise en-terprise man who believes the greater the profits, the greater the r"-? wage. The best la- fj "' " bor authorities . tt doubt that he will I t - J, j try to fold his mas- ' J sive wing over the ; . y- f Reuther - Dubinsky , t, " ' hobnobbers. Indeed if the Thomas fac- ' " , j tion of UAW could I t purge Itself of the communists, it Dubinsky might expect to do more business with Lewis than the Reuther-Dubinsky faction granting that Lewis does assert himself in AFL when his coal strike is over and other amusements to occupy his time, are lacking. The inner lineup of union politics poli-tics Is such, therefore, that a split in CIO is likely, and half of It or more may eventually go to AFL, but certainly not the communist part, and possibly not the socialist wingers. Also not the Hillman part. Here the split runs wider and deeper. Sidney Hillman is a socialist, but of somewhat the French kind which is currently playing ball with the communists on political issues facing fac-ing the nation and world. CIO President Phillip Murray it actually being faced with an inner revolt by these leftist groups. Lately Late-ly Hiilman has been very quiet, running run-ning his political action groups, and lptting Murray handle the strike campaigns, which, Incidentally, have done little to Increase his prestige. Murray is a former protege of Lewis, who brought him up, and a Catholic. You can see plainly then that hl-politlcs hl-politlcs of the unions Is loading Itself up with dynamite or expl-sive expl-sive atomic energy but no one can yet gues In which direction. |