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Show h Ueaffame In WASHINGTON Qjd By Wa,fer Sheod V WNU Correspondent WNU Washington Bureau 621 Union Trust Building Congress Veering to Left WITH congress back in session and unusual activity evident about the headquarters of both national na-tional political committees, political politi-cal leaders here are looking toward the 1948 elections, just about a year off, and scanning the political horizons hori-zons for the signs of the times. With these elections in the offing, congressional legislation on reconversion recon-version will be tempered by politl- I cal expediency, and it is likely the 1 Truman administration will take a gradual shift more to the "left." While the results of the British , elections served to bring into clearer clear-er focus the trend of mass thinking of the "common man," we have only to recapitulate the results of the last national election in this country to note the power and growth of labor as a political force, and note the leftward trend. Despite this trend, however, there is little or no indication that labor in America will ever go so far to the left as to advocate ad-vocate state socialism, at least if the government of the United States remains a liberal government. govern-ment. But whether pohticans of either party will admit it or not, the fact remains that the Political Action committee of the CIO, John L. Lewis and his united mine workers, and various factions of the AFL did play an important role in the last election. elec-tion. These labor organizations are now laying plans for the active part ( they are to play in the elections next year, both congressional and local. Some weeks ago, your Home Town Reporter wrote that a new line-up of contending forces would see the mass thinking of the large areas of population pitted against the individual thought of the small towns and rural sections. That is exactly what happened in England. In some few agricultural sections, however, the farmers voted with the Labor party In the British left-swing toward a Socialist government. England Won't Go 'Red' According to the political dope-sters dope-sters here, the Socialist leanings of the Labor party in England do not mean that England will abandon the capitalistic system. Rather, as Sir Stafford Cripps put it, the Labor party seeks a greater degree of economic liberty for the common people "by a wise combination of state ownership and private enterprise enter-prise with effective control and planning plan-ning of our natural resources." And then he cites our TV A system sys-tem in America as an example. He might well have cited our Federal Reserve system, the Reconstruction Re-construction Finance corporation, corpora-tion, the Federal Housing administration, ad-ministration, social security, the Commodity Credit corporation, the Agricultural Adjustment act, the Federal Deposit Insurance act, the Federal Land banks for all these reflect the "wise combination of state ownership and private enterprise with effective ef-fective control, etc." These activities activ-ities are now integral parts of our governmental system, and are here to stay. So, despite any left swing in this country, political leaders believe that so long as this wise combination combina-tion exists, that is, a partnership arrangement ar-rangement between government and people, there is little danger of either a Labor party, as such, or other than our traditional form of government in this country. As a matter of fact, neither England or Russia, both classed as democracies, democra-cies, have any sovereign power or rights vested in the people. How Powerful Is Labor? Political leaders here are watching watch-ing the power of the Labor lobby here as reflected in two bills before the congress, one the Murray full-employment full-employment bill, also sought by the administration, and the other the Hatch - Burton bill which provides pro-vides a new approach to settlement of management - labor controversies. controver-sies. Labor wants the Murray bill, but is against the Hatch measure. The action of President Truman in calling a labor-management conference confer-ence under the general supervision of Secretary of Labor Schwellenbach has also drawn some political comment. com-ment. Some leaders profess to see a move to blockparticipation of Secretary Sec-retary of Commerce Wallace, since labor had asked that the conference be under the joint supervision of Wallace and Schwellenbach. Speaking before the senate committee, com-mittee, Sen. Wayne Morse (R., Ore.) said: "The British election shows a determination of the com-i com-i mon man and woman to obtain eco-I eco-I nomic security. American democ-I democ-I racy rests on capitalism, and capitalism capi-talism rests on democracy; both must work in order for the system to last." Senator Murray (D., Mont) said: "I see nothing but conflict and recrimination for capitalism in America unless we provide a program pro-gram which will insure employment opportunities fox all Americans who are able and willing to work." |
