AMERICAN LABOUR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22578, 17 November 1936, Page 16

AMERICAN LABOUR

PLACE IN POLITICS FORMATION OF A PARTY IMPETUS TO MOVEMENT [from our OWN correspondent] NEW YORK, Oct. 7 American workers and their organisations are seriously contemplating tho formation of a Labour Party. I" or generations they have openly envied tho progress made by their fellows in Great Britain and the Dominions, and point with prido to the fact that Labour lias sat on the Treasury benches at Westminster, Canberra and Wellington.

For reasons similar to those apparent in the United States they do not expect Labour to head the Government of Canada. The most pregnant of these ieasons is that, in both North American countries, Labour lias, in tho past, been content to negotiate with tho traditional old-line parties prior to a general election. Recognition oi Unions That time is passing in the United States. Labour has begun to realise that, although it has often held the balance of power, it has never ruled. At no time in its history has it so accurately assessed the power it is able to wield as during the development of the policies of tho New Deal. From the outset President Roosevelt has sought, at the expense of employers, to improve tho economic condition of the workers.

The membership of tho American Federation of Labour enjoyed a substantial increase as the President and his executive officers supported the demand for recognition of trade unions, tho right to collective bargaining, conciliation and arbitration in -industrial disputes. At one stage of his administration the President, imbued with tho desire to aid the workers, moved so far to the left that it was only with great difficulty that his political advisers persuaded him partly to retrace his steps. Progress Under Roosevelt The most eloquent testimony of tho progress of Labour under the Roosevelt regime was tho advice tendered to his followers by tho Communist leader to vote for the President. Socialists will continue to support Norman Thomas, but the rank and file of Labour, particularly those whose families ar? on relief, feel that time is opportune to establish and maintain an independent party on the floor of Congress. At the moment a titanic struggle is going on hetween the American Federation of Labour and tho miners' and steelworkers' unions, who do not favour the abolition of craft unionism, but would change its form in certain mass industries. The federation, forecasting a possible break in relations, ordered the suspension of a dozen affiliated unions. The latter have threatened to form a rival federation. Nevertheless, both factions agreed to support Mr. Roosevelt at the elections. History of Movement Tho movement to establish a Labour Party in the United States was subdued by recurring depressions, in 1837 and 1573. find by the proclamation by the Federation of Labour in 1895 that it would not enter politics. The effort was renewed in 1908 and 1913, when a national workers' referendum was proposed, to test the sentiment. At the end of the war organised Labour had 5,000.000 members. The "open shop" campaign in 1920, and the rebuff administered by the Hepublican and Democrat Parties in 192!. were succeeding setbacks to the movement, but it. was again vigorously revived at the 1935 convention of the federation, whose leaders headed off specific resolutions by the declaration that President Roosevelt had helped Labour, and the formation of a party would play into the hands of reactionary groups.

When, however, the Supreme Court upset the New Deal's minimum wage laws, added fervour was given to the movement for the establishment of a Labour Party, which, during the next term of Congress, is expected to reach the status of a third party in American national politics.