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From Labor Action, Vol. 14 No. 25, 19 June 1950, pp. 1 & 8.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
NEW YORK, June 8 – Nowhere is the blind alley of presentstyle labor politics more evident than in New York City, as a result of the kind of record that has been made in less than a year by the new term of the AFL-CIO-supported O’Dwyer administration.
The Liberal Party, based primarily on the International Ladies Garment Workers Union and the smaller Millinery Workers, had opposed O’Dwyer, to be sure – but in favor of the Republican-Fusion candidate Newbold Morris.
As a result, current city politics appears to be temporarily reversing a recent U.S. trend. For some time, the tendency has been more and more for local politics to become dependent upon national issues and national parties. Both LaGuardia and O’Dwyer, with different formal political affiliations, relied heavily on their ties with the national administration and its labor support to obtain their victories.
But in this year of congressional and state elections, the Democratic candidates, with large support for their national policies from the city electorate, are embarrassed by the discredit that can come from the actions of their re-elected city administration.
There is, of course, little doubt that most of them will receive the active support of all but the Stalinized sections of the labor movement. This is not merely a resuit of habit; the New York City congressional delegation is mostly strongly pro-Fair Deal and thus in almost complete agreement with the current political program of the labor movement. Senator Lehman, up for re-election for a full term, has become one of the special prides of the labor press since he took his place on Capitol Hill this year.
Yet the Democratic strength is weaker in New York City than for some time. The record of the new O’Dwyer administration is remarkably bad – which does not prevent the continued, but less warm, allegiance to it of all branches of the labor movement except those affiliated with the Liberal Party or the Stalinists. The recent racket and gambling exposure have hurt a little, but such items are minor. The inventory of the acts of the O’Dwyer administration, as best represented by its chieftain, provides an obvious explanation of why last November’s strength has undoubtedly been sapped.
O’Dwyer received probably his most active original support from one union, Michael Quill’s CIO Transport Workers. Since the election, all of this union’s demands for wage increases, working-condition changes, etc., have been turned down; an investigating committee has recently recommended a “compromise” on the union demands, to be met by a fare increase for surface transportation. But the memory of O’Dwyer’s casual attitude toward the transport workers remains, and it is likely not to be forgotten even by Quill.
The O’Dwyer administration flatly refused any raises for most city employees, while voting handsome salary increases for top administrators. To make it that much worse, O’Dwyer personally defended both acts in the most blatant and vulgar fashion, claiming that he and his colleagues would regard it as a personal affront if they did not get their raises. Welfare Commissioner Hilliard cut individual relief allotments, followed by a cheap burlesque of how he and his family could “get along” on what was given the reliefers. As some observer explained, his little play-acting scheme did not include any mention of the large liquor supply in his closet.
Most dramatic of all was the O’Dwyer attitude toward the teachers. He offered them a very small salary increase, far below their demands; understandably, all teachers’ organizations rejected it. When high school teachers announced they would not contribute to school extracurricular activities without a pay raise, many high school students participated in the well known demonstrations at City Hall, for which they were alternately attacked as “subversives” and “hoodlums.”
As part of the struggle with the teachers, the leaders of the Stalinist Teachers Union, the most powerful of the teacher unions in the city, are being driven out of the school system. One of its members was.. dropped from her job because she was identified as a CP member a few days before she would have completed her probation, which would have compelled a formal trial. Now many of the leaders of the union, with full tenure, are up on dismissal charges for “insubordination” because they refused to answer questions on CP affiliation. This is not just another part of the cold-war drive against the Stalinists. It comes too close to the running battle of the city administration with all the teachers organizations to fail to appear as a convenient method for hitting the most vulnerable of them.
O’Dwyer’s political associates will be backed for election to Washington and Albany by the labor movement, even by the ILGWU and the Millinery Union, despite the call of the President of the latter, Alex Rose, for a new political formation. Most of them have “perfect” Fair Deal records, and even O’Dwyer can claim the same type of politics. It is therefore assured that the Democratic delegation to both Houses of Congress from this area will be at least as large as last time. In addition, there may again be a Democratic governor in the state, whether Dewey runs or does not. The labor movement will see to all of this.
But the actions of the local administration present a promise for the future. The break with the Democratic Party may exist in miniature on a local level soon, even if not too officially. The Liberal Party is in a perfect spot to utilize the growing antagonism toward O’Dwyer and company, and it has done so. But, its type of independent criticism of the Democratic machine is vitiated by the fact that it so completely allies itself with the national and state organizations. It is to be hoped that the local break will logically lead to a national schism within the near future.
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