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= 3 i a Bee she ‘o Joe L. Lewis’ announcement at Tis ig off of the coal strike is merely another “truce” till June 20 once more demonstrates that this would-be fuehrer of Amencan _ labor, who has just been fulsomely eulogized by Hitler’s Voelksscher Beobechter, will sop at nothing to gain his ends. There can be no com- promise with this war of nerves. Be- fore June 20, if no settlement of the differences between coal miners and operators has been reached, the gov- ernment must act to prevent any fur- ther sabotage. From the standpoint of the coun- try and the mine workers, Lewis’ second coal strike was disastrous. But from the standpoint of Lewis him- self, the strike brought certain com- pensations. It interfered with war production. It allowed him to prove his loyalty to the defeatists and to. those Republicans who support a negotiated peace and the appeasement of Hoover, Taft, Vandenberg, Lan- don, and Ham Fish. For Lewis must be credited with putting over the union-busting Smith-Connally bill in the House. In addition, he weakened the fight egainst inflation, He seri- - ously delayed efforts to get on with the war. His actions will result in the deaths of more young Americans than could be accounted for by « wolf-pack of Nazi submarines or a vision of Axis troops. \}! Lewis has indulged in a good deal Of lt rieheous posturing. He has ed of his devotion to the rank- John L. Lewis’ War of Nerves | and-file miners, but his actions dur-— ing the mine “truce” belied his words. He refused, with the eager collabo- ration of the mine operators, to push for settlement of the miners’ demands during the period of the “truce Instead, he blocked negotiations, turned his back on the War Labor Board’s every effort to settle the _ dispute equitably, while he carefully perfected plans to violate labor’s no- strike agreement once again, and by so doing to endanger the security of — the labor movement. His timing is worth consideration. He ordered the second strike just as the Smith-Connally bill reached the House floor, and called off the strike the moment the bill was passed. ‘Thereby, Lewis advanced his plot against both the CIO and AFL. Thereby, he made his “contribution” to the Hoover-Taft scheme to throw the domestic economy into confusion, from which reaction hopes to “res- cue” it with a negotiated peace, a sellout to the enemy. At the time of Munich, Daladier played chorus to Chamberlain. Now Lewis is’ Daladier to Hoover and his friends. Though the House passed the leg- islation Rep. Howard Smith has been trying to slip through for years, it can still be stopped in the Senate or, if thar fails, by mobilizing proper sup- port behind the presdential veto. President Roosevelt and the heads of key government agencies have ex- pressed opposition to this war-wreck- ing bill. Tt must also be recognized that - Lewis has been able to seduce a large number of coal miners only because they have justified grievances which he has pretended to ‘Support. Apart from the wage question, the princi- - pa] source of these grievances is the continued failure to keep living costs within bounds. At the White House meeting of Labor’s Victory Board, Presidents Murray and Green stressed that the anti-inflation program was being undermined by OPA Director Prentiss Brown’s vacillations and by the concerted attack of reactionaries _ in Congress, in the Republican Party, and from inside the OPA itself. ‘The refusal so far to grant subsidies to make possible the rall-back of prices plays into the hands of Lewis and his masters. Lewis has made much of the high cost of living while deliberately spurring inflation, He has gambled on smashing OPA, hoping for uncon- trolled inflation which will debauch the economy. The real weapon inst Lewis is to push prices back against - to the levels of September 1942. Lewis has done his best to wreck ‘and divide, His entry into the AFL would give him another and greater opportunity to scuttle organized la-~ bor. The President stressed this point when he met the labor representa- tives, and added his wish—which is the with of the win-the-war groups everywhere—for unity between the AFL and CIO. Lewis cannot sur- vive such unity, or the resultant joe" Ietion which it would impose on him. - This is a clipping from page 4 of the Ni] MACSES for