Editorial: The CIO issue
In this year’s political campaign, the big news – and the issue – very probably will be the CIO and its Political Action Committee, alias National Citizens’ Political Action Committee.
The idea and the technique of this pressure bloc is not altogether new, but the scope and vigor of its program is unique, to say the least.
It poses one of the toughest problems Republican campaign leaders face. It also poses a problem for the Democrats who cling to the fancy that their party is still the party of their fathers – which it isn’t.
The Democratic Party has become the vehicle of a smart, zealous and capable coalition which has chosen to take over the country, or a large part if it, not by mere boring from within, but by direct seizure of the controls – a sort of putsch.
Like any other high-powered pressure organization, it is the purpose of this group to grasp the controls, and to hold them exclusively, so it may get what it wants for itself – and for nobody else.
The top leader is Sidney Hillman, whose record shows him to be a man whose favorite means of achieving his goals is to force his way by a demonstration of strength. At the recent Democratic National Convention, he didn’t ask, or recommend. He demanded. He assumed the attitude of an all highest from whom all biddings must flow.
“Politics,” says the PAC’s primer, “is the science of how who gets what, when and why.”
The PAC’s announced aim is to bring about the reelection of President Roosevelt.
But that is only the means to the ultimate aim – complete domination of the government at Washington. That means complete domination of law of taxes, of the courts, of the economy.
It may or may not mean a positive dictatorship. That word has been abused and its implications oversimplified.
But the Hillmans and the others who are bossing this movement are not the type who willingly and gracefully give and take. They make concessions, or drop their demands, only when they are compelled to. If they achieve the power they seek, who will compel them?
They are already well on the road to their goal. It is no small beginning – the organization of this PAC.
It is a powerful movement, backed by expert organization work an overflowing treasury, and plenty more where that came from; by brains and willing workers – a pressure group such as this country never before has seen in a presidential campaign.
