Mr. Lewis Calls a Truce
The decision of John L. Lewis to send the American soft coal miners back to work until March 3rst, 1947, settles little but reveals much. The determination of the American people to make a stand against labour monopolies must have affected Lewis's decision to end the strike after 17 days. His pretence that he called it off to allow the Supreme Court to decide with dignity the validity of the injunction recently issued against him, will not hold water. Mr. Lewis has no respect for law. His very assumption that the Supreme Court can only function dispassionately when he gives
the word, demonstrates his personal attitude, though, curiously enough, the significance of this particular piece of impertinence seems to have escaped the Constitution-worshipping American public. The real reason for Mr. Lewis's voile face has not been disclosed. There 'are rumours (which if true, are very scandalous indeed) that the Chief Justice has hinted that, as a quid pro quo, the fines imposed on Lewis and the United Mine Workers' Union might be dropped. There was undoubtedly a growing realisation that a mass strike must defeat its own object, unless that object be political revolution. In fact even the spate of semi-literate verbiage with which he finally broke his carefully publicised " icy silence " during the court pro- ceedings cannot conceal the fact that Mr. Lewis has had a set-back. As to his call for the " quantitative production of coal," by which presumably he means larger production, it ensures that for once he will be doing what is good for America and the world, and it also indicates that he has realised that high wages and low production cannot go on for ever without producing a disaster. But the battle is not over yet, and it never will be until the American people as well as Mr. Lewis show a genuine appreciation of the responsibilities which go with great power. Vindictive legislation is certainly no answer to the kind of lawlessness which endangers the prosperity of the United States, and the very life of many people who depend on American food and fuel. Only progressive reform can do that.
