Published in the 1947 Winter issue of Slavic American. Find it in our historical archives
Report by GEORGE PIRINSKY, Executive Secretary of the ASC
THE meeting of the National Committee of the American Slav Congress, held in New York, Oct. 11-12, marked a greater realization on the part of progressive Slavic Americans of the gravity of the political crisis in our country and a firmer determination than ever before to join all democratic forces in a counter-offensive against the economic royalists and their war-mongering representatives in Congress and the Administration.
The determination to strike back at those who are subverting American democracy and world peace and security was expressed both in the decisions of the National Committee meeting over the weekend as well as at the Testimonial Dinner for Senator Claude Pepper on Sunday evening at the Pennsylvania Hotel. The 600 New York Slavic American leaders and active workers who, led by Henry Wallace and the members of the National Committee of the American Slav Congress, gathered to pay tribute to the fighting Senator from Florida, gave a rousing demonstration of their readiness to help fight the war-mongers with the same unflinching devotion to the policies of Franklin Delano Roosevelt wit which they did battle against the Axis aggressors and the American “poison peddlers” during the war.
Wallace Inspires Slavic Americans
The best -proof of this fighting spirit of democratic Slavic Americans all over the country is the enthusiasm with which they flock in thousands to Wallace’s meetings. In Slavic centers such as Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Cleveland, half of the audiences are Slavic American. It is in the firm stand of Wallace that all forward-looking Americans of Slav descent see the continuation of Roosevelt’s policies of social reforms at home and friendship and cooperation abroad. It is in Henry Wallace that Slavic Americans, as well as all other liberty-loving Americans, see the most courageous and outstanding spokesman for progressive America. The presence of Wallace at the testimonial dinner for Senator Pepper was both a tribute to the Senator as well as a recognition by Wallace of the important constructive role which the American Slav Congress plays in the mobilization of the democratic forces of the country. His praise of the dynamic upsurge of the Slavic countries during and since the war was received with warmest applause.
Wallace’s battle cry that “it is high time to strike back at the reactionaries” of every type and description permeated all the reports, discussions and decisions of the National Committee meeting, which were summarized in the following six points:
Program of Action
1. Bringing forward in THE SLAVIC AMERICAN and. through all activities of the American Slav Congress the rich contributions which Slavic Americans have made to the cultural and industrial development of America as the best 29 means of unmasking the un-American character of the anti-Slav propaganda in some newspapers and by some of our policy-makers, such as Congressman Charles Eaton (R-N.J.). (In a recent article in “The American Magazine,”Congressman Eaton, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in typical Nazi manner, referred to Slavs as “slaves”.)
2. Developing a broad campaign in sup-port of the proposal of Congressman George G. Sadowski (D-Mich.) for a Congressional investigation of the United States policy of rebuilding the industrial might of Germany, thus reviving the danger of future German aggression.
3. Fighting for a constructive American policy of loans and food to our wartime Allies, granted and administered through the United Nations, and without any political strings.
4. Helping labor’s fight for the repeal of the Taft-Hartley Law, enacted by the Republican-administered 80th Congress,which destroyed labor’s gains of the past fifty years.
5. Cooperation with all progressive group sand organizations, for the election in1948 of liberal Congressmen who will defend the people’s interests and fight for the restoration of FDR’s domestic and foreign policies of social reforms at home and friendship with our wartime Allies and all other freedom-loving nations.
6. Building THE SLAVIC AMERICAN and the American Slav Congress as the best means through which millions of forward-looking Americans of Slav descent can make the same contribution to the preservation of American democracy and the winning of the peace, as they did to the winning of the war.
Fighting Fund For 1948—$120,000
In order to carry out this Program of Action for peace, security and progress, and against war, witch hunts and inflation, the meeting of the National Committee decided to undertake a six months’ drive for a “Fighting Fund for 1948” of $120,000. The drive got under way in November, and will continue through the end of April. Half the money raised in the various cities and states will remain in the treasuries of the local committees to enable them to carry on their work, and the balance will be sent to the National Executive Office in New York for the nation-wide activities of the American Slav Congress and the support of the magazine, The Slavic American.
The month of February is to be designated American Slav Congress Month during which the activities of all affiliated organizations should be concentrated on raising the Fund.
The opening gun in the drive for the Fighting Fund was the Testimonial Dinner for Senator Pepper at which $3,000 was raised. Thus the New York district, in cooperation with and with the active participation of the National Executive Office, made a splendid beginning.
The Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago districts too are busy preparing meetings, festivals and dinners as part of the drive. In Pittsburgh a mass meeting was held on December 5 at Carnegie Music Hall with Paul Robeson, the great Negro singer and fighter, and Louis Adamic, the most outstanding Slavic American writer in the country, as the principal speakers. A week later, on December 14, the Detroit Slav Congress held a Festival in one of the auditoriums of the Masonic Temple. The Chicago and Cleveland Committees are discussing plans for testimonial dinners for Leo Krzycki, president of the American Slav Congress, on the occasion of his completion of 50 years of leadership in the struggle of the working people of America for better living conditions and for democratic rights and liberties.
The Chicago Slav Congress is making arrangements for a concert in the Opera House on April 4, 1948 with Zlatko Balokovic, chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Slav Congress. Pilsen Park has already been rented for a Slavic American Day rally and picnic on July 11. The Akron Slav Congress has scheduled a concert for January 18 with Leo Krzycki as speaker. In San Francisco a traditional New Year’s Eve Grand Ball was held.
These and many other meetings, concerts and dinners show that the decisions of the recent National Committee meeting in New York are being carried out by the State and City Committees and affiliated organizations in a determined and well-organized manner.
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