Toledo Union Journal

Time for Plain Talk

By Tom Burke

Vice-President Local 12, UAW-CIO

Knowledge

Give the people knowledge and they will find their own way.

This has been an axiom of great wisdom for centuries.

Wars have been fought, including World War II, because desperate attempts have been made to keep knowledge from the people by those who feared the possession of knowledge by people generally.

Hitler went a long way before he was pulled up short.

The backbone of his strategy, by his own admission in Mein Kampf, was to tell a big lie often enough and the people will accept it as truth. Hitler either didn't know, or completely forgot or disbelieved a principle aptly voiced by our own immortal Abraham Lincoln that:

"You can fool all of the people some of the time. some of the people all the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."

Those who would control the lives and destinies of other people for their own selfish purposes have always ignored or disbelieved this basic truth so succintly put by Lincoln.

Christ was crucified because He preached truth to multitudes and the truth He preached was that the meek shall inherit the earth.

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Time for Plain Talk

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It conflicted with the selfish interests of those who had Him put to death. They were even able to buy His betrayal by one of His followers for thirty paltry silver coins.

CONSTANT STRUGGLE

History is full of incidents of this constant struggle to keep knowledge and truth from people. Back of every one of these incidents we see the abject, unreasoning, craven, and cowardly fear that truth and knowledge will block selfish purposes.

In Ireland, in the days of the infamous penal laws, people were executed or transported to penal colonies for such heinous crimes as speaking their own language, teaching children to read and write, spreading news, and wearing their own country's color.

Even in this great country of ours whose very foundation is built on "self-evident truths", people attempt to keep truth and knowledge from the public, becloud issues, and, at times, because they control the major avenues of public information to make situations grow where no such situations exist.

We see evidences of this in the handling of current strike news by our public press and radio. The main drive of these great instruments of public knowledge at the beginning of the GM strike was to instill in the collective mind of the public the idea that the strikers were selfish, unprincipled brigands attempting to wring from the American public more than they were entitled to.

IDEAS EXPLODED

As time went on these ideas were exploded, because even a heavy blanket of adverse publicity and expenditure of millions couldn't prevent the real truth from gradually seeping out to the public in a democracy. If you want proof go to the public library and read the papers of last November and those of today. The change has been subtle and they haven't given up the attempt to discredit the American worker and his Union but they have been forced by the weight of public opinion to change their tone. These papers are published by men who like to stand in front of their mirrors, thump their chests, and exclaim, "We are the moulders of public opinion."

It is a sad thing that even in Unions attempts are sometimes made to keep truth and knowledge from the people. Unions are made up of humans and are therefore subject to the frailties of humanity.

Unions can be and are powerful influences, so it is inevitable that there will be vying for control. This is right and proper so long as the opposing sides present their points of view in a free and open manner.

When any attempt is made to prevent people from hearing all the issues or from meeting and listening to the opposite side, there can be only one conclusion drawn, that the opposite view must be the right one and that craven fear motivates the prevention of imparting knowledge to the people.

I have heard that a group in one of our shops passed a false notice announcing the cancellation of the meeting at which Walter Reuther appeared and very lucidly and to the point informed the people of the issues of the day. I am sorry that such a thing occurred. It is my sincere hope that its motive was only a fear that position might be jeopardized and not "thirty pieces of silver."