Fellow Travelers Quotes
Even the President was not spared during the McCarthy era. The red scare was so pervasive, that a lunatic fringe ultra right wing organization could call the President a “communist dupe” and be taken seriously be much of the media who were themselves intimidated and might be accused of being communists at any moment. It was a very low point in America’s history.
This quotation illustrates one end of the range of union leadership regarding communism. Some union leader were communists; some were pro Marxist but against the Russian style of dictatorial communism. Others did not care for Communism at all but saw the communists as an effective tool that really frightened American corporate management and politicians so they looked reasonable by comparison and they therefore wanted the communists around. Last were those like Reuther who was aggressively anti-communist and wanted labor to expel them whenever they turn up. However, what is ironic is that Reuther himself was labeled a Communist by many right wingers who also used Reuther’s “duck” test. Reuther wanted a national health insurance system; so did the Communists. He advocated and end to segregation; so did the Communists. He fought for workers having a say in management, a classic communist demand, and many other similarities.
This was the typical language of the 1940’s and 1950’s at the height of the Red Scare used by the FBI and others to smear their opponents and political enemies. Seldes had published an article very critical of the FBI and its investigations of labor unions and other liberal organizations. See George Seldes, 1940 quotation.
