Workers of the World, Unite! Italian Strike Struggle Betrayed by Stalinists — See Page 2 VOL. X I.— No. 51 NEW YORK. N. Y.. MONDAY. DECEMBER 22. 1947. PRICE: FIVE CENTS “Big 4" End Hickman Is Conference In Blow-up DEMOCRATS, REPUBLICANS Saved; Free Find No Way to Bridge Moscow-Wall St. Rift The break-up of the London Conference of Foreign Minis­ on Probation ters Dec. 15 demonstrates once PASS THE BUCK ON PRICES more that the “Big Four” can­ CHICAGO, Dec. 16 — The campaign to win freedom for not bring enduring peace to a James Hickman ended in victory today, when he walked out war-weary world. After bick­ Police Violence Against Rome Strikers of Cook County Jail, free to return to his family and his job. ering for three weeks over The State had attempted to convict him of -murder in Congress Fails To Act treaties for Germany and Aus­ the first trial, which ended Nov. 15 with a “ hung jury.” Faced tria, the parley ended in bitter with mounting protests from mutual denunciations. all parts of the country, the The blow-up occurred over Molo­ State dropped the murder Against Raging Inflation tov’s insistence on $10,000,000,000 in charge this week, and recom­ reparations from Germany. Molotov mended a two years’ probation­ indicated willingness to continue Congress rushed toward its pre-Christmas ad­ ary sentence based on a manslaugh­ horse-trading. But this mo s was journment this week without adopting a program ter conviction. Under these terms designed to place responsibility foi to halt the inflation that is boosting prices 2 to 3% Hickman agreed to plead guilty 10 the conference failure on Marshall the charge of manslaughter. who called for the adjournment. a month. Its only action was to spur the rising The truth is that Washington and cost of living by passing In his speech recommending pro­ Moscow could find no bridge for, bation for Hickman, Assistant Truman’s inflationary their differences. Wall Street aimed Blood-Thirst Whetted State’s Attorney Samuel Friedman at winning major concessions from “Stop-gap foreign aid” testified to the powerful public sen­ By Yaft-Hartley Law the Kremlin to permit economic p ro g ra m . timent that had been aroused in Yfie Taft-Harilcy Law isn’t penetration of Eastern Europe anc. the case when he held up a sheaf Republican and Democratic eventually the Soviet Union it elf. savage enougn for some capital­ of letters, resolutions and telegrams agents of Big Business were This would have undermined the ists. Having tasted labor’s blood urging freedom for Hickman, that base upon which the Stalinist bu­ in complete accord on this they thirst for more. had' been received from all parts reaucracy rests, paving the way fo: phase of the Truman Doctrine. On Dec. 16, for instance, Mc- They had little trouble in coming of the U. S. its destruction either at the hands Graw-H.ll, one of the biggest in­ These, he said, were only a small of the outraged Soviet masses or to agreement on bolstering anti­ labor reaction in Europe. dustrial publishing outfits in the part of the flood of communica­ tinder the grip of Wall Street. country, ran another of its full- On Dec. 15, the Senate and House tions that had poured in to his The Kremlin on the other hand page anti-labor advertisements. office from lahor unions and other pushed, through their joint bill to tried to blackmail a pact out of the Its theme was the "failure” of organizations, as well as from prom­ imperialists by threatening to touch Driving, over the curb, these Rome cops charged their Amcr.-can-rnadc jeep at hundreds o. strikers pour another 597 million dollars in money and military supplies down the Taft-Hartley Law to go far inent individuals of the stage, JAMES HICKMAN off revolutionary mass struggle, in as the Italian government mobilized to break the genera! strike. After two days the Stalinist union heads screen, radio and clergy. Europe. Moscow expected favorable called off the strike, claiming a "victory.” Sec story on page Federated Pictures the drain-pipe of bankrupt capi­ enough. talist regimes and monarchist dic­ McGraw-Hill insists that Con­ CRITICISM EXPECTED consideration in return for its Committee Hails counter-revolutionary services in de­ tatorships in Europe. gress now go ahead and “finish Friedman predicted criticism of railing such struggles. On the same day, after a debate the job of eliminating” what it the state’s recommendation to free To convince Wall Street of the limited to 20 minutes for each side, calls the labor ‘monopoly” (m il­ Hickman from ‘‘some quarters”’ — Hickman Victory reality of its threats, the Kremlin E c o n o m ic Crisis Forces the House disposed of the only so- itant trade unions) and' “indust­ an obvious reference to the real gave the signal for demonstrations called “ anti-inflation” bill to reach ry-wide bargaining.” estate interests and the reactionary CHICAGO, Dec. 16 — The in Italy and France while the con­ the floor. House Democrats, under press. In motivating the recom­ following statement was issued ference was in session. But Wall a two-thirds majority rule, blocked mendation, he recalled the fact today by the Hickman Defense Street’s representatives are well M o s c o w to Devalue Ruble passage of a Republican measure exempt the corporations from tne that the first trial had resulted in anti-trust laws. When the Republi­ Committee on the release of aware of the Kremlin’s inability to that contained half of Truman’s a mistrial, and predicted that an­ B y John G. Wright cans includtd this in their bill, Tru­ James Hickman: follow through with any anti-capit­ 10-point “ anti-inflation” program. other trial on the murder charge alist mass movement and its pro­ By a decree announced over the Moscow radio Dec. 14, the Kremlin devaluated the ruble, man denounced it. Then it was would probably end the same way. On Dec. 16 James Hickman PASSING THE BUCK pointed out that Truman’s plan, walked out of the Cook County Jail found fear of an unrestrained work­ ended rationing of food and consumers goods, and lowered the price of certain basic items Judge Rudolph Desort accepted ing class upsurge, “on an average” from 10% to 12 Democrats and ReoUblicans are as presented by Secjwtery of ©ova~ a free, man—free to return to his playing a buck-passing game. They merce Harriman, contained almc£‘ the recommendation and sentenced Marshall therefore decided to sit family and pick up the pieces of a The net effect of these measures was to cut the national debt to about one-third its will try to pin the blame on each the same proposition as Taft’s Hickman to two years’ probation. A shattered life. The successful fight tight and let Stalin stage his show former size, reduce the currency in circulation to one-tenth its former volume, and toss a mea­ other for Congressional failure to Truman hastened to ''explain” ' he few hours later Hickman was set to save Hickman’s life and liberty in Western Europe. Then he waited ger sop to the industrial work­ do anything about prices. was for the Harriman proposal. free and welcomed amidst much constitutes a great victory for the to see whether the Kremlin would Kremlin’s suicidal foreign policy, tne ers in the form of a price roll­ slight improvement in their abys­ jubilation by his family, friends and labor and progressive organizations run up the white flag. continued isolation from the world mally low standard of living. The Democrats, in particular, will So far as labor is concerned, the members of the Hickman Defense and liberal people who rallied to Thus the conference served sim­ back on bread, flour, cereals, market imposed by Wall Street and Increased labor productivity now claim that if only Truman’s full issue boils down to this: Price rises Committee. He expressed his deep the defense of this unfortunate vic­ ply to test the firmness of the op­ macaroni and beer. its satellites. means more consumer goods, a spur program had been adopted, infla­ in the next four to five months will discount in advance such limited appreciation to the Committee and tim of social injustice. It consti­ posing positions. When neither side The mechanism was simple. The curiency reform by itself in turn to agricultural production. tion would have been halted in its wage raises as the unions might all of its supporters, whose splendid tutes a victory for the millions of showed any sign of yielding major Everyone was required to turn in cannot possibly solve the problems But it must be emphasized that tracks. This is hog-wash. fight was responsible for his free­ victims of the housing shortage and concessions, it collapsed. his rubles. For 10 old ones he got arising from thc^e factors. The the basic inequalities still remain Truman's vague program for hope to g it by next spring and dom. racial ghettos for whom Hickman The people of Europe are the one new one. Holders cf bank ac­ most critical stages of the crisis in the Soviet Union. The monstrous “some” price controls tied :o a wage summer without a major wage Hickman had spent five months has become a symbol. main victims of this shameful dip­ counts got a better rate, as did therefore still lie ahead. privileges of the bureaucracy have freeze would end up as Roosevelt’s struggle. This dictates the need The devaluation of the ruble hits (Continued on Page 2) war-time policy did — just a wage in the county jail, without bail, on This triumph can be attributed lomacy.