Walter Reuther, February 22, 1953
“Freedom must be an aggressive movement in order to combat the totalitarian ideas being spread around the world.
“The Red Labor leader is nothing but a colonial agent for the Soviet Union. He has no interest in the welfare of American workers. He does not want to see democracy work in the field of labor relations.
“The Red leader, like the union racketeer, cannot get decent wages for his workers because he has been compromised before negotiations begin. There are unscrupulous employees who will deal with a communist or a racketeer because they think it’s cheaper to pay off the union leader than to pay their workers.
“There is no easy pill that will purge communists from an organization. It takes old-fashioned work. You have to outfight them, outvote them, get up early before they do, and stay up after they’ve gone. You’ve got to be more tireless than they are. And you’ve got to prove what they’re trying to prevent: that democracy works at all levels of human association.”
