Archive Transcript: Speeches
David Dubinsky's Speech at the American Labor Conference on International Affairs, 1944
David Dubinsky's Opening Remarks
Luncheon Session
Commodore Hotel, New York City
December 6, 1944
It would be hard to find a more timely subject than the one before us.
The organizers of this conference could not have selected a more urgent question on which the heart and mind of the world are centered today.
Recent tragic developments in Europe have caused us great concern.
Things have been happening in various liberated and half-liberated lands to disturb us profoundly.
Though they may differ in detail, these disturbing happenings in Italy, in Greece, in Poland and in Belgium have something in common which is most distressing.
For several years, we and our Allies have been engaged in fighting the worst enemies of democracy-the Fascists and the Nazis-and we have done a good job.
But when we chase out the German armies of occupation, we do not seem to be able to organize the best and most steadfast friends of democracy in these lands to work effectively with us, side by side.
Some of the big powers seem to lack the will or even the desire to work together with those very forces which carried the brunt of the underground struggle and resistance to Nazi terror.
We need only to recall the cruel fate of the heroic underground army of liberation fighting the German legions last summer in Warsaw.
We need only turn our eyes toward the tragic strife in Greece going on right now.
The treatment accorded to Sfortza in Italy is another distressing example of power politics.
As I see it, there is a common source for all the disunity and conflict over Warsaw, Brussels, Athens and Rome.
The system of spheres of influence, which appears to dominate our political strategy, always has bred, and will continue to breed, rivalries and conflicts among the big powers.
This system always has brought about the suppression of small nations and always will continue to rob the smaller and weaker nations of their right of self-determination and national freedom.
Here is the source of the tragedy of Poland and Greece; and the roots of the grave difficulties in Belgium and Italy, not to mention the situations in other Balkan lands, which are in another sphere of influence, and about which we know too little.
American labor would do well to support the recent declaration of the Secretary of State Stettinius with regard to Italy and other liberated territories.
This represents the spirit of the Atlantic Charter.
This should have been made long before on other similar compelling occasions.
Secretary of State Stettinius has rendered a service to democracy and world peace by centering attention on a most pressing problem.
In the same spirit, our government should proceed vigorously to clear the air and implement the Atlantic Charter to apply effectively to all lands.
In my opinion, this would help to eliminate the differences among, and strengthen the unity of, the United Nations.
As Allies, bound together by the common purpose of destroying Axis aggression, we should certainly be free to discuss among ourselves honestly and critically the best ways and means of achieving our common aim—victory—and of organizing and maintaining world peace.
As Allies, we should certainly not be afraid of making suggestions to, or friendly constructive criticisms of, each other.
Always conscious of, and grateful to, our Allies for the tremendous sacrifices which they have made to our common cause, whether this be Russia, Britain or China, there's no sound political reason why we should hesitate to point out to our Allies, vigorously or frankly, as the occasion demands, our disagreements or dissatisfactions.
By a proper exercise of our prerogatives, rights and obligations as partners in a great common cause, we will be able to cement, rather than weaken the bonds between us.
The principles of the Atlantic Charter must be applied to every liberated land in Europe, Asia and Africa.
It must not be allowed to become a ghost.
A world-wide security organization based on the Atlantic Charter is the one solid hope for lasting world peace.
Food is not the only thing for which the European peoples are starved.
Belgians, Greeks, Poles, Italians, Bulgarians, Jugo-Slaves, Ethiopians-all of them-long for freedom as much as they are hungry for bread.
Though we are against foreign or outside intervention in the domestic affairs of any people, yet we should exert our influence on behalf of democratic forces.
This, I hope, is the meaning of the Stettinius declaration.
This should be the policy of all countries.
This rule should apply to Britain as well as Russia, and to America as well as Britain.
In short, no fears or elements of intimidation should ever be allowed to enter our consideration of, or action on, vital problems of common concern.
We must make every effort to aid the revival and triumph of democratic institutions in all war-torn countries. Is not this the thing we are fighting for?
That is why we should put our greatest reliance on those democratic resistance forces that struggled fearlessly and consistently against Axis tyranny inside the countries once occupied by Hitler's hordes of terror.
What is more, the genuine free trade unions as the cornerstone of modern democracy, must be given all assistance in rebuilding themselves.
These reasons, I believe, are compelling enough for American labor to take a keen interest and an active role in all matters relating to the formulation and application of our foreign policy.
Labor should make its voice clearly heard and its authority felt.
Labor and all other progressive-and-liberal-minded elements in America are entitled to recognition in shaping our foreign policy and America's role in world affairs.
Our country has a splendid opportunity to render humanity an urgent and most vital service: to give the lead for insuring a just and lasting peace, as it has taken the lead for speeding victory in war.
Will our country rise to this historic occasion and opportunity?
We fervently hope that it will, and we hope, just as fervently, that our contribution will not be "too little and too late."
Much-very much-depends on American labor and the role it will play in the shaping of our nation's foreign policy.