Hartley and Labors Perspective: Where is the Unions Constructive Program?
Among the songs that enjoyed a great vogue a year ago was a sprightly little number called “Accentuate the Positive.” So unremittingly was it repeated by radio and juke-box that people had to stuff cotton in their ears to elude it. Probably the best job of ear-stuffing was done by the leaders of the American labor movement. They rejected not only the song, but its basic idea as well. It is a commonplace in our democratic society that we know what we are against but we do not know what we are for. Nowhere is that negative spirit more evident than in the ranks of labor, and nowhere is it more tragically insufficient. To those who feel that much of the vitality of our democracy stems from the vigor of our unions, this lack of affirmative goals is particularly dispiriting at a time when the worldwide survival of free institutions appears to depend almost as much on the luminosity of our political example and morale as on the abundance of our material aid.
