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"I Killed Them Off." Inside the union, Dubinsky's only real opposition, as he is the first to point out, comes from the Communists, a few of whom remain in the union, safely cauterized. Dubinsky has an explanation for his lack of opponents: "I killed them off. The idea is you take a stand every time on everything that happens in the world. And furthermore, I never wait for an opponent to attack." There is another explanation. There is only one slate—the Dubinsky slate. Opponents have never mustered enough strength to offer one of their own.
Dubinsky has his critics. He has sent $13 million in ten years to worthy causes the world over. The I.L.G.W.U. has built an orphanage in China, a trade school in France, supports a Boys' Town in Italy. It lent $1,000,000 to Israel, gave $250,000 to the United Jewish Appeal. Such donations are "suggested" to the locals. If a local votes approval, Dubinsky explains blandly, "in a democratic organization, that imposes an obligation on the membership." If a member fails to honor such obligations, he ceases to be in good standing—that means no vacation pay. It was this discovery of clay feet in the "model" union that finally broke Westbrook Pegler's heart. Hating most unions as he did, he had previously hesitated to profess himself antiunion; that did it.
Pegler's objections don't seem to disturb many of the garment workers. But some of the rank & file complain that Dubinsky has become so preoccupied with politics that he has neglected union affairs. There have been recent faint shadows of trouble, a new threat of racketeering. Last fall plug-uglies beat up three union officials. An I.L.G.W.U. organizer named William Lurye was murdered in the Garment Center (TIME, May 23), and though Dubinsky vowed revenge in a funeral ceremony attended by 65,000 workers, Lurye's killers are still at large.
Dubinsky believes deeply that labor must be in politics, and is in it deeply himself. He quit the Socialist Party and became a Roosevelt elector in 1936. Dubinsky helped form the American Labor Party in New York, and when the A.L.P. was taken over by the Communists, he and other right-wing liberals set up the Liberal Party. That meant a final break with the late Sidney Hillman of C.I.O.'s Amalgamated Clothing Workers. Dubinsky has only scorn for the liberal who thinks he can collaborate with the Communist: "He can't sit on two stools with only one rump," snorts Dubinsky.
Financed largely by the I.L.G.W.U., the Liberal Party polled 222,562 votes for Truman, and Harry Truman is grateful. He often calls the little man from Lodz for advice. But Dubinsky will have no truck with lesser fry. Once Federal Security Administrator Oscar Ewing sent for him. "To hell with him," said Dubinsky, "let him come to me."