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How widespread was the Communist taint? Ford's Harry Bennett charged that C.I.O.'s United Auto Workers were Communist-controlled. Mr. Bennett was exaggerating. A Red faction exists in the U.A.W. rank & file, but the union's top officials are definitely antiCommunist. In aircraft, which U.A.W. is also trying to organize, Communists have crept a little higher. U.A.W. President Roland Jay Thomas has ordered the union's new chief aircraft organizer, Richard Frankensteen, to clean the Communists out.
John Lewis' United Mine Workers long ago condemned Communism, despite pinkos and fellow travelers with whom Lewis once surrounded himself, some of whom still cling limpetlike to his coattails. More alarming is the strong position of Communism in the National Maritime Union, the Transport Workers Union, and the American Communications Association— key spots in any national emergency.
Chief danger of Communism was the damage its agents could do—and have undoubtedly done—in fanning flames, inciting to riot, disrupting negotiations. The U.S. got a sample of the possibilities open to saboteurs when a civilian inspector in the Bendix Aviation Corp. plant in New Jersey went berserk, destroyed thousands of dollars worth of intricate instruments before he was subdued and hauled off to a psychopathic ward.
This week the House Military Affairs Committee settled down to an investigation of the whole defense effort, promised to look hard for the Communist in the defense-pile. From the President came a warning: reports of Communist activities should not be used to smear labor. But the nation, growing anxious about its defense plants, was more concerned about agents of foreign powers smearing the U.S.