OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS
I
AMERICA AND THE SOVIETS
The American Federation of Labor, at its 1920 convention, resolved:
That the American Federation of Labor is not justified in taking any action which could be construed as an assistance to or approval of, the Soviet Government of Russia as long as that government is based upon authority which has not been vested in it by a popular representative national assemblage of the Russian people; or so long as it endeavors to create revolutions in the well-established, civilized nations of the world; or so long as it advocates and applies the militarization of labor and prevents the organizing and functioning of trade unions and the maintenance of a free press and free public assemblage.
This resolution contains a very conservative statement of the anti-labor and anti-democratic nature of the Soviet dictatorship and the reasons of organized labor for repudiating it.
In response to the overwhelming pressure of public opinion, including not only organized labor but all elemjents of the American people, Secretary of State Colby,
