Federated Press 1925–1935 newspaper of January 12, 1924 In 1925,
Carl Haessler of the
Federated Press, a labor news service, hired De Caux and sent him to the United Kingdom and Germany as a foreign correspondent. During this period, De Caux joined the
Communist Party of Great Britain (founded in 1920). In 1926, he came back to the States as assistant editor on the
United Mine Workers (UMW)
Illinois Miner under
Oscar Ameringer. In late 1926, he went to Cleveland late as assistant editor of the
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Journal. In 1933, he rejoined the Federated Press as Washington correspondent. Writers for
Labor for Victory included: Peter Lyon, a progressive journalist;
Millard Lampell (born Allan Sloane), later an American movie and television screenwriter; and
Morton Wishengrad, who worked for the AFL. However, the title appears in at least one collection of Guthrie records. Guthrie consented and performed solo two or three times on this among several other WWII radio shows, including
Answering You,
Labor for Victory,
Jazz in America, and
We the People. The
Almanac Singers (of which Guthrie and Lampell were co-founders) did appear (as they did on the U.S. Navy's (or U.S. Treasury's)
The Treasury Hour and CBS Radio's
We the People, later a
television show). (Also,
Marc Blitzstein's papers show that he made unclear contributions to four CIO episodes (dated June 20, June 27, August 1, August 15, 1948) of
Labor for Victory.) While
Labor for Victory was a milestone in theory as a national platform, in practice it proved less so. Only 35 of 104 NBC affiliates carried the show. NBC's announced the show represented "twelve million organized men and women, united in the high resolve to rid the world of Fascism in 1942." Speakers included
Donald E. Montgomery, then "consumer's counselor" at the
U.S. Department of Agriculture. {{cite web {{cite web {{cite web
Taft-Hartley 1947 logo In the aftermath of
World War II, both the press and business interests expressed hostility toward organized labor (unions). Moreover, business interests funded their lobbyists better. For example, in 1946 and 1947, the
National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) had a budget of $3.6 million (including $1.9 million for advertising), while the CIO publicity department had $200 thousand, while the CIO's research and education department had another $200 thousand and AFL counterparts had even smaller budgets. Thus, the CIO and AFL had combined budgets of under half a million dollars annually, while their largest counterpart NAM had an annual budget seven times larger – amidst major lobbying efforts that included the landmark 1947
Taft-Hartley Act. De Caux himself, for his part, was hand-tied by suspicion of his communist ties. Nevertheless, the CIO's second president
Philip Murray had De Caux work with the CIO's legislation and research departments on key messaging to "
John Q. Public." The CIO used monies raised largely through the
CIO Political Action Committee (
CIO-PAC), itself an object of concern to politicians and business interests. Efforts by De Caux included: leaflets (e.g., "Your Union is in Danger!"), pamphlets (e.g., "Defend Your Union"), analyses of Congressional agenda, observance of the CIO-PAC's Defend Labor Month, and calls to union members for political action. In response: De Caux developed a thorough plan for publicizing labor's objections to the Taft and Hartley bills to the general public. In it, De Caux detailed plans for all of the activities expected of the grassroots, member-focused programming that the CIO Executive Board had endorsed: the continued printing of CIO pamphlets and advertisement mats for placement (and payment) by international and local unions, special editions of the
CIO News, and the use of existing CIO-sponsored radio programs to publicize Defend Labor Month activities. De Caux's public relations campaign comprised: pre-recorded and live radio address by CIO president Murray, radio spots, placement of CIO officials on existing radio programs, paid newspaper advertisements, anti-Taft-Hartley press kits, and campaigns that targeted different American groups (African-American, non-English speakers, farmers, etc.). In late 1947, second president
Philip Murray asked De Caux to resign as the CIO began to rid itself of perceived
communists and
fellow travelers in its ranks (e.g.,
Lee Pressman in February 1948).
Wallace support 1948 In 1948, De Caux was active in the
Progressive Party presidential campaign of
Henry A. Wallace. He served as publicity director for the Labor Division. On August 28, 1950, during testimony,
HUAC investigator referred to De Caux as "Len D. Cowe." {{cite web
Later years From 1952 to 1953, De Caux served as managing editor of
March of Labor magazine; he left due to financial shortages of the publisher. During the
McCarthy Era, he testified before the U.S. Congress regarding his involvement with the
Institute of Pacific Relations. In 1954, former
Ware Group member
Hope Hale Davis identified De Caux as a communist to the
FBI (along with his wife, her own husband
Robert Gorham Davis,
Harold Ware,
Charles Kramer and his wife Mildred,
John Abt and wife
Jessica Smith Ware Abt and sister
Marion Abt Bachrach,
Nathan Witt,
Lee Pressman,
Victor Perlo,
Abraham George Silverman,
Henry Collins,
Donald Hiss,
Alger Hiss,
J. Peters, and
Jacob Golos). {{cite web {{cite web As a result of branding as a communist, De Caux found himself unable to work for labor causes. From 1955, he retrained and worked as a
linotype operator until his retirement in 1965. ==Personal life and death==