The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 10

mmentary Editorial; Readers' Letters Background PAGE 10-A i TAMPA, FLORIDA, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1979 Co Joseph Kraft Editorials Labor's New Boss Has What It Takes Only If Elephants Fly? Perhaps Not A new 100-member parliament would be elected, with 80 seats for blacks and 20 for whites (the Muzorewa representatives agreed to reduce the white seats from the present The party or coalition of parties holding a majority would name a Prime Minister and set about repairing the ravages of seven years of strife. They would be helped by the lifting of the unjust economic boycott imposed by the United Nations 11 years ago. Repairing, that is, if sensible men of good will are chosen to run the government. The present Prime Minister, Bishop Abel Muzorewa, is a moderate who has recognized the importance of keeping white settlers from fleeing the country. But the guerrilla leaders, Joshua Nkomo.

and Robert Mugabe, both have expressed harsh views toward whites' rights. Mugabe is an avowed Marxist; Nkomo has Communist backing. As many as eight parties may contest the election. Since Muzorewa has a strong native following and would almost certainly have the support of the white members of parliament, he should have an excellent chance of heading the new government In that case, the white farmers and industrialists would be encouraged to stay. If the radicals should gain control, whites would flee and Rhodesia would face the same economic chaos which has afflicted Mozambique and Zambia.

There are still skeptics who say that biracial peace will come to Rhodesia when elephants fly over the Wankie Game Park. But the same skeptics said the Muzorewa government and Patriotic Front could never reach an agreement in London. For the sake of Rhodesia, a beautiful country with rich promise for both blacks and whites, we hope the skeptics are proved wrong again. At the end of September, Kirkland announced a national accord with the administration on economic policy. Under the accord, Kirkland will come off Meany's tactic of constantly assault-' ing the administration on economic policy.

He has agreed to labor's partici- pation with business and public mem-; bers in a pay board set up to fight inflation. But the administration in turn committed itself to legislative and eco-' nomic measures dear to labor. And as head of the pay board, Kirkland has his old friend, Professor John Dunlop of Harvard. But if Kirkland prefers to deal, he is not too proud to fight. Meany him- self was not a more doughty foe of the communists than Kirkland, nor a beak-, ier hawk on Vietnam, nor a more reso-; lute opponent of George McGovern in tlie Democratic Party.

Kirkland is old-fashioned enough to believe that people who attack him are enemies, not merely friends with a grievance. -i. If the business community wants a fight, if the executives keep up the nar- row union-busting spirit, Kirkland will be putting thumbs into eyes and knees into groins. But it doesn't have to be that way. If business has the wit to see the longer-term national interest, if it can develop an ability to cooperate with labor, then Americans will look back this week, and the accession of land to the leadership of the AFL-CIO, as a genuine national break, something to be thankful for.

shown Nov. 4. Whatever its impact on rank-and-file voters, Kennedy's, herence stunned New York's cratic elite. Little else has been talked about since, even by his own suppor-' ters. It is the first TV documentary that-blocked a governor's endorsement.

Carey abruptly changed course, com-', menting widely on Kennedy's poor per-; formance. By last weekend, he was making the "plummeting star" crack to" aides. His endorsement is now an open question. Sudden doubts about whether. Teddy is in the same class as his broth-ers enlarged the importance of casual approach to organization.

Reform Democrats were dismayed that Kennedy's man in New York was David Bartley, former speaker of the Massa-. chusetts House who is described in the Village Voice as "a good oP pork-chop Democrat" Bartley is a weekend warrior, holding down his job as president Holyoke (Mass.) Community College five days a week. Bartley was outmatched by the temporary presence here of Carter .1 campaign chairman Robert Strauss, -pumping the telephone to line up politi- cians and businessmen. With the Brooklyn regular organization about to join Queens and the Bronx in the Presi-; dent's corner, local Kennedyites began to panic, The response somewhat reassured reformers but alarmed Moynihan's wing of the party. State committee-woman Barbara Fife, running Kenne- dy campaign office, is anathema to the centrists.

Sending down liberal state Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts to help out Bartley on a full-time basis', was an affront to Moynihan. At this year's Americans for Demo- cratic Action banquet in Washington, Frank introduced ex-ambassadors and other assorted notables before getting around to mentioning the only US. Senator present: Pat Moynihan. It was' a snub Moynihan has not forgotten.

When Kennedy walked over to Moynihan's office in Washington Nov. 2, it was expected that he would return with an endorsement Instead, Moynihan declined an invitation to his Nov. 7 an-' nouncement of candidacy. Overtures to sign up Moynihan's top aide, Tim Run- -sert, met the response that he would -not move until arid unless the Senator did. THE TAMPA TRIBUNE THE TRIBUNE COMPATT, 202 9.

Parfccf 9l Tnft, 11m 3360 Richard F. Human Publisher a met A. Clendinm Chairman, Editorial Board Jame F. Vrbaiukt General Manager Paul Ho fa Manatint catwr Plummeting the affiliated unions. It was not for nothing that Kirkland testified.

recently to the character of Anthony Scotto, the Brooklyn waterfront boss, recently convicted on charges of extortion. Then there is the close rapport he enjoys with Paul Hall, a tough-talking leader of the Seafarers Union and senior vice president of the AFL-CIO. Mr. Hall provides the muscle and I use the word in its literal sense for not a few of labor's tougher battles. He also cuts a political figure.

With a nod. from Kirkland, Hall recently organized a labor committee for President Carter. The White House exults that the committee is a source of political strength. A more reliable view is that the committee is a device for holding labor's barons together. That way they can deal as a group with Carter or if circumstances warrant move as a group to Kennedy, The Kirkland method, as that example suggests, is to hold his power base together the better to deal with leaders of other power groups in shaping national, policy and the economic climate.

If possible, Kirkland prefers to negotiate and strike bargain! Last summer he won the AFL-CIO endorsement for the arms control treaty with Russia. In return he got from the administration commitments for additional defense spending worth millions to labor. 's Star ts Democratic primary were held today, but politicans think it could make things close next March 25. Apart from exposing Kennedy campaign blunders, that raises serious questions whether Kennedy can unite the two rival Democratic constituencies in this and other northern industrial states. Party unification seemed Kennedy's long suit during last summer's heady days when reformist and centrist Democrats, usually gouging out each other's eyes here, coalesced for him.

Agents of Sen. Moynihan and his antithesis, state Atty. Gen. Robert Abrams, collaborated to fix a primary date least in Carter's interest This common purpose did not long survive Kennedy's answers to CBS correspondent Roger Mudd on "Teddy," i if MEANY Last Hurrah Such open splits have been rare. But now they're all over the place.

And there are other union chiefs who are en- -dorsing Kennedy only after a careful poll of their rank and file. One of those who had just returned from the Senator's home that afternoon was the United Rubber Workers' president, Peter Bommarlto. He told me that literally 93 percent of his members were for Kennedy. This appears to be true of other unions; he said, and he and some of his colleagues just aren't about to buck their own people. So they're swinging into the primaries for Kennedy.

That night the Kennedy caucus met They prepared to launch the official Labor-for-Kennedy committee. They also were Joyfully looking forward to the "very special reception" they planned Monday night for their man. At that reception they roared their approval for Kennedy when be called Carter a McKlnley, a Hoover and the man who gave the U.S. another four years of Republicanism. Among its sponsoss were 12 AFL-CIO national vice presidents more than a third of the executive council (not counting the new leaders Kirkland and Tom Donahue).

This Is a powerful bloc. These men take their politics seriously. If their candidate wins all the way it will be they wholl be using the revolving door of the Oval Office. For this, union brother sure will fight union brother Hi Mix high intellectual power with street smarts and there emerge the features that distinguish Lane Kirkland, the new president 'of the AFL-CIO. Thanks to-that rare mix, Mr.

Kirkland can deal as effectively with bureaucrats and business executives as with labor skates. So with a little luck, labor, under its new boss, can continue its traditional role as a force for economic well-being and political stability in this country. The past role of American labor is not in doubt. Alone among the major working-class movements of the world, the AFL-CIO has favored free enterprise over socialism. Its leaders have been patriotic to a fault.

Since its founding in 1881, the movement has had five presidents (including Kirkland). The U.S. in that time has had 19 Presidents. In a country devoted to chop and change, labor provides a rock of solidity. In the past few years, labor's pres-.

tige has undoubtedly declined. Many of us would list among the many virtues of Kirkland's predecessor, George Meany, that he is not a withered swinger. But he has. been out of touch-with the modern idiom, and with labor on the defensive, business hawks have indulged themselves in a spot of union-busting. Kirkland has the qualities to set the balance right His formal intellectual capacities stick out.

He enjoys the gift tJUt VI TAX KENNEDY Support Fading Victor Riesel Labor Is Ted Ken WASHINGTON Ted Kennedy has split the nation's biggest labor federation wide open politically which could affect it industrially just at the moment when the new AFL-CIO chief of chiefs, Lane Kirkland, launched his own campaign to merge all other unions with his own movement to create a behemoth force of over 20 million members. The split is far more than union battling union to force the national AFL-CIO to endorse their own choice for the presidency during the primaries. The fight between Kennedy and Jimmy Carter's supporters is pitching union "brother" against "brother" inside the high commands of individual unions. Typical of the anger gusing up inside the Federation is the drama played here this past Sunday. Rushing from national TV network studio, Kennedy and his own combined chiefs of staff, led by his brother-in-law Steve Smith, arrived in the lobby of the AFL-CIO convention hotel, the Sheraton Washington, about 1:15 p.m.

that day. There were the usual cheers. But the Kennedy 'group strode to the elevators. At about 1:30 they walked into the suite of the old prexy George Meany. There Kennedy, Smith and their two labor advisors, attorney Paul Kirk, the companion of previous political wars, and Carl Wagner, a former union technician, conferred secretly with Meany and.

Lane Kirkland for an hour. There was a lot of nitty-gritty, hard-nose talk. The old man" doesnl like Carter. Nor is Kirkland much fonder of the President But officially their policy Is to stay neutral through the primaries though there are ways of signaling to the membership whom they're neutral for or against For the moment it seemed that "Teddy" was their boy. Nothing defl nite.

What was important to the Kennedy team was that they had had their day in Meany's court In 1968 Steve Smith, the late Mayor Daley and Ted Kennedy had tried to run around Meany's end He crushed them. Tknd I 4 THE IMPOSSIBLE may have happened in Rhodesia but it will take a little more time to tell. What was generally regarded as an impossibility was that the biracial Rhodesian regime and the black Patriotic Front guerrilla leaders could agree on a British plan for a cease-fire and a new elected government But after 10 weeks of negotiations in London, agreement has been reached on all points except details of a cease-fire. This in itself is a sticky issue, because of dispute over how the guerrilla forces will be positioned within Rhodesia many are now at bases in neighboring countries and what their legal status will be. If details of the cease-fire can be agreed upon, the breakaway British colony would be returned to colonial status pending a new election.

A British governor would replace the Muzorewa government, elected last April without guerrilla participation, during the tpansition. MUZOREWA Proving Skeptics Wrong An Abuse Tour months ago, a lot of Americans agreed with Iranians that the shah was corrupt. Now look at them. They're saying we should keep the shah here." Professor Bruce Williamson, of the University of South Florida. The assistant professor of biology (without tenure) led a pro-Iranian demonstration last week at USF; he did so as a member of the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade; a Here Ye Some For the Road Some things for the holiday driver to think about while waiting for the traffic light to change or coming to a (full) stop at a stop street: There were 51,500 people killed and 5,800,000 injured on the streets and highways of the United States last year, an increase of 4 percent over 1977; claims arising from automobile accidents totaled more than $32 billion.

The cost of replacing damaged parts on the average car has increased 75 percent in five years and is still rising. Have a nice holiday. And a safe one. --iW 111 i i i- nedy KIRKLAND Supporting Carter of tongues and once wrote speeches for that most noble of orators, Adlai Stevenson. He is at ease in history and philosophy and economics.

It is typical 'that in his maiden speech as president he invited the Teamsters and Auto Workers to rejoin the AFL-CIO by saying, "All sinner's belong in the church." The street smarts come less obviously into play. But Kirkland did not rise from a researcher's job to be head of the Federation only by being the protege of Mr. Meany. He also made strategic alliances with the bosses of Evans Novak Ke NEW YORK The two weeks of stumbling after the shock of "Teddy" over CBS has so debilitated Sen. Edward M.

Kennedy's supposed political domination in New York that sharp-tongued Gov. Hugh Carey privately calls him a "plummeting star." Kennedy's ineptitude on the network documentary, followed by incom-. petence and neglect in his campaign's -early days, has transformed the political landscape here. Neither Carey nor Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, seem-, ingly sure Kennedy boosters, have endorsed him.

While President Carter's operatives round up organization Democrats, Kennedy's men have offended both centrists and reformers. None of this would likely keep Kennedy from beating Carter if New York's Splitting 's Way Smith learned the basic lesson see Meany, and now Kirkland, first After the hour with the labor chiefs, the Kennedy group began busing scores of top labor officials to a balmy party at the Senator's McLean, Va home. Kennedy spoke briefly. Then -everybody did what comes naturally at a cocktail reception. But some of Kennedy's supporters decided to let the candidate's men know that they believed that "Teddy" was moving too far left Too much like McGovern.

One of the most ardent Kennedy-Hes, the American Federation of Teachers President At Shanker, snared Steve Smith. Shanker suggested that Smith get 'Kennedy to cool it And that Teddy" get some middle-of-the-road speech writers instead of the left-wingers. Others had suggested that the can-, didate stop knocking nuclear plant construction. Some of them had put their objection in writing. By 3:13 most of the national union chiefs were back In the Washington lobby.

They were on the upbeat They were planning to put their anti-' Carter machine together that night and then do battle across the nation. This will hurl union against union as is developing in Florida, New York, Iowa and other states. During most of Sunday, while other union officials were enjoying Washington's reborn summer, the Com-, municauont Workers of America's executive board had met and, after searing debate over a motion to endorse Jimmy Carter, had split Significant here it that CWA President Glenn Watts was the first of the big unionists to back Carter and clobber Meany. The pro-Carter resolution won. The score stood at 11 for Carter and five for Kennedy.

However, the minority claims some 40 percent of the union's members are in its territory. Leaders of the CWA Kennedy contingent were repudiating their own president They began preparing pro-Kennedy statement which claimed that they really reflected the membership nnedy of Position student arm of the Revolutionary Communist Party. Among the arguments against the Carter administration, as stated in a two-page leaflet passed out by Williamson and seven others, were that these master butchers, who taught the shah everything he knows, have cooked up a filthy plot to steal back the gains the Iranian people died for in their revolution." Americans are not necessarily saying the shah should be kept in the United States. BUT Americans are saying that the shah will not be returned, under threat of blackmail, to be executed by a system of justice which Isn't a system or just The logic of the "filthy plot escapes us. The United States has sent 62 people to masquerade as hostages? This Isn't the first time Williamson has cast his communist beliefs on democratic soil.

In 1977 at Leto High School, he distributed pamphlets urging students to attend "the founding of a new communist organization" in Ohio. It is time for USF President John Lott Brown to fire Williamson' for actively advocating the overthrow of our form of Academic freedom does not include the right to use a tax-supported position to promote personal political beliefs..