UAW COOPRATED CIA FUNDS HELPED EUROPEAN UNIONISTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000600460003-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 17, 2000
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: May 10, 1957
• Content Type: NSPR

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By Ed Townsend
Labor correspondent of
CPYRGHT The Christian Science Monitor
Walter. eut cr, press en of the
United Automobile Workers of -America,
conceded this week that Central Intelligence
Agency money. was channeled overseas
through UAW and other American unions
following the end of World War II to help
rebuild a free labor movement "destroyed.
as the first victim of Hitler's tyranny and
brutality."
But, Mr. Reuther said, UAW agreed to 06
this `.'reluctantly" on one occasion only, at
the request of the government, and subse-
quently decided "not again to transmit gov-
ernment funds, regardless of the need or
urgency."
CPYRGHT
The second decisio i followed a proposal
that Victor Reuther, Walter's brother, "be-
come an agent for the CIA, using as a
'front' his position as European representa-
tive of the Congress of Industrial Organiza-
tions," Mr. Reuther said.
This was considered by UAW's leaders a
"disturbing" proposal "to resist Communist
subversion ... on a'basis which would':'; ;
compromise the basic integrity and inde-
pendence of the American labor movement."
Victor Reuther rejected the proposal. Philip
Murray, then president of CIO, supported the
decision.
Reply to story
Walter Reuther's statement from Detroit
was in reply to a published report by a
former top CIA official of "$;50,000 in $50
bills" sent to German unions through UAW.
FOIAb3b
Writing in the Saturday Evening Post,
Thomas W. Braden, founder of CIA's Inter
national Organizations Division,' said:
Communist leaders."
Several unions aided
"At his [Walter Reuther'sl request, I wont.
to Detroit one morning and gave Walter
$50,000 in $50 bills. Victor spent the money,
mostly in West Germany, to bolster labor
unions there. He tried `undercover tech-
niques.' In my opinion, and that of my peers:.
in the CIA, he spent it with less than perfect
wisdom."
Mr. Braden explained later that "the Germ'
man unions he chose to help weren't seri-
ously short of money and were already anti-
Communist." The CIA money, he said,
"would have done much more good where
unions were tying up ports at the order of
But, Mr. Braden said, he didn't intend this
A5 "a serious charge" against Victor Reu
ther,. who he said "behaved as a responsible
1h KFJI
Approved Fc
CPYRGHT
CIA had tried to recruit Victor Reuther as a
CIA agent.
The new revelations by Mr. Braden, as-
sistant to then CIA Deputy Director Allan
W. Dulles from 1930 to 1954, cover an earlier
.period than the accounts in March of a
flow of CIA money to student organizations
unions; and labor-backed operations.
One labor plan in Washington called the
"old-hat" reports of what was going on 1
to 20 years ago. - . -
But, according to Victor Reuther an
others, the activities reported by Mr. Bra -'
den set the pattern for what' was going oi
until recently-union acceptance of CIA
funds to supplement. labor's own money foi
i
C
i
t
e
ant
-
ommun
s
op
rations abroad.
According to Mr. Braden, money wa
routed to European unions through a num
ibex of American unions including th
International Ladies' .Garment Workers
Union, headed by David Dubinsky, a stron
internationalist with a hate of communism
and through Jay Lovestone and Irvinj
'Brown, then in ILGWU and now interna
tinnal-atTairs expert of AFL-CIO.
? Critics say the federation must "bea
the trademark CIA because of the role o
Meany, Dubinsky, Lovestone, and their
associates."
In 1947, according to Mr. Braden,
French Communist union led a strike i
.Paris and nearly paralyzed the French
economy. A Communist take-over of the.,
French Government appeared possible
.Mr. Lovestone, assistant to David Dubinsky,
then president of ILGWU, went to work.
French group formed ,
"With funds from Dub* Icy's union, the
organized Force Ouvrierna non-Communist
union. When they -ran out of money, they ap
pealed to the CIA. Thus began the secret
subsidy of free trade unions, which soon
spread to Italy," Mr. Braden wrote in his
.Post article.
Mr. Braden also reported that CIA fi
nanced the organization of seamen's union
in India and the Baltic ports of Scandinavian
'countries, and that it helped break the Corn
munist grip on dock unions that obstructs
United States shipments.
In 1950, he said, $15,000 was used to "pa,
off strong-arm squads in Mediterranean
ports so that American supplies could be
unloaded against the opposition of Commu
nist dock workers."
And, Mr. Braden said, "It was also my
idea to give cash, along with advice to'othe
labor leadersi to students, professors and
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