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From Labor Action, Vol. 7 No. 27, 5 July 1943, p. 1.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’ Callaghan for the Encyclopaedia of Trotskyism On-Line (ETOL).
We are sure that every worker who has recently had a request for a pay increase turned down by the WLB, every coal miner who has had hurled into his face the insolent decision of the WLB "granting" him a twenty-cent-a-day increase, every working person who reads and listens to speeches about "holding the line against inflation"—will be cheered by the following bit of news. The workers will certainly feel happier to know that when it comes to sacrificing they are not alone, that the bosses are in on this equality of sacrifice business too—sweating, suffering, going without—along with the rest of the boys.
The Department of Commerce disclosed the other day that — AFTER TAXES WERE PAID— corporation profits for the first quarter of 1943 were EIGHTEEN PER CENT HIGHER than in the corresponding period in 1942.
From January 1 to the end of March of this year, profits were $1,821,000,000. If this keeps up— and who's to stop it? — by the end of the year the corporations will have "earned" $8,000,000,000, AFTER TAXES. This is $1,200,000,000 MORE than in 1942, and $800,000,000 more than 1941, which was the peak year.
The automobile industry alone increased its profits by forty-one per cent over 1942. The workers of that industry will be inspired to know this. Poor automobile manufacturers — someone ought to take up a collection for them.
The corporation owners obtained these increases without having to incease THEIR production. That they increased the productiveness of their workers goes without saying. The bosses simply pocketed the difference.
There was no hue and cry about inflation, loafing:, absenteeism, lack of patriotism, undermining the morale of soldiers who risk their lives for fifty dollars a month when this report was made public. The halls of Congress did not thunder with demands for- investigations. Nor Connally-Smith bills were introduced to restrain big business from gorging itself on war profits. There were no presidential decrees about "holding the line." Nothing like when the workers in the coal mines, in auto and aviation get together and demand a decent, living wage. Just a routine statement by the Department of Commerce and a polite report in the back pages of the boss press.
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Last updated: 13 June 2015