The Militant (logo)  

Vol. 72/No. 9      March 3, 2008

 
How labor, socialists beat McCarthy witch-hunters
 
Below are excerpts from The Case of the Legless Veteran, one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month in February. The book tells the story of how James Kutcher, who lost both legs in World War II, won an eight-year fight supported by unions across the country to win back his job and pension after being fired by the government for his communist views. He had been a clerk at the Veterans Administration. In the selection below Kutcher describes a 1948 news conference that launched his defense campaign. Copyright © 1973 by Pathfinder Press. Reprinted by permission.

BY JAMES KUTCHER  
The press conference was a success. Held at the Robert Treat Hotel in Newark, it attracted reporters and photographers from New York as well as New Jersey. George Novack did most of the talking to the press, but he was not alone. He had the able assistance and legal counsel of Mr. Arthur Burch, a New York attorney. And although only a few days had passed since my meeting with him, he had already reached a number of prominent people in New Jersey, and had interested some to the point where they attended the conference and spoke for themselves.

Outstanding among these was Carl Holderman, president of the New Jersey State CIO Council… . Mr. Holderman took a clear-cut stand on my case from the very beginning and did more than any other union leader to get the labor movement to help me… .

Ewald Sandner, CIO regional director in New Jersey and a veteran of the miners union, spoke too. Expressing approval for Mr. Holderman’s remarks, he said he was certain that the national CIO would “repudiate this vicious persecution and give full support to the defense of James Kutcher.”

George Novack announced that a national Kutcher Civil Rights Committee was in process of formation, a nonpartisan citizens group that would aid my fight to keep my job. Then I spoke a few words: “I am not fighting this case only for myself. This witch-hunt in government offices has gone far enough. Somebody has to stand up some time and call a halt to these persecutions. If, by my stand, I can save any veteran or government employee from persecution in the future, I will consider my fight worthwhile.”  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home