Communists bitterly resent competition in representing the proletariat. especially when their rivals are more concerned with improving the workers lives than with installing a Communist regime. And in the Communist view. the quickest way to remove such competitors is to shoot or arrest them. This experience has made American labor leaders among the strongest proponents of American asylum for South Vietnamese refugees. In a recent letter to congressional leaders. George Meany urged. "If we do not stand by these desperate people. how can we ever claim to conduct a credible foreign policy?... "If the doctrine of detente retains any meaning. then let it now be put to the test. Let us make it clear to the Soviet Union and China that we expect their cooperation in restraining Hanoi. and that detente will never survive the slaughter of our friends in South Vietnam." Some Congressmen. including erstwhile liberals. seem about to embark on a sordid campaign to save American workers from competition from South Vietnamese refugees. Before they begin. they would be welladvised to heed what American labor has to say.
Keywords matched
refugees