What Can We Do?
Is there anything we can do about the present super-monopoly control of our press which gags all but a handful of the 140,000,000 Americans? The individual writer can hardly formulate meaningful proposals along this line. Labor itself, particularly the larger progressive unions, the C.I.O. as a whole, and strong combinations in industrial areas where trade union membership is concentrated, must certainly give more thought to the publication of newspapers. To be successful, they will need labor’s formal participation but they must not be limited to trade union scope. On the contrary, they should champion labor’s political and other interests, as well as the interests of the people as a whole. Labor must also seek a more direct voice in the few relatively pro-labor dailies now in circulation, because direct participation will reduce the waverings to which liberal papers tend. Labor must also combat the commodity-news pattern and help create an audience for balanced, trustworthy information. A labor paper should aim at that end.
Beyond that, labor and liberals should consider legislation to ease the present monopoly. Postal and communications subsidies—free mailing, in fact—plus other government aid, should be given to newspapers and mail-circulation newsletters of responsible popular bodies. At the same time, government subsidies should be taken away from the monopoly press; private enterprise should be compelled to stand on its own feet in the publishing business.
Finally, the truth about the American press—that it is the uncontrolled and unlimited voice of monopoly capital—should not operate to discourage constant pressure on the owners to deal fairly and adopt more liberal policies. This is a democracy, whatever its monopoly limitations; the publishers cannot completely ignore voices that are numerous enough and insistent enough. But the pressure should be concentrated where it has most chance to do good: on the powerful pro-fascist press bloc responsible for the worst excesses of our monopoly press. The recent picket lines and boycott of the Daily News in protest against columnist John O’Donnell’s anti-Semitic provocations, demonstrate that results can be obtained. As a matter of fact, the “Fascist fringe” is very vulnerable. A good, strong, nationwide boycott, centering on the more blatantly fascist preachings of the bloc, might very well act as a deterrent and check on both policy and ownership. The curbing of the reactionary bloc would improve the whole tone of the press. This is the nearest thing to an attainable free press objective in the United States, at least for today.
It goes without saying that any realistic effort to improve our press, must operate within the framework of a larger political program. Only a program that understands the necessity for curbing the huge monopolies—even within the limits of the capitalist system—can seriously approach the problem of press freedom. None but a program of independent labor-progressive political action can even aim at this goal. Only a program that takes Socialism as its ultimate objective, will consistently understand and face the problems along the way. This places the heaviest responsibility upon Marxists and class-conscious workers, manual and intellectual, newspapermen not least among them.