The Left in the News That Week

Both the Sunday News and The Sunday New York Times on April 14 reported on a rally of The Action Committee to Free Spain that drew several thousand Leftists to Madison Avenue between 24th and 25th to call for the US to break off all diplomatic relationships with Spain. The speakers included Saul Mills, Secretary of the Greater New York CIO Council, and Ferdinand L. Smith, Secretary of the National Maritime Union, CIO. Mills was an avid supporter of left wing causes, although he denied being a Communist, while Smith was a member of the Party. The Action Committee to Free Spain was listed as a subversive Communist front in the list drawn up by Attorney General Tom Clark for President Truman. The Left was pushing hard for the United Nations to oust Franco forcibly.