The Press: Stand Up and Be Counted Out

Three months ago, earnest, angular Editor Ben McKelway of the Washington Star called one of his reporters on the carpet. To 29-year-old Tom G. Buchanan Jr., who covered the medical beat, the boss put one question: Are you a Communist? Reporter Buchanan, an ex-Army captain, replied that he was (an admission that most good Communists regard as naive). McKelway carefully assured Buchanan that his work had been satisfactory. Then he fired him.

By being so honest with each other McKelway and Buchanan raised a clear-cut issue that had the C.I.O. American Newspaper Guild in a dither of soul-searching last week. The Star unit of the Guild first tried to ignore the case, and the city-wide executive board of the Guild refused to go to bat for Communist Buchanan. But, just to be sure that it was speaking for its membership, the board called for a referendum vote on whether Communists can be fired simply for being Communists.

Before the balloting, everybody had his say. Urged the board minority: “The issue . . . is whether the Guild, to which [Buchanan] has paid his dues, will represent his interests . . . just as a lawyer represents a client with whom he may disagree.” Said the majority report: “The contract provides that there shall be no discharge except for just & sufficient cause . . . We believe membership in the Communist Party to be such a cause . . . We do not feel that we can require a newspaper to retain a reporter who no longer has value.” It wasn’t just a case of which-party-do-you-belong-to, added the report, for Commies surrender “a degree of the freedom of action retained by those who join political parties generally.”

Said jobless Tom Buchanan: “To Mrs. Roosevelt and to all whose advice has been, ‘stand up and be counted,’ I now reply that I am on my feet. It is time for them to stand up and be counted, too.” When Washington Guildsmen stood up last week, the preliminary count was 251 to 163 in favor of doing nothing for Communist Buchanan.