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seemed so peculiar and it always seemed so odd that it should interest these union people. It could only be explained because of their background, because they themselves or their fathers had only so recently come from that area. Many of them had been touched by revolutionary movements before they left Russia. That was natural. They were the persecuted people of Russia and had the lowest levels of standard of living, and all that. They naturally hoped that something would happen that would make things better for their find of people in Russia.
I then learned that this man Lovestone was a controversial figure in the unions because of the fact that he was actively engaged in some kind of support and movement to emphasize and increase the influence of the Trotsky thinkers inside the unions. At this moment I'm quite uncertain as to who the leaders of the other group were politically in this country. Certainly William Z. Foster had very little contact with the New York trade unions. He may have had some, but his influence was much more where Haywood's influence had been - in those large mass organizations that you saw in the West. I never have seen William Z. Foster, so far as I know, and he still remains a
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