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\ Congress, particularly, the same spokesmen who oppose social welfare legislation generally oppose equal rights for minorities, and insist on ever greater expenditures for military hardware. Those who seek to overcome this resistance must recognize that the peace, civil rights, and poverty issues are one. . The time for the creation of a new force for social progress is now. The civil rights movement has provided this nation with a moment of truth: The demand for human justice and dignity cannot be ful- filled until jobs, adequate housing, and decent schools have been achieved for oll Americans. The trade union movement faces its own moment of truth—also the job crisis. As champions of the underdog, unions cannot afford to stagnate. They will not be content to see their memberships dwindling as automation eliminates 200,000 production jobs every year. Unions realize that their goals of job security in the context of equal rights can only be achieved if there are enough jobs or other sources of suffi- cient income. An alliance between Negro and white wage earners in unions committed to civil rights, and between those unions and the | civil rights movement, is an essential step to the creation of a better America. The poor, not yet active in their own behalf, must be helped to organize themselves. Trade unions, civil rights groups, and social wel- fere organizations must help in this effort. In this way the poor them- selves can be brought into American democracy as full participants, helping to decide their own futures. The poor belong in the alliance to shape a better society. The peace organizations of this nation have pioneered for many years in attempting to bring a just and disarmed world closer. They, too, must realize that disarmament, civil rights, and full employment are allied. It is their job to show how a better way of life is linked to the need for world peace, and the solution of conflicts between nations. It is linked not only in terms of living standards but also in terms of the moral goals of human brotherhood. This cannot be demonstrated from a distance. Peace workers must become full and active participants in the everyday efforts of Americans to create a better life. These groups constitute a real “alliance for progress.” By working to begin the war on poverty, they can help to end the war on mankind. Sooner or later this alliance will also have to work directly to bring about world-wide disarmament. Only then can the resources for a real war on poverty, for a better way of life at home and abroad, be found. Martin Oppenheimer is a sociologist who has been active for some years in peace and civil rights organizations, including one year as assistant director of the Studies Program in the Peace Educalion Division of the American Friends Service Committee. a ed ee te