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HOW TO COPE WITH COPE by Fey Catchpole

HOW TO COPE WITH COPE

By

Pub Date: Sept. 5th, 1968
Publisher: Arlington House

Strictly a know-thy-enemy approach to COPE, the AFL-CIO's Committee on Political Education, which is labor's chief electioneering and propaganda machine. Catchpole is a conservative, but he uses his space liberally to dissect the structure, function, and motivations of COPE. His analyses are detailed with facts, figures, only a few nasty polemics and are meant to arm conservatives and, perhaps, help them invent a sturdy propaganda machine of their own. COPE suffered large losses in the 1966 elections (defeats of Paul Douglas and Soapy Williams and other pro-labor candidates) but eventually could spearhead a powerful national liberal-labor-religious-radical coalition: ""An organized labor movement of million-plus members working actively with other left-of-center organizations, coupled with an already perfected COPE political machine, would constitute an economic power bloc heretofore unseen in American politics."" To fight such a block conservatives need all the knowledge they can get, and Catchpole ardently outlines COPE's campaigning practices, its leadership, history, allies, and a possible antidote: ""The only way for a Republican and/or conservative candidate or group to adequately 'cope with COPE' would be to set up a parallel organization"" with all of the tax, membership, and other advantages. Should any conservative want to undertake this work. Catchpole's book will be a useful manual.