Histadrut Requests Ben Gurion to Check Dayan; Protests His Speeches

Pinhas Lavon, Secretary General of the Histadrut, served an ultimatum last night on Prime Minister David Ben Gurion to order former Army Chief of Staff Mosbe Dayan to stop making political speeches which have enraged labor officials and left-wing parties in the coalition government.

The demand was made at a six-hour meeting of top Mapai leaders in Ben Gurion’s office. Lavon reportedly told the meeting that if Gen. Dayan continued to advocate publicly a wage freeze and “efficiency dismissals” in the government and in Histadrut, it would be necessary to postpone the scheduled Histadrut elections.

Mapam and Achdut Avodah, Mapai’s two left-wing partners in the coalition, oppose both proposals. While most Mapai leaders agree in principle with Gen. Dayan’s ideas, they were understood to consider it unwise to say so publicly.

The anger of Mapai veterans reached a climax when Gen. Dayan publicly criticized “those who for 20 years had been sitting on the fifth floor,” a reference to the site of the executives’ offices at Histadrut headquarters.

It was reported that Gen. Dayan promised at last night’s meeting that he would avoid making such deprecatory remarks. He insisted, however, that he would continue to discuss publicly all controversial issues even if that proved to be unpleasant for Mapai.

Mapai branches all over the country have protested against Dayan’s attitude. In at least one instance, at the Mapai branch of Ramat Gan, a bitter dispute has broken out among the younger members and the veterans, necessitating intervention by the Mapai Partys own control department.

Histadrut’s daily newspaper Davar, yesterday printed a cartoon showing Dayan as a small boy throwing stones against the windows of Histadrut. The cartoon labelled him “naughty boy.” The papers said that the General’s charges could only help to deepen the gap between the younger generation and the older and between the public and its elected representatives.