im LIM

- Adopt new
constitution

in G.

; BERLIN

_At zero hour April 9th a so-
Clalist constitution which guaran-
tees jobs, housing and democ-
Tacy for all came into force in
ine. German Democratic Repub-
The new constitution pro-
_ Claims East Germany as a sov-
€reign socialist republic of the
‘erman nation and Berlin its
Capital.
Twelve million East German
Voters (95 percent of electorate)
a historic referendum on
April 6th approved the socialist
Constitution President Ulbricht

Presented. before the nation last~
*. setting the European status quo.

January... ;

_ The G.D.R. referendum was an
Unprecidented testing of people’s
will. It proved to be a remark-

le demonstration of democra- |
“between the G.D.R. and West

_Germany as two separate states

cy in communist G.D.R. and mu-
confidence existing between
the rulers and the ruled. East
Mans were called upon to
Vote yes or no to the draft con-
Stitution which proclaims the
D:R. as a separate -sovereign
State, socialism its creed and
Ocracy its shield.
Through this referendum East
mans have once again ex-
Pressed their firm determination
Proceed along the socialist
Toad and never return to the old
Order preserved in West Ger-
Many. The referendum showed
that the overwhelming majority
of the G.D.R. citizens prefer to
f ve a separate socialist state
Or themselves rather than mix-
ing up their sound social system
d growing economy with rot-
N capitalism and nazi revival
the west.
Only 409 thousand out of a
elecotrate of 12.2 millions
lave voted “no” to the constitu-
tion’ The referendum was a be-
tting answer to Bonn’s oft re-
Peated demand for “national self-

determination for East Ger-
mans.”

If West Germans care to cOn- —

sider the April 6th referendum
as its expression of East German

self determination verdict return--

ed in, it is a categorical rejection
of Bonn’s “sole represeftation
claim” or Kiesinger aims to rule
over the G.D.R. Add to this also
the 70 percent of West Ger-
many’s public opinion polls who

expressed their desire to co-exist .

with the G.D.R. as a separate
state. All these constitute a
formidable “no” to West. Ger-
man politician’s bellicose. policy
of annexing the G.D.R. and up-

Germans in their millions
have voted for this status quo
and European security. The es-
tablishment of normal relations

should be the logical culmina-
tion of this expression of the
people’s will. ;

But the. West German govern-
ment headed by former nazi Kie-
singer, still consider the G.DR.
is non-existing and schemes over

‘futile hope of “German unifica-
tion” under his imperialist flag -

and NATO guns.

East German Leader Ulbricht
is on the other hand determined
to consolidate his socialist gains
on the basis of the mandate giv-
en to him by this referendum

while the whole nation is work- .

ing hard to transform the G.D.R.
into a mighty economic power.

Bonn is impotent to alter this:

East German course.

The only sensible way open
for Kiesinger is to negotiate a
settlement with Ulbricht. If John-
son can forego his false prestige

in Vietnam why shouldn’t Kie-:

singer give up his sole represen-
tation claim that blocks negotia-
tions. a

German workers at the Berlin Cable Works discuss the new draft constitution;

THE POLITICAL TRIAL OF
Pierre Vallieres

‘Pierre Valligres 28-year-old
former Montreal newspaperman
and one of the leaders of the
Front de Libération du Québec,
has recently been sentenced to
life imprisonment, He was found
guilty of manslaughter in the
death of a’ woman employed in
the offices of the H. B. LeGre-
nade shoe company. The work-
ers at this plant had been on

strike for months prior to May:

5, 1966 when a bomb was de-
livered in a shoe box to the
company’s Office.
During the bitter strike
against the notoriously anti-
union LaGrenade company, stu-
dents from all of Montreal’s
universities, French and English,
as well as members of several
trade unions and “‘indépendan-
tiste’ movements had on several
occasions joined the strikers’
picket-line in demonstrations.
The trial of. Pierre Valliéres
started on February 26, after he
had been held in custody for

more than a year. Held with him
was Charles Gagnon, another
FLO leader and former Uni-
versité de Montréal sociology
teacher whose trial is soon to
begin.
Pierre Valliéres’ trial was a
political one. The Crown, basing

itself in large part on political .

documents it introduced, had set
‘out to prove that Valligres’ writ-

ings calling for the liberation of.

Quebec led to the bombing of
the shoe plant. In his summation
to the jury, the judge stated
there existed no. direct evidence
against Valliéres. The sentence of
life imprisonment, the maximum
penalty, was motivated, the
judge explained, “by the accus-
ed’s hostile attitude toward the
COUT

In a statement: issued in pro-
test against “the savage life-
sentence for Pierre Valliéres”

‘the executive of the National

Committee of the Parti Com-
muniste du Québec says the sen-

t

tence “shows to what extremes
a bourgeois court can go when:
it feels the slightest. threat tc:
its social system.” Referring tc.
the announcement that Valliéres:
will appeal his sentence, ‘ the:
statement comments: . “All pro-.
gressive persons are duty-bound
to support him, whatever their
opinions of his political tactics.”

Jacques Larue-Langlois, pre-
sident. of the Comité d’aide au
groupe Valliéres - Gagtion, | re-
ported that on April 16 two ap-
peals were to be made — ‘one
against the verdict and the other
against the
ing that “such a sentence
manslaughter is almost wi
precedent”, Mr.. Langlois '
“Pierre Vallitres has won
‘political trial in the eyes of. his
fellow -citizens of _ Québec.”
Contributions to, the appeal
fund, he advised, should be

mailed to the “Comité d’aide au
_ groupe Vallitres-Gagnon” at ;

Outremont Avenue, Montreal 8.

alf dewhurst

~ Structure proposals fall short

: Press handouts on the work
Of the special commission study-
ae the structure and constitu-
10n of the Canadian Labor Con-
8'ess serve to underline specula-
On in the unions that proposals
ing made fall quite a bit short
Or need,
onviatching the apparent defici-
nities of the report is the pau-
Y of information about its
Contents given out by the Con-
ed to its affiliates and their
b mbers. Unionists have had to
© content with only a few skim-
Py press handouts.
One such handout, dated
i ch 29, informs that the com-
Ission strongly favors mergers
tiat urges the Congress to ini-
ata talks at the top officer level
tig ‘ween national and interna-
fae unions to this end. The
Y suggestion made as to form
14 at unions should:be grouped
Co ne to jurisdiction and
in ther considerations.” In keep-
18, no doubt, with this line of
de Ought is a proposal that trade
-"€partments be established. _
= ther suggestions include: a)
Tengthening the CLC constitu-

ticular type of

tion to give the Congress more
authority to develop a rational
jurisdictional structure; b)
launching a study to determine
appropriate standards of effici-
ency and services a union
should provide its members
with; c) issuing a call for unity
among all those who are pre-
pared to subscribe to the prin-
ciples in the CLC constitution;
d) creation of a committee to
advice the Congress on bicultur-
alism and bilingual questions as
they effect the trade union
movement. : :
The report calls for enlarging
the executive council of the CLC
from‘its present 21 to 30 mem-
bers. Still another recommenda-

tion -would make it mandatory -

for all eligible unions to affiliate
to provincial federations and
local labor councils.

The report notes that 70 per-
cent of the CLC’s 1.5 million
members are enrolled in 110 af-
filiated international unions. It
goes on to justify Canada’s par-
international
unionism on the need -to con-
front giant international corpor-

ations (meaning U.S.) with the

“countervailing power” of inter-°

national unions. The reporters
contend that international uni-
onism is no bar to the autonomy
of Canadian sections and cite
examples to bolster this point.

-All in all, there can be no
quarrel with the direction taken
in the report as indicated by
most of the suggestions made.
What is mainly wrong with the

~ report is its vagueness. Sugges-

tions for continuing study can-
not substitute for meaningful

- actions that can be taken now.

And this is not to deny the need
for more study of complex ques-
tions. ‘ ;

The Canadian development: of
trade unionism cannot be con-
tent with the status quo. It is
good that a number of import-
ant unions have established
certain measures of autonomy.
However, the need today is for
those measures to be extended
to all Canadian sections of the
internationals. A useful step to
take would be to extend com-
plete automony to all Canadian
sections with the officers. and

"directors of such sections elect-

ed, by the Canadian members

alone. This would entail adjust-

ments in per-capita payments to
enable such autonomy to be
financially feasible. Fae
The call for unity around th

principles of the CLC constitu-
tion is laudable. However the
constitution should be of a na-
ture that ensures unity. In this

respect the commission was re- |

miss in its duty in failing to re-
commend constitution amend-
ments to democratize the con-

stitution by deletion of the cold -

war clauses.
The establishment of a. com-

mittee to advise the CLC on.

questions of biculturalism and
bilingualism appears to be more
in the nature of a device rather
than a useful effort to get at the
structure of national differences.

This proposal refuses to recog-,

nize that two. nations—French
and English speaking — exist in
Canada. It would have been bet-
ter if the commission had re-
commended organizational and
constitutional : measures’ which
would have provided its Quebec

section with national autonomy. |

To this end the proposal of
the Quebec Federation of Labor
is worthy of consideration.
Briefly, the QFL proposal would
transfer to provincia] bodies the
power to issue charters to regio-
nal labor councils, and to trans-
fer the regional offices of the
CLC and the budgets earmarked

_ to maintain them to the federa- |

tions. While this proposal does
not claim a special status for

‘Quebec CLC. unions, its effect

would be to give the QFL more
freedom of movement to meet
the ‘particular. economic and

political needs for Quebec work-

ers. At the same time it. would
serve to’ strengthen the CLC
through its federations at the
provincial level by bringing that

tence. Comment-

’

body much closer to: the work- -

ers‘and their problems.

A ‘ctural reform of this —

nature would be good for the
CLC and the working class. For
it would be a step towards
creating a sounder basis for

“solidarity between the workers

of Quebec and English speaking
Canada. —

opp B/URE DPQAD~ L2FT 2E RETA

3<
APRIL 19, 1968—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 5

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