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Kuomintang strives to a

vert defeat

Chinese Communists spike
Chiang’s peace maneuver

Desperate manoeuvers by Chi-
ang Kai-shek and diehard ele-
ments of his crumbling Kuomin-
tang regime to stave off utter de-
feat through protracted peace ne-
gotiations appear’ to have failed
before the Liberation armies’ de-
termination to press their victori-
ous military campaign to a de-
cisive conclusion. :

Chiang’s diplomatic offensive,
expressed in proposals for direct
peace negotiations, during which
military lines would remain fix-
ed, and subsequent appeals for
Big Three mediation, are re-
garded as an effort to gain time
for his hard-pressed regime, and
thére‘is no doubt that his pro-
posals have the backing of the
US. i

Communist leaders’ rejection of
the proposals, however, have cut
short any hope that Chiang may
still be able to consolidate’ his
‘forces in South China. Announce-
ment that the island of Formosa

is being prepared as a base which
Kuomintang leaders boast, “Com-
munist influence will not be able
to penetrate,” is an admission
that Chiang has little confidence
in his earlier preparations to pro-
long his dictatorial rule from Can-
ton.

@ Top picture shows small boats
and sampans jammed into
Shanghai’s . Soochow Creek,
which has become a mass of
humanity afloat. While thou-
sands of Chinese peasants, up-
rooted by the war, are crowd-
ing into Shanghai, war-rich
Kuomintang officials and mer-
chants are fleeing to Formosa.
Bottom picture shows some of
the 200,000 Shanghai citizens
who stormed government
banks toi exchange inflated cur-
rency for gold and silver. Sev-
eral persons were killed and
hundreds more injured when
police used armored cars
against the crowd.

McEwen protests to U.S. embassy

Making an urgent appeal to all labor organiz-
ations and progressives generally to protest trum-
ed-up charges against American Communist lead-
ers now facing trial, Tom McEwen, editor of the
Pacific Tribune, sent this telegram to the Ameri-
can embassy at Ottawa this week:

“Please forward to President Truman and his
cabinet the indignant protest of the editors of the
Pacific Tribune, against the trumped-up charges
of advocating force and violence upon which
twelve American communist leaders are being
tried.

“With Hitler’s Reichstag fire plot still fresh in
public memory these charges, conceived in an at-
mosphere of' anti-Soviet hysteria and fanned by
the bigotry of a world-discredited un-American

Hits frame-up of Communists

activities committee, bear too close a resemblance
to historical counterparts to warrant credibility.
It is obvious they are aimed at destroying the
democratic rights of workers everywhere as a
prelude to carrying out the war aims openly pro-
claimed by some American spokesmen.

“We urge the quashing of these false Hitler-
ite-inspired charges and the restoration of full
constitutional rights to all members of the Com-
munist party of the U.S.A. This we believe to be
essential to preserving the democratic principles
upon which the United States was founded. In
the attempted frameup of the twélve communists
now charged Canadians are reminded of Sacco
and Vanzetti and’ Tom Mooney and the disgrace-
ful lynching of countless Negro workers.”

B.C. wants jobs---
not super profits

The annual report of the
Forests Minister E. T. Kenney,
mail. S

Daily newspaper headlines put the question with unconscious irony; “Lumber King Raps Social-
ism,” said the Sun,.and underneath; ““H. R. MacMillan profits hit new record of $8.5 million.”’

Kenney’s © speech drew these headlinés: “Cut in BiG: Tégigng looms,” and “B.C. leftists held

H. R. MacMillan. Export Company and the radio address of Coalition
both given the same day, together make a package of political black-

threat to new mills.”

B.C. newspapers have been del-
urged with “MacMillan ads on the
theme, ‘‘Profits make jobs.” Edi-
torial support has been profuse.

The sordid truth is that with
MacMillan’s Export Company
symbolizing the current picture of
record big business profits (this
company makes $1.22 out of ey-
ery dollar invested in wages), un-
employment, especially in lumber,
has hit a 9-year record and is still
climbing! :

The people are demanding jobs
and security measures, but Mac-
millan, Kenney and the kept press
thunder against ‘‘socialism.” With
no prospect of socialism in B.C.’s
immediate future, the double-talk
levelled against socialism is a threat
to all labor’s demands for a solu-
tion to the present’ crisis.

Unfettered tyranny of the mon-
opolies is revealed as the Coali-

tion’s goal in Kenney’s statement.

that, “‘No corporation will hazard
its capital of millions unless rea-
sonably assured of a fair oppor-
tunity of development and a rea-
sonable retum on_ investment.”

Blaming “‘worldwide conditions”
for the logging cutbacks that are
biting deep into our economy, Ken-
ney omits to mention that he and
the MacMillans, whose voice he is,
have helped to create those “‘world-
wide conditions” through joining
in the Marshall-Abbott plans for
war and plunder which dictate that
Britain shall no longer buy from
us, .

The working people, particularly
the thousands of unemployed wood-
workers who labored to make the
super-profits of the men behind the
Coalition, will not be blackmailed

by threats of no more Investments,

Continued on back page
See JOBS

‘

How many millions
in sales tax barrel?

How much money is in the Coalition pork-barrel for the
coming pre-election session of the Legislature?

This is one of the big guessing games in provincial politics,
for Tory Finance Minitser Anscomb is still keeping secret the
exact amount being gouged from the people by the universally-
hated 3 percent sales tax.

$12,000,000 a year was his estimate to last year’s session _
when tke bill was enacted:

The Pacific Tribune claimed at that time that if it was
applied as Attorney-General Wismer stated it was going to
be applied, the total take would be over $20,000,000.

Weight is lent to the PT’s prediction by the fact that 6
months after the tax went into effect, no total figures have
been released,

It is not reported whether Anscomb
in a pumpkin,

Tkough the Coalition wants to call-the tax “the Social
Security and Municipal Aid Tax,” no single additional piece of
Social security was introduced (except Hospital Insurance,
which pays for itself).

This has led to predictions that the Coalition is piling up
a big pork-barrel for the next session, with millions to bribe
the voters. :

Even without the sales tax, the government would have had
2. $4,000,000 surplus over estimated expense,

' Other revenues are Soaring too. Liquor profits will run
closer to $18,000,000 than the estimated) $13,500,000; gas tax over

has the ledger hid

$10,000,000 instead of $8,500,000 and auto license receipts will

be well over $5,400,000.

Announcement of H. R. MacMillan’s $8,000 000 profit last
year is spurring the anger of sales tax payers who realize they
are subsidizing MacMillan and other monopolists out of their
pockets every time they make a purchase,

The Labor-Progressive Party’s campaign for repeal, of the
sales tax at the coming session is getting into full swing with
1500 petitions being circulated throughout the province,

Radio programs—as listed on page 12—are being arranged
by local LPP clubs, as well as public meetings and advertise-
ments. i
Vancouver LPP Committee plans distribution of 20,000
leafelts and has set aside Monday, January 31 as petition “blitz”
night. :

Also planned are delegations to MLA’s,