By WILLIAM KASHTAN How will CLC stand on political action? READER wrote me a few days ago asking what the position of the new Canadian Labor Congress was’ likely to be on labor political-action. It is a question that must be of deep concern to many trade unionists. CCL President Mosh- er was compelled to deal with it in a recent address in Toron- — to when he said: > “The workers and the peo- ple of Canada are not yet ready to elect CCF candidates on any ide scale.” He added: “The results of our efforts have been far, from being as_ successful as we had hoped. A large pro- portion of our. own members have been unwilling to give the CCF the financial support which is necessary.” From this he concluded that the best policy for pro-CCFers in the trade union movement “would be to obtain a_ better understanding of politics and the necessity of adequate labor representation, at time leaving our affiliates free _to take up whatever political stand they wish.” I don’t want to comment now about Mosher’s remarks on the inability of the CCF to make _ advances, despite formal endor- sation at annual CCL- conven- tions. The important point to note here is that the CCL lead- ership, in the interests of the merger, has had to place the issue of CCF endorsation to one side. This marks a retreat from the CCL line on political action and strengthens the traditional TLC policy of “non-partisan- ship,” of supporting one’s friends and defeating one’s en- emies. This is made clear by Mosher’s remarks that political education, not political action, will be the official policy of the new congress. With it will go the right of every union to determine its attitude towards support of a pdlitical party. © eae & % Bearing this in Ynind, what should be the position of pro- gressive trade unionists on labor political action? The situation stands differ- ently now than when no merger was in the making. ' In the TLC, progressives have fought over the years to end its so - called “non - partisanship” policy and win it for active par- ticipation in the political life of the country. In the CCL progressives like- wise fought to advance political action around policies which would enable the labor move- ment to move forward. The debates at annual CCL _ conventions were fundamental- ly not over political action but over the type of political ac- tion proposed by the leadership. If sometimes discussions became ragged, this did not invalidate the main fact— that both CCF” and LPP trade unionists were in favor of political action. Progressive trade unionists would be well advised to bear this in mind in approaching labor political action at the mer- ger convention. They should seek out and find a basis of unity with CCFers, as well as non - party socialist - minded _ trade unionists, including those who are beginning to speak up for a Labor party based on the trade union movement. _ While there are many differ- ences among them over mat- ters of policy ‘and political forms, all of them agree that _ the new congress should move Say the same. in the direction of greater, not less, labor political action. If they act unitedly that ob- jective can be achieved. mw $04 bos », What are some of the points around which agreement could be reached? One could be the formula- tion of a rounded-out legisla- tive program for which the new CLC would fight... Another could be agreement that, with a 1957 federal elec- tion in the offing, the congress would throw its full weight be- hind every labor man and wo- man who pledges to fight for labor’s legislative program in parliament. A similar approach on the municipal field could «advance labor representation and make the municipalities strongholds of labor and the people. é Of course, spokesmen of the old-line parties in the trade union movement will fight might and main against. such proposals — as they will stub- bornly fight against the right of any trade union freely to determine its attitude towards political action!’ They can be defeated provided united work- ing-class action based on CCF- LPP cooperation is achieved. What is also needed is a fight for a greater measure of demo- cracy, guaranteeing the politi- cal opinions of every member. The merger opens the door for a united trade union move- ment to move forward not only on the economic but on the leg- islative and political fronts. LETTERS DIGEST C. JEWITT, Westview, writes that the February 17 issue of the PT was “real good” and asks us to send him half a dozen extra copies . . . His let- ter was too long for publication, JOHN MAKIN of Vancouver says the real reason the war was brought to an end in Ko- rea “was because thé mothers of the world signed numerous peace petitions.” M. G. CREAGH, Vancouver, sends us a second lengthy com- munication on the subject of juvenile delinquency, blaming . the “respectable big shots in the higher income brackets” for misleading the youth, and giv- ing them a false sense of values. ... LOGGER from Port Alberni writes of the hiring policy at MacMillan-Bloedel, where only men between 18 and 40° are wanted and loggers aren’t wel- come; -.%. MICHAEL SWETLISHOFF, Powell River, forwards a poem on peace, calling upon the peo- ples of the world “to ban dead- ly weapons of war, shed inno- cent. blood . no} more.” .4 . ELAINE JOHNSON of Vancou- ver expresses her opinions on juvenile delinquency... . . BERYL M. WHEELDON of Squamish forwards a copy of a letter she sent to a Seattle paper protesting the barring of Autherine Lucy from the Uni- versity of Alabama... . R. FERGUSON, Vancouver, writes on fluoridation. ... and C.M. of Nelson says that “all — of us here sure appreciate the coverage on the doings in Vic- toria.” . Vv. Tarantsov answers qu : ground can be seen some of the recovered equipment. By RALPH PARKER U.S. weather’ balloo In the back- ‘oscow. ns carried no meteorological equipment TRONG Soviet allegations that the United States is conducting military espionage under the guise of photograph- ing cloud strata have been made in. Moscow. These! allegations, the subject of diplomatic ex- changes, have been supported by a display of large balloons ‘and their instruments, many of them marked as being manufactured in the U.S. and most, according to Soviet spokesmen, found on or over the territory of the USSR. Spiridonovka House, usually the scene of high-level inter- national conferences or lavish- diplomatic receptions, * can rarely have witnessed such dra- matic moments as when the gilded doors of the Marble Music-Room were flung open to reveal a collection of elabo- rate and somewhat sinister-look- | ing instruments. Over the bal- ustrage of the musician’s gal- leryea fragile balloon envelope hung andghimmered in the light of the chandeliers. A garish yellow case, rather larger than a domestic frig, stood against the wall. On it a notice in Rus- sian read “Photographic Equip- ment.” Lining the “snow-clad drive of the house stood a further 36 sets of instruments, and these, it was announced, were only a small part of the haul. Each balloon with its elaborate in- struments is said to cost U.S. taxpayers $50,000 apart from the heavy costs involved in launching and controlling these balloons in the air and’ compil- ing the information they supply. , “Flying cameras’ is how Colonel of Engineers A. V. Tarantsov described the balloons and their instruments. And both equipment. he and the spokesman of the Soviet ministry of foreign af- fairs bluntly charged that these cameras were intended to take aerial photographs of the Soviet terrain and, if possible, to de- liver them at prearranged points at the end of the balloons’ flight. “Even if these balloons were really intended for ‘meteorolo- gical research, the launchjng of them in the air space of the Soviet Union would be a viola- tion of our territorial inviola- bility,” said the Soviet spokes- man. He said that the Soviet Union was always ready to share the results of its own meteorological research with other countries, but that, in fact, the U.S. had never asked it for the sort of information which these balloons were sup- posed to be collecting. ‘ Though it is the militery espionage aspect that is being stressed in Moscow — “an at- tempt to carry out the Eisen- hower air-photo plan on the cheap” as.. someone put it privately — attention has also been drawn to the danger to aviation posed by- these bal- loons. — ; With their load of instru- ments they weigh about a ton. Some of the heavy instruments contain explosives and when the balloons come floating down from the sky they constitute a menace to civilian life. and property. * x ae When I examined these bal- loons the first thing to strike me Was the absence of conven-— tional meteorological research. contained nothing for register- ing temperature, measuring air pressure or recording humidity. ee The. ; instruments 3 They were solely intended for aerial photography. A double objective camera with sufficient film to take up to 500 full-plate photographs is contained in the main instru- ment box. Some of the ‘balloons brought down over Soviet territory con-. tained cameras with pictures already taken. I examined some of these films. They were re- .markable for the absence of cloud and for the large quantity of land surface photographed. One of the cameras contained an excellent picture of an air base in Turkey. “A useful present,’ someone said. The camera is accompanied by a smaller case containing radio equipment. This has electronic devices which by automatic re- lease of ballast, maintain the balloon at a fixed height. From this case too, constant signals. are emitted by which ground observers are able to plot the course of the balloon. There are also devices which can be set to enable the instru- ments to be jettisoned at the end-point of the balloon’s drift. Charges are set off to release small parachutes which are in- | tended to bring the instruments down to earth. Each set of instruments bears markings which give instruct: ions how the instruments are to be returned to U.S. military authorities. These markings, as Seen in Moscow, were in English, French, German, Japanese; Arabic, Urdu and some other languages, but not, it was inter- ting’ to note, in Chinese or Russian. It seems clear that the U.S. - authorities’ concept of “meteoro- logical research” doesnot allow for the findings to fall into certain hands. Extraordinary precautions are taken to protect the photographs from loss. The camera is pro- vided with an unsinkable con- tainer which is equipped with a small radio transmitter to send out constant distress signals. The question that occurs to anyone seeing this elaborate _ €quipment is why, if the photo- Sraphy of cloud strata is so Important to the U.S. did that country not request Soviet co- operation ? : ‘ Why should the'U. S. be wast- Ing millions of dollars on infor- mation it could get gor nothing. Public opinion in the Soviet Union has only one answer to these questions. The launching of these balloons is a provocative act of attempted military espion- age, part of the Dulles “brink of war” ‘Policy.