ieee niejecta 4 puter analysis has proved what readers never doubted. ‘Plagiarism’ lie refuted A charge originated by anti- Soviet writer Alexander Solzhenit- syn that Nobel Prize-winning Soviet novelist Mikhail Sholokov _“‘plagiarized’’ his world famous novel ‘‘And Quiet Flows the Don’’ has been completely repudiated by the report of an_ investigation published last month in the prestigious U.S. journal Scientific American. In 1974, Solzhenitsyn, then still in the USSR had claimed that he had ‘“‘proof’’ that the Don novel had been largely written by an anti- Soviet Cossack, Feodor D. Krukov who had died in 1920. But computer analysis has now established beyond dispute that Sholokov is indeed the author of the renowned novel — a fact which few readers ever questioned. The February issue of Scientific American carried a report on the in-- vestigation carried out at the: University of Oslo by Geir Kjetsaa, a professor of Russian literature, and her Norwwegian and Swedish co-workers. Using computer analysis, they compared the Don work to the un- disputed works of Krukov and Sholokov and concluded ‘‘une- quivocally’’ that Krukov could not have been the author and that the undisputed writings of Sholokov were ‘‘remarkably like the author of the Quiet Don.”’ = MIKHAIL SHOLOKOV...com-. = ECONOMIC FACTS New book on the NDP gov't reviewed Few insights in ‘the 1200 According to authors Lorne Kavic and Garry Brian Nixon, on the night of December 11, 1975, when the computers first predicted defeat for the NDP government, - premier Dave Barrett ‘‘slipped almost unnoticed into the bathroom, reappearing some five minutes later . . . dapper in a check- ed grey suit, pale blue shirt, dark blue striped tie — all carefully non- political colors. ‘Okay,’ he said, =et’s g0°.”” : Kavic and Nixon’s recent book, The 1200 Days: A Shattered Dream, doesn’t have many such melodramatic scenes; but this one seems to sum up the book itself. For all its 260-pages, it can’t seem to capture the political drama that marked the election of the first NDP government in British Colum- bia. And as analysis, it lacks political substance. Not that an analysis of the NDP government’s term of office wotuldn’t be valuable and timely — particularly with Bennett’s political antics looking more and more like pre-election posturing and with the NDP, bolstered by the popularity polls, hoping to end the Socreds’ term as abruptly as its own term was ended three and a half years ago. But in leaning heavily on newspaper accounts, and attempting to sum up -political positions with one line comments from ‘“‘insiders’’ inter- views, Kavic and Nixon have pro- duced something that is more like a Time magazine wrap-up story than the ‘‘major study’’ it proports to be. A key shortcoming is evident from the beginning. The authors look back to previous elections, during the W.A.C. Bennett regime and even before, but strangely pay almost no attention to the stormy political events that preceded the 1972 election and had a large part in determining the outcome. The re- sounding campaign against the Mediation Commission, and the THE 1200 DAYS: A SHATTERED DREAM. Dave Barrett and the NDP in B.C. 1972-75. By Lorne Kavic and Garry Brian Nixon. Kaen Publishers, 1978, paper, $5.95. demonstrations by construction unions whose offices were raided during the summer of 1972 are pass- ed over in a couple of paragraphs. And the unprecedented political ac- tion of teachers, spearheaded by the B.C. Teachers’ Federation and its Political Action Committee, doesn’t even rate a mention. In- stead, The 1200 Days chalks up the debating points scored by the two contending leaders — in this case, W.A.C. Bennett and Dave Barrett. After the election, there was a dramatic upsurge in political action and debate throughout the province —but that isn’t fully reflected in The 1200 Days. The lobbies to the Legislature by the B.C. Federation of Labor, by fishermen and tenants seeking the enactment of long awaited legislation; the campaigns by private insurance to sink Autoplan; these are only seen as.a shadowy backdrop to the Legislative debates and inner caucus meetings on which the authors have concentrated much of the book. Even the issues and in- cidents — the welfare overrun, the egg marketing board dispute, various labor disputes — are those which the media found important at the time.- The larger politics are often lost. Perhaps more basic is the failure ’ of Kavic and Nixon to see that the NDP government was a different kind of government — or at least was perceived to be by the big business community and the press which reflected its views. The U.S. financial magazine Barron’s which called Barrett the ‘‘Allende of the North”’ grossly overstated the case but the comment nevertheless in- dicated the corporate approach to Barrett’s administration. The 7 J. TENANTS, FISHERMEN’S LOBBIES, 1974 . . . their action does figure in Kavic, Nixon book. economic sabotage initiated by the mining companies following the in- troduction of the Mineral Royalties Act and the near hysterical stampede against the Land Com- mission Act were among the many ways that approach took shape in action. And just as Kavic and Nixon give virtually no role to big business in the defeat of the government, so they underestimate the role of the press in shaping public opposition to the government. In fact, they have used press reports, virtually uncritically, as the main source material and their own commentary often reflects the prevailing bias. The two do concede at one point that Barrett faced a ‘‘hostile press”’ but scarcely two paragraphs later suggest that the government should have ‘‘chosen to present its policies as reformist but business-like; as programs any responsible govern- ment would have implemented’’ — as if the Employers’ Council would have looked more charitably on the NDP or the press carried more —Sean Griffin pi favorable reports if the presentatilt were different. d And whatever the image Bart and the caucus chose to present, would still have faced the fact t trade unionists, teachers, tena and others had looked to government that they had helped! elect to legislate on their behalf but had been disillusioned into in tion and even opposition as hous! policies never materialized labor legislation was shaped mé by political expediency than prim ple. To their’ credit, the authors The 1200 Days have explored some detail the NDP record, outh ing the miscalculations — and the not considerable achievements, whit still bear testimony to the NDP brief three years in government. Bi their research will have to wait foj more comprehensive study befo those 1200 days — which changg B.C. politics dramatically — fully understood. 7 —Sean Grif shortcomings, { 7 By Emil Bjarnason and David Fairey With record profits in 1978 and continued healthy earn- ings predicted for 1979 B.C.’s largest employer is now entering a new round of negotiations with the wood- workers’ unions for a new collective agreement. The dominance, and power of this corporation, MacMillan Bloedel Ltd., is often lost sight of in the economic and political struggles of workers in this province. In January of this year, during a struggle for control of MacMillan Bloedel, and for control of Eastern Canadian forest and building products conglomerate Domtar, when Canadian Pacific Investments made a bid to buy majority interest in MacMillan Bloedel, B.C. premier Bill Bennett in- tervened with his declaration that ‘‘B.C. is not for sale.’’ Bennett’s reaction was curious in light of a Social Credit government history which allowed two thirds of the B.C. economy to be controlled by outsiders. Rumor has it in the financial press that certain sectional interests in the MacMillan Bloedel board of directors phon- ed Bennett and prodded him into action for fear of losing their traditional power base. The group most likely wanting government intervention would have been those associated with control over the H. R. MacMillan estate, now merged ~ with the H.R. MacMillan estate, now. merged with that of the Southam family interests through Gordon Southam and James Norman Hyland of Pacific Press, J.V. Clyne and W.J. VanDusen, and the husband of Virginia Bloedel, C.B. Wright of Seattle. Calvert Knudsen, president of MacMillan Bloedel, the in- volvement of B.C.’s forest giant in a new wave of corporate mergers and takeovers is attributable in large part to the. Bryce Commission Report (Royal Commission on Cor- porate Concentration) which gave a green light to increased corporate concentration. The Bryce Commission found that in terms of both ag- gregate economic concentration and industrial concentra- tion, corporate concentration is higher in Canada than elsewhere. However, it concluded that large size and monopolization seemed necessary for Canada to compete in international markets, and for this reason the Commis- sion favored increased corporate concentration in ‘Canada, or at least no reduction its present high level. Some 34 research ‘studies into: corporate concentration ’ were conducted for the Commission, one of which was The Existence and Exercise of Corporate Power: A Case Study MacBlo--a bastion of corporate power of MacMillan Bloedel Ltd., by Richard Schwindt of Simon Fraser University. It is well known that MacMillan Bloedel is B.C.’s largest company in terms of sales and number of employees; that it is the largest enterprise in the Canadian forest products in- dustry; and that it ranks as 20th among the 100 largest non- financial Canadian companies. The Schwindt study also reveals the following facts about MacMillan Bloedel: @ It is both transnational and multinational, operating in every province except Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island and in 16 countries around the world. @ It ranks high among the 300 largest industrial cor- porations in the world outside the U.S. @ It is the 12th largest pulp and paper company in the world in terms of assets ($1.4 billion) and employees (over 23,000 — 16,000 in B.C.). In assets it is seven times larger than the combined assets of the next seven largest forest in- dustry companies in B.C. . @ In timber rights MacMillan Bloedel has control of 31 percent of the total coastal region timber, with its closest competition having 10 percent. The study concluded that the scaled economies of the level of timber harvesting does not justify the extent of MacMillan Bloedel control over timber rights. @ In lumber production, MacMillan Bloedel produces 30 percent of coastal lumber Output, and while it does not dominate the markets to which it ships it does have a strong position in the Australian lumber market. @ In plywood production, it is the third largest pro- ducer in Canada and along with.Weldwood of Canada it dominates plywood production in B.C. With two other producers, the four companies virtually control the entire Canadian softwood plywood market. @ In pulp, MacMillan Bloedel has 13 percent of B.C. pulp milling capacity and ranks second only to Canadian Forest Products which has 14 percent. It also has a signifi- cant portion of the American pulp market. , @ In newsprint production it controls 65 percent of mechanical pulp milling capacity in B.C. and with 12.5 p er cent of national capacity is Canada’s largest producer With 38 percent of Western North American newsprint production, MacMillan Bloedel acts as a price leader and holds 30 percent of the Western US. market and 60 percent of the Western Canadian market. As further demonstration of its international market power, MacMillan Bloedel also controls between 22 and 50 percent of the newsprint market in Pakistan, Ecuador, Taiwan, El Salvador and Singapore: The company charges five percent less for newsprint in thé Vancouver area than it does 40 miles south in the U.S. Ac cording to Schwindt, ‘‘The price differential is not explai ed by transport costs but in actuality is a gesture of good will and political prudence.”’ ; @ In fine paper, although with only four percent of na tional capacity, MacMillan Bloedel controls 60 percent of the B.C. market. Interestingly, Domtar, in which Mac Millan Bloedel has just acquired 18.9 percent, is the larges! manufacturer of fine paper in Canada with one third of na tional capacity. @ In linerboard production MacMillan Bloedel supplies 32 percent of the B.C. market and 43 percent of the market in the four western provinces. e@ In packaging, the company controls 38 percent of the corrigated container market in B.C. and has a strong, dominant position in the three other western provinces. Other sources of corporate research show that the board) of directors of MacMillan Bloedel is one of the dozen or so) most highly concentrated boards of the industrial and : , finance capitalist elite in Canada: Six of the 18 directors are) among Canada’s top 100 bank directors, linking it directly} with the Royal Bank, The Commerce Bank and the Bank of Nova Scotia. CP Investments, the conglomerate investment arm of Canada’s largest multinational, Canadian Pacific Ltd., has a 13.4 percent holding in MacMillan Bloedel, and is the single largest stock holder. Along with CP president Ian Sinclair there are a total of four directors interlocked with either CP, CPI or CPI subsidiaries. The past president of MacMillan Bloedell, Dennis Timmis, was also a director OL GR: . Of the 16 directors and two honorary directors on the MacMillan Bloedel board, 10 are residents of B.C., three) are residents of Ontario, two are résidents of Quebec, two are residents of the U.S. and one is resident of England — hardly your exemplary B.C. owned and controlled corpora | tion. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MARCH 30, 1979— Page 10