W ide interest shown in
formation of Quebec C.P.

By SAM WALSH

The Parti Communiste du Que-
bec will have its foundation con-
vention in Montreal Nov, 26-28,

From the first announcement
of this event some six months ago
there has been considerable in-
terest shown by many French
Canadians, especially young
people, Whether they intend to
join the PCQ or not, they con-
sider this move a contribution
to the development of socialist
thought and action in the con-
ditions, of Quebec,

The decision to hold the con-
vention has its origin in a reso-
lution adopted by the national
committee of the Communist
Party of Canada at its meeting
last April, which reads in part:

“That this meeting of the na-
tions committee expresses its
agreement with the proposal put
forward by the Communists in
Quebec that the party in Quebec
be established as a distinct entity
and be called the Parti Com-
muniste du Quebec;

“That a convention be held in
Quebec in the fall with a view to
implement this;

“That the national executive
committee be instructed that such
changes as may be made neces=
sary in the party’s constitution
by the establishment of the Parti
Communiste du Quebec as a dis-
tinct entity be drafted for sub-
mission to the national conven-
tion,”

This resolution, which was
adopted unanimously, was based

SAM WALSH

on a report from the national
executive committee which con-
cluded as follows:

“When we examine our recent
experience carefully in Quebec,
the facts show that potentially
the most important factors in our
party’s strength and influence
are:. launching ourselves pas-
sionately in the national and
social struggles of the people;
giving a concrete, Marxist-Len-
ninist analysis of the strategy
and tactics of the revolutionary
struggle — stressing above all
unity of the working class and
the Socialist Left; taking the
measures to make Quebec work-
ing people feel that they are
dealing with a Communist Party
of Quebec that belongs to them,
which is not simply the repre-
sentative of the Communist Party
in English Canada to Quebec,

“We are convinced that if we
are bold and resolute along these
lines, then the path already un-
dertaken by our party in Quebec
will bring important results in
expanding the influence of our
party among workers, students
and intellectuals, and winning
many new members and readers
of our press and literature from
among them,”

The coming convention is ex-
pected to adopt a manifesto out-
lining the views of the Parti
Communiste du Quebec on the
struggles of the people of French
Canada for socialism and nation=
al self-determination and their
relationship tothe working people
of English Canada,

The convention is also expected
to adopt a constitution for the
Parti Communiste du Quebec,
the: draft of which stresses both
that the PCQ will have a distinct
identity expressed in complete
control of its policies and struc-
ture in Quebec and that it will
be a part of the Communist
Party of Canada, ‘

There has been a great deal
of animated discussion on how
to establish a “distinct” but not
“separate” identity, in the same
general sense that the demand is
voiced for a distinct identity ex-
pressed in the right to self-
determination for the Freuch
Canadian nation, while consider-
ing separation aharmful solution,
to Canada as a whole as well as
to English Canada and French
-Canada taken individually, Ob-
viously the problem for the party
in Quebec is complex because it
arises out of the complexity of
the real situation in Canada,

HOW MANY MORE SECRETS?

Nuclear warheads
on NATO planes |

Planes belongitig to nine
NATO countries, including
West Germany, have been fly-
ing around equipped with nu-
clear missiles, it was reveal-
ed this week, In some cases,
this has been going on for
about six years, according to
press reports,

The New York Times broke
the story over the weekend
when it reported that fighter-
bombers of Britain, Belgium,
Canada, France, Greece, Italy,
The Netherlands, West Ger-
many and Turkey had been

_armed for some time with U.S.
atomic warheads,

The atomic arms had been
secretly mounted and White
House and Pentagon sources -
only reluctantly admitted that
this was the case, according
to the Times story,

White House press secre-
tary Bill Moyers said in a
carefully worded statement
that the warheads had been
made available to ‘‘NATO
allies’’ but that the U.S. finger
was on the safety catch, He
left unanswered the question
of whether the arms hadactu-
ally been mounted on the
planes and missiles of these
**NATO allies.” :

But the U.S. Defence De-

% partment did admit later, said
<: John W, Finney in the New

York Times, that ‘‘the planes

= of several NATO allies had
“ been armed with American

nuclear warheads,’’

Upon hearing the news}
Prime Minister Lester Pear-
son scheduled a meeting with
Defence Minister Paul Hell-
yer, Associated Press report-
ed, >

Most Canadians will recall |
that our country went through
a general election in 1963
in which the central question
was: should Canada accept *
nuclear arms for its armed By
forces? In view of the latest *
revelations it would appear
that the question was strictly %
academic, as by 1963 we al- wt
ready had nuclear arms, 3

x

Why weren’t the Canadian 3
people informed of this?

oH

It seems inconceivable that : :

our forces should be armed i

‘the knowledge of then-Prime

Minister Diefenbaker
newly elected P, M. Lester
Pearson, as well as other key
Ministers of the Crown,

The only reasonable conclu- +
sion would seem to be that
Dief, Pearson and all other
‘‘responsible’’ people con- ;
cerned entered into a tacit %
agreement to keep this secret }

Canada?

‘UNCONDITIONAL’ HYPOCRISY REVEALED

U.S. forced to admit Vietnam lies

The world was shocked but
hardly surprised last week to
learn that the United States has

twice turned down offers to dis- -

cuss resolving the Vietnam con-
flict. The offers to sit down and
begin talks were made in good
faith by the government of North
Vietnam and ruthlessly turned
aside by the Johnson adminis-
tration,

This revelation further ex-
poses the utter hypocrisy of U.S.
Imperialism which, through its
spokesmen like President John-
son and secretary of state Dean
Rusk, has been mouthing plati-
tudes about “unconditional dis-
cussions’’ to bring peace to war
torn Vietnam,

The disclosure that the door
had in effect been barred to any
peaceful discussions was made by
Eric Sevareid, anationally known
commentator for Columbia
Broadcasting System, while
writing a feature article for the
November 30 issue of Look Mag-
azine,

Sevareid quoted his source as
being the late Adlai Stevenson

and said Stevenson personally

gave him the details of both peace
offers on July 12 of this year -
only two days before Stevenson’s
death,

Sevareid’s startling disclosure
was followed (so what else is
new?) by a denial, issued by the
State Department. However, the

facts were smoked out into the
open and the State Dept, had no
choice but to admit the accuracy
of the Look article,

The peace bids were ‘trans-
mitted to official U.S, ruling
circles through United Nations
Secretary General U Thant, Ac-
cording to the information given
Sevareid by Stevenson, U.S, De-
fence Secretary McNamara

Guerrillas ina liberated area of South Vietnam laya
spiked bamboo trap outside a “‘strategic hamlet’’ (con-

vetoed the idea both times.

This would tend to bear out a
contention held by many Liberal
and Progressive people in the
U.S, ---that the Vietnamese con-
flict can correctly be called “Mc-
Namara’s War” and that John-
son’s Vietnam policy is being
dictated by McNamara and the
Pentagon generals and admirals,
acting as agents for the military-
industrial complex.

centration camp). This is a primitive but highly effective

Sevareid reported that U Thant
was bitterly disappointed over
the American snub but decided
not to say anything publicly, The
first offer reportedly was made
before the U.S. presidential elec-
tions in the fall of 1964 and
subsequently renewed after this
internal U.S. matter had been
disposed of, Both times, how-

ever, the pleas of U Thant fell

upon deaf ears,

method of preventing Yankee helicopters from landing
on the outskirts of the village.

-‘Hsinhua News Agency Photo

The disclosure of the Johns
administration’s rejections 2!
the continued escalation of the
Vietnam war, make it clear th@
Washington’s Vietnam policy is |
not one of seeking a settlement i
put rather is aimed atdestroyiné
the South Vietnamese Nation
Liberation Front and the gover —
ment of North Vietnam.

As long ago as August 10 of |
this year, the Us, Worke!
carried reports that offers ? —
hold peace talks had been rejecte® —
out of hand by U.S, Imperialis™
but this recurring story W2> _
played down by State Departme! |
officials, who claimed preside! —
Johnson was not “involved? ina :
Vietnam peace proposals,

At that time U.S, propagan@ |
was making much of Johnson?
widely ballyhooed statement th?
“on 15 different occasions” }
administration had sought tal
for peace in Vietnam,

The belated admission fro”
the State Department unde!
scores a feeling held by ma?
knowledgeable observers in
U.S, that news for public cO™
sumption is being managed. T!
was expressed recently by Mat
quis Childs, noted Washingt?
commentator, that on most iM”
portant issues “the suspicion !
growing that the Johnson admit”
istration is telling considera?
less than the truth,” “a

: November 26, 1965—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 7