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Pacific

TRIBUNE

Tom McEwen
Ivan Birchard

Editor
Roos «nip eren init Scien ashe oF Manager
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Turn on the heat

RITISH Columbia’s 21st Legislature opened its ses-

sions on February 11 with all the pomp and plausable
verbiage of pre-war days. The Speech from the Throne,
delivered by the gold mining Millionaire, Lieut.-Gov. Charles:
A. Banks, contained 21-points of specific legislation affect-
ing industrial development, labor and social security. These’
21-points look good on paper but their implementation is
another matter.

In this year 1947 the people of Canada in their respec-
tive provinces have already perused a number of Speeches
from the. Throne as well as that of the Dominion parliament
two weeks ago. All have one feature in common—a harking
back to the flowery wordage and custom of the past, but
holding out. little perspective of a better social and economic
future. A nibble at reforms here and there to take up the
worst slack in the evils of our social system, but entirely
barren of the courageous boldness which gilded the promises
of a ‘brand new Canada’ after the. war against Hitlerite
monopoly fascist-imperialism was won, Even the Speech
from the Throne in ‘socialist’ Saskatchewan under a CCF

government portrays a similar trend—a note of complacency
on past achievements, but little to indicate a bold grappling
with the future needs of the people.

_ The cold truth of the matter is that behind each legis-
lative program contained in the numerous Speeches from the
Throne, stands the sinister power of monopoly capital and
vested interests, alert to the growing demands of the people
for a fuller life, and exercising its power and influence upon
government to see to it that the people will receive just as,
little as can be safely handed out without too much protest,
and that its own vested interests are not jeopardized in the
process, *

While Premier Hart drove a good ‘deal’ with Mackenzie
King on tax divisions, the basic problems of Dominion-
Provincial relations, upon which the Sirois Commission,
spent tens of thousands of the taxpayers’ money gathering
evidence to show that unless Canada made sweeping and
drastic changes’ in her economy, the bankruptcy she faced
in 1939 (saved only by the war) would overtake her before
the 40’s expired. The legislative programs of the provinces
and the central government, silhouetted against the back-
ground of this fear, explain their barrenness of social se-
curity for the people, and their concern for the interests of
the monopolists. These Speeches from the Throne could well
be prefaced in this year of 1947 with that magnificent bibli-
cal quotation—“. . . to him that hath, more shall be given,
_and to him that hath little, even that shall be taken away.”

The B.C. Speech from the Throne, contains the elemen-
tary framework of legislative progress—the skeleton so to
speak. It remains for that great power outside of govern-
ment—to whom government is theoretically held to be
‘Tesponsible—labor and the people, to give this legislative
program living reality. This can only be done by a powerful
mass labor lobby camping in the legislature; veterans, old

_ age pensioners, and people’s organizations from every com-
munity, bringing the greatest pressure to bear upon their.
MLA’s and upon the government, All the promissory ver-
biage in post-war plans and legislative programs must now
be dusted off, and the government and legislative assembly
given ‘to understand that nothing short of constructive
action on the pressing problems of the day will suffice.
Otherwise the 21-points of the 21st Legislature of B.C. can
well become but a sorry prelude to depression, which the
csi age aa and their politicians are precipitating upon

anada.

/
UU NM

[* Ottawa the ceremonies for the opening of the House
of Commons, steeped in the hoary traditions of the
mother of parliaments, went off the track when the new
Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod failed to show up. In
Victoria as new Lieut.-Gov. Charles A. Banks was reading
the speech in the best manner of a trained elocutionist, with
his weathered hat and sword well under control, some enter-
prising amateur photographer exploded his flash bulb and
sent a spray of glass over the House. The press observed that
‘politicians’ wives kept calm’ and the governor-general never
dropped a syllable. Other politicians opined that the ‘explo-
sion’ was nothing compared with what is to come.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1947 :

‘attacks,

CMA swansong;

‘, .. labor must respect the
rights of free enterprise’

s

tn ANA

As we see it

if

LOH By Tom Mc Ewen

E recent announcement of

Mr. John Sheridan, Montreal
‘economist’ of the Canadian
Chamber of Commerce that his
organization plans an_ all-out
campaign against ‘communism
in Canada’ is scarcely news.
Big Business is campaigning
all the time against labor. In a
changing world however. the
Canadian Manufacturers’ Asso-
ciation, Chambers of Commerce
and similar bodies have realized
that it is no longer popular to
beam their attacks upon labor
as such. In fact Big Business
must now keep up a hypocriti-
cal pretense of ‘sympathy for
moderate labor,’ and is there-
fore compelled to adopt the
Hitlerite strategy of singling
cut “‘communism’ for direct at-
tack, in an effort to get its
licks in on labor,.

Whatever explanations the hir- ;

ed spokesmen of Big Business
may give as to what they mean
by ‘communism,’ it is well for
all labor at ‘this time, in view
of the CCC officially announced
to know exactly what
these brain trusters of Big Busi-
ness actually mean.

Everything that cuts into

’ their glutted profits; that chal-

lenges their vested rights and
their politics; everything that
means more jobs, homes, wages,
security for laber and the com-
Mon people is ‘communism’ to
Big Business,

The right of men and women
to build unions of their own
choice, to bargain collectively,
to establish the closed shop and
union security, is ‘communism’
to the financial moguls of the
CMA and their kind. They wail
about ‘free enterprise’ being

threatened by subversive ele-

‘ Tom McEwen

ments,’ but there is little of
‘freedom’ in the monopoly dom-
inated system which they sweat

to preserve, as any small busi-~

ness man dependent upon mon-
cpoly wholesalers and big dis-
tributors will tell you. The sym-
pathy of the CMA tribe for
labor is best summed up by the
inimitable Mr. Dooley: ‘Th’
big bhoys will do inything f'r th’
peepul excipt git off th’r backs.’

When labor struggle develops,
whether it be for increased
wages, better homes,
price racketeering, decent old
age.
or what have
you, it is only
a short time
before the wolf-

pack howl of
‘communism’ is
heard. The hir-
ed scribblers
swing into ;ac-
tion with vol-
umes of press
and radio prop-
aganda. The Trestrails, Temple-
tons, Morrisons, Stuarts et al
are mobilized; tens of thous-
ands of dollars are poured into

the maintenance of their lie
factories, Learned (7?) profes-

sors are brought up to prove

that ‘socialism won’t work’ and
that our social system is ‘the
best in this best of all possible
worlds.’ Then you begin to read
something like this—‘labor’s de-
mands are unreasonable’ — ‘the
public must be safeguarded’ —
‘communist leadership in unions
greatly deplored,’ and so forth.

This type of propaganda’ is
aimed to destroy the confidence
of union members in their lead-

against ©

pensions ©

ers, and incidentally to destroy
the union. The old ‘ted herring’
is disheq up to suit every oc-
casion,

e

HIE November issue of the

CMA journal ‘Industrial Can-
ada’ contains the full text of an
anticommunist harangue by a
Gilbert E. Jackson, one of those
has-been professors whose chief
ability as an ‘economist’ is to
distort and misrepresent estab-
lished sciences. In ‘this particu-
lar spiel the professor set out
to satirize the 100th annivers-
ary of Marxism, and ended in
true Goebbels style by inciting
his pay-masters to intensify
their efforts against this alleg-
ed ‘menace’ of communism.

The professor bases his thesis
on the premise that if it weren’t
for ‘communism’ our way of life
known as capitalism would run
very smoothly. Hence all activi-
ties which concern labor and the
people anywhere and everywhere
in the struggle of being born,
living, and dying, would be quite
unnecessary were it not for this
(communism) ‘plot against man-
kind,’

Not long ago we had the op-
portunity to query the veracity
of this sort of CMA propaganda
with one of its authors. He
didn’t get angry or indignant
at being termed an unmitigated
liar, but on the contrary smiled
blandly and retorted, ‘hell, I
should worry, I get well paid for

it.” One could get a similar ex-

planation from the lowest pros-

titute,

-The February edition of the

‘New World’ contains another

Sample of the campaign of Big

Business against the commun-
(Continued on next page)

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 4

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