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TOM McEWEN, Editor — HAL GRIFFIN, Associa te Editor — RITA WHYTE, Business Manager. —

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Tom
~ McEwen

EF the little word “No” in our lan-
fuage isn’t popular it is not because

t of lack of usage. In point of fact it
is one of the most widely used words

of today in home and foreign affairs.

Let’s begin with the boss .. - any
boss. Ask for a wage boost and the
boss instinctively says “No.” And the
higher his profits, the louder his “No.”

Governments too, also make wide
use of “No”; some ‘of them with fine
apologistic gusto, some with a sort, of
totalitarian vigor. At home Premier
W. A. C. Bennett dishes out his “No’s”

with ; salesman’s come-again smile,
but iti, :

s still “No.”

It is often repeated in the columns’

Of the cold-war press that the Rus-
Sians hold all records for saying | Nyet,”
Which is their way of saying “No.

* * *

A flashback at the Geneva Foreign

isters conference will soon correct»

this illusion! -

2 At Geneva, Soviet Foreign Minister
Molotov proposed a European Security
Pact, which would include that great
. Exvopean” nation, the USA.
. The Western diplomats unanimously

Shouted “No.” ;
Molotoy then proposed that both Eas
and West Germany meet in conférence
to talk over problems of German unity.
The Western diplomats unanimously
Shouted “No,”

_. Then how about member states of
NATO and the Warsaw Treaty signa-
tories getting together and mutually
ejecting aggression?

The Western diplomats really howl-
€d “No” to that one.

Molotov then proposed a “zone of —

ited armaments” for the whole of
“3 ermany, in which the armed forces
Sf both would be effectively controlled.

The Western diplomats joined in
chorus with a big “No.” SS oa

How about the idea of an All-Ger-

‘nan Council to bring East and West
Tmany together?

: The answer of Western ‘diplomacy
: Was @ loud “No.” ‘ ‘

_ Molotov then - proposed the with-

drawal of all foreign troops from both
"ast and West Germany.

Horror-stricken, the ‘Western diplo-
Mats gave out with a vehement “No.

. Then how about a fifty percent cut
‘0 all foreign troops stationed in Ger-
: ; OF a non-aggression pact be-
fWeen the two groups of states in

Rurope?

Again a vociferous Western “No.”
When Bulganin wrote a letter to
Eisenhower proposing a 20-year pact
Of peace between the USA ‘and the
USspR, Eisenhower replied with a
Wordy “No.” A second letter supple-
™enting the idea of the first. got a
Strailar “No,” while juggler Dulles
Stood Poised “on the brink” with a
bomb just to lend emphasis.
ting Mulligan back?
Answer: “No,” not if he can avoid
Ro, No, NO.

4 Question of the week; Will Bonner.

in Canada alone to keep

eet me
° =
.

Pace ~.

Wow YoU JUST SHowW EVERYBODY THAT WE

iE

ARE NoT SCARED!"

Alsbury fears labor unity

470M ALSBURY, president of
’ Vancouver Trades and Labor

Council, has just written a series”

of articles for the Vancouver Sun
purporting to be the ““‘inside story’’
on Communism in this province.
Why ? ‘

- One reason has to do with the
great trade union merger which
will bring the two main centres of
organized labor together into a sin-
gle body, the Canadian Labor
Congress. -Once consummated,
this merger opens the way for unit-

ing thousands of workers in the

Catholic Syndicates (CCCL),

Railroad Brotherhoods and inde:

endent unions with the main body
of labor in this new central organi-
zation. :
The merger marks the end of an
era... and it disturbs the enemies
of labor and their agents in labor's

ranks no end. Unable to halt the
growing sentiment for unity, aware
that the old game of union raiding
and splitting can no longer be
played in the old way, they resort
to a familiar weapon — the red
bogey — to perpetuate division in
labor’s ranks. EYS

In this they must rely on their

“experts,” ranging all the way
from Igor Gouzenko to Myron

Kuzych and Tom Alsbury.
The purpose of Alsbury’s not too

adroit compiling of half-truths and -

outright fabrications is to prevent
a number ‘of B.C. unions from
becoming part of the Canadian
Labor Congress. And in this he

_ serves the purpose of those who

want to divide and weaken labor,
a purpose from which only big
business can benefit. .

Bonn breaks another pact

HE West German government
T has notified the West that on

and after May 5, 1956, it will re-

fuse to pay another pfennig to

wards the support of foreign troops —

now stationed upon its sovereign
territory.

Needless to say, in the NATO
camp there is considerable gnash-
ing of teeth. — Satire

Here we. have been ‘saving
West Germany from the “‘menace”’
of Communism; given them an
opportunity to build a “‘free’’
nation, sent the pick of our armed
contingents to keep neighboring
Communists on their best behavior;
spent almost $2.5 billion annually
our NATO

/

obligations up to Dulles’ ‘‘on the

brink’ requirements; and all for

what? To have Adenauer tell us,

“Not another pfennig.”

‘Nor is that all. Adenauer, ac
cording to reports, isn’t even get-

‘ting his arms industry nor his army

recruiting going at the tempo re-
quired by Pentagon war under-
writers. ,

Instead, Adenauer and his Bonn
hommes are reported to be busy
as beavers stepping up production
in Volkswagons and other items
requiring top priority materials
with an eye to an ever-expanding
foreign trade. :

Such ingratitude !

tes. .

T’S wrong with our teenagers?

The Vancouver Province recently

posed this question and, in a full page

of interviews with school principals
and teachers, answered—nothing.

“Today’s teenagers are neither bet-
ter nor worse, brighter or duller, than
previous generations,” the writer, Nigel
Dunn, concluded.

“But they are different. They are
more grown up; they drink some and
smoke a lot. ; -

“They are more interested in the

-world around them.”

If some writers exagerate the prob-

lem by regarding all teenagers as po-

tential delinquents, Dunn evades it
completely. mt oe

Whether they are more or less in-
terested in the world around them
than previous generations, they are
the product of that world.

My own generation grew up in the
Hungry Thirties and there was no
doubt about our interest in the world
jaround us. :

We were forced to question a society
that denied us the right to work, herd-
ed us into camps, clubbed and jailed
us when we organized to demand our
heritage and offered us nothing for
tomorrow that was any better than
‘today. : :

In camps, flophouses, railway jungles
and across greasy coffee counters in

 skidroad cafes we spent a lot of our

youth discussing the world around us.
And we grew up in a hurry roaming
from coast to coast and back again,
working if we were so fortunate and
bumming when we had no choice.
They called my generation lazy,
shiftless, preached hypocritically to us
the virtues of honesty, thrift and hard

. work, and blamed upon us all the |

evils of the system of which we were
the victims. .
‘The shadow of that experience: is

‘ upon’ us still and sometimes, perhaps,

We forget that the coming generation.
knows nothing of these things or at

_best, from the vantage point of youth,

looks upon them as part of a distant
* * »

But the coming generation can no
more escape the world created’ for
them than we could. As we did, they
can only try to change it.

We have reared them in an environ-
ment of violence and lawlessness, of
the Great Lie and atomic annihilation.
Our publishers flood the newsstands

‘with horror comics for them to start
‘School with and novels that pander to

sex and yiolence to complete their
graduation. Our movies and TV ex-
pand the theme. :

The future we offer them runs
through every daily paper headline—
kill or be killed, destroy the “enemy”
with atomic warfare even though we
may all be destroyed in the process.

The wonder is that there is not
more delinquency, that not more rebels
against this senseless future find their
way into the dead end of lawlessness
and crime. ss

But youth will dream. It will create.
This generation, as no other genera-
tion of this century, is \conscious of
itself as young Canadians. Our task
and theirs is to assure them a future
of peace in which alone their energy
and ‘creativeness can find fulfilment.

| FEBRUARY 17, 1956 —PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 5