By WILLIAM KASHTAN 1955 year of great struggles for labor OMING events cast their shadow’ before them. This is certainly true of the trade union movement, which has just passed through a year. of very intensive struggles. For labor, 1955 has had its ups and downs, its credit and debit sides. On the credit side have been the steady, difficult but largely victorious battles waged by labor to maintain and advance the workers’ living standards. If 1955 was. marked by. sharp and protracted strike struggles; it was also a year of growing working class militancy and solidarity. . The two outstanding exam- ples were the 112-day Ford strike which ended victoriously at the beginning of 1955 and the historic General Motors strike over 100 days: long, and continuing into 1956. Characteristically enough 3 1956, too opens with 150,000 railway workers determined to win wage and fringe demands and achieve a measure of equal- ity with the rest of organized labor. oar ee xt ; In all these actions there is evidence of new qualities. The workers set themselves new and higher targets in 1955, among them being the demand for supplementary unemployment insurance benefits paid for by the companies, company-paid health and welfare plans and substantial wage increases. Des- pite company opposition these demands have been won. & All gains however, have not been achieved without con- siderable cost, for 1955 was the year of the protracted strike when, despite unprecedented high profits, companies used every trick in the book to force cheap settlements on the work- ers. Among these was the in- creasing use of strike-breaking injunction weapon against a. number of unions, and at the year’s end, Prime Minister St. Laurent’s attack on the rail workers’ right to strike. ~~") x 5°3 xt The past year however, was not only marked by a growing militancy. The very conditions which made it necessary for the workers to fight also gave new impetus and meaning to trade union unity. aaa | . bs fs es The unanimous endorsation of the coming merger by both the Trades and Labor Congress and Canadian Congress of Labor conventions was of far-reaching consequence and opened up a new chapter for the Canadian trade union movement. Not only historically, but also in an immediate practical sense, the merger, despite its limitations, makes it possible to concentrate the united strength of the trade union movement on a number of key tasks in 1956. Among some of these new targets are: Completion of the drive to organize the unorganized with the realizable objective of doubling the membership with- in a relatively short period of time. A united wage movement, in- dustry by industry, with the ob- jective of eliminating wage differentials as between one province and another. A nation-wide movement for the 30-hour work week with no reduction in take-home pay. To these economic and other objectives must be added the need to strengthen labor’s role on the legislative and political fields. ; A united trade union move- ment could well set itself the task in 1956 of winning a Dominion ~- Provincial Health Plan administered by the pro- _ vinces. In every respect the merger opens up prospects for great new advances this coming year, particularly if it is grounded on two solid foundations union democracy based on re- spect for the political rights of every member, and the in- clusion of all unions in the Canadian Labor Congress. If 1955 opened up with the world alarmed at the danger of atomic destruction, it closed with the big powers agreeing to resolve their differences through negotiation, not force. That decision has opened up a new perspective for mankind and particularly for the labor movement which must play its part in ensuring that peace will be maintained. The New Year should see a new upsurge in the demand for labor exchanges with all coun- tries and reunification of the world trade union movement. 4 Ss fa = V9 } } G XJ ah Sa - % SLAVE LABOUR . it 0 ra 1 lh en Hitler’s gun maker, Alfred Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, fully restored to power and influence in Adenauer’s Germany is now producing arms again and garnering in untold millions in profits. Recently he held a party at his 300-room Villa Huegel , Essen. Among the 640 guests were many of the Hitler “elite.” The above cartoon by Gabriel of the London Daily Worker depicts a “masterpiece of art,” Krupp reception. as one most appropriate to adorn the Wherever they went during th Premier Nicolai Bulganin and Comm with Indian Premier Jawaharlal Nehru. By DAVID COHEN Visit of Soviet NEW DELHI aS Bulganin and Khrushchev made their last touching farewells in an airport strewn with flowers, the last of the myths spread by the capitalist — press about “thirteen grim men in the Kremlin” might be said ‘to have gone up in smoke. Millions of Indians who had a glimpse of, or touched or em- braced the Soviet leaders are still discussing their visit in trains, buses, on the street and in their homes. “Russians and Indians are brothers,” has been on the lips of multitudes who thronged the cities, fields, factories, farms and institutes of India and who spent days on the rdadsides, balconies, telegraph poles and treetops to get a glimpse of the Soviet visitors. Out of thousands of miles of - flowers and cheering crowds, one picks out little demonstra- tions of affection which show what Indians really thought about their guests. The sweeper from Srinagar’s central market, who. stood be- fore dawn on the route to hand flowers to Bulganin and Khrus- hchev, and was so overwhelm- ed after his hand was shaken by the Soviet leaders that he went back and bought new clothes and a turban as if for a fes- tival. - The old, white-bearded Con- gress parliamentarian at Palam’ Airport during the departure of the Soviet leaders, who broke protocol to embrace and kiss Bulganin and Khrushchev, * The Indian newspapermen— who have seen so many digni- taries come and go—who swarm- ed round Bulganin and Khrush- chev after ‘their. press confer- -ence on the final morning ‘to shake their hands. : ' The young couple in a Pun- jet village visited eby the Soviet leaders who named their young son Bulganin Singh. “The Soviet people are really independent,” declared a Delta citizen in a bus queue, “for they ‘speak no English at all,” and be- hind that naive comment is Much genuine Indian admiration fora people which has stood up to imperialism and won, passed through the fire of colonialism, and built a new life. ope od % _ Who expected 50,000 peasants in the beginning of the tour to gather in the early morning cold in the little out-of-the-way y ° ' railway station of Nangal, some Miles from the Nangal dam? Or that in Calcutta, Bulganin and Khrushchev would have to travel the last two miles to Government House in a closed / police radio van because so many people, swarming in Cal- cutta’s streets, on balconies and rooftops, would want to em- brace them. Or that it would be impos- sible even to buy a stamp in Bangalore on November 25 be- cause every man, woman and child was on the arrival route of the Soviet leaders. Those of us who made the tour will never forget the one million people who gathered within sound of the sea break- ers among a fairyland of lights in Madras, not far from the site where Clive and the French fought 200 years ago for mastery of this eastern seaboard of India. And who will ever forget the multitudes who packed an area two miles by half a mile in the Calcutta fields on the banks of the Hoogly River, standing on the top of statues of former British generals and govern- ors. : : There were not enough loud- Speakers and one-third of the audience could see or hear nothing and yet they stood patiently and silently fér over an hour. And Bengali house- Wives who never leave their homes were in the streets blow- ing traditional conchshelis of welcome. : Never before has the 200,000 Population of Srinagar, in that Strategic and beautiful valley of Kashmir, been, out in the Streets to welcome any visitor like this.- Bearded patriarchs, rosy-cheeked children and veiled women and peasants, as_ far away as the ceasefire line, 60 miles from Srinagar, left their homes to welcome the Soviet guests, ; ‘*You can stand on those moun- tains and shout out to us and we will hear you,” said Bul- ganin and Khrushchev. 503 cod ioe Perhaps one should be grate- ful to John -Foster Dulles for the frankness with which dur- ing this tour he has brought out in sharp contrast the differ- ing attitudes of the United ' vince eir recent visit to India huge crowds cheered Soviet unist party secretary N. S. Krushchev, shown here leaders forged @ ‘new ties of friendship with India States and the Soviet Union towards colonialism. For while Dulles was defin- ing Goa as a “Portuguese pro- in India,” the* Soviet leaders were repeating forth- rightly that the Portuguese must. quit Goa and the people of Kashmir will settle their own affairs without interference from outside, ~ The reactions to the joint com- munique have been most ‘favor- able. At a time when steel is, we are told, in short supply in many parts of the West, India is getting a million tons in an agreement which is going to in- crease by about 15 times the present small volume of Indo- Soviet trade. 3 _ The new proposed shipping’ line between India and the Soviet Union will’ remove a long-felt barrier to Indo-Soviet trade and aid trade with the People’s Democracies of Eastern Europe. The Soviet Union. will be in the Indian market for jute, tea; coffee, shellac, hides and skins, wool and leather, breaking the long dependence on Britain and the U.S. and aiding the de- ' velopment of -Indian national industries, The muttered question in the beginning of the tour: “Who will the visit help—the Con- Sress party or the Communists?” seems to have been forgotten. The answer is “India.” Even the questioners admit that the vital thing which has made this visit such an his- torie one is the agreement on fundamental issues for world peace and co-existence and pros- perity for all, while recognis- ing such differences in approach as are there in other questions —a point made by both Khrush- chev and Nehru. “The wall that the imperial- ists built between our two coun- tries,” wrote New Age, the Com- munist paper, “has crumbled to preces and our peoples have come closer together in an un- breakable friendship and broth- erhoad.” That is a mighty and historic thing. It will have to be taken into account in the councils of. — the world. _ PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JANUARY 6, 1956 — PAGE 4 !