THE NATION 3
Decay of Tories
far advanced

_ By TIM BUCK

HE ‘Tory circus that the Liberal and Conser-

vative press called a convention is over. News-
papers and radio gave it so much publicity,
exaggerated the pretense that the great majority
of delegates were undecided concerning the choice
of party leader and “played up” the proceedings,
in general to such an extent
that the average man or woman ,
could be excused for assuming
that its decisions represent the
point of view of a very large
proportion of Canada’s people.
The opposite is true, however.

The most significant fact

that emerged from the conven- )
tion is that the big money men
Who dominate the Progres-
Sive - Conservative Party had
previously determined upon the political role that
the party is to play and the leader suited to that
role. Evidence of that fact protruded from prac-
tically every phase of the convention. It pro-
truded most of all in Diefenbaker’s inability to
win votes although he won approbation and
’ “moral support” from the majority of the dele-
gates.
At the beginning of the convention men
close to Colonel George Drew were quoted as
Saying that he was sure of upwards. of 700 votes
on the first ballot. Drew did little if any public
campaigning for support—press reports suggest-
ed that he was in constant negotiations with
Provincial party chiefs and key people at the
Chateau Laurier. Diefenbaker .and Fleming
campaigned energetically among the delesates:

Of the acceptance speeches made by the can-
didates Diefenbaker’s aroused by far oe moat
feeling among the delegates. Keine en 2
was, by contrast, almost a study in me oe me
But, as one newspaper reporter commented, th
influence which counted» in the Tory convention
depended upon having friends in high Peas
as . Diefenbaker’s campaign managers leat’ :

After all the campaigning and the “winning
of friends” by Diefenbaker, Colonel Drew was
elected on the first ballot with even more votes
than his intimates had said were assured.

But while the convention emphasized how
firm is the grip of the big money men upon ee
rogressive-Conservative Party, it also eo Ae
the fact that the grip of those men upon ase
ian politics as a whole: is weakening. ras
€xample: the two issues that the conven 10
Organizers played up most violently WEEE. Se

defense of the capitalist profit system ae
they termed it “free enterprise” of course—an
@® communism. fe Oe :
_ The capitalist profit system 15 what ae
Party stands for, the rise of commumnism 1S eae
their system is threatened by. What did t me
Propose to do about it? They decided to oe
aw communism. It was exactly as though they

Tim Buck «¢

ad decided to outlaw the weather. That Sr
ution suggests that the Tories have stopp

thinking—or have started to. “think, with ENSts,

blood.”

_ Why the interests which
don’t want Tory rank-and-
illustrated in the convention—
Cussion on the resolution with whic”
§Tessive-Conservative Party nailed its
the Capitalist profit system. | ' acci aenke
Concerning that resolution a OE ian about
Toronto deplored the evasion of eo Mpnifenged
Which the people are concerned. He ho a
“ 1€ convention to formulate es eeu talking
Convince people we know ae “4d {sceate from
about and mean what we say.” / oa ; proclaim
Vancouver challenged the convention sy a SiGas
What the party proposes to ,do to keep prices

dominate that party
filers to think was
right in the dis-
hich the Pro-
flag to

t

3
down. A delegate from Winnipeg warned the
convention, “If we want to attend our own fun-
eral, let’s continue to refuse to face realities.’ He
challenged the convention to commit the party*
to a policy of providing homes for the people,
particularly the low income groups. “Several
other delegates spoke very critically.

The obvious comment is that such senti-
ments are out of place in a Tory convention.
That is perfectly true, but it misses their sig-

nificance. The delegates, expressing such senti- .

ments were not attracted to the Tory party be-
cause it crusades for reform, they urged reforms
because they realize that the great majority of
the people will be satisfied with no less.

‘Those speeches indicated how advanced is the
decay of the Tory party. Many of its members,
even delegates to its rare conventions, can no
longer accept the reactionary policies and fascist
aims which are the sole reason for its existence.

PREMIERS’ CONFERENCE

Freedom movements
of Asia haunt parley

—LONDON

I ‘HE integration of British policy with Ameri-
ca’s strategic plans, particularly in Southeast
Asia, is being taken a step further at the meeting

of British Empire Premiers in London this week. _

Priority will go to the state department’s,
cherished scheme for a “cordon sanitaire” against
the increasing strength of the Chinese democratic
movement.

Already, Britain has made a start upon the

U.S.. war department’s.. program. by. launching

colonial war in Malaya and supporting the right- ~
“wing government in Burma in its civil war.

And the transfer of the British Far Eastern
Fleet’s base from Hong Kong to Singapore—an-
other step decided in Washington as long ago
as last May—has been effected.

But the Washington strategists are known
still to be dissatisfied with the progress of what
they regard as a race between the establishment.
of “sate” regimes
imminent collapse’ of Chiang Kai-shek’s regime.
They feel that Australia, in particular, should be

pressed to take a more active part in the war”

against the Malayan peeple.,

Some observers here consider it significant
that Australia is represented at the London talks,
not by Premier Chiffley but by Foreign Minister
Evatt, who was a leading advocate of the plan
for building the big new naval and air force at
Suva, in the Fiji Islands.

“Besides the publicly-announced topics of re-
lations between the Empire and Western Union
and the effects of the Marshall Plan upon the
economic relationship -between the Empire coun-
tries, Bevin, it is believed, is sounding out the
dominions on the U.S. proposal for some form
of “larger Marshall Plan” aimed at backing re-
actionary regimes at selected points in the Far

East.

in Greenland
Hit U.S. in Greenlan
—COPENHAGEN
A DEMAND that the Danish government take effective
steps—possibly by appealing to the United Nations—
to compel tke United States to withdraw its forces
from Greenland, is contained in a statement issued
by the Danish Communist Party.

. ‘Phe statement calls for the abolition of the colonial
status of Greenland and the according of equal rights
according to the Danish constitution, including Green-
fand’s right to elect representatives to the Danish
parliament. ee

“The U.S. militarists want domination over Green-
land in order to prepare their aggressive war, and U.S.
capitalists want an open door to Greenland in order to
exploit,its natural resources and population,” Land og
Folk declares, “To convert Greenland into part of
Denmark with equal rights is an urgent moral duty
for Denmark, and, at the same time, the most effective
measure of defense agkinst U.S. aggression.”

.

in Southeast Asia and the ~

LABOR FOCUS

Tasks before the © |

trade unions |

By J. B. SALSBERG

N October 11, the two chief trade union

centers in the country opened their annual
conventions—the Trades and Labor Congress in
Victoria, B.C., and the Canadian Congress of
Labor in Toronto. These annual conventions are
often referred to as being “labor’s parliaments.”
It would be good if all the delegates were to
feel that way about them.

The times are long past when these conven-
tions were considered as occasions ior dealing
with but secondary, parochial matters. Labor
has long ago learned that every political, social
and economic question of the country affects it

‘and its organizations, and must therefore be in-

telligently dealt with in its own “parliaments.”
Today, labor, like the nation, stands at the
crossroads and “labor’s parliaments” are historic-
ally called upon to lead the way towards pro-
gress and the fulfilment of the hopes of all who
toil by hand or brain. What a challenge and
what an opportunity!

In this briéf space only a few oi the under-
lying problems can be mentioned and attention
focussed upon them.

1 The unity of the labor movement is in dan-
* ger and both conventions must strive to de-
fend that unity and to defeat all who threaten it.
The enemies of labor hope for splits and divisions.
in the ranks of the workrs. Yes, they plot and
‘engineer the drive for the inner disruption and
dissipation of labor’s strength. If, this week, |
every delegate has remembered this single fact
he will have risen above all other considerations
and the conventions will have been turned into
demonstrations for unity of the trade union
movement. ‘ é
2 ‘Red-baiting poison threatens to eat away
" the guts of the labor movement. That's
why the. enemies of labor resort to red-
baiting. That’s why they hand this deadly vial
to the union leaders whom they influence. That’s
why the labor-hating press applauds and sup- | —
ports red-baiters_in the labor movement. That’s —
why the delegates, who have a ‘sacred trust to
all labor, must reject this poisonous stuff. Red-
baiting is poison and the conventions must so _
label it. , * :
3 The conventions must face up to the steady
"undermining of the workers’ living stand-

ards. Price raising provides: an orgy of profiteer-

ing for the few. But it shrinks the purchasing
power of the wage earners’ dollar, it gnaws away
at the living standards of the majority of the
people, and it hastens the economic crisis upon us..
War on profiteering; war on rising prices; a wage
drive to boister up and improve the living stand-
ards of the people, must come from the two
conventions. :
4 The working people cannot trail behind big
business governments in their reckless drive
for war. The trade union movement cannot be-
come a rubber stamp for a Canadian forei:
policy which is made and operated from Wall
Street. Throughout history labor was the
staunchest fighter for peace. Today, more than
ever Canadian labor must emerge as the leader
of the nation in the crusade for peace. a
5. ‘Now when both capitalist parties stand ex-
"posed as instruments of big business on all

dertake the great responsibility for
decisive role in the political arena. a
In addition the trade union movement must

jealously guard its inner democracy and its Can-_
adian autonomy. There can be no room for the |
“rotten-borough” system of representation which _
prevails to a considerable extent in the CCL. It
cannot tolerate the attempts to destroy the au-
tonomy and the independence of the Trades and _
Labor Congress. Nor can it countenance the ef-
forts to establish different categories of union
membership. Se ee

_ Not only the working men and women but —
all forward-looking people in the country have
their eyes focussed on the two labor conven-
tions. May they have no cause for disappoint-
ment. 3 :

= eeiy ce
PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 15, 1948—PAGE 9 _

-

playing a

domestic and foreign issues, the.trade union
movement must take up the challenge and un-