Labor Day in the struggle
for Canadian independence |

By TIM BUCK

ys= 67 years that have passed
L Since the first celebration of
abor Day in Canada and the
S. is exactly the length of time
Jat the average Canadian male
ves. The unique significance of
that lies in the fact that this

erage lifetime have been the

very years during which modern
Canada as we know her has been
built.

The great industries, enormous
accumulations of wealth, even
the cities, which characterize our
country today had not yet been
created when Labor Day was est-

ablished. The Canadian Pacific
Railway was just completed, The
future of B.C. had not yet been
recognized, not even as a poten-
tiality. Vancouver, not yet aware
of its triumphant destiny, had
only recently become incorporat-
ed as a town. The old Hotel
Vancouver had not yet been im-
agined—today it seems a long
time since it was superseded and
torn down.

As with Vancouver so with all
the great productive industries,
farms and communities which, to-
day, make the name of our coun-
try synonomous with productivi-
ty. And almost all of it Gn-
cluding most of the railway sys-
tems) has been built during the
67 years that Labor Day has been
celebrated. The magic of work-
ers’ hands applied to raw mater-
ials with increasingly efficient
tools and machinery has trans-
formed this half of a continent in
one lifetime, That, indeed, is
what should be celebrated on
Labor Day, 1953.

Labor Day was decided upon
and proclaimed by labor. The
federal government made it an
official national public holiday,
after the working people had
established it, The slogan
around which workers rallied in
those early Labor Day celebra-
tions was the eight hour day.
But, the enthusiasm and demon-
strations of militant solidarity
which eventually influenced the
government to accept Labor Day
had a deeper source even than
the desire for shorter hours: it
expressed the awakening of the
working class, It expressed the

profound awareness which seized
thinking workers of that period,
of the decisive role of labor in
modern industrial society.

The majority of the so-called
“Jeaders of labor’ who condes-
cend to speak to the workers on
Labor Day have strayed far away
from that conception but that
does not destroy its essential cor-
rectness; rather it illustrates the
necessity for more systematic ac-
tion to restore to Labor Day more
of the spirit of militant working
class pride and vibrant aware-
ness of the role that the work-
ing people should play in direct-
ing the affairs of the nation.

Of the five million Canadians
who are gainfully employed, more
than four million work in the
actual production and distribu-
tion of the goods and services
which are Canada’s hourly, daily,
yearly, production of wealth. If
the role of that four million is to
be honored, then their future
should be at least considered and
Labor Day should be made a re-
minder to each one that their
future, and the future of our
country depends upon them.

Most of the generation which
transformed this northern half of
North America has passed on.
The generation that is now in its
prime, celebrating Labor Day,
1953, must accept responsibility
for what happens to the miracle
that has been wrought.

But, precisely because of the
miracle accomplished during the
past 67 years, and because great
modern basic industries in Can-
ada would enjoy enormous advan-
tages over the great and no longer

new monopoly industries in the
United States, the question of
“Which Way Canada?” is now
crucial.

To head off the development
of more efficient rivals and sim-
ultaneously secure for themselves
an unlimited supply of cheap raw
materials the U.S. monopolies are
prepared to cut a section of the
Canadian capitalists in on their
monopolies. That is the essence
of the question: What Should be
the Aims of Canada’s National
Policy? It involves every phase
and every feature of our national
life and future.

Labor Day 1953 should be
marked by recognition of this
issue. Canada’s need and inter-
ests: demand that all Canadians
whose lives and future are bound
up physically with the develop-
ment and future of our country
should be drawn into the great
national movement to restore
Canada’s Sovereign National In-
dependence. Put a stop to the
aggressive encroachments of U Ss.
imperialism in our country and
defeat the agents of US. im-
Perialism among the Canadian
bourgeoisie. In that task the €s-
sential unity of the interests of
democracy and patriotism become
clear, it puts into one concrete
proposition: “The unity of the
interests of the working people
and the nation.”

Along with all the economic de-
mands of the working class
movement, raise high on this
Labor Day the demand for Can-
adian Independence! Put Can-
ada First!

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — SEPTEMBER 4, 1953 — PAGE 9