By LESLIE MORRIS
n Monday, Oct. 22, Presi-
dent Kennedy pushed the
world to the brink of thermo-
nuclear war.

On Sunday, Oct. 28 Pre-
mier Khrushchev snatched
the world from the brink and
saved the peace.

Six fateful days,
shook the world.

How did Canada act in that
dreadful week?

Committed to American
policy by NATO and NORAD,
and having long since given
up its independence in foreign
affairs, the Canadian govern-
ment supported Kennedy. In
other words, it contributed no-
thing to peace, and every-
thing to war.

The Diefenbaker govern-
ment was not consulted by
Kennedy; the prime minister
was told of Kennedy’s speech
onl: a few hours before the
president faced the cameras.

At first, on Oct. 22, Diefen-
baker talked of a commission
of neutral countries to visit
Cuba; but on Oct. 25-27 he
abandoned this’ unrealistic
proposal (resented by the U.S.
State Department) and came
out squarely behind the Am-
erican provocation.

The Liberal Party did not
hesitate, but stood behind
Kennedy. Social Credit did
the same thing.

The New Democratic Par-
_ty’s group in the House of
Commons took a flabby posi-
tion, while its leader T. C.
Douglas, fresh from a_ vic-
torious by-election and not
yet in his parliamentary seat,
took a firmer stand: Ken-
nedy’s blockade was illegal,
it was unilateral action taken
outside the U.N., people must
remember that the USSR is
ringed with U.S. bases.

Douglas did not support
"Kennedy. But the New Dem-
ecratic Party was in disar-
ray; it did not give strong
leadership to the million Can-
adians who voteg for it —
and for peace, last June.

Terry Nugent, Conserva-
tive MP from Edmonton,
courageously stood up in
Parliament to announce the

which

“Quebec people bar Duplessis’ ghost

By SAM WALSH
Quebec Leader, C.P.C.
(Abridged)

The most important result
of the Quebec provincial elec-
tions was the fact that the
people of Quebec have barred
the door to “the regime of
the police truncheon’’, the
Union Nationale.

Said La Presse on the day
after the elections: “The peo-
ple of Quebec understood
what was involved; they were
not fooled by the many man-
oeuvres and diversions. This
is a victory for democracy.”

The Mon-
treal Star
Said >= “To
have slip-
ped back to
Na tional
Union con-
trol, with
all that im-
plies, would
have been a
disaster of

provosition: Kennedy was
guilty of aggression; Cuba had
the right to have weapons
for its own defence: Canada
should not suport Kennedy.
PART IN BLOCKADE.

Canada participated in the
Cuba blockade. The RCMP
searched civil aircraft flying
to Cuba and Soviet civil air-
ewaft were refused’ fueling
privileges.

On Oct. 24, the govern-
ment ordered the military to

take “necessary precautionary

measures to improve their
readiness to meet any serious

developments”. The RCAF
was alerted.
Civil defence authorities

instructed parents that child-
ren would either be sent
home or kept in school de-
pending on the “degree’’(!) of
attack.

A proper war psychosis,
preliminary to the assault on
Cuba, was hysterically being
built up on Sunday, when
suddenly the Soviet proposal
to remove missiles relieved
the war fever as if by magic.

Had there been U.S. nuc-
lear warheéds in Canada, they
would have been at the Teady.

As it is, the facilities en-
joyed in Canada by the U.S.
Air Force’s Strategic Air
Command (kept secret from
Canadians) must have been
in full operation.

The daily press, the TV and
radio whipped hy-

LESLIE MORRIS
National Leader,
Communist Party

major magnitude.”

Jean Marchand, of the Con-
federation of National Trade
Unions, said:

“It means the majority of
the population is in favor- of
nationalization, economic
planning, and perhaps more
important from our viewpoint
that the Quebec population
doesn't want to return to the
Duplessis regime.”

Madame Jeannette Pratte,
Communist spokesman in the
election campaign, said: —

“The defeat of the Union
Nationale was a very import-
ant stage in the democratic
renovation of Quebec. It was
a victory for the people. But
the democratic renovation of
Quebec will only be assured
if the working class organ-
izes politically and presses
forward its independent pro-
gram. Otherwise the govern-
ment will put on the brakes
and the eos will suffer.”

* *

steria. Their real nature as
propaganda organs in the
cold war was quite adequate-
ly exposed in that fateful
week.

The
letters

blight relief was in
to the editor. Never
‘Eefcre Nave Canadians spo-
ken so eloquently for peace as
in these letters.

To summarize: The. Parlia-
ment of Canada, the govern-
ment, the state machinery,
the armed forces and the or-
gans of communication, all
abandoned Canadian  sover-
eignty and, with few excep-
tions, docilely accepted Ken-
nedy’s act of war.

The automatic commitment
ef Canada to the horrible con-
sequences of the inSanity of
tNMe Pentagcn generals and of
the military-industrial com-
plex which gripped control
of American policy via the
President, was in full opeta-
tion.

As a country with U.S. mil-
itary bases on its territory,
Canada was directly in the
line of fire, as Premier Khru-
shchev’ long ago warned
Prime Minister Diefenbaker
in letters which were never
discussed by the Canadian
public.

NEED NEW POLICY

The commonsense of a new
Canadian foreign and de-
fence policy of disengage-
ment from the U.S. military
alliance, withdrawal from
NATO and NCRAD, neutral-
ity, rejection of the Penta-
gon’s demand to put nuclear
warheads on Canadian soil,
and dismantling Y.S. bases
in this country — was given
vigor and urgency by the
Cuban crisis.

They are now subjects of
wide debate, during, and es-
pecially since, the U.S. war
provocation, which shocked
millions into a realization of
the danger they are in.

The Communist Party’s
CGct. 23 statement, “No War!”,
cut to the heart of the crisis.
- Of all the politica! parties
it alone grasped the real in-
tent of Kennedy’s  ultima-
tum. It knows that U.S. im-
perialist policy encompasses

What of labor?

Roger Provost, president of
the 235.000-member Quebec
Federation of Labor (CLC).
said the Lesage government
has been given a firm man-
date not only to exnropriate

the electrical companies. but ~

also to see to the economic
liberation of Quebec’s peoovle.

Report on
Quebec elections

Provost noted ridings that
had voted Social Credit in
the last federal election had
supported the nationalization
issue. E

But he noted that the vote
in favor of expropriation can-
not be met alone by a simple

transfer of property. Eco-
nomic liberation of the work-
ing classes has aq _ deeper
meaning.

And that is precisely the

point.
ae * %

How did Canada act

in 6 fateful days which shook world

Crate them up,---and
ship them home! |

thermonuclear war. It has no
illusions about the American
plan to invade and crush the
Republic of Cuba.

Having no such illusions it
refused to be sidetracked by
secondary issues: it put its
finger on the main danger,
world. war, and called for
people’s action to stop ii.

The Communist Party’s
quick reaction hours after
Kennedy spoke, and verified
by the events of the follow-
ing week, was made possible
because of the party’s correct
pclicy, developed over the
years, and its fundamental
conviction that the supreme
issue of the day is the pre-
vention of  tfermonuclear
war.

Hundreds of thousands of
Canadvans sensed this and
‘emotionally reacted to _ it;
since the crisis eased and

The workers in Quebeg,
and the farmers too, must
join forces, attracting all the
best in the Liberal (and small

“]” liberal) ranks not only to
keep the door open for eco-
nomic emancipation but to
actually achieve it, step by
step. This requires a “poli-
tique de grandeur” on the
part of the leaders of the
Quebec Federation of Labor,
the Confederation of Nation-
al Trade Unions, the Union
Catholic Farmers, the New
Democratic Party, the Com-
munist Party, the nationalist
forces who stand for social
progress, the intellectuals
and liberals around La Presse
Le Devoir, Cite Libre. That
is, a setting aside of ideolo-
gical, religious and other dif-
ferences in the interests of
the genuine economic, politi-
cal and social emancipation
of Quebec — free orn US.
domination.

we

war was prevented, a bett
understanding of how close
we came to destruction, am
tear of the future if som!
thing radical is not done,
settling in the minds of
lions of Canadians. i
Regardless of opinio®’
about Fidel Castro, ab
rcckets in Cuba, about th
USA or +: political parus
of Canada, the all-embracif
fear of war became, and
now, a positive force fo
Peace among our people.
The main thing is: not
let these feelings sink b@°
into complacency or defeat
ism.
WHERE WAS LABOR?
How did the trade unio?
movement and the farmers
organizations act? We knoW
abott the crawling state
ments of George Meany 2”
See CANADA, pg. 8

meet etetetetatetetete”,

ee

eteleleetetetecetetererelere:

“Have her registered. She's chie
agent of a foreign power!

Dikobraz, Pt