THE NATION solid front MONTREAL T HE solid front of the French Canadian people against war and involvement in the Korean conflict is becom- ing stronger. By July 21, some 70 municipal councils had Signed the Stockholm petition circulated by the Canadian €ace Congress. The Ligue du Sacre-Coeur, one of the 8eneral Catholic Action movements, has come out with & statement denouncing war and the atomic armaments: “We condemn war as an instrument of politics. We Can conceive of it only as regards the defense of our homes and our rights. We condemn the atom bomb and 7. any atomic armaments, making mass murder of civilians A 48 well as of soldiers.” The Stockholm Appeal is now being widely discussed he Quebec press, The yellow journals, which previous- tried to ignore the peace movement in Quebec, have W launched an hysterical attack against the Stockholm Ppeal. Editorials constantly tell the people “not to sign” © peace petition, denouncing it as “a Communist trick.” ut more endorsations by municipal councils keep coming Nand more signatures are added to the petition, in ¢ ly no A Direct threat ‘of the Duplessis padlock law against © peace movement is an indication of the desperate fear in the hearts of the warmongers. Though the Stockholm Appeal is being denounced in Most French papers, nearly all of them express strong °PPosition to Canadian participation in the Korean war— . Under the impact of the campaign initiated by the Mont- Feal Peace Council and the evident support of the people. ‘e fact that numerous niunicipal councils have en- dorsed the petition for peace is a certain indication that © People want peace, that they reject the idea of an ’nti-Communist crusade.” . v RA: Angers, well-known nationalist figure, wrote in Action Nationale, answering those who say Catholics ane not fight for peace because “it is a Communist Z ric es “After the first thing we have to decide upon is Whether wera for peace ie wart And, if we are for one Bien’ other, now is the time to go frankly about it. . . ther we are for a crusade against Russia and commun- : ism, and now is the time to start it ... Or, we are for tnace 2nd we must accept that the crusade cannot be ! “© 8nswer to the problem of Communism. for imcere non-communist elements in Quebec are reed to recognize the part played by Communists in bo weh-Canada in the fight against war. Advertising a book Called To Win Peace, Le Devoir writes in a big tha, The Communists say they fight for peace—Are Ca- Slics really working for peace in Canada?” French Canadian people up G. Filion, editor of the nationalist Le Devoir, wrote: e By PIERRE GELINAS against war the Duplessis paper in Montreal, Montreal-Matin, attacks ; the Ottawa Journal for calling for immediate intervention in Korea, “It is advisable,” says Montreal Matin, ‘that countries like’ Canada should work to create zones of peace which can Save our planet from destruction . . . Canada could have contented itself with a simple adherence to prin- ciple ... We will continue thinking first of our country and the cause of peace.” (July 18) Le Devoir goes further: Stating that U. S. intervention in Korea might lead to a third world war, it condemns the so-called “occident’s mission” in Asia, and concludes with this remark: “Asia will be saved by Asiatics or lost by Americans.” (July 19). Writing in the same paper, Andre Laurendeau, former leader of the Bloc Populaire, says: “The international role of Canada should not be to contribute to enlarge and spread conflicts, but to prevent them from flaring up.” Laurendeau had written previously in the same paper (June 30), commenting on the so-called decision of the Security Council to support U.S. intervention in Korea: “The UN without Russia is not the UN any more, but some sort of an occidental war council, a wider ‘Atlantic Pact’ with a periphery of neutral states, It is clear by the vote of the Security Council. “Canada is. not a member of the Security Council. It did not have to take a position immediately. Why, in such circumstances, offer our resourees and our army | BRIEF news item, which you are not likely to simply read in the capitalist press, states quite that 97 percent of the people of Extension have signed *he peace petition, Heartening news, isn’t it’ ie Yesterday, Extension was just another small wo ~ ing class community—one of a number of ae : iting camps bordering Nanaimo—its hundred habitants hating and fearing war. _ its _ Oday, Extension is different. It has bg ponies ts Collective demand for peace! Ninety-seven Pe i - of the miners, loggers, House boys and girls of Extension—so peace petition. igs , There are literally eet 3 a 1 Extensions in eee pve as South Wellington, aid Bay, Sointula, Alert Bay, lates Mountain, Albion, Webster's att And there are larger centers ee as Cowichan Lake, Nanetnds yas bernis, Campbell River, mberland, Trail, Vernon, There are Rio Bast and South, Sapperton, _ ; Extension could be your community working class folk—have signed the | _do you say Cowichan Lake, South Wellington, Michel, : ; to Washington? Because we are the ‘nation-lige’ of on a Rat ed sees terete pecadn ae Pe Gaia’ Washington: something between the friend and the ficial Mduthpiese of the St. Laurent government, Even satellite. LPP ¢ ; By ALF DEWHURST : OLUMN boro. And the logging, mining and fishing camps. Here are to be found working men, women and youth— the salt of the earth—who hate war with all their being and who will also sign for peace. * * * * Read about Extension. Think! What will you have to do to place the name of your community alongside that of Extension. Working men and women will sign the petition providing they are asked to. You will have to organize yourself and your friends to collect the signatures; you will need to plan your campaign; and you will need to work. rganization, planning, followed by a house-to-° siies canvass placed the community of Extension squarely in the camp of peace. You can work the same transformation in your community, You have the same material at hand—peace-loving working peo- ple and that great unifying platform, the World Peace Petition! — ‘. 4 Don’t you think it is time you got busy? What and all you who have yet to sign the new petition? present — AN J. AIL La lA al ~ Labor puppets of the warmakers E process of pushing this country and the world into the hell of an atomic war is accompanied by an intensive activization of the labor puppets. This is, of course, no surprise. The warmongers do not feel safe to proceed with their frightful work so long as the labor movement remains free. ~° LABOR FOCUS In Canada, the unions showed no signs of support for Wall Street’s drive towards a third world war. Even some of those who swallowed the bait of the Marshall Plan and the Atlantic Pact have, in the main, pursued a cautious wait-and-see policy since the imperialist attack on Korea. This state of affairs though far from sat- isfactory, evidently disturbed the war- makers. _They therefore stepped up their war drive inside the labor move- ment and began to demand active sup- port from their labor friends. Those Who hold the puppet strings in their hands began to manipulate them and all serts of characters began to strut around and to move their lips in har- mony with their master’s voice. The big business press began to shriek louder and wilder. Violent and undemocratic acts which weaken and divide labor no matter where committed, were played up to the sky. Even General McNaughton was pressed into service to help a clique of union splitters. But the ruling class needed the active support of the social democrat leaders to put over its new drive to make labor fully subservient to its plans. At this point,-M. J. Coldwell was brought into the scene, The Coldwell group which dominates the CCF long ago removed every and all partitions between it and the old-line capitalist parties on the overriding of all present- day issues—foreign affairs. But while St. Laurent and Drew can manage quite well without Coldwell in St. James and Bay Streets, they do need his help among the organized workers of the country. The fact that the CCF was’ on the eve of a national convention did not cause Coldwell to hesitate. The great _ “democrat” didn’t think it necessary to wait a few days and give his convention delegates a chance to shape his party’s policy on Korea and the menace of a third world war. The pressure on him to help deliver labor was too great. It was evidently considered expedient—even though undemocratic—to commit his party to the Wall Street war policy on the eve of its convention. So Coldwell delivered a nation-wide radio address in full support of the imperialist war policy. That was calculated to hog-tie the rank-and-file delegation at the CCF convention and to pave the way for harnessing labor to the war chariot of the bosses. This was followed -by the issuance of a policy state- ment from the Liberal party politician who heads a big auto workers local union. This war cry, which the official in question is completely incapable of preparing, was whooped up in the press like the birth of the quintuplets. Toronto Trades and Labor Council followed with a minor witch-hunt of its own. Well, my friends, you may expect the puppets to act up more aggressively from now on. What the masters want and what Coldwell has approved, demands a sub-_ servient labor movement. Canadian labor has not jumped into the imperialist war wagon and the labor puppets will be made to strut and declaim in a manner that may di- vide, weaken and rob the trade unions of their independ- ence and class position. They will be expected to deliver the organized workers. But somehow, I can’t help but feel that the over- whelming majority of Canadian workers are not taken in by these sawdust Caesars. The rank and file cannot see the strings which hold and manipulate these figures.. What is necessary is to turn on the light of fact and truth and the miserable creatures will stand exposed for the puppets they are. The paths by which the truth of the present crisis will be brought to the -Canadian workers must be multi- plied many times and improved, The distribution of papers like the Tribune must be intensified. Each national leaflet and ‘tract must reach the file issues must be faced at union meetings. Peace committees must be formed in hundreds of work places. The election of trade union delegates to the World Peace Congress must be conducted in the broadest and most democratic manner. Above everything, let’s press forward the peace petition of the Canadian Peace move- ment. . Actions such as these will cause the Puppets to col- -lapse. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—AUGUST 3, 1950—PAGE 9