Page Four B.C. WOREERS’ NEWS November 27, 19386 B.C Workers News : Published Weekly by THE PROLETARIAN PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION Room 10, 163 West Hastings Street - Vancouyer, B.C. — Subscription Rates — One Year $1.80 Half Year —__-__ $1.00 Three Months _______.50 Single Copy — a Make All Checks Payable to the B.C. WORKERS’ NEWS Send All Gopy and Manuscript to the Chairman of the Edortorial Board. Send All Monies and Letters Pertaining to Advertising and Circulation to the Business Manager. Vancouver, B.C., Friday, November 27, 1936 Pearson and the Red Bogey HE mephetic breath of the fascist stooge, Tom Macinnes, may no longer be polluting the ether by rancous songs ot hate against labor and trades unionism, put Pattullo’s minister of labor, Pearson, has been pinch-hitting for him. During the debate on the bill introduced by Harold Wineh, ©.C.F., the chief strikebreaker of the Pattullo government made every effort to obscure the points at issue by hauling out the decomposed red herring and making a slanderous attack on the Workers’ Unity League which does not exist in B.C., its unions haying affiliated with the unions of the A.F.of L. By the time-dishonored use of the Red Bogey he sought to divert attention from the bill which had to do with collective bargaining and the rights of strikers, because a discussion on jis merits would bring up again the use of provincial police, at enormous expense to the taxpayers, im brutally smashing peace- ful picket lines. The most contemptible part of his harangue was his charge that militant unions strike for the sake of striking and refuse to settle strikes even when they are granted their demands. With the sanctimonious hypocrisy that is characteristic of capitalist politicians, he whined about union leaders “hindering” him in his efforts to bring peace in industry. Militant union leaders are ‘A]ling the interests of the working men,” he averred. Pearson and his government served the interests of the Corbin miners who were struggling against foreign exploiters, by send- ing their Gestapo against them to drive eaterpullar tractors over their wives, and to club and jail their husbands. The same gang served the interests of the longshoremen by sending provinaal police to do the same sort of dirty work for the Shipping Federa- tion during the waterfront strike. Many more instances could be cited to show how Pearson Sseryes” the interests of the workers. But when all his talk is over, his one purpose is to keep the anti-picketing laws intact and to retain unhampered the right of the provincial govern- ment to crack down on strikers in the interests of their masters, the Shipping Federation, Boss Loggers and every other ruthless and merciless exploiter of labor. More of the Whitewash Brush ee investigations conducted by political appointees ’ of the men against whom charges are made are becoming a stench in the nostrils of the decent people of B.C. The cynicism with which charges of maladministration, and even corruption, are received was exemplified in the “Gnyestigation’’ of the Vege- table Marketing Board by a committee appointed by the Pattullo government. Farmers receive from less than #10.00 to not more than $15.00 a ton for potatoes which are sold to consumers in Vancouver for $35.00 to $50.00 a ton. The farmers are not allowed free access to the market; all produce must pass through Pattullo’s market- ing board, which costs 48,000 for one year’s operation,— to say nothing of what it costs the farmers. The result of the robbing of the farmers as expressed in the price spread is “hootleraine’” of potatoes. So great was the resentment of the farmers that Pattullo had to do something about it. So he instituted the mvestigzation by his own party associates. And what a farce! So raw was the wrok of the Commission that the ‘inquiry’ was scarcely under way when counsel for the farmers denounced it as a whitewash and withdrew. Witnesses for the farmers were missing. After some talk of arresting them for contempt, 1t leaked out that the chairman of the commission had privately informed them that they needn’t testity. Frank Eageins, counsel for Island farmers, tried to present affidavits involying a brokerage firm, but was not allowed to submit them, although witnesses were on hand, at their own expense, to substantiate the affidavits. On Tuesday the commission agreed to summon a witness for the farmers. On Friday it was earned that the subpeena had never left Victoria. This was described by Higgims as ““monkey- work.”’ A sham, a mockery from the start, with another big bill of eosts to the taxpayers, the farce ended up as it was intended +0 end—a complete whitewash for the iniquitous Marketing Board. These fake investigations are more reason——0n top of many others—tor ousting the Pattullo government and setting up a government elected by and representing the decent, progressive people of the province. i We Support Tucker de REACTION of the Mayor, City Council (with the ex- ception of Ald. McDonald) and the Police Commission to the serious charges made hy Investigator Tucker agaist police administration is one that arouses even greater suspicion in the mind of the public. Before waiting to learn whether the Tucker charges could be proved or not, Tucker was fired, not because of the contents, ac cording to MeGeer, but because of “the language Tucker used in the report.” Tucker, with bitter memories ot his experiences during the investigation” of the Relief Office, during which farce he was subjected to persecution, brow-beating, intimidation and cheap ridicule, refuses, and correctly, to take part in the present 1n- zestigation unless provided with counsel of his own choosing and paid for hy the city. He also demands that if he is asked to prove the charges made in his report, he be given access to the files which so far has been denied him. ‘As soon as the nature of the Tucker report became known to the public, and that the provincial government was involved, there was a scurrying of high civic officials, including the Mayor, over to Victoria. Before a commissioner was appointed to look into the mess there was a vicious campaign conducted to belittle and discredit Tucker. 5; The investigation is now going on with high-priced lawyers, appointed by the men charged, and paid for by the city. Tucker can not be present except at ereat disadvantage. ~ The B.C. Workers News is solidly behind Tucker and those who support him in his demand that he be given every facility, including counsel and access to secret files, to substantiate his charges. The callousness of the city council was again shown in their refusal of a request by the Mothers’ Council for a tag day to feed starving single men who are denied work or relief. Nearly 200 of the boys are n iOakalla jail for selling flowers without a license, although many people were on the streets a few days ago doing the same thing. They were selling poppies aud were A bald statement that the Pacific Goast Maritime strike is caused be- cause the unions refuse to arbitrate, is about all the information that the capitalist press cares to give on the present momentous struggle. True, they tell us that some 39,000 Paci- fie Coast maritime workers have walked off the job, that a similar number of Atlantic Coast and Gulf workers have joined the strike in sympathy, and that probably an- other 50,000 loggers, mill men, fac- tory workers, etc, haye been forced out because of the shutting down of mills and factories, which have been erippled through the cessation of shipping. Blue Ruin One hundred thousand men idle, coast industries crippled, shipping paralyzed, only because the mari- time unions won't arbitrate—at least So says the subsidized press, the hawkers of the Chambers of Com-— merce and the Industrial Couneil, Incorporated, such as the late lamented Tom Mcinnes. The two dominant issues involved in the present Pacific Coast mari- time struggle are those of the hiring hall and the six-hour day, as regards the longshoremen, and the hiring halls and the overtime period affecting the sailors. There are minor points peculiar to the dif- ferent classes of work, but the above are the vital issues. The history of the waterfronts of the U.S. Pacific Coast for the ten years and more preceding the 1934 strike is parallel to the history of the Wancouver waterfront. Before that period the coast from Alaska to San Pedro was organized in the T.L.A. and basically the same agree—- ment extended down the coast. After a series of proyoked strikes and lockouts launehed against every Jocal on the coast starting with Frisco around 1918 and ending with Vancouver in 1923, during which years eyery local was singled out one at a time, the I..A. was dis- rupted, and the ‘‘Quik” hall system, a system of open shop company hiring halls and company unions, held sway from then until the strike of 1934. Only those who work under the “Quik” hall system can know its abuses. Hard and hazardous under the best of conditions, “the long- shore industry under the “Quik” hall system became a veritable Shambles. Slaughter In Wancouyer the fatalities in- creased from eight in the 11 years of the L.A. during 1912-1923, to Sixty in the ten years under the “Quik” hall, from 1923 to 1933. The compensation rate jumped from 246 per cent in 1924 to 8 per cent in 1933: and so alarming did the acci- dent rate become that, in 1926 the government threatened to place Federal safety engineers in charge of the waterfront. This move was offset by the Shipping Federation supplying their own safety engineers, a move which, pecause the safety engineers had no Federal authority and no incentive other than to serve those who paid their wages, namely, the Shipping Federation, did not better the hazardous conditions facing the workers, but only bettered the alibis of the employers. The accident toll was the result of the new speed-up system, and was common to every port on the Pacific. Every ruse to speed up pro- duction was used, and almost every grievance, whether it be summary dismissal, censure, favoritism, un- equal distribution of work, or a hundred and one others, had inter- woven with it the plan to speed up the workers. A small section of the workers were singled out and given the best jobs and steady ‘work. The vast majority got the crumbs. It did not matter whether the gangs which were the highest paid were the best workers or not; in most cases they were not, but as is common in most industries, the least capable are the most subservient, the most susceptible to the bosses’ ruses. It created a situation where the lower paid gangs and individuals strove by super-human efforts to reach the higher pinacle, and the higher paid ones did likewise to hold their ad- vantage. Men and gangs were dis- eriminated against, or eliminated entirely for minor Causes, not necessarily because of their short- comings, but as a threat to others to keep them on their toes and at a high nervous tension. Roughly speaking, 30 per cent of the available men drew 60 per cent of the payroll. A few worked excessive hours day after day while the majority worked a few hours now and then. Not always the same men, but the same proportion, al- ways following out the plan to cause ill-feeling between the men, and enhance the speed up. Divide and Rule Under the Quik hall system every port had several separate unions; so many men in this, so many in that, so many in another union, each played one against the other, a well played ruse of the employer to divide and rule. Added to all this was the bribery and favoritism involved in the pick- ing of men. In some halls on the coast the “despatcher’’ had the beer parlor Issues Involved In The Coast Maritime Strike and pool room coneession in the basement of the hall. A certain per- centage of the pay cheque either went into this concession or the worker found some foreman had laid a complaint against him, and he was left to warm the benches and cool] his toes. The buying, oi booze for the fore- man, presents to the foreman’s family, straight donations of a per centage of the pay cheque, all these and more were common practices. Unionism was stifled and any move towards bettering the lot of the workers was crushed immedi- ately. The culmination of the ten to fourteen years of such conditions was the Pacific coast strike of 1934 which paralyzed shipping for ten weeks. It ended when the maritime unions and shipowners agreed to submit their cases to an arbitration board. President Roosevelt ap- pointed a National Longshoremen’s board to handle the case, and in October, 1934, the board handed down its decision. Among other things the decision called for joint hiring halls. Under its provisions the cost of maintain- ing the halls was to be borne equal- ly by both the employers and the unions. The despatchbers, or officials who sent the men to work, were to be members of the union. Through this arrangement, favoritism was abolished. The despatchers were answerable to the union, and non- union ethics were soon checked. Sufficient numbers of men to handle the requirements of the port were agreed to by the employers and unions, and registered for work, and those registered were ac- cepted as entitled to equal oppor- tunity for available work. Six-Hour Day To divide the work amongst a4 greater number of men and there- by help use up some of the unem-— ployed army, a six-hour day was put into effect. In different ports the application varies, but basically any six hours between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. are straight time hours and hours’ between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m, or hours in excess of Six of continuous work are overtime. In some ports it is based on a weekly average, that is, each man is limited to 30 hours a week. In some ports it is calculated on a 60 hours in two weeks basis; in others it is spread over a monthly period. The basis, however, is a six-hour day, and 5 days a week. Though a man may work an eight- hour day, six straight and two over- time, he is limted to 30, 60, or 120 a month as the case may be in the various ports. Then he steps down and some one else has a chance. In ’Frisco: alone this system has resulted in the increase of employ- ment from 1400 in 1934 to over 4000 today. That is the shorter work day has absorbed, on the ’Hrisco water- front alone, about 2500 of the army of unemployed. The award covered many other phases, but these two are the,most prominent, the hiring halls, and the six-hour day. Under their provisions the old game of the boss is curbed. Bully- ing, bribing, discrimination, victim- ization, favoritism, and the many other weapons of a profit-mad boss class was curbed. The award has been in operation for two years, since 1934. It was re- endorsed in 1935, and has operated up to the present strike. During the term of the last agree- ment, that is since October, 1935, both sides had intimated their de- sire to change some of the pro- visions of the award, and add others. Al] were minor, such as size of loads, travelling time, etc. Blanket Arbitration “4 However, the employers refused to negotiate on any points. They demanded blanket arbitration. They refused to name any specific points on which they would agree to ar- bitrate, but laid down the ulti- matum that before they would open negotiations the unions must agree to submit everything to ar- bitration, in case agreement could not be reached on all points. The hiring halls, the six-hour day, and everything which was handed down by the Roosevelt appointed National Longshore board in 1934, must be submitted to arbitration. In the words of a ’Frisco corres- pondent, it is as though, after the U.S. civil war, after the question of slavery had been settled. the Southern slave owners had said: “You have won the war. Slavery has been abolished. Now lets ar- bitrate to see if we will revert back to slavery again.” The maritime unions hold, and rightly so, that the basic principles of the 19384 award cannot be ar- pitrated. Controversial points of the application of the 1934 award, they are willing to negotiate, and submit those points on which an agreement cannot be reached, to arbitration. But the employers say, “No.” No negotiations:unless the unions agree to submit everything to blanket arbitration. The attitude is that of a thug who would walk into your house, take possession of your home and family, throw you out on the street, and then, to your pro- tests, say: “Alright, let’s arbitrate.” —G.B. ANOTHER OL’? BILL WANT AD! Last week I asked for the loan of a book. I have received three copies of it. This week I have another request to make. To commemorate the 15th Anniversary of the Com- munist Party, a short history of the party is being written. I want anyone who has any early copies of papers about the time the -party was formed (Clarion, Federationist, Worker), 1921, 1922, 1923, or any period up to 1929; any. documents, minutes, leaflets, letters, reports, or anything of this description that will be useful for this purpose to let me have a loan of them for a couple of months. They will be well taken care of and returned to the lender. Send to not molested, were not charged with “obstructing police.” Ol Bil] at this office. Autumn In Soviet Georgia Shura Moseshvidishvili, a student at the Bakurtsalkh agricultural school in the Caucasus, thinks shell get a high grade on this lesson, to judge by her smile. LENIN’S WIDOW DEALS WITH TROTZKYISM By KRUPSKAYA “Socialism is not created by or- ders from above. Its spirit is alien to official-bureaueratic automatism; So- cialism, living and creative, is the creation of the masses of the peo- ple themselves,” said Lenin in the first days of our October Socialist Revolution. When Lenin died, the masses ral- lied around the Party still more closely. ‘‘uenin is dead, but his cause lives.” Years passed and we saw how day by day the organization of tens of millions of toilers who > were drawn ever more widely into the adminis- tration of the country, into the work of the construction of Social- ism, was srowing and becoming stronger. The whole social texture of our country of Soviets has changed; thousands, tens of thou- sands of organizers haye come up from the depths of the masses of the people. This is eloquently shown by the Stakhanov movement and Jast winter's conferences of the Party and Government Jeadership with organizers of labor in various branches of production, with col- lective farmers, workers, combine operators, and so on. All have seen how, on the basis of economic or- ganization, the friendship of the peoples of the Soviet Union is be- coming stronger, how the masses have grown culturally. And the millions of toiers see how. boundlessly, completely and without stint Comrade Stalin is giv- ing himself to their vital cause, to the cause of Lenin, to the cause of Socialist construction; how he is leading them onward to a better life. = It was not the masses whom the Trotskyites and Zinovyevites eared for. This did not constitute their life. They thought only of ecaptur- ing power even at the price of 2 bloc with the Gestapo, with the most violent enemies of the dictator- ship of the proletariat who were striving to restore in the jJand of the Soviets a bourgeois system, the capitalist exploitation of the masses of toilers. Tt is no accident that Trotsky, who never understood the essence of the dictatorship of the proletariat, who did not understand the role of the masses in the work of Socialist con- struction, who thought that Social- ism is created by orders from above —it is no accident that Trotsky en- tered upon the path of the organiza- tion of terrorist acts against Stalin, Voroshilov and other members of the Political Bureau who were help- ing the masses to build Socialism. It is no accident that the unprin- cipled bloe of Kamenev and Zinovyey with Trotsky has pushed them step by step down the deep abyss of unprecedented betrayal of the cause of Lenin, the cause of the toiling masses, the cause of So- Cialism. Trotsky, Zinovyeyv, Ka- meneyv and the whole of their gang of assassins acted as one with Ger- man fascism and entered into an alliance with the Gestapo. This is why the country was so unanimous in its demand that the terrorists be shot. Reading in the newspapers their evidence at the trial, workers said: “They wanted to restore bourgeois dictatorship; they forgot about us, about the masses. Was there any chance of our ever allowing them to take power?” They forgot that “Socialism, living and creative, is the creation of the masses of the people themselves,” and entered the front ranks of the counter-revolu- tionary bourgeoisie, Aims at Disrupting People’s Front Tt is also no accident that the Second International is so furious, that it upholds the Trotskyite- Zinovyevite band of assassins, that it tries to disrupt the People’s Front. The De Brouckeres and Cit- rines are supporting every villainy which the enemies are committing against the working class of the U.SS.R., its Party and its leaders. They deservedly take first place in the anti-Soviet yelping that has been raised by the bourgeois world. The Third International was created in the struggle against the Second international. With the aid of the renegade Kautsky and com- pany, the Second International waged a fierce campaign against the dictatorship of the proletariat, against Soviet power. The Second International desires to justify and defend the capitalist system, to throw dust in the eyes of the masses of toilers. This is why they are now defending the agent of the Gestapo—Trotsky. Nothing came of it. Our country of Soviets has be- come a powerful country which is raising the banner of Communism higher and higher, which is firmly marching on the road indicated by Marx, Engels and Lenin. Neither the Trotskyites, nor the Zinovyeyates, nor the Second Inter- national will be able to hush up this fact, to throw dust in the eyes of the toilers. |Book Revie vw] WORLD POLITICS, 1918-36 —By R. P2ime Dutt. A profound analysis of the world | situation during the period is indi- cated im the title. The first world war, arising out of the imperialist antagonisms be- tween Germany and Great Britain, instead of laying the foundations of an era of peace, produced a new series of antagonisms Which are steadily driving to a mew and far more terrible holocaust. The crux of world politics today is the ever- sharpening and ceaseless conflict be- tween the half dozen imperialist powers for a redivision of the world. in “‘Mein Kampi’’ Hitler states that the only road to world peace is through complete world domination by the Nazis. Mussolini talks the same way, aS do spokesmen for tht British, American and Japanese rul- ing classes. All want more colonies not only as sources of raw material, but to exploit the inhabitants. There being no more unjoccupied ‘terri- tories, the imperialist powers all want a monopoly of world markets, Another antagonism is visible: a joint antagonism of the imperialist powers against the one-sixth of the world where socialism prevails. On various occasions they have planned to unite in war against the Soviet Union, but the plans have so far failed of fulfillment because the inter-imperialist antagonisms have destroyed unity of action and una- nimity of opinion as to division of the spoils. A third situation exists: the awakening of the colonial peoples, as seen in China, India and Africa, to the desire for freedom from im- perialist exploitation. Coupled with this is the fact that in a number of Capitalist countries ‘“‘the idea of storming the citadel of capitalism is maturing in the minds of the masses,” as Stalin said some months ago, : All the imperialist powers can see no other road ahead than the one of war, yet they hesitate to take the plunge fearing it might end in the yictory of the tmternational working class, the yietory of world socialism. There is no reason to doubt it would, but it would be very foolish from thns to say that world war should be welcomed. Quite the reverse; a2 second world war would be so widely destructive that the masses after having seized power at the end of it, would be deprived for many years of the fruits of their victory through haying to ¢0 through a long period of reconstruc- tion. The suffering and misery the masses would haye to undergo dur- ine a war must be avoided if pos- sible. Every day of peace undermines imperialism, weakens the powers of resistance of capitalism to the work- ing class challenge for power, and adds to the growing unity of the masses without which there can be no prospect of reaching socialism. Support of the peace policy of the Soviet Union is inseparable from the general struggle against capi- talism, because the interests of the Soviet Union and of the interna- tional proletariat are identical. But there is much more in “World Politics’ than the above. Every treaty, pact, international agree- ment between the nations since the world war is here analyzed in de- tail. With his Marxist dissecting knife the author opens them up and shows what is inside, support— ing his conclusions with copious documentary evidence and figures. The “localization of war’ theory, advocated by some well-meaning pacifist, is shown to be a Fascist principle. The entire history of the League of Nations is dealt with; eollective security, the Fascist cry of over-population, and many other questions are explained as only R. Palme Dutt can explain. A great book for winter study and one that is “required reading’ for all who want to see daylight thropeh the war-laden atmosphere and complicated international situa- tion of the present day world, and for all who want to add to their equipment in the struggle for a better world. (On sale at the New Age Book- store, 350 West Pender Street; price By OL’ BILL 5 Whatever U.S.S.R.on :he cultural value the Screen. 2f the contribution %§ the Cosmopolitan Films Ltd., that is bringing to Van— couver theatre-goers, at the Little Theatre, Soviet and other“ foreicm films, I am not going to say, since I don’t consider myself competent i] to judge. I will leaye that angle for others who haye a greater knowledge of the art and technique of the moying picture. There is one aspect of this venture however, that I do consider myself fully competent to speak of. Alone with the “Sone of Happiness” which will open at the Little Theatre on December 7, and which is a sort of a follow-up of the “Road to Life,” will come to Vancouver for the first time, a Soviet news reel—“U.S.S.R. on the Screen.” The movies has larsely taken the place of the stage, the press and pulpit as a means of deluding and dopine the working class. Nobady understands this better than William Rat Hearst, who sponsors the most venomous, fascist, anti-labor, lying propaganda in his ‘‘Metro” news The others are just about as bad, ; “U.S-S:R. on the Screen’? will off- Set the lying slanders of Hearst but it can only be maintained if the people of Vancouver iho are i opposed to Fascism support the may be BS patronizing the Little Thestre during the showing, and by trying to get this news reel shown in other playhouses. The boyeott has already stepped the production of slanderous libels on the working class, like “Rie Raff,” in different parts of the United States. This is a move we would do well to copy. The drama- tization of fascist cowardice in the Alcazar, to make it look like bray- ery, with which WHearst-Warner Bros. is going to bombard the Amer ican and Canadian people must bs boycotted by every friend of demoe- racy and all energies directed to= wards spreading the influence € “U.S.S.R. on the Screen.” : * x * ES The great “d jan Another scholar,” Mr. Lae Marxian has been to the Soviet Scholar. Union. Some of his im- : pressions are reported in a ae labor paper; a write-up of a speech which he ac i Moose Hall. eae Of course, Mr. Lefeaux is not an enthusiastic herald of the victories of the Soviet workers. This was not expected by anyone who knows Mr. Lefeaux, for haye we not listened to him with rapt attention (and dis- gust) telling a Royal Theatre audi- ence of the Socialist Party of Gan- ada “I don’t like the workers; they smell].”’ We don’t object to Mr. Lefeaux’s estimate of the workers; in fact, knowing Mr. Lefeaux well, we are rather pleased than otherwise, What does rasp our tender feelings is that the author Gf such a mass of inconsistencies and contradictions has the gall to pose as a Margian penciate Of course, Kautsky did oo! ° : Mr. Lefeaux “‘thinks” Marx said it Was impossible to take a short cut from feudalism to socialism. Mars, undoubtedly never said such a thing. Since Marx was a dialectical thinker he did not isolate particular