THE PEOPLE’S ADVOCATE

PORES TT Fb ha

Pd

May 1--

By Leslie Morris

A Day Of Canadian Unity

i >= 5 = 5 = 5 > “9
Deg, AY DAY becomes more popular as the years go by. Our day of international solidarity springs directly from the tradi-
‘tions of the Canadian common people. The day itself, in its modern significance, arose on the North American continent.
tkey s born of the rising trade unions in the United States in the eighties of the last century, a time when the most ruthless
: vy-grabbing class of new industrialists—men like Carnegie, Rockefeller, Jim Hill—were grinding the vigorous working class

5

: lusty young republic.

E> fight for the eight-hour
Wkivas a long and bitter one,

ARE tiasis of the first gréat strike
Vy Weaents which swept early.
Mon: ican capitalist society.

. ars before, the ten-hour day
WW Bbeen the battle ery of the
SPanith working people. The

are ja ist movemient of the ‘thirties
od. 42 last century won the ten-
= fo day and constitutional re-
“S causing the great Karl
SISify to say it was the first evi-
dsesi of the superiority of So-
tle @iim, because it was the first
lew. sg victory of the forces of
; Sng class progress over capi-
i] reaction.
Meeh f e
EW the people of British Co-
S$ umbia march and meet
: Suday, they will be the cus-
s of all that is fruitful and
nm Ganadian life.
the banners of the paraders
,e written the slogans for
and democracy, for jobs
security, for recovery and
+ vil liberties.
%se are not will-o’-the-wisp
ads, coming from the lips
salists and fanatics. They
sent in Ganada today, just
@: fight for the shorter work-
S4ay did in the distant past,
ibs deep-lying needs of Cana-

‘lion of which there can be
ace and no progress in our

country.

In that sense, May Day is a
national day, springing from the
national needs of this young and
rich country in which people are
unwarrantedly plunged into poy-
erty and premature senility be-
cause of the rule of assiall hand-
ful of monopolists who have
usurped the democratic will of
the people.

: @
_ FyRHE United States people have
their Jefferson and their Tom
Paine—men who fought for the
democratic will of the people in
their day as against the reaction-
ary cliques of Alexander Hamil-
ton and Aaron Burr.

The French people have their
Robespierre and Marat—who led
the starving people of France
against the Bourbons.

The people of Britain have
their Lovelace, their John Ball,
their Jack Straw and Tom Cade,
their William Morris and their
Keir Hardie, who championed the
cause of the people right nobly,
bravely and well.

We Canadians, drawn from a
seore of countries but bonded to-
gether by the common ties of toil
and sacrifice to make our coun-
try productive, revere the shining
names of Mackenzie and Papi-
neau, who a century ago led the
people against the Family Com-
pact ef landed proprietors and

won representative government
and a measure of economic free-
dom.
e

AY DAY and its traditions

flows from these wellsprings
of historic struggle for freedom.
It belongs to the tradition of Mac-
kenzie and Papineau, those names
which have been rescued from
oblivion by our brave lads in
Spain, just as much as does July
i4 in France, the day on which
the hated Bastille was razed to
the ground by the sanscullottes
of Paris.

May Day, then, is Canadian. [t
is a day on which all that is for-
ward-looking in Canadian past
and present is crystallized into
one great movement—to strike
hope into the hearts.of the peo-
ple and fear into the black hearts
of the would-be Hitlers in our
midst.

May Day is a day of peace—to
bring more pressure on our gov-
ernment to speak out for the
people of the world who are
bombed and blasted by the war
machines of the fascist madmen.
On May Day Prime Minister
Mackenzie King will hear the
massed ery: Arms for Spain!
Embargo the fascist powers!
Break with Chamberlain and
Stand for collective action against
the invaders of peaceful lands!

May Day is a day of economic

Security—to re-establish the eco-
nomic foundations of political de-
mocracy by supplying our people
with jobs; by instituting a re-
covery program; by reorganizing
taxation on a just basis; by sav-
ing agriculture and the farmers;
by rescuing the middle class of
the towns from the yoke of the
big distributors and middlemen,

May Day is one of civil liberty
and justice—to set down on the
federal statutes of Canada those
inalienable rights which the Hep-
burns and Duplessis’ are stealing
from the people: the right to join
a free trade union, to establish
collective agreements with the
employers; the right of free
speech and assemblage; the right
of a free press and the safe-
Guarding of the British system
of trial by courts instead of by
padlock laws:

cs)

M** DAY is a day of national

unity—to complete the uni-
fication of our country ecom-
menced by Mackenzie and Papi-
neau in 1837—that unification
which Hepburn, Duplessis, Ar-
cand and Col. Drew wish to breal:
up and substitute by anti-Semit-
ism, race hatred, two-faced “pro-
vineial rights’ to preserve Que-
bee as a low-wage province, as
an excuse for a national attack
on the standards of living of Ga-
madians, and to block the pas-

Sage of national, social and labor
laws.

May Day is a day of world
solidarity—for added help to the
people of Spain, those front-line
trench fighters for world free-
dom; for greater assistance to the
workers and peasants of China,
who have hurled back the mili-
tary Juggernaut of Japanese mili-
tarism; for saluting the main
bulwark of world peace, the
mighty Socialist fatherland, the
USSR, which is conquering new
heights of prosperity for its
myriad people.

May Day is a day of enmity—
against the fascists, abroad and
at home, and their despicable al-
lies, the Trotskyist traitors who
turn all difficulties and all suc-
cesses of the people’s movement
into materials for attacking de-
mocracy and aiding their mas-
ters, Hitler and Mussolini and
the British foreign office; who,
in BG and in Ganada generally,
Sabotage and try to cripple the
growing movement for justice.

May Day is a day of people's
unity in Canada—of the warm co-
operation of all who are against
the dictatorial rule of ‘small
groups of rich and reactionary
men, and who stand for the demo-
eratic and expressed will of the
Majority of Canadians,

)

AY DAY will become more and
More as the years go on a
time of mnavional rejoicing and
sSuccesses—that day of the year
in which the national unity of
our people aid their friendiy co-
operation with the peoples of other
lands, are celebrated as they de-

serve.

Many more groups must come
in and lend their aid on May
Day. The CCF, the trade unions,
the peace groups, the community
associations—all can find a place
in this holiday of labor and the
common people.

When we march this Sunday;
when we raise our voices and are
heartened by the collective pres-
ence in their thousands of our
Warmest comrades and friends,
let us resolve that great as this

Leslie Morris, for-
mer editor of The
Daily Clarion, mem-
ber of the central
committee of the
Communist Party of

Canada, has had
wide experience in
the western prov-
inces, and has played
an important role in
bringing about the
growing unity among
progressive people in
Alberta and Saskat-

chewan.

May Day will be, next year will
witness even more sweeping vic-
tories in building the people’s
front, firmer ranks of all true
lovers of Canadian freedom, and
disastrous defeats for those who
would wreck our lives and blast
those institutions which Macken-
zie and Papineau fought to create.
*

main attack this May Day
= be directed against the re-
fee now running rampant in
#6 2, and it will not be amiss

3
© Grn the workers of BC of
Toa is happening in that prov-
Biss
fe sec has been for many years

Mest field for exploitation.
) ade union moyement in the
2s been divided badly, most
fF energy being expended by

itholic unions fighting the
8 ational ones, and'vice versa.
ie past two years the situa-

Swiias changed. Joint action
~oa-n these two trade union
(am s bas resulted in many labor
8

@@ es equal to any staged by
Sm ian workers in other proy-
G
3

§:tandinge among these strug-
‘eras the strike of 10,000 tex-
) = orkers last fall. Organized
Bic Catholic syndicates, these
®@irs had the close cooperation
[i @ Trades and Labor Council
@ntreal and the Trades and
syame Congress of Canada. By
“\eli nilitancy and solidarity they
—=r8) the Duplessis government
ig@i:e powerful Holt-Gordon in-
—vee: to submission, securing 2
Wileive agreement,
her example was the strike
0 Montreal dressmakers last
tae. Everything possible was
SHeoy the government and the
Migyvers to break this strike.
jm clies were hired to beat up
and women strikers, war-
were sworn out for the ar-
£ Paul Trepanier, president
Montreal trades and labor
j and vice-president of the
@: and Labor Congress; and
jzanizer Shone, of the ILGW.
jauthorities were forced to
‘aw these warrants through
Adignation shown by the
2al workers. Strong efforts
£0 utilize the Catholic unions
beaut the strike failed complete-
bereat victory was gained.
: i)
ES unity and militancy is the
ason behind the padlock law
iebee province. Duplessis
the padlock law is aimed
at the destruction of Com-
em. He lies. The padlock law
assed to heip in the destruc-
Om f the trade unions, and is
3Menner to other antitabor
*2a= tion. Laws are now on the
P= books of Quebec, which
heir counterparts in Italy
rmany as the following will

Collective Agreements Act
= cn modified in such a way
haere government is empowered
0% > legal extension to collec-
ive ontracts even when only a
aig ty of employees or employ-
S)| a given industry are con-

mM, a government board is
wered to fix wage scales for
Pries of workers who can-
Ob do not avail themselves of
ae jllective agreements legisla-
ion)
2H real significance of these
Webecame apparent when it
en that the government of
Mmoven heaven and earth
ttempt to force the striking
| workers to accept a finding
Fair Wage Board. The at-

TER eee

By Charles M. Stewart

The Strugele Against Reaction
In Canada Begins In Quebec

a\v DAY, 1938, will see the greatest dem onstrations ever held by Canadian labor. Work-

ES ers from Halifax to Vancouver will demonstrate their solidarity with the international

Zing class. On that day we will close our ranks for a fight to the finish against Canadian
on—in the Hast, as typified by the Dup lessis-Hepburn alliance, and in British Colum-
>y the Industrial Council and its close associates in the provincial government.

ment showed conclusively that the
Fair Wase Act was aimed solely
at the abolition of collective agree-
ments and ultimately of trade
unions.

Ordinance number 4 of the Fair
Wage Board was published last
fall. It set a starvation minimum
Wage scale and was another at-
tempt to supplant collective agree-
ments. These met with decisive
defeat at the hands of the work-
ers, and Bills 19 and 20 were in-
troduced, only to raise a storm of
protest from both Catholic and
international unions.

e
E THESE bills the official
organ of the Montreal Trades
Council states:

“These measures, steam-rollered
through both lower and upper
Houses in the face of most ener-
getic protest by the whole trade
union movement, are indeed a
Sword of Damocles suspended over
the head of the unions, threaten-
ing their very existence.

“These bill enable the govern-
ment, without previous consulta-
tion or notice to change or cancel
any collective agreement, simply
at its own pleasure. They exempt
the government and the wealthy
contractors from paying union
wages. They give legal protection
to strike-breaking and outlawing
of closed shop.

“These bills, adopted in the
face of widespread opposition,
place squarely on the agenda of
the Quebec trade union movement
the question of political action.”

At the same time Bills 19 and 20
were passed, an attempt was made
to take away from Quebec labor
the protection afforded by the
Workmen’s Compensation Act.
This was defeated, at least temp-
orarily.

@
He big trusts began to utilize
T the new bills immediately.

Work in the pulp and sulphite
industry would step; in the tex-
tile and needle trades the power
Was cut off and the workers called
to a meeting to be addressed by
Duplessis’ spokesmen. The use-
Tessness of trade unionism as
against a glowing picture of gov-
ernment legislation was painted
in an organized attempt to smash
the unions.

The most glaring example of
an open attempt to smash a union
was by Dominion Textile company
which has refused to renew a con-
tract signed Jast year and is pro-
ceeding under the protection of
the government to set up works
eouncils, a company union appara-
tus, the character of which is ob-
vious from the following excerpt
from the companys pamphlet:

“The superintendent of the
plant or a person designated by
him will act as chairman; the
secretary will be named by the
superintendent.

Bill 88 is a measure to incorpo-
rate the trade unions. This bill
also individual members respon-
Sible for any losses sustained by
the employer due to strikes, etc.

Leaders in Catholic and inter-
national trade unions are openly
talking of a general strike to re-
Gain stolen rights and liberties.

Quebec labor asks that the

Charles M. Stewart,
provincial executive
member Trades and

-Labor Congress ~— of
Canada, who confer-
red with Quebec trade
unionists at the last
Trades and Labor
Congress, shows here
how Quebec anti-lab-
or legislation affects
the entire dominion.

ment be mobilized to come to
their assistance.

O* MAY DAY the trade
ists and progressive
of British Columbia will
their Quebee brothers and
of that support.

union-
people
assure
sisters

The forees of reaction in BC
must be made to know that work-
ing people are aware of the con-
spiracies being prepared against
the common people of Canada.
We will assist the people of Que-
bee to regain the civil bilerties
stolen from them, and at the
Same time we will build up a
mighty trade union movement in
our province that will halt re-
action in its tracks.

A campaign to secure amend-
ments to the Arbitration and Con-
ciliation Act, and for the elimi-
mation of those sections detri-
mental to the workers, must be
started. The attempts of reaction-
ary employers, who with the as-
sistance given by the minister of
labor and by the false interpreta-
tien put upon this ball are at-
tempting to make BC an open
shop province, must be defeated.

To organize the unorganized
throughout the province. This
will be the finest assurance we
can give to Quebee labor in its
appeal for support. It will also be
the best answer to the enemies of

Continued

The

Railway
Issue

per that can be laid upon the en-
thusiasm of the amalemations,
and the best guarantee that the
people of Canada will have an
efficient railway system, operated
for service instead of in the sole
interests of a small band of trac-
tion pirates who compute the val-
ues of steel rails and human
flesh by the same yard-stick.

Wrest the CPR foisted its pres-
ent pension Scheme upon
its employees in January of 1937,
it established two cardinal and
peculiarly CPR principles; one,
that individual industry would no
longer be rewarded by the inter-
ests it served, but must hence-
forth draw upon its own meagre
resources to meet the vicissitudes
of age and infirmity. INer was
there anything voluntary about
this arrangement. The old system
in operation for over 30 years
was simply terminated by notice
and the new one became compul-
sory, into a “take it or leave it’’
attitude of unconcern. And sec-
ond, by designating “continuous’’
in place of “accumulated” servy-
ice, penalize the CPR railroader
who may have, within a period of
50 years’ loyal service, had the
temerity to strike on behalf of
his hearth and home and fellow
men.

in many quarters CPR men are
dissatisfied with the whole pen-
sions swindle, for that is simply
What it amounts to. A wage
check-off by the company, not
against the superannuation of a
faithful employee, but as an eco-
nomic lash over his back as a
guarantee of good behaviour. And
gf00d behaviour means not too
active a trade unionist.

On the other hand the CNR
men are not all as happy about
their pension arrangement as
some of the old Sir Henry rah
rah “co-operative” boys would
have us believe. There are indica-
tions that at the Joint Protective
Board and System WHederation
conventions which will take place
immediately following that of
Division 4, that the CNR men
will seek to have their pension
plan brought in line with modern
retirement pension plans opera-
tive on US lines.

The continued threat of amal-
gamation should serve as a warn-
ing to the CPR and CNR rail-
roaders that uniformity in pen-
Sion scales and application is
vitally important at this time.

On both these important issues
—amalgamation and railway pen-
sions, the maximum of unity is
needed. The Division convention
should evolve the necessary ma-
chinery to arouse the shopmen
from coast to coast, to mobilize
the support of organized labor
everywhere to meet the needs of
the railroaders.

HEN the railway association
cut the wages of Canadian
railway workers a few years ago,
they took it at one fell swoop
. to the tune of 15 per cent.
After long months of bickering,
negotiating, procrastinating, it

Unemployment
And The New Crisis

By Robert Lealess

7#XNHE erisis of 1929 caught the Canadian people unawares

and therefore unprepared.

Now that the Canadian

economy is again advancing into another economic crisis it is
well that we review our struggle for social security so that a
strong united movement may benefit the needs of the people.

Unemployment is a social prob-
lem of the first magnitude, the re-
sults of which affect vitally the
employed wage earner, the farmer
and the small business man. In
1929 the unemployed were left to
fight their battle alone, with the
result that it soon became appar-
ent that no substantial sains could
be made.

It was the youth and their trek
to Ottawa that showed that the
struggle for employment could
Win wide support among all sec-
tions of the people. The powerful
trade union movement which for-
merly had taken only a formal
Stand while their members were
being thrown out of work, now
came out wholeheartedly in favor
of the program of the young peo-
ple. The separation between the

unions and the unemployed was

partially bridged.

The “Share the Work” plan so
popular among employers, was
now replaced by the trade union
slogan “for the shorter work day
without nay reduction in pay.”
While the trade unions had rele-
gated for some time their demand
for unemployment insuranee to
the background, the demand to-
day is insistent.

Questions of relief and lower
dues were neglected by the unions
in 1929 with the result theré was a
rapid decline of membership, and
much ill feeling. Then there was
the unfortunate theory that the
workers could not win strikes dur-
ing an economic crisis and many
workers took drastic wage reduc-
tions because of this bad advice.
This caused further weakness in
the progressive movement and
the purchasing power of the peo-
ple was curtailed considerably.
With such a situation amone the
employed workers, the jobless
workers formed independent or-
ganizations, becoming separated
from the democratic organizations
of the people.

The employers and their politi-
cians skilfully used this separa-
tion by declaring that any bene-
fits obtained by the unemployed
could only be had at the expense

of the taxpayer, and in the ensu-
ing struggle for jobs, for increased
purchasing power, social security
has not become one of the major
political issues of the day. Eco-
nomic struggles are separated
from. political struggles, instead
of being united into one whole.
t=)
I ORDER to meet the demands
of the rapidly increasing prices
it will be necessary for all pro-
Sressive organizations to unite
into a federated movement which
will give autonomy to its affili-
ates, with the trade unions as the
heart of the federation. All such
Progressive organizations should
formulate the problems of their
members and out of joint discus-
sion a progressive program can be
hammered out, which will unite
the people economically and po-
litically.

Such a program would embody
the amendment of the BNA Act
to allow the passage of adequate
unemployment insurance. A use-
ful public works program to in-
clude home building, road mak-—
ing, itrigation and dyking would
be included, and the age limit for
the old age pension would be re-
duced.

The national income of Canada
has reached an all-time high. The
mining, lumber and pulp indus-
tries have broken all previous rec-
ords, while Canadian exports
reached a new high in 1937. In
spite of this we find tens of thou-
sands unable to find work, and
those with jobs cannot get a
greater share of this increased na-
tional income. Prosperity has
been one-sided. It is necessary
therefore to increase the taxation
on big capital, on those who are
enjoying greater riches in this
country of"ours.

This entails the building of
strong unions and a powerful
united federation of organizations
to work for social security and
prevent the unemployed members
from becoming tools for unscrupu-
lous reactionary forces because of
Starvation and despair.

piecemeal, like installments on
last year’s washing machine.
Even with the basic rate re-

turned in full, Canadian railroad-
ers are still from 15 per cent to
20 per cent below the wage levels
of American railroaders. The de-
mand for wage increases and the
reopening of the schedule should
be on the agenda of the conven-
tion.

Should the railroaders ask “Can
the companies afford it?” That
is not the business of Division 4.
Squeeze the water out of the Ca-
nadian railway systems and they

can both pay increased wages
from current profits, the wages

required by the railroader and his
family to meet steadily rising
living costs.

Amalgamation cannot be suc-
eessfully fought by negative de-
fensive argument. It can only be
effectively blocked by the demand
for substantial wage increases for
all categories of railroad worlx-
ers. The amaleamationists can
put forward some very plausible
arguments as to why amalgama-
tion should be effected.

plea that if amalgamation is not
consummated, freight rates will
have to be increased to meet
the high operating costs. But the
organized railroaders must tell
the farmers, the shippers and
the public generally, another
story—that the 75 million “saved,”
plus the 40 or 50 thousand rail-
roaders scrapped, plus the speed-
ing-up of “an effective minimum
staff” is an economic loss to Gan-
ada as a whole far in excess of
the 75 “saved” for Sir Edward's
absentee beneficiaries.

A counter to this very posible
economic loss of purchasing
power, and an effective block to
to the ery for amalgamation .. .
a 10 per cent wage increase.

Sit Edward is mobilizing the
Canadian Manufacturers’ Asso-
ciation and kindred business-

men's organizations to whoop it
up for amalgamation. It is time
for organized labor to take the
gloves off and gather its forces
for action *®against the spearhead
salient of finance capital—railway
amalgamation. And it looks to
Division 4+ Convention for a de-

Short |
Short

Stories

By K. C. Jones

“Come on!” ordered the
boss. ~Get a move on you!

Tit For You look like a
Tat slow-motion mov-

Ing picture when
you're working!”

3 “Well,” said the worker,
My pay envelope doesn’t re-
semble a mail sack, does it?”

A jobless hungry worker stopped
a man on the street and asked for
the price of a meal.
“How does it come you have no
work?” asked the man,
“I can’t get an
“47 Cam’’ work,” replieq the
worker,
“You can't get any work!” the
man exclaimed. “Now listen! T
am not going to give you any
money, but 2'll give you something
that will be of gréater yale to
you. .IT am a Professor of Applied
Psychology. Do you know what
that is?”

“No, I don’t,” said the worker.

“Well, it doesn’t matter whether
you do or not. Now; you are in
your present condition because you
have the wrong mental attitude.
Instead of always saying, ‘I can’t
get a job,’ you should repeat over
and over, I can get a job, T can
get a job,’ and you will be sur-
prised how soon things will take
on a brighter hue. You must learn
to say I Can’ in every difficult
Situation, my man,” :

“Till start in right now,” said
the hungry worker, “I can get the
price of a meal from you, I can
get the price of a meal from you,
I can get the price of a meal from
you, I can 28

But by this time the professor
was half a block away.

“Thomas,” said the rich man as
he dismissed his valet for the
night, “Have my bath ready at
nine in the morning, and lay out
my golf clothes. When I return

from the links

“Very Well, I want my
Sir’’” grey suit ready
— or perhaps

Id better wear the brown one—
yes, I'll wear the brown suit, T
have to go to the office for an
hour. I shall have lunch at the
elub, and will be home about four.
Have my afternoon suit ready
then, I am going out for tea at
five. Be sure the trousers are well
pressed. I shell return to dine at
home. After dinner I am going to
the opera and shall require my
evening clothes. Put the pearl
Studs and cuff links in the shirt.”

“Yes, sir,” said the valet. “Very
well, sir.’’

“And Thomas,” said the rich
man, “You might bring me a
bottle of soda-water now. I some-
times get thirsty during the night,
and that will be all, Thomas.”

“Yes, sir,” said the valet, “Good
night, sir!”

.

“Have you given Fido his bath
this morning?” a lJady asked her
servant.

“Yes, ma’am,” replied the maid.

“Well, you might have the cook

x poach three

A Parasite’s eggs for his

Parasite breakfast, and

make sure

they are fresh,’ ordered the
mistress,

4
“He wouldn't eat poached eggs
yesterday, ma’am,” the maid said.

“The poor dear,” said the lady.
“He must be losing his appetite.
Give him some cold chicken and
warm milk, and put some cream
in the milk. After he has eaten
you might ask the chauffeur .te
take him for a walk. I believe he
needs exercise, and be sure and
put his blankets on so he won't
catch cold. I hate to see the poor
darling catch cold.”

“Yes, ma’am,’’ said the servant.

5 gir

A workingman had been out of
work for some months and had
no money to buy food, so he
knocked at the back door of a
house and asked the woman who

opened it for
Always Lots something to
Of Work

eat. She placed

some food on
the kitchen table and told him to
help himselif While he was eat-
ing, the woman’s husband came
in and asked, ‘‘Aren’t you ashamed
of yourself to be begging food in
this way? Why don't you go to
work?”

“I would if I could get it,” the
man replied between bites. “But
there isn't any work to be found,”

“Oh,” said the husband, ‘That's
a poor excuse! That's what you
all say, but I know a man can
alw2ys get work if he isn’t too
lazy to look for it!”

“Can you give me any work?”
asked the man.

“No,” was the answer. “I don’t
employ anybody.”

“Well, do you know anybody
who wants to hire a man?’

“Um, no, I can’t say I do.”

“Do you know anybody who
knows anybody who wants to hire
a man?”

“No, I don’t think TI do,’

The. nan. fomiched ohne ann