THE PEOPLE Published every Wednesday by The People Publishing Go., Room 104, Shelly Building, 119 West Pender Street, Vancouver, B.C. Telephone: MArine 6929. EpITGR Hat GRIFFIN MANAGING EpITOR -—--.-.-.-e: Kay GREGORY Business MANAGER -,.------------=----- Epona SHEARD Six Months —$1.00 One Year—$2.00 Printed at Broadway Printers Limited, 151 Exst 8th Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. Restore Democracy pe effect of developments in the Boilermakers Union, the influence of which is now being felt throughout the entire trade union movement, upon organized and unorganized work- ers alike should surely cause the national council of the Ca- nadian Congress of Labor, when it meets this weekend, to re- consider its action in a situation which cannot have been cor- rectly presented to President A. R. Mosher. It is no secret that unions here which were contemplating affiliation to the Congress are now hesitant, to say the least, while workers in plants Congress representatives are attempt- ing to organize are reluctant, and understandably so, to join unions where arbitrary rule may at any time be substituted for their own democratic control. But more than this is the wider effect upon production and the greater influence labor must exercise upon the war ef fort to ensure a victory which is by no means won and leaves its enduring imprint upon the peace. Nothing can be more calculated to undermine the workers’ confidence in this struggle to destroy fascism, in which they must also overcome obstacles ereated by selfish interests, than the knowledge that democ- racy in their own trade unions, the foundation of the new life for which we are fighting, can be arbitrarily denied. Nothing is more likely to damage the prestige of labor in the eyes of those outside the labor movement, weaken its influence and endanger its economic position. It is to be hoped that the national council of the Congress will review the situation in these, its broad aspects, and revise its decision accordingly. TO ALL who have read his press statements this week it . must be apparent that A. A. McAuslane, vice-president of the Congress, has not strengthened his prestige. If he aspires to dictatorial authority in the trade union movement, then he presents an appearance more closely approximating that of a certain Italian ex-socialist who also feels the insecurity of his position. The difference is, of course, that McAuslane is at- tempting to enforce his authority on a trade union whose members are conscious of their democratic strength and jealous of their rights. Having derived dictatorial powers, McAuslane immediately assumed the role most favored by those cloaked with such powers, that of defending, in this case, the Boilermakers’ mem- bership against the Communists in order to evade the real issue. ~ The 12,000 members of the Boilermakers Union have not been deceived. Some are trade union veterans, many are new to the trade union movement, but all of them are now keenly alive to the gains they have made through their union and determined that these gains shall not be jeopardized through maneuvres on the part of anyone that weakens them and so play into the hands of anti-labor interests. That is why they have spurned all attempts to split their ranks, and remain united. No evasion, no provocative personal attacks, can conceal from the Boilermakers’ members that the real issue is one of democracy in the trade union movement, their right to select the officers who will lead them in the battle for production in the hard and difficult year ahead. Those who will may argue constitutional points, but the members themselves are not chal- lenging the constitutionality of the elections. And the fact that even many of those named by McAuslane to his board of ad- ministration recognize its undemocratic purpose and shadow authority is attested already by the resignation of six of the original twenty members appointed. Equally, the point taken by executive officers and shop stewards representative of all CCL unions in the shipyards at their meeting this week is understood by the Boilermakers’ members. If the election was not conducted strictly in accord- ance with the constitution, then what defense is there first, for asserting that appointment of a board of administration was necessitated by mismanagement of the union’s affairs, and second, for appointing those responsible for the conduct of the union’s affairs and the unconstitutional conduct of the election to a board placed beyond the democratic control of the members? It should be obvious that any decision that falls short of restoring union democracy will fail to satisty the membership in face of these facts. It is to be hoped that the Congress na- jonal council will recognize this. ‘Somebody s Running . _-And lt Aint Us’ N THE eastern front, Soviet press correspondents have accom- panied the Red Army in action, and many of them have lost their lives. But the reports they have sent out to the world have conveyed anaccurate picture of the fighting and, by depicting the ruthlessness and savagery of the enemy, have inspired and steeled mil- lions in the struggle to destroy fascism. The despatches written by Soviet correspondents, Ilya Ehrenburg, Boris Yampolsky, Eugene Krieger, Leonid Pervomaisky, to name only a few, have breathed of the urgency of the battle. Written in clear, forceful style, they have linked the actions they reported with the broad aims for which the Soviet people are fighting. In the United States, the Marine Corps has taken steps in this di- rection by training a number of enlisted men, many of them former newspapermen, as combat correspondents. Some of them are now with American forces in the Pacific and the despatches they have sent to the United States, while as yet lacking the same ability to link the localized action reported with the aims of the United Nations in vic- tory, nevertheless are written in the same vivid, forceful style, as shown by the despatch given here. By SGT. JAMES W. HURLBUT Marine Corps Combat Correspondent TULAGI, SOLOMON ISLANDS. pp eoM a cliff overlooking the ocean, I watched an American tank force engage Japanese in one phase of what may be the greatest Allied naval victory of the war. Early yesterday we heard that a sizeable Jap force was heading our way—25 war vessels and 12 transports. Until 7 o'clock we had no word of the location of our ships. Then we heard: “U.S. battleships are headed this way and will be in time to inter- cept- the enemy.” ¥ I climbed to an outpost on top of Tulagi’s cliff. Three hours went by without incident. Then four destroyers moved our way around the north end of Savo Island. After several minutes battleships appeared. A Navy signal man peered through binoc- ulars. “They are ours all right,” he said. “There come the batile Wagons,” The lookout shifted his glasses. “Wait a minute! Two more de- stroyers just came around Savyo. A third is coming down from the tip of Florida, but they’re not ours. They look like Japs. “They're moving out into the shannel. Now they're all in line. Chey must have seen something. They've all turned around and are going like hell for the west side of Savo.” At this point a tremendous burst of light slit the gloom near Lunga Point. A red glow sud- denly stained the clouds above Savo. “There’s a. hit,” the Navy sig- nalman cried. Apparently a Jap vessel had been hit. “She's burning pretty good,” the lookout said. The burning vessel moved slow- ly toward mid-channel and then crept back toward Savo. Sud- denly the firing stopped. The only light on the horizon was the burning ship. “Tt looks like a heavy cruiser,” the lookout said. Then the whole sky beyond the yellow flashes was lit up by scores of star shells. “Those are our star shells. They're firing them beyond the Nips to silhouette the Nips.” The fighting was terrific. Every minute or so a red flash signalled a hit. The two forces stood toe to-toe and slugged it out. Then the slugging match turned into a chase. And it was a chase to the northwest. Bach bright white flash was further away. “Well,” the lookout said, “some body’s running—and it ain’t us.” Day Nurseries Needed pees of many cities in the United States and Canada now confronted with the problem of drawing thousands of women workers into expanding war industries is Akron, Ohio, where lack of day nurseries has become a problem of major importance to its industry. When the union, the United Rubber Workers (CIO), found that this problem, typical of pro- duction centers with a manpower shortage, was actually holding up increased production of gas masks, pontoons and tank treads, it un- animously decided at convention to demand establishment of day nurseries throughout the city. With more than 20,000 workers needed to meet production sched- ules, a recent survey showed that 5,000 women would be willing and able to enter industry immediately if someone could look after their children. That haphazard methods in car- ing for young children while their parents were at work were dan- gerous, was brought home very sharply to Akron people by two dramatic incidents. — Two children left alone in a rooming house by their parents, beth war workers, were very bad- ly burned in a fire. As a result, one of the children died. One woman was found locking her children in her car each day while she went to work. She had no one to take care of them for her. e OO many women skilled in special trades, are still tied to homes and families while there is a shortage of skilled labor in certain trades. Through the draft system, which has not been too eareful in handling manpower, Akron had a shortage of chemists. A registration of skills through the employment service disclosed that many women in Akron were skill- ed chemists, unable to offer their services because of home ties. Some measure of relief has been attempted through foster homes, private individuals taking in chil- dren during the day. Another scheme tried out was that of hay- ing high school girls take care of children during late afternoon or evenings if parents were on dif- ferent shifts. Neither plan has been any answer to the problem of how to release 5,000 more wom- en for full-time industrial work. e HE only solution, as the union realized, lies in establishment of day nurseries. SHORT JABS by OF Bul || Eek k Botlermakers a: HE situation created in the 4 W Boilermakers’ Union by. the | high-handed action of President §7 A. R. Mosher in disposing the | B democratically-elected executive i% of the union and imposing a hand-, picked controlling group, some oi whom have already been rejected {& by the union, one of whom is a reputed fascist and all of whom § are opposed to the will of the §& union as expressed hy the vote § of the membership must surely be the result of failing to heed the lessons of the past. Actions like this by the top-. leadership of unions and central bodies have always been followed fF by disastrous results to the unions involved with repercus— § sions throughout the whole trade | union movement. i Apart from this proceedure in splits like the launching of the §— OBU the most famous ,or should § we say infamous, was that of — John LL. Lewis in abolishing the autonomy of District 26 of the UMWA, ousting the elected lead- ership and imposing on the miners a hand-picked executive of Lewis § agents, about 15 or 16 years ago, Disaster { move was made by Lewis, ~ ostensibly to prevent disor- Sanization and disaster overtaking the district organization, but in reality to get rid of Jim Mac- Lachlan, the best, most far-seeing and courageous leader the Nova Scotia miners ever had, and his policies of fighting the mine- owners for a better deal for the coal miners of the Cape Breton coal field. That action of Lewis came near to destroying the union in Nova Scotia. It undermined the morale of the members, destroyed any: faith they had in the national leadership and reacted solely in the interest of the profit-hunsry colliery owners, mostly the Do- minion Steel Company. Even to- day, the union has not recovered from the setback it suffered then. — If Mosher persists, and is not prevented by the Boilermakers’ membership in putting over this Hitler-like action it will surely have the same result as did that of Lewis on District 26. Already we hear of union members, under the stress of indignation and dis- gust at this arbitrary manoeuver, threatening to tear up their cards and quit the union. That is an entirely wrong atti- tude, even in a peacetime world. At this time it will play into the hands of Hitler as well as wage- slashing employers of labor, both of whom would rather face a dis- organized rabble than aé_ solid, well organized united front of opponents. Reaction cannot be fought successfully by quitting. Schmeling is the only man who ever won a fight lying on the flat of his back. In this kind of fight there will be no Schmeling de- cisions. . The first task of the loyal mem- bers of the union, those who desire the union to maintain its strength and striking power, is to stay in- side the union. The reactionaries cannot be fought from the outside. The second task is to weed out the would-be Hitlers and Quislings and their attempted dictatorship. This can best be done by every loyal member of the union lining up solidly behind the elected leadership and supporting them in, their efforts to maintain and expand the influence of the union.