ere once more suc-
orking class in the
ish Labor Party

eering Union which
‘verable to the Com-
osal, and their votes
en the issue came on
fof the conference.

‘the decision of Brit-
eof government employ-
Hby the Trades Union
' challenge the Trades
iby affiliating with the
»} one of the most vital
British politics—the
hd importance of the

» the importance of the
id, it is unlikely that
snt will readily give

ed to Prime Minister
settle the dispute:
ime Minister would
| dispute the states-
m ties which have made
‘ly popular, he would
jonal unity and the
will,” -Power de-

# personal position in
i delicate. In 1940 it
+) turned down the
) that the Trades Dis-
» epealed in return for
§ t of his government.
®2nnual convention of
3ed a resolution call-
}i of the act despite
= 2peal from Churchill

challenge of the act
the important ques-
m) relation to the Labor
® Is in the Churchill
tularly Labor Minis-
ad Home Secretary
| the government re-
» ithe act, sections of
) Labor Party may in-
Per Bevin and Morri-

= om the government,
'be epelled from the

ia

loch

» statement of A. D.
* o the international
»2t that brief mem-
to supply the large
© { maintains in order
 Uerite Germany and
'ar, Secondly, because
Ered to maintain the
th of the looted and
population of the re-
‘te being liberated by
y from German in-

© Ow the international
has been the exclus-
ithe Combined Food

Hn 1942 to regulate the

3 Gf food supplies
the United Nations,”
ad to Anglo-American
Theoretically, the
, Saw all, heard all;
all policies. In prac-
the Board had only:
mowledge of food re-
World néeds. It lacked

shifted: It was in ef-
©to granting demands
%2 by the US army and

navy, or bowing to pressure from
American politicians for what they
called “domestic needs.”

For proper functioning, a food
board must represent all United
Wations, obyiously, which will en-
able it to acquire sccurate infor-
mation on demand and supplies.
it must be empowered to make al-
locations, and price agreements.

Not so long ago, Canadian and
American agriculture was ‘plagued’
by overproduction, and too much
farm goods—the result of the
profit system. In consequence, it is
difficult now to comprehend the
danger of underproduction and
even of hunger caused not by lack
of purchasing power but by- lack
of available supplies at any price.

Today the United Nations have
Sufficient food resources, but not
enough food. Nor can the time ele-
ment be disregarded in any discus-

sion of food production; otherwise,
what happened in Ganada in 1943
will happen again in 1944 with
even more disastrous results. Far-
mers, given no assurance of help
for this spring’s planting, left
acres unseeded this year. If plant-
ings in 1944 fail to make up for
this, 1945 will prove a year of un-
believable crisis, experts believe.

The Soviet warning that insuf-
ficient food already hampers the
ally “bearing on its shoulders the
main burden of the war against
Hitlerite Germany for almost two
years,” serves also as a warning
that these same shortages will
menace all of the United Nations.
The food crisis, as Krutikov
pointed out, cannot be ignored or
dismissed. It becomes a central
issue not only in rural sections of
the country but in industrial cen-
ters as well.

National Unity

Canada Needs the Communists

“The number of Communists in Canada and the contribution
that we can make to our national life demands our unification

in a public, Dominion-wide organization.
- Comintern has removed the last

obstacle to the establishment of
such a party. It has removed every
vestige of excuse for anybody to
render judgment upon Canadian
Communists on any basis other
than our own declared aims and
purposés and our own actions.”

So stated Tim Buck at the his-
toric meeting held in Toronto last
week to plan a constituent con-
vention of left-wing men and wo-
men from all parts of Canada, who
will gather to establish a new poli-
tical party of Communists in the
Dominion on August 21.

Minister of Justice St. Laurent,
Buck pointed out, acknowledged
that fact in the House of Gom-
mons on Monday, May 24, when in
a reply to a question as to wheth-
er the ban would be lifted follow-
ing the dissoution of the Com-
Mmunist International, he said the
ban had been “passed at a time
when the Communist Party of Can-
ade formed part of the Communist
International,”

Buck quoted the minister as say-
ing that the Communist Party
would be an organization that had
“disappeared,” in such Case, and
that if any group should be made
up of men who formerly belonged
to this organization, “it would de—
pend upon the attitude they adopt-
ed as to whether or not further
action should be taken with re-
spect to them.”

Buck declared that while he had
no desire to enter into controvery
concerning the rea] effect of the

Dissolution of the
dissolution of the Comintern upon
the Defence of Canada Regula-
tions, “the fact is that the GT has
been dissolved. The Communists
in each country now stand with-
out any international affiliation
whatsoever, and their aims are
those which have grown out of
the soil of the needs and aspira-
tions of the people of their coun-
tries, of whom they are a part.
Canadian Communists are part of
the flesh and bone and sinews of
the people of Ganada.

“It is for their interests that we
fight. We are not called upon,
however, either by history, the
Jaws of Canada or the interests of
our fellow-Canadians, to renounce
our Communist convicitions or the
proud, historic name to which
these convictions give us the right.

“The program and constitution
of such a new party must be de-
termined by delegates assembled
in regular constituent convention,”
he continued. “My direct proposal
is that this conference should con-
stitute itself a provisional national
committee to initiate the work of
drawing together the supporters of
Communist. policies, preparing a
draft program and constitution
for their consideration and organ-
izing a constituent convention to
establish such 4 party. :

“Let us unite our forces in a
once-powerful Dominion-wide Par-
ty through which Canadian Com-
munists shall play their full and
rightful democratic role in shap-
ing the destiny of this, our rich
and lovely land.”

_ Native Sons

‘The Indian Act Is Outdated

Before Andy Paull, Native Brotherhood of BC business agent,
and Dan Assu, vice-president of the organization, left for Ot-
tawa to present joint briefs with the United Fishermen’s Union

regarding the Wartime Price
Board’s arbitrary pegging of sal-

mon prices, they stated in an in- -

teryiew with The People that the
problems of the Native Indians of
British Columbia can be solved in
two ways: by greater organization
of the Indians and cooperation
with white unionists to raise liv-
ing standards, and by a more pro-
&ressive attitude on the part of
the government and Indian Af-
fairs department.

Conditions under which Indians

in this province live are surpris-
ingly bad. The Native Brotherhood
was organized to better these con-
ditions. Their people have no de-
sire but to be good citizens of
Canada. They want-to take their
places beside other Canadians and
in order that they will be capable
of full participation in the national
life of Canada and the emphasis
the Brotherhood feels must be
placed upon education.

It is practically impossible for
B.C. Indians to even attend Junior

. —

Dropping past the edge of a cloud, this cargo of more than

100 bombs from a US Army bomber dives down on I] Duce’s
Monserrato airfield in Sardinia.

High School. At the boarding
schools where most Indians re-
ceive their education, the per capi-
ta prant for educational purposes
is so low that the school principals
have to resort to the practice of
having pupils attend classes half a
day and for the rest of the nor-
mal school day work in the fields,
growing their own food. Because
of this, it takes much longer for a
pupil to complete his elementary
education.

It is usual, therefore, for a child
to reach the age of 16 before he
is able to pass his high school en-
trance examination, and a boy of
Sixteen, if he is an Indian, must
get work to support his family.

In 1927, Paull appeared on a dele-
gation before an Ottawa parlia-
mentary committee to ask for a
grant of 100,000 dollars, in perpe-
tuity, to be added t ogrants al-
ready set, some of the money to
be used to provide higher educa-
tion and professional training for
promising Indian students.

For a while this was done. Now
the government seem to have
forgotten about it. In every Indian
community there are fine young
people, some of them remarkably
talented, who are working as fish-
ermen, cannery workers, or long-
Shoremen. Some years ago Paull
recommended that four Indian
boys be sent to technical school.
They were apt, fine scholars. But
the Indian agent wouldn’t recom-
mend them. Now they are working
at the same unskilled job their
fathers did before them. Indians
are noted for their aptitude for
mechanical work. Given proper
training they would be among the
finest mechanics in war industry.

Actually only 400 Indian pupils
out of 4,000 are in sixth, seventh
and eighth grades.

Another problem confronting
Wative Indians is that of proper
medical treatment, and the Broth-
erhood stresses the importance of
better hospitalization of maternity
cases.

A typical case was that of two
Indian women who became preg-
nant, Because they were bearing
their first children, and because
of extreme poverty and lack of
medical care it was expected that
the best attention would be need-
ed if their lives were to be saved.
They were taken by boat from
Nootka to Port Alberni, a distance
of 200 miles over water. They
reached their destination in criti-

cal condition, but the hospital re-
fused to admit them. They were
put back in their boat, and sent
home again. Both women died soon
after in childbirth.

The Brotherhood has been cam-
Paigning ever since its organiza-
tion for better working conditions
for women in canneries and in hop
fields, and through their efforts
the first agreement between na-
tive cannery workers and opera-
tors was signed recently.

Conditions which prevail in hop-
yards are even more deplorable
than those in canneries. The In-
dians are foreed to live in long
sheds. Their drinking water is
brought down from the mountains
in barrels, and every year epidem-
icS are responsible’ for many
deaths. Improvements must be
made, and workers must be treat-
ed as human beings.

Although Indians pay indirect
taxes and income tax, none of the
benefits of citizenship apply to
them. Pensions are not available
to Indian women. Destitute Indian
families receive the sum of $4
monthly, out of which they must
take care of their entire family,
no matter how large. And 90 per-
cent of the money used for In-
dian relief comes from tribal funds
held in trust in Ottawa. The gov-
ernment itself admits that 50 per-
cent of money appropriations for
Indians is spent on administration.

If the educational system was
progressive, Indians believe their
people would be self-supporting
now. The British Columbia Indians
have been treated miserably, The
Indian Act is almost 100 years old
and 100 years out of date. The
Indians are a progressive people
Soverned by antiquated laws.

A few generations ago Indians
manned war canoes, and travelled
up and down the coast on missions
of war. Now -they man fishing
boats to provide our country with
food. School books teach that they
are Savages, intent on intertribal
war; today they meet to talk bro-

therhood, organization, and cGiti-
zenship.”

A fine example of the solidarity
between once warring tribes is

seen in the offices of the Native
Brotherhood itself, where Vice-
President Assu, son of a famous
Cape Mudge chief, discusses union
tactics with Business Agent Paull,
of the Squamish tribe, which for-
merly regarded the Gape Mudge
Indians as hated enemies.

Sa