Page 4 — Saturday, February 17, 1945

CUUDOANSSUSUORUETAMATESUCSTCSEOUSESUSAAESSLASULVATUASTLEKASPLALACRTSTLEU TESS SES

PACIFIC ADVOCATE

gS SPECSESSUUUUSANADSEXEACASTTPRACCAUSUASAPSEUCCOEDRRPRUA CCAS ITER TES LELA ES EEET “ERD

PEOPLE’S VOICE FOR PROGRESS

Published every Saturday by The People Publishing Com-
pany, Room 104, Shelly Building, 119 West Pender Street,
Vancouver, British Columbia and printed at East End
Printers, 2303 Bast Hastings Street, Vancouver, British
Columbia. Subscription Rates: One year $2, six months $1.

Editor
Cc. A. SAUNDERS

Associate Editor
MYER SHARZER

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1945

Crimean Conference

oF HE concord of the United Nations forged at Teheran has
| been further reinforced and carried to higher levels in the

eight day conference held by Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin
and Franklin Roosevelt at Yalta in the Crimea.

Agreement has been reached on all of the major problems
confronting the Allies.

Nazi Germany faces the future in the full knowledge
that her early doom has been sealed, with the Allies more united
for victory than ever.

Plans for the occupation and control of Germany have
been completed. and common policies worked out for enforcing
the terms of unconditional surrender.

Questions of reparations have been considered and agreed
upon.

Agreement has been reached on the calling of a United
Wations conference at San Francisco on April 25, 1945, to
prepare the Charter for such an organization proposed at
Dumbarton Oaks, that is a general international organization to
maintain peace and security.

All problems were tackled with courage and sincerity,
bringing agreement on the questions of Poland and Yugo-—-
slavia, whilst provision for procedure which would prevent
recurrence of such episodes as the Greek controversy was made
in the decision to set up permanent machinery for consultation
between the three foreign secretaries and to take no unilateral
action in liberated territory——but to act in consultation.

The conference is an adequate answer to those who sneered
at that first historic conference and refutes those who have
grasped in triumph every difference appearing in the ranks of
the United Nations.

The chagrin of the enemy at the failure of their efforts
to divide the United Nations, to sow distrust and confusion
in an endeavor to secure a negotiated peace has found expres-
sion in statements.and broadcasts emanating from Berlin and
Tokio. These statements are unfortunately finding some echo
in press reports and analysis both in this country and in the
United States. :

The endeavor to sum up the result of the Yalta conference
in terms of whether the United States, Great Britain or the
Soviet Union gained most from it shows an absolute failure
to grasp the real significance of the event.

The development and implementation of the concord will
be the gain of all humanity, in terms of human welfare, peace
and economic advancement. This is the meaning of this meet-
ing; the three major powers of the world have found a basis
for cooperation both to preserve the peace of the world and
to ensure justice to all peoples. The first hurdle on the road
to implementation of the Tehran agreement has been sur-
mounted resulting in greater understanding and unanimity
than was ever believed possible. There will undoubtedly be
misunderstandings and many difficult problems arise in the
future. That they can and will be solved is implicit in the
agreements so far reached.

Any belittling, sneering, or musrepresentation of the
Yalta agreements can only play into the hands of the Fascist
and pro-Fascist world forces. The degree of unanimity reached
is well summed up in the concluding paragraphs of the docu-
ment as follows: ze

“Our. meeting here in the Crimea has reaffirmed our com-
mon determination to maintain and strengthen in the peace to
come that unity of purpose and of action which has made vic-
tory possible and certain for the United Nations in this war.

“Te believe that this is a sacred obligation which our
governments owe to our peoples and to all the peoples of the
world.

“Only with the continuing and growing cooperation and
understanding among our three countries and among all the
peace-loving nations can the highest aspiration of humanity
be realized——a secure and lasting peace which will, in the
words of the Atlantic Charter, “afford assurance that all the
men in all the lands may live out their lives in freedom from
fear and want.

“Tictory in this war and establishment of the proposed
international organization will provide the greatest oppor-
tunity in all history to create in the years to come the essential

conditions of such a peace.”

This

7S speech from: the throne at the opening of
the. B.C. Legislature was generally greeted
with approval by the people of the province. The
promise of the Government to immediately com-

plete the Hope - Princeton
Highway and to construct a
highway to the Peace Rivers
the allotment of $10,000,000
for hydro-electric develop-
ment; expansion of the Uni-
versity to include faculties

of Medicine, Pharmacy and
Law; these together with
other measures proposed con-
stituted at least the begin-
ning of a program that will
bring economic development
and provide employment dur-
ing the period of postwar re- :
construction. Compared with the carping criti-
cism offered by the CCF opposition accompanied
by. their customary “Socialism or ruin” slogan
the legislative proposals for this session were
sound and constructive.

OWEVER, there were grave deficiencies in the
legislative program presented by Premier
Hart. Not only was there no definite assurance
of the government’s intention to acquire the B.C.
Bilectric Company’s properties but there was not

_a single piece of labor legislation proposed.

All of the proposals of the B.C. Federation of
Labor for the check-eff of union dues and amend-
ments to the Workmen’s Compensation Act were
simply ignored. No proposals were advanced for
further amendments to the ICA Act, so that it
could become operative when the Federal Labor

Around Town »

Sales I last wrote a column_on the subject of
housing, I have had some first-hand experi-
ence with the crisis. For three months—it seemed
like three years—12 of us lived in one medium-
sized house. There -was a .
couple who owned the house,
their three sons, a seldier’s
wife and her baby, a single
shipyard worker, the house-
keeper, her son, and our-
selves, along with two dogs,
a kitten and a large eat.
Preparing meals was like
petting ready for an HElk’s
Convention and we consider-
ed installing trafic lights in
the kitchen! There was an
average of one-third -bed-
room for each of us, and the
supply of hot water, we cal-
culated, alowed for two-thirds of a bath per
person per week. Laundry, too, was a problem.
There was a sort of Stanley-Livingstone touch
to meeting up with one of your own shirts, the
boys tell me, and one chap, who moved into a
one-room shack in a ee search for lebens-
raum, left with six odd socks none of which he
originally owned.

The situation eased somewhat when the
housekeeper’s son gave up his third of a pull-
put couch and shipped with the marchant navy
to Brazil. But lack of quiet and privacy did
little to bolster the morale of the four war
workers among us, and the knowledge that ours
was not one of the more serious cases was not
in the least consoling.

i\Eeee Monday’s city council meeting I had

~ little talk with Ald. H. I. Corey about housing
ing in Vancouver. Ald. Corey told me that within
the next few days he will be conferring with the
federal housing administrator, who has recently
returned from Ottawa. After that conference,
Ald. Corey feels, he will have a pretty good idea
of this city’s housing future.

“We need at least five thousand homes to
take care of the most desperate cases,” he ad-
mitted. “The council has decided to cooperate
fully with federal authorities.’

Ald. Corey speaks with some authority as
chairman of the city building committee and
successor to Ald. George (et-em-live-in-the-
streets) Buscombe, whose high-handedness was
finally too much for even the Non-Partisans to
stomach, and who consequently was given the
gate when this year’s civic committees were set
up. Now, Corey points out, the picture is a little
brighter, since the federally-appointed adminis-

y/ eek By Fergus McKean

Code PC1003 lapses with the conclusion of 4

war, which may happen before another gq
of the legislature is held. a eS

: 3 e@

HILE many of the unions are still de}
the question of independent political ;
the organized employers of the province, 4]j
of them, are taking political action and y
vengeance.

During the past week a brief opposin:
check-off of union dues was s prosentaeaee
cabinet representing every employers” org,’
tion in the province. The employers are no
organized but 100 percent united in taking Z
pendent political action to serye their eco; :
interests. Surely this example should ¢oy
the most backward trade unionists of the
of political action by organized labor inde
ent of political parties. ‘i

The question of the check-off of union ‘qj
of yital importance to the consolidation 5°
trade unions. The employers realize {pic
have organized the most powerful lobby 7
history of the provincial house.

To offset the employers’ lebby the orga
labor movement is organizing a mass lob}
February 25 which, from the viewpoint oF
represented, should far surpass the lobby ¢
employers.

More so than ever before -the trade union;
ment must take independent political a¢j
the unions are to be further strengthened an
solidated and the welfare of their members
guarded. The main task is to see that #
tempts of the CCF to hogtie the unions tp
party and block independent political ach
defeated and that labor is united to achieve |
reforms which only political action can seq’

Cynthia Carter

trator has power to allocate materials and
to construction of living accommodation
and as he sees fit. Which spells good ne
the families of war workers and - sery
erowded into hotel rooms they can’t atior
Powell Street slums they can’t tolerate.

H were discussing housing the other € |
when Pauline, the little girl from doy
block, was here. She looked up from her
work, and told us what she thought abou,

“Sure, more people mean more house }
agreed, “but the city has to grow all 0
you have more people you need more ot
thing—more soda bars, more movies, moi
corn, and, she finished triumphantly,
holidays!’

Pauline’s got something there! More
mean extended community services, moi
pitals,. and more schools, although Pauline”
be the last to admit that. More school
better eauipment and well-appointed lunch
are a erying need in this province. :

Qur educational program should now |
the concern of all citizens, and particul §
trade union Political Action Committees. |}
present time an extensive survey inte) [
tional costs in B.G. is being made, and |
good tme for the PAC’s to impress on nig
of the legislature the need for improve }
extension of the existing educational ; g
Premier John Hart’s announcement to thi}
lature that educational grants will be m
is very gratifying. and certainly a step §
tight direction. PAG’s should express th ff
proval—and ask for more of the same. It
ish Columbia Teacher’s Federation has lk
a campaign for better faciliates and
teaching standards. They should receive t @
port of all brother and’ sister trade union! @

SOUTH of the border in the state of W
where a similar housing problem exist #
De Lacey, peoples’ representative im th #
capital, has taken a similar view of the?
“sll-over” development, and has told ¢
that action must be taken at once. De Le
facts and figures to back up his argume @
we're willing to bet hell get results. Sug
who fight sincerely for the god of them ¢@
encies and take with them to the highest @
ing body in the nation the backing ©
unions and progressive organzatos, are @
guarantee a people that solutions to sul
lems wil be forthcoming. This is someth
the people of British Columbia wili re@,
come Canada’s electon day. =