a
|
Yi er, in his January, 1944,
asserts: “The second basie
in Comrade Browder’s EES
s the idea that the main
Sof American finance capi-
Snow or can be incorporated
ie national unity necessary.
‘ery out the decisions. of the
oS n Conference in a demo-
ate arid progressive spirit.”
not think that we excluded
lossibilities of cooperation
lecisive sections of finance
, as-I have already indi-
riff and as a study of other
ents and pronouncements
news E
= N\CRATIC STRUGGLE
® argument that we put for-
Ha platform of democratic
amie is valid ohly in that we
all fized. that a powerful sec-
jf monopoly capital openly
thd d the policies we advocated
mG called for struggle against
@ But when we called for in-
31 of decisive sections of big
“ss within that democratic
‘what else was this than ad-
of class peace for the
"ir period.

(

%

De

On

at

Ug :
ji is further evident from

det lowing statement in “Unity
(er0s:” “Another not so ob-
ied” but potentially serious
i to national unity and full
‘: foment of policies for in-
‘sy onal cooperation in post-
"@econstruction lies in the

sread skepticism among the

ics, farmers and progres-

‘rban middle. class people,
“ening the intentions of the
“Nz .ment and big. business.”
Es obviously another way of
@y:terising finance capital as
"Be 2ssive—the essence of the
"@ ler analysis. _
re

,@ national’ election slogan is
Sr proof. Certainly a coali-
Sof “workers, farmers, pro-

wenals,. small businessmen
Pll of the capitalist elements
fe vill loyally support the pro-
'? (Foster), a liberal-labor

*— on, as a general tactic and

a4 Ee, was correct. However, by

ing the Liberal Party, or its
ity elements, within this
<# ion—as recognized spokes-
sim of a section of monopoly

; @l—we were actually not ad-

7 @ mug areal liberal-labor eoali-

‘fiespite our use of the name.

5 ipparently fell victim to what
i called the ‘“‘inclinatien to

,for a reply to concrete ques-
in the simple logical de-

? ment of the general truth.”

| &cause a liberal-labor coali-
il policy was correct (a gen-

truth) we made no serious
bapt to analyze the concrete

ation but uneritically accept-,
btHae official Liberal party as
if»senting Canada’s liberal ele-
O&s of the bourgeoisie, who
e.d by their nature be willing
B operate for progressive poli-
“ To top it off, we joined
‘arder in characterising a de-
ef section of monopoly capi-

le

ups liberal. Sos
2f:e fact that in the U.S. the
si evelt administration’ was in
<a liberal-labor coalition quite
xx:rently led us to see in the
ac government an expression
i iberalism. among the. bourg-
iis. Comrade Buck correctly

se eee
“Highest Prices Paid for
; LAMONDS, OLD GOLD,
‘Other. Valuable Jewellery
sTAR LOAN CO. Ltd.
SC st. 1905
39 Robson St. MAr. 2622
p

Se Fee poe

National Unity |

noted in “Unity or Chaos” that
“there is a grave need for change
in the policies.of the King gov-

sernment.” This was in=Pébruary.
“Yetdn May, without such change,

we accepted the need for part-
nership with this administration.

It is important to note why
‘such changes did not occur. I
think the answer is, firstly, that
the Liberal government of fi-
nance capital would not make
such changes of its own accord
except under: tremendous pres-
sure; and, secondly, our party
(the only one that could and
would) did not mobilize the peo-
ple and in the first place the
working class to exert such pres-
sure. We essentially accepted the
Brewder thesis that such pres-
sure contradicted the cooperation
or type of national unity we
sought.

As well, by uncritically charac-
terising a section of finance cap-
jtal as progressive, by advocat-
ing cooperation with this section,
we contributed to strengthening
the influence and control of fi-
ance capital over the real liberal
elements of the Liberal party. In
cther words, our tactics made the
achievement of a real liberal labor
coalition more difficult. ‘

I do not- think the fact that we
had a minimum program for na-

tional unity made any difference; |

just as the fact that the Ameri-
can CPA had a very similar min-
jmum program did not weaken
Duclos’ criticism (Political . Af-
fairs, July, page 667).

There are two other points
which I would like to touch on
briefly in their relation’ to the
above.

DIFFERENCE OF DEGREE?-

Firstly, are there any grounds
for not applying Foster’s charac-
terisation of American imperial-
ism as “strong, greedy and ag-
gressive” to Canadian imperial-

ism?_I do not think so. In com-
parison with prewar days it has
increased its relative strength
tremendously in the international
sphere and the concentration of
monopoly in our economy has also
been increased. As to greed and
aggressiveness, the only differ-
ence might be one of degree.

Secondly, to what extent, if
any, did the continued existence
of our Labor-Progressive Party
constitute a break with revision-
ism? Leaving aside the implica-
tion as to the nature of our party
given by the name we chose (and
this I think should be seriously
and scientifically reviewed also),
the essential point is not the ex-
istence of a party but its policies,
what it does. If in many respects,
we followed policies based on a
platform of class peace, then the
fact that we maintained such a
party merely raises the question
of degree of responsibility. It can
hardly be considered a difference
in kind.

As to the question of why we
maintained our party, if we did
accept the Browder line, I think it
Was because under the peculiar
concrete conditions of Canadian
politics and its history the type
of-unity jwe were aiming at could
not be achieved without a political
party form of organization.

Because of limitations of space,
I-have been. unable to deal with a
-considerable number of important
points pertinent to the discussion.

I hope th@t the P.A.’s “welcome |

initiative in opening the discus-
sion will result in a large num-
ber of contributions which will
provide an insight into the opin-

ions of the workers based on their.

actual experience. This is the only
road to clarification and arm-
ing ourselves ideologically for

SE 3 — PACIFIC ADVOCATE

MYER SHARZER

the important and difficult tasks
which lie ahead.”

At the same time it is neces-
sary to sound a word of warning.
I have endeavored to be as ob-
jective as possible and avoid any
tendency to distortion and un-
justified defeatism. -

The lack of space has pre-
vented any review of the many
great contributions made by
the Labor-Progressive Party
to the winning of the war
against fascism and to the
gains achieved by the working
elass in the last period.

These should not be forgotten
in any evaluation of past work
precisely because correct policy
row depends on correct evalua-
tion of past policies. I have no

doubt that we shall emerge from
the present discussion stronger
than ever as the Marxist-Lenin-
ist party of the workers, the
only party prepared and capable
of leading the people to socialism.

West Coast Representative of
the Canadian. Seamen’s. Union
reports. this. week. Smith, who
has just returned from a meet-
ing of the National Executive
Board of the CSU, ‘informed
P.A. that this decision was
adopted at the conference in a
resolution which called for the
establishment and maintenance
of Canada’s wartime merchant
navy as a peacetime service.
Smith also pointed out the need

for consolidating the gains
made by the trade union move-
ment. during wartime. “Al-

though our Union has grown,”
a statement from, the unionist
says, “the tasks confronting the
seamen have grown to greater
magnitude, and although the
war with Germany is over, we
must continue our efforts in de-
livering the goods until victory
over Japan is won. With Ger-
many licked, the problems of
the peace are standing out very
clearly, as is the fact that our
seamen’s conditions are closely
related to those of seamen of
other countries. For Canadian
seamen to be prosperous, the
seamen of all countries must be
prosperous.”

“International reactionar-
ies are attempting to under-
mine world security and re-
turn to the conditions of the
hungry thirties. The fact that
the representatives of sixty.

million trade unionists . from

Seek Joint Action

On Union

The Vancouver Labor
Council (CCL) decided at its
regular meeting this week to
seek an early’ joint meeting
with the Greater Vancouver
Trades and Labor Council (AFL)
to promote increased co-opera-
tion between the major
union bodies and their affiliates
issues affecting
the welfare of organized labor.

two
on all major

The action came as a result of
a letter from the Federation of
‘Youth,
ing the extreme urgency of mo-
bilizing the full united strength
of the union movement to cope
with such pressing problems as
postwar employment, union se-
housing, security
and other questions.

The Council took action on a

large number of immediate prob-
lems. In a resolution to be for-
warded to the convention of the
‘B.C. - Federation of Labor, the
delegates urged “that National
Selective Service perform its
proper function as a national
employment service and in every
distzict elected representatives
of organized labor be “employed
on such boards, and that private
employment services be elimin-

Democratic emphasiz-

curity, social

ated and trade union hiring halls

be encouraged and given official

Problems

recognition by the government.”

A further resolution from the
Legislative Committee dealing
with Wage Control Order PC
9884 objected to unions having
“eross inequality” in
demanding wage increases. It
urged the B.C. Federation of La-
ber and the Canadian Congress
of Labor to press for changes
that would convert the order into

to prove

an effective barrier to substand-
ard wages. An amendment pro-
posed by Lawrence Anderson
was adopted which demanded
that the War Labor Board should
approve any agreement. reached
by collective bargaining between
a union and employer.

An attempt by Dominion La-
bor Minister Humphrey Mitchell
to cloak over
employers on the part of Na-
tional War Labor Board advisor:
W. H: Ley fell on deaf ears.
Council President Ed Leary stat-
ed that Mr. Mitchell’s account
of Mr. Ley’s conversation with
shipyard operators’ representa-
tive Brenchley was incorrect,
and the council reiterated its
demand for the dismissal ‘of Ley,
with Secretary John Turner in-
structed to reacquaint Mr. Mit-
chell with the facts.

collusion with

Seamen Stress Need For
Merchant Fleet

A series of regional conferences, for the purpose of edu-
cating the people and the labor movement to the need for
the maintenance of a Canadian Merchant Navy, will be called
by the Canadian Seamen’s Union, J. M. “Digger” Smith,

30 countries were refused
seats at the world conference
“while the fascist government
of Argentina was. seated
should serve as a warning to
Canadian labor in the future.”

Smith reports that many of
the grave. problems confronting
the seamen in the future were
discussed. Attempts: will un-
doubtedly be made to return to
the pre-war status of shipping
in this country, and these at-
tempts are spearheaded by the
Montreal Board of Trade, who
already are advocating the sale
of the Canadian merchant fleet
to other interests, basing them-
selves on the premise that Bri-
tain and other countries can
operate ships more cheaply than
this country can. The fight of
the union will be to establish a
Canadian Merchant Marine for —
peacetime shipping needs.
Other points dealt with at the
conference included amendments

to the Canada Shipping Act,.
Seamen’s Compensation, devel-
opment of the St. Lawrence

Seaway, and the upgrading and
training of unlicensed seamen
and officers.

WAR RISK BONUS

Two major points of consider-
ation were the War Risk Bonus,
which the union is attempting
to have included. as part of the

.seamen’s, basic pay rate, and the

eight-hour day on all lake and
coastal vessels. Seamen at pres-
ent are compelled to work hours
sometimes in excess of 80 per
week.

In addition there will be car-
ried on the fight for a: guaran-
teed annuai minimum wage for
seamen, union participation in
administering the manning
pools, and fairer treatment for
seamen discharged at ports
other than their home ports.

The National Executive Board
meeting passed a_ resolution
calling for the establishment of
a permanent Canadian merchant
fleet composed of modern ships,
and the educating of the public
to the need for such a fleet. The
resolution in its preamble calls
for the maintenance of the Can-
adian merchant marine as a pre-
requisite to full employment, the
maintenance and healthy devel-
opment of Canada’s internation-
al trade, the independence of our
water-borne trade, and the main-
tenance of Canada’s ship build-
ing and repairing program,

The resolution states:

Be it resolved that the Can-
adian Seamen’s Union calls for
the establishment of a perman-
ent Canadian Merchant fleet
composed of modern ships as an
essential need for the mainten-
ance of Canada’s position as the
fourth producing nation in the
world, and that the National Ex-
ecutive Board instruct the na-
tional office to inform the Can-
adian people of the need for
such a merchant fleet, and that
the national office be instructed
to institute a series of regional
conferences throughout the
Dominion to’ which all labor and
other interested groups will be
invited to participate toward
this end.”

SATURDAY, JULY 28, 1945.