PEOPLE'S VOICE

FOR PROGRESS

7 No. 40

C=

4 VANCOUVER, B.C, SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 1945

Freedom-loving people
trifying news flashed around
feat handed Churchill and th
5 Cents| the British Isles. The election oO

Churchill-Led Tory

Beaten In Landslide Vote

As British Move To Left

in every land rejoiced this week at the eleca
£ the resounding de=

by Clement Atlee, to Westminster, as opposed to
of British voter-opinion since the defeat of Lord

most decisive expression

ideration

‘pnvention
willed Here

He Second Annual con-
fon of the British Colum-
i Federation: of Labor,
9), will be held in a criti-
jeectiod for the ‘trade union
@ement,’’ stated Harold
maiett, Secretary of the Fed-
fn, in a statement to P.A.
Sweek. ‘Out of this conven-
F vill come a progressive pro-
> to meet the immediate
“ems of housing, rehabilita-
mR of servicemen and political

Meer tea

71?

\ tchett pointed out that this
se :ntion will be even more im-
Eiint because the conference
fF) e Canadian Congress of La-
m@inas been postponed due to

~i@ me travel resrictions.

k-o hundred delegates, repre-
| ng over 80 local unions and
ag from all sections of the
nee will attend the meeting
scuss the burning problems
the coming period holds for
@.abor movement.

:

e convention will convene at
o'clock August 4, in the
fe] Vancouver, when E. Leary,
fident of the Vancouver La-
Council, under whose spon-
Ship the convention will be
=, will open the meeting and-
=. introduce the representa-
" of the City Council, Alder-
i. Jack Price.
"in imposing list of speakers

{ seheduled to address. the
a emb led trade unionists.
gakers include Dr. G. F.

Ayot, Provincial Department
#Health; M. McGeough, Re-
fial War Labor Board; James
Mmpson, Provincial Depart-
it of Labor; Claude Donald,
irkers Educational Associa-
mi; Wm. McKinstry, Regional
Sperintendent, Unemployment
blurance Commission; Major
@neral Worthington, GOC in C,
Ezific Command; Alex McAus-
Gee, Vice-President. CCL; and
ps.ers.

' *rom the deliberations of the
‘ésembled union delegates, a
« ar lead will be given of the
“Bans. to be implemented to
(cnsolidate the gains that have
fien achieved and to broaden

: fade union activity throughout
y ; province’s industry.

at

Pres. Harry S. Truman s

hakes hands with Marshal
Stalin’s quarters in Berlin. L. Sec. of State James F.

Soviet Foreign’ Minister Molotov.

to r.:

Stalin

the world from Britain Q
e British. Tories by voters in every corner of
f 393 candidates of the

as
Byrnes;

he begins visit to
Truman, Stalin and

on which to erect houses.

Vancouver’s “cut” in the f<«d-
eral housing pie was set at 1250
housing units, and work was im-
mediately commenced on 250 of
these homes. The contract-
crs expressed fears that ma-
terial shortages might interfere
with the building schedule, it
was stated that houses would be
“almost ready for occupancy in
five weeks.”

- Although 1250 homes . would
make a small dent in the Van-
couver housing shortage, it was
felt that much more pretentious
housing plans would have to be
instituted following completion
of the initial program. Elgin
Ruddell, secretary of the Citi-
zens’ Emergency Housing Com-
mittee told P.A., ‘The  build-
ing of -these homes can _ be
thought of as a step in the right
direction, but there is a need for
rot 1,000 but at least 8,000 if the
pressure is to be relieved.”

It was felt that manpower
shortage might cause delay in
large scale implementation of
present plans, and J. Y. McCart-

Vancouver City Council, after: months of
delay on the federal housing program, finally

Civic Housing Scheme Commenced
As City Council Finally Grants Site

delay on the housing question and weeks of
granted lots to Wartime Housing Limited,

er, supervising architect for the
construction company comment-
ed that, “The komes for veterans
will be completed sooner if the
veterans themselves help. The
manpower shortage is serious,
but the government is offering
courses in construction to veter-
ans.”

An announcement from Hum-
phrey Mitchell, Minister of La-
bor, stated that under Na-
tional Selective Service regula-
tions requested all workers ex-
perienced in construction indus-
try and not at present employed
in the industry to register at
their local Selective Service of-
fices between August 6 and 11,
inclusive.

During the week of registra-
tion, it was announced, all offices
of Selective Service will remain
open until 9 p.m. to facilitate the
registration of men working in
employment other than construc-
tion during the day. Provision

was made for persons living more
than five miles from an employ-

‘the city

ment office to “register at the
nearest post office.

“Homes must be provided for
veterans,” Mitchell stated, “and
only by taking every means to
provide the necessary labor can
it be hoped essential building will
be carried out this year in suf-
ficient time.” -

The homes being built in Van-
couver are of the “Sea Island”
type, an improved type of hous-

‘ing unit particularly adapted to

the Coast, it was explained by
the company architect. Assur-
ance was given that the best
materials available will go into
the construction of the homes,
and the house value per unit was
set at $3500.

The first 150 lots allocated by
are situated east and
west of Fraser Avenue between
thirty-fourth and thirty-eighth.
Another group west of Fraser
and south of Fiftieth is being
considered.

(Continued on Page 3)
See HOUSING SCHEME

Labor Party, headed
only 190 Tories. was the.

Balfour in 1906.

Indicating the tremendous
interest in the election, the
first since 1935, 25,000,000
out of a possible 32,500,000

electors went to the polls.
The popular vote was 11,-
567.996 for Labor and

8,656,966 for the Conserva-
tives. Approximately 60 per-
cent of the total vote went to
candidates who Opposed the

government
The soldier vote, totalling
about 1,250,000 is believed to

have gone overwhelmingly labor.
Efforts to use Churchill’s war
record as a gilded facade for
Tory intrigue met a stony recep-
tion. The famed ‘Desert Rats,”
British troops who stormed their
way from El Alamein to Ger-
many, cheered Attlee, not Chur-
chill, when they were reviewed in
Berlin during the -course -of the
Potsdam conference Sentiments
of the army were expressed in 4
letter from one ‘Tommy’ overseas
to his wife. As quoted by the
London Daily Worker he urged
her to “Vote as Red as you can.”

iClement R. Attlee, who suc-
ceeds Churchill as Premier, is
rounding out his cabinet, seeking
young men to cope with the gi-
gantic task of rebuilding post-
war Britain and aiding in the Tre-
building of the world. Key posi-
tions have already been filled by
Ernest Bevin as Foreign Minis-
ter, Hugh Dalton as Chancellor
of the Exchequer, Sir Stafford
Cripps as President of the Board
of Trade, and Herbert Morrison
as President of the Council and
leader in the House.

FOREIGN POLICY

Contrary to the opinion ex-

{pressed during the election by

many North American news-
papers, Labor’s sweeping victory
indicates the probability of many
changes in Britain’s foreign pol-
icy. There has been a tendency
in some quarters to view the
British election as being fought
purely on domestic issues; and
that whatever the outcome, the
British government would con-
tinue much the same course in
the international field:. While it is
true that the vast majority of
Britons are united in support of
the objectives laid down at Te-
heran and Yalta, it has long been
obvious that Churchill and the
Tories have been disrupting the
“Big Three” unity that lies at
the heart of United Nations co-
operation, have been striving to
subject the newly liberated
peoples of Europe to vicious
anti-popular puppet regimes, and
to perpetuate the reign of im-

(Continued on page 8)

See BRITISH ELECTIONS