eB Thea is

ship
()Ehe Pacific Tribune:
eship is proven by re-
sesident Truman for in-
sean make an anti-Soviet
‘but millions of Ameri-
‘use to accept his state-
@:is facts. History has
‘to them that Soviet ac-
ve invariably the oppo-
; what slandersers say-
as regards Churchill,
er how cunningly he
_his imperialist scheme,
Acompetent to make a
|without numerous Am-

= congressmen, senators
Mizens joining in opposi-
te
‘nim.

isainst these proponents
| Joseph Stalin has but
fe their purpose to the
ftom Soviet citizens, and
ict is unanimously en-
@ Recent events . have
@jais influence is so pow-
_to make Churchill and
a, together with news-
@:ditors and cartoonists,
| retreat to the position
lus support the UNO in
3 avoid war.”  .
foraising these leaders it
sus that Stalin can tell
ts hh, because he truly rep-

fie Speaks. Contrarywise,

the Soviet people to-

Churchill and Truman are rep-

resentatives of capitalist oli-
garchies dedicated to the-exploi-
tation of the common man;
hence if they told the truth
they would most likely met the
fate of Lincoln.

JOHN MacKEHNZIE.

War Is Hell

Editor, The Pacific Tribune:
When British and American

bankers were financing the

_ Axis powers for the purpose of

crushing Russia, they ignored
Soviet warnings that a fascist
fun could shoot in two direc-
tions. As a result the demo-
cratic countries were unprepar=
ed for war, and all will remem-
ber Churchill’s messages of gra-
titude for Russia’s role in the
liquidation of Hitlers But now
the Axis powers have been beat-
en, we find citizen Churchill fo-

menting war with our Soviet

Ally even more viciously than
the Hearst press. ; :

War is hell at any time, and
though we were justified in
fighting World War Two as our
liberty and very existence was
threatened by fascist powers,
why should Churchill threaten
world peace now they have
been rendered impotent? There
are many however, who know

ou Department

Churchill’s role in history and
can therefore forsee his real
purposes, regardless as to how
cunningly he contrives to con-
ceal them.

Qnly atomic madmen crave
war, ‘The people want peace
and constructive work — not
more guns instead of butter:
There are over 60 million home-
less children and orphans in my
native land—China—ail as a
consequence of the war. The
world is still cluttered with
wrecked buildings; people are
still sewing shrouds for wun-
buried war victims, while hosts
of innocent people face starva-
tion. It is not then high time
we prevent additional world
suffering by isolating all war-
mongers as dangerous enemies.

H. SHAN GEN.
250 Hast Pender St.,
Vancouver, B.C.

Eiditor’s Note: All letters for
publication must be brief
not exceeding 300 words, and
must be signed by, the author.
A pen-name may be used at
the author’s request, but no
anonymous letters to the editor
will be accepted for publica-
tion. Tuesday night is the
deadline for all materials in the
Pacific Tribune.

iuebec People

M@SSiS’ concern for provincial autonomy is
illustrated by the disclosure that over
qaare miles of nothern Quebec, known as
, has been turned over to a Canadian-
Sm mining syndicate for twenty years.
es this ‘champion’ of the people’s rights
j our natural resources.
® © as housing is concerned, Duplessis’ sole
tion has been to assure the Proprietors’
=. that he would not complicate the land-
 coblem by meddling in the housing crisis.
fis the real “provincial autonomy”? which
“s seeks to perpetuate. This is what Du-
“iad in mind when he told a delegation
= Provincial Federation of Labor (AFL)
imber, that any federal-provincial labor
aust take into account Quebec’s special
sristics and conditions.”
{C MOVES AHEAD
VAR Quebec, however is not the Quebec
resteryear. A veritable “revolution” has
Jace in our proyance. The war has made
one of the great industrial provinces of
_ Qur industrial working class almost
and trade-union organizations more than
® during the war.
§ he first time in their lives, tens of thous-
==: Brench-Canadian war workers learned
rough organization, wage levels could be
up to those of other parts of Canada.
‘quality was won in a number of industries.
and English-speaking workers alike
ithe lesson of unity.
war iS over now, but the lesson has not
rgotten. Today, in the face of monopoly’s
0 return to the low wages of the basic
ime industries, to create a pool of un-
ed, (latest figures show 76,000 unemploy-
Quebec), the workers are preparing for
@ugeles to maintain and extend their war-
ains, through organization of industries
fs textles, boots and shoes, food, packing-
=obacco.
sicles, of course, are not lacking. The labor
fsnt is far from being united. Duplessis
f, such as Fournier, who tried most un-
fully te lead a red-baiting campaign at
ms Trades and Labor Congress, still have
nfluence and haye created, with the help
CCF, a serious split in the A.F. of L.
ent.

CIEIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 5

ANAT

\iplessis Uses Anti-Soviet Hysteria To Deprive
Of Reforms -

- By GEORGE McCUTCHEON

(Concluded) —

More recently, Marquette, one of the leaders
of the CCL pulled out from that body and speaks
of organizing “national” and “independent” trade
unions. What and who are behind Marquette’s
move is not yet clear, but there is no doubt that
it represents a new attempt to split the labor
movement,

In addition, the International Office of the
Machinists has launchéd a drive against the
left-wingers in the IAM on trumped-up charges
and phony trials. However, the aircraft workers
refused to support this splitting manoeuvre. In-=
stead, they began to join the new Montreal Air-
craft Local UWnion, organized by the former
leaders of the machinists lodge, despite the at-
tempts of the company to intimidate them by
firing a large number of workers. The new union
has the support of the great majority of the air-
craft workers and has applied for certification.
DUPLESSIS’ AGENTS
ACS the splitters and Duplessis’ agents,

against the bitter opposition of the employ-
ers, the trade-union movement is begining to
move forward. Net fast enough as yet, but cer-
tain toe gain momentum within a short time. CCL
unions will soon hold a wage conference in Mon-
treal. Ihe tobacco union is planning a national
conference here in the near futuer. Textile work-
ers are preparing to challenge Dominion Tex-
tile’s public réfusal to deal with their union.

From these beginnings must come a mighty,
united organizational campaign, like those in the
war industries, built around such demands as a
minimum wage with no cut in take-home pay,
unfreezing of wages, collective bargaining and
union security, 50 per cent increase in unemloy-
ment insurance and) a national labor code.

Such a campaign could defeat the splitters and
establish labor unity in action. But more than
that. The winning of these demands would pro-
vide, at the same time, the strongest possible
blow against Duplessis. The labor movement
could rally other sections of the population to
its side in the fight for econome and Social secur-
ity and force him to back down in his opposition
to federal social legislation. The Drew-Duplessis
alliance which, at present, is the main. political
weapon of reactionary Big Business against the
fight to improve our economic and social con-
ditons. could be smashed and the way cleared
for advance.

Short Jabs » o ei

The time has come round again for our column to do
its share in raising the necessary sustaining fund to
keep our paper, the leading labor paper in B.G., in the forefront ana to

assist in securing a wider circulation by selling subscriptions to old and
new readers.

Press Drive

In the last drive the contribution we were asked to assume was
$100 in donations and 50 subscriptions. We succeeded in that; in fact we
over-subscribed our quota. We are asked to repeat this time, a perfor-
mance which we should~be perfectly willing to attempt or rather to
exceed in this drive because of the changed labor situation and the
greater need for a paper with the policies of the Pacific Tribune,

In the last drive we had nobody on our tail. This time we have been
challenged by the business manager, Ivan Birchard. He thinks he ean
beat us off his own bat. Let us hope he raises more than we did last
time; but we must make sure that we raise more than he does this time.

We may be handicapped since I will not be at the center of things as
I will be moving around the province during the whole period of the
drive and the entire organizational work of raising our quota will have
to be done through the appeal in this column from week to week.

if we go at the job with a will, however, that should not be
much of a barrier. All you Short Jab readers have to do, is
to get out and rustle a few new subs, or renewals or solicit a few dollars
in donations, send them to the office of the Pacifie Tirbune, marking
them for Ol’ Bill’s column and we will surely make the grade.

It’s Easy

If you have no other equipment, the coupon you will find in another
Part of this paper will do. But it will be much easier, if you intend to
help on our committee, to write to the office and ask them to send some
subseription blanks and a donation card, or more donation cards if you
think you can get some of your friends interested enough to help. Appoint
yourself a sort of sub-committee and see how much of that $100 and
subs you can raise through your sub-committee. :

If you can arrange a little house party, do so; if you have some
nick-nack or other that is of no use to you or to anyone else, raffle it,
even if it only brings in a couple ofdollar.s Every dollar counts.

£ cannot appeal to everyone by name right here and now, but here
are a few who should get busy without loss of time: Mickey Connolty,
Harry Pearl; Stan Stefanik; Mrs. Lammede; Tommy Fallowfield and
Roy Malyea.

Don’t let Birchard beat our column!

i ° aa The alleged “‘economists” are busy these

Economists Hell! days. Successful strikes for increased —
wages have them busy as the proverbial cat explaining, how the workers
are losing money and how impossible it is for the employers to Pay in- -
ereased wages if they are not to be allowed to raise prices.

In their anxiety, however, to denounce the workers and help the
class to -whom they sell their little tin-pot souls, these “economists” are
over-reaching themselves. :

A news item from Detroit on March 11, fathered by the A.P. (not the
P.A.), Says the loss incurred in the strike of the General Motors workers,
amounts to a billion dollars at the end of the Sixteenth week.

@f this total the workers lost 15 millions in wages. Since it is im-

possible to lose what you never had, this werkers’ loss is largely in the
mind of the ‘economists.’ It was also, most probably, the first rest
some of these workers have had since they started working for a living
and they would gain something in physical well-being that would be
worth more to them than the loss of 15 million dollars they never had.

What is most interesting, however, of the “economists” figures is
that the “merchandisers” lost 150 millions in sales commissions—ten
times more than the workers who Make the cars. If the wages of the
workers had been doubled and the “commissions” cut to provide that
15 million wage increase, the carS would still be sold to the publie at no
inerease in prices and the manufacturers profits would not have dropped
one penny. And the peddlers of motor cars would still be getting five
times as much as the men who make the cars.

So with their own figures, the hypocritical claims they make that
they will be ruined if the workers get so much as a ten cents an hour
increase in wages, are confounded.

But in the eyes of the bosses and their ‘economists,”
workers are entitled to make sacrifices to save industry.

only the

G D One of the old warhoreses of our labor move-
eorge rayton movement in B.C., George Drayton, is in hos-
pital, laid up with a complication of ills that May mean a long incar-
ceration. George was never a grouser. if he kicked, it was always im
the right direction, against the bosses who tried to lower the living
standard of his class.

. He has nothing but praise for the doctors and nurses in whose hands
he is at Shaughnessey, but he gets lonely for the kind of reading matter
that has been his life blood for a quarter of a century. If you have any
books of that kind that you are through with, bring them in to Austin
Delany at Room 209 Shelly Building and they will be passed on to “Old
George.” (’m getting revenge on him, for it was him who christened
me “Ol’ Bill.”)

FRIDAY, MARCH 22, 1946