B.C

Not Interested?

other day we heard an interesting little story from

- the Provincial Registrar of Voters. He told us that one

of his staff was sent to a logging camp where over 300
. men are employed. Bt

It was the job of this official to register these men as
voters on the proyincial voters’ list. Out of the 300 eligible
to go. on the list he. succeeded in getting exactly 50 regis-

He répotted that Ite had been unable to persuade the
rest of them to take the trouble to sign the’ cards which
would have ‘placed ‘them on the list. 4
théy::

‘ormed, ‘his. superiors that these men told him
of. voting in an.election.

‘were not interested in politics” and had no intention

ERHAPS they are not to blame. Maybe our educational G

.. System ‘is'at fault. Possibly it does not train our young
“people in the practice of logical thinking—fails to teach
them how to connect cause and effect.

. _ But whether to blame or not there can be no doubt
that such irresponsible citizens, if they can be called citi-
zens at all, are a menace to a free democratic society.
They are busily engaged in laying out the welcome mat
for the dictator who will relieve them of the heavy burden
of voting and thinking for themselves.

The man who says he is not interested in politics is
Saying, whether he knows it. or not, that he is not inter-
ested in his own welfare or that of his family.

He is telling us that he is not interested in getting a
decent wage for his work, that he doesn’t care if he gets
compensation or not when he is injured, that unemploy-
ment holds no fears for him.

’ If he is a married man he is telling us that he doesn’t
care if his children are poorly clothed and ill-fed, that he
is not interested in what sort of educational opportunities
they will have, ox what sort of health services will be
available if he or his family fall sick, that he is not con-
cerned if his son. gets killed in war.

‘ALL these things are determined by the thing called

“politics” and when a man says he is not interested in
politics the is ‘saying that he is not interested in such
matters. In which case we may well ask “what in God’s
ame are you interested in?”

i If the story of this logging camp is to be repeated
hroughout the lumber industry then lumber workers will

have no grounds for complaint if governments pay no

attention to their requests.

f i

|» When a man refuses to shoulder the responsibilities
of a citizen in a democracy he forfeits all claim to the
rights and privileges of a free citizen.

may be that this refusal to register as a voter is an
: unconscious admission on the part of the individual that
he is not fit to cast an intelligent ballot because he has
never given any thought to public affairs.

If that is the case then maybe there is something. to
be said for the honesty that admits ignorance. But it
doesn’t contribute much to making a democracy work.

: Someone has to make the decisions which govern our
daily lives. If workers, who compose the majority of the
population, refuse to-make them, other people will be only
too glad to relieve them of the burden. But their decisions
are not likely to be the kind that the workers will like.

“felts Gace the Gacts”

*THIS is the title of an item in a little rag called “Pine
: News” put out by the “WOOEYS”. That fact which our
LPP friends want their followers to face is evidently the
fact that the so-called Woodworkers Industrial Union of
Canada is on the point of folding up, if there is anything
left to fold.

* We gather this from the appeal to IWA members to join
shands with WIUC members. The writer of the editorial
in “Pine News” declares that “we must forget our per-
sonal bickerings”.

.All this has a familiar ring. It sounds like the old United
Front we used to hear so much about, which is always
trotted out when the “commies” find themselves in a hope-
less minority. Whenever they find they cannot persuade
other people to climb on their bandwagon, they try to
elimb aboard one that seems to be going places.

- From now on we shall hear the old Unity tune played
on the party fiddle on all occasions. Last week Al Parkin
played a few bars of it over the air, when he called on IWA
menibers to throw out the present leadership and unite
with the WIUC. :

Some IWA members may be innocent enough to fall for
this line. But we doubt if many will. Most of them will
want to know why the WIUC want to join with the IWA,
when, according to them the WIUC is signing up all the
jumber workers. a ,

: When this latest tactic fails the party. boys will move
on to the next item of the program—crawling back into
the IWA to try once more to capture control of British
Columbia’s largest union. Then is when we shall have to

ALL TOGETHER,

Bors!

REGISTER NOW

The Editor:

It is not generally known that
the old provincial voters’ list has
been completely scrapped. The
fact that a person was on the list
at the last provincial election
does NOT mean he will be on the
new list.

To be able to vote in the com-
ing B.C, Elections, you must ac-
tually sign and turn in to the
Registrar of Voters, an applica-
tion card,

Any person who has not had
an enumerator call on him or is
uncertain whether he is on the
list, should call at his local Reg-
istrar’s office. In the greater
Vancouver area it is at 619 Sey-
mour Street.

The Federal voters list is a
separate matter, and members
should keep their eyes open for
publicity on this point.

1-217 Tony Gargrave.

MEMORIES

The Editor:
The Nanaimo School of March

5 and 6 was one of the happiest
and most interesting experiences
that has come to me.

The course on Labor Laws was
well presented by Alex McDonald
and Perey Lawson who were able
to answer all questions asked and
give worthwhile suggestions. *

Among the speakers, the CCL
President was outstanding. A. R.
Mosher explained that the CCF
was the only party prepared to
support the poltical action pro-
gram as approved by the CCL,
and so they had no alternative
but to support them until such
time as others might be willing
to do something about it,

The whole program was well-
timed and well-managed through-
out,

But all learning is not done in
the class room. While off ‘shift I
chanced to meet Rangit Singh on
the green chain, His efficiency in
handling lumber seems to be
matched. by his handling of our
East Indian brethren. A true son
of India, Rangit would be a cre-
dit to any nation.

At the school were men and
‘women of most of the races that
sweat under the sun and rain of
this coast, learning to run their
own affairs so that we may get a
better deal from our bosses and
free ourselves from the tyranny
of our late executive.

The WOOEYs are fond ef teli-
ing us how good they are at run-
ning unions, well, just wait and

see! E
E. M. Garnett,

‘watch them.
he ee

_ Camp Youbeu.

‘on Your Space Boys!

Its Off His

The Editor:

Well, fellers, my dander has
risen to the boiling point after
reading the last filthy, slander-
ous, communistic issue of that
paper called the Millworker,

These perfidious creatures who
bear an alarming similarity to
the rodent family are trying to
put over the statement that they
have your interests at heart.
Thank God they haven’t got
mine.

Why, these birds in red feath-
ers have no such a thing in mind!
Their policy is to keep you dis-
satisfied and unsettled; to make
you strike when unnecessary, and
to make you stay off the job
when you have negotiated to the
limit.

“Hell no, keep the sheep on
strike for a while longer! We'll
show these capitalistic so and
so’s who controls the labor move-
ment in this country. You think

LET THE CHIPS FALL
by Woody Woodpecher

“Readers
Veen

Chest Now!

the majority might vote to
back to work. How the hell can
they ,when they ain’t going to
get a vote?”

Sure fellows, strike when ne-
cessary. When responsible lead-
ers recommend it you know it is
necessary. But when you get a
man like our not-so-worthy past-
president Pritch taking us om
strike for six weeks, drawing an
unlimited expense account, and
then drawing strike relief — the
wore have a right to stop and
think.

Well, I feel a hell of a lot bet-
ter now, fellows. One more thing
(now they'll call me a war-
monger), if you don’t get out
and fight these people verbally
and politically, just remember
their parasitical cousins in the
States have aligned themselves
with Russia in the eevynt of war.
Think it over, boys.

1-357 B. Mapson.

‘THE troubles of the “WOOEYS” never cease. The latest

we hear is that the Fisheries Department is going to
take action about all those WIUC ihaiane that havelteel

thrown in the salt chuck. They claim that the buttons are
poisoning the fish. £

KRM

A HINT to the negotiating committee: The hardware
__ trade magazine carries an editorial which says the
price of lumber is soon to be boosted 15%. Tf iner
wages are going to be the excuse for this—and we can’t
think of any other—then the operators must figure on be-

ing really generous when the i
little arithmetic on this one. 7 mest the inion aaa

$170,000,000 worth of lumber was cut i ;
$170,000,000 is $25,500,000. About 30,000 2 oe
|duced the lumber. $25,500,000 divided between 30,000

ee w $850 apiece. But don’t buy that fur coat for the

He aad Emie has a plan for
Ww e is going to present to the “ i entio
of the WIUC. But we also hear that eter -
finally caught up with Ernie. So he can tell his plan to
judge. We’re not so interested in Ernie and is :
‘we are in the $130,000 of wooden 1

still has cached away somewhere, Jere ye