"Family Man’ holiday

j tis to be hoped that Prime Minister Pearson, now en-
joying what is described as ‘“‘a well-merited rest” in the
Sunny Caribbean, (with the taxpayer picking up the tab)
will do a lot of ‘pondering’, not only on cabinet shuffles
=e reshuffles, but also on other equally pressing prob-
ems.

First of these should be directed towards hoisting old
age pensions toa minimum of $100-dollars per month.
Down in the Bahamas it is probably costing the taxpayer
that much per day for Mr. Pearson and the Missus.. But
our senior citizens have to squeeze a month’s ‘living’ out
of that amount—minus $25.00.

It would indeed be a revolutionary change were such
legislation to be implemented graciously, free from consid-
erations of partisan gain, instead of having to be literally
bludgeoned out of it by the opposition parties.

Then there is the long-delayed promise of an all-in
comprehensive Medicare, promised by Mackenzie King in
1924, and still little more than a Liberal ‘scrap of paper’.

_ _ And those educational “grants” handed out like poli-
tical charity instead of being accepted and recognized as a
central government responsibility.

Then there’s the big job, still left undone and no easv
one at this late date; that of designing policies which will
decisively begin the restoration of Canada’s resources, in-
dustry, economy and political independence to Canadians.
Policies which will ultimately determine whether Canada
is to become a mighty force for world peace, or a flabby
satellite of U.S. aggression anywhere—for a fast buck.

Clearly Mr. Pearson has much to ponder over during
his stay in the salubrious quiet and beauty of the sunkiss-
ed Isles of the Caribbean. Having been recently chosen as
an “award winner” in the U.S. “Family of Man’’, it is to
be earnestly hoped Mr. Pearson will recall that old adage
about ‘charity begins at home’ and, like a good “Family
Man” will find the ways and means of serving his own
‘Family’ in preference to remaining a sickening apologis
for Washington.

And just while he is resting under the palm trees in
political retrospect and calm perspective, he should tip off
his new justice minister to keep away from TV interviews
until he grasps the idea that a ‘police State’ is not a part
of the democratic process.

That important shortcoming in a ‘justice’ ministry
could blow higher than Lucien Rivard or furniture ‘deals’.
Canadians don’t like political graft and corruption, but
they like tampering with their democratic rights less —
much less!

PACIFIC TRIBUNE

» Ve eS
SBANG! ay

“ HAH! —A GREAT. IDEA, Simentns!”

Bang! You’re dead!

he Xmas season, commercialized out of all semblance
of its origin, is here again, off to an early start.

“Peace On Earth, Goodwill To Men” is now a stan-
dardized slogan for Big Business in the garnering of super
profits, its esthetic values into the discard.

While many worthy organizations in this and other
“free enterprise” countries have made vigorous efforts to-
stop outraging the concept of Christmas by the produc-
tion and high-pressure sales of toy armaments, guns,
tanks, bombs and similar toy symbols of hatred, destruc-
tion and death, many of our big retail centres, as usual,
are loaded with this moral-destroying junk. With such>
“gifts’’ from Santa Clause, Junior can only learn to hate
and kill. “Bang. You’re dead!”

We recoil with horror at the barbarous savagery of
U.S. aggression in Vietnam, one day raining down napalm
bombs upon Vietnamese children, bombs to cruelly burn
and kill. the next dropping ‘toys” from the same super-
bombers to confuse the identity and purpose of yester-
day’s killers. Much like making Santa Claus a mass mur-
ere instead of a benevolent symbol of the goodness of

an.

Parents who want their children to grow up as peace-
loving men and women (and what parent doesn’t?) will
turn thumbs down on these character-destroying war
toys. The best way to stamp out this monopoly profiteer-
ing soy ere of Xmas—is to leave them on the shelf—
unsold.

Tom

McEWEN

e A good union’ sez Mr, Dooley to
his bosom friend Mr, Hin-
nissey, ’is wan that niver goeson
strike, niver asks th’ boss for
more pay, niver meddles in poli-
tiks; niver contradicts th’ boss
on matters affectin th’ economy
av th’ nashion, and always ex-
ercises its god’given right to
vote Tory or Liberal as its
conscience dictates, . .’

‘Th’ divil ye say’ sez Mr,
Hinnissey, ’an what kind av a
union would that be?’

In a guest editorial in the
Liberal Vancouver Sun of No-
vember 22, scalped from the Tory
Globe and Mail (Toronto), Mr.
Hinnissey’s query is adequately
answered, Apropos the threat-
ened general strike in B.C, in
support of striking oil workers
this hybrid Tory-Liberal edi-

torial proposes:

“Canadian labor can save the
situation only by clearly and
forcibly repudiating the B,C,
Federation (of Labor, Ed.) pro-
‘posal, . .” In other words a
*good’ union is one which‘clearly

and forcibly’ repudiates its own
leadership, and relies on the
kind-heartedness of Big Business
and a fictitious ‘public’ created
by a monopoly press, to permit
it to exist,

This “guest” editorial blurb
with its distinct Tory flavor,
which the Liberal Sun deemed
worthy of reproduction in the hope
it would assist in fomenting
schism and division in the ranks
of B.C, labor, begins by telling
us that:

“The Winnipeg General Strike
(1919, Ed,), Canada’s sole mis-
adventure with this irresponsible
weapon, destroyed political car-
eers, injured innocent people, had
ugly repercussions from one end
of the country to the other and
will always be an unpleasant
chapter in Canadian history,”

e

Now that’s what Mr, Dooley
would describe to his friend Mr,
Hinnissey as ‘a mouthful of very
nasty half-truths and plain fabri-
cations, concocted for the sole
purpose av castratin working-
class unity,’ In fact it is highly

likely Mr, Dooley, gentleman that
he was, would use much stronger
language!

True, political careers were
destroyed by the Winnipeg Gen-
eral Strike of 1919. But not the
careers of the strike leadership,
Certainly not the career of the
late J.S, Woodsworth, founder of
the CCF and Member of Parlia-
ment for a Winnipeg constituency
almost from the end of the Gen-
eral Strike down to the year of
his death. A man who served
the people of his constitutency
and his country with distinction
and devotion,

Others of the General Strike
leaders, imprisoned under the
anti-democratic provisions of
‘Section 98’ of the Criminal Code,
later to become long-term tivic
aldermen, mayors, school board
members, labor leaders, honored
and respected in their commun-
ities, Among these the late
Alderman Jacob Penner, dean of
Winnipeg civic government,
champion of the common people
of his community and his coun-
try. No ‘political careers des-
troyed’ there!.

To lend a morsel of truth
to the Sun’d editorial it should
be said however that not a few
Tory careers were very badly
wrecked if not actually ‘des-
troyed.’ Tory Prime Minister
Arthur Meighan and his Labor
Minister Gideon Robertson, the
designers of ‘Order-in-Council’
Section 98, nev2r recovered from

the excesses of their own class
prejudice and hatred — some-.
thing no striking worker in 1919
(or now) need assume responsi-
bility for,

Certainly, also, a lot of inno-

_cent people were injured, some

quite seriously; not by striking
workers, but by the drunken
hooligan scum recruited by the
Chambers of Commerce, vigi-
lante Committees of 100 and
similar ‘patriotic’ outfits, to

‘serve as ‘special police” to re-

place the Winnipeg police force,
also a part of the General Strike,
‘The RCMP also ‘did its bit? in
club-swinging orgies against
strikers and sympathizers alike,
And thé daily midnight raids upon
workers’ homes, strikers and
non-strikers alike, by these
Chamber of Commerce “spec-
ials” were certainly ‘‘ugly”
enough to suit the “repercussion®

Worth
Quoting

A vast number of Canadians have
ceased fo accept the fallacy that there
is any material difference between the
liberals and the Conservatives. There —
is no longer room on the Canadian
scene for two parties that support the
status quo, the outworn ideas of mono-
poly capitalism.

Canadians are getting skeptical
about two old parties who stage a
battle at election time which is in—
reality a sham, and then support the
same outworn ideas once they are
back in parliament.

(THE COMMONWEALTH, Nov. 17/65)

*

Prince Charles won't learn much
about the real Australians whilst im-
proving his education here.

Just imagine the bad habits he
might learn; and what would Mum
say when he returned home? ‘Oh,
Charlie! You haven't -been drinking
beer again! Be a good boy and have
a cherry brandy.”’

(AUSTRALIAN TRIBUNE,
Oct. 20/65) ‘

The present Pearson government

deals with U.S. industrialists are not - F

based on equality and equity. It is
spurious—a mirage of free trade to
hoodwink the Canadian people. It is
a takeover of Canadian markets en
toto by the U.S. through its subsidiaries
in Canada, making use of Canada as
a base of operations for export to
other foreign countries under the Cana-
dian label, and at the same time using
cheaper Canadian labor to exert wage,
and economic pressure against higher
paid U.S. labor. :
(WESTERN PULP AND PAPER WORKER,

Nov., 1965)
*

We are not impressed with the
Prime Minister's glum attitude over
last Monday’s outcome. Mr. Pearson
should take the attitude that we’ve
given him just so many marbles to
play with and it's up to his party to
do the best job that is possible with
the material at hand.

Minority government does not
Necessarily mean bad or ineffective
government. Past events have shown
otherwise.

(Vancouver HIGHLAND ECHO,
Nov. 12/65) 5

taste of most any bourgeois
sadist,

Comparisons are said to be
odious, and with a time gap of
some 46 years, particularly so.
While the problems and changing .
conditions facing organized la-
bor today are vastly different
from those of 46 years ago, the
attitude of the kept press towards
labor’s struggles remains
largely unchanged and un-
changing, When it cannot destroy
the labor unity essential for vic-
tory, it calls forth its Wasser-
mania garbage detail to belch
forth their distortions of the
basic elements of that victory,

It happened in the aftermath
of the Winnipeg General Strike.
It would be naive to think it
wouldn’t or ‘can’t happen here,’

The Sun’s Tory-Liberal edi-
torial is a belated end product
of those timeworn distortions.

and Commonwealth countries, $6.00
one year. Authorized as second class

Editor — TOM McEWEN
Associate Editor — MAURICE RUSH
Circulation Manager — JERRY SHACK
Published weekly at |
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December 3, 1965—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 4