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Following is the text of the
statement issued in Toronto

this week by the national ex-
} ecutive committee of the
_Labor-Progressive party over
the signature of Tim Buck,
LPP national leader:

The passing of Premier
Joseph V. Stalin is a momen-
tous loss to all mankind.
this hour of deep tragedy and
grief for the people of the
‘Soviet Union every Canadian
who played any part what-
ever in the struggle against
Hitlerism will remember with
pride and gratitude the mag-
nificent role that Stalin played
in that historic and victorious
struggle and in the founding
of the United Nations. Every
Canadian who has felt the
need for peace in the postwar
world will mourn the passing

pions of peace and friendship
between peoples.

- We deplore and condemn
the revolting efforts of the
imperialist warmongers and
their lackeys to exploit this
great tragedy in the interest
of their aggressive drive for
war and to becloud the monu-
mental achievements of Stal-
in. All democratic Canadians
of all political and philosophic
opinions will bow their heads
in tribute to one of the pnt
men of all time.

The Labor-Progressive par-
ty lowers its banners in deep
mourning and profound sym-
pathy for the people of the
Soviet Union in their sorrow.
With unbounded pride. we
salute the memory of the mag-
nificent comrade whose role
in the further development of

of this greatest of all cham-'

JOSEPH STALIN: 1879-1953

Stalin’s work will
endure through ages

_ the science of human freedom, —

Marxism-Leninism, is historic.
His masterly contributions to
democracy, friendship  be-
tween peoples, and human
progress, inspired love and

unbounded confidence in the

hearts and minds of all for-
ward-looking people of all
lands, as it inspired violent
hatred on the part of the war-
mongers and all agents of re-
action.

Stalin belongs to mankind
and to the ages. He was the
inspired and trusted leader
and teacher of hundreds of
millions of working people
throughout the world as well
as of the Soviet people. He
led the peoples of the Soviet

Union in their epochal con-

struction of their new, social-
ist society: the first society in
all history in which there is
no exploition of man by man,
no capitalist monopolies and
no capitalist profit, no unem-
ployment, no insecurity in
sickness or old age, no dis-
crimination whatsoever on ac-

count of race, religion, sex,

age or color, and no want—
the society of universal well-
being and progress which is
already a beacon to the ex-
ploited and oppressed every-
where.

That new society, the joyous
economically secure life that
it has brought to all its peo-

ple and its guarantee of an
orderly transition to commun- -

ism, the highest dream of ad-
vanced mankind, is an imper-
ishable monument to Stalin,
“His name will endure
through the ages and so will
his work.”

VICTORIA, B.C.

The lavish way in which the former Liberal-Conserva-
tive Coalition government handed the natural resources of
this province to U.S, interests is now being brought to light.
This week, in the legislature, Lands and Forests Minister
R. E. Sommers charged that the agreement for the Kitimat
project concluded with the U.S.-dominated Aluminum Com-
pany of Canada has cost the people of B.C. some $26 mil-

lion. Stating that “not one man in the B.C. forest service had been
consulted before the Alcan contract was signed,’ Sommers -termed

' the failure to require the company to clear the area of Tweedsmuir

Park to be flooded a “terrible injustice” to B.C. as

Since assuming office, he said, he had ordered a survey to be
made of the areas to be flooded. The forest service report was
that an estimated 80,000 acres should .be cleared from a line 10
feet below low water mark to the high level mark.

“This cost of clearing—and it excludes trees covered by 10 feet
of water—would be $23,438,000, a staggering sum to ask the people
of B.C. to bear,’ Sommers reported. —

Continued —

PEACE

with other peoples.’ :

“We must in every way con-
solidate the eternal and inde-
structibleg fraternal friendship of
the Sovie
Chinese people and workers of
all countries of the People’s De-
mocracies. ;

“The Soviet Union has waged
and is waging a consistent policy
for the preservation of the stabil-
ization of peace, a policy of strug-
gle against preparation and un-
leashing of a new war, a policy
of international cooperation and
development of business réla-

- tions with all countries, a policy

based on the Lenin-Stalin pre-
mise of the possibility of pro-
longed co-existence and peaceful
competition of two different sys-
tems—the capitalist and social-
ist,” Malenkov said.

“Those governments will be
criminal -which will want to
trick the peoples and go against
the sacred wish of the. peoples
to maintain peace and prevent
bloody massacres.”

Making it clear that the Soviet
Union “is not afraid of any in-
ternal or external enemies,”
Malenkov said:

“Our sacred duty is to streng-
then by every means the mighty
Soviet armed forces.. We must
keep them in a state of fighting

preparedness for a crushing re- -

buff to any attack of the enemy.”

On Saturday last week the So-
viet government and the central
committee of the Communist
party announced that Georgi
Malenkov had been appointed
chairman of the Council of Min-
isters of the USSR, that is, pre-
mier of the Soviet Union. |

Other changes in the organ-
ization of state leadership in-
clude:

First deputy chairmen of the
Council of Ministers will be L.
Beria, V. M. Molotov, Marshal
Bulganin and L. Kaganovich. :
A presidium of the Council of
Ministers has been formed con-
sisting of Malenkov and his four
deputy premiers.

At the same time, the presént
head of the Soviet state, N. M.
Shvernik, has been recommend-
ed for transfer to his former post
of president of the Central Coun-
cil of the Soviet Trade Unions.

In his place, Marshal Voroshi-
lov has been appointed chairman
of the presidium of the Supreme
Soviet — head of the Soviet state.

The ministry of internal af-

fairs and the ministry of public”

security have been merged into
a single ministry of internal af-
fairs, with L. Beria as minisfer.

Union with the great

“The government cannot at
present do anything to alleviate
and, retard the ruination of the
economic and aesthetic values of
Tweedsmuir Park.

“It is by far too great a burden
to place on the people.

“Tt should Have been placed
on the Aluminum .Company of
Canada.”

In addition, Sommers estimat-
ed the loss in wild life as a
result of the “ghastly devasta-

' tion” at $2,500,000.

EH. T. Kenney, Liberal leader
after whom the main dam on
the project is named, sat silent

_ while Sommers was speaking, in-

terrupting only once to observe
that Premier W. A. C. Bennett
was in the House when the Al-
can agreement was signed. Last
week, however, Kenney bitterly
attacked Cyril Shelford (Socred,
Omineca), who was chairman of

the Ootsa Lake Settlers Commit-_

tee, for his charge that settlers
had not been properly compen-

sated by the company for their

holdings.

CMS plant

‘ted up as

300 strike

_ KIMBERLEY, B.C.
A strike of close to 300 con-
struction workers has completely

‘tied up the multi-million dollar

Consolidated Mining and Smelt-
ing Company fertilizer plant
here. The men struck the huge
construction job because the
company refused to accept an
arbitration board ruling.

On Thursday this week a sec-

‘ond strike of construction work-

ers was scheduled to take place
in support of the Kimberley shut-
down at the Consolidated: power
project at Waneta, near Trail.
Recently the Labor Relations
Board handed down a decision
to five building trades unions in-
volved in a dispute with Stone
and Webster, the contractors.
The award was not satisfactory

to the unions, but it was accept- |

ed. The company, however, re-
fused to implement terms of the
arbitration award.

On Thursday and Friday last’
week the men went to the plant
as usual, but staged a “sitdown”
in the machine shop. A delega-
tion was sent to Waneta to en-
courage similar action there.

Since Monday the strikers have

‘been “placarding” the job and

plumbers, electricians, painters,
boilermakers and _ ironworkers

have kept the project shut down.
; PACIFIC TRIBUNE —

- ‘ing,

Continued

WEEK

criticism, although not nearly as
much as it deserves, for its flat
refusal to introduce long-ovel- —
due amendments to the Work
men’s Compensation Act and the :
Industrial Conciliation and Arbi- —
tration Act. Changes, recom-
mended: by legislative commit-
tees composed of all parties in
the House after a lengthy and
expensive series of hearings
throughout the province, which —
were to have been dealt with at
a special fall session last year
are still being withheld.

Labor will get little satisfac .
tion from Labor Minister Lyle
Wicks’ admission, “The ICA Act
and Workmen’s Compensation
Act need amending but the gov-
ernment refuses to sacrifice wis-
dom for expediency.” Continu- —
ation for another year of pro-
visions which encourage em-
ployer interference in the in

‘ternal affairs of \trade unions, |

which make unions legal entities
and thus subject to damage ac-
tion by anti-labor employers in
the courts to keep. unions in 4
continual state of legal turmoil
and waste their meagre financial
resources, is a violation of S0-
cial Credit election promises.

- Continuation of the same run-
around labor received from the
ousted Coalition government is
a bitter disappointment and will
raise deep and widespread re-
sentment against the new ad-
ministration.

British Columbia needs a new —

labor code—a genuine labor code
which will protect union rights,
put an end to anti-labor activi-
ties of certain employers and
government interference in the
internal affairs of trade unions.

The Labor-Progressive party
dispatched a brief to the ICA
Act Enquiry in 1951—the only
political party to do so. -It ex-
pressed sharp and unalterable

- opposition. to those provisions of

the present act which by intent
and by interpretation have been
used to restrict the rights of
workers to organize into unions
of their own free choice, and to
interfere with the fundamental

fight to withdraw labor power

at the. most advantageous time
and to picket.

It demanded replacement of
the present act by a democratic |
labor code which, in addition to
removing these highly objection-
able features, would simplify and .
make voluntary the use by un-
ions of the government’s certifi-
cation and conciliation machin-
ery.

The Labor-Progressive party
also calls for provision for dem- |
ocratic election and recall of
labor representatives on all
boards or agencies charged with
implementing labor Jegislation;

“adequate upward revision of

minimum wage laws; and exten-
sion of the Workmen’s Compen-
sation Act to cover all workers
in all industries, including fish- —
agriculture and domestic

workers; establishment under the
WCA of a medical appeal board
and extension of the present one
week’s vacation with pay to two

_ weeks.

This is the program labor
wants. These are the issues of
labor legislation which the gov-
ernment turns its back on when
it rejects repeated appeals to
open these acts to amendment.
These are some of the issues
which need to be fought out on

the floor of the legislature.

MARCH 13, 1953 —’PAGE 12