Feature

GP ‘part of fabric’
of labour movement

In memory of
my mother, Jean Ewen Kovich
and my grandfather, Tom McEwen |
on the occasion of May Day, 1990

Tom Kozar

kz
itr;

Continued from page 26 .

We led a big campaign against the
Columbia River Treaty (signed in January

1961), and for a time we were the only party °

that opposed the Columbia River Treaty
which blossomed into a big movement ....
Also, in the civic political field, we have
made a big contribution. When I came back
from overseas in 1945, Vancouver politics,
for example, was dominated by a coalition
of the Tories and Liberals. The Non-
Partisan Association (NPA) came to power,
and the opposition to them was negligible

In the process of that struggle for civic
reform, we put forward the idea that what
“was needed in Vancouver was to build a
coalition of all those forces that want to end
the domination of city hall by the NPA ....
Effie Jones was nearly elected mayor in
_1947 when she ran on a slogan of “High-
Fare Jones, or Low-Fare Jones.” That year
the bus fare increase was a hot issue in the
Bily=..

Effie Jones got 20,000 votes, and (NPA
candidate) Charles Jones just beat her by
about 5,000 to 6,000 votes. It really shook
the NPA. But what it did demonstrate is
that there is a possibility of defeating the
NRA ....

We've also played an active part in
human rights movements ..,. When the
party was formed in B.C. in 1921, one of the
first things it did was to oppose the anti-
Asian campaign. The fact is that we were
isolated in the labour movement in the
initial period when we were formed because
of the position we took against the anti-
Asian stand of the labour movement.

Actually, in the end, our position won
out; the labour movement changed its atti-
tude and went out to organize these
workers. It was much under the influence of
the party, for example, that the |WA went
out and organized the East Indian workers
in the forest industry. We formed an organ-
ization among the Chinese, under commu-
nist leadership, that set out to raise the
standard of living among the Chinese
workers.

In addition to that, I don’t know if people
are aware of the fact that communists
played a major part in the Struggle in British
Columbia to win the vote for Chinese and
East Indians. The person who led that
struggle was Darshan Singh, with the sup-
port of the WA. Big lobbies went to Victo-
ria in which communists played an active
part, and ultimately the vote was extended
to cover the Chinese, the East Indian, and
all other Asian people.

MAY DAY GREETINGS

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For Jobs & Peace

Finnish
Organization

of Canada

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id

of the International Brigades

MAY DAY GREETINGS

On the occasion of the 53rd anniversary y \
of the formation of the \

Mackenzie-Papineau Batallion

In memory of those who fell
in the first anti-fascist
war, Spain 1936-39,

Veterans of the

———

ee

Mockenzie-Papineau Battalion.

Communist Party
of Canada

B.C. Provincial Committee

Regional Committees:

. | Fraser Valley, Greater Vancouver,
- | Okanagan, Vancouver Island

- | Clubs:

: Aubrey Burton North Shore
i- Bill Bennett Penticton
Burnaby Port Alberni
rs Campbell River Prince George
: Comox Valley Prince Rupert
es Correspondence Richmond
ig Coquitlam Sunshine Coast
h Creston Surrey
; Delta Trail
Effie Jones Upper Valley
it Kamloops Vancouver East
S- Kingsway Vernon
‘ Maple Ridge Victoria .
‘ Nanaimo Westside
+ New Westminster White Rock
F Nigel Morgan
|

Pacific Tribune, April 30, 1990 « 27