4 } , on ; itnessed in the In the greatest election rally France has wi Past 20 yeuis, Communist leader Jacques Duclos (above) de- bated with ex-Premier Mende 25,000 people. s-France before an audience of Continued from page | | FRENCH ELECTIONS debate, devoted his speech to invective and abuse of the Com- munists, but Duclos demolished him with his appeal to Socialist supporters for unity. Only by voting Communist, he declared, could they vote for working class unity and unity of all forces of the Left. : Then Duclos turned dramati- cally “to Mendes-France and pointed a finger at him. ‘I tell you, M. Mendes- France, you cannot fight re- action and fight the Commu- nists at one and the same time. — You have got to choose. Either with the right wing, and that Means carrying out a right-, wing policy — or with the Left, and that means acting side by side with the Communists.” Outlining the | Communist Party’s policy in his interview With Fryer, Thorez said: _ “For our part we shall persist In our efforts to reach an under- Sea Sera a re Pa RY ‘New Year's - Greetings to the PACIFIC TRIBUNE from the Readers of Sointula * Grannies Cafe Robert Lousenberg _Eino Ahola . Henry Lahti : Malcolm ‘Maitland Paul F. Salo standing with the Socialist party and with other groups of the Left, in order to give our country the: democratic government it is waiting for. “We are not prophets. But what we can say with certainty is that the hour of socialism will strike more quickly the better prepared the workers are polit- ically and the more solidly they rally round our party. “In our country, too, the neces- sary conditions for socialism are maturing.” ‘Communist gains at the polls ‘were presaged by membership figures given out on December 30, the 35th anniversary of the party’s formation at the famous Congress of Tours. It was an- nounced that new members were joining the Communist party at the rate of more than 1,000 a week. In December alone, 59 new Communist branches were set up through- out the country. : Unofficial returns at Pacific Tribune press time Thursday morning gave ex-Premier Edgar Faure’s right of centre alliance 193 seats and ex-Premier Mendes- France’s left of centre alliance 156 seats, including 88 seats taken by the Socialist party. The Com- munist party total stood at 151 seats. ‘ At the extreme right of French politics, the Poujadistes, anti- tax followers of Pierre Poujade, who had not been expected to emerge as a major group, took 49 seats. Rail workers staid : hig lobby campaign _ TORONTO A national-wide letter writing and visiting campaign to MPs has been launched by railroad ‘workers demanding that elected representatives bar any move to compulsory arbitration of their present dispute with manage- ment. Close to 150,000 non-operating railroaders ranging from truck- ers to stenographers are seeking a wage and welfare package deal of some 33 cents an hour.’ Prime Minister St. Laurent has publicly threatened to bar a SAGAN PARANA SAAN ‘rail strike. Continued from page 1 a way that will benefit the peo- ple of British Columbia, or are we going to drift along and be- come hewers of wood and draw- ers of water for U.S. interests? “I and the party I represent in this byelection have a vision, a plan for B.C.’s development which is the direct opposite of what the present government is doing. We have spoken out on many occasions about the possi- bilities of harnessing the great power potential to transform our province, develop new industries and create 100,000 new jobs.” Gillett will speak at a pub- lic election rally in Pender Auditorium this Friday, Jan- uary 6, at 8 p.m: Other speak- ers will include Nigel Morgan, LPP provincial leader, and Maurice Rush, LPP city sec- retary. ~~ Introducing Jack Gillett to the CKWX radio audience, Nigel Morgan termed him “a forthright champion of trade union and labor rights in the \ legislative field as well as on the job.” Castigating the Bennett gov- ernment for its boast that it has given the people of this province “good, clean government,” Mor- gan said: “Take the question of our na- tural resources. The Bennett- Bonner government has turned over our natural gas to the U.S.- owned Northwest Pipelines, which is already dictating to us to the extent that it says it will not supply us with gas except through the B.C. Electric. “Under its plan Vancouver Is- land, Trail and the Kootenays will get B.C. gas via the USS. This is the same policy which has compelled gas users in Toronto to pay 400 percent more than gas users in the nearby U.S. city of Buffalo. a “The LPP is strongly opposed to such a policy. We insist that the legislature’s first responsibili- ty is to maintain Canadian con- trol of this vital resource. “We say B.C. should be link- ed to an all-Canadian pipeline to serve Canada’s needs first, and provide natural gas for home and industry at cost, through the government’s own B.C. Power Commission. “Similarly with our forest, iron ore and mineral resources. The Bennett-Bonner government is giving them away to foreign mon- opolies for a mere pittance, in- stead of insisting on the’ develop- ment of home industries for their processing and manufacturing here in Vancouver and B.C.” “Vancouver needs a fighter like Jack Gillett in Victoria to rep- resent its interests,” said Maur- ice Rush, Vancouver LPP secre- tary, in a broadcast over CKWX on Wednesday this week. Dealing with the growing civic tax burden and the failure of the Social Credit government to meet its responsibility towards Van- couver, Rush said: “Premier Bennett and the gov- ernment never tire of boasting what they have done to reduce the provincial debt. In this re- gard they are following in the footsteps of the Manning govern- ment of Alberta. Let us see what has happened there. . “It is true that the Manning government reduced the provin- cial debt between 1944 and 1951 by $55 millions. But during this same period the municipal debt in Alberta rose by $74. millions or a net increase of $21 millions in the public debt! “The Social Credit govern- | ment of B.C. is trying to prac- tise the same deception on the people of this province. By heaping new burdens on muni- cipalities and by failing to meet on salmon election, January 9, is an active Thursday this week. “The program of action ad- vanced by Gillett stands head and shoulders above the plat- forms of the other candidates,” continued Stevens. “One point in particular caught my eye, for it calls for ‘careful protection of B.C.’s salmon spawning rivers in industrial development.’ “Protection for the vital sal- mon resources is important to every citizen. It provides an annual gross income of $50 mil- lion to the economy of B.C. Over 60 percent of this resource could dam projected by Moran Power Development Limited. ' “Another power project in the Naas River area would de- stroy the salmon runs to the province’s fourth most import- ant stream. Premier Bennett’s opening comment on the pro- posed dam was that he did not know if the Naas is a salmon stream. Could anything more clearly demonstrate the need for a spokesman at Victoria who. will fight to save our natural resources from destruc- tion? “The recent provincial conven- tion of the LPP stated the need for a vast expansion of hydro- Stevens backs Gillett “Jack Gillett, LPP candidate in the Vancouver Centre by- is capable of putting up a real fight to advance the needs of his constituents,” Homer Stevens, secretary of United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union, told a radio audience over station CKWX be wiped out by the 720 foot protection and energetic trade unionist who | electric facilities. At the same | time it took a firm stand against any construction that does not provide for adequate safeguards for B.C.’s salmon resources. The resolution demanded develop- ment of streams which would not. affect salmon before any projects: such as the Moran Dam or the B.C. Electric project at Spuzzum | are undertaken. Jack Gillett is fully committed to fight for this ‘course of action at Victoria. It is a common sense approach. | “Why should one resource be destroyed in order to develop an- | other when it is fully possible to’ develop our power ‘and still pro-' tect our salmon?” { Stevens also lauded points in’ Gillett’s program calling: for a! halt to U.S. corporations grab- bing off our resources of natural gas, oil and mineral wealth. i - “Another section of the LPP candidate’s program calls for ex- ‘tension ‘of the Workmen’s Com- pensation Act to include all in-. dustries and makes special men- tion of the fishing industry and domestic service,’ said Stevens. “Gillett will also press for an .| amendment to the Compensation Act to provide 100 percent of’ earnings lost through injury on | the job.” | _ PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JANUARY 6, 1956 — PAGE 7 _ CENTRE BYELECTION: its responsibility to Vancouver and other civic governments, the Social Credit government is trying to delude the public into believing that debts are being wiped out. “While the provincial debt is being cut by the device, and by higher taxes such as the five percent sales tax, the total muni- cipal debt is growing rapidly. It .is rising by leaps and bounds and each year homeowners in Vancouver are faced with higher tax bills.” ~ Although the snap election al- ‘lows little time for adequate campaigning, supporters of Gil- lett were out in force this week distributing thousands of copies of the LPP candidate’s election program. The mass rally in Pen- der Auditorium on Friday even- ing and a final distribution Satur- day of election material will wind © up the campaign. Candidates contesting the Van- couver Centre seat are Jack Gil- lett, LPP; Dorothy Steeves, CCF; Les Peterson, Social Credit; Douglas Jung, Conservative. The Liberals failed to nominate a candidate. Voting day is Monday, Janu- ary 9, and polls will be open from 8 am. to 8 p.m. OFFICIAL FILMS from INDIA “Nehru Visits USSR” A 45- minute film which fol- lows Nehru throughout the USSR. “Nehru Visits China” “Chou En-lai Visits India’ It was during this visit that Nehru and Chou enunciated now famous Five Principles of Peace. “Kathak-Indian Dances” “Republic Day” FRIDAY | Jan. 13 at 8:15 p.m. Pender Auditorium Films loaned by Indian Infor- mation Service. — ; B.C. Peace Council