ee OL’ BILL SHORT JABS OST of the claims made by the CCF'ers about their party only M await the pronouncement of some individual CCF leader to show how unfounded these claims are. Apart from the periodical blasts of Harold Winch and Colin Cameron that the CCF is bent on nothing short of the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism and the establish- ment of socialism, which are just as frequently denied by the top leaders, there are lesser claims made on behalf of their party meant to increase: its prestige among Canadian workers. One of these is the oft repeated assertion that the CCF is a Canadian replica of the British Labor party and the inference is teft on the hearer that there is some connection between the CCF and Keir Hardie who was the founder and architect of that party. That is only true in part. The CCF is certainly a replica of the kind of labor party the British Labor party is today. The leaders of that party, many of them, like Atlee, relics of the Fabian Society, others of them, place- hunters, like Bevin, who have climbed on the band- wagon since the pickings became lucrative, all of them toadies to Anglo-American imperialism, but none of them, in spirit or in fact, associated with the ideas that inspired Keir Hardie. In spite of Hardie’s failure to grasp the full : : significance of the class struggle, he.was guided at all times during the generation in which he was the acknowledged leader of the British workers by how his words and actions would benefit the workers. That loyalty to his class was ground into him in his boyhood, child- hood in fact, when he worked at the coalface in the Lanarkshire coal mines. There too, he saw the need for organization of the miners if they were to be successful in their struggles with the Gradgrind mineowners. He devoted himself to that\ job and largely through his efforts the Lanarkshire .Miners’ Federation came into existence. He next made it his business to get the Ayrshire miners unionized so he moved to that county and before long they had their Ayrshire Miners’ Fed- eration too, almost entirely the result of Hardie’s work again. From there he moved to South Wales where the miners were in even a worse plight than in the West of Scotland. Here again, with the willing help of some of the mineworkers, his work was crowned with success in the setting up of the South Wales Miners’ Federation. Out of these three unions has grown the National Miners’ Federa- tion of today, the pride of the fighting section of the present British trade union movement, a national union which Hardie played a great part in launching and developing. This was done in spite of the op- position of Liberal-Labor politicians among the Welsh miners, Hardie showed the same singleness of purpose in bulding a poli- tical party of the workers independent of both ‘Liberals and Tories alike. He was one of the delegates of the Scottish Labor party at the Paris Conference where the Second International (Socialist) was launched in 1889. : In every move he was a consistent and fighting opponent of cap- italist wars. During the South African war he was labelled a pro- Boer as we all were in the Scottish Labor party because we defended the right of the Boer farmers to resist the armed invasion of their country and took the stand that the war was an act of aggression on behalf of the British gold and diamond magnates, It is therefore peculiar to find the leader of a party which at- tempts to identify itself with Keir Hardie, making a dirty attack on the striking seamen of the CSU which could only assist the shipowners, as M. J, Coldwell who claims to be “a true supporter of the trade union movement,” did at Port Arthur on June 3, when he said “the leaders of the CSU are mainly interested in promoting the Communist party in Canada.” And in defending in the same speech, the North Atlantic pact as a pact of peace. One cannot imagine Keir Hardie taking such a stand. At the Jast conference of the ILP he attended, at Norwich in the second Hardie never asked whether the union leaders were communists or socialists. They were unionists and needed his help and he considered it his duty to fight for them. The workers’ reply to Coldwell should be the election of Tim Buck to the next parliament on June 27. PACIFIC 9588 FERRY MEAT MARKET 119 EAST HASTINGS VANCOUVER, B.C. FREE DELIVERY ; Supplying Fishing Boats Our Specialty Jack Cooney, Mgr. Nite Calls GL. 1740L SOVIET FILM STATE THEATRE STARTS SUNDAY MIDNIGHT, JUNE 19 FOR ONE WEEK “THE RAINBOW ” OUTSTANDING FILM FULL ENGLISH TITLES vf 4and two other youth clubs are at WIUC hit a ti id rt 4 Within 24 hours after workers at Salmon River Logging Com- pany, Kelsey Bay, had wired At- torney-General Gordon Wismer de- manding to know why a Wood- workers’ Industrial Union certifi- cation, was being delayed, the com- pany closed the camp and laid off its 155 employees. “Fire hazard and market lac* for hemlock” was the reason given by the company, but workers know that is only part of the story. “This is a case of employer in- timidation to bar workers the right to join a union of their own choice,” said WIUC president Harold Prit- chett. “It arises out of the ‘bosses’ fear of progressive unionism as re- presented by the WIUC. “There is a definite slump in the pulp industry, arising directly as a result of the Marshall plan. Under such conditions the boss loggers’ assocation is following a policy of cooperating fully with the IWA, banking on benefitting from Fadling’s pattern of ‘no wage increases’. ‘Despite this. the WIUC now, has 13 certifications and some 35 pending. Our national council is meeting June 26 in Nanaimo to take up the questions of wages and contracts in 1949, ongdniza- tion of the unorganized, and pre- paration of defense steps against the phoney injunctions obtained — against us by Fadling and the top brass of the TWA.” Finns setting up B.C. sports clubs Untamo Makela, one of the editors of Vapaus, Finnish labor paper published in Sudbury, is in Van- couver. this week helping to set up a MFinnish-Canadian Sports Association. “In Ontario, 13 athletic clubs present in the Federation,” said Makela. Makela hopes to get two clubs going in British Columbia—in Van- couver and Sointula. The latter place has had a sports club operat- ing for some time, but most of its members are fishermen and not in Sointula at present. A club is in process of formation in Vancouver. The Finnish-Canadian Sports As sociation is affiliated to the Can- adian Athletic Federation. Brother's Bakery Specializing in Sweet and Sour Rye Breads 342 E. HASTINGS ST. PA. 8419 EAST END TA XI UNION DRIVERS HA. 0334 Fully 24-Hour Insured Service 613 East Hastings, Vancouver UNION FUELS TRADE OUTLOOK GLOOMY Bank warns of crisis —TORONTO Further evidence that Canada can expect severe economic storms in the near future was disclosed last week in another bank report, this time the Bank of Nova Scotia. Reporting on business conditions across the country, the report declared that “Although there has been no substantial recession in business volume, the economic background is clearly changing. . . - Though thé accumulated demand for buildings and equipment is still large, much of the program of manufacturing expansion kas been accomplished.” : The bank repcrt then makes this significant comment: “The . most disconcerting change, however, has been the contraction. in Canada’s exports to overseas. countries resulting from their restrictions on dollar purchases. During the first four months of 1949, Canadian merchandise exports to Great Britain were — eight percent lower in value tham in the corresponding period* of 1948. .°.. “It is true that Canadian exports to the United States in the first four months of 1949 were still higher than a year earlier, but the increase over the year-ago figures have become progressively smaller. In view of the current trend of U.S. busi- ness, it may be difficult to maintain exports at that market at last year’s very high levels. : “Unfortumately, there is as yet_no significant improvement in the outlook for overseas trade. Instead the ‘dollar problem’ remains acute and from a Canadian point of view the prospect is further clouded by the tendency of the United States to make less ERP funds available for ‘off-shore’ purchases as supplies in that country beconie more plentiful.” as FA. 7663 ‘ ae de Final Election Rally Hear Candidates MAURICE RUSH Vancouver Center CHARLES STEWART Vancouver East an TOM McEWEN Burnaby-Richmond THURSDAY, JUNE 23 — 8 P.M. PENDER AUDITORIUM 1M | WER ! J. PRATT 19 Years’ Service | HAVE BEEN ON THE nee PICKET LINE AROUND THE DAILY PROVINCE FOR 36 MONTHS : “Until I was forced on the picket line by the Routhay Co. in June, 1946, 1 had worked in the composing room * the Daily Province for 19 years, : “I contributed. my fair share to the building of ee i Province, and J worked there long before the Southams 0 §) Montreal moved into Vancouver with their millions 47 bought the paper. There never was any trouble until the Southams took Over. \ 6 “Southams rewarded my lifetime of service with é months on the picket line, obtained a court injunction, 8U members of my union for damages in the Supreme Cou and imported individuals from all over Canada to také my job. : \ As “I am still on the picket line with my fellow ll Printers. We wilh be: thes until the Southam Co. abandon its union-wrecking Policy and sit around the ference table in gooa faith.” | ASK YOUR SUPPORT mee _ASIK YOUR SUPPORT haku deieds daewoo OOO a Li, con- PRIVTER’