THENATION | _ ; St. Laurent gov't _HAVE been asked by several readers if my‘column a the last issue of the Pacific Tribunte means that at I think Canadians should make sacrifices in an attempt to salvage the British Empire. Commenting YPon the Financial Post heading, “Bankrupt Britain,” one reader remarked: “After all, it isn’t workers who are S0ing bankrupt, its British capitalism.” Because a too simple intrepretation will t Self to a substantial number of readers I am taking the liberty of returning to the subject this week for “ome further explanation. : “8 It is true that the Financial Post used the word ‘ 2hkrupt in reference to British capitalism. It is true “at Britain’s acute economic difficulties stem in a large _,fasure from the Attlee government’s insistence upon Protecting capitalist income from rent interest and _ Profits while demanding more work without more wages nd acceptance of ever-increasing austerity from the Working people. a 5 All these things are true but they don’t cancel ae ae the central fact that Wall Street's drive against _ © British pound and the sterling bloc—and thereby oe nat the British people—is a threat to the interests * Canadians, even to our independence as a people. Wall Street wants to force the British government devalue its currency to whatever extent is necessary re-establish free exchange between the dollar and the - As the financial editor of the Toronto Globe a Mail blurted out, the attitude of Wall Street is ‘that the rate at which they exchange is less important an is the free exchangability of one’ for the other. nas ‘He should have added that the attitude of “he ish workers is, and must be of necessity be, ex- tly the opposite. For them free exchangeability of »., Pound with the dollar would mean intensified com- Petition, -capture by U.S. interests of a large proportion Sf Britain’s’ present markets, increased cost to Britain a. ritai: °f the food and raw. materials purchased in the dollar ri and transfer to Wall Street of the profitable role °f banker now played by London. Thus “devaluation” Would lead to inflation with catastrophe for the masses (Sf the people\in the British Isles, the transfer to U.S. ; oWnership of important sectors of British economy, and fer from Lombard Street and Whitehall to Wall Street and Washington of effective controls of whatever ula then remain of the British. empire. - . “What alternativé have the British people got?” They have the alternative of turning increasingly to trade and general cooperation with the People’s De- ik Tacies, the Soviet Union, People’s China and other ibnntries of the British Commonwealth. “Is it poss- fe ©?” some of the readers ask. It certainly is possible; “ta if the present trend continues, it will soon be ““€ only rational policy that is possible. With formal establishment of the all-China People’s €rnment, the number of people united in the build- ‘ ri of a new socialist society under Communist leader- 4P will exceed 700 millions—more than a third of all "Mankind. Furthermore the number will continue to Brow Tapidly as the people’s forces are victorious in ‘“Ountry after country in Asia. : Os Not only is that an awful lot of people, but their ay tet is the only really healthy one—with a future. R. Palme Dutt pointed out recently: “The ‘economic is? a ; Loy i chao and the ‘mass misery’ (deplored by the United 4 tions European Economic Commission—T.B.) vanishes phere communists lead the government. It prevails a those countries where Marshall and the Marshall | “8tellites rule.” d ‘ ie The power-made maniacs on this side of the At- nutic would rather bring British economy to complete a Nand Britain’s people to starvation than see such “A development. The Financial betrayed some ink- it 8 Of their attitude in its issue of August 27. when. taj, mmented editorially that Britain must be main- Ned as a “bridgehead for United States forces on the €r'side of the Atlantic.” To drive his point home the “ditor added the following revealing words: — 8 “It strained the combined resources of the United Bets, Great Britain and their associates to cross the mS Slish Channel and regain a foothold on the European Ainland in 1944. in , What is America’s situation if Britain collapses _ & future war like France did in the last one?” ing prance collapsed in the last war because the most to Uential forces in her national life were reluctant th Wage all-out war against fascism. The drive against ©, British pound ‘sterling is part of a U.S. drive to Piss € sure, if possible, that the forces most influential ‘be Ptitain’s national life shall not be those who might reluctant to wage all-out war to destroy socialism. eta do’ they plan to accomplish ‘that? They plan to Y.gblish conditions of British dependence upon the su * Which will—at least Wall Street hopes so— make Rie that reaction is strengthened in ‘Britain and Bitsin remains inthe imperialist war camp. is ‘ probably suggest j : _ September. ~ sidents,” By LESLIE MORRIS Western Union design for war By TIM BUCK aids Wall Street. in attacks on British people A substitute ? GENEVA United States spokesman in ‘the United Na- tions’ Economic and Social Council here told a Russian delegate that although Russia might \| have laws guaranteeing the equality of women, men in the U.S. helped their wives with the housework. Why is all that of such profound concern to every Canadian worker Because the St. Laurent government is right in the service of Wall Street in the drive against the British people and it is sacrificing our own national independence in the process. A press despatch from Ottawa on August 26 quoted “a top level government economist” as follows: “Canada’s position, he said, was that of a partner of the United States. It was almost certain that whatever position the U.S. took at Wash- ington would in part be supported by Canada.” He added that if the split in British-American opinion should become irreconcilable Canada would stand by the U.S. 3 Democratic, patriotic Canadians must be aroused to protest against, that policy, to compel the St. Laurent government to change it. It is anti-Canadian. In addition to the fact that millions of Canadian workers are'linked to those green islands by deep-rooted ties of blood and affection, the only way in which Canada can remain strong and independent is by re-establishment of the British market upon which our economy is so largely built and by trade between Canada.and those great new markets now developing rapidly in the socialist sector of the world. That is also the” way to maintain and to strengthen peace. The fight against Wall Street’s drive to enslave British people is part of the fight to keep Canada independent. CCF constituents supporting MLA —FLIN FLON, MAN. beer CCF constituency association of The Pas, meet- ing here last month defied the CCF provincial coun- cil by refusing to nominate a candidate against sitting member Berry Richards, who had been nominated -as CCF candidate for The Pas before his recent expulsion from the party at the CCF provincial convention. This is proof of widespread support for Richards’ position — on basic issues of CCF policy, and of profound dis- HEY who cry most vociferously that the Communists “betray’’ “‘loyalty’’ and “‘patriotism’’ are the very people who advocate surrendering “national sovereignty” in order to give capitalism another lease of life. Winston Churchill and the politicians of 12 Western European countries have been meeting in a “parliament’’ designed to bring together the Marshall plan countries for “common defense,” in other words, to tie them together as a mili- tary bloc against the Soviet Union. This. “parliament” proposes to abandon “‘national sovereignty.” It has come to such a pass that the three U.S. chiefs of staff, visitng Western Europe to ascertain its ability to fight another war, publicly speculate just how much blood would have to be shed again in France and the Low Countnes before the U.S. army could move in. ““National sovereignty’’ is held up to ridicule by the charlatans who are ready again to wage war. They condemn the Eastern European countries for fighting for their “national” rights as against “world govern- ment. f It is quite obvious that “‘world government” is world capitalism under control of the U.S. Having surrendered in fact all pretense to an independent. foreign policy, the Marshall plan dependencies are peddling the idea of Western European Union as a political device © to force unwilling countries into war. There can be no cooperation between nations unless it is founded on national self-respect and national sover- eignty; that is, when each country freely cooperates, not under duress, but as a means of achieving a peaceful end. The United Nations Charter provided the means _ for this. But the Charter has been flouted and “world government” (of course excluding the Soviet Union and under the leadership of the U.S.) is put forward in its place. Tt will not work. Long ago, Lenin showed that the slogan, “United States of Europe,”” was nothing but a cover for the domination of a number of smaller capital- ist countries by a large imperialist power. Churchill is meeting with some real dfficulties in this phony new “‘parliament.’” They are only a taste of what is coming. @ _ The irony and hypocrisy of it all, for the purposes of this column, is how, on the one hand the most brazen reactionaries falsely accuse Communists of having no “‘loyalty,”’ while on the other hand these self-same re- actionaries shout against and condemn “national sov- ereignty.”. The try ‘to harmonize this contradiction by speaking of a “common. way of life” in the Western countries. But there is no kind of common way except the common subservience of national capitalist regimes to the U.S. military. If that “unites” the governments of Western Europe, then they are all tarred with same_ brush. ; satisfaction with the position of the right-wing party — leadership. \ \ : ‘Richards, who previously announced ‘his decision to run as a “Northern Independent” candidate, was present at the constituency convention and addressed the dele- gates. The convention in a press release declared that “contrary to popular understanding, the convention was not called for the purpose of nominating a candi- (date. : : In refusing to nominate against Richards, the con- Stituency association is inviting disciplinary action by the CCF provincial council, up to and including sus- pension of the entire executive, elected at the conven- tion. At the provincial convention, the constitution was amended to give the provincial council power to take such action with respect to dissideit members or association at any time. | _ Following the Flin Flon convention, Swaites, provincial secretary, promised the Winnipeg Free Press that the convention’s decision would be “dealt with” at the next provincial council meeting, probably in mid- (The Free Press has been needling the provincial leadership to take action against the “dis- t so far with considerable success, although still not satisfied that the CCF has gone far enough in its purge of the opposition members.) . Previously, Richards had announced his candidacy as a “Northern Independent, as a result of numerous individual requests and group petitions from various -parts of the constituency.” | ; : Richards further stated: “I continue to feel a close relationship with the membership of the CCF, both in this constituency and in other parts of the country. This is due to the fact that my expulsion was not supported by any of the delegates from The Pas con- stituency. It is due also to the fact at the CCF conventions in Saskatchewan and British Columbia, ‘where the vast majority of the CCF resides, have re- fused to endorse the Atlantic pact.” The fact is that they who shout most loudly about “Communist disloyalty’? are those who are guilty of the gravest crimes against the peoples of their own countries by committing them, through the North Atlantic pact and Western Union, to a U.S.-inspired and U.S.-led imperial- ist war against socialism and the new democracies. U.S. domination will destroy the national sovereign- ty and peace of any country which accepts it. “World government” means the political organization for world war; the surrender of “national sovereignty” means to _ hand over the conduct of foreign affairs to the U.S. state department. ! By scurrilously misusing grand ideas of internation- -alism and world cooperation, Churchill, Spaak, the Bnitish Labor party leaders and the present government of Canada really are preparing for war. The only Ppro- gressive internationalism is that which rejects war as an instrument of policy; which sticks by the UN Charter; which refuses to retreat before the lie that the Soviet Union “plots” war or that war between the capitalist and socialist sectors of the world is “‘inevitable.” The labor movement, the workers of each country, are the carriers of real internationalism, the true guardians of their countries’ interests. They have no interest in war plots and imperialist rivalries except to fight against machinations, to expose them, and to insist that the present U.S.-controlled _ foreign policies of the western nations be thrown out, and’ replaced by the spirit and letter of the UN Charter. PACIFIC TRIBUNE — SEPTEMBER 9, 1949 — PAGE 9