ee

BY WILLIAM KASHTAN

‘Rarified atmosphere’ at

This 13 You Departineat|

Ottawa TLC convention

FOR THE FIRST four days of
the Trades and Labor Congress
convention at Ottawa delegates
heard little except officers’ re-
ports and speeches from the fra-
ternal delegates of the American
Federation of Labor and the
Trades Union Congress of Great
Britain. In between, the presi-
dent and secretary-treasurer’s sal-
aries were increased to $9,500 and
$7,500 a ‘year respectively, plus
assurances of a pension after 10
years’ service. To indicate fair
play members of congress commit-
tees will now get $30 per day.

The only lively action during
these first four days was the en-
tire afternoon spent discussing
the merits and demerits of lotter-
ies.

The convention opened shortly
after the armistice in Korea had
been won. But the convention
platform had not a public word to
say about it. No lead was given
as to how labor should fight to
ensure a lasting peace; nor was
there anything said about recog-
nizing and trading with People’s
China. Instead the Congress
leadership showed it was still
wedded to the policy of the arms
race and, by implication,. the
“liberation” policy of Dulles.

On the last day in a subtle, un-
democratic way the executive and
the resolutions committee smug-
gled through the elimination of

the long-standing TLC platform.

position on disarmament.

Nothing was said by the officers
about ‘the dangerous economic
trends in this country.

The same unreal tone ran
through the discussion on other
burning labor issues. Just before
the convention, Dave Beck, U.S.
boss of the AFL Teamsters’ Union
had peremptorily ousted A. F.

_ MacArthur, its Canadian repre-

sentative. Bengough and Co. ut-
tered many words about the dan-
ger of “Communist” domination
but not one word was said about
the real domination of Beck and
other U.S. figures who are under-
mining Canada’s trade unions.

Not a word was said about the
teamsters’ and gold miners’
strikes until the fifth day when
the teamsters from Windsor and
Hamilton wired a request. Only
then was a formal resolution ad-
opted condemning the use of pro-
vincial police ‘for strike-breaking
purposes. No resolution condemn-
ed the force and violence the
gold operators and trucking com-
panies are applying by arming
scabs to “shoot to maim.”

* * ~

HOW WAS it possible for this
convention to move in such a
rarified atmosphere where some
of the real problems could only
be debated Friday afternoon and
Saturday morning? Actually, al-
most 125 resolutions were rush-
ed through in rapid-fire order dur-
ing this short period!

The: responsibility obviously
lies with the leadership which
tried its hardest to avoid coming
to grips with the real problems
besetting the working class. If
they had they would have had to
self-critically admit the fact that
their policies, which superficially
seemed to have paid off, are now
leading the working class into a
dead end. They would have had
to state that a new situation is
unfolding. which requires new
policies. They did not do this
nor were they prepared to do so,
because they are committed to
made-in-USA policies.

a

This explains why they still con-

tinued to red-bait and restrict

This is not to suggest that no
good resolutions came out of the
convention. As in the past, the
locals sent in good working class
resolutions. Out of 184 resolutions
only three were of a red-baiting
character.

These 181 resolutions more
than anything else reflect the
thinking of the rank and file on
what they believe needs to be

WILLIAM KASHTAN

done. They dealt with peace,
trade, unity, health, a national
development policy; pensions,
political action, the 30 hour week
and so on. Most of them carried.

But .a leadership which has
been conducting an entirely op-

posite policy is not likely to fight ®

for them, particularly a leader-
ship which is tied hand and foot
to made-in-USA™policies and con-
tinues to restrict the democratic
rights of the membership.

* * *

IT IS CLEAR that the entire
question of democracy in the
trade union movement will have
to be taken up with renewed vig-
or by progressive trade unionists.
The dead hand of the bureau-
cracy needs to be removed if
the invigorating new _ breezes
now coming up and which life is
pushing to the fore, are to per-
meate every facet of trade union
activity. There are new breezes
and progressives would ignore
them at their peril.

A case in point was one of the
last resolutions passed prior to
the adjournment of the conven-
tion. Transcona Lodge 184 of the
Machinists asking the convention
to change the procedure of con-
vention so that the speeches of
fraternaly delegates. and such
matters, would come up as the
first order of business, thus en-
abling the delegates to debate the
resolutions in a less hurried fash-
ion. The resolutions committee
moved non-concurrence in this re-
solution.

To the surprise and discomfit-
ure of the platform, the delegates
defeated the motion of non-con-
currence and voted for the orig-
inal motiom

It was a small item in itself.
But it mirrored the frustration
and growing anger of the dele-
gates and their demand that time
be made available for discussion
on the real problems, not the
phoney issues and arguments pre-
sented by the platform. It was
definitely a slap in the face for
Bengough and Co.

On balance the convention il-
lustrated the fact that while the
leadership is continuing to move
in one direction, insofar as the
delegates did or could express it
the rank and file are moving grop-
ingly in another direction.

the democratic rights of the rank @ This is the first of two articles

and file and the locals.

on the TLC convention.

» White What You Pleate.

Main and Hastings

M.S., Vancouver, B.C.: Main
and Hastings in the City of Van-
couver is more than a crossing
of two streets. It is a crossing
of peoples, cultures, ideas and
thoughts.

It is the crossing of the theatre
and’ of the beer parlor, of the
public library and of the cabaret,
of the dirty stairs with “Men”
and “Women” above them, of the
streetcar and the trolley, the °53
Buick and the Model T, the bi-
cycle and the motorbike, of horns
and motors and whistles and
squeaks—but mostly it is a cross-
ing of People.

People with and without desti-
nation. Tired people waiting for
the streetcar to take them home
and people wanting a bit of fun
for it is Friday night.

The old Chinese with his hands
behind ‘his back and the young
Chinese couple. The Negro girl
and the white boy. The Slav; the
Jew, the Anglo-Saxon and the
Latin. But these peoples have
tongues and their tongues whirl
and pass you in their variety and
color and intonation. This is a:
crossing of many peoples and cul-
tures. Peoples and cultures and
ideas which make up Canada—
a country of all nations.

Likes PT editorials

B.D., Saanichton, B.C.: Please
change the mailing address of
our PT to the new address en-
closed. S

Your paper is well worth read-
ing from beginning to end. We
especially appreciate the well
written, courageous editorials of
Tom McEwen. They must repre-
sent a lot of hard thinking and
research by a good man; or the
easy, informal comments of a
genius.

We're enclosing a little dona-

‘tion to the paper as well as

money for a year’s renewal.

At Robeson concert

JOHN MARSHALL, Vancouver,
B.C.: As:I sat on the grass at
Peace Arch Park, listening to the
golden voice of Paul Robeson, I
looked the crowd over and
thought, ‘‘Surely my many friends
and relations who talk about cul-
ture, brotherly love and Christ-
ianity, will be here today.”

So I walked around the park.
For more than an hour I walked,
back and forth over the sparkling
green grass, past beautiful flower
beds, among hundreds of listen-
ing people.

But I did not see even one of

z ead SOCi
A] Sacrensee ceeicks

my good friends. Now here was
something! Here was a man,
Robeson, who rates with the
greats of Carnegie Hall and the
Met, a man that has sung before
royalty, who has just come over
2,000 miles to sing for us free of
charge at our border. We had
only to drive: 30 miles or so to
listen. But not one of my many
“cultured” friends were there.

I did not even see any of my
CCF friends who talk about a
new world of justice, love, free-
dom and equality.

Role of UN

READER, Vancouver, B.C.: I
think everyone should applaud
the recent speech made by an
Indian delegate to the Associated
Country Women of the World
Conference held in Toronto re-
cently.

Speaking on the role of the
United Nations, Dr. Krishnabal
Nimkar called for a substitute
for “the flood of anti-Commun-
ist propaganda coming out of the
United Nations.”

She stated her position as fol-
lows: “I feel the UN should be
anti-nothing. It should present,
instead, a strong, positive pro-
gram concerning the needs of in-
dividual countries.”

Are we sectarian?

JAY ESS, Vancouver, B.C.: Per-
mit me once again to put in a
few words on the construction of
a working class paper. My sen-
timents are your sentiments as
expressed in the quote from Walt
Whitman in the PT during the
spring financial drive: “I don’t
want. the brotherhood of the
world to be so long a-coming .. .
if I can hurry it by a day or so.”

It seems to me that the PT is
a hit and miss affair, some is-
sues being terrible, others pass-
ably readable. But perhaps my
enjoyment is colored by my en-
thusiasm,

No matter how progressive we
are, the communist way of life
has nothing to do with the tech-
nique of writing, It could be that
this writing technique of |the
workers press all over the world
is reactionary. To go further, I
might say that the yellow press
in its technique is progressive.
Definitely so, for in its endeav-
ors to maintain capitalism and
get more readers, new ideas are
always being evolved in variety,
for every member of the family.
Catering to the primitiveness and
complacency of the human breed,
it is a laboratory of experiment.

I: maintain that lies are put

Le]
SAG

~~ ee

— .
an See eS

= ean oe Be 2

=
pie 6 Sere
Poot Sie

over and believed because they
are made enjoyable to the masse
But there is no necessity of 1
not being put over better, by
being glamorized and streamlin:
ed, pictures instead of 80 maby
words, cartoons, comics, shorte!
articles and so on. '

I disagree with the farmet
wife from Pemberton Tre ee
lines. The front page headli’
are the most important P@ 4
the paper, which should tell
story in a few words; stan
from each other, some S fl
some larger, some even color
This destroys the stodgines>
the paper. A good headlin€ ‘
tracts the reader to read t
story under it in detail. é

‘People today don’t want a
ditional radical journalism ° 958
Wobbly era, but a modern ~~
newspaper. ee

Those articles in recent sel
on Jehovah’s Witnesses; fae
space travel and people’s TY aft
hit the mark, because the
different. You are slowly a

ing! ui
Without withholding 4 pat

d

¢

d

and again, I would say ap
has improved its headlines.
also that the paper as 4 W" Gy
miles ahead of the progres
press in Toronto, New ork
San Francisco. : tiod
Let’s have a popular fey
newspaper; not a sectarian § |

Southern lynching

H.K., Victoria, B.C.: I nave
read this poem called Per ag
written by Kenneth Scud prif
printed in a volume calles it
oners are People. It pT:
should be reprinted in the
Stripped, whipped, and tort

by the master race,
Stabbed is the gullet, b@

the face. ;
Hitched to a bumper, FOP

his feet, {!
Dragged to the country dow"

veal"
pot
he

village street. jikel a
Torn, twisted, moaning

goat, i sport
Swung from a tree toP, rope

his throat, ae noo!
Black body swinging !"

daylight, here ihe

Neck broken rudely W
knot jerked tight. punts
Bloodthirsty madmen

souvenirs, jest"
S51 $
Wrenching at the care?
ing off the ears. ac

Eyeballs protruding, fingel?

ed aloose, gli
Portrait of injustices

from a noose.

“How can you believe they‘ve got the H Bomb like we have? They haven’t threatened 27” Ace
PACIFIC TRIBUNE — AUGUST 28, 1993 —~