LABOR FRONT 3

By WILLIAM KASHTAN

The Federal Governments decision to set up a commission
to inquire into the disruption of Great Lakes shipping, includ-
ing the activities of the Seafarers International Union (SIU),
establishes a rather dangerous precedent which can do much:
harm to the trade union movement. It is true that the decision
was made after representations from the Canadian Labor Con-
gress, backed by the boycott of SIU ships by the Canadian
Brotherhood of Railway Transport Union. But this does not
make it any sweeter or less dangerous.

The board of inquiry is not being called upon to look into
the conditions of the seamen. Its terms of reference seem to be
directed towards deciding which union may or may not repre-
sent the seamen, whilst the democratic right of the seamen to
make that decision is thrown out of the window. Herein lies
the danger of such an inquiry.

* * *

In this the government is acting true to form. The sea-
men —s asked whether they wanted the Canadian Sea-
men’s Union. That decision was made for
them by the Canadian Labor Board which
declared the CSU a “Communist domin-
ated” union which had no right of exist-
ence and thus opened the door to the
SIU’s entry into Canada.

The SIU, it is worth recalling,’ came
to Canada not because the Canadian sea-
men wanted it but because the shipowners’
federation, the U.S. state department, the
Canadian government, the American Fed-
eration of Labor and, not least, men like Frank Hall, wanted
it. The SIU was forced down the throats of Canadian seamen
because it suited the purpose of the cold war and its main ad-
vocates.

Now the right wing is having second thoughts about the
wisdom of its actions and is trying to get rid of the SIU. But
the ways and means of doing this are rather dangerous. In-
stead of relying upon the seamen it is asking the government,
in effect, to decide for the seamen which union may represent
them.

* * *

If the government is given the right to decide for the
seamen, what is to stop it deciding which union may or may
not exist in any other industry?

It is common knowledge that knives have been sharpened
in some quarters to ‘“‘get” the Teamsters. Will they be next on
the list? And after them, who else?

Today it is “gangsterism” and ‘corruption’ that is ostens-
ibly being attacked. What will it be tomorrow? Those unions
which advocate reduced hours of work? Those which oppose
the austerity program of the Diefenbaker government or try
to protect their members from its effects? Or which oppose:
speed up? All unions which stand by the trade union principle
of defending the conditions of their membership?

The Globe and Mail in an editorial last week has already
made clear what it hopes the board of inquiry will do. It has
been calling for legislation in Ontario to make unions legal.
entities and therefore sueable. It has called for legislation
which would make it possible to decertify unions. Ostensibly
this is to be aimed against criminal acts of violence but it re-

quires no stretch of the imagination to see that trade union

rights are under attack.
We hold no brief for the SIU but the board of inquiry

proposed by the CLC could well become a kind of Pandora’s
Box with all sorts of unpleasant surprises for the trade union
movement. '

Solutions to the complex inner problems of the trade
union movement won't be found in courts of law, or in hand-
ing over to government the decision as to which union the
workers ought to belong. What is needed is the restoration of
the principle of trade union democracy, reliance on member-
ship, the restoration of trade union unity and the elimination
of jurisdictional squabbles which in fact open the door for
anti-labor legislation.

* * ”

Now that the board of inquiry has been established, with
one of its purposes to look into the activities of the SIU, it
would be rather useful to broaden its scope. Why not include
in its terms of references: Who were the parties responsible
for bringing the SIU into Canada in the first place? What
were their reasons for so doing? Who gave the order — the
U.S. state department? the shipowners? the Canadian govern-
ment? Mr. Frank Hall?

If one is really serious about going into criminal activi-
ties, who were the real criminals and what was the nature of
their criminal activities? -Let all the correspondence be
brought to public light. Were this to be done, it would show a
terrible picture of corruption, of betrayal, of U.S. domination
over the Canadian trade union movement and the evils of anti-
Communism under which the SIU was brought into Canada. It
would show also the need and solidarity and for a fully aut-
onomous Canadian trade union movement.

‘Soviet spaceman Sere Titov, left, =< Yuri Gagarin last
week strongly protested the U.S. nuclear test in space.

‘

" ment.

’ the matter of hammering out

tion, or will it miss the op-

COMMUNIST NAT. CTTEE. MEETS

Broad people's uni

The Communist Party’s policy in the recent federal
election has passed the “acid test” of practise and has
been proved to be correct, Leslie Morris, national leader
of the party, told its national committee meeting in
Toronto over the-weekend of July 7-8. ”
ae Hones pelle ee SORBED NONE :
tion—that of rolling up the oe me oR SEAS DY, Rogie

Credit in Quebec, Morris said

biggest-eve i
oe pepe pews the it may be that the party erred

old-line parties—is seen in . it timati f hod
the fact that one-quarter of acbihd des skeeey red prea &
velopment,

the electorat i -
“4 Bie eevee eeinst He said the party should

the Liberals and Tories, and feontion toaentich
two-thirds of those voting DB eae 55 Ey HOuRe
movements in Canada and

cast their ballots against

: = that as the left grows the
peers. Tory asevern right can also be expected to
grow.

The Social Credit vote,
HOWEVED, must not be dismiss-

The election results, he
continued, have faced the
two old-line parties with a zeae
dilemma in the operation of 2
the two-party system, and
this creates a fluid situation
with great new possibilities
of political struggle opened,
up.

Comparing results of this
election with previous ones,
he noted that the Liberal-
Tory vote had dropped from
87.2 percent in.1958 to 74
percent this year.

Two million Canadians had
voted against the two old- * :

line parties last June and this eo.
was the greatest such vote 9."
4 e

since 1945 election. a
The one million votes for Sth =

S unity needed to
fight Dief’s austerity program

the New Democratic Party,
Morris asserted, was a good seein:
sign, and the potential of the
NDP among the working class
is to be seen especially in the
heavy vote it won in indus-
trialized areas such as British
Columbia and Toronto.

He said the relative and
absolute strength of the work-
ing class vote against the old-
line parties has _ increased.
The NDP, however, lost many
votes because it failed in a
real way to take up and seize
hold of the issues of peace
and Canadian independence
for fear of being called “red.”

Because of this, many voted
Liberal, and, in Quebec, gave
their support to Social Credit.

Now, said Morris, the big-
gest single obstacle in the
way of giving direction to the
anti-old-line party voters and
all progressive elements is

ed as an ultra-right vote, he
declared. By and large it was
a vote of basic economic dis-
content and resulted to a
large extent from lack of any
effective intervention by the
trade union movement or the
NDP.

‘The NDP’s weakness on
the question of equality for
French Canada also played a
contributing role, Morris stat-
ed.

But, he emphasized, we
must not give up Social
Credit voters to the John
Birchites.

_He said it was interesting
to note that in British Col-
umbia and Alberta — where
Social Credit is in power pro-
vincially—the federal Social
Credit vote was insignificant.

The Dollar and the Bomb,
said Morris, played a big role
in the election.

The devaluation of the dol-
lar showed the bitter fruit
of integration with the United
States,
Canadians against thermonu-
clear war made both old-line
parties say they would not
accept nuclear arms for Can-
ada.

policy that will correspond
to the interest of Canada and
Canadians.

Will the NDP, he asked,
learn the lesson of the elec-

portunity?

Will it rise to the chal-
lenge and will its members
make it their own vehicle, or
will the right-wing leadership

stifle its potential and To a large extent, the NDP
growth? vote was a vote against the
One factor that should bomb.

CORRECT POLICY

The correctness of the Com-
munist Party’s policy in the
election was seen in its slo-
gans which are inherently
popular and go to the heart
of Canadian events by stating
forthrightly that the issue is
survival and calling on Can-
adians to ‘put Canada first’
against U.S. domination.

These slogans, he said,
must become the property of
ever greater masses of peo-
ple.

If the NDP would pick up
these issues, great changes
could be wrought in the poli-
tical situation in Canada,

_ July 20,_

cause concern, he said, was
the fact the prairies went
Tory and there was a decline
in the rural protest vote. This
was at least in part due to
certain constituent changes
in western agriculture.

On this’ point he said the
party should examine that
undemocratic aspect of elec-
tions that makes the rural
vote stronger than the urban
one. The party should pursue
more vigorously the principle
of representation by popula-
tion: Now, he said, it re-
quires far less votes to elect
in a rural riding than in an
urban one.

eo ee

“Really hard to follow him any further!”
—“Frankfurter Rundschau” (West Ge

while the feeling of:

19626—PA

Morris stated. The issu!
NDP missed in the
were the issues of the

The fight for the nati
said, is the political
of the Communist Party:
to win this fight it is
sary for masses of Canadl
to take it up. 4

In the election the
had brought out the
issues and had play®
political, educative 4?
tational role. It had not
barrassed” the NDP ®
it votes, and
candidates had wel
support of the Commul
ridings where Com
did not run.

Diefenbaker’s post-e*
austerity measures have
illusioned many with
line parties, Morris
Many Tory and Liberal
may now begin to sé
for leftward moveme?
FIGHT BACK NEEDE

The chronic sickne® 4,
balance of payments
with $17 billion of
lars invested in Cana
development of an
ary situation nitti
purchasing power\ 0%
dians, the whole Diefe na
economic program # oil
through order-in- -coun

‘not Parliament, the 10?
the International
Fund (with U.S. vem
stated or not), the wea
of the U.S. economy
these things, declared af
require a broad unité
movement to fight b#
the party should A
this campaign with ©
vigor.

After discussing and
sing Morris’ report
tional committee als®
a message to the 4
people which it agree if
tribute in at least hal
lion copies throus
country prior to thé
of Parliament.

The committee gurthe™ se
ed on the party t?
as widely as possible i?
ings, picnics and other as
activities during the rst
to explain and pop¥
message, and to © 4
united peoples’ actio®>
port of peace. ty’,

It instructed the P# nit
tional executive speP
“to take into accouD” ‘i
sibility of an early
election and to Pre
the participation of 0
in this next
basis of the continu
the general policy ~
ed in the last electi

jer