~

set LIT

Ottawa writing off

Our senior

UNDREDS of thousands of
ese who have reached
Be ate years-and-ten are to
oo Salada to a “lingering
the on of $40 a month, by
ee tia Laurent government.
eat for this “privilege”, the
th aD. people are to be asked
_ Contribute. out of their earn-
ngs,

Bear the federal government’s
es utory old-age pension plan,
oe into effect next January,

a c Minister St. Laurent living

Eau $750,000 home and com-

esc. ing an income of $21,000 plus

i ar, will reap the same bene-

pee the 70-year-old working
Kas Be Woman whose strength

Nie, een ssapped, by a lifetime of

; \

ay a Taylor, with an income in

at 2 staged of thousands, will

the ty a few cents more than

o Verage $45-a-week worker.

‘ What basis will citizens of

mace and over receive the
ae $40 monthly without a
aid test? Prime Minister St.
this a pas: made it clear that
wally eme “right from the start

In st a contributory basis.”
den athed words, the main bur-
ook, ill be placed on the backs
in ng. Working people, with it be-

& indicated that employers and

me ernment will pay a share.
ae money which the govern-

cay vie contribute will comie
i he general revenues of the
rite that is, from the taxes
160 Y being paid by the people
& nance a war program whose
ea) could give our old
free an adequate pension with-
& means test from the age of
ea ‘still leave millions | for
= Y needed social services.
Vas in 1949 when prices were
A by compared to the present
a €, the Toronto Welfare Coun-
a released a survey which show-
Old age pensioners endure a

Painfully pinched existence. The |

ee survey, based on the study
nibs © expenses of a 75-year-old
ie living alone in a rooming
Siac: worked out a monthly
ae Bet of $5856 as the “mini-
m” needed to maintain health
and respect.
ae recent survey showed that 20
Bias: of Toronto’s aged women
igs 30 percent of the aged men
ie alone’ in rooming houses. On
in Yr $40 pension they have noth-
a to look forward to but to die
Garang loneliness, malnutri-
» and neglect.
ate Margaret Spaulding, past
St cia of the Old Age Division
eas € Toronto Welfare Council,
“5 oe the $40 a month pension as
Bes pieycle decision in a jet plane
s _As far as the proposed con-
utory scheme is concerned,
Rae: Spaulding sees this as an-
er tax blow at working people)
satis are already overtaxed and
fran pay envelopes won’t stretch
re ™M pay day to pay day.
tig ording to government statis-
cite the number of ‘Canada’s older
tro ens increases each year by
pa, 25,000 to 35,000. When the
6) ke regular census is con-
Uded it is estimated that the

t
otal number of persons 65 and.

ie will be in. the neighborhood
Sid 100,000. Of this number it is
mated that approximately 675,-
will be over seventy.
eck. in 1951 (instead of 1952) the
aaa paid these older citi-
oe a pension without a means
= ‘ the miserly $40 monthly
wae d add up to somewhere in the
ee rnold of $324,000,000. Na-
aes as the number of older
zens increases by 25,000 to 35,-
yearly, the amount paid in’

itizens
pensions will increase. It is esti-
mated that in 1961 a $40 pension
without a means test would cost
417 million dollars.

This sum to feed, shelter and
clothe senior citizens who have
helped build our nation is a
source of anger to big business.
The Financial Post views the -in-
creases with alarm and refers to
our old people as “those care-free
individuals who have decided to
let the government worry about
keeping them in their old age
should give this important matter
a second thought.”

The Financial Post then sheds

crocodile tears for the “taxpay-
ers” and states “more than ever
it is necessary for those who wish
to retire in comfort to save and
plan for it themselves.” ’

That’s how big business feels
about the nation’s old people.
What needs to be compared to the
estimated $324,000,000 it would
cost to give our senior citizens a
miserly $40 monthly without a
means test in 1951 is the $1,800,-
000,000 the government will spend
on arms for the fiscal year of
March, 1951-52. Actually, the
amount spent on old age pensions
for 1951 will be below the 324
million dollar figure due to the
fact that the means test will not
be abolished until January, 1952.
e

What is needéd? The program
of the Labor - Progressive party
urges a non - contributory system
with a minimum pension of $60

monthly to be paid at the age of
65. This minimum amount is
needed immediately if : thousands
of our old people are to be taken
out of flop houses and rat-ridden
rooming houses, the only quarters
their meagre funds will permit
them to obtain.

The federal - provincial pro-
posals whereby a joint scheme
will be worked out to provide
means test pension assistance
to those in the 65-69 groups
should be put into effect no lat-
er than the January 1 schedule
for those of 70 years of age. It
should not be approached from
the point of view that each pro-
vince will act on its own when
the spirit moves legislative
bodies. The means test for the
65-69 age group should be abol-
‘ished and a $60 pension paid.
‘As an immediate measure of

relief for Ontario old people, LPP
MPP’s House Leader A. A. Mac-
leod (Toronto-Bellwoods) and J.
B. Salsberg (Toronto-St. Andrew)
have urged during many sessions
that the provincial government at
least give a supplementary grant
of $10 monthly to bring the total
to fifty dollars.

During the past two years these
LPP members of the Ontario leg-
islature have made the subject of
the disgraceful treatment of our
senior citizens the main point in
their motions of non-confidence in

the government. Undoubtedly the’

work of the LPP members has
played a significant role in com-
pelling the Frost administration to
pledge itself to paying @ means
test pension to those in the 65-69
group. The task now is to have
the means test abolished and the
pension increased.

+ This is a national task, one
which must have its base in the
labor movement which for years
has been urging 2 decent pension
for our old people. _ Now the
$1,800,000,000 arms bill must be
compared to the pittance paid to
the aged and a sense of national
shame aroused over the plight of
the senior citizens who have help-

ed build Canada.

JOSEPH STAROBIN

French author discloses USSR
offered planes to France in1940

PARIS

SENSATIONAL revelation has

appeared here about war-time
events now eleven years past—
but progressive forces throughout
the world will find it of the great-
est interest: it is the story of
how the Soviet Union, despite the
non-aggression pact with Hitler,
was prepared to send airplanes

to France in May, 1940, as the
German armies swept tpward

Paris.

Remember how the enemies of
the Soviet Union had been end-
less repeating how the Western
powers were “betrayed” by the
Soviet-German non -aggression
pact?

But a new piece of, evidence has
just appeared in the fifth volume
of Louis Aragon’s. novel, The
Communists, in which it is
shown that on May 25, 1940, the
French government received a
favorable reply from Moscow to
the proposal that Soviet airplanes
come to the assistance of a des-
perate France.

L’Humanite, the leading French
Communist daily, is making a
very big play out of these revela-
tions, and has challenged ex-pre-
mier Edouard Daladier and Paul
Reynaud, both active politicians
of that period, to deny these new
facts. So far, not even an at-
tempt at denial has been made.
And the rest of the French press
is boycotting the whole thing.

The new historical evidence
goes as follows: on May 25, 1940
(when the German armies had
not yet occupied more than the
territory over-run in 1914) the
French government through its”
air minister, Laurent Eynac,
made an official appeal to the So-
viet Union to send planes to
France.

France was desperate at that
moment. Premier Paul Reynaud
had just made his famous appeal
to President Roosevelt for a vast
umbrella of planes. Senator Pep-
per had introduced a resolution:
to this effect in the U.S. Senate
but it was being buried in sub-
committee. ... So Eynac turned
toward Moscow, and said he was
prepared to send the former avia-
tion minister, Pierre ‘Cot, to ne-
gotiate for the planes.

\

The Soviet government replied
within hours. The answer was
positive. At this moment, Gen-
eral Paul Weygand got wind of
what was happening. He had
been preparing an offensive for
May 27. There was still time to
save France; the territory occu-
pied was still small.
gand, one of the “men of Mun-
ich” who feared the French peo-
ple more than the Nazis, was
afraid of the effect arrival of
Soviet planes would have. He
gave orders for withdrawal of
French armies toward Dunkirk.

Meanwhile, the cabinet debated
the Soviet offer. Should Cot be
sent, or someone else? Days
passed. It wasn’t until June 3
that planes were provisioned for
the trip to Moscow; finally it was
decided not to send Cot. Instead,
diplomat Erik Labonne was fin-
ally despatched, and he arrived
in Moscow on June 22—the day
after. capitulation to Hitler. The

But Wey- .

armistice had already been sign-
ed ... almost one month after
the Soviet offer! .
Aragon swears that his facts
are absolutely accurate, though
never published’ before. Certain
allusions, confirming his facts,
appeared last year in Le Monde.
The world-famous Soviet journ-
alist, Ilya Ehrenburg, has also
noted that Anatole de Monzie,
then a French official, approach-
ed him to be an intermediary for
negotiations with Moscow, before
Ehrenburg could do anything

about, it, de Monzie had been ar- °

rested. ...

L’Humanite has challenged all
those who are still living today to”
come forward and declare them-
selves. L’Humanite dares them
to deny that the USSR was pre-
pared to help France even while
the pact was in force, but it was
the “gravediggers of. France”
who sabotaged and refused that
help.

‘CHINESE RICH, ACCURATE’

Peking People’s Daily.

states the paper.

ness,” it concludes.

On use of language.

S (oa aes use of the Chinese language is called for by tne

“Use of language is an important condition for development
of social, economic, political and cultural life.
of language is essential to accurate thinking and efficient work,”

Chinese has evolved into a rich and accurate language. Com-
pared with old Chinese, present day Chinese is much more express-
ive and has added to its inherent merits by absorption from abroad.

The editorial recommends Mao Tse-tung and Lu Hsun as
two masters of modern Chinese. It asks people to learn from them.

Some self-styled scholars of imperialist ; countries and their
Chinese counterparts have slandered the Chinese language as lack-"
ing rules and scientific construction, the editorial says, but actually
such people never mastered Chinese at all.

“We should oppose such slander, energetically learn to master
the language of our motherland, and strive for its purity and sound-

In the same issue, the Peking People’s Daily carried the first
of a series of articles on Chinese grammar and rhetoric.

The correct use

\

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JUNE 22, 1951 — PAGE 9

i il ia