“

US. visitor to USSR

ing the
Near

U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, visit-
Soviet Union with his wife, is photographed in Moscow

B.C. labor parley
can chart new course

By CHARLES CARON

The B.C. Trade Union Congress, opening here September 28, has an oppor
tunity to assume a leading role in the struggle for a new national policy.

The Trades and Labor Congress convention held last July will go down in Canadian
history as a milestone in the struggle for labor unity of the Canadian working class, princip-
ally because it ratified the merging of the two main labor organizations, the TLC and the

Canadian Congress of Labor.

~ However, the TLC convention
failed to free the working. class,
organizationally and_ politically,
for. the development of an in-
dependent class policy. Certain
terms of the merger committee
of the TLC and CCL will ,unless
changed, become a great hind-
rance to the interests of Cana-
dian labor and the country. The
projected new labor centre could
become an instrument to serve
reactionary capital.

The reactionary measures
adopted by the convention were:
@ Rejection of the obvious need

to make the merger all-in-
clusive. At the present time
close to a quarter of a million
workers are deliberately exclud-
ed — the Canadian Catholic Con-
federation of Labor and a large
number of independent unions.
This policy to refuse to make the

_|merger all-inclusive arises out of

political discrimination and runs

counter to Canadian democratic

standards.

@ To hold bi-annual instead of
the traditional annual con-

ventions; international represen-

‘tatives, with the executive coun-

cil, to meet between conventions
to determine policies. This can
only be interpreted as a direct

——* fhe tomb of Lenin and Stalin.
| aay

Sy

i

2Ub campaign gets underway

; clans of increasing the cir-
d improving the con- |
€ Pacific Tribune were |

rs for more than six)
°3 Gre.” Some 55 delegates from
ang oa Vancouver press clubs
€N provincial points, at
8Y conference here on
of the paper’s annual |
N campaign.

Paper picken characterized |
Svat

© Spirit of peace—to the
Be» 2

: Provincial press conference
Plans for wider PT circulation

tion calling on all press club | °

members “to obtain one new |
subscriber during the current }
drive.” ; |

_ Other plans call for picking up! .

of renewals which have expired ;
during the summer months;
greater participation in street
sales and sales at factory gates; ,
and club bundle orders for com-

were these:
@ More provincial, farm and

8; ? ’ aaa -
PO es_endorsed a_resolu-

the

: Gibtign dow oe war and con-
48}; Aas i

a lives i en lifted from

Y young Canadians b:
&y 45 ‘dines of the Great nd

; down, as they did at
ms a»? ai Nd negotiate differ-
oe of the Thomas, provincial
; Labor National Federation
Mow: Cuth, told a Vancou-

' NELy
Clinton
‘Ab
nya wd new future opens
Bik »© People once war is
a Continued Thomas.
“ sf person will want
and Unds spent for edu-
ts» “Ports, instead of arm-

eq
Warne of war still exists, |
» and the fight for”

Membership meeting
Hall Sunday _ this

lift shadow
of youth’

peace must not slacken. “Young
people will continue to look over
the shoulders of the statesmen,
to keep that bright future made
possible by Geneva.”

The NFLY membership dis-
cussed plans to open a new youth
centre, develop a drama group
and extend the organization’s
sports program in ‘coming months.
A committee was elected to fin-
alize these plans.

Guest at the meeting was Sam
English, president of the Michel
local, United Mine Workers of

America.

A jam session and dance
wound up the meeting, the music
being provided by a _newly-
formed five piece band.

4

trade union news, with live
coverage wherever possible
through encouragement and
development of volunteer
correspondents.

More news of interest to
women and children.

Livelier makeup and writ-
ing, including more humor
and satire.

“Even the best paper won't
sell by itself,’ delegate Adolph
Pothorn from Nanaimo remind-
ed the conference near the close
of the discussion period. “The
problem of circulation can only
be solved by the paper’s sup-
porters, who must get out and
sell it. I think our aim should
be to increase our circulation
in every constituency to at least
the number of votes polled by

_| progressive candidates in _ those

ridings during the last provincial
elections.” :

Consistency — going regularly
to the same corner or plant gate
— was stressed by another dele-
gate. “We don’t know all the
people who will buy a_ paper,
but they know. us when they see
us selling the PT.”

“Our paper is a weapon in the
fight for peace and progress.
Let’s use it as a weapon in all
our work,” said Harold Pritchett
of Burnaby.

“Our financial drive last spring

was a great success,” Tom Mc-|

Ewen said in his closing remarks.
“But to justify the raising of
$18,000 annually to keep our
presses rolling, we must rapid-
ly increase our circulation.” —

infraction on the rights of local
unions.
@ Limitation of the right of
representation of the rank-
and-file, while increasing ‘the
number of appointed delegates
by international unions. As it
now stands, considering the num-
ber of international unions, the
|increase of appointed delegates
lof these unions from one to
three could result in an appoint-
ed group of almost 300 delegates.

The reason for the restrictive
terms of the merger, which act
against the rank-and-file of local
unions, was made evident in the
convention’s endorsation of the
cold war policies of the St. Laur-
ent government.

Cold war concepts prevailed
at the time of the convention.
Although a number of delegates
fought for a new policy based
on peace, nothing was done, not-
withstanding’ the current large-
scale unemployment, particular-
ly in the big manufacturing in-
dustries of Ontario and Quebec.

Again, nothing was said by the
TLC convention as such, to break
the trade shackles imposed’ as
a consequence of the St. Laur-
ent government’s cold war poli-
cies.

x 5 *

Big Four mirrors the complete
bankruptcy of the cold war poli-
cles of the U.S. and Canadian
monopolies. This crisis in policy
will consequently find a very
sharp expression among the car-
riers of those policies in the
labor movement.

A new opportunity is opening
up for the working class through
its organizations to assume its
leading role in the struggle for
a new policy for Canada.

This is the mew point from
which the approaching B.C.
Trade Union Congress must be
seen. Although the TLC con-
vention set a reactionary pat-
tern in the terms of the merger
and also supported the reaction-
ary policies of the St. Laurent
government, it does not follow
that the Trade Union Congress

The Geneva meeting of the.

convention will follow a similar
pattern.

On the contrary, because of
the closeness of the B.C. Trade
Union Congress to the rank-and-
file trade unionist, and also be-
cause of the new conditions that
the Geneva Conference opened
up, we should see a much @if-
ferent pattern arising from this
convention Z

The needs of B.C. labor de-
mand support for the principles
of Geneva and their extension.

The convention must fight for
the recognition and seating of
China in the United Nations as
an indispensable part of main-
taining peace.

This coming convention has a
big responsibility towards re-
lieving unemployment. This re-
sponsibility can be met by press-
ing the government to remove
trade shackles, opening to us
the great markets of Asia.

Opening of these markets
could result in the develop-
ment of the resources of this
province for manufacturing
industries, to provide jobs,

| rather than the present prac-

tice of giving away our re-
sources to feed the war mach-
ine of U.S. big business.

The convention’ will no doubt
examine the need of labor to ob-
tain greater benefits .out of
growth in the tncrease of pro-
ductivity.. This can be done
through. a shorter work week.
Workers need more time to en-
joy the benefits of what they
create. They also need a greater
share in terms of take home pay.

The 3B.C. Trade Union Con-
gress, by taking a positive posi-
tion on these proposals, can. be
of historic importance in that it
can lay the basis for a new policy
reversing the pattern of the TLC
convention and opening a new
trend in policy for the CCL con-
vention which will take place
in October.

e

CONCERT

Celebrate 6th Anniversary

PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Sunday, October

_ RUSSIAN PEOPLE'S HOME — 600 CAMPBELL AVE.
Speakers, Music, Songs, Dances, -okits, Etc.

» UR ANOUET 2
_ Sunday, October 2 - 6 p.m.

FORBIDDEN CITY — 90 EAST PENDER

Tickets: $3.00 per person . ag
at People’s Co-op Bookstore — 339 West Pender ;

LATEST DATE ON TICKETS: SEPTEMBER 24

EVERYBODY WELCOME

MEETING

marry

2- 1.30pm }

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — SEPTEMBER 16, 1955 — PAGE 7