LET CHILDREN LEARN
ABOUT COMMUNISM

Failure of two North York
School principals to invite a
Communist Party of Can-
Gda candidate to address
their pupils, casts a shadow
On our “enlightened” school .
Policies.

The ‘schools invited New

emocratic Party candidate

of Island Hall-Hotel at Parksville
the 7th annual B.C. Conference
Of the Voice of Women was held
On Saturday and Sunday, May
25 and 26. There were 85-90
Women gathered from many
areas of B.C, They came from
Vancouver Island, Hornby, Pow-

ell River, Prince George, Kel--

Owna and the lower mainland.
The hall had literature dis-
Plays and on the sides were the
hree ‘stitcher and applique wall
angings that were done by the
€gina branch for the University
Of Montreal for the International
Onference of Women. They are
done on burlap and the subjects
xpress VOW’s basic purposes:
Flowers of Hiroshima” “Let
here Be a World,” “Women in
Ommunication.” These panels
are available from the Regina
V.O.w.

What did. these women do
during their get-together. They
heard reports from their presi-
dent Deeno Birmingham and re-
Ports from the areas. They were
all encouraging as the note of
Optimism prevailed towards or-
8anization and response general-
ly to peace. All places stressed

€ need for education on the

' Peace question, They tied many
things to this — such as work-
Ing with principals of high
Schools, extension of social stu-
les courses-seminars,  P.T.A.’s.
They found the showing of “The
ar Game” most successful
€verywhere—Kelowna reported
that a 1,000 people saw the film
and raised over $300. This group,
though only 16 women, were
Tesponsible for sending out 50

In the beautiful surrounding

FLOWER POWER

canes J

Val Scott, Liberal Phil
Givens and Conservative
Wes Boddington to appear
before social study classes,
but snubbed Communist
candidate William Kashtan,
national leader of the party.

It appears the reason for
the snub was fear parents: :
would not like:their.children.

' exposed: to. communism.

copies 0

Significantly, York West

ar Weekly—On The
Viet Nam War. A separate com-
mittee of the VOW was set up
to aid the Medical Aid ‘Commit-
tee to knit and raise money.
They were able to have the

Council of Women in Vernon Co-.

sponsor a meeting for the VOW’s
president Mrs. Muriel Duck-
worth, when she was in B.C.

In Comox—The Comox Dis-

‘trict Free Press has given over

a page or two to Letters-to-The-
Editors for teenagers. The letters
written are on the question of
peace. The women expressed

‘great hope with these young peo-

ple and their concern for the
world around them.

The Burnaby group set the
tone for VOW to take political
action during this election: cam-
paign and others. A list of 10
questions has been drawn up to
be sent to all candidates, radio
stations, VOW members to ask
at meetings, etc. One or two of
the questions are: “Does your
party believe that it is morally
right to continue. sale of war
materials to the US. while they
are at war with Vietnam?
“what is your party’s stand on
Canadian participation in NA-
TO?” All the questions ask’ can-
didates to give their personal
stand as well. There was muca
discussion around this and here
I would like to say that so many
of the younger women were
keen and prepared to participate.
The question was asked why
VOW members do not run for
public office. Many women took
this seriously and I am sure will
consider in future elections to
participate directly.

views and comment...

tiding ratepayers in the
area of one of the two
schools did. invite Kashtan
to take part in an all-
candidates meeting where
he was given the same
hearing as other candi-
dates.

Since he is a candidate
representing a legal politi-
cal party in this country it is
reasonable that he be given
a chance to have his say.

If the social study teach-
ers and the principals in the
two schools involved feel
our democracy has so little
stability the appearance of
a Communist party. candi-
date before school children
might damage it, then we
might as well give up.

The misguided notion by. .
the teachers involved that
they are qualified to judge
which candidates their stu-
dents should or should not
hear, should be speedily
corrected. —

Whatever their private
opinion may be about the
Communist party it is not up
to school teachers to decide
which candidates should be
allowed to speak.

Surely teachers and prin-
cipals will agree that Com-
munist states and Commun-
ist parties play an important
part in the world today and
Canadian children have a
right to learn about them
and judge for themselves.

Mirror (North York) |

- Avsaddening note fell over the
>-conference- when on Saturday

> morning- we ‘were informed that

Mrs. Jim Lawson of Victoria had
passed away the night before.
Mrs. Lawson was well known in
the VOW : and other peace
groups. She was an outstanding
worker for peace from many
years back, as far back as in
Spain of 1936 where she was an
ambulance. driver. From then
on, she continued to play an im-
portant and vital role in the
peace movements of Canada. She
was mainly responsible for the
excellent pamphlet “Why Can-
ada Should Withdraw from
Norad” — and as one delegate
stated though we did not pre-
vent our Government from com-
mitting itself again to Norad—
we did provoke a very fruitful
dialogue.

There were ideas expressed
along the lines of our economy,
our educational system, human
rights, politics, etc. when one of
our delegates drew a chart on
the blackboard — with peace in
the middle and all other aspects
of life stemming from it. We
should always keep the peace
thought first and all other things
flow from it.

A very excellent film was
shown twice—David Schoenbrun
on Vietnam—How Did We Get
In? How Can We Get Out?—he
is speaking to a group of busi-
nessmen -in New York. This
film is available for $25. through
VOW and it’s well worth your
while to get it for an evening.
the length is 33 minutes.

The discussion on the last day
ended with several recommenda-

DONT WASTE
YOUR VOTE

“Even though I agree with you, why should
I vote for you when there is not much chance
you will be elected and my vote will be wasted?”
This question arises many times and in many
different forms during every election. It brings
into focus a problem that most progressive can-
didates face and raises an important aspect of
the content of a democratic Parliament. The
question is directed to the Communist candi-
dates in this election, and used as an excuse to
prevent a public airing of the Communist plat-
form by the private interests who decide what
the public shall hear and what they shall read.
ne can always answer that a person is far
better off voting for somebody he wants even
though the candidate may not be elected, than
voting for somebody he doesn’t want, and be
damn sure that he will be. However the problem
is much deeper than this. The drive for a two
pany system, especially when both parties re-
ect the same interests and policies and are con-
trolled by the same elite is a perversion of
democracy in a society of opposing interests.
When one comes down to cases it becomes
clear that the domination of government by the
old-line parties is the reason why any meaning-
ful reform is so difficult to fight through.
There is no action on housing and rents be-
cause the interests that control and finance the
Liberals and Conservatives are the landlords
and the speculators. The drug mono olies and
the insurance companies oppose medicare and
they also control these parties. A Robert Win-
ters can effortlessly shift from the corporate
elite to the cabinet and back again, yet there is
no question whether he is wearing his business
suit or sporting his political grin, who he repre- -
sents and in whose interests he fights. Robert
Winters is one man, but he is more than typical
of the exclusive club that runs the old ‘line
parties. _
_ There isa lot of Peopesers and brain wash-
ing in Canada that denies the existence of
classes or of conflicting interests, but for all
that, the old-line political machines are class-
conscious mechanisms.
_ Thus it is that the representatives of the
interests of the masses of Canadians have a long
and uphill battle to wage to overcome the dead
weight of the boss press and the whole system
that. perpetuates the status quo. It is a struggle
that is part and parcel of reality in Canada, and
it will go on until radical changes are made.
Because of this we believe that the most
meaningful vote you can cast in this election is
for a Communist candidate. Meaningful in the
sense of the new policies and platform which
the Communist Party alone advocates, that will
become stronger with each additional vote.
Meaningful also in the idea that Parliament and
government itself will eventually reflect that
which is actually the mainstream of public
opinion in Canada.

tions and resolutions. Some of nize the National
the resolutions were of an orga-
nizational nature and two were

policy ‘Be it resolved that Voice , tlement.”

Liberation
Front as a necessary participant
in any negotiations towards set-

of Women continue to urge the
Government of Canada to with-
draw from NATO and NORAD.”

“Be it resolved that VOW urge
the Government of Canada to:

“1. take immediate steps to
stop the export of our war ma-
terials to the U.S. that may be
used in Vietnam.

“2. offer to all victims of the
war in Vietnam an effective help
(medical supplies and personnel,
refugee accommodation, particu-
larly to orphans), either through
the Red Cross or a recognized
international agency;

“3. press the U.S. Government
to declare its intention to with-
draw its forces from Vietnam
and to take initiatives towards
such withdrawal, and to recog-

The recommendations includ-
ed sending a wire to the Paris
Conference welcoming its efforts,
and also to send a wire to the
Poor People’s March in Wash-
ington.

It was inspiring and gratifying
to find women throughout our
province whose opinions were
diverse but who did have one
aim in mind that, through peace
and peaceful means, we will ac-
complish a great deal for our-
selves, Our young people and our
young children and make this a
great country and world for all
peoples to live in.

AB.,
Vancouver, B.C.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE-—JUNE 21, 1968—Page 3