Cripps St. Laurent
reveal real aim

By TIM BUCK

UST before Sir Stafford Cripps left Ottawa
for Washington, he and Louis St. Laurent
issued a joint statement summarizing the results
of their four days of intimate discussion concern-

ing Canadian-British trade and related matters.
Their joint statement suggested very strongly
that the main result of their negotiations was a

realization that Canadian ex-
ports to Britain are liable to
suffer still further curtailment.
Indeed, the statement even
hinted at further reduction of
Canadian exports to. Britain in
all types of goods that Britain
has hitherto purchased from
Canada.

The Cripps-St. Laurent state-
oe ment didn’t state the facts
ae bluntly; it only admitted that:
“Tt will no doubt be necessary to make some
adjustments in United Kingdom import pro-
grams... .” Those words, and scraps of inside
information were interpreted by Ottawa corres-
pondents of the capitalist press to mean “an im-
portant recasting of the export pattern of Can-
ada.” ‘That admission by the capitalist press,
and in this case the strongest supporters of the
government, is a_ belated admission that .the
Pacific Tribune has been right throughout the
past ten months, during which it has been warn-
ing Canadians that the Abbott Plan includes the
aim of weakening Canada’s political intimacy
with Britain and other Commonwealth countries
—first of all by reducing the weight and impor-
tance of Canadian-British trade.

@ The trend of policy that the Pacific Tribune
Warned Canadians against has now developed to
“Such an extent that Cripps and St. Laurent did
not even pretend that their governments are
aiming at pre-war relationships. The most hope
they held out to Canadian export industries con-
cerning British markets. was in the following non-
committal sentence:

“.. . there is a prospect of a large continuing
trade between the two countries and Canadian
Taw materials and foodstuffs’ will continue to
Play a vital part in the recovery of the United

ingdom.”

Little wonder that the Toronto Globe and Mail
asks, in comment upon Sir Stafford Cripps’ visit
and Canada’s declining trade with the United

ingdom, “.... what happens when ERP stops
as it surely will?” ‘The Globe and Mail tries to
€xploit the difficulties of the people of the British
tsles to the advantage of monopoly capital. It
argues that Canada could sell more goods to

Titain if Britain sold more goods to Canada,
and the sole reason why the British do not sell
more goods is because their prices are too high.
The Gk

re . i2 << . ”
Titish exports would mean increased “austerity

Or the British people but, it asserts, “Poor as

the British (living) standard seems on this side
of the Atlantic, it is thoroughly artificial, main-
tained by huge subsidies which have their place
“. the high prices being asked for British ex-
ORES a i

@ I have quoted at Jength from the Globe and
Mail editorial because, while it was .an attack
‘WPon the government of which Cripps is a mem-

€r, it is a dishonest attempt to divert attention
from the, fundamental element in the British
Labor government's policy, the element insisted
cae by Sir Stafford Cripps, with which the Globe

is in complete agreement. That element.

AS the ‘maintenance of and even increase in a
Mount which goes out of the wealth produce

THE NATION -

lobe and Mail admits that lower prices for

by British working people to the capitalists and
their decorative aristocracy.

In 1938 only 50 percent of the goods im-
ported into Britain were paid for by exports.
At the present time 80 percent of all goods they
import are paid for by exports. That leaves less
to be consumed at home but the total of rent
interest and dividends is larger than ever.

In the effort to maintain that criminal situa-
tion, Sir Stafford Cripps, Louis St. Laurent and
the Globe and Mail are in agreement. Because
of that, their “differences” are all differences
concerning the best way to achieve the goal set
by Wall Street. Recognition of the fact is the
necessary first step in a real adjustment of Can-
adian-British trade policies to the conditions of
the crisis of imperialism.

UNITED NATIONS

Need urgent for trade

with eastern Europe

RADE between Eastern and Western Europe
must be increased to nearly five times its

“present level if the European standard of living

is not to fall sharply below that of pre-war.
This is the conclusion of a report on “East-West
Trade in Europe,” published by the United Na-
tious Economic Commission for Europe.

Only this increase, the report adds, could
make Europe “independent of U.S. aid by 1952.”
Actually, the contents of the report also shows

that the expansion of East-West trade could make.

Europe vastly less dependent on U.S. “aid” now.

The report is a severe blow to those sup-
porters of Western Europe and the “cold war”
against the Soviet Union who -have been doing
their utmost to hamper trade exchanges between
East and West.

Western Europe, it proves, must import at
least £750,000,000 worth of food and raw
materials a year from Eastern Europe, compared
with £175,000,000 worth actually imported in
1947. These imports, it says, must be paid for
in machinery and other capital goods needed for
the vast industrialization of Eastern Europe and
must be backed by long and short-term credits.

The report heavily underlines the absolute
necessity of East-West trade. Western Europe,
it shows, simply cannot earn the dollars neces-
sary to buy its food and materials from the
Western Hemisphere in the necessary volume
after the cessation of Marshall “aid.” It will

‘therefore have to seek non-dollar sources of

supply.

The report makes it clear that, in the com-
mission’s opinion, the resources of the East would
be adequate to meet this need.

War expenditures heighten th

e storm.

F

. ad

Millard gags voice
of Steel members

By J: B. SALSBERG

M ILELARDISM has come to stand for some-
thing special in the Canadian trade union
movement. This “something special” is synony-
mous with some of the most obnoxious features
of trade union life. Millard’s very own style
made itseli apparent from the moment he was
eased into the leadership of the Oshawa auto-
mobile workers’ union strike eleven years ago—
a strike he did not organize and a uniom he did
not help to form. As the years rolled by Millard’s
style became hopelessly shaped.

It was this Millard style which led to his
ousting from the auto workers’ union together
with the notorious, gun-toting international presi-
dent of the UAW, the unlamented Homer Mar-
tin. It was that “something special” which got
him the appointment as CIO organizer after his
exit from the UAW. And it was this very same
“style” that got him the appointment as Can
adian director of the steel union after the Can-
adian delegation which attended the steel conven-
tion refused to elect him.

@ There is not, to my knowledge, another union
official in the country who has so steadiastly
fought every éffort of his members to gain a
voice in the operation of their union and in the
formulation of their union’s policies, as has C. H.
Millard. The result is that the Canadian mem-
bers of the steel union have less to say about
what their union does or shall do than any other
important group of organized workers in the

* country. -

AFI, bricklayers, carpenters, printers, etc.,
have their district councils which meet regularly
and deal with all matters pertaining to their
trade as well as with matters of a general political
and social character. The coal miners’ union has
two distinct Canadian districts. They meet in
conventions to which delegates are democratically, __
chosen by the coal miners. ie ge

As for the majority of CIO unions in Canada, =:
they have well-established and well-functioning __
autonomous Canadian bodies which meet regu-_
larly and determine their policies. In practically
every case the delegates, are chosen directly by
the membership, their periodic meetings and con-
ventions are important events in the life of those
unions, and their decisions are brought back to the
local union. discussed and dealt with. In other
words the Canadian membership of these CIO
unions are part of a democratic and autonomous
organization within the framework of their Inter-
national ,union. These membersare active par-
ticipant in a democratic, inner union process
which shapes their policies and charts their
course. 3

That is so.in the Canadian sections of the
auto, electrical, rubber, lumber and other CIO
unions. But it is not so in the Canadian ‘section
of the steel union. The steel workers do not
enjoy this democratic right in their union because
Millard fears the direct influence of the members.

@ Ever since Millard was appointed as head
of the steelworkers union in Canada he has fought
the efforts of the rank-and-file to establish a
Canadian set-up similar to that of other CIO
unions. No, it wasn’t only the left wing of that
union which fought for this. Plenty of other _
steelworkers demanded it too. Yes, even CCR
members in that union fought openly for sucha
democratic arrangement. (That was of course,
before the machine succeeded in stifling the rank-
and-file CCF voices inside the union.) :

There are no functioning district steel coun-
cils anywhere in the country. There are no *
district steel conferences held anywhere in the ©
country. Instead, Millard has formed a carrica-
ture of a body to placate the members. It is
the Annual Wage and Policy Conference which —
takes place a day or two before the SCL cons
vention in the city where the convention is to
be held. In the past these affairs have proven —
to be little better than occasions to line up the

steel delegation for the CCL convention.

Now, on the eve of the CCL annual con-_
vention and, therefore, on the eve of steel’s An-
nual Wage and Policy Conference, this Millard
mockery of inner trade union democracy should
be pondered over by the steel workers of Canada.
Yes, and perhaps they should do something about
it. It’s high time.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 8, 1948—PAGE aS oS