vier secpcaser camaakone sees soe gu ou.

P| aE EE Oe pele

Se. ae ee eS

Doukhobor meet
emphasizes peace

Nick and Ann Tarasoff, at- Canada. He is a professor at
tending the Doukhobor sym- Moscow State University and
posium, write: We were dele- was one of several Soviet
gates from the Federation of scholars attending the sym-
Russian Canadians to the posium including Alexei Ipatov
Doukhobor symposium June from the Academy of Social
24-26 at Brilliant, just outside Sciences and Edward Soloviev
Castlegar. The four-day confer- from the Society Rodina, the in-
ence concluded with a letter of ternational frienship and ex-
endorsement by orthodox change organization.
Doukhobors, Molokans, Men- For Nick and I, the con-
nonites, Quakers and other or- ference was most informative
ganizations, including Project and stimulating and one of the
Ploughshares, calling for a most important events we have
freeze on the nuclear arms race _ taken part in for some time. As
and adoption of a general dis- [Iya Tolstoy said, it was a sym-
armament program. posium in which not only the

The letter was sent to the scholars and scientists took part

United Nations Special Session but the common man as well.
of Disarmament and asked the We were also amazed at how
delegates at the session to ‘‘res- well the Doukhobor people
pond to the powerful wave of have preserved their traditional
world opiniondemandingpeace language and culture among
and security’ and.to ‘‘make a non-Russian surroundings.
concerted effort for the nor-
ERIN . The Doukhobor youth also
—— ———F stressed disarmament. Jim
e Popoff, who is chairman of the
It also called on UN delegates Doukhobor youth committee
to work towards the realistic said during a panel discussion
plan abolishing chemical and June 26 that humanity has a
bacteriological weapons and to ‘critical illness . . . which can
establish a ‘‘permanent only be cured by completely
moratorium on the develop- dismantling the nuclear
ment of new forms of arsenal.’
weaponry .”’ The conference ended with a
One of those who signed the huge’ banquet, with Russian
letter was Ilya Tolstoy, the food and entertainment from
great-grandson of the famous the young people. Their last
Russian author Lev Tolstoy, song reminded us that no matter
who had donated moneyin 1899 what our faith or color, we are
to help send the Doukhobors to all humankind.

Why should not mortgages
be cut to 5 or 6 percent?

According to figures originating
in the Supreme Court, 1,749
foreclosure actions were started
against B.C. homeowners in the
first six months of this year. In
June alone there were 446.

In all of last year only 432 such
actions were launched. This year
the number could be ten times
greater. Over 4,000 people in B.C.
may lose their homes.

Some of them will be small
business people who went broke.
Most of them will be working peo-
ple who lost their jobs. In both
cases they have little to look for-
ward to. Business is going to get
worse, not better, and unemploy-
ment will increase still more. We’re
in for a long, difficult period,
similar to that of the hungry thir-
ties. The economists can use any
words they like to describe it — re-
cession, the downswing of the up-
swing, negative growth or reverse
upward trend. But no matter how
thin they slice it, it all comes down
to the fact that we’re in for another
long, hard depression.

One important feature will be
significantly different from the
Thirties, however. Then prices
went down, way down. This time
they continue to go up. The dif-
ference is that in the 1930s we still
had a measure of “‘free enterprise’
in the economy; we still had com-
petition as its main feature. Today
that has all changed. Today every
segment of the economy is con-

trolled by a handful of corpora-
tions and in many cases just by one
or two. They compete for
customers but they engage in price-
fixing among themselves to keep
up prices and profiteer at the ex-
pense of the consumer. So prices
now are being kept artificially and
deliberately high due to this price
fixing by the big corporations.

Is there a way out for homeown-
ers who face the loss of their

Harry

Rankin

homes? I think there is, but it re-.
quires government action.

_ The first step needed is a ban on
all foreclosures. We had it in the
1930s on homes and farms. Why
can’t we have it now?

The second is to pass legislation
lowering all interest rates on mor-
tgages on homes to six percent this
year and five percent the following
year. If Ottawa can legislate to limit
wage increases of federal public
employees to six percent this year
and five percent next year, it can
also legislate to limit the interest
rates on mortgages on homes to the
same levels. The banks, with their
exorbitant interest rates, are one

of the main causes of the preset
recession. To limit their profits and
deny them the right to foreclos
would not only save the homes 0
thousands of people it would als?
be a significant step to take us oll!
of the depression. If people co
get mortgages at five or six perceml,
the building business would boot!
again and this would bea big break
for the forestry industry in ow
province,

There is one further justificatio!
for legislation on bannité
foreclosures and lowering interés!
rates.

Governments, both provincid
and. federal, got us into the mes
we’re in today. Their policies (wag
controls, higher income taxes, cu)
in old age pensions on the oft
hand, and a $2 billion gift from th
federal treasury to the oil corpor#
tions on the other), will only mak
things worse- for working peop!
and the economy as a whole. Whi!
we need now is legislation that wil
protect people and help to take
out of the depression, such as thé
two measures I have proposed.

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PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JULY 16, 1982—Page 2

Vancouver, B.C. V5K1Z5

People and Issues

L ike many in the progressive community we were
shocked when we learned this week that Sarwan
Boal, a veteran organizer for the Canadian Farm-
workers Union, had been convicted of assault in
Provincial Court in connection with the riot that
erupted Oct. 17 during a march organized by the
B.C. Organization to Fight Racism. And our shock
turned to outrage three days later when Boal was
sentenced to an unprecedented three months in pri-
son for an alleged first offence.

The verdict strikes a body blow to the organiza-
tion’s fight against racism and imprisons an experi-
enced trade union organizer at a time when his ex-
perience and skill is needed most, during the CFU
spring organizing drive.

Readers may recall that the Oct. 17 rally and
march was called to counter the intimidation and
brutal physical attacks launched against an earlier
BCOFR rally by the People’s Front Against Racist
and Fascist Violence, a front group of Charles Boy-
lan ’s so-called Communist Party of Canada (Marx-
ist Leninist). On Oct. 17, Boylan and his other group
members were again on hand and again brutally as-
ee a peaceful demonstration, using lengths of

At the trial several witnesses testified that Boal
was far from the fighting. And his alleged victim,
who was none other than Boylan himself, testified
that he did not see his assailant because at the mo-
ment he was attacked, he had turned away to give a
press interview. Those who claimed to identify Boal
could not say what he was wearing.

Nevertheless, the CFU organizer was found
guilty.

Conversely, Boylan himself was acquitted on an
earlier assault charge brought against him by amem-
ber of the BCOFR.

Boal’s conviction has already been appealed but
until — and if — he can be exonerated, supporters of
the BCOCR fear that should they exercise their right
of free speech to protest racism, they may be subject-
ed to attack and then themselves be convicted of as-
sault. And Boylan’s persistent campaign against the
BCOFR and the CFU has one object — to eliminate
the work both are doing to end injustice.

e had fished for the last four decades of his life,

but for long-time Tribune reader and honor
press builder Peter Wishinski, the 1982 season was
his last. Stricken by a heart attack in the early hours
of the morning of July 10, he died in his bunk
aboard his seiner Evening Star in Prince Rupert.

Ina poignant footnote to his untimely death — he
was only 62 — he had toasted the birth of another
grandchild, his 12th, only the night before.

Born of Ukrainian parents in Prud’homme,
Sask. Nov. 15, 1919, he grew up with the cultural
heritage of the Ukrainian Labor Farmer Temple As-
sociation, later the Association of United Ukrainian
Canadians, and maintained the link through his life.

He rode the freights to this province in 1940 and
began a lifelong fishing career the following year.

Although as a vessel owner he could not take an
active part in the United Fishermen and Allied
Workers Union, Peter had been a member of the ||
union and its predecessors since 1941. During the
long Steelworkers strike against Inco at Sudbury, he
donated the use of his boat to haul the tons of her-
ring donated by the UFAWU to the striking work-
ers.

He was also a member of the Surrey club of the
Communist Party at the time of his death.

Amemorial was held in Fishermen’s Hall July 14.
The family has asked that, in lieu of flowers, dona-
tions be made to the B.C. Peace Council.

* Peneehe who may remember the acclaimed pro-
duction of Stories and Songs of Chile from 1979
will be particularly interested to know that some of
those who helped stage the production have combin-
ed their talents with others in theatre to develop a
new production based on the book by Margaret
Randall on Nicaraguan women, Sandino’s Daugh-
ters.

The new political theatre group is called Huachi-
man Theatre and their production, which will go by
the same name as Randall’s book, will adapt the in-
terviews with Nicaraguan women for the stage. And
half of the proceeds for the production will go to
AMNLAE, the Nicaraguan Women’s Association.

Sandino’s Daughters opens at the Firehall The-
atre, 280 E. Cordovain Vancouver at 8:30 p.m. July
19, the third anniversary of the victory over Somoza,
and runs July 21-24.

—