In Canada...

_ By GEORGE HARRIS

The &reatest assault ever on the democratic rights of the Amer-
bade Pe, took place in the period when Sen. Joseph McCarthy
ep ofessional anti-communism the stepping-stone to personal
‘Gana hoped for fascist dictatorship. A smear of McCarthy
aca, aaa ‘was all that was needed to have a worker blacklisted,
” . ac discharged, or an intellectual destroyed. The witchhunt
alem look like a picnic.

| ay Many other U.S. pro@ucts, McCarthyism found its way
thi © border into Canada. It is not to the credit of labor leader-
a it found its more severe expression in the trade union

r Dolitin @ movement in which any expression of religious, racial
oss. Ical discrimination always pays off in big dividends to the

batt American people, arising out of their own bitter experiences,
hctiseg McCarthyism severe blows, and while still widely
ine. ¢ 28 the U.S. under other forms, McCarthyism as such
‘1 the nostrils of the essentially democratic American.

S505 erthyism did not fasten its grip on Canadian life in the
lstupn the extent it did in the U.S. This fact makes it all the more
Inc ated at this time to observe its ugly form coming to the fore
trade adian political life, and to some extent re-emerging in the

Union movement.

gett of the fact that most Canadian trade unionists today
dity oy ted-baiting as a divisive element, and damaging to their
tose j the struggle for their daily needs on the job, there are still
Peardin the leadership who try to answer embarrassing questions
® not . their stewardship by red-baiting. As in the 50s, workers
Quest ikely to accept red-baiting as an answer to their legitimate
ions and beefs.
-Reent €p concern to workers and Canadians generally will be the
1966 ay ort of the Royal Commission on Security, appointed in
of Rover we Out of the sordid Munsinger affair, in which members
Tau and other prominent politicians were involved. Even
t it Cial glance at this report will permit the conclusion that
teatur Swashes the politicians involved, and introduces the worst
Mate eof McCarthyism to red-bait every one of the many legiti-
tig Potest movements in our country today. Innuendo and gener-
| AMor the McCarthyite blocks on which this report is built.
iting cCarthyite report, released by the Trudeau government at this
| hich tree Sense only in relation to the many deep-going problems
To Coy e government appears unwilling to constructively tackle.
*onle €f up its abject failure to face up to the real problems of the
i € government resorts to McCarthyism and red-baiting.
Nove Tessurected McCarthyism also seeks to influence the labor
the ho €nt, to promote inner conflict based on fanning prejudice in
towanne that it will slow down the profound movement of workers
R0ve 3 Solidarity and unity in the struggle for their needs. The
ehta,, €nt and the employers are most unhappy with the militant
aq °K Of growing numbers of workers as shown in the, many

“xpanding strike struggles.

iy Unhappiness is compounded by the fact that other sections
Do}: fe coulation are moving into struggle against the same mono-
Unig . Tees as the workers are compelled to battle. Militant farm
long st are coming to the fore with demands for action to solve
Mrativets ding farm problems. Youth, as youth elsewhere, are demon-
Ometh;”, Cemanding educational reforms which will give them
hee} ‘Ng More to look forward to than being a mere cog in the
ae of this or that wealthy corporation. And French Canadians
tion, a eed in determined struggle to end centuries of discrimina-
! tis Tegain their rights as a nation.

Swin, 2° accident that the Royal Commission on Security takes a
ble at all these developments and movements. It is understand-
NWerg fe related to the bankruptcy of government in having

Or the real problems they represent.

Buar ia Can be no argument against the right of a country to safe-
tip ats Security. But there is plenty of argument when matters of
| Motes Security are used as the pretext for attack on legitimate
Notes and democratic organizations and movements. To label such
Nithout and movements as being a threat to security of country,
Cath € So much as a word of substantiation, is the essence of Mc-

Yism. This is precisely the character of the commission report.

| tease) ea! threat to the security of the Canadian people lies in the
Rdsbai Of government to right existing wrongs. McCarthyism and
than iting will not put an ounce more food in the bellies of more
ida at million Canadians said by the Economic Council of Can-
Que, ¢ LC living in poverty. It will not reduce the price of one pro-
big on Canadians. It will not give one farmer a penny more for
Nature auce: It will not serve to answer one student question on his
Snag Tole in society, and it will do nothing to permit a united
| toy Cc 4 through recognition of French Canadian rights. The target
(4. Madians is to right the wrongs. The aim of McCarthyism is

tuate them.

—UE News

DANGER FROM THE RIGHT

In the U.S.A...

By GEORGE MORRIS"

The drive initiated by J. Edgar Hoover against the SDS Summer
Work-in is rapidly spreading into a general witchhunt for screening
of all black, brown or white job applicants who may look or sound
radical. The National Association of Manufacturers, according to
Business Week of June 28, has already introduced its “Checklist
for Plant Security” to 4,000 persons representing 1,500 companies
in 14 areas.

The drive is not limited to students looking for summer work.
The object, in the name of “plant security,” is to screen out persons
who are, or alleged to be, Communists, Black Panthers, student
activists of all types and union militants. There is an obvious effort
to capitalize on the known rightist inclinations of the Nixon admin-
istration and the Wallace influence to bring back the Joe McCarthy
spirit.

®

Another participant in the NAM’s road show is Major General
Carl C. Turner retired, who is credited with putting together the
NAM “checklist.” Turner finds that “it is increasingly difficult to
distinguish between legitimate social protest and breaking the law.”
From that flows the idea that those who are involved in social pro-
test may be lawbreakers and might as well be treated as such. The
general says, “I will assume that each industrial plant is vulnerable.”

Vulnerable to what? The listeners, mostly personnel managers and
plant security people, are painted a picture of plants set on fire and
students disrupting production. The “checklist” drawn up by general
Turner, now working for the NAM, includes such warnings, “in case
of riot,’”’ as: “Plan for the worst that can happen.” “Coordinate plans
with local officials, adjacent plants;” “Identify, then makes plans to
protect areas critical to plant operation;” “Determine what emer-
gencies can occur, what facilities will be affected.”

Such terms are used in Turner’s NAM plan as “Command control
center,” “vital records protection” and “perimeter barriers,” Busi-
ness Week noted. Plants are advised to become garrisons.

This is not a small-potatoes deal. At the Pittsburgh show, Alcoa,
U.S. Steel, Gulf Oil and Westinghouse representatives were present
among the 140 plant security officers. ‘ hens maker

Why are some union leaders so eager to side with the FBI, NAM,
Chamber of Commerce and even the ultra right in this campaign?
The current issue of the Carpenter, journal of the Brotherhood of
Carpenters and Joiners, runs and article by its president, M. A. Hut-
cheson, that is even more vicious than George Meany’s and the
Machinists’ union statements on the SDS work in.

After drawing on some of the pack of lies in Hoover’s proclama-.
tion (printed in full in The Machinist) Hutcheson writes:

“From all this, it is clear that the SDS intends to organize the
same kind of disruptive, destructive and senseless campaign against
organized labor that they have mounted against the universities.
Their real aim is to bring American society to its knees.”

College professors are “naive, impractical and timid,” writes
Hutcheson (who like his late father is a conservative Republican).
But union leaders have a “solid acquaintance with the facts of life—
butting heads with an arrogant employer,” and, he adds, “fighting
off’? Communists “from whose books SDS’s taking a page.”” Hutche-
son concludes with the cry that if the new red menace wins, “they
will have destroyed America.” :

Most SDS members were in grade school or not even in school,
when shrill cries like Hutcheson’s were a daily routine in America.
It was very useful for reaction, especially the employers, who learn-
ed from experience that unions can’t get far in an atmosphere of
fear and witchhunting. Much of the labor movement is still para-
lyzed by the stagnation that began in that period.

So why are some labor leaders, including Meany, associating
themselves to this drive for a new McCarthyism? One major reason
is that they are more fearful of the rank and file and growing oppo-
sition even in many union leadership circles than they are of a new
wave of anti-labor repression. Never in the history of the modern
labor movement has there been so much opposition and challenge
to the long-entrenched leaderships of unions as today.

The recent election in the steel union which gave an unknown
challenger for the presidency 41 percent of the vote, offered some
indication of what’s happening.

We saw the same trend in the National Maritime Union, the Retail
Clerks International Association, the Masters, Mates and Pilots and
the Glass Bottle Blowers. For the first time in 42 years, the United
Mine Workers administration is seriously challenged. Similarly in
the American Newspaper Guild there is a contest.

- The Alliance for Labor Action is a challenge to the entire AFL-
CIO leadership. The challenge may come from various sources.

The point is that this is a period when many thrones are shaky,
and so men like Hutcheson and Meany are clutching at the old
red-baiting racket.

—Daily World
PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JULY 18, 1969—Page 5