Communist Party from all of the other parties in this election is that of resource policy and econom- ic development — we are the only party that has any real vision for B.C., a vision tied up with indust- rial development, the independence of Canada and social justice. . . ’ That vision of what needs to be done now, and for the future, was the point of departure and the con- clusion for 63-year-old Communist Party leader Maurice Rush as he ex- plained his party’s objective in the provincial election to the Tribune last week. In his first electoral test since as- suming the leadership of the Com- munist Party.in B.C. in October, 1977, Rush is leading only seven Communist candidates in five ridings. He is candid and open about what the CP expects to achieve — the defeat of the Socred government and an increased Com- munist vote in the five ridings where the party has the best chance of breaking through. The CP has limited its number of candidates, but not its political in- _ put into the campaign, Rush force- fully stresses. It cannot, he insists, because the, central issue is too im- portant and the Communist policy too essential to allow the party to hold back from the debate. “The issue is public ownership of resources and resources industries — and with that the transformation of our economy from raw material based to processing and manufac- , turing : “We? ve talked about it for a long time, but obviously now in this eco- | nomic situation it is no longer pos- sible to seriously tackle the prob- | lems of the economy and jobs with- — out a turn to manufacturing and processing. Unless we do that now, we face permanent and mass unem- _ ent in this province.” pe is it really that urgent, the _ Tribune pressed. «Jt is — there are 112,000 by the official count unemployed now. And if there is a downturn in the forest industry, which we expect is - likely in the last part of this year, - yunemployment could easily reach 150,000 officially. There is no way that our present economy could ab- sorb that.’’ And it is not merely an economic problem, he adds, with a mass army of unemployed and a depressed economy, social problems will ~ abound and people will be hurt. «*We have to face up to it now. _ We need a steel industry, a copper smelting industry, a petrochemical industry and the processing in- dustries which branch from these . these are the key to the growth and development of this province and to providing jobs and better liv- ing standards.’’ The Social Credit program is to further exploit the raw material in- dustries in B.C. — a doomsday pol- _ icy, Rush says — but the NDP doesn’t really understand the issue either. It is here that the Commun- ists and the NDP have their basic differences, and Rush intends to use the election campaign to spell them. out. “Basically, the NDP advocates getting more revenue from our raw materials: higher prices for natural gas, royalties on coal and minerals and so on, but they miss the main point. «The main point is public owner- ‘ship in order to transform the econ- omy, and they consistently back away from this, and even repudiate ite For Rush, the necessity of public ownership is the conclusion that any serious study of B.C. must lead to. It is just being realistic, he calm- ly places it, and understanding who owns the resource industries and why, and under what terms the pro- vince has been developed. cP LEADER MAURICE RUSH . . W.A.C. Bennett brought B.C. through its boom period of indust- rial development by making deals with foreign multinationals to ex- ploit the raw material industries in B.C. And the companies came with that purpose only, to get the raw materials. They have no interest in manufacturing and processing in this province, it would only com- The same approach to the resource issue has also got the NDP in hot water over B.C. Resources Co. shares, he added, and whichever government is returned a battle lies ahead to block the distribution scheme. ‘‘The Socreds want to liquidate the entire public sector and turn everything over to the multinationals, that is what the share scheme is intended to do. But A vision of jobs and development’ he issue which separates the OUST THE SOCREDS TUR from where we can effectively pro- ject our policies into the debate. ‘Where we are running candi- dates, we are serious and intend to go after every vote with the pros- pect of electing some Communists as part of a new majority that we hope will be formed.”” Whether or not it is realistic for the CP to break through and elect is not the question that should be ask- -_ What's at stake in the provincial elections: with CP leader, ‘Maurice Rush an interview pete with their own processing plants in the U.S. and Japan. “Look at Granduc,’’ Rush points on the map to the northern copper mine bought out by Exxon Corpor- ‘ation some months ago, ‘‘would anyone in their right mind expect Exxon to build a copper smelter in BiG? ; “Or Kaiser Jr. — he’s exporting millions of tons of our coal to Ja- pan and he has a big steel industry already in the U.S. Is he going to build a steel industry for us?’’ Its failure to grasp the essential facts about resource development has led the NDP all over the map in its resource policies, Rush says, and it is leading them as well to some policies which can only be classified as reactionary and continentalist. The current point in fact is Dave Barrett’s proposal to extend the B.C. Railway from Alaska to Washington State. “Tf the NDP is elected as the next _ government, one of the first things we are going to have to do is to mo- bilize to block that deal,’’ the Com- munist leader emphatically de- clares, ‘“‘that project would do ‘nothing less than to open up the whole interior of B.C. to the U.S. multinationals and provide a ready made transportation corridor for them to haul out all our raw mater- ials. It would integrate B.C. into one continental unit from Alaska to the U.S. and we’ll end up the meat in the sandwich.”’ It is not a question of economic development, Rush argues, but rather of the vision of what kind of development and who it will serve.’ “Sure the railway should be de- veloped,” he said, ‘‘but our vision is that it should be developed as part of a whole program of developing manufacturing and pro- cessing in the heartland of B.C., not to siphon off its resources.” the NDP is refusing to fight on the issue, and their excuse about it hav- ing ‘gone too far’ is a weak one, because they don’t want to be tagg- ed with favoring public ownership. This is the biggest mistake they are making in this election.”’ It’s a mistake, Rush says, because “when properly presented, public ownership is a popular issue.’’ The NDP proved that themselves when in the sixties under Strachan they campaigned for it, and won increas- ed support, and they proved it again in Saskatchewan where defence of the public sector and the nationali- zation of potash was responsible for the re-election of Blakeny. But what about the reality of this election? The CP says that it is not - indifferent to the government that is formed, but it is sharply critical of the NDP and itself has only seven candidates. “The most important thing in this election is to beat the Social Credit government,’’? Rush _re- sponds, “Sf we do that it will mark a big advance for working people and open up new possibilities for strug- gle. If we don’t, it may do the op- posite.”’ But the reality of the situation is that most people see the NDP as the alternative. ‘‘That is the reality,” he agrees, ‘‘who else possibly could” be. . . Of course, we would prefer that we were in a position to forma government, not anywhere near that stage yet.’’ However the Communist Party is not supporting the NDP, Rush stresses. ‘‘As a political party we will not endorse the NDP, and we have not in this election. What we have said is that our chief objective is to defeat the Socreds and to move politics left. That is why we have decided to limit our participation, in this election only, to selected : ridings where we have strength and but obviously we’re © ed, Rush says, the question is the necessity for some Communists to win election if there is to be any chance of any real change. ‘‘Even one Communist elected would rep- resent a qualitative change in the whole nature of politics in B.C.,”’ he says, ‘‘What a voice it would be, inside and outside of the legislature.” In spite of the polarized Socred- NDP confrontation, it is very possi- ~ °F s 3 ‘ie . i + Ra aC LPT . action needed now to avert “permanent and mass unemployment.” ble for a substantial increase in Communist votes, Rush notes op- timistically. He sees it as part of the process to build mass electoral sup- port for the Communist program, support that he knows will come. ‘‘Our presence is necessary, because~ ultimately people are going to want more fundamental change than the social democrats offer, and when they do, they will turn to our party electorally.”’ The outcome is far from deter- mined, Rush believes. There is a tre- mendous anti-Socred feeling, but _ the NDP seems intent on running a non-issue campaign. ‘‘People are asking what in the hell they stand for,’’ he warned, ‘‘they could be laying the basis for their own defeat.’’ The statement made, Rush puts the thought aside. ‘‘That govern- ment can go down, and we intend to do everything we can to ensure it.”’ The best that the Communists can do towards that end, he says, is to bring their vision of B.C. to the public and to give people a real al- ternative to vote for. In spite of the efforts of the ma- provincial election campaigns public interest groups, community organizations and trade unions have taken the lead in organizing all candidates meetings in the Lower Mainland which should ' heat up the election campaigns. Some of the main debates are expected at: Provincial Election ; e@ April 30, John Oliver High School, 7:30 p.m., spokesmen from all parties, to “debate education issues. Sponsored by the Vancouver Elementary and Secondary Teachers’ Associa- tions. eae -@ May 2, YMCA Building, 955 Burrard, 8:30 p.m., spokesmen from each party to debate provincial election and Vancouver. Sponsored by COPE. @ May 3, Britannia Centre, 8 p.m., Vancouver Centre all can- didates, sponsored by Grandview- \eogeits Area Council. ‘ Debates to heat up election campaigns jor parties in both the federal and ~ ‘parties to debate environmental _@ May 3, 7:30 p.m., John Oliver High School, federal and provincial spokesmen from _ all issues and energy policy. Maurice Rush, Homer Stevens will be CP spokesmen. Sponsored by the Fraser River Coalition. @ May 4, Burnaby Central School, North Burnaby all can- didates, sponsored by CUPE locals 379,23. @ May 7, 8p.m., Ironworkers’ Hall, spokesmen from all parties to debate labor issues, sponsored by Carpenters’ Union. Federal Election @ April 30, Biltmore Hotel, 8 p.m., Van East, Van Kingsway all candidates, sponsored by Telecommunications Workers’ Union. @* May. 3 > 7530 — p.m, Fishermen’s Hall, Van East all candidates, sponsored by DERA. @ May 8, Kitsilano House, 8 p.m., Van Centre all candidates. @ May 14, Fishermens’ Hall, Van -East all candidates, spon- sored by Fishermens’ Union. er PACIFIC TRIBUNE—APRIL 27, 1979—Page 3-