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-