4 ictotig . Rodriguez tells the meeting of conditions in Franco’s jails. Spanish prisons are hell ; ; | i } | \ j ee at j } | le : Wives of victims relate f Two fV bushan Spanish women, whose MFrancg .*te Prisoners of the PAdience SMe, spoke to an Glare, 350 at the Toronto meetine Centre last week. +, 8 Sponsored by the n, cee a Democratic 0 the * € young women ical aE meted out to . 5 oa in many of Ora Victor: Made; & Victoria Rodriguez, of 1 0) : » @x i i te a Saiained that although Me A¥Aiting tra, Tusband, who q rallets el for carrying I FtaNC pg nich opposed — the i dition because of the iS forecn the visiting rooms el, to shout through a Seno, p Of B ra Juang i 4 the qctlona eon Sanchez, » told of th SPan e role of ‘4 Siong Whice orkers’ Commis- i ee been establish- ed throughout Spain as a res- ponse to Franco’s harsh anti- labor policies. The Workers’ Commissions were also, in large part, responsible for the planning of the May Day general strike in Spain. The meeting last week mark- ed the first time that the women had addressed a public meeting and as Senora Rodriguez said, “It is with great emotion that I address you tonight because in Spain such gatherings are prohi- bited by law.” _ The women plan to continue their tour throughout Canada with meetings in Vancouver, Regina, Winnipeg, Sudbury, Windsor, Hamilton, Oshawa, Montreal, Ottawa and Halifax. As in Toronto, their appeal will be for amnesty for all political prisoners in Spain. Act quick to stop Nixon's DISC attack on Canada Demanding that not a single Cana- dian job be sacrificed to the DISC pro- gram, the latest form of U.S. economic aggression, the Central Executive Com- mittee of the Communist Party in a statement issued May 2 declared that Canada’s answer to DISC “must be swift and sure.” The text of the state- ment follows: A new threat to Canadi manufacturing industry surfaced last week with the disclosure by the Cana- dian government that about 1,100 U.S. industries including the mobile corporations applied for and parts manufacturers and threat- ens their very existence, already in jeopardy under the terms of the pact. As was the case with the 10% surcharge, DISC also is a direct violation of the terms of GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade). to which both the U.S. and Canada as well as most of the world capi- talist governments are signa- tories. The Canadian government has reacted by suggesting that some counter measures may be an- nounced in the budget to be brought down on May 8 in Ot- tawa. This new U.S. action brings to the fore the painful fact that - precisely while the president of an jobs and ducts. giant auto- the United States was in Can- ada arrogantly assuring the Ca- nadian Parliament of our right to exist as an industrial nation, this further direct assault on our economic life was well un- derway. So much for the “fan- tastic breakthrough” which Mr. Nixon’s visit was touted to be by the Canadian government! The Canadian answer to Mr. Nixon must be swift and sure. Not a single Canadian job shall ~ be sacrificed to this U.S. eco- nomic aggression. All measures need to be taken by the Tru- deau government, up to and in- cluding public takeover of in- dustries threatened by this eco- nomic piracy. At the same time the cost of these measures can- not be borne by the people. They must be charged against the swollen, ever-increasing profits IV : ¢ No da te yet, but elections on B i —Y WILLIAM KASHTAN, leader Communist Party Now U ates spn election , . y the guessin; yeas ae0Cussed on July or i ites, Prim likely substitute be “ nulinister Trudeau all bie ing up his sleeve i because while the an §0es on as to a is likely to be fend Speaks as if fin : now. How else i thetmontterPret his remarks 4 ee Arctic N about a highway to L AA Boone his Temarks in To- J em of Nae $10 billion pro- i the usly ‘ hern Development? Vie dang}; Se are vote getters i of on Beet the Northern I en investments, Omen. Vent Canadian devel- © likely to l get the : ae in the course a aos Mister’s visit to D S| h a Ke, the a Ccasion to say be- 2 dat eons are on with- shee Prime minis Set even though “af bing Boar Says: “TI don’t MW 4 = . . . rf tin’, 5 to eee Which. will . People at this fs to th , Yes the *ODle Pefore 4, fe no great A th D S fe count bette Minin ifestly false ae tery, ‘Ster of Spee It isn’t course knows that there is a lack of issues but that these is- sues may not favor the govern- ment. A cdse in point is the state of the economy which, despite rosy pictures, shows no signs of a major upturn. In the main the upturn depends largely on the state of the U.S. economy which continues to be in a flat state. The key element in the situation remains the low level of capital investment in new plants and equipment. It is this, combined with modernization of existing plants, that bears most heavily on lack of job prospects for a growing labor force, and for the emergence of permanent unem- ployment as a feature of Cana- dian life. Whether the Budget will change this situation re- mains to be seen; but it is clear that the issue of jobs or an ade- quate income for all Canadians as a right remains a central is- sue of the elections. Another case in point is Cana- dian-U.S. relations and continu- ing U.S. domination of the Cana- dian economy. The government gave the im- pression that with President Nixon’s visit to Ottawa, all the difficulties in relationships be- tween the two countries would ‘be overcome, and that every- thing would be smooth sailing from now on. President Nixon even did Canada the “honor” of enunciating the Nixon Doctrine on Canadian soil, something which the press interpreted as a good neighbor policy. How good neighborly it is can be seen in the operation of the Domestic International Sales Corporation (DISC), directed to set up U.S. exports into Canada and elsewhere. Although DISC extends beyond the auto indus- try, the U.S. auto corporations have been quick to make use of ‘it contrary to the Canada-U.S. Automotive Pact. The Nixon Doctrine turns out to be a “get tough with Canada policy,” as the Communist Party warned it would be. The fact is that DISC is being used as a ploy by the Nixon government to force the Tru- deau government to accede to the demands of the U.S. Admin- istration — to turn its trade policies around in such a way as to suit the needs of U.S. im- perialism. There should be no illustions on that score or on the fact that underneath it is the new type of relationship which U.S. imperial-_ ism is trying to foist on its trade partners and allies arising from its growing crisis. DISC, the Nixon Doctrine, these are ex- pressions of the trade war launched by U.S. imperialism to __ pass its crisis on to the working class of the USA and on to its _ allies. The U.S. trade war is only one aspect of U.S.-Canadian’ rela- tions, spelling out the need for Canada to extricate itself from the U.S. vise and to embark on policies of all-Canadian develop- ment based on public ownership of natural resources and energy, on vast industrial development, on new trade policies and peace- ful co-existence with the social- ist countries. : These too, are major issues in the coming elections. All the more surprising, in light of the decisive importance for Canada in developing such policies, is the way in which President Nixon used Canada’s parliament to attack the Soviet Union and the socialist countries for aiding the Vietnamese peo- ple. It has been said that the government knew of the con- tents of the Nixon Doctrine. It must have because stories are being leaked that the lovy-dovey affair between Nixon and Tru- deau was all pre-arranged. Did the government and Prime Min- ister Trudeau agree, and if so how does this jibe with the Pro- tocol of Friendship signed be- tween the USSR and Canada? The prime minister and his gov- received U.S. government assistance through the newly established Domes- tic International Sales Corporation (DISC). DISC was established last August when President Nixon an- nounced his Nixonomics, including the infamous 10% surcharge on all imports. The DISC program provides for tax concessions to corporations which can demonstrate that such concession will directly increase exports of their pro- In the case of the auto industry this contravenes the whole intent of the Auto Pact. It disadvantages Canadian of the big U.S. and Canadian corporations. Canada should call for a spe- .cial meeting of the GATT countries to demand that the U.S. live up to the terms of the GATT agreement, The Communist Party reiter- ates its conviction that the deepening economic crisis re- flected by this DISC measure shows the inability of monopoly either to patch up its operations or to satisfy the needs of the majority of the people. The need is for massive pres- sure on the government to en- sure that the kind of solutions they are forced to adopt lead towards basic structural changes in the economy, serving the needs of the people and cutting the power of monopoly. ernment Owe the country and the people an explanation. It also has an obligation to pub- licly separate itself from the Nixon Doctrine and all that it entails. - i : Clearly to speak of “no great issue,” aS Prime Minister Tru- deau does, is to flaunt reality and cover up for an inability to cope with the problems beset- ting the country. In any case, he and Mr. Sharp, his minister of external affairs, don’t seem to agree with each other. Mr. Sharp is reported as saying that na- tional unity will be the big issue in the elections, that is, which party could best keep the coun- try together. In saying this, Mr. Sharp hopes that the govern- ment can. pull another 1968 out of the hat. There is no doubt that natio- nal unity will be a central feature of the elections. There is also no doubt that national unity will not be achieved on the basis of capitalist and state monopoly policies. Indeed the policies being pursued are sharp- ening divisions not overcoming them. Here, too, the policies advanced by the Communist Party are the only sound ones— the right to self-determination, a voluntary equal partnership of the English and French-Cana- dian people in a new confederal pact. All this is by way of stating that, while the date of an elec- tion is still unknown, it would be the better part of wisdom to do all the things necessary to bring our policies to the work- ing people. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, MAY 5, 1972—PAGE 5