e iy

' Phone octopus
; is strikebound —

NEW YORK—The 325,000
telephone workers who struck

throughout the U.S. for a de-|}

cent wage are challenging one
of the world’s biggest monopolies
—American Telephone & Tele-
graph, a $6% billion empire.

AT&T is holding company for
49 operating -companies which
own nine-tenths of the telephone
industry in the U.S. AT&T also
owns two huge subsidiaries,, the
Western Electric Co. and Bell
Telephone Laboratories, Both the
major company and its subsidiar-
ies have a worldwide empire as
well.

Nearly ‘half the stock of AT&T
is owned by less than 6% of its
stockholders, who total 683,897.
Control of the vast network lies
with the J. P. Morgan interests.

AT&T's net profits in 1946 after
taxes were $215 million, a $31 mil-
lion increase over the previous
year. These are the published fi-
gures and do not take into ac-
count the huge sums set aside by
bookkeeping devices. AT&T strik-
ers are earning an average of $33
a week. ;

Interesting sidelights om the
strike are that it is the biggest
walkout of women workers in
American history and that it
is the largest strike ever to hit
the southern states. The strik-
ers are demanding a $12 weekly
wage increase.

PSST 8h

' gation itself was insulted and threatened,”

* By HUGH DEANE
TOKYO—‘In south Korea we saw fascsim in action.

x

Korean unionists .were beaten before our eyes and the dele-
a member of the World Federation of Trade Unions delegation to the

Far East told Allied Labor News. The delegation cancelled its tour of south Korea the second day, transmitting a stiff

report to the American military governor, Maj. Gen. Archer L, Lerch, Saying the situation
The south Korea experience was “fantastic,”

to continue our inspection.”

the. delegation

member said. Driving from the airport, the delegates met a throng of welcoming work-
ers, WFTU general secretary Louis Saillant asked that the car stop so delegates could

During the delegation’s first
day in Seoul, capital of Ameri-
. Can-occupied Korea, police car-
ried out a mass arrest of lead-
ers and workers belonging to
the All-Korean Federation of
Trade Unions, whose affiliation
to the WFTU was accepted in
principle last year pending the
inspection tour.

Unionists who managed to reach
the WFTU delegation at its hotel
—saying they were doing so at
the risk of their lives — reported
that on March 3 the federation’s
chairman and vice-chairman were
sentenced to six months in jail
for holding a meeting in a_priv-
gate house instead of in their of-
fice.

On the second day the WFTU
represntatives went to inspect the
Kyung Bong textile factory. The
company director-refused them a
permit for the inspection as long
as the delegates were accompani-
ed by three Korean union mem-
bers. While they were talking,

five Japanese uniformed company |

guards began pushing around the
Koreans until Saillant intervened.

The WTFUers gave up and
headed toward their car. In the
courtyard, two unionists bearing
welcoming leaflets ran towards

them. Guards beat them up and

~ Robeson raps UN
for delaying tactics

Paul Robeson, chairman of the Council on African Af-

fairs, charged last week that the actions of the United Na-
tions Trusteeship Council during its first week of sessions
at Lake Success jeopardize:the hopes of the African and
colonial peoples for independence,

“The administrating powers ap-
parently are determined to refuse
to- deal directly and promtply with
the -grievances and problems of
the colonial peoples under their
trust,’ declared the noteq Negro
singer.

“Current shennanigans to avoid
direct and immediate petition’and
to limit the range of grievances,”
Robeson asserted, “can easily
tead to the immediate wrecking
of the hopes the colonial peoples
have placed
tions.”

Present apreement that a trus-
tee power may have two months
to examine and document on pe-
titions of grievances before they
are circulated in the Trusteeship
Council, “can serve only to de-

feat the stated aims of that. body.”}

It places in the hands of the

British unions
hit US policies

LONDON—Pres. Truman’s pro-
gram for Greece and Turkey was
under fire from another British
union April 8, when the influ-
ential National Union of Distribu-
tive and Allied Workers attacked
it as “a threat to world peace.”

The union said that Truman's
policy is aimed at “establishing
American military bases in the
Mediterranean area and was a
military challenge to the Soviet
Union and the new democracies
in Europe.”

The resolution called on the
British government “to repudiate
Mr. Truman's statement and to
extend its energy to, bringing
about a strengthening and unifi-
cation of world democratic forces.”

Similar resolutions have been

adopted by the powerful Coopera-
tive party and by several other

in the United Na-|'

trustee nations the power to
withhold petitions until it is too

.late . to, deal.‘ properly) with the

stated grievances, Robeson point-
ed out. It also “enables the trus-
tee power to report to the Trus-
teeship Council that the griev-
ance has been’ adjusted during
the elapsed time.” — :

Robeson attributed this agree-

Paul Robeson

ment to the fact that the trustee-
administrating nations on the
Trusteeship Council outnumber
the non-administrating nations, in
violation of the United Nations
Charter provisions, which -require
an equal number of a ere

Examination of the Trusteeship
Councils first week's efforts,
Robeson concluded, “clearly show
an organized attempt on the part
of the colonial powers to use the
Uniteg Nations organ to protect
their own interests rather than
advance the welfare and inde-
pendence of the inhabitants of
the colonies under their trustee-
ship.” .

shake hands with the leaders. The American officials refused and drove on.

the very eyes of the dumbfound-
ed delegates,

Saillant askeq that the wound-
‘ed men be placed in his car to

BS

Hurry

and farmers’.

interests.

kicked’ them in the face before

be taken for treatment. The com-
pany director refused, saying it
was none of Saillant’s business.
It was later learned that the at-
tackers were members of the so-

This poster was one of many that greeted repre-
sentatives of the World Federation of Trade
‘Unions on their arrival in Japan.
banner of the. WFTU, hurry, unite the fronts of labor
The two figures with the nazi emblems
represent Premier Yoshida and Japan’s big business
What the WFTU delegation saw in South ©
Korea requires speedy action on the part of world labor.

It says, ‘Under the

called Great Korea Labor Fede? &:

ation—a labor front organizatio®
created by ultra-rightist PO!
cian Syngman Rhee.

As polite and armed thugs —
began to gather around the

delegation and rifles were

ed, the WFTUers felt them
selves “in a state of complete
insecurity.” They drove
amidst epithets and threats.

Before its return here, the dele

gation went to Soviet-occupied
north Korea where, ALN wae
told, the “situation was com
pletely different.” Although it w4
night time, cheering worker?
greeted the delegation’s train

every station.

The delegation was able to i=
spect what it wished, though ¢ 4
Soviet officials refused to per™
Richard Deverall, former educ®
tion director for the United Auto
Workers (CIO) and now 4 labor
division official in Japan, to 9

company the delegates because —

he lacked credentials.

While the delegation was ee
unanimous in. its appraisal 0”
north Korea, one member sai
the People’s Council] has pas$
impressive legislation,
the 8-hour day, extensive social
benefits and abolition of sex dis
crimination.

Gov’t aids Brazil ,

workers in drive

RIO DE JANEIRO — The neW
role the labor movement has Ww?
in Brazil as a result of the Te
cent national elections in which

progressives scored a huge vote

was demonstrated at an organiz
ing rally called by the Federatio?
of Labor i the state of 4°
Paulo.

The federation called the rally
as the first step in its drive
recruit 50,000 new members. ThE
rally was attended by the gove!
nor, who pledged the support 0%
his administration in the drive
The governor was elected on 4
coalition slate in which the Com

munists were the strongest party: a4

An organizing drive for 200,
new members has been launch

‘by the labor movement nation-

ally.

rights took a prominent place.

With Dorothy Steeves setting
the keynote for the gathering in
her assertion that “the problem
of world peace is immediately
even more important than old age
pensions or the price of bread
and meat,” the convention adopt-
ed resolutions:

@ Condemning the Truman ad-
ministration’s policy bypassing the
U.N. in Greece and Turkey and
calling upon Canada to protest
such unilateral interference in the
affairs of other countries.

@ Urging to withhold manu-
facture or export of atomic ma-
terials until all. nations have
agreed to use them only for
peaceful purposes. j ,

@ Demanding that the federal
government take steps to end the
persecution of Jehovah’s Witnes-
ses in Quebec “and secure the
civil and religious liberties of all
Canadians without fear or favor
in whatever part of the count:
they reside.” :

@® Calling for equal democratic

CCF convention pledges support
lin labor’s fight against Bill 39

In a convention distinguished by the absence of red-baiting speeches that have ofte?

marked past gatherings, 157 delegates representing the B.C.-Yukon Section of the CCF
met in Hotel Vancouver here last weekend to discuss problems in which peace and civil

rights in British Columbia for
Native Indians and Japanese, both
of which groups were denied the
franchise in the revised Provin-
cial Elections Act.

@ Demanding that Canada ad-
mit its fair share of displaced
persons. _

In a discussion of labor ques-
tions, the convention endorsed re-

solutions. calling for the 40-hour |

week, a national labor code and
pledging CCF support to organ-
ized labor in its efforts to strike
out the objectionable features of
the new provincial Industrial Con-
ciliation and Arbitration Act.

CCF members of the legislature
came in for censure for their
support of the Coalition govern-
ment’s Vancouver Enabling Act
whereby Vancouver City Council
was able to put through its agree-
ment giving the BCElectric a 20-
year franchise without resort to
a plebiscite.

Colin Cameron, provincial presi-
dent ang former MLA, caused a

Stir in the closing session of the
/convention

when he_ critic
what he termed the cautious at
titude of Harold Winch and CC
members in the legislature.

He followed this with the com
ment, “I am perturbed at this
convention.
pened to us. We have no contro
versy.” » ;

The CCF, he continued, had 8°
rid of “certain thorns in its sid@
but he wondered if, in doing 8%
it had not lost part of itself. |

“We have got rid of certain

members of another political oT&
anization, people who were ee
demonstration, and we have 105

others who were interested in i

tellectual _ pursuits. Intellectual
stimulation and concrete actio?

are necessary for a living body.”

Cameron was re-electea pres
dent, with Mrs. Steeves, also T
elected, and Arthur Turner
vice-presidents. __ bee.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAG

WFTU brands US-ruled Korea ‘fascist

“ ose “ for 692
made it impossible tor 0” ;

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