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FLASHBACKS FROM _

534 Edttorial Comment...

The high cost of capitalism

It’s the rich wot gets the money.
It’s the poor wot gets the blame.
It’s the same the whole world over,
Ain’t it all a bloody shame.

This old British working class ditty
must be on the lips of most working
people these days with living costs sky-
rocketing and the victims being held up
as the culprits.

It just ain’t true any more though!

It’s not the same the whole world over.

Last year Soviet citizens spent 6.9%
more on. consumer goods. Prices did
no go up at all. Nor did savings decline.
Wages for a wide range of occupations
went up by an average of 20%. Univer-
sity allowances increased by a quarter,
and vocational school ‘student allow-
ances by a half.

What about price increases of com-

-modities which are in shortage?

It is against the law in the Soviet
Union.

If rationing is necessary to evenly
distribute items in short supply, then

rationing it is.
In Canada rationing takes the form

of hoisting up the prices of short supply

items so that only the rich can atlor
them — whether they are necessities
or not. So the rich get richer and the
poor suffer.

If you add to this the accepted and
acknowledged fact that there is n0
speed-up in the Soviet Union (this 1s
deed an area where imperialism cat
claim superiority) you can perhaps
understand the increased tempo 9
anti-Soviet bilge pouring out of the
“Western” propaganda mills these days

In the economic competition betwee?

the world socialist system and

world imperialist system, socialism 18

day by day demonstrating its superlor-
ity.

Since we started with a bit of British
folklore it might be fitting to conclude
with the first line of that oft repeated

U.S. idiom, “You can fool some of thé
people some of the time.”

ed

50 years ago...
THE WHY OF
THE WHINE

A significant statement made
by witnesses for the Chamber of
Commerce during the trial of
Comrade Markson in Peterboro
was to the effect that the article
appearing in The Worker of Feb.
15 would have the effect of keep-
ing families away from the town.
By this is meant working class
families, for no sane man would
ever dream of living in that be-
nighted company. town except one
who was driven through unem-
ployment to make such a descent.

The greedy and_ gluttonous
manufacturers desire to keep the
stream of slaves steadily arriving
at their factory gates and resent-
ed the adverse publicity they re-
ceived. That is why those cock-
roaches scurried for cover when
the light was thrown on their
hitherto undisturbed profit-mon-
gering nest.

The Worker, April 11, 1923

THE COMMUNIST PRESS"

25 years ago...
POLICE INTIMIDATION

TORONTO — Not so very long
ago three policeman entered the
shop of ‘a Negro shoemaker on
Roncesvalles Ave.*They accused
him of .an offence. They had no
warrant, but dragged him down
to headquarters. He denied their
accucations and was beaten up.
Three times he was knocked
down, his teeth were broken, his
face cut and bruised. Later at the
trial, he was acquitted of the
false charges and sued the police
for their brutality. Superior Jus-
tice LeBel, in awarding him dam-
ages said, “the fact amounts to a :
scandal and the police behavior
was shocking.” The Police Com-
mission that very day promoted

. one of the men from patrol ser-

geant to sergeant, and the other
two eventually to detective.

Tribune, April 24, 1948 .

Worth quoting:

. “Doctors, lawyers, professors, scientists, etc., professional people
who not long ago were regarded by the workers as servants of bour-
geois interests, have openly broken with conformism and are joining
in the struggle, in organizations resembling the Workers’ Commis-
sions, ‘for. their professional demands and in order to .ensure that
their knowledge and skill are accorded a proper status and are
employed in a rational way for the good of society; this is clearly
a mass phenomenon of a progressive character, moving together with
the proletariat, and altogether different from past epochs when a
very small number of intellectuals, acting in purely individual ways,
detached themselves from their own class.”

—Seville Workers’ Commissions, January 1972

Pacific Tribune

West Coast edition, Canadian Tribune:

: Editor — MAURICE RUSH
Published weekly at Ford Bldg., Mezzanine No. 3, 193 E. Hastings St.,
Vancouver 4, 8.C. Phone 685-5288.
_ Business & Circulation Manager, FRED WILSON ~
| Subscription Rate: Canada, $5.00 one year; $3.00 for six months
North and South America and Commonwealth countr:2s, $6.00 one year.
All other countries, $7.00 one year

Second class mail registration number 1560.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, MAY 11, 1973—-PAGE 4

Lewis backs Golda Meir

NDP leader David Lewis, in Israel
for the marking of that country’s 25th
anniversary, is quoted in the press as

saying that he believes “the Canadian »

government supports Israel’s refusal to
withdraw from occupied Arab territo-
ries except as part of an overall peace
plan.” Lewis also placed the NDP
“strongly” behind Golda Meir’s position
that peace in the Middle East “should
come from direct negotiations between
Israel, Egypt and other Arab coun-
tries.”

‘Lewis’ remarks on this vital matter
of peace in the Middle East may have
been designed to win popularity during
his trip to Israel. They do not, however,
aid the search for peace in that area.
Moreover, by lining the NDP up with
the imperialist “solution,” which furth-
ers Israel’s expansion and occupation
of Arab lands, David Lewis harms the
cause of peace. z

From the outset, Israel’s ruling cir-
cles have sought to create an endless
impass. Golda Meir, joined by U.S. Sec-

retary of State Rogers insists on “direct

negotiations” while hurriedly annexing
and colonizing territories occupied in
the June 1967 aggression. They spurn
the UN Security Council resolution of
November 1967 which starts by “em-
phasizing the inadmissibility of the

aquisition of territory by war” and
ca

ls for “a. Withdrawal of Israeli arm-

‘ed forces from territories occupied in

the recent conflict; b. Termination of

all claims or states of belligerency and >

respect for and acknowledgement of
the sovereignty, territorial integrity
and political independence of every
state in the area...”

It’s important that Lewis clearly
understands what he is supporting
when he speaks of backing Israel’s posi-
tion. Golda Meir talks about “changes
in borders, on all our borders, for se-
curity’s sake.” She wants new borders

first, after which withdrawal from oc- ©

cupied lands might be discussed. This
will never be accepted by the victims of
Israel’s aggression who will not sub-
mit to blackmail.

While pretending to favor peace, new
settlements are being established
Israel in occupied areas, families a
being moved; paved roads, fences an
other physical instalments are peing
built — all in contravention to the Dee
ember 1972 UN General Assembly 1
solution which specifically “calls upo?
Israel to rescind forthwith all measure®

and desist from all policies and prac”

tices affecting demographic structul
or physical character of the occuplé
Arab territories.”

Israel voted against this resolutio?
along with 6 other states. Canada sure
ported this resolution along with
states. . 4

By repudiating the will of the grea"
me iory of nations, as expressed ?
several

vaded Arab territories, Israel continues

its imperialist role in the Middle Eas

talking peace and carrying out ager
sion. David Lewis should not take t
New Democrats into that camp.

Another step for peace

World attention will be focused v
the visit next week of Soviet Pat
leader Leonid Brezhnev to the Fe
Republic of Germany.

Coming on the heels of the settle

Security Conference, this visit of © at
Brezhnev, the first such visit of a maj i

Soviet leader to the FRG since the ‘the
of World War II, is seen as part O% tive
Soviet peace offensive and a posi, ,

step to lay to rest the remnants 0

cold war in Europe. %
Arrayed against this perspective Tet

powerful U.S. and German impet? the
interests who would like to upsé and.
- agreements already entered into

fuel up the cold war. ; bf

With Mr. Brezhnev therefore eas
the well wishes and hopes of the wo?"
people for strengthened deten ‘|
Europe, and further, a dampening
of the hotbeds of war.

nited Nations resolutions dur
ing the nearly six years since she Ie

deral

ment

_of the West European boundaries au
tion and preparations for a Euro? ar.

-~

*

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