Bon. 4 wre SBruce Yorke is shown presenting his brief tolast Thursday’s | tle Ing at City Hall onthe ward system. The Committee of Progressive ; tho 228 the map behind him. “tors has won wide public support forits 21-ward plan, whichis —Sean Griffin photo Full ward system urged as city hearings open Close to a hundred people packed the first public hearing on electoral reform at Van- couver city hall last Thursday night where demands fora full ward system immediately be- came the focus of discussion. The community-development committee under the chairman- ship of Alderman Jack Volrich heard representations from the Committee of Progressive Electors, the Communist Party of Canada, the Vancouver Area Council of the NDP and Jacques Khouri whoalsospoke for COPE. Bruce Yorke outlined COPE’s comprehensive proposal fora full and democratic ward sys- tem. It calls for 21 wards each with an average population of 12,600 voters. The two largest wards are in the eastend — Cedar Cottage with 14,895 regis- tered voters and Victoria- Fraserview with 14,611. 7 By SEAN GRIFFIN anf iS a story told among Sh Workers of a meeting Sheld in an important Spain and the men were ke tg .grievances.. The ay Bed over a number of | toy,’ the accident rate, long ; ‘twas €need for anincrease Wipe, Until one worker rose ten’ *Shourd include among our ing »¢S the right to hold a meet- afte, © told his comrades. And Buty. Silence the reply came: Toe are holding a meeting! | 's the tos Elvira, the anecdote Wore, Measure of the Spanish | “Otay S Militancy. They have f Yhio, for their basic rights ‘den p{V@ been denied them have Franco's regime: they; aken them. They achieve tatigetto or ganize by organi- ; ‘ttikay hey seize the right to Of the 80ing on strike. Lime wi 34 vears between the t Lem, €n the cause of Spanish 5 blogg wey was drowned in the (| Meson, [ts defenders. and the s} Sin Carlos Elvira has spent i those d fascist prison. But in Seny . Years he came to repre- | 4 oa lead anew movement | “bre "kers. the comisiones 3 Rae the workers’ com- | Men MS— and saw that move- ! She OW by tens of thousands df lon 0 Me the only realexpres- I ‘han @ working people of bia New workers’ movement Ne thr, titferent.” Elvira told het Uh Tobil Alonso, his in- ; ®ap ®t. Monday. “The aver- aN Stry Workers involved in Wig B8les of the workers” what Slons is only 25. Most of tee of know of the resis- e ae tiie 936-1939 comes from 7 Miyata and distorted ac- ! he tinge tanco gives. People. We were the k ®n in Europe whose peo- Parms against fascism they" — it is a proud tradition.” And the movement in Spain is changed utterly. Where anar- chism was a dominant phil- osophy during the years before and during the civil war, now the workers’ gravitate towards Marxism. Even the Catholic workers’ movement is Marxist in outlook and, according to Elvira, play a vitally important role in the workers’ com- missions. ‘‘We have overcome many of the divisions of the working class in Spain that previously existed,’ he told me. ‘‘Muchof the militancy and heroism during the civil war was inef- fective because of the divisions between the two major trade union federations— the social- ist UGT and the anarchist CNT. *Today we have risen above this. Each time there isa strike, it is a total strike.” The strikes are organized and led by the workers’ com- CARLOS ELVIRA Heroism of Spanish resistance 'eborn in workers’ struggles missions. Since they have no status — they are illegal under Franco’s regime, but do not oper- ateclandestinely— the commis- sions are the true expression of working class democracy, despite the repression. The rank and file make the decisions. The strength and influence of the commissions demonstrates the ineffectiveness of the verti- calsyndicates— Franco's offi- cial labor associations. The government, in many cases, is impotent to enforce anti-strike laws. In fact, one representative of the vertical syndicates told the press that to deny the right to strike was like denying the exis- tence of a flu epidemic— which the government also did for fear that it would endanger the lucrative tourist trade. Since the imprisonment of the Carabanchel Ten, a new strike wave has swept across Spain. And everywhere the demand for the release of the ten led by Marcelino Camacho is being raised, even among the vertical syndicates. : ~This trial with the men facin a total of 162 years in jail—is the most important political trial of Franco's regime, ’ Elvira de- clared. “It is not a trial of ten men but of the whole working class of Spain. **We propose to transform it intoa trial of the wholeregime— in Spain and outside.” Already trade union federa- tions inItaly, France, Belgium, Denmark and Britain have demanded the right toattend the trial. BBC has demanded the right to film the trial for a docu- mentary film. InCanada, Paddy Neale MP has said that he will attend the trial for the NDP. Everywhere it is a measure of workers’ solidarity. --This trial will not just take place in Spain. It will take place in the world arena— under the eyes of working people every- where. The Communist Party brief, presented by provincial secre- tary Nigel Morgan also called for a full ward system, pointing out that Vancouver is the only major city in Canada which does not yet havea ward system for electing its representatives. Both the Communist Party brief and that of COPE spent some time debunking the argu- ments against a ward system. One such argument which ap- peared in the Province April 2 stated that ‘‘the smaller the ward the greater the oppor- tunity for minority interests to exert a disproportionate lever- age in public affairs.” ‘‘That ignores widespread public criticism of manipulation of City Council by land devel- opers, real estate and corporate interests which has been regis- tered at special hearings on freeways, the third crossing, the Four Seasons development, Marathon Realty, etc.,’’ Mor- gan declared. S Yorke branded the Province argument ‘‘specious’’ and pointed out that such arguments are much the same as they were 36 years ago when Vancouver’s old ‘‘Strip’’ ward system was discarded — intended to pro- tect the right of the Establish- ment to domination of civic poli- tics. “Would anyone argue seriously,’’ Yorke asked, ‘‘that the NPA aldermen all of whom were elected at large, objec- tively voted in the overall inter- ests of thecity onsuch matters as Block 42, the Four Seasons, Jericho and the third cross- ing?” ‘‘No one seriously suggests that the provincial voters in Van- couver should have the oppor- tunity to vote for all 55 MLA’s or the federal voters in Vancouver have the opportunity to vote for all 265 MP’s, he said. Both Morgan and Yorke noted that the present council has only one representative from the east end— as a result of elect- ing at large and the powerful in- fluence that the moneyed inter- ests are able to exert in sucha System. ‘Those with financial means and particularly those withthe Support of the press get elected, Primarily because the voters Know little about any other candi- dates,’ Yorkestated.‘*Money talks— and bundles of itarere- quired toruneffectively under the at-large system. This harsh and stubbornsystemis why the at-large system assures big business control.” A full ward system, by the representation of a number of areas throughout the city would ensure greater participation in the affairs of the city and guar- antees overall city policies that are integrated with local or Ward conditions. In the COPE Proposal, an alderman would have to spend a considerable amount of time in his ward deal- ing with the problems of his con- Stituents. A number of other proposals "Were put forward in the hearing- ing calling for civic elections early in November instead of mid December, the continua- tion of the practice of electing a mayor at large and a two year term of office. Several ques- tions on electoral reform are to be put to the people of Van- Ouver ina plebiscite scheduled for sometime in October. ‘‘We are confident that, given a fair opportunity the citizens Of Vancouver will vote for a full Ward system, Yorke said, ‘and we urge you to frame the promised October plebiscite in- a perfectly honest and clear Way. Let the people decide how they want their representatives elected.”’ More hearings Will be held in Several areas throughout the City as wel] as another at city hall June 21. On Thursday May 3, the hearing will be at Lord Byng High School at 7:30 p.m. LIVER $2.04 |b ‘I want it for dinner... not g transplant.’ PACIFIC TRIBUNE FRIDAY: ApRIL 13, 1973+PAGES: 45