in brief...

Will refuse labor support

awe Labor Council of Metropolitan Toronto last week served
a ce that it will no longer endorse candidates who in action do
= Po out labor’s program, no matter what they indicate in
Gj Ss. This development came out of the decision of the Toronto

ty Council to go ahead on the plan for a Lakeshore car racetrack
~Which will be only to the benefit of Eaton’s and Bassett interests
aa Spite of strong labor representation that they were opposed
Eo Among those who in the last election had the support of the
. T council and voted for the raceway are Controllers Campbell,
*€avis and Marks and Alderman O’Donahue.

Gain for unions

ae a result of representations by the Toronto Joint Board of the
6 algamated Clothing Workers of America and the Labor Council
Metropolitan Toronto, the purchasing department of the city has
“tg instructed by Council to give contracts for clothing only to
tn 3 companies who pay wages equivalent to the union wages
he Toronto area. This will end the purchase from low bidders

© pay below-union rates.

-Strikebreakers or guards?

: Communication Workers Union in Aplitrol Electronics have filed
* charge with the Ontario Labor Relations Board on grounds of
ohaidation and coercion of the workers as a result of the hiring
‘ Security guards from Phillips Security, who are being trained
handle the jobs normally done by workers in the bargaining unit.
@ union received certification on May 31 and ever since has
trying to get a first contract from the company. The present
Sic wage for the five employees is $1.75 and the union is asking
Or an additional 18 cents for each of a two year contract. The
Bor Council of Metropolitan Toronto unanimously endorsed a
Sdlution asking that legislation be passed by the Ontario govern-
€nt making it illegal to use security guards as strikebreakers.

Weston unions oppose Rand

Deep concern and opposition to the use of court injunctions and
kebreakers in labor disputes of a group of area unions held in
© Weston-Mount Dennis area of Toronto on Dec. 1.
esent were representatives of UE, UAW, Steel, Chemical, Food
dignulied Workers and a CLC direct affiliate. Participating in. the
arcession on the Rand report were Dave Archer, president Ont-
i0 Federation of Labor, Mayor Jack Mould of the Borough of York
a representative of Dalton Bales, Minister of Labor for Ontario.
lish © meeting was sponsored by the group of area unions, estab-
€d as the Mutual Assistance Co-Oordinating Committee, which
Tst started in the early 1950’s to rally support and assistance for
tiv UAW strike at CCM. Since then the committee has been ac-
ely engaged in supporting striking workers in the area in various
ants and unions,

Mandatory processing

All corporations extracting natural resources shoul
€stablish processing industries, delegates to the B:
Labor convention last month declared. ;

the Onvention unanimously endorsed a statement, incorporated into
i Federation’s natural resources committee report, stressing that
velopment of secondary industry is a “matter of utmost urgen-

°y” linked directly to development of the province as a whole.

sta bmitted by Harvey Murphy, United Steel Workers Union, the
wement said:

en For years the present government and its predecessors have

-'Couraged export of natural resources of this province to develop

metry in the U.S. and other countries, while British Columbia,
rr Owed with the greatest natural wealth, remains an industrially
developed area. , :

an We who have the greatest resources, power, mineral, timber
4 petroleum, also have the greatest percentage of unemployment
Ong our labor force, especially our youth, who have to seek em-

rent in the U.S. and other countries, working in industries
cessing the resources of B.C.

e 0 expect that foreign based companies which come to B.C. to

“Xploit our resources will voluntarily develop secondary industry
Unrealistic.

D € provincial government should require the establishment of
“Ocessing industries by all corporations which are allowed to ex-
ct our natural resources.

iM € provincial government must impress upon Ottawa the need

in Changes in our taxation policies which, at present, offer no
Centive for the development of processing industries, but encour-
© the exporting of our resources in their rawest state.”

d be required
C. Federation

Panel on Rand Report

meat does the Rand Report mean to you? was the problem dis-
high ee at a public meeting of the Downtown Club of the Commu-
i t Party, held in Toronto last week. A panel of speakers, includ-
e Norman Ferguson of the United Electrical Workers Union,
alt with its effects, not only on the organized labor movement,

ag On the community in general. Rand would remove civil rights

Well as simply those of the labor movement, he pointed out.
© meeting agreed that public action such as petitions, letters
MPPs and actions to aquaint Torontonians with the anti-demo-

¢
ite character of the Rand Report is urgently needed to defeat
Tecommendations, {6 sicrvua .deyuldwe Qi zi dd saeleae

Growing radical

mood in Ontario

By BRUCE MAGNUSON

Political developments con-
tinue their forward sweep. With
greater response to momentous
international events as well as
lesser but significant local is-
sues, more people are moving
into action. Inevitably this in-
creasing radicalization means
that considerable numbers of
people not previously involved
actively in political life are be-
ginning to express their feel-
ings. The youth especially are
becoming impatient with what
they largely feel as a giant and
inhuman power-structure cont-
rolling their lives.

New forms of democratic ex-
pression are being sought to
challenge the heightened bure-
aucratic bourgeois
ment. In the face of greater
concentration of monopoly ca-
pital and its closed integration
with the state, traditional forms
of democratic expressions are
often found to be inadequate.
Mass picketing, demonstrations,
sit-ins and various other forms
of direct confrontation are add-
ed to traditional forms of con-
ferences, meetings, resolutions
and delegated representations
to constituted authorities of in-
stitutions and governments. In
these dynamic developments
there is a multitude of trends,
philosophies and ideas. There is
plenty of confusion. But in the
circumstances of such wide and
varied spontaneous develop-
ments, one cannot expect every-
thing to be clear and definitive.
It would be unreal and not
true to life.

Of particular interest to the
working class, and the left in
the political spectrum, are de-
velopments within the New
Democratic Party. While leader-
ship did not change, policy
changes were significant be-
cause a clearcut position on na-
tionalization of industry and re-
sources was adopted at its re-
cent Ontario provincial con-
vention. “The mood in the party
is radical’, according to John
Harney, the provincial secret-
ary.
Writing in the New Demo-
crat before the 68 Ontario NDP
Convention, Mr. Harney stated
that “the worst thing that can
happen to a socialist is to be
told that his party is no differ-
ent from the others... - What
we have to start talking about
is a revolution in the way men
work for “each other... We
should think in terms not only
of improving labor-management
relations, but of rendering the
very notion obsolete . . SH

“Surely the time has come to
speak of the ownership of in-
dustry, not only within a natio-
nal context but in a provincial
one as well. The ownership and
development of our resources is
the key to our economic well-
being, the key to our liberty of
choice and action .. .”

e
Speaking to the delegates
at the Kitchener Convention,
Donald C. MacDonald, who de-
feated challenger James Ren-
wick for the provincial party
leadership said: “A radical pol-
icy is one which disdains to
tinker with the status quo, but
seeks a genuine change.
“Tt is because our contem-
porary governments and_insti-
tutions have only tinkered with

the complex economic and so-.

establish- '

cial problems of a technological
age, that today’s society - fer-
ments with frustrated protest.
The mood of our day is one of
acceptance of radical  solu-

“tions... -

“Personally, I am excited at
the pcssibilities which lie before
the NDP in presenting a radical
alternative in politics for On-
tario, for Canada, indeed for
North America . . . And we
will find, I am confident, that in
every issue of fundamental con-
cern, the ultimate answer in fact
lies in the modern application
of the principles of democratic
socialism.

“That being so, let us not get
too worried when it is suggest-
ed the New Democratic Party is
becoming ‘respectible.’ For
what that really means is that
we are winning the trust of the
people who must actually give
us the power of government.”

But Laurier LaPierre, in an
article about the forthcoming
national NDP convention ’69,
writes that the June 25th fede-
deral vote left him “somewhat
skeptical about the capacity, or
the willingness, of Canadians to
accept and above all: to propel
change...

“The question arises whether
there is a substantial constitu-
ency in Canada which is pre-
pared to go beyond the Tru-
deauist functionalism, the Libe-
ral middle way, and the Conser-
vative obsession with the good-
ness of things as they are.

“If there is no substantial
constituency for change and re-
levance for the democratic left,
then obviously two courses of
action are open to us. We may,
in large numbers, join the Libe-
ral Party and attempt to change
it moderately from within, or

-we may insist that the New

Democratic Party is not a poli-
tical party as such, but a move-

ment, the essential role of which -

is to inspire just and sound so-
cial and economic legislation. . .”
e

Here we have three shades of
opinion; one which seeks to
move the party a bit to the left;
another which stands pat on
old social democratic principles,
whilst paying lip-service to the
radical sentiment; and a third
which veers off to the right.

It is essentially the last vari-
ety of defeatism and petty-
bourgeois radicalism — which
found expression in the cam-
paign for Ontario NDP leader-
ship by James Renwick. The
political hallmark of this par-
ticular brand of opportunism is
to create excitement by impact
of personalities, originality of
ideas, of gimmickry, or the
force and consequence of ac-
tion. It is also referred to as the
politics of “confrontation.” (As
can easily be seen, this concept
is not one of class confronta-
tion but of class collaboration.)

The basic problem with this
demagogic ' and false theory
about confrontation politics is
lack of faith in people. This
was most clearly expressed by
Mr. Val Scott, NDP Federal
candidate in York West in the
June 25th election when he
ridiculed the Tommy Douglas
tactic of ignoring Trudeau and
speaking to the issues in that
crucial campaign. ;

(Had more of the NDP can-
didates and leaders forgotten
about the Liberal strategy to

evade the issues and stuck to
the Douglas tactic they may
have fared better in the June
25th voting. As for Tommy
Douglas’ defeat, complacency
and concentration of forces in
the wrong places could possibly
be the main reason for this.
Most certainly it was not the
Douglas tactic, which the whole
country applauded in a nation-
wide TV debate. But to get back
to Val Scott.) “In theory we
could distribute 12-million
copies of our mini-platform and,
if assured that people would
actually think about our policies,
would be elected as the Govern-
ment.

“In reality we know how dif-
ficult it is to get enough voters
to consider the real issues. Re-
cognizing this problem, many
people in our party now support
the exciting concept of confron-
tation politics (sic!). at ‘all
levels, to create greater excite-
ment and interest in our party
and its policies.”

The greatest gimmick of Mr.
Scott’s federal campaign was a
big picture of Trudeau, with the
wording “New Democratic Party
candidate. Val Scott asks: Do
you know this man?” It would
appear from Mr. Scott’s defeat
that the gimmick did not work.
Nor did his effort to become the
President of the Ontario section
of the NDP at the Kitchener
Convention.

®

The Ontario NDP Convention
68 was a large gathering. But
it did not produce what could
have been expected of it at a
time like-the present. The pre-
parations centered on a leader-
ship contest and other gimmick-
ry that made little or no politi-
cal sense at this particular time.
Instead, one can readily agree
with those people in the politi-
cal left who feel that this was
the time to deal with the many
serious political issues in On-
tario politics which could put
both the Tories and the Liberals
on the defensive. Serious cam-
paigning on these public issues
both in the legislature and out-
side during the next two years
could help to unite the genuine-
ly left and radical forces on
issues, bring more clarity where
confusion exists, and help to re-
place feelings of frustration with
a political perspective based on
the reality of the existing situa-
tion.

As for socialism as it relates
to the overthrow of the rule of
the capitalist monopolies and ex-
ploitative society, and involving
as it does political power by the
exploited majority, this is not
the immediate issue in present
conditions and political rela-
tionships. To raise this as the
immediate issue can indeed be
more of a divisive element that
will serve to weaken and dis-
unite the anti-monopoly forces.
With respect to this matter and
the need for greater unity of
the left, we shall come back in
another article.

In the meantime, and inas-
much as the Ontario NDP con-
vention ’68 did somewhat streng-
then trade union participation in
the party’s provincial leadership,
one can only view this. fact posi-
tively and hope that it will find
its expression in the promotion
and implementation of realistic
polities from now until the next
convention two years hence.

PAGIFIC-TRIBUNE+-DECEMBER 13, 1968:-Page ds

Te rer here eam NE