he political importance of

labor unity is based squarely
on the recognition of the history-
making role of the workers in
today’s society. The proper
understanding of this measures
and determines success or fail-
ure in the struggle for unity.
It is the workers who are the
great force for democracy today.
This is what was so clearly
proved in Oshawa,

Kenneth Bryden (NDP, Wood-
bine) was a hundred times right
when he told the Ontario Legis-
lature on Feb, 15, there was no
threat to public order in the
Oshawa newspaper strike, At
the same time, and in spite of
this well known fact, ‘‘everything
possible was done to create an
atmosphere of hysteria to con-
vince the public that Oshawa was
teetering almost on the brink of
a civil war,”

This calculated effort to put
labor in a bad light is evidenced
in eachand every strike situation,
The pattern is to stir up opin-
ion against the workers on strike.
Then come the court injunctions,
followed in turn by police es-
corting strike-breakers through
picketlines and stirring up vio-
lence which is then blamed on
the workers,

In many cases strong provo-
cations result in someone fighting
back, or in someone taking it on
himself to retaliate for the
wrongs done in a way which later
on distorts the image and pre-
sents a wrong concept of the
union involved, None of these
shady tactics succeeded in Osh-
awa, simply because the workers
were united to the last man and
woman, Unity was and is thekey
to victory.

«Ontario failed the courts” said
the lead editorial ‘in the scab-
produced Toronto Globe and Mail
the day after the strike was
settled, The Globe bemoaned
the fact that ‘*. . .In the 11 days
that elapsed between the issuing
of a court injunction limiting the

- ‘number of pickets at the Oshawa

\ By CHARLES BOYLAN

The Rhodesian crisis isa world

: and unless Ian Smith is

di of, the flames of inter-
racial may engulf the south-
ern sub-centinent of Africa. So
winoira, a Zimbabwe
) nationalist leader

_ dents ahd ty at U.B.C, last

Tuesday,
Mr. » who is being
ona Canadian uni-

versity speaking tour by the Can-
- adian Unidn of Students, said
there were two ‘doctrines con-
testing for’ the Mleadership of
Southern Afri

The first ee Seocribed as
-#multi-racialism,’? which em-
_ phasizes the importance of race

_ and advocates the political, mili-
tary and social supremacy of the
_ whites over the’ blacks and col-
-ored (mixed white and black).

Times and the settlement of the
strike, masses of pickets flouted
the court’s order and no effort
was made to enforce the law.”
(My emphasis—B.M.).

The facts are that Lord Thom-
son with his $300 million news-
paper and TV empire was allowed
to make use of a bad iaw to try
and break a perfectly legal and
justified strike of 49 workers on
his Oshawa Times, He failedand
the strike was settled, It could
have been settled in the first
place without a strike had Lord
Thomson recognized that no one
today can live on $43 to $50 per
week,

Solidarity of all workers, not
only those directly involved in
the strike, won in Oshawa, The
victory is the most significant
first step towards a nation-wide
campaign against the court in-

junction as a strike-breaking —

weapon,

*¢We are very pleased at what
happened in Oshawa. We believe
the right of lawful assembly takes
precedence over a judge’s ruling
when the two clash,” said David
Archer, president of the Ontario
Federation of Labor,

“tf the auto workers want to
put 16,000 workers arounda plant

they should have the right to ;
do so as long as it is peaceful, -
They certainly have a righttothe 1

streets, The streets don’t be-
long to the corporations,” said
Claude Jodoin, president of the
Canadian Labor Congress,

This was the general consen-

sus of more than 70 labor leaders -

who met. in Oshawa after the
strike and decided on a Canada-
wide campaign to abolish injunc-
tions in labor disputes and to
defy them by mass picketing
wherever the local circum-
stances make this expedient, as in
Oshawa,

The lesson of Oshawa is that |

only unity in action of all workers
can bring victory for labor in
today’s conditions, as always.

‘The second he called a non-
racial ‘‘inclusive political sys-
tem” based on one man — one
vote, “We are confident this
second, more democratic alter-
native will win,” he said. “In
the meantime southern - Africa
suffers under the first doctrine,”

“The policy of Ian Smith is
a ’carbon copy’ ofapartheidism,”
said Zwinoira, The history of
Zimbabwe is one of resistance
and struggle by the African people
against the spirit of Cecil Rhodes’
imperialism, In a further dis-
cussion of Rhodesian history,
Zwinoira pointed out that the
local imperialist policy of the
South African settlers has con-
stantly been appeased by suc-
cessive Tory and Labor govern-

ments in Britain,
*When other colonies have re-

belled, the 13 American colonies,
Kenya, Malta, Cypress, Aden,
Malaya, and British Guiana, just
to name a few, Britain had always

QUEBEC LEADER’S PLEA:

‘Adopt a new, two-nation
constitution for Canada’

‘¢We in Quebec have known for
weeks that the Pentagon had
ordered a study of Quebec under
the code name ‘Project Revolt’
and in fact we have had a copy
of that study,” said Sam Walsh,
president of the Parti Com-
muniste du Quebec, when he
visited the PT office last Friday.

“This study by the U.S, army
should disturb every Canadian,
It is an insult as well as a threat
to both people — Frenchand Eng-
lish,’’ said the Quebec Communist
leader who spoke at many func-
tions during his recent visit to
B.C,

In an interview with the PT,
Walsh said that it is “imperative
that those concerned witha united
Canada should act as quickly as
possible to demand the convening
of a constituent assembly of both
nations in Canada to work out a
new constitution guaranteeing the
rights of self-determination to
both nations and to adopta made-
in- Canada constitution,”

He said that with the collapse
of the Fulton-Favreau Formula
it was essential that democratic
Canadians should lose no time
demanding that the out-dated
B.N.A. act be scrapped and a
new Canadian constitution be
adopted,

Referring to the Fulton-
Favreau Formula, which -was
worked out at a secret. meeting

SQ &
Fred Wright (UE News)

“Well, do you know another way to
keep 'em from going Communist?”’

Wilson Rhodesia policy hit

used armed force to put the
rebellion down, But ‘when Ian
Smith rebelled, Wilson consid-
ered him “kith and kin.”

Zwinoira said the economic
sanctions of Britain were a sham,
“South Africa supplies Southern
Rhodesia with oil and British and
American banking interests con-
tinue to support South Africa,”
he charged,

«The only solution is to demand
that Britain use military force to
put down Smith and establish a
government on the principal of
one man, one vote,”

He went on to say that unless
a non-racial policy of “inclusive
political institutions’? were
adopted in Southern Africa, the
continent would soon explode in
violence, “In this age of modern
science and technology,” he con-
tinued, “mankind cannot afford
to allow this to happen,”

_ time

j but if all

of Canada’s 10 provincial prem-
iers and the Federal government;
Walsh pointed out that at the
the Lesage government
whole-heartedly supported the
Formula and the Liberal premier
of Quebec even said he would
place the life of his government
on the line on this issue.

“Now,” said Walsh, Premier”
Lesage has made a full retreat,
He soon discovered that opposi-
tion to the FFF was almost
unanimous and that if he continued
to try to impose it on Quebec he
faced almost certain defeat inthe
next provincial election expected
in May or June,”

Walsh said the French Can-
adian people saw the FFF as a
“straightjacket” which would
prevent the French-Canadian na-
tion from achieving national inde-
pendence,” Under the Formula,
said Walsh, any change affecting
the jurisdiction of Quebec would
have to have the consent of all
provinces,

«The method of amending the
constitution under the FFF was
on a nine to one ratio, not one
nation to one nation which is the
sole acceptable basis for a united
Canada,” said Walsh.

“The only real solution to the
constitutional crisis in Canada
is not on the basis of ten prov-
‘inces but as two national en-
tities united on a voluntary basis
and jointly granting certain juris-
dictions to a confederal govern-~—
ment,” said Walsh,

He pointed out that when Le-
sage retreated from his stand
on the FFF he declared that he
stood by the BNA Act and that
all that was necessary was for
Quebec to occupy the jurisdic-
tions granted in the provisionsof
the BNA Act and to use the
opting-out clauses.

Walsh said “there is no ob-
jection to opting out on certain —
issues for the immediate period,
the provinces pro-
ceeded under opting-out pro-
visions it can shatter unity among
the English-speaking provinces
and undermine national unity.”

The Quebec Communist leader |
pointed out that solution of the
crisis of Confederation today re-
quires a new democratic consti-.
tution and that under such a
constitution Quebec cannot be

treated as just another prov-

ince — as the other nine prov-
inces. To do so, he said, is
to deny the right of self-deter-
mination to the French-Canadian
people,”

Walsh said a genuine unity of
Canada’s two nations can only be
based on each having full rights
of self-determination, He said
having that right does not mean
that it will be exercised, It
does mean that by having that
right, unity can be achieved on
an equal basis.~ He likened it to
people having the right to divorce

but not necessarily using it.

He said the action of Lesage
in dropping the FFF was a vic-
tory for democracy but it will
not stop there, and it won’t pre-
vent the fight for full national
self-determination. :

Walsh gave the PT a vivid
picture of the large movements
sweeping Quebec, He related the
struggles among the workers,

farmers, students and peace
workers, “The people of Quebec
are uniting around many issues,’’
‘he said. He pointed to the wave

“of labor struggles and the threat

of a general strike last year
which forced the Lesage govern-
ment to withdraw anti-labor
legislation.

The Communist leader. also
outlined the big battle of thou-
sands of students from technical
universities who struck against
the attempt of the provincial gov-
ernment to extend their school
year which would cut down their
chances of working to earn
tuition fees, “The students are
on the move in Quebec and are
showing great militancy and
unity,” Walsh said.

“The big question today is
whether the big monopolies will
get all the fruits of the modern-
ization of Quebec or whether the
people will get a share of the
new wealth being produced. The
workers, students, farmers and
others are. fighting to prevent
the monopolies from grabbing
everything,” said Walsh,

The Communist leader pointed
to the growing sentiment for
unity of the left in Quebec. He
said the Parti Communiste du
Quebec had evolved in response
to necessity, Quebec needs a
Marxist party which will be part
of the growing left in Quebec and
which at the same time will have
an internationalist program,
“The formation of the PCQ is
not a move to split the working
class of Canada but rather a
move to unite the working class

-of both nations on the basis of

full equality and a recognition
of their common interest in the
struggle against monopoly cap-
ital,” Walsh said.

The Quebec Communist leader
is on a tour across Canada to
explain the events in Quebec
and to clarify the basis on which
unity of Canada’s two nations can
be achieved, and to explain the
recent action in establishing the
Parti Communiste du Quebec as
a distinct entity.

Walsh told the PT that the
Quebec Communists hope to raise
enough funds to make their paper
“Combat’’? a twice-monthly by
May 1 instead of a monthly,
which it is now. “This will
tremendously help our struggle
in Quebec,” he said. Hundreds
of dollars have already been
donated in B.C. to the Quebec
Solidarity Fund to help the work
of the PCQ and to expand *“Com-
bat.”

Walsh said contributions to this
fund will also help greatly to
insure the publication of more
leaflets and pamphlets addressed
to the French Canadian workers,
and generally strengthen the
public work of the Party in Que-
bec. “They will also show that
the working class of English Can-
ada are inéerested in helping
their French-Canadian brothers,
and would be a source of unity
and strength for all Canadian
workers,” Walsh said,

Contributions to the Quebec
Solidarity Fund may be sent to
the provincial office of the Com-
munist Party, Room 502, Ford
Building, Vancouver, B.C.

March 4, 1966—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 2