THE NATION. St. Laurent plans for world war three By TIM BUCK R. LOUIS ST. LAURENT, who is planning to become prime minister of Canada with- out the bother of asking for the approval of the electorate, is preparing in advance to plunge the Canadian people into a provocative military and political adventure overseas. : lic support for his plan to use Canada as the bellwether for United States imperialism he is resorting to the method, popularized by Hitler, known as “the technique of the big lie.” At the Canadian National Exhibition directors’ luncheon on September 7 the prime minister-to-be gave'a demon- Stration of that. technique _ which must have left some of the old-fashioned reactionaries gasping. Some of Mr. St. Laurent’s statements were in such marked contrast to Mackenzie King’s calculated Concern for “the record” that they seemed to he intended to emphasize the fact that the change in the prime minister’s office has been much more than a change of persons. : ’ “Justifying” himself by a completely un- supported assertion that it is impossible to pre- ‘serve world peace through the United Nations, St. Laurent outlined a plan for the organization of the United States, Canada, the United King- dom, France, and other capitalist states of West- ern Kurope into a military, political and economic bloc which he proposes should be called “the North Atlantic’ Security system.” @ Mr. St. Laurent indicated quite clearly that, while the main aim of his plan is to concentrate What he declares would be an overwhelming military force against the New Democracies and the USSR, he has in mind, also, the idea that it would make it easier for governments in coun- tries such as\Canada and the U.S., where monop- oly capital is still firmly in the saddle, to take a hand in suppressing the political activities of the democratic masses in Western Europe. oe Mr. St. Laurent admitted that he does not an end in itself. He explained carefully that he , Considers it only a means to an end. : In less categorical language, but _ clearly” enough to exclude the possibility of misunder- Standing, he indicated that the end for which his proposal would provide the means is the elimination of the present. rejection of finance Capital, the Marshall Plan, and the expansionist Policies of United States imperialism. He stated it as opposition to policies sup- Ported by the majority of governments repre- Sented in the United Nations, but he made his Meaning clear. @ “The Canadian government,” he said, “has been urging at home and abroad, in public Statements and through diplomatic channels and discussions, the immediate establishment of a North Atlantic Security system. . . .” “Such collective action,” he added, “even if at the beginning only on a regional basis, 1s urgent and necessary. .. .” — " By The reader is justified in wondering how Mr. St. Laurent justifies his repeated assertions that. the establishment of such a military bloc outside ne € United Nations is “urgent and necessary, Particularly in view of the active manner in which 1€ suppotted Mackenzie King’s opposition to any Preparation for, or even verbal endorsement of, . —S0ncerted action to prevent Nazi aggression dur- Mg the 1930's. In the effort to stir up an appearance of pub- . “experts” consider a Communist. consider his North Atlantic Security system as. Mr. St. Laurent “justifies” vocacy of preparation for a military adventure overseas by pnscrupulous verbal sleight of hand his present ad- By dishonest and brazen misuse of the Eng- lish language Louis St. Laurent insinuated to his audience *at the C.N.E. directors’ luncheon that the development “which has led straight to the mass slaughter of recent years” is the growing influence of Marxism. He then proceeded to declare that, in the world struggle between the forces of peace and social progress and the forces of war and re- action, communism is on thé side of what he: St. Laurent, described as “Pan-German imperial- ism” in 1914-18, and “Nazi and Fascist tyranny” in the people’s war of liberation. @ The arguments advanced by Mr. St. Laurent to “justity” his proposed military adventure, and even more his insinuations and 'misrepresenta- tions, marked a new stage, a new low level, in the drive to involve Canada in the war plans of United States imperialism. It-is significant, most of all, however, because it reveals jthe fact that the engineers of the scheme dare come before the people of Canada and discuss it frankly and honestly—this is the proof that there is still a possibility that it can be defeated. A real Iron Curtain F® and RCMP work together to exclude trom crossing the boundary anyone ihese An FBI man sits in Ottawa checking the lists, says the Tor- cnto Star. Maybe an RCMP man sits in Wash ington doing. the same. dirty. work... ‘An Iron Curtain (a real one, not the fic- titious one which came to us from Goebbels via Churchul) has. been drawn across the line so that any trade unionist, whether Communist or not, who belongs to a union not to the FBI’s or RCMP’s liking, is prohibited from going to the U.S. cn union business. No defense is permit-— ted. An arbitrary police ukase is enough! i The Canadian government has abdicated its function as a protector of the rights of travel- ling Canadians. And in its own right, it is an arbitrary policeman who excludes from Canada anyone with whose opinions it does not agree. This is the grim Iron Curtain which has been drawn between Canadians and Americans by the mailed hand of the police state. And they have ‘the gall to lecture millions of people in Europe and Asia on freedom and democracy? x 8 Fig Se Lerner ae Dies see Hae ambver ie - red-baiters LAbOR FOCUS The fallacy of counting noses By BRUCE MICKLEBURGH EVER since. the birth of the Trades and Labor Congress nigh on 70 years ago have labor conventions received such publicity as they are getting this year in the big business press. The Financial Post, Vancouver Sun, News-Herald and of course the scab Province are showering headlines, editorials and columns on the October 11 conventions of the CCL (Can- adian Congress of Labor) and TLC (Trades and Labor Con- gress). This doesn’t mean the boss | has lifted his news black-out on labor. On the contrary, he’s throwing the full weight of his » public opinion factories behind the disrupters, he hopes will tear the guts out of a labor move- ment he hasn’t been able to de- stroy from the outside. Anybody who ‘didn’t know better would gather trom the boss headlines that the issue is not labor versus the boss any more but labor versus the communists. By communists and “fellow traveliers” the boss means what he has. always meant—any workers who fight the boss - all the way down the line. He tries to portray these militants as labor’s real enemy, and the in labor’s ranks he pictures as “re- spectable” unionists. The Financial Post states openly that the bosses must make common cause with the “anti-communists” in labor. ; The open attempt of the employers to inter- vene and take over labor from the inside has made the conventions a public issue in a real sense. Whether Canada marches forward to- wards peace, independence, security and free- dom—or is hurled into fascism, ruinous war and depression—denends in large measure on labor’s membership asserting labor's rights, @ Many B.C. unionists realize that forthe CCL, leadership there is no turning back. Having taken the road of. St. Laurent’s war policy, of — red-baiting, expulsions and, wage sell-outs, they can only move further down the same road—_ even possibly to the extent of constitutional © bans a la Philip Murray on those whose political opinions or trade union policies they may: not. happen to like. They Icok on the CCL: convention as a feudal lord on_ his barony. After all, Steel, Textile, Packinghouse and Mosher’s, CBRE, with only a fifth ot the membership, are given half the votes by the CCI, constitution. Simple to manipulate such a puppet vote—especially with Mine-Mill suspended and’ Harvey Murphy suspended and denied the right to appeal. : Simple—except for one fact, and that is that labor’s course is not determined by ‘counting noses at a stacked convention. What really de- termines labor's course is what the majority of workers, on the job and in their locals, think and do. And that majority in the CCl, asom - ganized in the biggest industrial unions, will show their iighting unity in the stand they take to- gether on the floor at Toronto. That stand will not be,on the phoney issue of communism—but _ on the real issues of wages and prices, peace and labor's rights, housing and health insurance, free - labor political action to elect a new government— and—intertwined with all these issues—the de- cisive issue of union democracy as expressed in the fight to re-instate Mine-Mill and repudiate the red-baiters. ‘ a It’s easy to seé how workers get disgusted with Conroy, Mosher ,and Millard, but to stay — away from the convention on that account would play right into their hands--and the bosses. The issues are already bared for the TLC convention. appealed to the membership to openly discuss — them and come to Victoria in full strength to, decide whether they want autonomy or autocracy for their unions—i.e., the Percy Bengough type: of leadership or the Frank Hall type of treachery. — ‘There are strong signs the membership is _ rallying strongly behind Bengough. — Actually the struggle at the conventions is one—a finish fight that ‘will continue till labor has cleaned house against elements that now stand exposed as alien to its ranks, PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPTEMBER 24, 1948—PAGE 9 » The Trades Congress leadership has