Hamilton city council has
aepted the Catholic bishops’
hical Reflections on the

_ onomic Crisis as its ‘keystone
of a municipal strategy for
Feacuic recovery’? — and the ef-

Ort is on to have Vancouver city
council do the same.

We're asking everyone —com-
Munity organizations, trade
yee and anyone else who wants

see a continuation of the pro-
fTessive policies enacted so far by
ase to pack the galleries,’’ said

Tuce Yorke, one of the four Com-
ae of Progressive Electors

Mdermen on council.

F in htieal Reflections, released

l January by the eight-member
on affairs commission of the

anadian Conference of Catholic

Ishops, is a stiring indictment of

the capitalist system’s deliberate

policy of mass unemployment as a .

means of reducing inflation. The
Hamilton motion comes up for
debate in the afternoon session of
council’s regular meeting May 10.

Hamilton city council endorsed
the bishops’ statement at its Mar.
29 meeting, and has sent copies of

the motion to other city councils. In

its preamble the motion notes that
“the present recession appears to
be symptomatic of a much larger
structural crises in the international
system of capitalism.””

The motion warns against “the
renewed emphasis on the ‘survival
of the fittest’ as the supreme law of
economics” while in Canada “the
top 20 percent of the population
receive 42.5 percent of total per-
sonal income while the bottom 20

BRITISH COLUDABEA

| City urged to adopt bisho

percent receive 4.1 percent.”

Hamilton city council agreed
that ‘‘the federal and provincial:
wage control programs are ine-
quitable, imposing the same con-
trol rate on lower incomes as on up-
per incomes.

“If successfully implemented,
these programs could also have the
effect of transferring income from
wages to profits. Yet, there are no
clear reasons to believe that work-
ing people will ever really benefit
from these and other sacrifices they

are called to make,”’ states the mo-

tion.

“In developing strategies for
economic recovery, we firmly
believe that the first priority must
be given to the real victims of the
current recession, namely the
unemployed, the welfare poor, the

Outcome of May 5 election
critical for working people

>. The outcome of the provincial election on May 5
is of crucial importance to the working class and
People of B.C.

As the provincial election campaign winds down

to the last few days it becomes increasingly clear -

‘that the Socreds and their big business backers are
pulling out all the stops to re-elect the Socred
government.

Their aim is to elect areactionary government to
Victoria which would push B.C. politics further to
the right to entrench the restraint program with its
Policy of mass unemployment and attack on living
standards; to carry forward the attack on social
services; and to step up resource giveaways. To
that they have added a frontal assault on the trade
union movement, the objective being to
dismember and weaken the unions and drive down

’ wage standards.
: The defeat of the Socreds would represent a big
Victory for the working class and be a major set-
back for reaction in B.C. and across Canada.

Coming on top of the victory of the left in Van-
couver’s civic election last November, it would
open the door to a new progressive direction for
the people of B.C.

During the election campaign the Communist
Party has done everything it could to ensure the
defeat of the Socreds. In every riding, including the
four constituencies where the Communist Party is
contesting, the main thrust of the campaign has
been to expose the right wing policies of the
Socreds. In constituencies throughout B.C. the
Communist Party has worked for unity to oust the
Socreds and has distributed its election platform
- and appeals to voters to cast their ballots against
the Socreds.

The four Communist candidates have carried
forward the fight in their ridings against the
Socreds and have put forward the party’s program,
| advocating policies to end the crisis in B.C. It is the

_ only party which has demanded strong action to
halt the layoffs, including nationalization of firms
faced with shutdowns or large layoffs. It has called
for an immediate program of action for jobs and
aid to the jobless while advocating a 10-year pro-
gram to turn B.C.’s economy from export of raw
Materials to manufacturing and processing. It has
Spelled out its proposals for nationalization of
multinational resource companies, and B.C. Tel:

_ The Communist Party’s major aim in the elec-
tion campaign has been to make these issues cen-
tral to the election campaign, and will continue to
fight for this program up to and after May 5. The
| Most meaningful vote in the four ridings where

- there are Communist candidates is a vote for the

program and policies of the Communist Party. In
the two seat ridings of Vancouver Centre, Van-
couver East and Surrey only one Communist can-
didate was nominated in order to further the
possibility of anti-Socred unity while putting for-
ward the Communist program. In those ridings we
urge that electors give one of their votes to the
Communist candidate. The Communist Party is
also running a candidate in Alberni.

In Burnaby-Willingdon the party withdrew its
candidate in this swing riding where the Socreds are
mounting a major effort to win the seat, in order to
strengthen anti-Socred unity and to help ensure the
defeat of the Socreds.

~ While directing its main fire at the Socreds, the
Communist Party has also urged the NDP to come
forward with stronger policies to challenge the
Socreds. We share the view with others in the labor
and progressive movement, including NDPers,
that the NDP leadership, while advocating some
worthwhile reforms, have not come out with
strong alternative policies. Failure to do so has

Election ‘83 —

pce aro era cs Se RRO eS
Maurice Rush

weakened the fight to defeat the Socreds and the
responsibility for that rests on the Barrett leader-
ship.

While recognizing the weakness of the NDP’s

‘policies on many important questions, the central
- issue which confronts voters on May 5 is what kind

of government is best for B.C. under present con-
ditions?

The Communist Party joins with British Col-
umbians who want to see the Socreds ousted from
office. The Socreds are the main enemy of labor
and the people. Their defeat would mark a major
victory for progress. We recognize that in the pre-
sent polarized situation in B.C. most people who
want a change of government see a NDP govern-
ment as the only alternative. The Communist Par-
ty recognizes that this is.a fact, and that the only
realistic alternative in the current political situation
is the election of a NDP government.

Mass united action will be needed to press an
NDP government to stand up to the pressures of
big business and to adopt policies which will move
B.C. to the left. The defeat of the Socreds and the
election of an NDP government would create more
favorable conditions for the struggle to win the
kind of progressive policies needed in Victoria.

We urge the people in ridings throughout the
province to use their vote on May 5 to change the
government and to advance the fight for pro-
gressive policies. In the four-ridings where Com-
munist candidates are spearheading the fight for a

program to take B.C. out of the crisis, the most -

meaningful vote would be a vote for those can-
didates.

ps’ plan

working poor — pensioners, native
peoples, women, young people —
and small farmers, fishermen,
some factory workers and some
small business men and women.
This option calls for economic
policies which realize that the needs
of the poor have priority over the
needs of the rich; that the rights of
workers are more important than

_the maximization of profits; that

the participation of marginalized
groups has precedence over the
preservation of a.system which ex-
cluded them.”’

The motion praises the bishops’
commission and statement and
calls for the council to adopt the
statement as its ‘‘keystone’’ for
economic recovery.

_ Copies of the Hamilton resolu-
tion were sent to prime minister

Pierre Trudeau and provincial —

premier William Davis as well as

‘ area members of the legislature,

and to all cities with a population in
excess of 10,000 “‘requesting their
endorsation.”’

May
Day
Greetings

from
Women’s
Auxiliary,
International
Longshoremen’s
and
Warehousemen’s
Union

MAY DAY

GREETINGS

from the
United Fishermen & Allied Workers Union
Local 1

our friends

in the labor
movement.

Marineworkers and Boilermakers
Industrial Union Local 1

D»

SW

We greet this May 1,
the international
labor day, with a

call for unity of the

working people in defence of
peace and progress. ;

: NXE ENE NEN NERNEY,

NANAIMO,
DUNCAN & DISTRICT

,

LABOR COUNCIL
ec ee ae
"3 PACIFIC TRIBUNE—APRIL 29, 1983—Page 3