As We See It

3 by-Tom McEwen

ANADA’S 87th ibirthday ‘has only

meaning when we remember the.
_8enerations of builders whose sweat
and toil made Canada.

T have stood ‘on that barren stretch
of rock that slopes down into the At-
Jantic on ‘Cape Breton! Tsland and
Watched the myriad toilers as they
emerged from the coalface. deep under
the ocean’ floor. The men whose grim-
€d sweat. blood, and toil has produced
€normous wealth—for others.

To me these miners were Canada.
They alone had created its wealth, dug
tts mines, written the most glorious
Pages in its stirring history. From
their loins had come men like Bill
- Davis (cut down in his prime by RCMP

bullets), Dan Livingstone and Jim Mc-
Lachlan—the Jim who once told Tory
Prime Minister Bennett, “. .. Yes, Mr.

nett, you know all about profits
8nd dividends, but you don’t know a
damn thing about digging coal.”

Far north of Daiwson City I have
‘Watched ithe mighty Yukon River
‘SWeeping out on its 1600-mile course to
the Bering Sea. In forgotten spots
along its bank lie the skeleton ‘hulks
of what were once living river boats.
Outward bound, they carried millions
Of dollars in gold and ivory, the product
°f ibackbreaking labor, produced by
Countless ithousands of hardrock and
Placer. miners. The return cargoes
Were stores—and the end product of
Capitalist exploitation: card sharpers,
Speculators, confidence men, roulette
tables, juke ‘boxes, whores, pimps,
Planos, and synthetic whisky. _

And the miners from the creeks—

he men who dug ‘the wealth, who
Wrote the “code of the Yukon” in the
hard and ‘honest pattern of their lives,
Who measured men by what they did
Tather than by what \they said—these
Were the men who built Canada, who
Challenged ‘her climatic vagaries, and
Who wove pioneering strength and deep

humanity into the fabric of a glorious ©

tradition,

The real history of the Yukon pion-
fers has still to be written, and ‘Canada
1S poorer by the omission. They came
: Tom far places and many lands to
build Canada; from the Lena goldfields,
*rom the-Rand, from California, from
Ballarat of ‘the Eureka Stockade in|

‘Australia. They came to build Canada, ,

a experience the joy and pride of
e usgle and achievement.

f British Columbia came into (Con-
€deration in the historic year of 1871,
SIX years after ‘Canada was officially
groin.” In a Paris, prostrate at the
th Of Bismark’s armies because of
. € Petain-like treason of Thiers, the
°mmunards were on the barricades
pod “storming ithe heavens” in the first
a at and heroic attempt at working
88s rule. In British Columbia the
Ourgeoise were haggling over a divi-
aa of the spoils—who would collect
‘aXes from whom? (In the nature of
ebitalist economics, the argument Is
Still unsettled 87 years later, but the
Ople, the real builders of B.C. and
anada, are still paying the shot.)
Ss S We greet Canada’s 87th birthday
in ™M this mountain-girt Pacific prov-
ce, let us strike a balance sheet be-
ag the builders and the blood-suck-
This When the argonauts of ‘high
Spe. Nee, their kept press and politicians
qu ak of this birthday, they wax elo-\
ot of the great actual and potential
alth of this province, and lick their
Dren_im_ anticipation of still greater
Boa from the labors of others.
these tess, and as a passing gesture,
Work, Parasites will allow that the
Pant ‘ing people have played some small
the this great achievement—even aS
me Scheme to disunite, hogtie and gag
lect eeoPle. When these dividend col-
TS really get warmed up they will
1 a'lot of froth about “our great

democratic heritage,’ carefully con-
cealing the fact that as a class, they
are even now ‘bartering away this hheri-
tage for Yankee dollars—and the hope
of still greater profits as ithe junior
partners of Yankee war criminals.

The real essence of Canada’s birth-
day is written in the struggles of its
builders. The struggle of working men
and women over ithe years 'to awaken
class consciousness; to give the toilers
of factory, mine and ‘farm an under-
standing of the science of Marxism;
to teach them the need of organization
and struggle; that is basic to a really
happy and prosperous Canada.

The early struggles half a century
ago of old socialists like Parker Wil-
liams, Jim Hawthornthwaite, Edward
Kingsley, Tom Uphill, William (Ol
Bill) Bennett, to secure legislative re
cognition of the right of workingmen
to read working class literature; to
organize and sell their labor power
collectively; to win compensation for
injury; ‘to live and work like human
beings. These are the things that make
‘Canada’s birthday real, because these
are the people—and those who follow
in their footsteps—who built the Can-
ada we honor on July 1. These were
ithe pioneer builders whose efforts
Jeave a lasting imprint on the nation
they helped ‘to ‘build.

The others, those who measure pro-
gress ‘by dividends, who murdered
Ginger Goodwin, because he believed
the workers should have a greater
share of the wealth they produced,

. placed their reliance upon the “black-

list” of union men, upon Riots Acts,
massed police, teargas, guns and clubs,
to block the onward march of the
builders!

This is the class that relies ‘on vio-
lence ito maintain its class rule; that
condemned a whole generation of Can-
ada’s youth—her most priceless asset
—- to a future of slave camps, flop
houses, and charity soup; tthhat out-
raged ‘Canada’s birthday by clubbing
down and shooting hunger, marchers
in Regina in 1935; that ‘thas smeared
the pages of 'our country’s history with
betrayal and bloodshed. This is the
class whose policy of hatred and war
threaten to destroy ‘Canada’s unity and
peace.

From sea to sea and from ‘the Klon-
dyke to the . Peace Arch on British
iColumbia’s international boundary, we
Ihave seen the pageant of Canada’s
birthdays pass in review; ‘the blossom-
ing out of a people’s desire for 'pro-
gress, happiness and peace. The power
of the ruling class is vast, but the
people are immortal. Lount and
‘Matthews and ‘Louis ‘Riel were hanged,
but those who murdered ‘them couldn’t
hang ‘the ideas that wrote ‘these names
deep on the scroll of Canada’s history.
The blood of Ginger ‘Goodwin, Bill
Davis, the murdered Estevan miners,
of Nick Zanchuk, still courses through
the veins of working men and ‘women,
inspiring them in the fight for a richer
and better Canada. :

The teachings of the (Kingsleys,
Woodsworths, and the old socialists of
a bygone generation remain, enriched
‘by the new conditions of ‘the struggles
of today. The lessons are being jearn-
ed and the builders better equipped to
follow the charts ithat lead toward a
jhappier and great Canada.

As T stood in that great assembly of —

Je from two countries in the shad-
es ee a towering Peace Arch on ‘Cana-
da’s southern ‘border, and listened to the
peerless artist, Paul Robeson sing, I
could hear the song of a new Canada
being born—a Canada of the people.
In his songs were the struggles, the
hopes and the aspirations of this new
Canada—the Canada of which we as
the builders proudly sing on this her
87th Birthday—"O, ‘Canada, We Stand
On Guard For Thee.” ‘

Ths Grcaiésl Shoe on Books

Smash this conspiracy

/EFORE June 12 the grand strategy of thé bosses was all set to jell in an old
familiar mould. To innumerable union demands for justifiable wage increases

in 1952 contracts, the “captains of industry” would counter with proposals for
wage reductions. Hold the line against wage increases, they chanted, our markets
are falling off, living costs are going down, and industry cannot carry any

additional strain at this time.

The Financial Post, organ of big business, acted as choir leader and boasted
of the “united front”: of industry in B/C. and its determination to force a

cut-back in wages and living standards.

Lauding the “united” stand of the

Industrial Association of B'C. the Post boasted: “The present temper of manage-

ment puts employers in a strong position.”
The initial results of the balloting on that

That was all before June 12.

historic day shot a few major ‘holes in the’ bosses’ “united front” strategy—and

in the Financial Post’s. political forecasts.

The union-smashing strategy of the boss loggers and kindred souls was
based upon the certainty that June 12 would see a majority of their Liberal
and Tory yesmen returned, who could be relied upon as always, to utilize the
machinery of government to bend the unions to the bosses’ will.

The bosses’ plan was simple: stall, obstruct and hedge as much as possible
in tthe negotiation of new collective agreements, thereby deliberately provoking
the necessity of widespread strike action on the part of the workers to back up

their wage demands.

Then shout to high heaven on the radio and through

lavish advertisements, that 'the action of ‘the unions is “illegal”—and rely upon
their Liberal and Tory henchmen ‘in the legislature to utilize all “legal” and
extra-legal measures to help smash the strikes—and the unions; to bring a
thoroughly “discredited ICA and-an equally discredited Labor Relations Board

into operation against the unions.

The June 12 vote had devastating results for the Liberals and Tories—

and the anti-union schemes of the ‘bosses.

Fed up to the ears with Tory and

Liberal chicanery and doublecrossing, the people swamped the Tories and left
the Liberals decidedly groggy. The quarter million dollars or so that the big
monopoly tycoons had tossed into the old partisan slush-fund hopper went up
in smoke. The people of B.C. had taken the first great step towards finding

unity at the polls to deliver a smash-
ing defeat to the political Charley
McCarthys of the monopoly interests.

The great strike struggle of the
woodworkers, building trades, fisher-
men and others, is an integral expres-
sion of that June 12 verdict of the
people against the war monopolists,
their political henchmen, and their
profiteering raids upon the wages and
living.standards of the people, and or-
ganized labor in particular.

These strikes can be won, provided
the unity expressed on June 12 is
maintained and extended, within the
ranks of labor itself, and out into the
broadest masses of the people. By
widespread ‘public demand the bosses
can be compelled to enter into nego-
tiations with the unions involved. In
face of unprecedented profits, the
modest wage demands put forward
are eminently just. The unions have
repeatedly reiterated their willingness
to resume negotiations. The bosses
remain adamant, and like the famed
Micawber, hopefully “wait for some-
thing to turn up,” the something being
the hope that some remnants of the
defeated Tory and Liberal machine
will be in a position—after second and
third choice votes are counted—to help
put their grand strategy for union-
smashing. back on the tracks.

Uniting their struggles with each
other and with the people’s wellbeing,
the striking unions can write finis to
that hope, and themselves achieve a
decisive victory.

‘The time has come...’

rifts in the Liberal lute, following
June 12, are quite audible as for in-
stance, the forced “resignation” of -
provincial-treasurer Rowe Holland.
_Perhaps the suggested| “investiga-
tion” into Holland’s, stewardship and
the .disbursement of Liberal slush
funds will give the electorate some ink-
ling not only on how much was spent
and upon whom, but also on where
these very substantial slush funds
came from? The Ottawa Citizen says
too much was spent on the reelection
of Johnson (if he is reelected) and not
enough on other run-of-the-mill Liberal
stalwarts.
Let’s have an itemized account while
waiting for the final score.

Pacitic

TRIBUNE

(Published Weekly at Room 6 - 426 Main
Street, Vancouver 4, B.C.
Tom McEwen, Editor
Hal Griffin, Associate Editor
Elgin Ruddell, Business Manager
Subscription Rates:
‘Canada and British Commonwealth
countries (except Australia)

One Year: $2.50 .... Six Months: $1.35
Australia, United States and all other
countries
‘One Year: $4.00 Six Months: $2.50
Printed by Union Printers Ltd.,
650 Howe Street, Vancouver 1, B.C.
Authorized as second class mail,
Post Office Dept., Ottawa.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JUNE 27, 1952 — PAGE 5