”
“Tomorrow to fresh woods, and pastures new

SILICO A Mt RTT Ye Pe

~ by TOM McEWEN

As We See It

SS

HEN the B.C. people go to the polls on June
12 they will meet up with a ee Rete
Voting, s ed ‘by the now defunct Johnson-
Bessa caaiten, This trick ballot is. called
“alternative voting.» It was primarily designed
‘0 help confuse the electorate, and is based on
the phoney assumption that democracy, like
*8gs can be graded A-B-C, and that irrespective
f how or in what preference the voter casts
his ballot, if he votes first, second and third
Choice for A, B and C he just cannot “lose
is vote.

_. This may be a little hard to understand (as
Indeed it was intended to be), but let us say
that John Doe prefers the CCF as an “alterna-
tive” to ither Tory, Liberal or Social Credit,
and marks ‘his ballot accordingly. If he only
Marks his ballot No. 1 for the CCF and ignores
» the other candidates and parties on the ballot,
the new trick setup says he has “exhausted
his ballot and deprived ‘himself “from fully
Participating in the contest.”

: Tf, on the other hand, John Doe marks his
Aatlot in keeping with the Johnson-Anscomb
lectoral recipe for bamboozling the public, but

is Candidate does not receive 50-percent-plus 1
°f the ballots cast to assure election, the distri-
bution of the ballots on the second and . third

“unt can knock John’s choice out of the run-
Ting, But that is not all; when the vote juggling

Completed it bolsters up the fantasy that a
Working man, voting for a working man’s can-

didate, winds up by having in some mysterious .

“Y or other, assumed some: responsibility with
_S third, fourth, or fifth choice votes of having
“lped in the election of a Tory or a Liberal.
That falls a good deal short of the “alternative”
i ray beople have ‘been seeking. The curse of
pan beral and Tory partisan politics is not lessened
cause these tricksters are reelected on last:
choice votes. The evil is that they are elected

all, period.

! Th multimember constituencies the elector
“el have three multi-colored ballots with any-

: Bre from five to seven candidates on each to
N Braded 1-2-3 and so on. After the count of
‘Se 1 choices, the returning officer will do the
As if that weren’t enough for one day,
eo, Chnson government will throw in another

“Uple of ballots just to take the mind of the

ae Off the real issues. These will be on the
; Day of alcoholic beverages “by the glass” and
* st Ylight ‘Saving time, both of which neatly side-
. ang he question of ‘spiralling monopoly profits
sTowing unemployment.

te ‘To understand the change in the Voting sys-
to 4/0 this election, it is necessary to go back
} com origin (and cause) of the Tory-Liberal
Be: tition. It came into being to block the politi-
a desires of the people of British Columbia for
pc hange in government; a change that in the
Cop wate post-war years could have meant a
Lipa, overnment, and certainly the end of Tory-
didn? 1 rule in BC, The Tories and Liberals
Ba Uke 46° face. such a prospect, so they

entered into a coalition to thead off such an
eventuality.

Then came the break. Both had participated
to the full in selling B.C. “down the river” to
the Yankee war trusts; they were and are trusted
tools of the monopolists. But the partnership
had its irritants. Both wanted full control of
what is politely known as _ political patronage,
and both knew, as every reactionary bourgeois
government knows, that the risks were great.

The people! A united people’s movement,
fed up to the ears with LiberaltTory maladmin-
istration, broken promises, gross betrayal, might
write finis to both in a straight election verdict.
So, let’s cook up a ballot to minimize the risk;
a sort of you-vote-for-me-and-I’ll-vote-for-you bal-
lot.- It will help preserve the illusion that we’re
not exactly a Tweedledee and Tweedledum, and
at the same time boost the confusion and help
juggle the votes. To ‘top it off it will help John
Doe think he had something to do with our re-
election—if we are reelected!

The “alternative voting” as introduced by
the Johnson-Anscomb government is a crude
piece of election trickery. But again, there is one
factor neither Liberals nor Tories fully reckon
with—the people. The people can and will raise
issues; issues bearing on peace, B.C. trade, jobs,
farm security, health education. Issues which no
amount of election trickery can obliterate or
obscure. JTssues that involve the people’s birth-
right in the future of B.C. ‘The desertions, de-
flections, schisms, the general internal wrangling
which is tearing at the guts of both Tweedledee
and Tweedledum is in itself the best indicator
of how these issues are pressing in upon these
political showmen. Tt cannot be bypassed or
covered up with trick election ballots.

These issues will demand answers, regard-
less of the final counts of the Johnson tabulators
after June 12. Before June 12 they will be the
subject of wide public debate. A straight ballot

_ on June 12 (on ‘the basis of past performance)

would have sent both the Tories and Liberals
into the political limbo where they rightfully
belong. Without aspiring to be prophetic, we
venture to Say that the results of June 12, even.
with the ‘benefit of a trick vote to confuse the

_ people will indicate the Tories and Liberals on

the way out—for keeps!
e' ec

It has been a hard pull, but thanks to the
loyalty, devotion, hard: work and: sacrifice of a
lot of good folks, we have gone over the top
with another PT drive.

The tributes toi the memory of a grand

fighter for the labor press Ol’ Bill, which have
come in through the medium of this column
total $533.55, With a lot of these fives, tens

and twenties from old age pensioners and others.

came short letters of encouragement and inspira-
tion. To one and all we send sincere thanks
and the assurance that come what may, the
Pacific Tribune will keep on rolling. ;

People’s unity can win

ET and talk a few minutes with a OCF worker, a trade
M unionist, a housewife or farmer on election issues, and you
will find that all feel a common need, the need for unity among
themselves, people’s unity to defeat the Liberal and Tory spokes-
men for big business. :

What stands in the way? ©lsewhere in this issue is a
statement by Nigel Morgan, LPP provincial leader, which under-
scores the problem and emphasizes the solution. If the top
leaders of the CCF, in line with the wishes and desires of g
great section of their members and Supporters, would terminate
their tacit support of ‘the war policies of the Johnsons and
Anscombs, cease their confusionist phrasemongering about the
“socialism” ‘they are going to introduce, and come out clearly for
peace, as Premier Douglas of Saskatchewan has done, the

division and confusion in the ranks of organized labor and the
people could tbe ended. :

With such a-change on the part of the CCF top leadership,
a sweeping victory at the polls for genuine people's representa-
tives could be a certainty on June 12! Not even the thousands
of dollars in election slush funds and high-pressure election
advertising, now available to the spokesmen of big ‘business,
could defeat a-people united for peace, trade, jobs and security!

It can still be done despite the shortness of time.
to 'CCF rank-and-file members and supporters to convi

leaders that working class unity is a prerequisite of

, electoral
victory on June 12, Just as peace is a prerequisite of genuine
socialism. The Labor-Pro

gressive party’s appeal for unity points

Tt is up
nce their

Pearson evades teal issue

|“ Some quarters the truth can be extremely embarrassing.

Never was that fact So clearly illustrated as in the present
government and press attacks upon the integrity of Dr. James
'G. Endicott, chairman of the Canadian Peace Congress.

Dr. Endicott’s recent visit to China and his first-hand in-
formation on the:use of germ warfare against the people of that
country and Korea by “UN” forces must shock every decent
Canadian into the realization that in our “partnership” with

Yankee imperialism we are losing much more than our indepen-
dence to USS. dollar rule. . :

As a civilized nation, and
vention, we are presumed to be
logical Warfare.

The fact that governme
fulminate against the disclos
these disclosures false. On

a signatory to the Geneva Con-
unalterably opposed to bacterio-

the contrary; when the only replies
ces are couched in red-baiting terms
of Canadians .
re is only too true.

t the revealing disclosures made by

minder that the line of demarcation
between our vaunted civilization and the barbarism of the dark

ages - is very finely drawn, debates are now ‘proceeding in the
British House of Commons on the use of Dyak headhunters in

the service of British imperialism in its war against the people
of Malaya. ‘

British press.
At first the Churchill governme
pictures as “faked,” “Communist pr
Oliver (Lyttelton, colonial Secretary, thas had to admit these
horrible pictures are authentic, proving once again that truth
cannot be permanently hidden behind cheap red-baiting.

Then comes ‘the key question as to “whose responsibility.”
Military top brass and government leaders, engaged in the busi-
ness of armed aggression to crush the liberation movements of
the colonial peoples, find the answer to that one difficult.

For the people, British and Canadian, concerned with na-
tional self respect, with decency, there is also a responsibility
and only one way to discharge it—to proclaim our indignation,
our ‘horror, and our condemnation of the use of bacteriological
warfare. :

If Canada’s Minister of External Affairs. would do that —
instead of ‘waving a stale red-herring at Dr. Endicott, he would

be doing Canada and the world a great service for civilized
morality and peace,

nt spokesmen described these
opaganda” and so forth, Now

Wa
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Published Weekly at Room 6 - 426 Main Street, Vancouver, B.C.
Tom McEwen
Printed by Union Printers Ltd., 650 Howe Street, Vancouver, B.C.

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PAOIFIC TRIBUNE — MAY 16, 1952 — PAGE 5

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