6 ESTERN European
Socialism is one of
the strongest bul wart ks

against communism,” reads
a U.S. state department re-
port .on the ‘operation of
ERP. Dorothy Steeves, foreign
affairs expert of the CCF News,
and a firm, if critical, supporter
of the Marshall Plan, squirms
over this “newly born love of
democratic socialism.” She even
warns her readers not to be fool-
ed by it. But Mrs, Steeves’ own
articles supply the reasons why
the U.S.. state department bases
its hopes on right-wing social-
democrats.

Since Leon Blum fathered the
idea, they call themselves the
Third Force... The Third Force
has no more ardent advocate than
Dorothy Steeves. She campaigns
with’ an ardor bordering on ob-
session, lauding socialist parties
that keep free of communist
“contamination,” eagerly seeking
for signs of rift where people's
fronts have been established, lam-
enting the absence of a Third
Force in China, gleefully hailing
Western Union as the interna-
tional expression of the Third
Force.

It is true that she declares her
socialist faith. Her criticism of
the evils of capitalism is often
-eaustic. Her concern for the ex-
ploitation of colonial peoples is
sharply spoken. But when it
comes down to concrete cases,
when it is a question of what
action the people shall take in the
face of attack, Mrs. Steeves lines
up with the fright against the
left, the consistent position of the
Third Force.

For the Third Force as an in-
dependent grouping is a myth.
Posing as the sworn foes of com-
-munism and_ capitalism alike,
falsely claiming a middle, “pure”
Socialist position, they are above
all concerned with preventing
that unity upon which victory of —
the peoples’ forces and defeat for

imperialism depends.
e
"THIS truth is nowhere more
clearly demonstrated than in
France. “The socialists,” said
Mrs. Steeves, commenting on the
last elections, “are between the
devil and the deep blue sea —
damned if they go right, damned
if they go left. Their only: hope
appears to be to pursue the
straight socialist path, difficult as
it may appear.”

But the print was not yet dry

on the CCF News before Blum,

right on the heels of his proclam-

ation of the Third Force; was.
pledging support along with De°

Gaulle of a government commit-
_ ted to strike-breaking and wage-
slashing. It was a short step to
collaboration with the De Gaullist
councillors in municipal bodies to
prevent the election of commun-
ist mayors. Every month has seen
the forming of closer ties as Blum
has emerged more and more the
chief salesman of American im-
‘periatiam in France. 5

‘ Thus has the Third Force dem-

onstrated its proud independence,
its socialist purity, its middle
ages :

_ Anti-communism, anti - Soviet-
ism, is the stock-in-trade of the

“Third Force, and so it is with

Mrs. Steeves. She enters heartily .

into the whole new language of
‘distortion invented by capitalist
hacks. The term, democratic sa-

cialism, is used to pin a Soca int
label on the actions of the Bevins,
the Blums, the Schumachers and
-all who carry ‘through American

: foreign” policy. The word demo-

eratic is always deliberately pre-
fixed to socialism, to distinguish

it) from “totalitarian” commun-
: ism, She has borrowed liberally
such expressions as “Russian ex-
= pera seit and has as much
difficulty as ~aed capitalist propa-
°

The myth of the
‘Third Force’

gandist in being pee in her
charges.
e

TTHE crisis in Czechoslovakia

looked like a heaven-sent op-
portunity, however, and she eag-
erly joined in the orgy of abuse.
Identifying herself completely.
with the “Westérn democracy vs.
Communist Totalitarianism” line
of reasoning Dorothy Steeves
used words which could have been
lifted out of the Hearst press:
“It is impossible to find an excuse
for this communist coup, al-
though Soviet-controlled » publi-
city tells the usual tale of treas-
onable plots ... To those thous-
ands in the western world who
still believed that some way
could be found for East-West un-
derstanding, the news from
Czechoslovakia is a symbol of
dying hope.”

In this as in succeeding issues,
she deliberately concealed the
fact that Czechoslovakia is gov-
erned-by a five-party coalition of
which the socialists form a part,
and that the so-called “coup” was
a mighty people’s triumph over
plans engineered from outside to
wreck their reconstruction pro-
gram. :

Instead she joins in the US- .
inspired hue and cry for a west-
ern alliance: “The ‘Czechoslovak- __

ian affair has spurred the drive
for a Western European federa-
tion. The smal] nations are run-
ning for cover,” she cries in her
next column and goes on to quote
Clement Attlee’s “excellent speech

in which he stated that commun-

ism ‘could be challenged only by
a ‘Third Force’ in Europe under
democratic socialist leadership.”

e
AS§ might be
gat minority group of socialists
who broke from the Nenni social-

ists for their support of the
people’s front in the recent Ital-

expected, Mrs.

ian elections. “The most signifi- -

cant result of the Italian election
so,far has been that the Nenni
Socialist party which
seven percent of the total vote is
beginning to realize that the al-
liance with the communists has
got them nowhere,” was Mrs.
Steeves’ comment.

It was nothing to her that eight
million people had braved the
threat of starvation. and _ hell-fire
and war to unite and vote against
de Gasperi, tool of U-S. imperial-
ism. Mus. Steeves’ support of the
Third Force could only lead her
to rejoice in the people's defeat.

She bitterly denounces the s0-
cialist parties of Eastern Europe
that have broken sharply with
their old traditions and entered
into unity pacts with the commun-
iste movements. The logic of her
position is that she can find no
satisfaction in their giant strides

toward socialist construction, in

thé fact that they have left econ-
omic crises behind forever, while
the “third force’ countries where

the working class is divided are

tied to the American Colossus as
it descends into the worst depres-
sion in history. ;

She casts here eyes back long-
ingly, hoping for the eventual
salvation of the .Polish Socialist
Party: “It is a hopeful sign that

Steeves cheered for the Sara-—

got only.

the Polish socialists still keep
constant contact with their west-
ern counterparts in the interna-
tional socialist @conferences.”

But she fears for the future of
her friends in Austria. “How long,”
she asks, will the Austrian Social-
Democrats hold out after the oc-
cupation troops leave?” Oh, sad
little island of Third Force social
democracy, existing only by the
grace of the American armed
forces!

It isa shameful thing that Mrs.
Steeves’ obsession with the Third

‘Force leads her into apologetic

defence of Britain's position on
Palestine. Of course, she is criti-
cal: “It is difficult for many so-’
cialists to square the friendly
feeling for British labor with its
apparent determination to con-

‘tinue to be a power in the Middle

East.” But in extenuation she
says, “The sympathy of the labor
government and particularly of
Mr. Bevin for the cause of the
Jews has been alienated.

i)

How has sympathy for the Jew-
ish cause n alienated? Is this
not a careful, back-door way of
saying, “The Jews are to blame!”

much in the tone of an editorial

“Tt was

By LESLIEEMORRIS

At 10 o’clock on the morning of
February 29 Christos Politis,

Greek anti-fascist, wrote a secret
letter in his prison cell. For four
years he had awaited death or
liberation. Death was his fate, at
the hands of a Greek soldier in
British battle dress, firing a rifle
made perhaps ‘in Canada, which
sent an American bullet erecting
into Christos’ heart.

The letter was written to his
wife, Georgia. Here it is, Can-
adians:

“My beloved wife:

“Georgia, I felt your many and
bitter pains ... Our dream has
remainéd a dream, that which we
promised each other many times
--that we would lead a happy life

together as soon as this situation |
ended, that we gochey educate our .

children,

“put I have a strong faith; and
I leave you certain that you will
realize my hope and ca giig st our

children,

“As for me, you sate feel
proud that I will fall from Greek
and American bullets for your

liberty. My Georgia, you must be_

proud of your husband.

“I leave you only one instruc-
tion from this my last letter.
Since I leave you with three chil-
dren and you are tired and worn
from the hard years of slavery we
have gone through, you must mar-

-ry an honest man, a real people’s

fighter who will love the children
and you, my Georgia.

‘

which appeared in the CCF News
a few months ago?

])OROTHY STEEVES

newly-elected president of
the CCF (B.C.-Yukon Section).
Continuous opposition to a united
labor movement

is the

which Mrs. Steeves is a part, is
the maih obstacle to the election
of a CCF government.

Daily experience proves, how-
ever, that the desire for united
action among the great body of
CCF supporters is deep and
strong. That Mrs. Steeves has felt
this presmune is padice tay in her

in the right-/
wing leadership of the CCF, of

By MINERVA MILLER

address as retiring vice-president.

Coming from her, this is a signi-
ficant statement: “The attack on
the CCF cannot be met by joining
in the hue and cry against com-
munism.”

It is part of the struggle for
a united labor movement to battle

the illusions and to combat the
divisive influence of the CCF
right wing leadership. An effec-
tive fight for the election of a
CCF government can set in mo-
tion a mighty, dynamic people’s
movement before which oppon-
ents of unity will be compelled to
yield or be exposed as enemies of
progress.

written for you

*“] finish. I cannot write you
anything more. I kiss you with a
thousand kisses .

Christos, named for the martyr-
ed Christ, facing his supreme test
with dignity and filled with’ love
for his family, smuggled his
beautiful letter out of prison. His
wife received it after his death.
It found its way to London, to be
given to the world ... and to us,
Canadians. ;

What shall we say, what shall

we do?

He did not write only to Geor-
gia and the children. He wrote to

you, to me, to the world’s people. —

He is here thanking the Toronto
automobile union workers who
“condemned __ the slaughter of
Greek democrats by Western
guns, greeting the coal miners of
Bellevue and Coleman in the

_ Crow’s Nest Pass who called on

Mackenzie King to cleanse the
name of Canada of the crimes of
Greece.

- * '

The weapons nae liberty are ae-
nied to the citizens of the new-
-born state of Israel. They are
given, gratis, to the executioners
of Christos Politis. That is the

Policy of the government of Mac-_

kenzie King, Canadians.

Go back again to his letter.,

Read it, and read it again. Do you

have a family? Then read it to-

them. Let the children read it.
Let your neighbors, your col-
leagues in the shop and mill.
know of Christos Politis’ last test-
ament to liberty.

PACIFIC ‘TRIBUNE—JUNE 4, 1948—PAGE 4

Regard his concern for his
family, dwelling in the Greek
mountains and torn with fear for
his safety. Remark upon the ten-
der intermingling of family and
country, upon his longing for fu-
ture peace and the education of

age of the ‘humble man,

And having considered, act!
‘Do not sdy, “What can I do?”
Say, “What must I do?: What
must I do about Greece, about
Israel, about China? What must —
I do about Canada?” j

What we must do is as plain
to see as his duty was to Christos
Politis. The anti-fascists, the
democrats, the fighters for peace, —
must awaken and unite and stop —
the hands of the warmongers. :

The Canadian — government ist
on the side of the murderers of —
Christos Politis. It is on the side —
of Chiang. It is on the side of the
embargo which denies arms to
the Haganah, Its ‘policy is war—

war against men like Politis and
women like Georgia. War —

against you and your family, and

your class; against liberty Beis
apeinst socialism,

But government policies can be
changed, as can governments. —
They can be changed if you speak
out, stand up, fight for peace and —
put an end forever to the shed-
ding of patriots’ blood. :

Read Christos’ letter, emnin and
again. It was written for you.