4 for ~ French labor links drive . for living standards to united stand against war PARIS Unity of all French workers in the fight to increase Wages, raise living standards and prevent a third world war was the keynote of the convention of the General Fed- €ration of Labor (CGT) in its five-day sessions here this month. Every convention spea- ker and every resolution stressed the and the danger of war, emphasiz- ing the degree to which the war economy foisted on the people by a government acting under U.S. compulsion is lowering French liv- ing standards. Delegates especially condemned the French tax system, which loads: every new military expenditure on Consumers by raising ,excise taxes. Every cut housing funds, every refusal to in- crease social security benefits, dele- : Sates said, has been blamed by the S0vernment on the need for higher arms outlays. Facing frankly the problem of War, to which French labor has been traditionally opposed, the con- vention called on French workers to popularize the growing demand that a lasting peace pact be signed among the world’s five powers — the U.S., USSR, Britain, France and China. It decared that today in reconstruction and} intimate connection between these economic gaals the-danger of war lies in the French government’s acceptance of a rearmament program under U.S. leadership directed against the USSR. Delegates unanimously rose and cheered when CGT general secretary Benoit Frachon declar- ed “The French workers. will never take part in a war against the Soviet Union.” The importance of French labors’ activity to prevent the outbreak of a third world war was summed up in these concluding remarks of general secretary Alain LeLeap’s report to. the General Confedera- tion of Labor (CGT) convention here: “|... It seems clear that a third world war, a war of aggression against the USSR, cannot be launched if western Europe cannot Demo-Christians’ vote slumps Tr Italian elections By JOSEPH STAROBIN GENEVA ‘The outstanding fact about the first round of the Italian Mugicipal elections is bound to be the strength and consoli- dation of the left bloc—the united front of the Communists and Soéialists. For three years since the April, 1948 Federal elections, we have been told that “communism” is Cracking in Italy. Only last March, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Honer . Byington, triumphantly an- nounced an alleged decline in Ital- lan Communist membership. For three years we have been told that the billion and a third U.S. dollars sunk into the stagnat- ing quagmire of Italy’s economy Would justify itself by leading the Italian people away from com- munism. Late last winter, a ter- ‘fic fanfare wag made over a sup- Posed split among the Commun- ists — the miserable affair of Mag- Nani and Cucchi. And much pub- licity was given to the ouster of the young Matteoti from the Ital- lan Socialist party. ‘But by the end of last week — after deceptive headlines in the Tst days — relatively objective Commentators in Rome, Paris and eon are admitting: that the talian Left not only gained votes, Ut clearly consolidated itself. It’s an SO crystal clear that one solid rd of the Italian people — the Productive, working third of the People — are plainly for commun- Sm, ; The final figures for 27 provin- es which voted on May 27 show P t the Demo-Christians, led by ip iaad Alcide de Gasperi, got B gig Percent of the vote, with 7,178,360 ballots. By contrast, the ovtlian Communist party, on its Wn line, got 21.9 percent of the » OF 1,855,323 ballots, and its lea? the Italian Socialist party au by Pietro Nenni, got 13.4 per- nt of the vote, or 1,131,871. The © working class parties there- = © got a solid third put togeth- . ! De Gasperi’s group just squeez- mee With a bare majority in Sici- lag, ting for the 97-seat assembly Bot pate The Demo-Christians. ae $8,012 votes and the Com-. (De Cae Socialist bloc got 644,652. Dositi 8speri will face an impossible lition in forming a majority coa- big loser was the Demo- erned in the federal legislature for three years. The comparative figures are available at this mom- ent only for the provincial capitals, not the entire provinces. But they show that the Demo-Christians which had 43.3 percent in these cap- itals in 1948 went down to 36.5 per- cent on May 27. By contrast, the Socialist - Com- munist united front in these same capitals rose from 34.6 in April, 1948 to 87.4 percent. These percent- ages have to be revised to take the smaller and rural municipaltiies into account. As the Paris daily Le Monde says correctly, the Left gairied in the big cities and lost somewhat in the countryside while the reverse was true of their main opponent, the Demo-Christians. , How then, did de Gasperi’s. party win so many municipalities away from the Communist-So- cialist united front. This was due to the new system of “allied lists.” Although the voters cast their ballot for one party, the alliance between that party and others — if this alliance got a relative majority — enabled thé alliance to share two-thirds of the seats. If not for this election trickery —a similar system is now produc- ing universal disgust in France as its own June 17 election approaches —the Left would not have lost key cities such as Genoa, Venice, Forli, Ravenna and Verona. However, the Left retained equally vital centres like Bologna, Mantua, Pisa, ‘and Savona. Out of 831 seats in the municipal councils, which elect the mayors, the Demo-Christians now have 388; the Left united front has 290, the Social-Democrats and small parties have the rest, with the neo-fascists ining only 17. She chief western European ‘papers have noted the pyrrhic character of the victory for the Right. The London Times, for ex- ample, on May 30, speaks of the “size of the vote for the Com- munist group” as the ‘disquieting factor” in the elections. eS he Tistians, whose majority has gov- serve as a base of attack. In west- ern Europe two countries can play a decisive role—western Germany and’ France. “And it would be difficult to use western Germany if, behind. her, France would not offer suf- ficient guarantees in the eyes of the U.S. By its geographic posi- tion France is called upon for the main task in Europe. That is what places upon us our heavy responsibility. “The war being prepared is a class war and it cannot be other- wise; it is capitalist class against working class. That -shows you why the eyes of the workers of the whole world are today turned to- ward France and why they expect a great ‘effort to safeguard peace from the French workers. We must accomplish it without faltering if we would remain faithful to the principles of international workers’ sdlidarity.” ‘ How representative the CGT at- titude is among French workers could be seen from figures in con- vention reports indicating CGT strength in comparison to other labor organizations. During the past two years the CGT has won 70 percent of all votes cast in an- nual representation elections - in mines, factories and shops. The 2,200 delegates at the 1951 conven- tion represented 3,600,000 members who had already taken out union ecards for the current year. Franchon said the CGT enrolled 80 percent of all union members in France. He placed at “less than 200,000” the membership of Force Ouvriere, a rightwing splitoff from | the CGT which. is aided financially by British and U.S. unions. The Catholic CFTC has a membership slightly bigger than that of FO, Frachan said, adding: “We have people of all political and religious affiliations within our organization — Communists, Socialists, Catholics and indepen- dents. We have more Catholic members than the CKTC. We have more _ Socialist” members than the FO, which is directed by Socialists.” . To emphasize his statement, a former FO regional secretary from Vaucluse (southern France) and a working priest recently elected sec- retary of the Paris metalworkers greeted Frachan on the platform in a typical French embrace, while delegates appauded and chanted, “Unity, unity, unity!” The convention vigorously ap- plauded visiting fraternal delegates from Viet Nam, Britain and the U.S., particularly when they declar- ed that the workers abroad were not in favor of war. The conven- tion was informed that a number of fraternal delegates were prev- ented from attending by action of the French government in refusing them visas. New Zealand dockers get world-wide aid AUCKLAND The New Zealand’ government has withdrawn its troops from the strikebound Auckland docks and turned over scabbing operations to the new Cargo Workers Union, which it created in an attempt to break the 4month strike of the Waterside -Workers Union. The striking dock workers, whose walk- out has won worldwide support of maritime unions, are seeking a pay increase. : In: retaliation, the government has taken away the union’s fran- chise and frozen its funds. Police were instructed to arrest anyone soliciting money for the. union. Foreign unions have been raising money to lend to the beleaguered dock workers: government. HISTORIC AGREEMENT “This unity is a fraternal unity, and not that of one party oppressing another,” declared Mao Tse-tung (second from right) at celebrations held to mark signing of the agreement between the Chinese People’s central government and the Tibetan local SIGNED. PEKING The’ culmination} of month-long talks between leaders of the Chin- ese .People’s government and a delegation representing the local government of Tibet, an historic agreement for the unification of Tibet within the People’s Republic of China was signed here on May 23. = Official ceremonies in the former imperial palace were attended by Chairman Mao Tse-tung of the Chinese People’s} central govern- ment, Vice-Chairmen Chu Teh and Li Chi-shen and other leading of- ficials of the central government, and by Panchen Ngoerhtehni and a Tibetan delegation holding full powers from the local government. “For several hundred years the various nationalities in China were not united,” declared Mao Tse-tung at the reception held to celebrate signing of the agreement. “In par- ticular, there was disunity between the Han people and the Tibetan people. There was also disunity among the Tibetan people. This ‘was the result of the rule of the reactionary Manchu government and Chiang Kai-shek’s govern- ment, as well as the result of im- perialist provocation and sowing of dissension. “Now the forces led by the Dalai Lama and the forces led by Panch- en Ngoerhtehni have united| to- gether with the central people’s government. This has been achiev- ed only after the Chinese people overthrew imperialism and domes- tic reactionary rule. “This unity is a fraternal unity, and not that of one party op- pressing another. “This unity is the outcome of concerted efforts by all quarters. Henceforth, bas- ed on this unity, all our nationali- ties will grow and progress in all spheres, in every political econ- omic and cultural sphere.” Panchen Ngoerhtehni declared that “the peaceful liberation of Tibet is a most joyous event in the big family of all nationalities in China,” and Kaloon Ngabou Nga- wang, member of the delegation, denouncing the rumors spread by imperialists and the Kuomintang Pact proclaims unity of People’s China, Tibet las “absolutely the contrary to | facts,” stated: “Today our peaceful talks have been completely successful. The unity of all fraternal nationalities. in China is unprecedented and the unity of Tibet itself is also un- precedented.” Under the terms of the agree- ment the Tibetan government will exercise regional autonomy under the central people’s gov- ernment, the existing politicar system will not be altered andi “the established status, function. and powers” of the Dalai Lama. and Panchen Ngoerhtehni will be maintained. The agreement also undertakes to respect the “religious _ beliefs, customs and habits of the Tibetan people” and to protect the Lama monasteries. The Chinese People’s central gevernment will handle all external | affairs and Tibetan troops are to be ;incorporated into the defense forces of the Chinese People’s Re- public. The agreement provides for car- rying out of reforms, with the stip- ulation that “there will be no com- pulsion on the part of the central authorities” and that the Tibetan government will “carry out reforms of its own accord, and when the people raise demands for reform they shall be settled by means of consultation with: the leading per- sonnel of Tibet.” Other clauses of the agreement covér trade, agriculture, education and military and civil administra- tion. : co > _PENDER AUDITORIUM (Marine Workers) 338 West Pender LARGE & SMALL HALLS FOR RENTALS Phone PA. 9481 _—s PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JUNE 15, 1951 -— PAGE 3