Young NDP leader says:

We have to come to grips
with the realities of our time

'aTHIS IS a testing time for
Democratic Socialism in
this country ahd because

this country has the only func-

tioning Democratic Socialist

- movement on this continent, it

is a testing time for the conti-

nent as well. And that challenge
and our responses will represent

a major shift in emphasis for

our party.

If we are to meet head-on
with the attack from the Right,
if we are to meet head-on with
the insiduous penetration of
odious values and trends, in this
society, then I think we have to
analyze, understand and ‘come
to grips with what I want to
suggest are the three underlying
and linked realities of our time
and our society.

First, the technological revolu-
tion. Second, the decreasing de-.
humanization of people, and
third, the profound and continu-
ing corruption of values ...

I simply cannot describe for
you the impact of the computer
revolution, but the important
thing about the computer, and
I think it’s worth emphasizing,
is that it has replaced what
were hitherto totally human
preserves — memory, and judg-
ment. .<

“A new structure

Whe:. ..v’re talking about this
kind of revolution, we're talk-
ing about an incredible pheno-
menon not previously dreamed
of, and I suggest to you that it
means a very wide range of di-
lemmas and difficulties, and the
excitement which accompanies
the sense of discovery must be
tempered by people like our-
selves because of the more ob-
vious realities and stark pos-
sibilities ...

You know, there is the pros-
pect of serious and accelerat-
ing unemployment. Indeed,
there is a prospect of a per-
manent pool of unemployed
people. There is the prospect
that this will happen in the ser-
yice industries, and it will hap-
pen primarily to women, initial-
ly,. who foym such a major part
_of the work force, and that it
will move into the management
positions as well.

Many serious economists are
advancing a proposition of a
guarantee of annual income
completely unrelated to work.
That’s an incredibly revolu-
tionary concept! And _ indeed,
there are many who are saying
that we need a totally new defi-
nition of work, and of money,
and that our traditional defini-
tion will be obsolete within the
next five years, and we had bet-
ter make the adjustments pretty
quickly.

There are going to be prob-
lems of re-training people in

very large numbers. It has been.

. At the Saskatchewan CCF provincial conven-
= tion held in Regina last July, one of the guest speak-
ers was STEPHEN LEWIS of Toronto, 26-year-old
- New Democrat MPP for Scarborough West. His
_ hour-long address, in which he spoke about the chal-
© lenge which Democratic Socialists in Canada face
today, has been the subject of much discussion and
debate among the members of the NDP ever since.

Because we believe it is an important contribu-
__ tion to current thought and opinion among socialist-
& minded Canadians, we are reprinting here excerpts

_ from that speech.

advanced that men may have
to fill, three jobs, in one life-
time, and the implications for
the educational system are ob-
viously staggering) We may
have to overhaul the entire cur-
riculum structure of a society.
That’s a very exciting proposi-
tion but it is also a pretty im-
portant and difficult proposition,
and retraining itself is no easy
matter... <.

Certainly the world of scien-
tific ‘break-through holds an
incredible promise for mankind
but the problems and upheavals
of the period of transition can-
not be underestimated. I would
contend this—that if ever there
was a challenge to our move-
ment, it is now, that if ever our
emphasis on policy formulation
should be applied it is now. If
ever our insistance on econo-
mic planning had validity, it is
now. If ever the rigid structure
of this kind of capitalist society
were likely to have difficulty
adapting it is now.

If ever an emphasis on gov-
ernment involvement and initia-
tive were indispensable, it is
now; and if ever our move-
ment had relevance, a justifica-
tion and a reason for being, it
is now.

Work and leisure

The more one reads and be-
comes involved, the more con-
cern develops. This scientific
revolution, this cybernation, this
automation, call it what you
will, is beginning to introduce
frightening emotional and psy-

chological problems which have
seldom been faced by any

society before. It is not merely
‘the complexity of our society
alone, it’s also the sterility of
the work and the leisure; and
the two interact together. It
may be more true of certain
areas of society than others at
any given moment, but it is
gradually becoming true of soci-
ety as a whole.

This is a society where there
is absolutely no wide-spread
productive use of leisure time;
and where work is increasingly

October 16, 1964—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 8

bereft of content and mean-
ings. : '

We are alienated from work,
and there is no longer any con-
tact with the work process, no
longer any meaningful relation-
ship for the product produced,
no longer any sense to the as-
sembly line eight-hour day.

We talk very frequently about.

the industrial problems of hu-
man beings. I think that we
should begin talking about the
human problems of industry be-
cause the human element at
this stage of our development is
terrifyingly debased.

Corruption of values

We've not only alienated man
from his work, we have manag-
ed in our wisdom and our
sophisticated economic and so-
cial apparatus to alienate man
from his-self. We’ve torn away
his self-respect, his sense of in-
dividual identity, his capacity to
arrive at independent decisions.
We’ve smothered him under a
blanket of mass communica-
tions and public relations.
We've appealed to all the nar-
row parochial envious compe-

titive and brutish instincts, and
in so doing we indulge in an
orgy of dehumanizing people.

All of this means the increas-
ing and continuing corruption
of values throughout North
American Society.

There’s been a spate of books
within the last few years, which
have demonstrated beyond a
shadow of a doubt that indivi-
dual and public taste is con-
cernedly manipulated, that what
we want to see and hear and
purchase, we are conditioned
to see and hear and purchase
and the element of individual
human participation is increas-
ingly absent in our society.

What is interesting, curious
and terribly distressing is that
when you advance certain pro-
positions which challenge the
very fabric of society, you’re

“greeted with a contempuous eye

and an unsympathetic air.

Goldwaterism

And. why? Because the fantas-
tic achievements in science and
technology, the rising producti-
vity, the sweet promise of the
everlasting good life, the relent-
less public relations repetition
of certain phrases and attitudes,
so act upon us that one is sub-
jected to an almost hypnotic ef-
fect.

All these things seem above
challenge. They serve to stifle

social criticism and neutralize |

practically all the antagonistic
elements under the broad um-
brella of the status quo.

That is exactly what is em-
bodied in a Senator Goldwater,
because he too is the ultimate
refinement, where the irrational

becomes enshrined as rational.

and everything that makes no
sense and defies logic becomes

‘common sense, totally accepted

and profoundly logical.

MY DADDY'S LAIDOFF/
WHAT DOES Your DADDY Do?

United Mine Workers Jousnal

STEPHEN LEWIS

One asks, what kind o
society is it, where a man W
gave a signal in 1948
obliterated tens of thousan® 5 ite
people declares that he is
from conscience hereaftet?

5 it
What kind of society § iroyel
where the power that destt? Ms
fascism on the battle field ati
the benefit of nazi-sciem
generals and engineers?

How is it that this sot
consciously experiment wi
horrors of concentration
so that it will have some
vance to the possibility ° of §
terranean human _ reacti0
radio-active fall-out Sate

How do we link growing P f
ductivity to growing
tion?

How do we talk easily
facilely about clean bombs ef 5
limited nuclear war an '
nable fall-out shelters?

The vocabulary, the val |
the attitudes, the entire ™ a
of society, is an unhapP
profoundly distressing Se ,
That’s the logic of the 8;
that can afford to dispense ¥ He
logic, and that’s the sympr
Goldwater represents.

We must not fal

The task before this = ’
ment is massive. It ma 0
have been greater. It © ff
sibly be exciting and ¢ me
but it should be recogniZ”
what it is. It’s overw® fs
We must trumpet our © We
an often. indifferent, wa
hostile, sometimes unb@ ‘
society. We must shift © ot
phasis to the new technol0e. tie
hammer out: radical § 4
for a truly difficult set © ep?
lems. We must harnes$
to the use, not merely
parochial wishes of Nort ani
rica but for all of hum?

We must somehow P? bs "3
means which gives ei 10
and dignity to work, 4

_ sure. We must find 4

which reasserts thi
human qualities of
choice, curiosity and

overwhelm us.

Do you know, back in a
century the British hi ng
Lord Acton, had somet
say about that. He sai «oi |
is another world for thé ages |
tion of guilt, but the x 10"
folly are payable here

That is our challeng®