Lee ema + owes

The fight for

labor unity

Sg merger of the Trades and
Labor Congress and the Can-
adian Congress of Labor has
taken another step forward. The
Unity Committee, meeting last
. week, has come to an agreement
on the name the new congress
is to have and who its officers
will be. Some snags seem to
have been struck in the drafting
of the constitution. What these
are have not been indicated, al-
though I have a strong suspicion
the hold-wp stems from the Unit-
ed States, not here.

In the meantime, the debate
on the merger is opening up
throughout the country. Reac-
tions are mixed.

One statement I came across
was from A. J. McDonell, chair-
man of the B.C. division of the
Canadian Manufacturers Associa-
tion and former Coalition-Conser-
vative member of the B.C. legis-
Jature for Vancouver Centre. He
vharged that the merger would
cause a “loss of liberties” for
Canadians.

It’s not difficult to understand
MecDonell’s reaction. As one of
the spokesmen for big business
_his concern is not that unity will

_ fake away anyone’s liberties, but
that it will enable organized
labor to strengthen its position
on the economic, legislative -and

political fronts and thereby be-
gin to curb the power of mono-
poly.

McDonell is not concerned with
anyone’s liberty except the un-
trammeled liberty of big busi-
ness to amass huge profits at the
expense of the Canadian people.
That is why he and those he
speaks for oppose the merger.
They don’t warit it and will do
everything in their power to un-
dermine the unity of the trade
union movement which now is
on the way to being achieved.

e :

This isn’t the first time that
reactionary big business has put
on the mantle of “defender’ of
the “rights” of the people, nor

will it be the last. This should
fool no one,

The merger, , despite some
weaknesses, constitutes a great

forward step by organized labor.
Insofar as it strengthens the
labor movement it simultaneous-
ly advances the fight for peace,
democracy and independence.

A united trade union move-
ment is definitely in the national
interest. This is why monopoly
will try to prevent it and, failing
that, strive to undermine its
great potential from within the
new congress itself.

By WILLIAM KASHTAN

Red-baiting has been and con-
tinues to be a favorite weapon of
big business to maintain divi-
sions within the trade union
movement and thereby weaken
it. But this is no reason why
leaders of the trade union move-

‘ment should accommodate big

business.

While in Vancouver recently I
came across two speeches, one
by Tom Alsbury, president of
Vancouver Trades and Labor
Council, and another by Max
Swerdlow, director of organiza-
tion and education for the Trades
and Labor Congress of Canada.

* Both seemed to be trying to prove

they were as good red-baiters as
any reactionary employer.

The main tenor of Alsbury’s
yemarks, made to a meeting of
Vancouver Kiwanis Club, was an
attack on a number of unions
which have been expelled from
the CCL and TLC, The main
tenor of Swerdlow’s remarks was
opposition to inclusion of these
unions into the new congress.

I have no doubt that both these
gentlemen are in favor of the
merger ‘but to restrict it on the
basis ‘suggested by them will
not strengthen labor’s ability to
meet the needs of the situation
today or in the immediate future.

One could be kind to these
gentlemen and assume that the
purpose of their red-baiting and
divisive policies is to get the
agreement of big business to the
merger.

But the purpose of the merger
is not to get into the good graces
of monopoly. Its purpose is ito
build up the strength of organ-
ized labor so that it can more
effectively defend and advance
the interests of the workers of
this country in opposition to mon-
opoly and its policies. If this is
not its purpose, then it has no
purpose. 3 ae

There is. a close affinity be-
tween the ‘remarks of McDonell,
Swerdlow and Alsbury. The Can-
udian Manufacturers Association
doesn’t want to see an all-inclu-
sive trade union movement est-
ablished; neither do these two
gentlemen.

Swerdlow and Alsbury would
be serving the real interests of
labor if they abandoned such
McCarthylike tactics and concen-
trated upon building up the all-
inclusive unity the workers want
and need today.

@
Wherever I have been and with

whomever I have discussed the

merger there is widespread be-
lief that it will open up a new
chapter for the labor movement.

True, this is not unmixed with
the fears of some trade unionists
thatthe merger will give greater
control to right wing leaders who
will use their positions against
the ‘best interests of the workers.
It would, of course, be wrong to
assume that the right wing lead-
ers have had a change of heart
and will not try to limit the
great potentialities which the
merger opens up. But whether
they can is an entirely different
matter. —

based on sound and militay

It is one thing for the Alsburys
and Swerdlows tu speak and act
the way they do; it is an entirely
different question whether they
can do what they want to do. —

The conditions which gave rise ;
te the great battles of the
ties ‘when the open shop Was —
smashed are rising again, in
form. Signs of an economle
crisis, mass unemployment,
threats to labor’s living standards
and trade union rights,
danger of a U.S. H-bomb war ate
the ingredients and backgroulm®
around which the merger is sha
ing up. ee

In the thirties the problem we
to smash the open: shop and ©
build the industrial unions #2

the mass production industries-
The problem today is to fur
ther expand the organization of
the unorganised, bring about bY
aemocratic means one union !
avery industry, strengthen labors
Capacity to reverse the trend 0
economic crisis and achieve ful
employment in conditions
peace and trade with the world
and decisively strengthen labors —
independent political activities:

The merger opens the door ae
that direction. It is fitting thet®
fore, on the eve of May Day 1
remind ourselves that the spitlt
of unity and solidarity which per
meated the great struggles
the 8-hour day almost 70 years
ago is rising again. %

tcf-

Unity is becoming an irres
ible force which ,despite the di
visive policies of right wing +¢ d
ers, will prevail And a united
Canadian- trade union move tt

working class policies will
advance the Jabor movem¥
with seven league boots. ;
gressive trade unionists will. play
their role in making that pos
sible. ae

oe

Einstein: scientific giant of o

Y the death of Albert Einstein
_™ the world has dost an intellec-
“tual giant, a fervent lover of

‘peace and of his fellow men, a

‘ champion of human liberty.

He towered above his scientific
+ colleagues like a colossus In his

ALBERT EINSTEIN

eighth decade he defied the dark
forces of McCarthyism with dig-
nity and high courage.

A generation — ago, Bernard

Shaw described him as “one of
the eight universe-builders in
history.” :

. Giant \e science . . . man of peace.

For, like Aristotle,
Copernicus, Pythagoras, Galileo,
Kepler and Newton, his thought
soared to the farthest limits of
time and space, enriching ‘the
sum of human knowledge with
brilliant discoveries and auda-
cious theories.

It was Einstein's mind that con- ©

ceived the equation which ulti-
mately made possible the atom
bomb and the hydrogen bomb.

But. it was Einstein who said
a year ago: “The hydrogen bomb
is the very essence of evil.”

In his last years this man, for
whom honesty and integrity were
as natural as the floppy, infor-
mal clothes he ‘habitually wore,
grew more and more troubled
about the use to which his dis-
coveries had been put.

“Tt was I who pressed the but-
ton,” he would say. Again and
again he warned the atomaniacs
of the U-S., the land of his exile,
that the idea of achieving securi-
ty through armaments was “a
dangerous illusion.”

“Tt is useless,” he told them,
“to attempt to prepare for pro-
tection against atomic war. There

is no defense now and we can»:

expect: none.”
e

In the first decade of the cen-
tury he began to attract atten-

tion by a series of treatises, put--

ting forward his famous theory
of relativity.

Before many years the bold
predictions he made on the basis
of this theory were confirmed.

Thus Einstein held that light

_ was bent by a very strong gravi-

tational field.
During an eclipse of the sun
in 1919 Eddington verified this

prediction and found that light

was bent to the extent which
Einstein had predicted.

Ptolemy, -

Einstein was often asked for
“simple” explanations of this
complex theory. One of his fav-
orite answers to journalists who
pestered him was this:

“When you sit with the girl
you love for two hours you
think it is only a minute, but
when you sit on a red-hot stove
for a minute you think it is
two hours. That is relativity.”

On another occasion, when he
was asked if he believed his
theory correct, he said:
“There is no knowing until I
am dead. If I am right the Ger-
mans will say I am a German
and the French that [ am a Jew.
If I am wrong the French will
say that I am a German and
the Germans that I am aJew.”
Einstein went on elaborating
his theories. Some of the philo-
sophical conclusions he drew
from them were opposed by
Marxists. :

But Marxists all over the world

have always paid tribute to Ein-.

stein the scientist and Einstein
the man. ; :

°

When Hitler came to power
in Germany in 1933 Einstein im-
mediately applied. for informa-
tion on how, to rid himself of
‘German citizenship, declaring
that he did not want to belong
to a country where free expres-
sion of opinion was not allowed.

He was stripped of his acad-
emic posts in Germany, deprived
of his property and his German
citizenship. His books were pub-
licly burned in front of the Ber-
lin State Opera House!

His theories were attacked as
“Jewish science.”

It was after the Second World
War, when preparations for a

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — APRIL 29, 1955 — PAS

ur age

“best to smear him, One

new war were clearly under a ¥

that Einstein—horrified by
use of the atomic weapon Je
out more frequently in his Ba
of humanist and man of pe

The task of scientists, he wi
was “to work for underst aor
and ultimate agreement 2
peoples and nations of di
views.” :

pt

Me

The warmongers and their
Garthyite thought police did

Congressman, John KE. R@
called him an “old faker” &"8
ed in Communist activities:

The Un-American Activitt
Committee branded him as 4 ov
porter of “subversive” oTS4*”
tions, Berio

But Einstein showed nimsel ¢ :
fearless opponent of ‘bo go
coldswar policies and of the
witchhunt. .

He spoke up for clemency so
the Rosenbergs, legally ™, op
ed by the US. government eS
framed-up atom secrets chars

He told the witchhuntets a
he would refuse to testify te
ed ‘before a Congressional et’
mittee, and urged other 12%"
tuals take a similar stand.

* ,
He described as “shameful ie
ousting of leading US. bee
scientist, Dr. J. Robert
heimer. - ne

10

He spoke up for the Nee
victims of color-bar and ee |
ism. He spoke up for the 5 ie
ist alternative to the ec?

nki® f
ag if

red

no}
anarchy of capitalism. ed

The common people bé ‘
and fought for, and to WHOS"
lightenment he devoted his poe
ardent life, will mourn ‘ es
ing of a genius and a iT"