Labor leads fight
| for civil rights |

By WILLIAM BEECHING

go Position to the War Measures ‘Act has been dramatically swift,
ff) Ure—and wide ranging. The trade union movement—notably the
Hi aNcouver and other labor councils—the students (so much so that
| "°Y were warned by the police), intellectuals and others, quickly
ft Nounted protests, resolutions, meetings and demonstrations. Organ-
. a actions in defense of civil liberties are taking place. Ad hoc
f mmittees are being formed. 3
inenese first responses attest to the growing p :
of ay of the Canadian people who comprehend the threat to the rights
Cj Pe Working people inherent in the government’s actions. Indeed their
afl Sponse reflects the growing social advances made by working
i People around the world, and their refusal to give in to the official
i Propaganda designed to whip them into submission.
) The ever-increasing scale and sharpness of class battles are an
“Mportant feature of the present situation in Canada. :
if It is no accident that Quebec is the arena in which the big police
D army operation has taken place. It is there where all of the
i a blems of the working people are the most sharply expressed. It
there where the struggle of the French-Canadian masses for self-

i!) determination has reached new heights, adding a new ingredient to

pi the class struggle of all Canadian working people. /
That is why the Establishment is deliberately whipping up Anglo-
4 @X0On chauvinism against French Canada in its attempts to keep i
( © Canadian working class divided. :

Hf bi cial propaganda tries to make it appear that the action is only

hf timed at the FLQ in Quebec. Nothing could be further from the

truth. The WMR and the proposed substitute legislation are aimed

i against the entire Canadian working class.
of) upucha situation demands that the working people of Canada be
ited in the struggle for the national rights of French Canada, and

‘ ot @ program of social and economic reform to provide jobs, homes,

ie recreation facilities and hospitals. ; L

fh € capitalist media itself has been unable to conceal its unease 9 '
’

i that civil liberties are under direct assault.
- @ :See LABOR, pg. 6

IGILANCE IS

THE PRICE OF LIBERTY

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCROBER 30, 1970—PAGE 5’

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