| Douglas then | -and now By LESLIE MORRIS me On Oct. 22, the same day President Kennedy made his Warlike speech, the voters of Burnaby-Coquitlam elected 1b - Douglas to Parliament. That same evening the New Democratic Party leader, resh from his electoral victory, said: ‘‘... we have only the statements of the Americans to support this allegation (that Cuba possesses mis- siles), adding that “it shouldn’t be forgot- ten that for the past 15 years the Western powers have been ringing Soviet Russia with nuclear bases and with airports from which the Strategic Air Command could bomb any part of the Soviet Union.” — (Meanwhile, the NDP parliamentary group in Ottawa was all at sea, and it re- a. mained for the Conservative MP, Terence iN gent, to denounce the American action and to defend Cuba’s right to self-defence.) * * * A few days later, at the B.C. convention of the NDP, Mr. Douglas said, ‘‘We should keep our heads cool and exercise Mature judgement at this time. Some people talk of going to War as if they are going to a picnic.” _ We should “look at both sides of a question; we should tall for the dismantling of missile bases in Cuba, yes, but WE hould also demand that they be dismantled in Turkey, in Pakistan and every other place where they exist.” aS * * Now for Mr. Douglas in Ottawa, the by-election safely ast, in a “general statement on the Cuban crisis” written on Noy. 6: Now it is “the Soviet Union and Castro (who) deliber- itely set out to provoke the United States and the Western * * * What is Mr. Douglas’ complaint now? President Ken- Nedy had the duty of “prior consultation with friends at least, and indeed, with the United Nations as a whole”. Then the Punch line: .“This, and this alone, was the basis of our criti- Cism.”” All that worries Mr. Douglas is that Mr. Kennedy should be told that prior to an American “‘strike first” thermonuclear War he should first call up his friends. Then everything Would be fine. : Of coure, Mr. Douglas offers no explanation for an obvi- Us dilemma: the very esSence of the unilateral American ac- On he complains about is that it should really be unilateral 8nd without consultation. If you consult, you are not uni- ‘“ateral. Mr. Kennedy’s coup de force on Oct. 22 was deliber- ately delivered as a purely U.S. action and any consultation, With its possible delay and disunity, was ruled out before- hand, Or, of course, Mr. Kennedy might be so sure of his allies at he believes they will back him up in any case, consul- tion or no consultation. ; What else would he think when one finds the following Ntencesin Mr. Douglas’ Nov. 6 statement? “No one doubts that the United States is the leader of the Western Alliance because of its” powerful position. In the €e World’s struggle against communism, the United States and Canada must necessarily stand side by side, together with all our other allies.” And further: “I am convinced, and so are all of us in the NDP, that at the same time the West keeps strong Militarily and united politically in ordet to meet the threat °f communist expansion, it must also act in such a way as to Strengthen international organizations and as to win the con- dence, sympathy and support of the uncommitted parts of © world.” ‘ae further: “there is little doubt that if the United = €s were not as strong as it is, many countries in the world '8ht by now have been over-run by communism.” z *e Lo * It Re Douglas speaks, he says, for ‘‘all of us in the NDP”. at is so, let NDP’ers ask themselves these questions: Is there anything like this in the NDP program adopted a t the founding convention? Nownele Sam with the founding convention's decision about ~~RAD and NATO? s —Do NDP’ersthink that people move to socialism and Mmunism in Cuba or anywhere else, because of “Soviet” : Pansion? ’ care Mr. Douglas, or the NDP, heard of the invasion of threat n April, 1961, and do they know that it was the Abe Five Ss of further invasion which caused the Soviet Union to de that kind of military aid to Cuba which modern warfare “mands? —Is it not obvious that the second invasion would have - full-scale, and that you can’t fight the American army, _-*Y and air force with peashooters? S ay has Mr. Douglas forgotten Turkey, Pakistan, ard Oil and United Fruit Company, not to speak of Suantanamo? bee Not install nuclear weapons in Canada to “keep the West € militarily” and to enable us better to “stand side by Cae es i a1 ee the USA “to meet the threat of communist ex- Bon? 3 Think it over, brothers and sisters of the NDP. ~ Hemisphere by the installation of nuclear bases in Gubas = —How can they square Tommy Douglas’ blank cheque - Wh ~Finally, if Mr. Douglas is right about the United States,. — CIRCULATION ROUNDUP: Only a short time left to reach annual objective By HAROLD PRITCHETT With just 24 days left in 1962 (as this is written), press clubs who have not yet com- pleted their annual quotas should be taking special steps to pick up all November and December renewals and tak- ing advantage of our Special Christmas Offer to win new readers. Although the contest re- sults for the two outstanding clubs and the ten best circu- lation builders have yet to be f announced, it # wouldn't hurt : to mention at f least some of the 15 clubs who have gone over the top in our fall drive. In the city, the Vancouver East club picked up (or sold) 102 subs on a quota of 90; North Shore raised 82 on 75; North Burnaby 61 on 50; and . Edmonds 39 on 30. Provincially, South Surrey did an outstanding job, hit- Best Wishes to all our Friends on the Island PT. ALBERNI CLUB Communist Party of Canada < tage of every minute during the festive season to do so, and get this out of the way before tackling the job of press building for 1963. I’m sure I speak for the entire staff of the PT when I wish you one and all the heartiest Season’s Greetings and a Happy and Peaceful New Year. ting a total of 28 subs on a quota of 15; Surrey had 79 on 70; and New Westminster 52 on 50. 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