Loesleolll J STANLEY B. RYERSON Catholic workers draw their own conclusions T THEIR recent 30th conven- fion the delegate of the Can- adian Catholic Confederation of Labor adopted a Declaration of Principles. ‘The Declaration reg- isters opposition to “the eco- nomic system at present prevail- ing in our country, which has the effect of depreciating human and spiritual values. Under this sys- tem the pursuit of individual in- terests is supposed automatically to produce the general good. What actually results is contempt for human dignity, for the legiti- mate aspirations of the human person and for the general good.” And further: “To often are the economic conditions in wnicn the working- class family lives an obstacle to the technical, economic, social and political development of the workers, as well as to their parti- cipation in the cultural life of . the country.” The conclusion that the auth- ors of the Declaration draw from the foregoing are: class collab- oration, “social corporatism,” and “repudiation of liberal capitalism as well as of all forms of Marx- ism.” These are not necessarily the . conclusions that are drawn by the rank-and-file Catholic worker, The “corporate integration” of worker and boss can hardly ap- peal to the workers of Asbestos after the experience of the great strike. Nor to the textile’ worker, pressed by speedup and short- time and increasingly aware of the profiteering rapacity of the company. >» } Between the wishful thinking of the clerical leadership and the radicalization of the worker mem- bership there exists a profound divergence. : The crisis of capitalism as a system provokes a crisis in the consciousness of its victims. Hence the gangster-frenzy of Duplessis, calling for the use of violence against. militant union organizers in the lumber maps. What must be the effect of this open incitement to violence, this laying bare of the real nature of the set-up as one of robbery rest- ing on force? Whatever degree of success in- timidation may bring momentar- ily, the gangster-bully is exposing himself, exposing the lies and hy- poerisy on which his gang-rule depends. And thereby is being ex- posed and weakened the phoney “third force” pretense of opposing both Marxism and capitalism. . The conditions for the rise and advance of the independent move- ment of workers’ struggle in Catholic Quebec are ripening fast, as in the rest of Canada. The people’s thinking about the profit-system evoked by the price- rent-wage squeeze of the trusts is going -to collide with another train of thought: that evoked by the new moves in preparation for conscription, The impact of the war economy on the “longing for peace” of which the Pope spoke some months ago (“an arms race which spreads fear and in- certitude in every heart’) is, when taken in conjunction with the profit-offensive of big busi- ness all along the line, potential social dynamite. ; There is nothing here that is reassuring for the overlords of capital. : But there is plenty that must needle the fighters for peace, de- mocracy and socialism to bolder effort and initiative to widen the area of joint discussion and ac-. tion with Catholic workers, and to multiply the messages of truth. The beginning cannot be gran- diose. or general: it has to be simple, practical, concrete. It is the joining hands with a work- mate or a neighbor, the here and now of today’s issues. But the path of joint action will lead us to a People’s Canada of well- being, dignity and peace. CT ee TT TT TT = |we NEED ; MACHINERY, 2 | I mK 2 ee LETTER FROM WASHINGTON U.S. peace movement makes — October ‘Cease Fire Month‘ WASHINGTON ASHINGTON’S’ feverish pre- parations for new war alli- ances—the San Francisco Japan- ese treaty conference and =the Ottawa meeting for rearming the Nazis are meeting the opposition sentiment United States. Since mid-August, the American reports, peace actions have been on the of a rising peace throughout the Peace Crusade (APC) upswing. The continual absence of a cease-fire in Korea, and the fur- therance of the idea that peace can only be obtained by military might and alliances, has caused grave concern among the Ameri- can people. The APC. has set the month of October 7 to Armistice Day, No- vember 11, as Cease-Fire Month and has called upon all peace NN \ groups, churches, women’s org- anizations, labor groups, youth and others to make their cease- fire sentiment known +o the presi- dent and Congress. Here are some examples of re- cent peace activities: : Baltimore, Md. The Maryland Committee for Peace recently is- sued a one-page Peace Pact Bul- letin. The bulletin answers such questions as: What Will War Mean to Us?—-Do War Prepara- tion Bring Peace? The commit- _.tee also reprinted and distributed 500 reprints of a letter signed by 54 Negro soldiers which origin-. ally appeared in the Pittsburgh ‘Courier on July 14. Durham, N.C. A campaign against the indictment of Dr. W. E. B. DuBois, outstanding Negro and Honorary Co-Chair- man of the APC, and his co-de- fendants, was launched on Sep- tember 2 by the People’s Peace and Good Will Council, at an in- terracial picnic. Toms River, N.J. Women for Peace held a public meeting at Asbury Park, N.J., at which Mrs. ‘Elizabeth Moos, educator and a co-defendant in the Peace Infor- mation Centre indictment, spoke. Women for Peace has grown to four chapters in two counties. Madison, Wis. The Madison APC has just issued and distributed at shop gates and public squares a seven-page mimeographed bro- chure called “People Want Peace,” on the cover of which is a letter from the mother of an Air Force. 1 soldier. — San Francisco, Cal. Several Cow Creek young people sent a tele- gram to President Truman which reads: “We are hungry. Prices too high. Stop the war now. Remember Hitler. Don’t be like him. Save democracy. Repeal the Smith Act. We want our free- doms guaranteed under the Bill of Rights.” Chicago, Hl. Fifty thousand postcards, calling on President Truman to propose an immediate cease-fire, have recently been dis- tributed and sent. , -Miami, Fla...Southern .Women. for Peace, a new organization, has just been formed. Seattle, Wash. A State of Wash- ington Peace Committee has just been organized. Another peace is. composed group solely -of _ Mothers of Sons in Korea. * LETTER FROM MOSCOW ~ New buildingsfeverywhere give Moscow ‘boom town’ appearance MOSCOW ., ELL here we are in Mos- cow. I had been prepared to see a great city, but this is _beyond anything I had imagin- ed. The streets are wide and clean and the architecture is wery beautiful. If anyone would ask me , what my first impression is of Moscow after five days I would say that, it reminded me of what we would term a boom, town. There is building going on in all parts of the city wherever you look. ~ People are hustling and bustling. Truck -. load after truck load of build- ing material wherever you look and this is going on well into the night. People are working on building by elec-) tric light. eh, ; It is apparent there is a great shortage of labor. While sitting in the palace of labor looking out one window you. can see five large apartment buildings going up. The same- sight can be duplicated almost. everywhere you look. bey i Yet in another sense it gives you a different feeling from 4 boom town as we know it. Because you immediately sense the restraint and dignity of the — traditions of an older ‘society, fused with the new. You sense this in a hundred ways, in the: “old buildings, the customs that still. cling on. In ‘the opera © which they love and of course in the ballet which is so much part of their whole life. . > Pd ae a f “When we arrived here, ev- eryone on the delegation re- marked what warmth there was in greeting us. We were pleasantly surprised at > the... number of people. who. can speak English. They /are very eager to know what Canadians ‘think of them and do their best to show their desire for friendship. : : They take great pride in their city, and one of the first places they took us was to the Construction Exhibition, which is an exhibition of the techni- cal development in the build- — ing industry on a detailed plan for the reconstruction of Mos- : cow covering a period of 253 years. ‘ They can show you exactly the number of buildings that have been completed, the num- ber that will be completed thig year’ and provided they get the opportunity, what will. be, completed each year to 20 years. It is ‘a ‘wonderful ex- hibition and particularly °im- . pressive when you can go out in’ the city and see the very plan being put into effect. — We were also very impress- ed at the technical advances made in the building industry. _ They are ahead of us in many fields, and behind us in others. © But at the rate they are going” it will not be long before they surpass us altogether. There is evidence all over that the uppermost thought in their minds is the hope for world peace so that they can continue with their construc- tion. This is evidenced by - slogans in almost every plant and public place. A great’many wear peace dove pins, you can “see them on the streets and in the subway. Whenever you speak to anyone, whether an official or an ordinary worker, it is not long before they ex- press the desire that peace will be maintained. Be BY DEWAR FERGUSON