; By STANLEY RYERSON

n answer to slander -

A challenge to warmongers

"THE “American party” and its assorted hangers-on are
on the rampage. “Threat of Red Sabotage—Com-
munist Trojan Horse Goes Underground,” froths the
Montreal Daily Star (November 30). The new Canadian
subsidiary of the FBI, under Esselwein and Commis-
sioner Wood, publishes an
condemnation of the Labor-Progressive party as an in-
strument of «the Kremlin; which is “conveniently” re-
- viewed in the Toronto press just at municipal election-
time (though it had been issued months before).
- Col George Alexander Drew tells the Gananoque
Rotary Club that it is time to outlaw “organizations in
service of a foreign power, Which have -¢-. gus
as their purpose the destruction of
our democratic system.” -
Maclean’s Magazine serves up the
alcoholic regurgitations of a cast off
renegade — to “document” the argu-
ments in favor of anti-Soviet war
abroad and Hitlerite repression at
home: (And, incidentally, to furnish
irrefutable proof of the high moral
plane on which the new “saviors of
Christian ‘civilization” operate.)
‘And this is supposed to slay US.
What it does do, however, is endanger Canada. —
It undermines the foundations of our country’s in-
dependence, saps the resistance to the poison gas at-
tack from across the border, to the fumes of warmonger-
ing and peace-baiting that emanate from the propa-
ganda mills of Wall Strect. — 4
; The fight against this reactionary onslaught is a
patriotic duty. We accept it fully.
To help meet the danger of a
rather, to regain) Canadian independence through popu-
lar action in behalf of peace, our Party has issued the
call for its Fourth National Convention, to be held in
Toronto, January 25-28, 1951. eis
“his call is at once an assertion of faith in the
strength and willingness to struggle of the great masses
of Canadian workers and farmers who want peace, not
the hel of atomic war; and an affirmation of our de-
- termination, as Communists, to exert every ounce of our
strength in defense of Canada, its people and its inde-
pendence—against those who threaten them, from within

and from without. j

So sinister a conspiracy are we, that we have gone
to ‘the length of publishing in elaborate detail (in four
full pages of the Canadian Tribune, in the Pacific
Tribune, and in National Affairs Monthly) our plans,
our proposals and our policies, for all the world to see.
Is there another party in the length and breadth of this
country that initiates a month-long public debate on its
work, its shortcoming, its tasks and responsibilities?’

There is not. ‘
of the working class can dare to take democracy § riously
and pursue it to its logical conclusion: its application
in life. ‘ :

So alarming is this spectacle (for some), of workers
and farmers and professionals, housewives and young
,people from Cape Breton to Vancouver Island, getting
together in their clubs to discuss the Draft Resolution -
of the LPP, that “something must be done about it.
So the Drews and their bought McManuses ‘and Essel-
weins counter with this: the ,000 or so words of the
Draft Resolution of the LPP are all in code. The code-
word “peace” means “war.” ~ The code-words “defend
Canadian independence” mean “betray Canada to Rus-
sia.” The code-words “higher wages” mean “lower
wages.” . shed Cena

‘Mad — quite mad. ¢ poi, ,

Those whom the gods would Ser aed ; 20: athey first
make mad. : :

: ‘To judge by the present fever-pitch of madness, the
timetable looks rather less than favorable for the lunatics
in Washington and Tokyo, and their counterparts in,
’ Canada... . , :

The sane ones are those who
by the relatively simple process of reading relatively _
simple English: and turning plain words into deeds.

In each club and committee of our Party, the ques-
tion will be posed: How well have we worked for peace?
“What must we do to fight better, more broadly and
strongly, for the line of our Party—for unity in action
for peace and independence? :

fhe pre-convention discussion will
eritical, realistic, practical discussion. —

Jt is customary for our adversaries to jeer or be
baffled at Communist self-criticism. It is natural that
they should ,since the very idea of consistently fighting
to match word with deed is utterly alien to them. (What
would happen to the advertising business, for instance?

Or free enterprise itself—!) For those to whom politics
is a game or a racket or a compound of both, it is
incomprehensible that people should take seriously the
problem of word and deed. Wither’ we must be “fan-
atics” or else it’s all a smokescreen, code-words to hide

\

“decode” our resolution

be profoundly

“guthoritative’ and “official”.

fight to uphold PACs) ey

selected as a

PRPC ULC LLC UC SLU UL Ue ta a ea

Coventry has had enough

ov 66 recruits were obtained in Coventry's ©

recent “all-out” civil defense week. The auth-

orities asked for 10,000, but at the end of the

drive the civil defense organization numbered
exactly 698. i

As the city whose name became synonymous
with total war against civilians after it had been
devastated by Hitler’s bombers, Coventry was
“model” for the civil defense cam-
paign. Home Secretary Chuter Ede opened the
drive and a realistic air raid scene was staged
where Nazi bombs fell 10 years ago.

But the citizens of Coventry apparently have *
had enough of war—and who can blame them?

aun niin

conspiracy. This reasoning of theirs betrays them.
Their terrible weakness is countered, on our part,
by a terriffic strength: working class honesty. é :
Hence the frantic refrain about Communist “ies,”
“propaganda,” “you can’t trust. them”—which the right-
wing social democrats are among the most zealous in
ee critical discussions will measure the matching
of word and deed, and seek out and find the ways to
work.
va do we fight for the line of the Party, of the
united front below, for the day-to-day needs and the.
overriding issue of peace? What is to be learned from
our work on the peace petition? On the building of
united organization for peace? On the civic election
front? i ‘
How do we fight for the line of the Party in the
labor movement in support of democracy and self-govern_
ment for Canadian trade union organizations, for unity
and against raiding and wrecking by the company
stooges? How do we work in defense of the economic
and social and cultural needs of the Canadian people?

e i
Our committees and clubs will have before them

. a record of massive, staunch, devoted, often heroic labors,

performed in behalf of Canada and her

And there cannot be for only a party —

people. They
will perceive, at the same time, flaws, lapses, deficiences,
that can and must be remedied. :

There can be no work without organization of work.

The pre-convention discussion will encompass most
fully the state of organization of our work.

How have we progressed . with the “turn” in the
Party, towards heightened militancy, broader mass work,
stronger centralism of will and effort, sharper vigilance?

And, because the source and fountdinhead of these
is mastery of Marxist-Leninist theory, how are we ad-
vancing in this respect? For staunch fighters, a firm
world outlook is a necessity. What of the level and
breadth and maturity of the thinking of our members—
reflected and expressed in activity in behalf of Canada
and peace? /; : :

Writing of the “Source of Communist Courage,”
Jacques Duclos, leader of the great Communist ‘Party

France, had this to say: ©

In no group of peoples does the individual have
greater opportunity to develop his personality than in
the Communist party. For our Party, founded on 2
scientific base, is not a party merely of followers, it is
a party npt of empty, sterile discussions detached from
life and from the tasks of the hour. It is a party whose
doctrine is deepened and enriched in contact with life
and in action. ... A Party which, demands that its
members know how to undertake their responsibilities in
the development and carring out of action, must make
of its members not robots, but men full of initiative,
men conscious of the manysided nature of the struggle,
men who understand that it is better to make mistakes
while doing, than “not to be wrong” while passively
looking on at the unfolding of events.

A sense of responsibility—this is what characterizes
the Communists. This is the primary quality which the

‘Party tries to develop to the maximum among its

members... . :
In making these words our own, we Canadian
Communists affirm in practice our dedication to the
interests of our people and our country—Canada_
In preparing our fourth national convention we shall
throw back in the teeth of the warmongers their con-

scienceless lies about our Party.
*

We shall take up the challenge of the present hour
of crisis and danger, by working stronger than ever
to unite Canadians for peace and national independece. ©

We shall strike a blow for peace—and for Canada.

LABOR FOCUS By J. B. SALSBERG

Peace is labor's
real interest

CHE OFFICIALDOM of Canadian labor has covered

itself with shame during the last two weeks. When

the entire world was stirred to its depths by the threat

of U.S. imperialism to launch atomic war, they remained

silent, Their failure to utter a single word against this

deadly menace to mankind can only mean that they

stand ‘firm by their earlier, unreserved endorsation of
U.S: foreign policy.

The ‘danger which shook the world on November

30 when Truman proclaimed his intention to use the

atom bomb against the people of

China and Korea is still present.

True that the revulsion of the world,

and the special interests of the Brit-

ish, French and Canadian imperial-

ists, caused the governments of these

countries to express certain reserva-

tions towards the Truman-MacArthur
plans for immediate action. (Even
these reservation—as expressed pub-
licly by Attlee and Pearson—found no
echo in the ranks of our top trade
union bureaucrats. They now listen

: only to the U.S. state department.)
The Attlee-Truman conversations have not removed the
danger. Their declarations reaffirm*their former plans to
increase and speedup rearmaments, to prepare for bigger
and more war.

It is now up to the rank-and-file —- the men and
women on the job—of Canadian labor to speak out
forcefully for péace and against the plotters of war on
China. The profound longing for peace, decency and
fairplay towards all peoples which is: shared by all
workers must assert itself and reach overpowering pro-

portions in protest to Ottawa. This must be done now, _

today.
The rank-and-file of Canadian labor can expect no ~
constructive, independent, pro-peace; working-class 2

leadership from the officialdom, whose ears were attun- |

ed‘to the labor attache of the U.S. state department in
Ottawa. Each advanced worker must assume the re-
sponsibility and the inescapable obligation to rally those
with whom he works and to ‘give common expression _
to their resolve for peace. .No thinking worker can ©
escape this obligation. j ;

- Thousands of telegrams signed by tens of thopsands
of workers employed in the forests, mines and industry
should flood the desks of Prime Minister St. Laurent
and local MP’s, demanding the outlawing of the atom

bomb; cease-fire in Korea; withdrawl of all foreign ne

troops; return of Taiwan to China; the seating of the.
People’s Republic of China in the UN; Canada’s recog-
nition of the People’s Republic of China; a negotiated _
settlement of all outstanding differences and the resump-
tion of peaceful trade between Canada and all countries
of the world. re ae
To demand these things from Ottawa is to demand ©

"a policy that will result in peace for Canada and the

world, that wil end imperialist intervention in the af-

fairs of other peoples and that will result in the em- —

ployment of our tremendous resources, skill and labor

power for the welfare of our ofn people and the welfare —

of all peoples in the world. a :
This coincides with the wishes and needs of all ~
workers and of all decent people here and elsewhere. be
It is in accord with the true spirit of labor. This is
the supreme task of labor at the moment. ge
The voices of the Congress leaders are lost in the
frenzied chorus of the warmongers, Let tHe true voice —
of labor be heard from the workshops across the land.
e : —
Last week, dealing with the Mosher-Conroy pressure
which resulted in Burt’s repudiation of his signature to
the Ban the Bomb Petition, I said that “the 'U.S. state

department’s attache in Canada will now be able to ~

report to his masters in Washington that George Burt.
was forced to retract. ...” ‘ 2 ee

Since then I received a copy of the CCL’s Circular
Letter No. 25 of November 30, 1950. That letter deals”
with the recent meeting of the executive council. It ends
with the following paragraph: “During the afternoon,
the council had a visit from Mr. A, Gordon, British

‘labor attache at Washington, and Mr. Joseph Godson,

the "United States labor attache at Ottawa. Both spoke
briefly, expressing their pleasure at meeting the mem- ~
bers of the council.” : i

Enough said!

°
After Hitler-Malan

. \ . m 6
HE South African government is refusing to
| make any grants of financial aid to theatrical,
cultural, musical and education associations un-_
less a guarantee is given that no performances
will be given to mixed African and European

audiences. ;

In many cases the societies affected have re-
fused to give any guarantee, stating that they
preferred to forego the grant rather than com-
promise on a matter of principle. Ine theatrical
association in Cape Town which introduced spe-
cial segregated. performances for non-Europeans
was greeted on its “Apartheid First Night” with
an audience of 50. : ney Ache eae

ue ‘t BV EOE i i cl
PACIFIC TRIBUNE — DECEMBER 22, 1950— PAGE 9