CHANGE OF NAME NO REMEDY

By HARRY. BINDER
MONTREAL
he Quebec section of the
, *S Wracked by internal crisis.
faa @ provincial convention
A here in the latter part of
. ee and attended by some 30
° aes the CCF decided to
the Be its name in Quebec to
‘Social Democratic party. Few
l€ve that this will be enough

stilt. in French Canada. Fewer
oe &ccept the official explana-
that the reason for the
ue ia of name was the difficul-
~ * * translating CCF into French.
eae has been difficult to
oo © into intelligible terms

~ “he people of French Can-

SSS

ERHART REGIER
(CCF, Burnaby-Coquitlam)

® change the fortunes of that!

Serious crisis

ada has been the policy of the
CCF.

During the last session of par-
liament, CCF members of the
House of Commons, particularly
those from British Columbia, and
in a lesser degree from Saskat-
chewan, displayed an ignorance
of Quebec and a bias against
French Canada which is hard-to
equal in Canadian politics.

“This year,’ Montreal Matin
declared in commenting on the
CCF’s change of name, “the CCF
has been more than usudily hos-
tile towards our province.

“It will be impossible for us
to forget, for example, the man-
ner in which the CCF members
of parliament speaking in the
House of Commons assailed our
aspirations and most legitimate
claims. -

“While Liberal members of the
House did not support our atti-
tude, it must be admitted that
they were discreet enough to
hold aloof every time the Cold-
well theorists spoke one after
another in denunciation of the
autonomy Quebec insists upon,
and which is dear to us because
it is vital to our survival.”

ered particularly hostile, the fol-
lowing lines from Le Devoir,
which is at times sympathetic to
the CCF, are enlightening:
“Although the Social -Demo-
crats will not detach themselves
from the central CCF group, if
the CCF members of parliament

resume their spectacular attitude
of antagonism towards Quebec,

Lest this comment be consid-|

which discloses a singular incom-
prehension of the province and
its people, the Quebec members
of the party, as Social Democrats,
will be able more easily than
they were last year to pronounce
and stress their differences.”

Thus even a sympathetic source
cannot but admit that the CCF
parliamentary group has, made
it next to impossible for their
party to continue in French Can-
ada. For how can a party appeal
for support to the people of
French Canada when Harold
Winch (CCF, Vancouver . East)
tells French-Canadian MPs, that
they ought to make their speeches
in English, and Erhard Regier
(CCF, Burnaby-Coquitlam) de-
nounces the federal Liberal gov-
ernment for “capitulating’ to
Quebec?

The change of the name of
the CCF in French Canada is
a belated recognition that
Quebec labor has begun to
thinks quite seriously about
the formation of a new poli-
tical party based upon the
labor movement. They can see
in the CCF no real opposition
to the Liberals and Union Na-
tionale.

The CCF in the province has
played a weak and anemic role.
Before Geneva, it refused to
identify itself with the great de-
sires for peace of the people of
French Canada. :

| Credit in Quebec had to separ-

Quebec C

CF

for civil liberties, nor opposed
the padlock law.

Nor has the CCF been pre-
pared to-take a stand in be-
half of the right of the French
Canadian nation for national
equality, which can in this
period be achieved only through
joint struggle with the working
class of English Canada, against
U.S. domination of our coun-
try.

The change in the name signi-
fies more than adoption of a new
set of initials. Just as ‘Social

ate from the organization in the
rest of the country, so the CCF
in Quebec has in fact taken a
step in the direction of establish-
ing the autonomy of the Quebec
organization.

The fact should be under-
lined that the: Labor-Progres-
sive party remains the only
political party which fights for
a single program and has a
common policy in all provinces.
The LPP, basing its policies

upon a correct approach to the
national question, appeals to all

HAROLD WINCH
(CCF, Vancouver East)

nificant role if its leader are
prepared to undertake a serious
struggle for the independence of
our country from U.S. domina-
tion, for peace and for overcom-
ing the national inequality of
French Canada.

Canadians to support the legiti-
mate national aspirations of the
French-Canadian people. The
LPP is the only political party
whose leaders make the same
appeal in Ontario and British
Columbia, as in Quebec, for re-
cognition of the national rights

The LPP will seek common
ground with the members and
leaders of the Social Democratic
party in fighting for the interests
of the people of French Canada.

Only by adopting a course of
united action of the working
people in Quebec, by being pre-

It was silent on the wholesale |
betrayal of Quebec to the US. |
trusts, and on the alienation of.
our natural resources. It has!
never taken a forthright stand

of F. trench Canada. pared to act jointly with all pat-

It remains to be seen whether |Tiotic forces striving for the wel-
the new Social Democratic party’ fare of our people, can the CCF
in Quebec will strike out on a overcome the crisis which is now
new path. It could play a sig- wracking their party.

bi
Non

“uld also lead to strikes.

Blas © militancy in these strug-
tisin teflects the spirit of unity
Dartic in the labor movement,
for, arly as a result of the
and Coming merger of the TLC

CCL. The workers of De

ls t conditions and union, security, at

side, at the Canada Wire and Cable in Lea si :
oe York. In other industries, notably Massey-Harris-
HS shops, tens of thousands of others are putting forward wa

By NORMAN PENNER

5,000 Toronto strikers
marching in picket lines

TORONTO

Five thousand Toronto workers are on the picket line, battling for higher wages, |
at General Motors Frigidaire plants in Scarboro and
de, and at the DeHavilland Aircraft in
Ferguson and in the railroad yards,

ge demands in situations that

| Havilland express it in their jit would show overwhelming

| slogan, “Labor Unity Means

| Victory.”
If a free vote were taken in

the labor movement of Toronto
today on the question of merger,

be

S

i ms reaffirm their support
1S election, but increasing
€tS who took his election

Stanted in the last provincial

+ /8n, and were deeply shak-

are .” the news of his defeat,

deter rallying to his support,

Bian to send Salsberg to

Corner meetings are

' es ever before and the

Strang SM is running high. The

Ing

of ey district are indicative
? cate Velopment. The October

e . 8 was the largest ever.
by ress indignation displayed
berg © workers with whom Sals-
the” Worked for years, against
Libe Structionist tactics of the
Sst Candidate was the clear-
“Monstration of their de-

Meetings in the garment |.

Support grows for
Salsberg in Spadina

TORONTO

The swing in the Spadina election is definitely to J. B. Sals-
The the Labor-Progressive candidate in the October 24 byelection.
is the conclusion scores of active campaign workers are
do iais to as the campaign enters into its final stages.

Ousands of citizens in Spadina who have always voted for

Not only

termination to elect the man who
always championed their cause.
Asked howe he felt about
the campaign, the LPP candi-
date said, “I have never had
opponents who are less worthy
of a labor vote than the ones
in the present. campaign.” :
Continued Salsberg: “The Lib-
eral candidate Samuel Godfrey
is now generally recognized as
being the most unattractive can-
didate that party could have put
out. The revelation in the Globe
and Mail of the large number of
big business corporations he is
heading or is involved in, brands
him as the candidate of the most
reactionary big business circles.
I am confident that not a single

pallot for him.”

support for making the merger
all-inclusive. The strike move-
ment which involved the UE
workers at Canada Wire and
Cable as well as the UAW of De
Havilland and Frigidaire is all-
inclusive as is management’s op-
position to labor’s demands. A
worker is no more loved by the
boss if he’ is organized by the
UAW than if he is organized by
the UE.

This fact is emphasized by
features that are common to all
these strikes. The workers in
all three strikes encountered open
collusion between management
and government. :

Management at De Havilland
was able with the help of the
provincial department of labor
to drag out negotiations for over
a year after the old contract ex-
pired. After the strike had been
on for 12 weeks, the department
stepped in again in a brazen
attempt to force the strikers back
to work but this was defeated
by a 97 percent vote of the
workers.

The union leadership at De
Havilland further charges that
the federal government is back-
ing the company. Pointing to
the tremendous powers C. D.

‘Howe has over companies pro-

ducing military equipment, the
union demanded that he use
these powers to compel the
company to make a fair settle-

Howe has ignored this appeal.

GM< strikers at Frigidaire plant in Toronto.

At GM negotiations and those able to see immediately that such
at Canada Wire and Cable, the concessions were aimed at under-
UAW and UE both expressed the mining the position of the unions.
mounting anger of the labor| At De Havilland and GM, the
movement over hamstring de- companies tied their efforts to a
lays of government “concilia-!three year contract and to the
tion” machinery. Both demanded watering down of seniority. At
that the boards vacate the scene, Canada Wire and Cable the com-’
so that direct negotiations back-' pany demanded cancellation of
ed by a strike deadline could be the rest periods won in the great
undertaken. strike wave of 1946.

In all strikes the workers de-} Perhaps there is more than

‘cisively rejected company pro- mere symbolism in the fact that

posals even when in the GM _ GM’s Leaside plant and Canada

situation the last offer was for; Wire and Cable are adjoining

a. package of 17% cents an hour.' each other. Pickets of the UAW
The workers believe that the’ and UE march alongside each

fabulous profits these companies | other on their respective fronts

are making entitle them to bet- of labor’s common struggle.

ter deals. Striking Toronto workers are
But even more decisive in the united in action. Their struggle

rejection was the demand by the is the struggle of all organi-

companies that the workers give zed labor regardless of affilia-
substantial concessions -in ex- | tion, and this should be expressed

worker or housewife will cast a;ment with the workers. So far;change for the offers from the in all-out support by workers

companies. The workers were not yet on strike.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — OCTOBER 21, 1955 — PAGE 3