erm

NATION

Women groups advocate
$100 monthly pension

A campaign to raise the Old
Age Pension to $100 per month
and lower the pension age to 65
years is being carried across the
country by petition and public
meetings,

The Toronto-based “Senior
Women's Committee for Pension
Increase” has launched its cam-
paign with the “forward look”
policy of organizing all senior
citizens’ organizations for more
effective action, taking the issue
to the people and then taking the
evidence of public opinion to the
government, in the form of sig-
natures,

A petition has already been
circulated in every province with
a good response and more copies
of it have had to be printed, Policy
literature and copies of the peti-
tion have been sent to unions and
citizen groups throughhout the
country, Clergymen too have been
approached, A public meeting is
planned for Montreal in the near
future and many others are in
the offing,

This “crash program” is aimed
at a meeting with Prime Minister
Pearson late this fall, armed
with thousands of signatures,

A letter issued by the commit-
tee outlines its principles as fol-
lows:

“Let us state emphatically that
we are not asking for charity,
Every preceding generation has
helped build Canada, until it has
become a wealthy nation, The
younger people have reaped the
benefits of our work, and they in
turn will, as senior citizens, pass
on the results of their work, It
is only by seeing this clearly
and making our members of Par-
liament understand this, that we
can maintain our dignity, and we
shall refuse to be relegated to
the position of second rate citi-
zens, an object of charity,”

Another campaign concerned
only -with pension age is also
under way,

The Congress of Canadian
Women is circulating a card, to
be signed and sent post free to
Prime Minister Pearson, which
says: “I urge that inthe Plan
(Canada Pension Plan) all women
be entitled to receive the Old
Age Security Pension at 60 years
of age, and men at 65 regardless
of marital status and without the
degrading means test,”

Toronto CP hits grant cut

The Communist Party in
Toronto has added its support to
theatre people protesting the
withdrawal of a $20,000 Canada

Council grant to the Crest
Theatre,

The Crest, which operates on
a non-profit basis, has been re-
ceiving the grant for six years,
“We cannot operate without sub-
sidies,” says Andrew Kershaw,
a member of the Crest board,
“It’s as simple as that,”

One of the first productions
slated for this year had been
“Brecht on Brecht? — a stage
presentation of Bertolt Brecht’s
ideas on his own art, Another
scheduled production was an ori-
ginal play by Canadian Martin
Lager,

The Communist Party says:
“The decision of the Canada
Council to cut off the grant to
the Crest Theatre, thereby Trob-
bing Toronto of one of its best
theatrical centres and depriving
many fine actors of work is de-
plorable,”

It notes that other theatres,
such as the Okeefe Centre, have
concentrated on productions from
outside the country, The Crest,
on the other hand, has employed
local casts and has produced
Canadian plays,

Therefore, “the Metro Com-
mittee of the Communist Party
urges that the Canada Council
reconsider its decision and re-
instate the grant which has been
paid for the last six years,”

Boom, bust go together

A look at business in Canada
shows it is booming on two fronts
—the economy and the number of
bankruptcies, There is also aside
boom of questionable business
practices,

In the first seven months of
1964, steel mills turned out
5,178,808 tons of steel; newsprint
output was up 11.4 percent; and
an increase of 197,000 workers
‘was absorbed more or less suc-
cessfully into the labor force
(the number of jobless dropped by
28,000 to 265,000.)

Despite these figures, surveys
showed people were no longer
buying refrigerators, TV sets,
radio-record players, or even
- automobiles at the same high rate

‘as in the past, Analysts were re-

‘ferring to consumer buying as
the “weak sector” in the current
economic boom,

In the second quarter of 1964
bankruptcies reached a peak of
655, The previous high after
World War II was 575, inthe sec-
ond quarter of 1963,

An examination of bankruptcies
shows that the corner grocery is
on the way out, Dun and Brad-
street of Canada Ltd, reports that
failures among retail stores
showed the greatest increase in
the quarter, to 328 from 258,

David Gilbert of Toronto, gen-
eral manager of the Retail Mer-
chants Association of Canada,
explains that consumers are
driving further to shop and are
foresaking neighborhood stores,

The rate of business failures
has risen so high some business-
men are asking for a tightening
of the Bankruptcy Act and es-
tablishment of a bankruptcy fraud
squad by the Department of
Justice,

Crisis in city government —
behind Oliver resignation

ancouver’s civic elections

got under way last week al-
though voting is not scheduled
until December 10. Two events
heralded the elections: the resig-
nation of City Commissioner John
Oliver and the reopening of NPA’s
downtown headquarters,

Why did John Oliver resign?
Why did he give up a $23,000-a-
year job and halve his retiring
pension, due in five years?

While many factors may have
gone into Commissioner Oliver’s
decision, perhaps some of them
personal, there is little doubt that
a major consideration was the in-
cessant pressure by the NPA
council, and in particular Phillip
Lipp, to cut the heart out of the
public sector of Vancouver ad-
ministration and turn it over to
private enterprise, fr

Even as it stands, the public
sector of Vancouver’s works is
one of the smallest of any major
city in Canada, but this does not
Satisfy the private enterprisers
of the NPA, Almost every area
in which the city operates has
come under attack during the last
Several years, from road repairs
and sewer construction down to

- the dog catcher’s department,

During the past few weeks
Alderman Lipp has been sneaking
around the city spying on civic
crews with a stop watch in his
hand to see if they are picking
and shovelling as fast as private
enterprise workers would do,

Then he announced the results of .

his gumshoeing on a’ radio pro-

. gram,

Town planning, zoning, down-
town development, repairs and

maintenance, new civic cone
tion needed to keep the city al
of deterioration; all these thin
are sacrificed to the plans of 6
business and the real estate boy

From the other side the wg
city administration plan is bee .
attack as undemocratic. th
trade unions, ratepaye!® a
Communist Party and fe
members of council have Pol” ig
out that too much authority
vested in the commissioners e
the council becomes an admif Ye
trative rather than a policy

These organizations argue that
a larger council elected oe fe
area basis with an elected POT
of-control which would look® 7
the job now being done by ae .
city commissioners would § ,
the people of Vancouver petter.

; uestion”
Oliver, who was we
e

ably a capable and cons¢l
administrator, was caught oe
middle between these tw tte
and probably decided ne ie
was too short to spend se
political shells from two **

His resignation will undouble®
ly be an issue in the cominé a
elections with the free & ac
prisers jumping into the eee
to save dog catching from :
ravages of civic socialism.
on the other hand must driveho"
the demand for wider civi¢
ocracy and an extension,
curtailment, of the civic 5°
of the Vancouver economy.

not

Italian people pay lasting

tribute to P. Togliatti

‘By TIM BUCK

ROME — Participation in the
funeral ceremonies for the late
Palmiri Togliatti has been a
moving experience, Never before
have I been involved in such
a mass outpouring of popular
grief.

The via delle Botteghe Oscure
was packed so tight with men
and women awaiting their turn
to pay final tribute to the man
who had made himself the per-
sonification of their hope for
Italy, that it had to be closed to
all wheeled traffic from Sunday
until after the funeral. During
the brief periods in which I was
privileged to be one of the four
comrades on Guard of Honor, I
was stirred almost to the point
of being overwhelmed.

For three days menand women
passed the bier three abreast.
The great majority of them
touched the coffin gently with
the fingers of their right hand,
then put the fingers to their lips.
Some followed with the clenched
fist salute, some murmured the
slogan “Un fronte unitario per la
pace!” and some, indeed a very
large number, crossed them-
selves, devoutly and murmureda
prayer.

I mentioned this latter fact to
a taxi driver who asked me in
English: “You have been to pay
your respects to Signor Togliat-
ti?” I said yes, and I had been
very much moved, especially by
the large number of religious men
and women who came.

His response was interresting,
He said: “Why are you surprised
— do you think that Italians can-
not love a good man unless the

priest tells them to? You are
mistaken, sir! We believe in God
but we don’t believe the priests.”

His exclamation had been so
sharp that, almost without think-
ing, I asked him, “Are you a
Communist?” He answered, “No”
in a way that suggested finality,
then he added, “But I don’t be-
lieve the priests either.”

TIM BUCK, Communist Party of Can-
ade chairman who attended the fun-
eral for Palmiro Togliatti:

As I paid him he said, “if you
would like to follow Signor Tog-
liatti tomorrow, please come in
my taxi. I will not accept any
pay.” 5

The funeral procession was
about five miles long, with a
million people participating. The
jam was so great that no private
cars or taxis were allowed.

Headed by members of the
central committee of the Italian
Communist Party, the cortege
included scores of official dele-
gations, numerous political par-
ties, and trade unions.

The streets along the ae
were packed tightly with oe
and women who had stood i? ‘@
sun for eight or nine whe
waiting to throw their car
shielded garlands of red an :
tions onto the casket (borne
an open hearse) as it pass®

The final service was neld
the great square, Piazza itd
Porto St. Giovanno, strewn | A
fragrant green leaves and a
flowers. It was an historic 4@
onstration of democratic
and internationalism. Hunde?
of thousands who could ®
squeeze themselves into © i
Square were marshalled in ?
the streets running into it.

The ceremony was a remar®
able combinati on ofpro!0 é
grief and flaming passion -
moments the absolute stilln®
would be broken by a woF
shouting a slogan that Togli#™”
had coined. A million arms a
ed salute as the casket was @ s
ried away in absolute silep?
for interment, was an unforg®
table experience,

The death of Togliatti a
serious loss to the C.P.I., # tne
democratic Italians and t? His
world Communist movement. he
tremendous role in buildiné ©
great Italian party and the § fe
port of nearly eight million Pe®
le who voted for its candid@
in the last general electio®
well known.

Palmiro Togliatti was 2 ere
Italian, a great representative ©
the working class, a great C°
munist. The tradition of W
his contribution is an impo
part belongs to all mankind.

2
September 11, 1964—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Pag®