_Editorial Solidarity, not sanctions In its June 8 statement on the tragic events that took place in China, the Communist Party of Canada deplored the use of troops against protestors. The CPC said information available showed that the students were raising grievan- ces, not against the socialist system, but against practices which, in their view, were distortions of that system. As well, the Communist Party said it saw no evidence that the student protests posed a threat to China’s state security that would warrant such military intervention. And, of key importance, Canadian Communists put forward their belief that a socialist state must be able to deal with differences and public criticism without resort to armed force against the people. Friends of socialist China everywhere have expressed similar views. They are hoping for a resumption of dialogue between the workers, students and the government; that the crisis will soon end and that reforms begun some 10 years ago to improve the economic, social and political life of 1.2 billion Chinese will be able to continue. Enemies of socialist China are hoping for the opposite to occur. They see a chance to use the crisis to discredit, weaken and destroy socialism. The western media have turned their entire impressive arsenal to the task of “proving” the failure of socialism. That’s their job, after all. It’s in this light that the issue of diplomatic, economic and political punitive actions by capitalist states against China should be considered. The Chinese people deserve the whole-hearted support of progressives everywhere in their struggle to modernize, industrialize and expand the parameters of their partici- pation in policy-making. When capitalist nations apply sanctions against China in the name of “democracy,” progressives had better take a long, hard look at what’s being done, who is doing it, and why. When progressives support sanctions, as against Pinochet or apartheid, it’s in response to an appeal from the forces for liberation and democracy inside the ‘country who have stated clearly they are prepared to endure the hardships that boycotts and sanctions will bring. Sanctions are, after all, a weapon to effect economic damage, to isolate a country internationally and create the conditions for the overthrow of the social system. And as much as imperialism would like to see an end to socialism in China and the return of China’s huge market and labour-force to the capitalist. - fold, a return to the colonization,exploitation and humiliation Of thé past is not what the Chinese people are calling for. People’s China was born in bloody battle for its independence and national dignity. Forty years of building socialism from a feudal past and under imperial- ist guns has not been an easy road in this gigantic social experiment. In this long and magnificent struggle, Canadians should offer solidarity, not sanctions. Bo BonGeER Angela Kenyon FLIGHT ae : Fad Bey a VA 4 ee (c oe va v a fey Ss, & EDITOR Published w = eekly at Sean Griffin 2681 East Hastings Street Vancouver, B.C.,V/5K 1Z5 ___ ASSOCIATE EDITOR Phone: (604) 251-1186 Dan Keeton Fax: (604) 251-4232 BUSINESS & CIRCULATION MANAGER Subscription rate: . = Canada: @ $20 one year @ $35 Mike Proniuk two years @ Foreign $32 one year GRAPHICS Second class mail registration number 1560 erhaps it’s a somewhat cruel irony that several key supporters ef the Tribune died close to, or during, the annual press drive. And yet, their continued presence was felt at the June 24 Victory Banquet for the Tribune, as friends and spouses remembered them through hefty dona- tions in their names. - So it was with Ian Gibson, a long time supporter on the Sunshine Coast who passed away June 18. His friends Bob and Agnes Jackson donated, in addition to their own contributions, $100 in the late press director’s name. Ian, who was 79, was born in Powell . River to a family that included a father who was both a missionary and a carpen- ter. Ian himself was a government worker with the highways department and a member of the B.C. Government Employ- ees Union until his retirement about a decade ago. His friends remember him as a very shy, but also extremely generous man who was among the big fundraisers for the Tribune. He was in Powell River hospital with cancer at the time of his death. Ian is survived by his wife, Lillian, a sister and a brother, and several nieces and nephews. * * * t’s been a long time coming. Probably too long, but then there’s the old adage: better late than never. : Full Circle, a quarterly news magazine currently being put together by the aborig- inal commission of the Communist Party of Canada, is scheduled to be off the presses by the end of July. The role of Full Circle is to provide a voice, and to be a forum, for a socialist perspective on aboriginal polit- ics. The magazine’s staff hope this unique experiment will provide a means of com- munication for progressive aboriginal activists across the country. It is being put together by volunteer labour with a budget of zero dollars. They aren’t making a concerted appeal for funds, but are appealing to individual readers who would like to help the aborig- inal commission meet the printing costs of Full Circle. Any small donation will be appreciated. Cheques or money can be sent in care of our sister publication, the Canadian Tribune, 290A Danforth Ave., Toronto, M4K 1N6 (please specify that the donation is for Full Circle). Donors will be acknowledged in the news maga- zine. * * hey’ve held Miners’ Memorial Day in the former coal-mining community of Cumberland for four years now. But this one, according to those who attended the event June 24-25, was significant for two reasons. The first is that the honours regularly paid to labour martyr Ginger Goodwin, whose grave is in the local cemetery, were followed with the dedication of Mount People and Issues Ginger Goodwin by the town’s mayor. The second reason is that it marked a new level of inter-labour co-operation, with partici- pation by both Confederation of Cana- dian Unions affiliates and the B.C. Federation of Labour, which sent a speaker. And according to labour historian Ben Swankey, who attended and gave a seminar on the federal budget on Sunday evening in Courtenay, the attendance is improving, with at least 200 people show- ing up for the wreath-laying ceremonies at Ginger Goodwin’s grave. The memorial day — which actually began in Sudbury in 1984, to honour four miners killed there — featured several labour representatives, including Rick Briggs of the Mine-Mill union, Local 598 in Sudbury, Roger Crowther of the Cana- dian Association of Industrial, Mechani- cal and Allied Workers, president Doug Evans of the Vancouver and District Labour Council, president Andre Pel of the Victoria Labour Council, president Doug Swanson of the United Steelworkers local in Trail, former Mine-Mill activist Barney McGuire, B.C. Federation of Labour representative John Weir, and fed- eration secretary Cliff Andstein. Andstein was on hand to unveil a new cairn at the site of the old Pioneer Mine to 51 miners who died in the course of the mine’s history, a reminder that labour | fights today for improved health and safety regulations. Attending that event was Fred Henne, a former Mine-Mill leader and former mayor of Yellowknife, N.W.T. But perhaps the crowning event was the dedication, by Cumberland Mayor Bill Moncrief, of the mountain in Ginger Goodwin’s name — an event not with- out its share of controversy. On Sunday, several people climbed the mountain and affixed a plaque on a cliff face that acknowledged that Goodwin — killed by police in 1918 for resisting con- scription during World War I, but mainly for his organizing activities — was a socialist as well as “a worker’s friend.” Some days prior to the event, the city received a letter, signed by Elaine Ellison of the Department of Geographical Names, that the province would prefer that the plaque omitted the reference to Goodwin’s socialist views in the interests of maintaining a “non-partisan position.” The letter pointed out that without pro- vincial support, the mayor had no author- ity to name the mountain, the prerogative for which rests with the minister of crown lands. So the naming of Mount Ginger Goodwin cannot be considered “official.” But it certainly is so in the hearts of those who revere the labour organizer and work in his memory for workers’ rights today. And they plan to continue that observance at the Miners Memorial Day next year, with the clearing of a series of trails up the mountain. 4 Pacific Tribune, July 3, 1989 .