3 é “ SY TATE ~ Compel Ottawa to act ‘}.N the lengthening lines outside Unemployment Insurance offices in Vancouver, Victoria and other cities across the country there aré men and women— 300,000 of them—whose problem should be the first concern of every worker and every populat organiza- - tion in this country. Where these men and women stand today thous- ands more will be standing unless -the--people them- selves, by organization and action for peace and jobs, change the policies that are iaking us deeper into econ- our “democratic way of life’ and the only one it takes seriously. Other thousands cannot qualify even for unemployment insurance benefits. For all of them the words privation, misery, hunger, have the same bit- ter meaning they had under the Bennett government in the Hungry Thirties. Only now it is the St! Laurent government, and these are the fifties. The issue is squarely before the St. Laurent gov- ernment. The $/,000,000 a month Ottawa now claims to be paying out in unemployment insurance benefits in B.C. is a pittance compared to the close on $2,000,000 a day Ottawa is squandering on “‘de- fense’’, in reality preparations for war. That same $2,000,000 a day spent on the gov- erment’s promised works projects, which Resources Minister Winters refuses to take “‘off the shelf”. would be a real defense—of the homes and livelihoods of the people. _ The plight to which the government’s cold war policies are reducing thousands of people is already apparent. Prime Minister St. Laurent’s attitude. that _ “unemployment may not altogether be a bad. thing” stamps him as being as ruthless as his Tory predeces- sor, “Iron Heel’’ Bennett. It was the people's self- sacrificing unity and determination in action that forced the Bennett government to change its policies and finally accomplished ‘its downfall. That same -unity and determination can equally force change upon the St. Laurent -government 4 omic crisis. ‘ At least 300,000 men and women have no jobs, and no amount of red-baiting can obscure the fact that “*free enterprise,”’ which has stripped them of their livelihood, not the Communists, who have fought’ to protect it, ts responsible for their plight. : men and women have no savings. “Free enterprise” has already fleeced them of what little _ they may have had to Swell the profits of the mono- — polies, the combines the government is reluctant to prosecute, the big landlords who are turning the dream _of a home into a nightmare for countless families. And “no amount of explaining can turn the indictment away from the St. Laurent government whose policies. facil- _ itateé this shameless profiteering: Thousands of those now unemployed have al- ready exhausted the inadequate benefits that spell the difference between hardship and actual starvation — the fifth freedom conferred by “‘free enterprise’ under - Padlockin NEW offensive against™ progressive organiza- tions operating in the province of Quebec has been ordered by Premier Maurice Duplessis. Acting in his capacity as attorney-general, the notorious- author of the Padlock Law last week had his “‘anti- _ subversive” squads of the provincial and city police raid the building of the United Jewish People’s Order, a cultural organization, and padlock the premises’ for a period of one year. Raids were also carried out against a Jewish educational institution, the Morris _ Winchevsky School, and the home of the secretary of Duplessis’ latest action parallels similar anti- Semitic raids conducted by Hitler's storm troopers in | Germany in the thirties. In a move designed to win support from the Roman Catholic hierarchy in Que- bec, Duplessis’ police squads cynically carried in a poster advertising a meeting for Father Duffy, hung it on the wall of an office in the UJPO building, and had photographers take a picture of it.as “proof” that the building was used for ‘‘the spreading of sub- versive propaganda”. Father Duffy has been under attack by the Catholic hierarchy because he advocates ‘cooperation with all groups, regardless of religion or political affiliation, willing to fight for peace. Duplessis’ Gestapo-like actions are a stench in the nostrils of decent, liberal-minded Canadians. His deliberate flouting of the elementary rights of freedom of speech and association will be protested by demo- - Canadians from coast to coast to flood the autocratic, resolutions and letters of protest condemning his latest drive toward the establishment of a police state within’ the borders of our country. . : $ ih AA o toe ‘ . eee s- } we atic? i, Oe : wee Se gh Read this revealing series — N recént months most daily papers in this ‘country, ° and many of the weeklies, have‘carried syndicated articles purporting to tell what life ‘is like in the Soviet. Union.- None of the writers was concerned with tlie - truth but with anti-Soviet propaganda, ‘and while their presentations ranged from oittright lies to half-truths, | all had one. common: objective—to depict life under socialism. | BRAS 1. “This “is a series you won't want to miss. It’s a making a special /subscription offer. of one dollar .for oe New York Times and now Moscow correspondent for - tion, Soviet illustrated publication. . F You can start thinking about tho: tions now. It’s a Tribune. the London Daily Worker. * Parker relates his story through the life :of sone’ » worker's family, the Kutsenovs. Through their eyes * t 2B , t cratic peoples everywhere: It is the special duty of © \ fascist-minded .Quebec premier with thousands .of | he gives a real picture vf how Soviet people live, what — “they read,’ how they spend their ‘leisure ‘time, What ; they talk about ‘and how. they fare. generally under that it needs to be changed—and ‘fast, |” seriés you won't want your friends and neighbors. to. 5; miss. either, or. the people you know who.have hazy | ideas about the, Soviet Union. So, to help you to make: | iff this series available to others, the Pacific Tribune is | {f\ the fourteen issues the series will yun, which includes: . - a free copy of the current issue of USSR in Construce good way to introduce the Pacific TOM McEWEN As We See It . ¥ the St. Laurent government’s “explanations” were jobs or dollars, unemployed workers would be well off. As it is they are little more than windy excuses. Last week’s “explanation” to Winnipeg City Council was a dilly. On the motion of Ald. Jacob Penner the council forwarded a sug- ‘gestion to the federal government that it (the government) embark on & program of public works now to ease the city’s growing unemploy- ment crisis, Arthur MacNamara, deputy “explainer” to minister of phoney ex- planations Humphrey Mitchell, replied that Winnipeg City Council was in error in thinking that the government had planned any public works program to take up the slack in employment, why.n and if it becomes serious. “I think you will find on examination,” says dep- uty “explainer” MacNamara, “that what happened was that the federal government proposed a certain line of action to the 1945 conference (Dominion- Provincial), but that conference disbanded without coming to an agreement. Consequently the situation remains as it was before the conference. At least that is my understanding of the matter.” Now there you have an “explanation” of govern- ment policy—a scintillating gem of Liberal “states- manship.” As “explainer” MacNamara “understands” it, the 1945 conference labored but failed to bring forth even the proverbial mouse. And he doesn’t even bother to hint that the 1950 conference apparently failed to correct the omission! j The question arises, how long are the unemployed, together with municipal and provincial governments, expected to wait until Ottawa recognizes that unemployment is something more than comparative statistics? ; Four days after deputy ‘explainer’ MacNamara's ambiguous reply to Winnipeg City Council, Humphrey Mitchell had to report that the unemployed total for all Canada had risen by an additional 32,000 dur- ing the first two weeks of 1950, bringing the official total up to 332,000. Unofficially it can now be said that unemployment in Canada is near- ing the half-million mark. Of course chief “explainer” Mitchell has a few explanations for this phenomenal increase of unemployed workers, “Seasonal factors”, “abnormal: weather conditions”, “labor forces being shifted from in- _dustries where markets were softening to those where employment was expanding”, falling off of “capacity production”. But the minister _ could see the hard seat of the unemployed being “cushioned” by unem- ployment insurance benefits! What a cushion—its inadequate padding already worn out by scores of thousands of unemployed workers. e : ; Premier Leslie Frost of Ontario, who has just returned from the 1950 Dominion-Provincial conference--which carried forward the poli- tical bickerings of past conferences, “provincial rights” and so forth— _ has been telling the world through the medium of the press that there igs nothing the federal and provincial governments cannot do, if they ‘get around a table, ‘All these matters,” says Premier Frost, “can be taken care of right now.” ‘ y ? Well, what are we waiting for? Unemployment needs to be “taken care of right now,” not wait until it becomes chronic, or try to spirit it out of sight ‘by shouting “communism” or suppressing the real extent of its magnitude, It is not on record that either Premier Frost of Ontario or Premier Duplessis went “to bat” on the issue of unemployment during the recent conference, Frost qualified the nature of his deliberations ‘around any “round table” with “due regard for the’ taxpayers,” which in this case means the powerful monopolists rather than the common citizens: Duplessis has been busy since the conference padlocking the liberties which are essential to the fight for jobs, wages, security and peace, f ** $6 much for their “round table” talk, pretty much on a. par with the Mitchell-MacNamara “explainers”, : For the jobless worker, whether on the meager unemployment insurance “benefit”, or having exhausted it, unemployment is not an- academic question, to be juggled by government statisticians or min- _. isterial “explainers”. It is a question of food, clothing, shelter, health --e-a question of life and death of every household, where the bread- '. winner is depriyed of the right to a job and decent wage ‘standards. : .. For the unemployed ‘the period of “explanations” is over. Their, wives and children cannot live on “explanations.” The -period of action. is here—organized, united citizen action to win a basic constitutional right—the right to earn a livelihood, If “our way of life” cannot give. ? nm | ifn fi ut Quai canny Cie holy IN a iy, Pill na IRIFEUUNN he ve Street, ‘Vancouver,’ B.C. Office Dept., Ottawa PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FEBRUARY 3, 1950—PAGE 8 \ \ pe Wh i Ee Months, $1.35.