farmers dilemma

Vertical infegration

DAIRY FARMER, Fraser
Valley, B.C.; The writing on
the wall is vertical integration.
What does it mean? Who wants
it? The farmer mortgages his
produce and in return he is
secured feed supplies, bedding,
dust and spray against pests,
and perhaps he also gets the

initial young stock or seed

plants and fertilizers, what-
ever the practice might ~be.
The farmer usually supplies
the land, buildings, machinery,
labor, etc. ;

The business men talk about
it as the only solution to the
in keeping
up ‘with costs and _ interest.
They also suggest that it is a
good solution. :

Editors all write about ver-
tical integration in farming as
inevitable. They say _ that
young men with energy and
“know how” should no longer
try to make their living farm-
ing without 10, 20, 35, 75 or
more thousand dollars in their
pockets. The sum goes up
every year. This sum is esti-
mated by experts who really
know the facts about these

things. They might not know

how to milk a cow but they
might just be right in their
figures and they know that
food is a mighty good thing
for people although they sel-
dom mention it.

Farmers themselves do not
talk about vertical integration.
They hardly dare think of it!
They know the bank is a
mighty good place to borrow
money if you can convince the
bank manager that you don’t
need it. But there is an end to
this—the bank manager reads
the papers too and he reads
your milk cheques or what
have you, and the ghost of ver-
tical integration is following

‘the farmer all over. As a last

resort, as production costs con-
tinue to climb, the farmers
one by one have to submit
themselves to the grafters who

“To banish war forever from
the life of human society is a
noble aim to which all peoples.

’ aspire. It is to this noble goal.

that the mighty peace move-
ment is dedicated.

“If they don’t, the earth will
be covered with ashes and

graves.”

are sponsoring farm exploita-
tion or vertical integration.
With some luck the poor fel-
low will be making a clear
$1.50 an hour for his 12 hours
a day, seven days a week
efforts. If he is not so lucky,
of course he will be forced to
walk away from everything. |
Often he even gets presented
with a bill, as the mortgaged |
product has not even covered |
the sponsor’s bill where the |
contract has not been properly ''
drawn up. Yes, some farmers
are great gamblers.

Marx and Elmore

E.C., Vancouver, B.C.: An
article by Elmore Philpott
headed ‘Stem Red Tide’ re-
cently appeared in the Van-
couver Sun. This article is of
particular interest to those
who wish to understand the
relentless drive of the Amer-
ican cold war prophets to pre-
vent peace under all circum-
stances.

Philpott scornfully calls the
actions of the Western states-
men in the face of the new
forces who are fighting for a
better world | “short-sighted
and stupid.’”’ How could it be
otherwise?

But Philpott goes on: ‘The
greatest tragedy that could
befall the West today would
be disarmament because our
economies would be faced with
a collapse which could make
the big stock market crash of
1929 look like: kid stuff.”

This is very interesting news
from a man who, unfortunate-
ly for himself and his readers
has to make a living selling
the blessings of capitalism,
which makes the slaughter of
human beings its most profit-
able business. 5

Philpott calls the stock mar-
ket speculators the world’s
“nervous Nellies.”’ The visit of
Premier Krushchev has given
them. a severe case of peace
jitters and caused a little
slump in the cold war stocks
... * a small omen of what
might happen to Western
economics if peace were really
to break through in a big way
and no plans were ready to
substitute peace jobs for war
jobs. The most fundamental
folly of our times is that we
can only be fully employed
when we are at war or getting
ready for one.”

But then Philpott realizes’
he has gone~too far in his
frankness. “I hasten to add,”
he continues, “that I am not
among those who believe that
we have to have wars to keep
our Western economies going.”

How this could be accom-
plished. Philpott does not say.
But capitalism’s boom and bust
mode of existence was ana-
lyzed more than a century ago

De Gaulle has “promised” Algiers “free elections and independence in four years.” After
five years of bitter war, persecution, bombings and mass arrests of Algerian patriots
by French imperialism, in which all proposals for peaceful negotiations by the Algerian
Provisional Government have been rejected, the struggle goes on for real Algerian inde-
pendence. (Photo shows one of the many anti-French demonstrations in Tunis.)

French aggression in Algiers
not the will of Canadian people’

; HILE in. Prague, I was
W avr to speak with Ali,
a member of the Algerian del-
egation which attended the
Fifth Assembly of the World
Federation of Democratic
Youth as observers. Ali is an
executive member of the Al-
gerian General Union of Work-
ers which despite persecution
and repression number 90,-
000 workers. Following are
some of the things he told me.

Until 1956. the trade union
movement in Algeria was af-
filiated. to the French move-
ment and did not take part in
the struggle for independence.
However, in 1956 the General
Union of Workers was formed
and immediately became part
of the National Liberation
Front which embraces all or-
ganizations fighting for Alger-
ian independence.

At the same time, in 1956, a
trade -union newspaper was
founded which published 12

by two great social scientists,

’

Marx and Engels, who found
that history develops not ac-
cording to the wishes of pious
ignoramuses but aecording to
the laws of society which move
from the lower to the higher.

The forces of history (human
society) have long ago decid-
ed.for peace. The Western
economies in their present
form cannot provide it. That is
why they will eventually be
thrown on the scrap heap of
history. Humanity is moving
on to a higher level where
people won’t have to kill in
order to prosper.

By MONICA SAMUELSON

issues. All 12 were confiscated
by the French authorities, but
they permitted the 13th issue
to be distributed provided it
was censored. The issue ap-
peared completely blank ex-
cept for the name of the paper.

Between the time the Union
was formed and April, 1957
when they went undergrcund,
six full secretariats were ar-
rested, and their offices  re-
peatedly bombed, causing
many wounded. An external
delegation was created and to-
day the leadership operates
from nearby Tunis.

Among the first to be ar-
rested was Aissat Idir, founder
and first secretary of the
Trade Union movement. He
was placed in a concentration
camp and after that imprison-
ed in Barberousse in Algiers.
After demonstrations and pro-
tests from the world trade un-
ion movement, he finally ap-
peared before a military court
on January 12th, 1959 and was
defended by Rollin, a Belgian
minister of state and senator.
The charges against him were
groundless and Iidir was re-
leased. However, as he was
leaving the court he was tak-
en in custody by French Para-
troopers and for two months
no trace could be found of him.
Then, again after many pro-
tests and demands, the French
government announced that he
had tried to commit suicide or
had accidently burned himself
while smoking in bed and that
he was being treated in the
Maillot Hospital in Algiers.
Idir, as his friends and com-

rades knew, did not smoke.
Permission was finally obtain-
ed by his lawyer to visit him.
and in the presence of French
paratroopers, Idir courageous-
ly denied the suicide story and
stated: he had been tortured
by the paratroopers. Idir had
third degree burns and had

been branded on the soles of’

his feet, besides being savag-
ely beaten. :

Again, Idir was moved and
contact was lost with him.
The week of August 3rd, while
we were in Prague, his death
was announced, and there can
be no doubt that he was tor-
tured to death.

The war in Algeria is now in
its fifth year and France has
ignored the repeated offers of
the Provinsional Government
for peaceful negotiation. In-
stead, France has continued
mass bombings and massacres
of the defenceless civilian pop-
ulation, has continued its pol-
icy of arrests and reprisals,
and has embarked on a new
policy of forcing Algerians to
leave their homes and confin-
ing them in barricaded ‘Re-
settlement Camps.’ Whole vil-
lages have in this way been
moved and virtually impris-
oned. ;

Ii must be realized that
much help has been extended
to France by NATO countries.
This means that Canada, as a
member of NATO has helped
France to continue her work
of extermination and subjuga~-
tion of Algeria. I am sure this
Situation does not express the
will of the Canadian people.

September 25, 1959—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 5

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