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Confronted with the implacable hatred of the Korean people and
with world opinion clamoring against them, Lieut. General Matthew
B. Ridgway (left), U.S. Eighth’ Army Commander, ard General J.
Lawton Collins, U.S. chief of staff, Inok gloomy at this conference

in Korea.

Victoria students say

war not inevitable

VICTORIA, B.C.

Students at Victoria College . decisively rejected propa-
ganda in favor ef a new war when they voted by a large
majority at a noon-hour debate last week to reject the prop-

osition, “Resolved, that war

Main speakers opposing the re-
solution were Archie McGugan,
chairman of the Victoria Club
of the National Federation of
Labor Youth, and Pat Thomas,
Student Council member and a
son of Dr. J: M. Thomas, pro-
minent local member of the
CCF.

“Propaganda in favor of war
comes mainiy from the Ameri-
can political figures and news
commentators,” said McGugan,
“but they are unable to ‘find

any dependable allies. Europe
wants reconstruction and Asia
wants independence. Every-

where the overwhelming major- .

ity of people want peace. The
true sentiments of the American
people are for peace.”

“Since the conditions that
breed wars are made ‘by man
they can be changed by man,”
‘asserted Pat Thomas. “If we
want to help backward coun-
tries, we must send them aid
without requiring their political
subservience.”

is inevitable.”

Opinion in U.S.
favors pulling
ouf of Korea

NEW YORK

With two out of three Ameri-

cans declaring that the US.

should withdraw its troops from

Korea, the grass-roots peace up-

surge in this country swept for-
ward to a new pitch last week.

‘In an American Institute of
Public Opinion Poll (Gallup), 66

percent of those questioned re-

plied that the U.S. should “pull
our troops out of Korea as fast
as possible.’ Nine percent had
no opinion. In addition, when
asked if the U.S. “made a mis-
take’ in going in to Korea in
the first place, 49 percent re-
plied: “Yes, we made a mistake.”
This is more than double the
affirmative opinion expressed
when the same question was put
last August.

UN must act
for peace-[WA

VICTORIA, B,C.

An across-the-board increase of 25 cents an hour in 1951 was the major demand

advanced by British Columbia’s largest trade

union, International Woodworkers of

America, which wound: up its 14th annual district convention here Sunday night. De-
termination of the 130 delegates to win this pay HS: before the present contract expires

June 15 was expressed in the slogan unanimously

tract — no work.”

, adopted by the convention: “No con-

Some 72 resolutions dealing with waages and contract revisions showed the tem-

CONTINUED

EX-MAYOR

will find ourselves unless we
join with’ Nehru and the rest
of the Asiatic bloc in a stiff
resistance to that policy,” the
ex-Mayor wrote.

“Can we honestly blame China
for fearing the motives of the

* U.S. in Korea? More stubbornly

entrenched than ever, the US.

now states that ‘national secur- .

ity needs of the United States
will dictate the future of For-
mosa, They further declare
that they will never participate
in any conference about For-
mosa at which the national gov-
ernment of Chiang Kai-shek is
not represented. What further
evidence could. China need that
she can expect no possible sym-
pathetic approach to her prob-
lems from that source?

“Despite the fact that ‘Chiang
Kai-shek has been thoroughly
discredited both at home and
abroad, and that his Nationalist
government does not represent
@ comparative handful of the
Chinese people, the U.S. reaffirms
our fears that they have no in-
tention of abandoning their vain
hope of eventually reimposing
that reactionary element on
China, by any and every means.

“As for the elastic term, “na-
tional security’, now coined by
the U.S. to justify its action on
Formosa, despite the terms of
the Cairo agreement of 1948,
whereby the U.S. pledged that
Formosa, then held by Japan,
should be turned over to China
after the Second world war —
what would be our attitude to
any Communist power which de-
cided to send troops, fleets, or
air patrols 5,000 miles ~ away
from their national borders, to
say. Hawaii, Alaska or Vancou-
ver Island, on the same pretext?

“We would not tolerate such
a ‘national security’. move for
one minute, and yet we expect

the Communist countries to ac-

cept this explanation of our in-
tervention without protest.

Naturally, they do not believe
the United States — and cou-
pied with such flagrant support
of rotten reactionary regimes,
and refusal to accept the man-
date of the majorities of the
peoples in these countries as to
the government they wish to
represent them on the world
council--it is not to be wondered
Bt ewars °

“We must speak out, in no
uncertain terms, as a free and
independent nation and free and
independent peoples, that we
stand. for the forces of progress
in Asia and in all underprivi-

leged countries—that we recog- |

nize the social significance of
the revolts of these peoples and
that we sympathize with them
and will do what we can to
help them to accomplish their
objectives.”

per of woodworkers in the face of rising living costs.
Other key demands include nine paid statutory holidays,
periodic upward adjustment of wage rates in relation to.
the COL index, better pay for skilled and semi-skilled
workers, a health and welf@re plan, and union shop con-
ditions. mis

An interim wage increase of six cents an hour (which
employers hoped to tie to a cost-of-living sliding scale for
an 18-month term) proved so unpopular with delegates that
IWA leaders, who had been secretly pushing the scheme

for some time, only made passing reference to it.
Ignored in the daily press was an important peace

resolution endorsed by the convention.

“Whereas, peace of the

CONTINUED

' prosperity

~~ PEARKES

our own land. We may have
to step up our forces to 120,-
000 men. We have a_ three-
fold commitment — forces for

support of the Atlantic Pact

army in Europe, maintenance
of the Korean effort, and send-
ing more and more. supplies
to nations which feel that their
standard of living has fallen so
low that it is not worth defend-
ing.

“The. aged, pensioners, unem-
ployed and unemployables. are
having very hard going, but
our program will cost a great
deal of money. You can’t have
and defense. Our
soldiers’ pay is good, $80 a
month.”

As Major’ General Pearkes sat
down, feeble applause came from
about a dozen of his support-
ters. Then a young RCAF vet-
eran jumped to his feet and
moved that Canada withdraw
the Princess Pats regiment from
KXorea, on the grounds that gov-
ernments representing the ma-
jority of mankind opposed our
role in Korea.

Not a voice was raised in op-
position to the motion, and chair-
man K. D. Alexander peremp-
terily ruled the motion “out of
order” and declared the meeting
adjourned.

CONTINUED

PEACE

important factor in frustrating
continued American attempts to
brand China as the aggressor,
force imposition of diplomatic
and economic sanctions and pre-

pare for attacks on the Chinese |

mainland.
Back of the conciliatory posi-
tion taken in the UN by Exter-

“nal Affairs Minister Lester B.

Pearson was the nationwide de-
mand .— cutting across political
lines — for recognition of ‘China.
This demand was frequently ac-
companied by the call for with-
drawal of Canadian troops from
Korea, opposition to any con-
scription of Canadian youth and
denunciation of plans to rearm
Germany and Japan.

‘ Canadian Peace. Congress of-
ficials expect this action for
peace to grow, culminating in

the great National Assembly for ~

Peace to be held in Toronto on
April 6-8.

It read:

world is a matter of vital

concern to all woodworkers and
people in general, and ;

“Whereas, it is the hope of all
that Canada should exert every
effort through the United Na-
tions to maintain world peace,

“Resolved, that the 14th an-
nual convention of the B.C. Dis-
trict Council No. 1, IWA, go on
record urging the Canadian gov-
ernment. to exert every effort
in the United Nations to settle
international disputes without
war.”

Another resolution; unanimous-
ly endorsed, took a strong stand
against es | freezing” and
against “no strike” legislation.

An executive-inspired resolu-
tion advocating an increase in
union dues of 50 cents per month
was defeated, 69 to 58, but a
recommendation for a $2 as-
sessment was carried and goes
to the membership for ratifica-
tion.

All 12 locals of the district,
representing 27,000 IWA mem-
bers, sent delegates to the con-
vention. The international of-
fice representatives were James
E. Fadling, president; A, F.
Hartung, first vice-president;
and Virgil Burtz, research and
education director.

J. Stewart Alsbury, president
of the district, was nominated
to hold that post for another
year. No other candidate was
proposed, but a referendum vote -
will have to be held to confirm
his re-election, and the ballot
will allow for “write-in” of
other names.

George . Mitchell was the sole
nominee for the post of secre-
tary-treasurer and Fred ¥Fieber
was the only candidate for third
vice-president.

(Referendum votes will also be
held on the nomination of Joe
Morris, Duncan, and Tom Brad-
ley, Vancouver, for first vice-
president; Stu Hodgson and Carl
Mertz, Vancouver, for second
vice-president; and Roy Whittle,
Victoria, and Andy Good, Van-
couver, for six-year trustee.

Appointment of. a _ full-time
safety director for the district
was approved.

LPP national meet
opening in Toronto

TORONTO
Dele to the fourth natio-
nal convention of the Labor-
Progressive party, to be held
here January 25-28, were arriv-
ing in Toronto this week. De-
cisions of the convention will
be outlined by Tim Buck, LPP
national leader, at a public meet-
ing in Massey Hall this Sunday.

i; PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JANUARY 26, 1951 — Page 12