NIXO N: : ‘THIS IS NOT AN INVASION OF CAMBODIA....’ | SIDELIGHTS “WE'RE TOURISTS!” Working women’s hands On December 14, 1918 Lenin addressed a workers’ conference in the Krasnaya Presnya District of Moscow. When he had finish- ed and was leaving the hall, closely surrounded by a crowd of workers, an elderly woman, a textile worker, started to bow low to him. “No, no, comrade don’t do that. Don’t!” objected Lenin. The woman explained that she wanted to greet comrade Lenin for all the workers of the Tryokhgornaya Textile Mills. Lenin asked her to tell him about herself, and she related that she had been a weaver for ~ many years, then had left the mills and now had come back to them. She was a team leader in the washing department, was no worse and no better off than others but now breathed more freely, for the director of the mills was a worker, her depart- ment chief was also a worker, and the chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars “looks like you.” Lenin laughingly admitted the likeness and asked whether she needed any kind of help. She timidly replied that dirty cotton was first washed in a very acid solution that was hard on the hands, and besides the water was very hot. “Couldn’t a milder solu- tion be invented?” she asked. And she held out her hands. They were the rough hands of one accustomed to work of all kinds, and they were the gentle hands that soothed the troubled hearts and inspired soldiers and. creative workers, the clever hands that spun and wove and raised children, the proud hands that raised a banner in the battles for the freedom and hap- piness of people, working hands that created all that was man- made on earth. Lenin raised those rough hands to his lips and kissed them. —Alexander Bezymensky Rae Sik He, : Editor—MAURICE RUSH Published weekly at Ford Bldg., Mezzanine No. 3, 193 E. Hastings Sis Vancouver 4, B.C. Phone 685-5288. Circulation Manager, ERNIE CRIST Subscription Rate: Canada, $5.00 one year; $2.75 for six months. North and South America and Commonwealth countries, $6.00 one year. All other countries, $7.00 one year Capitalist democracy Recently a William R. D, Martin, di- rector of the management centre of the University of Michigan and Wayne State University, told 800 members of the Personnel Association of Toronto that half the workers over 55 years of age, in any company, should be fired within the next three to five years. He said half the younger workers should also be fired, but not necessarily in the same period. This, said the professor, would be a prod to greater efficiency. And, he claims, the process is well under way in the U.S.A., mainly confined to executive types. As yet, we presume. He told his audience that the firings should begin at once. “If you don’t,” said this arrogant representative of U.S. monopoly, “your U.S. parents will do it for you.” He advised his admiring listeners that it would be better for them to shake the hand of “Old Charlie” than if it was done “impersonally” by some “personnel man” from the U.S.A. ‘Mind you, the scale of unemployment benefits, or relief, would be the same no matter by whom you were fired. He.advised his audience not to let it | give them ulcers. ' This is proof enough, if more were needed, that we must put an end to U.S. monopoly ownership and control over the Canadian economy. It’s proof enough that we need a strong trade union movement. to protect workers’ jobs, to fight for full employment until pension time. It’s proof enough that there’s something wrong with our so- called democratic system. that allows types like the William R. Martins to walk around free, advocating their in- human policies.. You can bet that none of these execu- tives types is going to fire himself, either. : Act or a new deal The dimensions of the urban crisis’ are growing. We are treated to a flood of rhetoric about it from the powers” that be, along with a trickle of remark- ably ineffective and costly remedies. That accounts for the widening credi- bility gap between the people and gov- ernment. Capitalism is responsible for the ur- ban crisis. This crisis consists of pollut- ed air and water, the stink of overflow- ing sewers, littered streets, rows of slum dwellings, high rents and taxes, kids — using busy streets for playgrounds, the population massacre by automobiles, overcrowded schools and hospitals, a garage on every choice bit of real estate in all cities, and super-highways built on the best beaches and recreation areas available. The real power behind city hall is the businessmen — the people who make money out of it all, who profit from the slums and the super-highways. When the protests get loud enough they build a little public housing — at the tax- payer’s expense. They even sometimes arrange public investigations and set up commissions. It will take some wide-ranging popu- : lar struggles to change this state of affairs. The first line of attack is on war spending. Diverting war spending ‘American oil barons comes from _remain in Canadian hands. tt - sent thousands. of Canadian farce’ i to useful purposes can open the doo! ta urban renewal, construction of hous ing within reach of the low-incolt ss workers. Business must be made ‘ clean up its filth, and assume a large share of taxes. ei New Course? =| The only information we have abot! the speech Energy and Resources Mh) ister J. J. Greene made to a group t capitalist press, at best an unreliable source of information. 5 i The papers claim that some busine men are angry about it. General 7 speaking, propositions that make tH bosses sore can’t be all bad. rat | Greene is, reported to have said til) the U.S. business world had better & pect a much more “nationalistic” Of : ada in the future. He spoke about ¥ U.S. war in Indochina, and campus rest in the U.S.A.., and—dramatically ! that his government intends to prote’ and develop a distinct Canadian cultul® even to the extent of jamming the # waves. : tuo Solutions, he said, for oil on the cor . tinent must be made in the interests * Canada. He expressed concern 4 a the amount of U.S. ownership of CaM, | dian economy, and said that steps mu | be taken to assure that a substall i proportion of FUTURE growth m™ | It’s not clear what this all meaney looks like some more sly kite flying Hf the Trudeau administration to try®, some policies. But, it reflects the gt?) ing opposition in Canada to U.S. mor poly domination. Greene did not, h” ever, discuss how Canada’s energy. td sources will be developed, or how cay ada’s Arctic will be opened tail No one should be under the illus! that the Trudeau administration 5). changed course. Where speeches; va Greene’s, objectively strengthen the vi sition of the working class, they shor 4 4 be supported They by no means at the class struggle, nor do they yet cle r | ly define that Canadian monopoly 7) | ests have embarked on a new coum, | It does appear, however, that as 47, sult of growing contradictions betWet | different monopoly interests, sectiom™ a Canadian big business are conside!?” a more independent line. o Tripping with Truded? Prime Minister Trudeau says he oy tell the youth of Canada about a ™ the | better “trip” they can take than as “mind blowing trip” of drugs. He 54> Canada’s youth should take a “tr as : the Canadian Arctic or to Austra Outback. — The Prime Minister is the chief Cy cutive officer of Canadian mponopop As such, he has sent over half-a-ml™_ 4, Canadian workers on “trips” to the). employment insurance offices. © ies mee’ on “trips” to the social welfare ° 1 He has forced thousands of farm f4 lies to take a “trip” off the land. . ste Indeed, sometimes the Prime Min? is given to great silliness. . ene While factories have become idles eat! farmers stop growing food, Tru chatters.