VL “If we can’t find a jobless Soviet worker to write about we'll lose our own jobs.” #. Oj ‘ if x ii By eee » 25 years ago... USSR WANTS PEACE WITH ANY AMERICA Ilya Ehrenburg famous Soviet ‘author and journalist, told the World Peace Council meeting July 4 that the Russians did not ate the Americans and had “no esire to change their way of life. “No one in the Soviet Union as ever encroached upon or will ever encroach upon the Merican way of life”, he said. “The Soviet people want Peace with any America of the Progressives or Republicans or emocrats. We want peace with the American workers and American capitalists, we want Pere not only with their friends ut with their enemies.” The Tribune, July 14, 1952 - FLASHBACKS FROM | THE COMMUNIST PRESS 50 years ago... THE MAKE BELIEVE FOREVER A stream of motor cars is spinning to the seaside resorts and golf courses. It’s July 1 and alt are gayly decorated with bunting and tiny flags. All Canada is enjoying a holiday. The sun recognizes it and shines down lavishly. The workers on. the road sweating in the same sun, step to one side as the klaxons shout at them to get out of the way. Then without waiting for the dust to settle, they return to their tasks (the foreman is handy) making roads for the rich to ride on. Gome let us sing “The Make Believe Forever”. The Worker, July 16, 1927 Still Number One : RDIMPORIAL COMMENT Politicking and pipelines The National Energy Board’s endor- sation of the Alcan natural gas pipeline, which may be a portent of government policy, does nothing to improve the un- savory picture of Liberal politicking and corporate scrambling after the spoils. (Considered a blow to the Mackenzie Valley scheme, Alcan would carry U.S. Alaska gas via the Yukon, British Col- umbia and Alberta to the USA, with someday a branch to take Mackenzie delta‘gas to Canadians.) The government approach to decid-_ ing which line, if any, and when, if ever, is disturbing on several counts. From the start it is an injustice to all - Canadians for private enterprise to own and control Canada’s energy resources and their transport. Both should be pub- licly owned and democratically controlled. 2% It is an even greater threat that Ottawa consistently dovetails its policies with those of U.S. imperialism at Canada’s expense. Behind a facade of patriotism the Trudeau Liberals embrace the USA’s © continentalist policies of dumping our vital, non-renewable resources into a pool to serve the USA and its bloated war machine. Canada should look to its people’s in-_, terests and not surrender to foreign ul- timatums such as Carter’s Sept. 1 dead- line for a pipeline decision. The Liberals appear to have wanted the NEB recommendation on Alcan to wave before Canadians as an excuse for rushing indecently into Carter’s arms. Some might even suspect the NEB was leaned on. The Berger Commission inquiry into the Mackenzie Valley line, by govern- The road to Within seven days of one another two’ widely separated Native People’s organi- ‘gations have made territorial and inde- pendence declarations. At the end of June, Richard Laing, speaking for the Indian Brotherhood of the Northwest Territories supported the call of the Dene people for a new form of administration for the NWT. On July 6, the Ojibway and Cree peoples of Treaty No. 9 in Ontario, through Chief Andrew Rickard, told Premier Davis: “Today our relationship with you must change.” And change it must. The Native Peoples must have a voice in determin- ing economic development and realizing its fruits in the areas they occupy; they must have autonomy with regard to edu- cation, language and culture. An instructive contrast to the Native Peoples’ struggle for rights here, can be seen across the polar region in the USSR with its more than 100 nationalities — 23 of them in the north. In the Russian Re- public alone there are 16 autonomous republics. The indigenous peoples of the USSR use their own language, publish their own literature and conduct their own regional affairs. We support all-out the struggles of Canada’s Native Peoples to do likewise, but it is well to realize that only rid of the ment standards, got too much public in- put, particularly from Native People, and won too much sympathy for their arguments. Mr. Justice Berger's call fora 10-year moratorium on Mackenzie would be a lot to buck with an election in the offing. Although, in the world of monopoly politics the Liberals could yet be forced to defy Berger. At this point the more restricted Lysyk inquiry into the Alcan route, not due to report till Aug. 1, may seem more expendable and the Native organiza- tions affected by Alcan, easier to ignore. Two nasty coincidences add to suspi- cion about government moves. Just two days before the NEB report, President Carter released the reports of a group of U.S. agencies showing their preference for the Alcan route. And New Democratic leader Ed Broadbent says results of a secret government poll testing “which way the wind was blowing” favored Alcan the day of the NEB report. The Liberals would appear to be both stage managing public opinion and trying to sound like the voice of the masses. It’s a shaky tight- rope they’re on, trying to serve monopo- ly’s interests well enough to prevent a switch to the Tories, while striving for popularity. It has been true all along, and it is emphatically true now: Canada urgently needs an all-inclusive energy policy, pub- licly owned and-democratically control- led, free of Liberal — or Tory — elec- toral expediency, based on Canada’s needs, and on full consideration of the representations of Native Peoples whose lives are affected. Native rights exploiting monopoly system can such rights be fully ensured. The Communist Party program—The Road to Socialism in Canada (p. 62) — states that in a socialist Canada “mea- sures to compensate the Native Peoples for the historic injustices . . . will include full recognition of their national identity and development of their native cul- tures; full power of decision-making on all questions pertaining to their affairs as Native Peoples. . . full equality . . .a mas- sive economic and social program to bring their living, health, housing and education standards, training and job opportunities up to accepted Canadian standards.” That is the kind of meaningful in- volvement in the affairs of Native People that will put an end to today’s injustices. Mozambique aid The Canadian Government should _waste no time in responding to the Un- ited Nations Security Council’s appeal to all states for immediate, substantial, material aid to Mozambique to strengthen its defences after repeated at- tacks by racist Rhodesian troops. Cana- dians should know of Ottawa’s action on — this urgent matter. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JULY 15, 1977—Page 3