- Qnq MUTE CMC TUE TEL CTL EN TNT Ent Ton TOT TT OE GS TTT Tat Tet Tt SETHE U TOOL ILO RI COD ELD Ob tte ttettad TRADE unionists, working class cul- tural and education organizations, political parties such as the CCF and the LPP, in fact every working man or woman, regardless of political or religious beliefs, should give some little Study to ‘Canada’s draft of a new ‘Crim- inal Code! : This weighty document of 294 pages, known ‘as Bill H-8, is now before ‘the Banking and Finance Committee of the Senate for “study,” having passed Second reading in the last session of ‘the House of ‘Commons, and it will ome before parliament again after the present adjournment. ‘Since the average citizen pays little attention (unfortunately) to the legal achieve- Ments of our lawmakers, ‘there is a danger that the new Criminal Code may be placed on the statute books While a large section of the public is Still unaware of the danger it presents to hard-won rights and liberties. For Not only does iit violate our traditional Concepts of Magna Carta, but in es- Sence it is in keeping with tthe state Structure of a class society, demanding Conformity with the thinking and ac- tions of the capitalist party in power! We grew up in a'school which taught Us that an Engilishman’s home, regard- less of how humble, was his “castle.” Underlying that sterling concept was the right to think; to express one’s thoughts openly and without ifear; to Persuade others to a similar line of thought. All tha't, of course, was a long time 880, long before the advent of fascism With its consequent thought control and “legalized” conformity, now one Sf \the key weapons iin our cold war Way of life.” In the year 1919 we saw the Tory. Sovernment of saturnine Arthur Meighen enact thought control Jegis- lation by order-in-council; legislation nhown as Section 98 of the ‘Criminal Ode, which knocked our schioolboy Concepts of Magna (Carta into a cocked at; legislation which permitted ithe Powers-thatybe to invade the “sanctity f the home” without warrant or other legak authority, throw the inhabitants Eto prison, and hale them into a court Which contrary ‘to all preconceived ‘deas of British justice, ‘presumed the accused to ibe guilty, and placed the Snus’ of proving ‘his innocence upon himself! (In ‘the trials of the Winni- Peg General Strike leaders in 1919-20 8nd ‘the famed trials of the Communist faders in 1931, both condueted under Ction 98 “rules;” this travesty of Class ‘justice’ predominated. What Je accused had, did. ior some ‘future time might think or ‘teach, was con- Sidered sufficient evidence of “guilt” ° send them up for long penitentiary terms. ) Today as the ideas of universal peace Socialism sweep across continents Seas. the old order seeks to impose Nd consolidate its rule by extralegal atutes. The real essence of Bill H-8 8n be expressed in one word: ‘con- °rmity, ‘The citizen who does not con- form to the cold war thinking of the * Party in power can be indicted for on”! agit Bill H-8 the four sections covering Pn” are as all-embracing as the “election promises of a Tory or Lib- . | eral. While its bourgeois designers allow a limited “criticism” of govern- mental policies, the line of demarcation between a presumed constitutional right and “‘sedition” is a fine chalk mark, depending upon the times and conditions. ‘To urge that in the next federal election the St. Laurent gov- ernment (because of its war policies which ‘have ‘brought the Canadian peo- ple to the verge of ruin) should be snowed under in an avalanche of pro- ~ ‘test votes. is coming dangerously close ito “sedition” under Bill H-8.) Section 62 is a one-way _ street: “Every one who, without lawful justifi- cation, publishes a libel that tends to degrade, revile or expose to hatred and contempt in the estimation of the peo- ple of a foreign state any person who exercises sovereign authority over that state, is guilty of an indictable of- fense, ...” On a two-way street basis, almost “every newspaper, radio broadcasting station, bourgeois politician, parson, or other uninformed or biased citizen, could be indicted, as witness the daily dose of cold war propaganda we get against the leaders and peoples of the Soviet Union, China, 'the New Democ- racies of Europe, or ‘the liberation movements of ‘the peoples of the col- onial countries! ; But we can still pan hell out of Stalin, Mao Tse-tung, Dr. James Endicott or the Dean of Canterbury with all ‘the invective at out command, without runinng (foul of Section 62 of H-8. But gu easy on A-Bomb Harry, or great “democrats” like Chiang Kai-shek. Syngman Rhee, Konrad Adenauer or Francisco Franco. To suggest that these are anything other than nice folks is to court “imprisonment for two years.” Sections 365-66 contain ‘a legal “patck- age” for trade unions, and especially those workers engaged in transport and other public services. Under the “sanctity” of contract, any breaches (strikes) which can be presumed to ad- versely affect the public, are good for’ “five years.” Likewise a too-persistent effort to dissuade persons from scab- bing during a strike ‘Gs guilty of an effence punishable on summary con- viction” and so on and so forth. These few observations by no means cover all the dangers to working people implicit in Bill H-8. Like all such docu- ments it has a few good points sa'fe- guarding the rights and privileges of citizenship. ‘But these are more than cancelled out by the thought-control ideology which runs all through H-8 like ‘a yellow threat. f - Nor are these matters only of con- cern to trade unionists or other work- ingclass sections of the people. The law societies of (Canada and even Sections of the judiciary can find much in H-8 to feel perturbed about, because like the now repealed Section, 98 of the old Criminal Code, Bill 'H-8 makes unwrit- ten provision for a police state which, in time would abrogate the supremacy of the law courts. The recent “Garson. ‘Amendments’ were pretty raw in 'their content and aim, but Bill H-8 incorpor- ates every cardinal principle in some of its sections that are a violation of every concept of British usage and law. We would suggest that 'the legislative committees of trade unions and other working class bodies put H-8 on ‘their agendas for study—and action—before this legal dog-collar is clamped upon Canada—as a legal manual for cold . war goose-stepping. ADACHAU MURDERER 3 6,000,000 § JEWS § The new defenders of “our way of life” Legislature must discuss BCHIS [X TAICKLING ‘the controversial problem of BCHIS, the new Social Credit gov- ernment has moved cautiously (by its initial decision to reduce the annual premium ‘by approximately $3 and ‘to substitute a $1 a day charge for lthe duration of stay in hospital for the co-insurance charge ‘of $3.50 a day for the first ten days in hospital imposed by the late unlamented Coalition government. While this modest concession will serve to allay ‘some fears that Social ‘Credit contemplated scuttling BCHIS by makin it purely “voluntary,” there is still much to ‘be done to make BCHIS what the people of B:C. expect it to be: a government-operatted insurance scheme that would assure admittance to ‘hospital, if, as and when required,‘and at a premium rate with in the ability of all wage and salary earners. There are two key reports on hospital insurance and management (they cost B.C. taxpayers a tidy sum) which tthe Johnson:Anscomb government deliberately and consistently hit away from public knowledge; the Hamilton Report, salted away since 1949, and the more recent Kellogg-Stevenson report. Tf the Bennett government wants to avoid “playing politics’ with BCHIS as its predecessors did, it must make both these reports public property. In point of fact, BCHIS is only one of the many in the “comedy of errors” which marked ‘the final years of Liberal-Tory mismanagement in B/C. The ICA Act, 'Workmen’s ‘Compensation, milk prices and distribution—these and many other pressing problems demand full legislative attention, rather than cabinet order-in-council tinkering. B.C. has had a surfeit of the abrogation of parliament: by monopoly yesmen. Only an early session of the legisla- ture ‘can resolve ‘these issues and give the people an answer to an ever-grow- ing question: who stands for what? IODE and the ~ Communists IHEN some of our up-to-date cold war writers give vent to what they , think a Communist thinks, the result can often be abyssmally stupid, and at times, mirth-provoking. : or instance, one of Maclean’s Maz- azine hired entertainers named Porter has a feature article in ‘the August 15 edition which starts off thus: “One day last ‘year the uabor-Pro- gressive party, Moscow’s ‘fifth column in ‘Canada, drew up a list of its enemies ‘in order of importance. At the top, of ‘course, was the RCMP. But foe num- ber two, incredibly enough, was a wo- man’s organization known as ithe TODE.” hat was all. The balance of Porter’s screed, well garnished with commercial traveller wisecracks, deals with the - aims and objects of the Imperial Order, Daughters of the Empire (LODE). Tt is scarcely likely that Communists “ist”? their enemies so unscientifically, and certainly not in the order set down by “Canada’s National Magazine.” The number one enemy of the peo- ple, Communist or non-communist, is the warmongering imperialists, the monopolists and their hangers-on, who subordinate every moral canon of civ- lized behavior ‘to the greed for pelf and profit. Despite their adherence to ideals and concepts of empire which time and change have already made obsolete, thousands of good ‘Canadian women de- vote their energies to charitable work through the TODE, mainly aimed at helping this tottering old system totter along a little longer. True, some sec- tions and members of the IODE do keep on grinding some antique political axes, expressing ‘their “horror” a't the “terrible” Communists the while. But, with lots of Porters around, that is easily “ understood. The Porter hate campaign jis a re- flection, not of the opposing viewpoints of ‘the IODE and the Communists, but of the political quagmire of cold war muck in which “Canada’s National (Magazine” is floundering. Pacific _ TRIBUNE Published Weekly at Room 6- 426 Main Street, Vancouver 4, B.C. Tom McEwen, Editor - Hal Griffin, Associate Editor : Subscription Rates: : Canada and British Commonwealth countries (except Australia) One Year: $2.50 .... Six Months: $1.35 Australia, United States and all other countries One Year: $4.00 Six Months: $2.50 Printed by Union Printers Ltd., 650 Howe Street, Vancouver 1, B.C. Authorized as second class mail, Post Office Dept., Ottawa. PACIFIC TRIBUNE — AUGUST 15, 1952 — PAGE 5