in Syria

JF THERE IS a-crisis over Syria

today, it is the product, not of
Soviet intrigue but of U.S. meddl-
Mg in the internal affairs of inde-
Pendent states under cover of the
'senhower Doctrine.

: For decades, and particularly in
oe Post-war years, Britain and
erik ‘S. have made the countries

e Near and Middle East the
con eetound of their rival interests
peudihe for control of oil re-

ces. They have overthrown
®°vernments and installed puppets
or the greater profit of the monop-

a And they are still trying to
It,

ampith a great show of indignation
: manor claims that it was only
a Ind to facilitate “Communist
ms, the U.S. refutes the charge
met i agents were plotting the
= . row of the Syrian govern-
eo Yet it was only yesterday
at the British. were accusing U.S.

a : :
Sents of supporting the revolt in
Man, °

en before that it was U.S. and
ve agents, conspiring with na-
~ feactionaries, who contrived
ey row of the popularly el-
a £overnments of Jordan and
ist — as they will continue to
the overthrow of the Syrian
S°vernment,
tap - fact is that the US., in seek-
a a extend its huge oil holdings
of os Middle East at the expense
the » British rivals and glways at
;, _*Pense of the native peoples,
us wrsed in some pretty danger-
Bs Mtrigues — dangerous to the
ace of the world.

It is,

Is e

fons however, up against a new
oe te rising force, of Arab na-
he i The Arab people are
ee ing control of their own re~
i, ae) and full sovereign: rights

Ih Arr 5
the determination of their own

Hairs,

a the circumstances, it is not

Pee ne. that they have turned to
Socialist countries, which have

‘ designs on their territory, for

in de and support in securing their
Pendence,

Pacific Tribune

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Room 6 — 426 Main Street

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Phone: MArine 5288
Editor — TOM McEWEN
Clate Editor — HAL GRIFFIN

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Asso

EDITORIAL PAGE * Comment

==,

*

WT

Miode EAST IY Ot wyTER

HOW times do change — or do
they? Last week Alf .Dew-
hurst mailed me a leading edit-
orial from the Toronto Globe and
Mail. This top organ of rabid
Tory reaction doesn’t approve of
trade unionists seeking wage in-
creases, and cites the IWA in
B.C., as the-horrible example.

The Globe and Mail is certain

the poor lumber operators just
couldn’t afford one red cent in
higher wages, but out of the sheer
goodness of their hearts, offered
the IWA a 5 percent gift. This
the IWA  ungratefully turned
down. Then, “with the hands of
the clock*ticking towards the 10
a.m. strike deadline, Premier Ben-
nett joined both parties in an all-
night conference’. . . and emerg-
ed by the dawn’s early light to
announce everything just peachy.
The operators had offered 7%
percent, the union had accepted,
the strike was off. Tumuttous
applause, accompanied by danc-
ing in the streets, ete.,” with Pre-
mier Bennett cast in the role of
dance “caller,” and thereby add-
ing to the “ruin!”

Summing up, the Globe and
Mail discovers that the B.C. lum-
ber industry is on the rocks, busi-
ness going to the dogs, unem-
ployment, which “is not an act
of God” upon us, and all because
lumber and other workers “would
rather be unemployed at $2 an
hour — a precise instance of pie
inthe sky — than employed
at $1.80.”

There it is in high-grade Tory
logic. ‘British Columbia’s lum-
ber workers have managed to
price themselves out’ of jobs.
Other workers all over Canada
are doing the same thing.”

As hungry chicken are said to
dream of millet, so Tory “econ-
omists’ dream of. substandard
wages and maximum profits, dis-
torting all the basic laws of capit-
alism inetheir editorial ranting.

% bes xt

Our loss of markets, according
to the Globe and Mail, is not be-
cause we follow US. dictates and
flatly refuse to promote trade
with China, the USSR, Europe
and Commonwealth countries, but
because Canadian labor insists on
a wage commensurate with ‘liv-
ing costs. “In consequence our
prices are too high .. . and peo-
ple abroad, while anxious to have
all the things. we produce, are
unable to pay for them... .”

Most workers have heard that
Tory yarn before and doubtless
will again. It’s as phoney as the
Globe and Mail “economics” in
concluding that trade unionists
are “pricing” themselves out of
jobs.

Seizing upon this Globe and
Mail anti-labor diatribe the Van-
couver Sun reprinted it in abridg-
ed form under the caption: “B.C.
Workers Idle at $2 Rather Than
Take $1.80.”

So now we have the perfect
Tory explanation, reminiscent of
the days of R. B. “Iron Heel”
Bennett, for all our industrial
and market ills, and for Van-
couver’s growing army of 16,000
or more unemployed. Idle at $2
an hour, by preference mind you,
they just don’t want to work for
$1.80.

Times certainly do change —
but not capitalist editorial “econ-
omists” dedicated to the job of
twisting the truth and slander-
ing working men, Contrary to
Globe and Mail “economics,” we
haven’t got unemployment be-
cause we “asked for it,’ but be-
cause capitalism still thinks in
terms of world domination by
H-bombs rather than world peace
and trade.

Act now on

Columbia

HE byelections in Burnaby, Delta
and Cariboo provide the people
of this province with a finé oppor-
tunity to force Premier W. A. C.
Bennett to state his stand on de-
velopment of the Columbia River.

Announcement that the United
States is planning to go ahead with
the construction of Libby Dam on
the Kootenay in Montana (which
flows into the Columbia) has pro-
jected the question of how the Col-
umbia’s hydro power will be de-
veloped ‘onto the front pages.

The American announcement is
clearly a pressure move, designed
to influence Ottawa into accepting
a lower return for downstream bene-
fits on the Columbia.

In Victoria, Premier Bennett,
who has shown a marked reluctance
to proceed with the projected Mica
Creek dam as a publicly-owned
utility (despite the offer made by
the late Liberal government to help
finance the scheme) is keeping mum.
But if his past actions are any in-
dication, he probably is bending a
sympathetic ear in the direction of

the U.S. trusts behind the Libby
Dam plan.

British Columbia’s industrial
growth will eventually require the
maximum amount of power from
the Columbia. It follows that the
building of Mica Creek dam by the
publicly-owned B.C. Power Com-
mission remains a Pressing “‘must”
for this province’s industrial and
domestic progress.

The delay and failure of the
Bennett government to boldly pur-
sue that development and decisive-
ly turn “thumbs down” on U.S.
power groups’ angling in B.C. for
storage dams and power sites, has
demonstrated clearly that the pres-
ent Socred government desires to
continue its policy of giving away
our natural resources — a policy
in -which he has been restrained
only by public opposition to his
various schemes:

Bennett’s stand on power devel-
opment makes him a vulnerable
target in the coming byelections.
By challenging the premier’s hand-
picked Social Credit candidates on
this issue, the public can force Ben-
nett himself to answer the question:
“Do you intend to develop the Col-
umbia in the interests of the people
of B.C., or are you hoping to hand

it over to the American power
trusts?”

August 23, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 5