GDR AND CANADA

M. Bader, White Rock
writes: On Friday, December 22,
1972, the Canadian government
announced it would recognize the
German Democratic Repub-
lic, adecision which will be fol-
lowed by diplomatic exchanges
as soon as possible.

This is good news for Cana-
dians and for the people of the
GDR. There is no doubt that
normal diplomatic relations be-
tween our two countries will
lead to mutually beneficial
trade and cultural exchanges.

At the same time it will help to
Strengthen the struggle for world
Peace. The German Demo-
cratic Republic is the first
Socialist state of the German
nation. Their highest concern is
for world peace; thatisthemain
Point in their foreign policy,
under the slogan: ‘‘Never shall
there be launched a war from
German soil.”’

The government of the GDRis
Nothing like past German
S0vernments — under the
Kaiser or Hitler and the Ger-
Man war monopoly indus-
trialists. Twice within half a cen-
tury, in one lifetime, they
plunged the world into the most
terrible holocaust.

At two different periods the
ene working people fought
: €ir own war profiteers and

Tied to punish them for the
aggressive war they had im-
ieaee on a peaceful world,
ri uding the German people
ees lve. And twice the Wes-
ae Powers rescued the Ger-
: N war criminals— after the

irst world war and againafter
the second.
: Hitler was not the only war
criminal; there were the big
industrialists who became
afer richer from the slave labor
Pe prisoners taken to Ger-

ie an those countries the
Binders attacked and

After the war the German
See particularly the

rkers, wanted to put anend to

421 aggression and to mono-
po Capitalism. In certain
nue a plebiscite was started to
ae Onalize all the industries of
Rina profiteers and Nazi war
Spy tae In the province of
a eA « of the people voted
Sa ee eae of industry
oa € banks, for expropriation

e big landowners’ estates

‘andinstitutionofa democratic

land reform.

This democratic action be-
came popular throughout the
whole of Germany. Inthe East
side it was carried out inaccord-
ance with the terms of the Pots- .
dam Agreement. But, in the
Western zone, the occupation
authorities representing the
Western Powers quickly stopped
the plebiscite and prosecuted
the leaders of the democratic
movement. They protected the
guilty war profiteers, took them
out of jailsand even helped them
financially through the Marshall
Plan, putting them back into
their former business positions.
(Similar actions took place after
the First World War).

The Potsdam Agreement was
never carried out in the West-
ern part of Germany.

However, in the Eastern part
of Germany a democratic
republic was established — a
peaceful state, because it wasa
socialist state. But the German
Democratic Republic had a
very difficult time to build up
their industry. She got no help
from the capitalist countries,
quite the contrary. The press of
the capitalist world predicted
many times the collapse of the
new German workers’ and
farmers’ state. (Just like we
used to hear about the Soviet
Union 50 years ago).

What was really happening
through all those hard years?
Despite the fact that she had few
raw materials, the GDR was
able to import huge quantities
from the Soviet Union. With
confidence in their socialist
government the people labored
as never before to build up their
economy. Today, the German
Democratic Republic is one of
the ten leading industrial
powers inthe world. East Berlin
is but one of many beautifully
rebuilt cities in the GDR, liter-
ally built upon the ashes of the
old. The people's standard of liv-
ing continues to rise.

There is no doubt that Cana-
dian workers and businessmen
stand to benefit from these devel-
opments and we can look
forward to many enjoyable and
exciting cultural exchanges.
We can besure that nothing but
good will come out of this new
found friendship.

Murphy sets record straight

In December Harvey Murphy,
who was Canadian Vice-Presi-
dent of Mine Mill when it merged
with the United Steelworkers in
Canada, senta letter to the Trail
Times answering charges made
by Kent Rowley ata meeting in
support of the attempt by a
“Canadian” union to win certi-
fication.

Following is the text of
Murphy’s letter:

Editor, The Times:

As one who had something to
do with the organization of the
workers at the Cominco proper-
ties in Trail, Kimberley and else-

where, I was appalled to read an
account in the Trail Times of
November 27th of a speech by
my old acquaintance, Kent
Rowley. Rowley said that “‘little
is known of the facts surround-
ing the United Steelworkers of
America takeover of the Mine
Mill local at Trail. The decision
of takeover was made at Denver,
Colorado. Workersat Trail were
bound hand and foot and soldlike
pigs at a market to the Steel
workers.”

If the Trail Times quoted him
accurately, I can only say that
not only is Rowley wrong, buthe
knows heis wrong. I cansay that
because I personally told him
all the facts related to the
merger between Mine Milland
Steel in 1967.

In the first place to speak of
the merger as a ‘‘takeover’’ is
deliberately misleading. The
question of whether tomerge, or
not to merge, was discussed and
debated in special conferences,
local meetings and finally ata
Special Mine Mill Convention
for almost a year before the
merger was carried out. Then it
was voted on ina secret ballot
vote of all the Canadian mem-
bers of Mine Mill in August, 1967.
This resulted in 70 per cent of the
Canadian membership of Mine
Mill voting for the merger. Asa
matter of record the vote of
Local 480, Trail, was 1553 for
merger with 465 against. In Kim-
berley it was 602for, 248 against,
Pine Point was 90-27 in favor,
Bluebell 77-52 and Con Yellow-
knife 111 to 20 against. Sotaken
all together the Cominco

:workers voted 2,433 for merger
to 812 opposed.

I was then Canadian Vice-
President of Mine Mill, and

CORRECTION

Last week the PT reported
that Bob Towle had turned in
five new subs during the current
drive, winning him the indi-
vidual award for getting the
highest number of newreaders
in Vancouver. Actually, Bob got
11 new subs. Sorry for the mis-
take, Bob, but we are happy to
make the correction.

a oe a =
Workers !

l

Benevolent Assn. |
Of Canada

i]

Progressive Fraternal Society
Caters to all your needs in the
Life Insurance field

|

|

1

|

|

| |
: :
LIFE INSURANCE
| ENDOWMENTS
| PENSION PLANS
\ WEEKLY BENEFITS |
|

| Apply to: B.C. office at l
| 805 East Pender St. or |
1 National Office at
l 595 Pritchard Ave.
Winnipeg 4, Manitoba |
vs 1

party to the negotiations on
merger here in Canada with the
Canadian officers of the United
Steelworkers, Bill Mahoney
and Larry Sefton. This was dis-
tinct and separate from the U.S.
merger negotiations and in fact
the Mine Mill minutes record
the fact that we parted company
with the U.S. Mine Mill officers
on that score. That was in June,
1966, at a joint meeting of the
U.S. and Canadian executives
inthe Devonshire Hotelin Van-
couver. So no ‘‘deal’’ was made
in ‘‘Denver’’ regarding the Cana-
dian members of Mine Mill.
The merger was made under the
direction of the Canadian
membership, between Cana-
dian officers of both Unions.

All of this is known to Kent
Rowley.

However, turning to the cur-
rent shenanigans of Mr. Rowley
and his so-called ‘‘Canadian
Unions’’ he might be surprised
to know that to organize Trail in
the early 1940’s we had to beata
company union that called
itself the ‘‘Maple Leafs.”’
Imagine that! It was as phony as
a three dollar bill even if it
called itself the ‘‘Maple Leafs.”

I think Bill Mahoney is
absolutely right, and I’m gladhe
said that Rowley’s crowd repre-
senta ‘‘new and insidious form
of company unionism.”’
Rowley’s gang remind me of
somebody backing the horse
into the stable so they can drive
it down the road. Not much
production that way. Kent
Rowley knows perfectly well
that division and disunity
created by raiding is a dangerous
road for workers to take and why
he associates himself with this
he will have to explain.

It was exactly the no-raiding
pact of 1966 and the merger be-
tween the Steelworkers and
Mine Mill in 1967 that ended that
terrible business in the metal
mining industry of Canada.
Rowley knows this as well, but
now we see him raiding. As I’ve
said often in the past you can put
whiskey inamilk bottle butit’s
still whiskey, but if you only
have water to put in the jug,
that’s still water. Imagine
Cominco workers dividing and
isolating themselves from the
strength of their fellow workers
in the metal mining industry at
a time when Cominco is becom-
ing a bigger and bigger multi-
national outfit, with ties allover
the world. That’s plain silly.

Ihave nodirectknowledge of
what happened in the Cominco
bargaining lastsummer, but if
there were mistakes or errors,
then every means is provided
through the democratic
processes of the Steelworkers
Union to correct such mistakes
or errors. I only hope that the
company and Mr. Rowley
aren’t turning the younger work-
er against the older men be-
cause years ago we had to bar-
gain for higher pensions and
benefits when the average age
at Cominco was well over forty.

Anyway, in my view, all the

miners, smeltermen and main-
tenance workers would be
damned foolish if they were to
follow Mr. Rowley down his
path of division. I have much
more respect and confidence
for the people I organized with
and fought side by side with for
more than thirty years than to
think they would follow a man
who thinks so little of them and
their intelligence as to describe
them as “‘pigs.”’

preeernsiwerni ane

NEW SHIPMENT FROM THE
U.S.S.R.

Beautiful linens and embroidered articles —
hand painted wooden ware — dolls — wall
plaques — pottery — records, — -beeks,— |
transistor radios and watches. ;

For items that are different, shop at

GLOBAL IMPORTS

2677 East Hastings St.,
Vancouver 6

Phone 253-8642

Open from 9 to 5, six daysa week to serve you

Classified advertising

COMING EVENTS:

BUSINESS PERSONALS

January 20th — ANNUAL
BURNS SUPPER, Saturday,
January 20th at FISHER-
MEN’S HALL, 138 E. Cor-
dova St. Supper 6:30 p.m.
Dance 9:00 p.m. Admission
$4.00, Students & Pension-
ers $3.00. For tickets phone
939-0245 or 936-4467.

January 20 — COPE CON-
FERENCE, January 20th,
2:00-4:00 PM as planned —
Supper cancelled due to Burns
Night.

January 25— You are Invited to
See and Hear Mr. Ray Carl-
son’s new Moscow and Lenin-
grad slides that he took while
attending the Canada-USSR
hockey series. January 25th
at 8:00 p.m., Buenavista
Hall, White Rock. Refresh-
ments will be served. Aus-
pices: Fraser Valley Peace
Committee.

Will do Small Moving, Odd Jobs,
Carpentry, Painting, etc.
Phone Stuart, 263-3103.

HALLS FOR RENT

WEBSTER’S CORNER HALL
— Available for banquets,
meetings, weddings, etc. For
rates, Ozzie 325-4171 or 685-
5836.

UKRAINIAN CANADIAN
CULTURAL CENTRE - 805
East Pender St., Vancouver 4,
Available for banquets, wed-
dings, meetings. Phone 254-
3436.

RUSSIAN PEOPLE’S HOME.
Now available for rentals. For
reservations phone 254-3430.

Pass this paper on
to your friend

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, JANUARY 12, 1973—PAGE 11

an mR ST IR nn RT aE RT
- meen |i