Vol. 9, No. 8 “eR AY HOE ud pg 4) TH STAN Mili if i inp : Meh ear! Vancouver, British Columbia, February 24, 1950! oe Price Five Cents -Won‘’t see delegation WHY DOES ST. LAURENT FEAR PEACE DRIVE? Gavel - pounding, florid - faced Alderman George Miller shouted, “This council is not on trial” and tried to silence a delegation of Unemployed Action Association members who stormed into coun- cil chambers Tuesday afternoon demanding cash relief, but he Went down to verbal defeat. Big Fred Collins, unemployed Seaman and leader of the delega- tion, raised his voice to: match iller’s and gave council mem- bers a tongue-lashing they will long remember. The meeting was a sequel to an earlier one Monday. At that me council agreed to phone Ot- tawa asking aid for destitute Cases: A wire from Arthur Mc- Namara, deputy minister of labor, complacently asserted that . “the Peak in unemployment in Van- rouver and New Westminster “aS passed’’ and stated that no ‘mediate relief action would be taken, ‘The situation is as clear as mud after this telegram,” de- Clared Collins. ‘‘It conveys abso- utely nothing to us. It seems there is some misunderstanding as to why we are here. We are seek- ™8 immediate relief for the more “estitute cases who are not en- itled to Unemployment Insur- ance. It is a disgrace to humanity that these people should be ex- Pected to exist on $35 a month from the city. T Buck-passing Mayor Charles : Ompson tried the soft-soap reatment. “I will agree with you that this reply is not ‘satisfactory,” € said smoothly, “but we must admit that the government is at cast bringing down legislation to €lp the situation.” We want to eat now, re- torted Collins, “not at some fu- we date. We say the city’s re- tet scale should be boosted to s Unemployed demand cash relief for destitute $14 a week for single unemploy- ed and $20 a week for married couples, with another $2.50 for each child.” “Alderman Alex Fisher threw “Liar!’’ shouted an unemploy- ed worker. Jittery Ald. Miller called for the and had the man ejected. The UAA delegation left city sergeant-at-arms up his hands in horror at this suggestion, and squeaked that the city “hasn’t got the money.” Alderman Birt Showler tried to bolster council’s stand by claiming that there aren't many destitute cases. hall determined to keep the seats hot under council members, and to step up plans to send a large jobless lobby to Victoria early in March to interview the provincial cabinet on a work and wages program. UHM UE A UR BY J. B. SALSBERG, MPP - Save the unions - Fight the raiders MOUNTING wave of opposition is rising against the gang of raiders and union wreckers. It surges from the very depths of the ranks of labor. In its sweep it carries along many union leaders who stood aside until now. Most significant of all is the fact that working men and women of all political beliefs and affhliations are uniting to strengthen this powerful upsurge. ; It is now up to you, readers of this paper, members of the CCF, members of the LPP, supporters of other parties, unionists of every affiliation—to merge with this rising against the barbarians who are out to wreck the unions which you and your forerunners built with so much sacrifice. It is a job for each honest union man. It is.a job for thousands and tens of thousands of such individual fighters for the life of our trade union movement in thousands of trade union locals across the country. It is a job for you. The conditions for a complete victory for the defenders of trade union unity and labor decency exist in full measure. But it all depends on your initiative. . | The danger now lies not in overestimating the growing strength of the movement against the union destroyers. The danger lies in under- estimating the strength and influence of the dynamic rank-and-file move- ment for unity. Don’t be guilty of such an underestimation. The invasion which the right-wing CCF-CCL. gang of raiders launched against the metal miners’ union in this country has ignited a flame of hatred which will devour the raiders. What the CCL failed to do itself, Charlie Millard, the extreme right-winger and main exponent of union raiding, undertook to do. After the CCL emptied its treasury in vain in its year-long raid against the Mine, Mill and Sntelter Workers, the top clique of the CCL made a deal to sell the metal miners’ union to Charlie Millard. They rode rough-shod over the opposition which was expressed even in their top inner circles. The Millard machine of ' TORONTO In cold defiance of the aroused conscience of Canada’s people, Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent has: @ Attempted to brush off the request of the Canadian Peace Congress appointment to present its Ban the Bomb petition. @ Told the Congress that protests about President Truman's Hell- Bomb should be sent to Moscow, not to Truman. The Peace Congress last week hit back hard on both counts. On the appointment, chairman J. G. Endicott and secretary Mary Jennison wrote back: “Our executive cannot believe it possible that the prime minister would refuse to see a delegation representing hundreds of thous- ands of Canadians concerned about the war threat hanging over our country...” — They reminded St. Laurent that the nght of petition is guaranteed by Magna Carta and firmly re- r : NORTH newed the request for an appoint- Wy Poe ment. “‘And,” said Miss Jennison eee in a call to peace partisans, “we'll % petition harder than ever—that aes te wowsege Vy will be our additional reply.” On the “‘tell it to. Moscow” let- ter from the prime minister, the Congress replied that it seemed to mean the government was be- coming ‘‘merely an appendage’ of the U.S. government. It asked. St. Laurent to “‘re-establish the authority invested in your office,” and sharply reminded him that a problem involving the lives of hundreds of millions “‘cannot be referred to the unilateral decision of any one country, be it the So- viet Union or the U.S.” Dr. Endicott stated this week: “The Canadian Peace Con- gress will continue and _ intensify its national petition drive fer, the banning of the A-bomb and the H-bomb right up to our national congress at the time of V-E Day in May. “We call on all who stand for peace, irrespective of their private political or religious beliefs, to enroll in this great crusade by their activity with the Ban the Bomb petition,”’ Endicott’ stated, urging workers to carry the peti- tion to their jobs, to set up peace committees in industries ‘‘and send delegates to our Congress straight from the front lines of the battle for peace.” (On Vancouver streets last Saturday canvassers collected some 1,000 signatures, will re- peat the canvass this Saturday.) NORTHWEST TERRITOR MES Yankee occupation These are U.S. bases in the Canadian Arctic. They are ope- rated as “weather stations” at Ellesmere Island, Eureka Sound, Cornwallis Island, Prince Pat- rick Island and Ellef Ringnes Island, and they are part of the American occupation of Canada described by Tim Buck, LPP leader, in a new 3c pamphlet, The Yankee Occupation of Can- ada.