By WILLIAM KASHTAN After dragging its feet for°some time the Labor Con- gress has finally agreed, together with 20 other interested, unions, to undertake a coordinated campaign directed to the organization of the unorganized white col- lar workers and those in the service indus- tries. This is a welcome and long overdue decision and it is to be hoped that the or- ganization of the unorganized will now re- place disorganization of the organized as official trade union policy. Here, indeed, is a wide area in which CLC President Jodoin and all other officers of the Con- gress can show their mettle as real and not phoney “liberators.” The task being undertaken, although it is still in its plan- ning stage, is a difficult and complex one. But it is absolut- ely essential if the trade union movement is to survive as an effective force in the economic and political arena. With: white collar ahd service industry workers consti- tuting 60.3 percent of the non-agricultural work force but only seven percent of trade union membership; with their numbers increasing by. 300,000..during the periog of 1950- 1960, at the same time as the workers in the goods producing industries decreased by 80,000 in the same period, that task could not be ignoredany longer. * * % ~~ While the campaign is still in its planning stage some views have’ been advanced which are rather disturbing. One can understand the gratuitous advice of the capitalist press which hammers away at the ideas “that theclass struggle is quite alien to most white collar and:service workers”; that these groups identify themselves with ‘the middle classes “and-therefore to succeed’ in organizing them the trade union movement will have to alter its traditional attitudes and methods,’ by which it means that the trade unions will have to throw overboard their militant character. Not so understandable are the views. of some trade union leaders who echo-these remarks, even though they put them differently..Dave Archer, president of the Ontario Federa- tion of Labor, was recently reported as saying that ‘“‘strikes and political action would be strongly. opposed: by many workers in these groups” and he too suggested that the trade union movement ought to have another look at its traditional attitudes and methods. Those trade union leaders who advance these views come perilously close to an editorial appearing in the Glebe and Mail which stated: “the labor movement. appears. to be faced by a dilemma: it can see its membership. and influence. decline, or it ‘can abandon many of its cherished. convictions.” One such eonviction, according to the Globe and Mail, is “the idea of the class struggle’. Throw the class struggle over- board, don the mantle of respectibility and off we go to the promised land! This seems to be the éssense of the advice being offered and accepted in-some quarters. % * * This is not to suggest. that specific’ approaches are not re- quired for the different categories .of white-collar and «ser- vice workers to be organized. But it is'an entirely different thing to propose that the image and character of the trade union movement be changed; watered down and its militancy destroyed. eae It may be well to-recalirthe fact that not so very long ago Montreal actors, actresses and others conducted a milit- ant strike for their demands. and finally won. an agreement with the CBC. It may also be recalled that civil service work- ers went on strike in B-C.’and that civic workers have struck more than once in various parts of thé covintry. It may. also geruseful to remember that white collar and other workers seonduected. an heroic-struggle in. Walt Street, of all places, 2 weW years ‘agose © NS. See ee at e.. - Other eXamples could: be cited suggesting that with due stegard to specific citcumstances, white collar workers and Sthose in the-service industries are quite —prépared to act Gmilitatly to demand their ital interests when conditions im- Spal them to, Sy SS If the present leadership of the trade union movement as. toncerned with images, then the best image they could sestablish is that of a truly united trade union movemeni. == This is not a formal matter. The lessons of the past, of . the great organizing drives of the 30’s and early 40’s bear witness to the fact that the united Strength of the working _ Class is required to defend their interests no less than to ad- vance them. Does anyone think that in a great-and difficult undertaking such as is now being proposed, anything less than that can succeed in establishing bridgeheads from “which to win through? F * * * Of course’there are some trade union leadérs who think that the best image they ean establish with which to organize the unorganized is the image of anti-Communism. But anti- Communism never built the trade unions nor is it likely to do so among white cellar workers or those. in. the service: industries. Here, too, the lessons of the great organizing drives of the 30’s and 40’s should be borne in mind. LABOR FRONT | |} elected on the bases of one Soviets to hold wide elections ‘By JOHN WEIR Pacific Trib. Correspondent | MOSCOW — The election | to be held here on March i 18 is what we would call a! federal election. Only the “provinces” here are nation-| al republics (15 of them), each with sovereign rights that gives it the power to, | step out of the Soviet “con- federation” whenever it would so decide] In Canada, we have a half-way recogni- tion of the national rights of the French Canadian people via provincial rights for Quebec without, however, the right to self-determination. Another difference is that in the USSR both chambers of the Supreme Soviet (Par- liament) as‘elected by popu- lar vote, the Soviet of the Union (corresponding to our House of Commons) and ‘the Soviet of Nationalities (not like our Senate at all). Both will be chosen on March 18. The Soviet of the Union is deputy for every 300,000 pop- ulation. There is no gerry- mandering of the ridings and no situation where one MP re- presents a riding of 60,000 people and another—15,000 as is. the case in a certain country. I know. In Canada the Senate; pat- terned on the British House of Lords, has the purpose to of Commons and watch that democracy doesn’t “run wild” and enact legislation not to keep a check: on the Houuse|. the taste of the wealthy. The senators are appointed, by. the government for life. * TO PROTECT RIGHTS The Soviet of Nationalities established in order to guarantee equality of every nationality in the USSR. It is elected on the basis of 25 deputies from each of the 15 republics (thus Estonia with just over one million popu- lation has the same number of representatives as the more than 100 million’. Rus- sians), 11 from each autono- mous republic, five from each autonomous region and one from each national district. is Since the assent of both chambers’ of Parliament is necessary. fora bill to be- come-law, this form of gov- ernment ‘makes sure _ that nothing is done that even the smallest nationality in the Union doesn’t approve of. - Every Soviet citizen gets the vote at 18 years of age and can be elected to Parlia- ment at 23. There are no pro- perty or other qualifications. You can cast your ballot wherever you happen to be on voting day and if you can’t come to the poll, a bal- lot. box will be brought to your bedside. The ballot, of course, is secret. The election campaign is intensive..In the months pre- ceding election day there is’ a great deal of activity, in which ‘masses of ‘the citizens take ‘part, in ‘the selection of' eandidates and popularization of the program. Arranged By Kiev, Leningrad | by jet from.Montreal _ by jet. from Montreal Kiev;. 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GARY - CUBA AND ALL OTHER COUNTRIES 615: Selkirk Avenue BE ARRANGED UPON TOURS JU 6-1886 4 présses itself-in stepping UP March 16, 1962—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page arch 1 THE CANDIDATES = The -candidates are no! selected by the Communist Party as so many people in Canada have believed. And certainly not in any smoke ; filled back room... They are | “promoted” (that’s the term, used here) by their constitu-— ents, Ee . First of all, the large en- 7 terprises and institutions in | the riding suggest names and | ~ discuss them at many meet ings, Finally, a mass meeting — of the people in the. given — organization makes its nomin- ation (or nominations) | a usually represent them. Man: nominated Nikita Kbhrush- | chevy and other party and | government leaders, along side their local champions. Only’ when the members of | the Presidium of the ‘CPSU | announce in the press im | which riding each of them iS | prepared to .accept normina- | tion, do the'rest desist. ; Of the people nominated ~ by the various groups, usual- ly one emerges as the over — all favorite. and the others | withdraw ‘frora the race, al though the constitutiom pro- vides for a contest and oacca- sionally the final choice 15 _ made on election day itself by the voters. a4 us ee But why bother with vot. ing at ally you may ask., To give the opportunity to ‘ everybody to show whether ca they support the policies of the government ‘and the cal didates that -have been "put up carry. out those ‘polities. _ To give everybody, even’if ‘it — is only an infinitesimal sec- _ tion of the population which | cannot nominate an ‘opposk | tion candidate anddoes not. wish to take its stand pub- licly, an opportunity to say — they are against those ‘poli cies. ' PUBLIC INVOLVED ‘ The election campaign be. comes a great job of explana tion and mobilization of the public in support of ‘thes party and the government 1 their work for peace and the triumph.of communism In many cases this ‘ex production and ~other: ‘such tangible actions. And electiom day itself becomes a triumph ant demonstration . of the unity of the Soviet peopie 1 their march forward on the road they have chosen. Ev- erybody has a stake in the government and the great construction. and so every body wants the opportunity to say so. ; That’s the “mystery” of those practically 100 percent votes in the USSR. The central committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union: recently issued an appeal to the electorate, reviewing the record of Soviet accomplishm dur- ing the past four years and outlining the tasks in the 3 four years ahead. eee And they will. Unanirmou* nt nt ly.