A reasoned viewpoint on the, — New ‘Council of Canadian Unions’ BY OBSERVER Last July saw a new addition to the Canadian trade union movement: The Council of Canadian Unions. Representatives of nine unions. met in Sudbury, Ontario, on July 6 and 7, to set up the new organization. The two largest unions represented were the Pulp and Paper Workers of Canada (B.C.) and the former Local 598 of the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, now independent. Even a cursory glance at the other seven unions in attendance will show that they are not major factors in the overall trade union picture, nationally or provincially. This, in itself, does not condemn the new Council, because if their ideas are right and if their methods of achieving them are in tune with historical development, the Council will become a force to be reckoned with. However, we cannot predict a great future for the Council on the basis of the existing facts. Shortly after the Sudbury conference, Donald MacDonald, president of the Canadian Labor Congress, which has 1,500,000 Members, condemned the new anism under Socialism 3. Interview With Dubcek. (Feb. 31, 1968) appeared in 1968 editions of periodical we referred to earlier, DID YOU READ THESE. ABOUT CZECHOSLOVAKIA? 1. Czechoslovak Economists on Planning and the Market Mech- 2. Action Program of Communist Party of Czechoslovakia 4. Plenary Meeting of Central Committee, Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. (January 1968) 5. Text of Dubcek Speech. (Feb. 1, 1968) 6. Text of Dubcek Speech on 20th Anniversary of 1948 Mieory if Resolution of Communist Party of Central Committee) of Czechoslovakia. (May-June 1968) All these and many more background features to world events Council. He labelled it as ‘Communist dominated’? — and said it was made up of ‘‘break- away groups from legitimate trade unions.”’ Locally, in Vancouver, the Progressive Worker, organ of the Maoist Progressive Workers’ Movement, in its August- September issue, condemned the Communist Party for not supporting the Sudbury conference in the following terms: “Notable absentees from the conference were such unions as the United Electrical Workers and the United Fishermen and Allied Workers, both Communist Party-led and both knocking impatiently on the door for admission into the Canadian Labor Congress and the U.S.- dominated union organizations.’’ Thus, we have red-baiting from the right and red-baiting from the ultra left. This means that the Communist Party, the most highly organized expression of the responsible left in Canada, is obligated to make its position known to the labor movement. But before we get into that subject, let us return to that sectarian and _ boring WORLD MARXIST REVIEW and its FREE supplement INFORMATION BULLETIN of back issues only. is published. Send to: Name SUBSCRIBE NOW—to this SPECIAL OFFER ‘\ With every new sub, accompanied by the form below, you will receive your choice of any one of the above articles in a BONUS free issue in which it appeared. Circle the number of the article re- quested. This offer on a first-come-first-served basis. Limited number progress subscription service 487 adelaide st. west toronto 2b. O. K. Send me Issue No. 1234567 with my new subscription to WORLD MARXIST REVIEW for . one year (12 issues $3.50) | understand that | will receive INFORMATION BULLETIN as a bonus supplement as often as it eeeeesees eee eres eeeeseee eeeeecccce eee ROAGNESS ors se aisg Sar oe cope ee as cae catnale Send to: Name ........ eee eesesesese Peewee erveseseee Kut jm acts ERROR RS te the Progressive Worker of August-September, 1968. After berating the United Electrical Workers, the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union and the Communist Party, the report on the Sudbury conference goes on to say: ‘‘Also missing were the C.B.R.T., Postal Workers, C.U.P.E. and several others which could contribute to making. the path of the independent movement much smoother if they had the desire.”’ The three unions referred to in this ultra-left encyclical are purely Canadian Unions. They belong to the C.L.C. and have a combined membership of approximately 175,000 members. Among the ‘‘several others’ who were missing was the purely Canadian Public Service Alliance of Canada, also a C.L.C. affiliate, with close to 100,000 members. In short, the purely Canadian unions of the C.L.C. are not supporting the new Council, and it is not likely that they will. They prefer, at this time, to ‘remain within the C.L.C. and to accept the C.L.C. as a center for branches of American unions and for purely Canadian Unions. Some people in the labor movement may not agree with the position of these purely Canadian unions, but it is a fact of life which cannot be ignored. This adherance to the C.L.C. isa concrete expression of their desire for labor unity. It should be noted that two observers from the 200,000- strong Quebec-based Confederation of National Trade Unions attended the Conference. What this means for the future remains to be seen. If there is any possibility of formalising the no-raiding pact agreed to in principle between the C.L.C.’s Quebec Federation of Labor and the C.N.T.U., it is not likely that the C.N.T.U. will commit itself in any significant degree to the new Council. There is the possibility, of course, that leaders of the C.N.T.U. may be watching the new movement as a possible vehicle for expansion of the Quebec-based organization into other provinces. Such an expansion could bring more disunity and could retard the necessary developments that must precede a purely Canadian trade union movement. No one can quarrel with the idea expressed in the major address to the Sudbury conference: “Tf Canada is to be an independent nation, an essential element is an _ independent Canadian labor movement.” Now to get back to the Communist Party, criticised by the Right-wing of the C.L.C. for promoting the conference and damned by the ultra-left for not supporting it. Its true position can best be summarised by the following quotations from its evaluation of the recent C.L.C. convention: “It is necessary to concretize and sharpen up the fight for a united and sovereign trade union movement. At the moment this struggle includes: a) establishing more Canadian autonomy as steps towards eventual independence from the U.S. internationals and the AFL- CIO: b) finding a mutually satisfactory solution for uniting the French and English speaking sections of the Canadian working class in one central labor body on the basis of recognition of the two-nation character of the country; c) the admission of all unions, as a right, to the central labor body and its various sections, providing these unions uphold the stated aims and ~ principles of that body.” “To this end the left needs to encourage a) mutual assistance pacts to organize the unorganized, strike solidarity and support, to end raiding and to realize amicable and realistic solutions of jurisdictional disputes; b) establishment of machinery for the working out of common strategy and aims in bargaining, bargaining alliances on an industry-wide or trade basis; c) joint political action to secure labor legislation favorable to the labor movement and to outlaw injunctions in labor disputes. Such co-operation would open the way to union "mergers and amalgamations.” ‘breakaways Party advances such policies from its overall conception of uniting the The Communist labor movement against monopoly capital, and from its estimation of the objective and subjective factors prevailing at this time. It calls for unity in action, cutting across all lines of affiliation and including the C.L.C., the C.N.T.U. and the Independents. As Aldous Huxley wrote, “Facts do not cease to exist ~ because they are ignored.’’ In this case, we have tried to present the facts which have . been ignored in distorting the position of the Communist Party. We hope this article will reach a large number of trade. unionists, because the issues it deals with are vital to the future of organized labor in Canada. No such constructive approach is indicated in the documents of the Sudbury conference. 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