‘

JHE shadow of the Almighty

Dollar — lowers menacingly
Over the Commonwealth Econ-
Omic Conference.

For the Commonwealth —
the British Empire minus the
Subject colonies — is tending,
to fly apart under the impact of
U.S. trade policy and U.S. econ-
Omic intervention.

The capitalist prime ministers
attending this conference have lost
all faith in the capacity of their
States to carry on without dollar
aid.

The main object of the confer-
€nee is to agree on the proposals
Which a begging mission headed by
British Prime Minister Winston
Churchill will make to General
Eisenhower-early next year.

‘At the root of the relations of
the United States, Britain and the
Other countries of the Common-

a

WINSTON CHURCH-
ILL: After the Common-
weatlh Economic Confer-
ence, a begging mission to
the United States.

By J. R.
CAMPELL -

wealth lies the determination of
U.S. big business to end the privil-
eged position, of Britain in relation
to Empire markets and in relation
to the exploitation of Empire man-
power and resources.

The U.S. wants to undermine
and finally destroy two institu-
tions which they claim safeguard
British privileges.

The first is the sterling area,
in which the Empire (minus Can-

ada) works under a common mon-
etary system managed from Lon-
don. This makes it easier for Em-
pire countries to trade among
themselves than to trade with the
rest of the world.

The second is ‘the system of
imperial preference whereby Brit-
ain and the other countries of the
Commonwealth grant each other
lower tariffs than those conceded
to countries outside the Common-
wealth.

The lever for dismantling these
institutions is the desire of the
other Commonwealth countries —
particularly Australia, New Zea-
land and South Africa — to ob-
tain dollars to purchase U.S. equip-
ment in furtherance of their policy
of industrialisation.

There is, however, a shortage of
dollars in the Commonwealth.
The demand for dollars with which
to buy American goods is much

Here is the policy for the Comm

0vernment by the national executive com

Commonwealth trade agreements comp :

other Commonwealth countries to accept a Cnaadian

by any Commonwealth country.

2 Advocacy of a single world market and t ’
collar; and an end to the embargo on trade wi

3 Extension by Canada of long-term state cred

; and the countries of the Near and Far East for the purchase o

__ LPP proposes a policy for Canada

onwealth Economic Conference urged on the St. Laurent

i f the Labor-Progressive party.
etnE, e Gede the U.S. dollar bloc, to enable Canada and

dollar’s worth of goods purchased in Canada

+d the liberation of world trade from the U.S. dollar iron

the 800 millions in the socialist part of the worl
ape ‘es the peoples of Britain, India, Latin America

f Canadian food.

greater than the amount of dollars

which Britain and the Common-
wealth countries can earn by sell-
ing their goods to the U.S.

In their anxiety for dollars
Britain and the other. Common-
wealth nations have been robbing
the subject colonies — above all
Malaya and West Africa — of
their dollar earnings.

The exports of those countries,
as a rule, earn a surplus of dollars
which go into the sterling area
gold and dollar pool and are drawn
upon by Britain and the other
countries of the Commonwealth in
the sterling bloc.

It is Malaya and West Africa
that earn a substantial portion
of the dollars which Britain and
the other Commonwealth] coun-
tries (above all Australia) have
used. to buy American goods,

The result of this set-up is a
recurring dollar crisis almost
every two years.

When the prices of raw mater-
ials produced in the colonies rise
rapidly and the dollar pool fills up
there is a concerted rush by Brit-
ain and the other Commonwealth
countries to take dollars from the
pool in order to buy American or
Canadian goods.

As the level of the dollar pool
goes down after this raid there is
a frantic move to save dollars by
cutting down British, Australian,
New Zealand and South African
purchases from the U.S.

On the slightest sign of im-
provement in the gold and dollar
reserves, the scramble for dollars
starts again.
€

The whole capitalist world
stands in roughly the same rela-
tion to the U.S. as Britain and
the other Commonwealth countries
do. The U.S. is never prepared to
allow other capitalist countries to
sell in her home market sufficient
goods to balance their dollar ac-
counts.

So on both sides of the Atlantic
learned economists are presenting
schemes of hair-raising complex-
ity, designed to offset the damage
caused to the rest of the capital-
ist world by the refusal of the
U.S. to buy as well as to sell.

The main idea appears to be
that if the U.S. cannot buy from
the capitalist world] she can at
least invest in it. So all kinds of
proposals are being made to in-
duce the U.S. to invest in the de-
velopment of the colonies, the
countries of the Commonwealth,
and Britain herself.

These countries will be helped
to balance their dollar accounts
provided they become economic
satellites of the U.S.

' If the U.S. were really concern-
ed in helping as distinct from ex-
ploiting the rest of the capitalist
world, she would encourage capit-

_alist countries to seek substitutes

for the American goods which they
are now compelled to buy.

She would, for example. en-
courage the development of trade
with Eastern Europe and Peo-
ple’s China.

She would in effect say to her
capitalist partners: “Sorry, we
cannot buy your goods. Why not
try to sell them to the Soviet
Union and People’s China and get
in exchange some of the commod-
ities you now buy from us?”

But because the U.S. is an im-
perialist country, not out to help
but to dominate the rest of the
world, she does the exact opposite.

She says: “We won't make it
easier for you to sell your goods
in our markets, but don’t let us
catch you selling capital goods to
the Soviet Union and People’s
China instead.” :

Tariff restrictions on the entry
of goods into the U.S. and strat-
egic restrictions on the sale of
goods to the
People’s China all work in the
same way to keep the capitalist
world and, above all, Britain and
the other countries of the’ Com-
monwealth dependent on the U.S.

That is the problem to which
the -Commonwealth Conference
will find no answer, although the
‘answer exists.

Soviet Union and |

=z @ x
Af ri
HE impoverished Gold Coast
people will pay to help British
and Canadian big business make

super profits from the Volta River
Scheme for producing aluminum.

Almost one third of the $400
million needed-to finance the
scheme will come from the Gold
Coast government. Some $150
million will be paid by the British
government and another $115 mil-
lion will come from big business.

The latter sum has been promis-
ed jointly by the British Alumin-
ium Company and the Aluminum
Company of Canada, which will
own the new smelter. .

Britain’s Colonial Secretary
Oliver Lyttleton has issued a
White Paper outlining this scheme
to exploit the 200 million ton
bauxite deposits of this colony.

A huge dam is to be built across
the Volta River in order to pro-
vide power for a_ hydro-electric
station needed to smelt the baux-
ite ore into aluminum.

The cash for the hydro-electric
works will come from the British
and Gold Coast governments.

The Gold Coast government will
pay for necessary, but non-profit
making public works, and for
creation of a new port at Tema.

* The private companies will make

money out of the cheap labor they
will. employ in the projected
aluminum smelter.

If work on the scheme starts
in 1954 as planned, it will take
from five to seven years before
the first aluminum is. produced,
and 20 years before the full tar-

- get of 210,000 tons a year is reach-.

ed. The initial production is esti-
mated at 80.000 tons.

sn police officers in Kenya

have been congratulated for kill--
ing 20 African men and women
and injuring 29 at Kirawara re-
cently.

: At a meeting of Kenya Legisla-
tive, Council, one member, John

Wyatt, reported for the govern-
ment:

“The police officers of that par-
ty and the Askaris under their
command discharged their duty
with commendable courage and
judgment.

“TI trust that the lesson taught
to that lawless mob will have a
salutary effect on those in Kikuyu-
land, who think they can defy the
forces of the government.”

The crowd shot at by the police
at Kirawar was unarmed. — Five
women are reported to have been
killed.

Wyatt. in dealing with the new
powers, said the whole of the
Kikuyu area would be studded
with police stations, 40 in all, un-
der the new regime.

As there were not yet enough
European police officers available,
troops would be secondary to the
police force.

European members of the coun-
cil however, were not satisfied that
the Kenya government was being
harsh enough to the Africans, and
demanded the death sentence for
African leaders.

Humphrey Slade declared that
in the punishment of Africans
“nothing should be left to the
imagination.”

His call for execution of Afri-
cans accused of leading Mau Mau
was greeted with cries of “Hear,
Hear” from other European mem-
bers.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — DECEMBER 12, 1952 — PAGE 9