s Veterans’ complaints about poor houses as these will be aired wh hes convention at Vernon this weekend. construction and exorbitant prices for such en the Canadian Legion holds its provincial . A Was an to be worked for, and fought for, with desperate determina- tion. There seemed to be no Satisfactory substitute for that When we returned. Overseas we used to say that all we wanted when we got back was that life would be the same old happy thing we remembered. It did not pleasant flow: of life. _take us long to find out that we did not want that at all. We found Canada working backward, fall- ing the old, loved patterns, and Somehow, it did not seem as im- Portant as we had dreamed.” | a8 doubt many of our veter- ang keenly felt this intense let- down that Scott writes about, and still feel it, but they wil) Survive. I can’t help smiling at : the reference to going back to the “same old happy thing we remembered,” because I cer- tainly met a lot of boys overseas who knew better. _ They remembered all too well what it meant to work for 25 cents an hour during the de- Pression, to be fired for joining -& union, to tramp from agency to agency, vainly looking for a_ job. They ‘remembered drab, hungry years on relief, the pa- tience of an harassed wife and the pale smiles of undernourish- €d children. They could not for- Bet the dust storms that killed their crops, the banks and mort- 8age corporations that drove them off their lands, the policies TON ac. mn am md i Mansnviitpiata -@ The CCF and Labor Unity SHORT time ago, Jack Scott, himsel ences of men who served overseas an unhappy time, yet, in retrospect, it seem: le my : . Tl Cimcon i] park nad Seca Mesneseonunerttla tt ‘itl, Vay mon QS CUINIE) f a veteran, wrote in the Vancouver Sun: “One of the common experi- d who returned to this country was a period of readjustment to the even, During the war there was intense singleness of purpose in men who wore uniforms. It that forced them into the relief camps or condemned them to endless wandering up and down the country in box cars. True, a lot of them could look back to a happier life, but they were the more fortunate ones, and even their lives had been— blighted by the cycles of boom and crisis, glut and famine. The shadow of uncertainty had al- ways hovered over them. But still they loved Canada and the Canadian way of life, and their hope during the years they fought against fascism was of making their country a happier part of a happier world. EN the Canadian Legion provincial convention opens its five-day meet in Vernon this ” weekend it will be a fateful oc- casion. Representatives of more than 40,000 organized B.C. vet- - erans will meet to deliberate and pass on resolutions, to de-. cide policy and elect a new slate of officers. Provincially, as well as nationally, membership and influence of the Legion are at their peak. : The reasons for the Legion’s phenomenal growth are simple enough. The veterans of this war had a strong desire to per- petuate their comradeship. They wanted to protect their interests as veterans, They wanted to EN cn Ng | Is (tain sient fe ey ise a ePOgecIa by Maurice Rush @ The New Life in Old Europe © by Tim Buck - ae ES > > - N _. Page 12 maintain that unity of purpose that Jack Scott refers to, that exhilarating singleness of pur- pose. i 4 Many competent observers will be watching this convention, watching and calculating the ef- fect of ‘the convention’s de- cisions. A man who knows the ins-and- outs of the political set-up in B.C. could go there and, without any difficulty, point out promin- ent Liberals, Conservatives, CCF- ers, Labor-Progressives and So- cial Crediters, all delegates. He could also speak to any group of delegates, anywhere, and find them all unanimous on one point: .The Legion must be in- dependent of any political party. It is big enough to speak for all war veterans in Canada, and big enough to include all of them in its ranks. e Te. convention marks a new period. The peak of demobil- ization has come Technically speaking, demobiliz- ation and rehabilitation are al- most over. One year ago, tens of thousands of veterans were being discharged, and were grappling with special problems of an immediate nature. The Legion grew by leaps and bounds. New branches sprang up all over the province, new members joined by the thous- ands and branch meetings were packed meetings. Today, average veteran are more of a general character, more akin to those of his workmates, associ- ates and neighbors. This does not mean that the Legion has ceased to function in its capacity of serving the veter- ans, nor does it mean that the need for a Legion has gone. Far | from it. : mes The crying scandal of 4,700 homeless vets in Vancouver, the glaring insufficiency of pensions and gone. the problems of the. s to havebeen wonderfully exhilarating. Peace was a positive goal and grants in view of the sharply rising cost of living — all these and many other prob- lems must be threshed out by the convention. The basic difference between this year and last year is the fact that the vast majority of our veterans have been re-ab- -sorbed into industry, agricul- ture, the. professions and _ busi- ness, thus narrowing the scope of the Legion in the field of immediate personal service. But this in itself, opens the road to a golden opportunity. The Legion, representing close to 50,000 members in this prov- ince, and influencing as many more people, has always inter- ested itself in the general af- fairs of the province and the country. For instance, at last year’s convention, resolu- tions were passed on coopera- tion between nations, on labor relations, fisheries, hours of work, and so on. The idea behind this is very simple: Veterans cannot find. peace and security: unless they join with their fellow Canadians in creating the conditions to make peace and. security a re- ality. This year, and. especially since the international and na- tional pictures are now in sharp- er focus, the Legion will have a lot to say on these matters. _ ideoligcal 'WENTY-ONE years elapsed between Armistice Day, 1918, and the launching of World War Two. Today, and before the treaties of World War Two have been signed, the bellicose war-mongers in the US, in Bri- tain, in Canada, are calling for war, an atomic war against Russia, hand in hand with 2 whoop-it-up campaign against ‘communism’. The Legion convention wil} need to speak’ boldly for Big Three unity, for a strong United Nations Organization, and for tolerance towards all democratic Canadians, no matter what their ‘differences, . because these are aims for which the veterans ‘fought. Tens of thousands of B.C. vet- | erans have been fleeced out of a large part of their gratuities by the removal of price controls. Thousands have bought homes at twice their actual values, and mortgaged themselves to the hilt. Behind all the war talk, and behind the current red-baiting campaign, ties the cold shadow of another great depression. Let the giant monopotiies have their way unrestricted, charging what they can get, paying as little wages as they can, piling up wealth and producing without regard to human needs, and an- other depression is certain to come. ‘ In such a case, Canada’s vet- erans would be among the first casualties. Vets with little seniority or ‘experience would be the first to be ‘let out. Small business concerns would fold up, — or be swallowed up. Mortgage _companies would foreclose. The hungry forties could be worse than the hungry thirties. Behind the ugly chant of anti- communism lies a sinister plot to smash the trade unions, and all other people’s” organizations that fight back against the mon- opolists. Behind the snarling headlines and snide editorials calling for war against Russia is concealed the fact that Ca- nadian monopoly capital has — joined cause with the American imperialists, who seek to dem- | inate the post-war world. ; TERANS who fought in the the war for freedom, want to enjoy the full fruits of freedom, at home, They want jobs at de- cent rates of pay, good working __ conditions, decent homes, peace and security. They want no part of any grandiose plans to en- Be ‘slave other nations. Millions of | dead Germans, Japanese and Italians silently point to the folly of such insane dreams. They died, because they were slayes to their imperialist war lords. ‘ ‘ This Legion convention can place itself on record for pro- gressive policies that will. go a long way towards winning the brave. new world that 30,000 Canadians died for in World War Two. : What is required of the dele- gates who will assemble at Ver- non is a broad Canadian out- look. A progressive, fighting Le-— gion, tackling all the problems _ of the veterans and joining with all progressive groups to solve — the broader and more basic problems of the people—this is — the need of the day for veterans and all Canadian working people. _ What’s your wage deficit ? : apes weekly deficit in the earnings of the average Am- erican family has increased from about $13 in 1941 to nearly double that amount, or $25, in 1947, according to the Heller Committee of the University of California, the recognized auth- ority on American family bud- pete. in ‘The deficit represents the dif- ference between minimum bud- get requirements for a decent f living standard and average _ weekly earnings in manufactur- — ing industries. . Oe a ee According to the latest Heller — report, a worker’s family, con- sisting of a man, his wife and two children, needed $42.80 to live decently in 1941, when aver- age income was $29.11. In Sep — tember 1946, latest month com- puted, the same family needed $68.77, but earned only $46.94.