Nationalization key to economic recovery

By MARK ALLEN
With but six months until the
French presidential election,
serious fissures have developed in
the Union of the Left. The issue is:

which way out of France’s ..

deepening economic crisis, the
gravest since’ the
Depression.

Negotiations broke off Sept. 23 se

between the Socialists,. the

movement of Left Radicals, and «
the Communist Party, the three -

components of the Union of the
Left. The three parties reached a
serious impasse over the updating
of the Common Program of the.
Left, originally drafted in 1972,
with the Communists charging the
Socialists are not only refusing to
update the program based on the
new dimensions of the economic
crisis, but are also reneging on
commitments made in the 1972
program.

The critical issue, according to
French Communist party leader
George Marchais, is whether, if
elected, the Left will merely be
“administering the .economic
crisis,’ or will institute wide-
spread anti-monopoly economic
reforms that will bring immediate
economic, political, and social
gains to the French people.

With the exception of the very
important question of France’s
defense, and specifically, nuclear
policy, all points of divergence
have to do with basic economic
questions : the scope of
nationalizations; the level _of
minimum wage, and the extent of
taxation of the rich.

The Western media have been
waging a furious campaign, based

Neruda show
set for Nov.

British stage star Peggy Ash-
croft, Vancouver actor Nick
Hutchinson and the Purcell String
Quarter will team up to present
“Homa ge to Neruda’ November 14
at the Vancouver East Cultural
Centre.

Ashcroft and her son, Hutchinson
will read selections from Pablo
Neruda’s poetry and plays against
a musical background provided by
the Purcell String Quartet.

The special performance of the
Chilean communist and Nobel
Prize winner’s works will be taped
by CBC radio for broadcast later in
the season.

Tickets cost $4.50 and are on sale
now.

Great .

ae.

FRENCH COMMUNIST LEADER GEORGES MARCHAIS ... radical

updating of the Common Program essential if a Left government is to
do more than merely “administer the economic crisis.”

on anti-Sovietism and_ anti-
communism, to obscure the very
critical issues under debate. They
have, alternately, charged that the
problems within the Left are due to
the Communist “hand of Moscow”
jockeying for power, or what they
call the party’s desperate response
to its declining influence.

On the other hand, the Com-
munists have launched an almost
unprecedented grassroots cam-
paign, taking to the people,
especially the workers of France,
the issues now in debate.

Francois Mitterand, Socialist
Party leader, has sought to
downplay the serious character of
the discussions, saying, ‘Fifteen
nationalizations and you’re a
reformer; sixteen and you’re a
revolutionary.”

Were the nationalization
question that simple it would not
have become the central aspect of
the stalled negotiations.

In the 1972 Gommon Program,
the three Left parties agreed to
nationalize nine key industrial
groups and their major sub-
sidiaries, as well as ‘‘the whole of
the ... banking and financial

sector.’’ The program called also for

nationalization -of any - industry
where the majority of the workers
demand it, and public majority
ownership of four’ metal
manufacturing firms and the Total
oil company.

The 1972 nationalization

program, the Communists say,

represents, including the sub-
sidiaries, 1,008 firms in total.

The Communists point out that
the Socialist Party in its national
convention May 3-4, 1975 called for
the nationalization of the three
giant diversified corporations
among the group of nine “‘and their
affiliates.” The affiliates of these
three corporations alone amount to
335 firms.

“The program of nationalization
adopted in 1972 would affect 1,500
enterprises,’’ Mitterand said Feb.
12. Yet, during the recent
negotiations, Mitterand first
proposed a nationalization of only
72 firms, a figure that was soon
expanded to 200, still well below the
figure called for by his own party
two years ago, and nowhere near
the morethan 1,000 indicated in the
Common Program.

The Communists had suggested
expanding, not reducing, the
number of firms to be nationalized
to bring the total number of firms
nationalized to 1,450. The Com-
munists dropped these demands,
and offered the figure of 729, well
below that indicated in the Com-
mon Program, as the bottom line.

The Socialists, and _ the
Movement of Left Radicals, have
remained obstinate at the 200
figure.

postage

Tribune office.

at

Available at $6.98 from
selected union halls,

People’s Co-op Books,
Tribune office.

Add $1.40 for sales tax,
and packaging
for mail orders from the

Bargain

Half the Price -

‘A New Wind Blowin’

New Wind Blowin’
a *

This approach to nationalization,
the Communists charge, would do
very little to change the direction
of the country, Large-scale
nationalization is of fundamental
importance if control of the
decisive sectors of the economy is
to be taken out of the hands of the
monopolies. Without that control,
any government of the Left would
be little more than a caretaker of
the economic crisis inherited from
the previous government.

In addition, a significant dis-
agreement remains over the
minimum wage guarantee, with

‘the Socialists and Left Radicals in-

opposition not only to the Com-
munists, but to the trade union
movement as well. The 1972
Common Program called for a
minimum wage of 260 francs per
month to-be implemented in April
1978, when the Left would come to
power. The Communists, however,
say that given inflation since 1972,
the 260 francs should be the
minimum wage now, and that to

combat the inflationary spiral, an’

additional 23 francs would be
necessary in April just to maintain
theincome level the original figure
was designed to meet.

Other economic issues include
the demand of the Communists,
that no public sector wage (for
management) be more than five
times the minimum, and shifting
more of the tax burden to the rich.

Defense policy remains another
serious point of divergence. At
present France is a member of
NATO, but neither its armed forces

Behind the Left split in France —

nor its nuclear strike force is in-
tegrated into the NATO bloc.

The Socialists have implied that
they seek further integration into
NATO, though they have been
reluctant to clarify their posifion.
Instead, they advocate a national
referendum, after the March
elections, on French defense
policy. What Mitterand calls “‘the
great democratic consultation,” in
effect means that the Socialists
don’t want totake a public position
on defense policy during the
elections.

The Communists, however,

believe the ‘‘great consultation”’ ‘|

should take place in the March
elections, with the voters aware of
the clear defense stands of the
candidates of both the Left and the
Right.

For 15 years the Communist
Party of France has pursued a
policy of unity of the Left.

The Socialist Party has benefited
greatly from its new alliance with
the Communist Party and its break
with the centre-right.

Now, serious fears exist that the
Socialists are again moving to the
right, a move that would not only
have serious repercussions for a
Left victory in March, but for the
base of the Socialist party as well.
There areas yet no indications of if
or when negotiations between the
three Left parties will be resumed.

For its part the Communists

have stated repeatedly. and

unequivocally that they will not
renounce the Union of the Left.
_—Daily World.

Stats Canada figures
keep getting better

Isn’t it funny how the worse
things get, the better the official
figures are?

Last year, Statistics Canada
responded to the unemployment
crisis and ‘‘updated”’ their method
of counting the unemployed. It just
so happened that the new method,
which counted only those who had
registered for a job in the previous
two months, neatly omitted a few
hundred thousand unemployed..

Now Statistics Canada has
responded to inflation and has
decided to ‘‘update” its method of
figuring the consumer price index,
the yardstick for measuring
monthly price changes for con-
sumer goods and services in
Canada. :

The consumer price index is
based ona fixed “‘basket”’ of goods
and services that an average
family uses. The index is the
relationship between family
spending and the price of the goods
and services in the.‘‘basket’’.

Since 1967 the CPI has assumed

the average family to earn bet-
ween $4,000 and $12,000 per year.
While that may be slightly low
today, so too was the estimation
that-that family spent 27 percent of

disposable income on food,*and 33

percent on housing; 6 percent on
recreation, 6 percent on alcohol
and tobacco and so on.

Statistics Canada has now
decided that the average family
will be those who earn from $7,000
to $21,500 per year. Single persons,
previously excluded, will now be
included.

The result will be the exclusion of
low income earners from the index
which will in turn result in
necessities such as food, housing
and clothing having less impact on
the consumer price index.

They tried out the new method in
March of this year, and, sure
enough, the increase in the cost of
living was only half as much as if
measured in the old way. Good
work, gang.

os

The Canada USSR Association
‘invites, you to a reception honoring the

Sialicth Anniversary of the Colobern Rewolution

, November Nineleenth, seven to ton pum:

Thivtyseventh and Och St, Vancouver

Grests ull include prominent ar, arhsts and. scventists.
Parking offroste ber-onaes please nol change of date,

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—NOVEMBER 4, 1977—Page 10