eee % | Subversive elements’. POLICING THE POLICE & TORONTO — In a letter to me Minister Trudeau, the _ leader of the Communist Party of Canada, William Kashtan urged that the terms of reference of the Commission investigating the il- legal activities of the Royal Cana- lan Mounted Police be broadened. “Public concern about the il- legitimate activities of the RCMP aS compelled your government 0 establish a commission to look Into the actions of the RCMP in Connection with the illegal break- in in Montreal as well as in Toron- 'o,” Kashtan reminded the PM in his Aug. 29 letter. He said his party believed the _ ©Ommission should be authorized ° '0 examine ‘‘the disturbing facts about RCMP activities against Members of parliament, against other Canadians, and not least, against legal political parties.” ‘Major excerpts from the letter follow: _ “Tn the ‘last few’ weeks the Globe and Mail ran a series of ae about the activities of the P against what it called These powallled subversive elements ‘ave included members of the €w Democratic Party, the Canadian Union’ of. Public Mployees, the National Far- Mers Union, the Indian move- Ment and presumably others in the trade union and democratic Movements throughout Canada. . Inthe latest article on the sub- Jct dated Aug. 25, spokesmen of the RCMP have publicly declared . that a prime target of RCMP Scrutiny has been the NDP, the €xcuse or reason being that Communists were trying to in- filtrate the NDP. This of course is so much nonsense. A Legal Party “The Communist Party. of Canada is a legal political party with its own Program and policies for which it strives to win support among wide sections of the people and does not have to in- filtrate other political parties. It makes no secret of the fact that its aim is to win the majority of Canadians for the achievement of a socialist Canada. Why does the RCMP hierarchy call this subver- sive? Why has it decided to en- gage in red baiting against a legitimate political trend and a legal political party? “It now turns out that in the name of combatting ‘subversion’, the RCMP paid particular atten- tion to those members of the NDP who called themselves Weafflers, a name given them by the editors of the Globe and Mail. ’ «How is one to explain this bias against the democratic, . trade union and farm movements by the RCMP? oe ‘“‘The author of the Globe and Mail series on the RCMP and the security lists, a Mr. Lawrence Martin, is quoted as saying that in _the early 1970s ‘there was an anx- iety bordering on paranoia in the RCMP hierarchy with regard to’ the activity of radical groups. Prevalent in the force was a right-wing attitude nurturing un- realistic fears about certain people in the NDP, they say’. ‘‘Anxiety bordering on paranoia’’! Wasn't Hitler afflicted with that disease? “Rightiwing at- titudes’. Is this not a revealing statement? ‘“‘Mr. Martin suggests this paranoia and right-wing attitude is of recent vintage and did not exist in the past. As any serious student of the question will tell you, this is simply not true. The ‘RCMP hierarchy have always directed their energies against radical, left-wing, trade union, progres- sive and democratic movements, that is, against all those advocat- ing democratic reforms and social change. This also explains why the RCMP hierarchy have consis- tently closed their eyes to the real subversives in our midst, the ra- cists, the neo-fascists, the advo- cates of genocide, not to speak of those who have systematically sold out Canada, piece by piece, to U.S. imperialism. Against Social Change “Clearly the RCMP hierarchy considers their function to be: to uphold the status quo against so- cial change. ‘This paranoia and right-wing" attitude should be cause for con- cern by all democratic Canadians. Should this not be a cause for concern by parliament and by your government also? We think so. The matter ought not to be passed over lightly. “It is a matter of public concern when the RCMP take upon them- selves the right to decide whether a political party is legitimate and what opinions Canadians may hold and espouse. To follow through the implications of the RCMP surveillance of the Waf- flers, the RCMP apparently con- sider it to be their task to keep political parties free of left wing, democratic;..and., socialist. in- ~ fluences. Before long, the Liberal Party, as all other parties, would have to insert in their public statements or advertisements: ‘approved by the RCMP’. Path of Authoritarianism ‘“‘The illegal and highly unde- mocratic actions of the RCMP show how far Canada has slid down the path of authoritarianism - in the name of an.alleged threat to its security, and how necessary it is to reverse this process before it is too late.”’ It was at this point in the letter that. Kashtan called for the ap- pointed commission to study the RCMP’s surveillance of political parties. The letter continued: “Last May, your government stated it does not want the RCMP to keep members of legitimate political parties under systematic surveillance. From the reports in the press, the RCMP apparently ignored this declaration. If this is so the RCMP have become a power unto themselves, a state within the state, a very dangerous threat to democracy, as the costly lessons of countries under fascist tule show. ‘*What all of this emphasizes is the need for democratization of the RCMP, the replacement ofall . authoritarian. and . right-wing, neo-fascist elements in the RCMP hierarchy by genuine democratically-minded Cana- dians. It emphasizes as well the necessity of effective supervision and control over the RCMP and their security branch or branches, not only by the government, but by parliament also, on the basis of a specific code of conduct which clearly delineates the nature and scope of security. ““*Some years ago you stated that the state has no business in the bedrooms of the country. To this ought to be added the declara- tion by your government that the RCMP has no business keeping members of legal political parties. = in pursuit of legitimate political activity under surveillance.”’ athe upcoming 19th Convention ee an Young Communist League t -anada will be a unique oppor- Unity for the young people of this Country to express their deter- Mination for full employment Policies, YCL general secretary Gidora said this week. eaith each passing day, we fhariie the results of government i 10n on jobs for young Cana- hae: They are no longer able to € the problem, visible every “SY in the form of longer lineups fess of UIC and welfare of: ate Most recent government Ustics admit to 494,000 young People in Canada without jobs, a «eure that Gidora said was an Outright falsehood. “It is well known’ that the ™ ernment manipulates and col- an their statistics to minimize the pander of out-of-work Cana- ia but even by writing their . N rules they cannot avoid the uy. of the situation which finds ue young Canadians out of thes today than ever before in S Country’s history.” ire YCL convention will be ating and deciding upon ICles to unite young people into Tutical fight for jobs, he said. be draft resolution currently Ing discussed by all members of a & ~ YCL calls upon Canada’s ;Cuth to make the fight for jobs a Or priority.” fal _ Jobs fight a key issue Members and supporters of the Young Communist League de- a cnhorncn “ete Bag YOUTHS ee. monstrate for jobs in front of the Ontario Legislature. The resolution calls for full unity of the youth movement, in- cluding student, religious, com- munity, and political youth organizations around a common program for jobs. ‘‘It is these forces, including the un- ‘employed, working closely to- gether with the labor and dem- ocratic movements in Canada which can force a fundamental shift in government policy on job creation,” the YCL leader said. The proposals put forward by the YCL include a number of specific job creation progams and a demand that governments end harassment of the unemployed and concentrate instead on solv- ing rather than hiding the problem. ‘We are inviting all young people who are interested in our policies to join us in the debate being carried on by League organizations in all parts of the country,’ he said. A number of public meetings and discussion groups are being held in various centres where the policies put forward are being discussed and further developed. USSR URGES NEW SALT AGREEMENT MOSCOW — Speaking here Sept. 5 at a luncheon for visiting UN secretary general Kurt Waldheim, Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko termed agreement on a new SALT treaty between the USSR and the USA ‘‘of exceptional importance’’. He said such an agreement was “‘completely attainable”’ but that it could only be concluded ‘‘on the basis of strict observance of the principle of equality and undiminish- ed security of the two sides.’” The SALT-1 treaty expires on Oct. 3. ISRAEL REFUSES TO HAVE PLO AT PEACE TALKS TEL AVIV — Israel’s parliament formally closed the door to the inclusion of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Mid East peace talks and will refuse to attend the Geneva conference should the PLO attend. Isreal also restated its intention of continuing its military con- trol over lands occupied through war. The vote to exclude the PLO was 92-4 with six abstentions with the Communist Party voting against. ZAMBIA URGES OIL BOYCOTT OF RHODESIA LUSAKA — Zambian president Kenneth Kuanda has called ‘on Western oil powers to impose an oil embargo against Rhodesia. He urged Nigeria, a member of OPEC, to take this message to the oil producers with the aim of cutting off supplies to Smith’s armed forces. REVOLUTION’S AIMS DISTORTED SAY EGYPT’S UNIONS CAIRO — A protest by the. Federation of Egyptian Trade Unions (FETU) has been made public here in a statement attacking the ‘‘delib- erate and open falsification of the Egyptian revolution of July 23, 1952’’. The union said the feudal and capitalist elements whose arbit- rary power was curtailed by the revolution led by the late President Nasser are now using every possible means to attack and distort the revolution’s objectives. The FETU takes in all organized Egyptian workers. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPTEMBER 16, 1977—Page 9