BEN SWANKEY

Social Credit no friend of labor

N this, the first of a series of
articles, Ben Swankey, Al-
berta provincial leader of the
_ Labor-Progressive party, reviews
Social Credit, as he himself says,
“not as it is promised in British
Columbia but as it is practised

PETER THOMAS”

in Alberta by a Social Credit

government.”

HE first thing most workers,

and particularly trade union
members, want to know about
a political party is its labor

policy. And the ambiguous
wording of the B.C. Social Cred-
it League’s labor platform is
certainly not such as to. en-
courage labor’s support. Its
pledge to
trial Conciliation and Arbitra-

tion Act with a view to bring-

Facts about germ war indicate
horror weapon tested in Korea

; cae are four main groups

of living organisms that may

be used for biological warfare.

They are bacteria, viruses, fungi
and protozoa.

Bacteria are simple organ-
-qsms, consisting of a single cell.
They are practically the small-
est creatures known, about a
25,000th of an inch in length.
Some are round, some rod-
shaped, some like a corkscrew.

They are responsible for sev-
eral common diseases, such as
tuberculosis or syphilis, and may
be grown easily in the labora-

- tory. ‘
‘Viruses are very much smaller

than bacteria. They eannot be >

seen with an ordinary micro-

scope, and are usually recogniz-
‘able only by the effects they
produce.

They are responsible for such
diseases as smallpox or infantile
paralysis in man, oF foot and

mouth disease in animals.

“They are more difficult to
grow than bacteria but can be
cultivated in such things as
growing chickens eggs.

Fungi are rather like simple
plants. Two common examples

are the mould that grows on

bread and the fungus that causes
dry-rot in wood.

A large number of them cause
diseases that affect plants. Some

cause disease in man, such as_

athletes foot or ringworm.

A particular example comes
- from America, where a fungus is
known to cause a severe and
often fatal illness called San
Joaquin Valley fever. .

“This organism can be grown
with ease in a solution contain-
ing only sugar and salts, and

is likely to be used in biological ~

warfare.

Protozoa are single-celled
-ereatures which give rise to
disease in animals rather than
in plants, and are usually spread

by insects.

A protozoon carried by the
mosquito causes malaria. An-
other carried by the tse-tse fly
causes sleeping sickness.

To cause disease, these organ-_

isms have to enter the body of
their victim. Some have to be

‘swallowed or inhaled. Others
enter through a break in the
skin. $

A few can enter through the

“unbroken skin, Some, such as
malaria, are introduced directly
into the victim’s blood .stream
_ by an insect carrier.

A number of the organisms
can only survive for a short time

outside some living host. There-

‘fore, in biological warfare it may
be necessary to use insects or
animals as carriers.

To produce an _~ epidemic,
rather than single cases, it would
be necessary to use diseases
which can easily be transmitted
from an infected person to
healthy people.

So many diseases can be used
in biological warfare that it
would be necessary to test the

qifectiveness of these horror

weapons in practice. From the
evidence available, it appears
that the Americans have been
doing this in Korea and. China.
e

These are the facts:

e: Despite the condemnation
of biological warfare by all civil-
izea people, including in par-
ticular the vast majority of
scientists, work has been going
on for ten years in the U.S.

At Camp Detrick, Maryland,
more than 4,000 people have
been engaged in this sort of
work, There are also establish-
ments at Mississippi, Utah and
Indiana.

In Korea and China, groups
of insects have ‘been found near
bomb cases with U.S. markings.
Some of these insects—-such as
mayflies and- mosquitoes—are
normally found only in summer.
Yet they have appeared in Feb-
ruary and March in open fields
near villages, often in snow.

e These insects have been
collected under aseptic condi-
tions ensuring that they do not
pick up bacteria during or after

collection. ‘
They have then peen ‘tested by —

all standard biological methods,
including inoculation of healthy
animals, These tests have shown
conclusively the presence of the
bacteria of plague, cholera, sand
other diseases. :

.Further, the areas in which

these insects have been found

Posies that's w
ae

OFF

are normally free of such di-
seases, but at the time of find-
ing, cases of these diseases
occurred.

The appearance of these di-
seases at, such times is normally
most uncommon, A case of acute
encephalitis, an infection of the
brain, had been completely un-
known in such conditions. —

Al] the evidence points to the
conclusion that the Americans
-—under the flag of the United
Nations and in the name of the
“Western Way of .Life’’—are
waging biological warfare.

To obtain an idea of the ef-
fectiveness of their weapons
they need information as to the
extent and nature of any out-
breaks of disease produced.

Investigations by the Inter
national Red ‘Cross or World
Health Organization teams, of
the nature suggested by U.S.

‘Secretary of State Dean Acheson,

would supply this information.
This is undoubtedly why the
Koreans and Chinese have re-
fuseq these investigations, while
inviting a neutral commission
to inspect the evidence.

The Koreans and Chinese are
meeting these methods of war-
fare with organized hygiene. As

-soon as it is reported that bio-

logical weapons are suspected,
anti-biological warfare teams
are rushed to the spot. R

These teams are divided into

three sections. The first inspects _

the place and collects specimens
of insects or suspicious material,

The second disinfects and de-
contaminates the spot, killing
off all insects remaining. ~

The third inoculates the local

population, if this has not al- —

ready been done.

they are!

SiVeS »

st They're a jenace!

kK,

Se

‘review the Indus-

_ labor.

ing it up to date’”’ is deliberate-
ly and, for labor, dangerously
vague, as an examination of the

labor policy followed by the

Manning government in Alberta
will show. ’

Despite the persistent and
continual demands of all sec-
tions of organized labor in Al-
berta,. the Social Credit govern-
ment has ‘consistently refused
to establish a department of
Instead it has a depart-
ment of industries and labor.
Why? Because the establish-
ment of a department of labor
would be an admission ‘that
labor as a class has needs of
its own, and in this respect the
Social Credit government isn’t
prepared to go as far even as
other old line parties.

This government pretends ad-
herence to the theory that capi-
tal and labor are partners in
production, that they must co-
operate for the common good
(the B.C. Social Credit League
heads its labor program “‘Part-
ners in British Columbia’s de-
velopment’’). All workers are
familiar with this theme song
of the employers. In practice,
of course, such cooperation is
always one-sided, and “common
good” turns out to be good only
for the employers.

In all labor struggles in this
province, the Social Credit lead-
ers and government have al-
ways been on the side of the
employers. Their open hostility
towards labor is well illustrated
by certain remarks made at the
last session of the Alberta leg-
islature by Peter Chaba, Social
Credit MLA for Redwater. He
said:

“The days when management

exploited labor have certainly

passed. But it'seems today to
be labor’s desire to exploit
everyone else.”

e

Penalties for ‘‘wild-cat”’ strikes
(when workers strike without
going through the months long
government red-tape of concili-
ation, arbitration, goyernment-
conducted strike votes) are very
severe under the Alberta Labor
Act. They are $50 a day for
union officials and $1 a day
for each member.

“The Alberta Labor Act pro-
vides for the 48-hour week with
six working days. | But the
Board of Industrial Relations

BEN SWANKEY.

has power to extend or reduce
this in areas and industries.
And it does. Here are two ex-_
amples: f :

@ Lumbering and sections of
the oil industry are allowed: to
work 200 hours a month.

@ Recently the board ruled —
that the 44-hour week would
go into effect within the city |
limits of Edmonton, Calgary,

Lethbridge and Medicine Hat. —

No provision was made for
maintenance of take-home pay 80
large numbers of workers took
a cut in earnings as a result.
It should be added that many
industries just outside the lim- —
its of these cities (such as Red-
cliffe near Medicine Hat) are
not affected and still work 48
hours, The government an-
nounced it was introducing the
44-hour week in three cities —
with the agreement of the em
ployers.

The Alberta Labor Act pro-
vides that even where a uniol
is recognized as the bargainins
agent and is certified as such
by the government and secure>
an agreement in a plant, any
minority or classification of
workers can still break offiand
set up another union. Thus #
plant with 50 classifications of

‘workers could under the Al

berta Act have 50 separate uD-
ions. ;

Obviously, this helps the em™-
ployers, and right wing tradé
union leaders. are making thé
most of it in attacking militant
industrial unions such as the
International Union of Mine:
Mill and Smelter Workers. A!)
a raiding union has to do is
to sign up (and not necessaril
with membership cards either)
a majority of a certain classifi-

cation of workers in a plant

and the Board of Industrial R
lations will then allow a vot!
as to which union is to repre

sent that particular group. —

To these examples of the at
titude of Social Credit leaders
to labor must be added the fach
that wages in Alberta are muc?
lower than in B.C. I know ®
no cases where Social Cr

leaders have helped orgati#

labor in its fight for nigher
wages or better conditions,

do I know a single prominent

trade union leader in this P*
vince who is also a Social Cree!”
leader. Surely this is an ind

cation of what the Social cred

leadership thinks of the té@®
union movement,

That their attitude to ‘th?
employers (and especially “
huge U.S. corporations) is quite
different I shall show in fututé
articles. :

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — MAY 9, 1952 — PAGE