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Nation, back then Canadians had to fight betrayers of
Nal interests. This cartoon from “Punch in Can-

€ 1840’s was entitled “Little Ben Holmes Pawn-

he cartoonist’s name was Walker and in
oon he lashes out at Benjamin Holmes,-a politician
ntreal, who. advocated annexation to the United

Ni mon NG on the com-
mle age atket and its. pos-
. dj fects on Canada _ the
Dy. a Tribune
J, bu
r aarned that “there is
ates Ser that powerful
. mM our midst of
S. Wi pc ation” with the
Hs th ake the occasion to
Do, ot it
Our We are deserted

yy ) a
. houna! «titish customers,
Seek Ow to our fate”

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i ties with

Griffin
Cont:
Nt}
: 3 Qued from page 6
Ey... an
i iyith Cone is as vital to
te of 9 bombia as the build-
he a the 1 scoMtinental rail-
j Se lig time Of Confedera-
fo en Pose is the same
sone the Canadian
: Ags the mounting
A th © destroy it,
é est ntinuing struggle
the hip domination, the
ak now pass to
toreeg “seca who are
, emp) bay the price
i} o
hy stan ment and lowered

&gainst the
: >> the mon-
Sten, et Social Credit
cy Qt UL at they are sell-

une in its June!

we Common Market |
t Dees li Mean?

“This,’? warns the editorial,
“would indeed be the road to
disaster for both Canadian in-
dustry and_agriculture.”

The editorial adds that,
“Canada needs completely new
independent trade policies
orientated especially to the in-
dustrially under - developed
countries in Africa, Asia and

Latin America whose friend-].

ship we can win only by
breaking with Yankee imper-
ialism, and through measures
of genuinely disinterested eco-
nomic assistance including the
provision of generous fraternal
credit at cost.”

The ‘Tribune warns that
plans of the Macmillan govern-
ment to join “gravely threaten
the markets Canada has held
in Britain.”

What the well dressed Cana-
dian will wear under Flem-

ings new budget.

|PROVINCIAL POLITICS AT CROSSROADS

Big challenge faces B.C.
labor this Canada Day

By NIGEL MORGAN

EXT week marks the
N nin®tieth anniversary of
the. historic two-day .demon-
stration of Caribou miners at
Barkeryille. which. set back
the United States plan to annex
British Columbia, and helped
to bring this Province into
Confederation as a part vf Can-
ada.

Never since that fateful day
has Canadian sovereignty and
the welfare of the people of
B.C. been so threatened as it
is today. Never has -the labor
movement of British Columbia
been faced with bigger chal
lenge or greater opportunities.

The Diefenbaker government
is poised to sign the draft Co-
lumbia River treaty with the
U.S. B.C.’s Social Credit gov-
ernment is prepared to go
even further-in surrendering
this Province’s supply. of cheap
hydro power, and thereby de-
lay industrialization of the
Province and provision of thou-
sands of new jobs.

Canadian-U.S. “integration”
is proceeding at an unprece-
dented rate. If the U.S. gets
away with this newest grab,
much of what the Yankee an-
nexionists of a century ago
struggled for will be achieved.
On the other hand, the pos-
sibilities of achieving united
action to halt the betrayal and
decisively influence the strug-
gle for new national policies
of peace, Canadian independ-
ence, and the people’s needs
were never brighter.

@

NEMPLOYMENT, like our
U excessively - high power
rates, ever-mounting municipal
tax bills, diminishing farm in-
comes; and inadequate - pro-
visions for education, hospitals,
health and welfare — are the
bitter fruits of the present big
business monopoly in Parlia-
ment.

Monopoly capital, with the
assistance of their political ser-
vants and the reactionary cap-
italist press, has succeeded to
an -alarming measure in en-
forcing their ‘“hold-the-line”
policies. As a result of false
divisions they have planted in
the labor movement; by under-
mining the confidence of work-
ers in their union’s ability to
win; by isolating labor from
farmers. the middle strata, pen-
signers and those on. low or
fixed incomes, they have laid
the basis for-extraction of max-
imum. profits for another year.

In order to extend their
domination of B.C. political
and economic life, they de-
manded and got from an obedi-
ent Socred Legislature Bill 42
—a political “gag” law to
throttle labor. That big busi-

-aways. of our lumber, oil

ness has to invoke such repres-
sive, anti-democratic measures
demonstrates their weakness.
For in the long run, it can only
speed up the development of
political consciousness among
the working class. The bosses’
offensive might even have been
thrown back then had it not
been for. divisions within the
labor movement and. the dom-
inant trade .union -leadership
groups (made up of right-wing
CCFers and other. reformists)
who: prevented a united mobil
ization to defeat this pil.
o

HE Communist. Party ‘has
Be consistently worked for
unity .of all B.C. ‘labor, farm,
democratic and: reform-minded
persons, as: the only means of
breaking at this time the econ-
omic and. political - strangle-
hold on B.C. of. big foreign
and native: monopoly interests.
Unfortunately, the ~decisive
right-wing circles-of- labor and
CCF leadership — .oppesed to
and fearful of united: action by
the. people for . peace and
people’s needs — ‘have -hinder-
ed: and restricted development
of an effective, united; progres-
sive alternative that could have
spared B.C. from Bills: 42 and
43. It could have: prevented
the sales tax; gigantic give-
» £as,
hydro and -mineral resources;
and the ruination of our farms
through U.S: dumping and Joss
of markets.

United action could have de-
cisively influenced the course
of recent unsuccessful -trade
union struggles against the ef-
fects of speedup, mechaniza-
tion,. automation,: rising taxa-
tion, inflation, mass.unemploy-
ment and growing. exploita-
tion.

In B.C. there are more than
215,000 trade union members.
With their wives and relatives,
farm and other community or-
ganizations, CCF. .and Com-
munist supporters, they con-
stitute a decisive political
force. Formation of the New
Party in Montreal at the end
of this month, and the subse-
quent. Founding Convention to
be held in B.C. in October, is
an important event... H can
open up tremendous pessibili-
ties for a far-reaching realign-
ment of political forces across
the:country — and particularly
in this Province — where the
trade union movement is such
a potent force. Here the CCF
has enjoyed the ‘support of
close to a third of the electors
for nearly a quarter of a cen-
tury, ‘in spite of all its weak-
nesses and inability to gain
(on -its own) a majority.-in. the
Legislature. :

Can the New Party be ex-

pected to take up the fight
for; or even advocate socialism
—as some well-meaning. pro-
unity elements in the B.C. CCF

united front of Car
many different t
views, coming diverse
social. and economic groups,
uniting around the need for
a new, mass parliamentary al-
ternative to def monopoly
and its parties.

Obviously the first require-
ment, if. it .is to succeed, is
the winning of the strugele +
have it include (as the resolu-
tion which taunched the pres-
ent discussion stated) all who
are “‘interested in basic social
reform and reconsiruction.”

In short ALL (Gnehuding the
independent. unions, the Com-
munist Party. and other
people’s organizations and dem-
ocratic peace-minded -individ-
uals) who agree to its plat-
form of demands, agree toa
abide by the terms of its
constitution, and-work for the
election of a New Party ma-
jority in the Legislatures and
Federal Parliament.

e@

HE Communist Party alone
ee among Canadian political
parties sees the necessity for,
and. fights for..a-socialist fut-
ure. And .one of ‘the ways we
do it, is to -suppert and try
to develop the New Party idea
to implement measures of
benefit to all. Canadians. We
cannot wait for the majority
of our fellow-Canadians to ac-
cept the socialist solution of
our problems, before we tackle
the big immediate problems of
rising unemployment, disarma-
ment, tax relief and provision
of our health and educational
needs.

The political situation in
B.C.; the urgent need for new
national policies and peace, are
teo important for. progressives
to wait and see if the possibili-
ties inherent in the New Party
are “guaranteed”, before tak-
ing a position of active, eritical
Support of the New Party de-
velopment.

All union locals, farm and
other organizations that can
do so should affiliate, and
actively participate in the
struggle for a progressive pro-
gram and policies at the forth-
coming» Founding Convention.
Progressive, peace-minded indi-
viduals (who for one reason or
another are not yet prepared
to join the Communist Party)
should join New Party Clubs
and join the struggle. The
crucial importance of the work
being done between now and
the Founding. Convention can-
not be over-emphasized.

June 30, 1961—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 7

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