- Hardrock miners want $2 an hour; |

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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1952

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE

Trade policies
surrendered to

U.S., says Buck

cognizing that the LPP is fight- alization “that the Soviet Union

ing for Canada against a gigan-
tic cynical plan ‘to ‘betray her.
Among the Canadians who are
recognizing that, there are de-

fenders of capitalism whose ur-’

gent interests and personal re-
ponsibility impel more and more
of thdm to question the policies
that St. Laurent ‘has imposed
upon our country.

“The 300,000 Canadians who
signed the demand upon the five
‘great powers that they meet
and negotiate a pact of peace.
expressed the real national in-
terests of’ Canada and those in-
terests will ‘be served. Canada
will be in the camp of peace.”

The armaments drive was
having a disastrous effect on
Canadian living standards, he
said, pointing out the rising un-
employment — which will con-
tinue tc grow—runaway prices,
and heavy taxation.

“As an example, he pointed
out that the average Canadian
in 1950 “consumed 11 percent
less of the essential protective
foods, meats, milk, butter,
cream, fresh fruits, tomatoes,
cheese and cereals” than they
did in 1947.

This, along with a mass of
additional.facts, “is conclusive

evidence that 'the LPP was cor- |

rect when it warned -all Can-
adians that the St. Laurent gov-
ernment’s arms drive would
rush Canada headlong to the al-
ternative of war or economic
crisis.”

The LPP leader outlined the
historic changes in class rela-
tionships that have taken place
in the 30 years of the Commun-
ist movement in Canada. The
rise of the great Soviet Union;
the coming of the People’s De-
mocracies of Europe; the win-
ning of people’s power in China,
the people’s struggles for na-
tional independence—all are the
most evident signs of the “all-
pervasive crisis which marks
the end of the imperialist era.”

In Canada, he said, in contrast
to the situation 30 years ago,
“the majority of workers do not
accept the predatory aims of
monopoly-capital as the highest
interests of our country. De-
mocratic Canadians are awak-
ening to the fact that there is a
profound contradiction between
the predatory ambitions of mon-
opoly-capital and its: political
representatives, and the true in-
terests of Canada. The imperi-
lists’ drive to world atomic war
is opposed by ever wider circles
of Canadian patriots.”

Along with the growing reali-
zation that the only source of
the war danger came from the
U.S. is the steadily growing re-

and the People’s Democracies
want" peace.”

The party of Communists ih
Canada had always been a party
standing for peace, democracy,
security, Canadian independence
and socialism, ‘he said. .

“The developments’ and
changes prognosticated by the
foundation® convention of our
party 30 years ago are now far-
advanced.

“This plenum of the national

-committee of the LPP declares

that, as a result of the profound

- and far-reaching changes that

have taken place in class rela-
tionships on a world scale since
we Canadian Communists est-
ablished our party 30 years ago,

it is now fully possible for the |

demccratic people of Canada,
headed by the working class, to

achieve socialism in our country,

by transforming capitalist de-
mocracy into People’s Democ-
racy through a people’s major-
ity in parliament and the estab-
lishment of a People’s govern-
ment,

“The draft of our new party
pregram, completed and adopt-
ed in this conference, is the his-
toric document in which the
fe

TIM BUCK
Canadian people not for sale

«

LPP summarizes the passing of
the old conditions in which the
working vlass was excluded en-
tirely from a voice in control of
the affairs of the nation, and
points out the democratic path
by which the Canadian working
class, at the head of all the de-
mocratic people will win the

leadership of the nation and lead —

Canada forward through Peo-
ple’s Democracy to peace and to
socialism.”

now 32,000

‘Canadian hardrock miners will fight to establish a miners’ rate of $2 per hour throughout
Canada with all other rates being raised to conform with it, the fourth annual convention of the
Canadian section of International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers decided Jast weekend.
Mine-Mill will seek one-year contracts and a national 40-hour week, the convention decided.

“This “has been a ‘banner yea

for Mine-Mill in Canada,” the
report presented by Nels Thi-
bault and Harvey Murphy said.

“Tt has been a year of smash-
ing success: on the bargaining
front from one end of Canada
‘to the other. It has been the
year of decisive victory in the
long struggle against the raid-
ers. It has ‘been ‘the year in
which a ‘higher level of unity
has been welded within our own
union, and in which important
first steps have been taken to-

word a new unity with the rest,

of the labor movement. It has
been a year in which we have
made great strides in organiz-
ing new operations, and laid the
groundwork for the expansion
of organization for the coming
year.

“Today there are more than
32,000 members of Mine-Mill in
Canada and we represent just
about one-third of the member-
ship of our entire international
union. We have, easily, the
best contracts, the ‘highest
wages, the best conditions of
any union in Canada.”

British hanged in effigy

This picture cf a British soldier hanged in effigy is indicative

of the anti-British sentiment now sweepng Egypt as a result of

Britain’s refusal to evacuate troops from the Suez Canal Zone.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE

“We said you’d hear Robeson,’

declared Murphy -and 2,000 did |

By BERT WHYTE

Some 2,000 Vancouver citizens
heard Paul Robeson sing and
speak to an open session of the
Mine-Mill national conference in
Denman Auditorium last Friday
night. At the end of Robeson’s
speech ‘the entire audience rose
and gave the great Negro singer
a thunderous ovation.

True, Robeson wasn’t there in
person to receive ‘this tribute.
United States authorities in
Washington had seen to that,
by preventing him from cross-
ing the border at Blaine the pre-
vious day. But when Harvey

’ Murphy, on the Vancouver end
of a person-to-person telephone

conversation with Robeson in
Seattle, asked ‘thim, “Can you
hear that cheering and applause,
Paul?” the world-famous bass-

‘baritone chuckled and replied,

“T sure can.” -
“Our Mine-Mill union doesn’t

Murphy told the audience a few
moments later. “We said Paul
would sing for us and speak to
us, and he has.”

American action in barring
Robeson and prominent San
Francisco lawyer Vincent Halli-

nan, who were scheduled to ap-.

pear at the Mine-Mill conven-
tion, turned the Denman Audi-
torium session into a protest
meeting. Speakers were Ken

Smith, Mine-Mill district presi-.

dent; John Cameron, United
Mine Workers of America; Wil-
liam Stewart, Marine Workers
and Boilermakers Union; C. S.
Jackson, United Electrical
‘Workers; and Nels Thibault, of
Sudbury, ‘Mine-Mill internation-
al board member. Harvey
Murphy chaired the meeting.

William Stewart was speak-
ing when Robeson’s telephone
call came through from Seattle.

if

' go ‘back on its word,’ Harvey .

Union electricians had arranged
amplifiers and Robeson’s “pri-
vate conversation” with Murphy
could be heard clearly in every
section of the hall. He began
by singing “Joe Hill”’—the sqng
about the Western Federation
of Miners’ organizer who was
framed on a murder charge in
Utah in 1915, and whose last
words, as lhe faced the firing
squad, were, “Don’t mourn for
me; organize!” ;

I dreamed I saw Joe Hill las

\ night,

Alive as you and me;

Says I. “But Joe, you’re ten
years dead.”

“I never died,” says he, “I
never died,’ says he.

The audience sat tense and -

silent, listening to Robeson’s
: ¢ iS :
voice singing the imperishable
words. In many eyes there
were traces of tears.
“The copper bosses killed you,
Joe,
They killed you, Joe,” says I.
“Takes more than gun to kill
aman
Says Joe, “I didn’t die.”
‘Robeson’s golden voice filled

the auditorium. Everone was
leaning forward, faces upturned,

- as Robeson sang the six short

verses,
_ When the last soft words (‘“ ‘I
never died,’ says he”) were
sung, Robeson paused a mo-
ment, then began to speak.
“Refusal to allow me to cross
the border was an ‘act of Ameri-
can administration, not an act
of the American people,” ‘he
said, and went on ‘to tell of
labor’s struggles, of the strug-
gles of the colonial peoples for
freedom, and the struggles of
the peoples of the world for
peace. .
‘With great feeling, Robeson
quoted a passage from Chilean
poet Pablo Neruda’s poem, “Let

the Rail Splitter Awake’...

... Let none think of me.

Let us think of the entire earth

and pound the table with love.

I don’t want blood again

to saturate bread, beans, music:

I wish they would come with
me: :

the miner, the little girl,

the lawyer, the seaman,

the doll-maker,

to go into a movie and come
cut ;

to drink the reddest wine

I did not come to solve any-

_ thing.
I came here to sing
and for you to sing with me.

And in closing, Robeson spoke
of his own childhood, and his
“pop” who told him, when he
was a little boy: “Stand firm,
son, stand firm to your prin-
ciples.” Said the Robeson of
1952, speaking with depth and
passion: “You ‘bet I will, pop,
as long as there’s a breath in my
body.” ;

Chairman Harvey Murphy
read a resolution of protest

against the banning or Robeson

and Hallinan — a _ resolution
which will ‘be sent to Ottawa and
Washington, and to the United
Nations.

“Is there anyone here wishes
to get up and speak against
‘this resolution?” asked the
Mine-Mill leader.

“No one took tthe floor.

“All ‘those in .favor, please
stand,” said Murphy. Everyone
in the audience stogd up.

“If anyone is opposed, will
they please rise,” continued
Murphy. No one got up. /

“That’s just fine,” cracked
Murphy. “We know that there

_ are some FBI and RCMP agents

here with us, but apparently
we're are unanimous in support
of this resolution.”

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — FEBRUARY 8, 1952 — PAGE 12