Road to peace and social progress...

STOP THE ARMS RACE

By ALFRED DEWHURST _

Perhaps the most striking manifesta-
tion of what is new in international
politics today is the new majority in the
UN. The old majority clustered around
the United States is now a thing of the
past. It now is the new minority.

This turnabout in the United Nations
reflects the continuing shift in the
balance of world forces in favor of peace,
democracy and socialism. It reflects also
the continuing strengthening of anti-
imperialist unity on a world scale.

The developed capitalist states, allied
in one way or another with U.S. imperial-
ism, are compelled to take into account
this changing balance of forces in the
world. They are forced, albeit too
slowly, to recognize that the principles of
peaceful coexistence between states
with different social systems are the only
acceptable basis of inter-state relations
in today’s world.

The world has begun to move away
from a climate of sharp international ten-
sions to a climate of detente. This was
graphically confirmed by the successful
conclusion one year ago of the historic
Helsinki Conference on Security and
Cooperation in Europe. Canada and the
USA participated in that conference.
The Final Act of Helsinki lays down the
ground rules by which the European
states (capitalist and socialist), the USA
and Canada should conduct their inter-
state relations.

It is well to remember that the initia-
tive for that conference came from the

Soviet Union, backed fully by the other »

countries of the socialist community as
well as the forces of peace, democracy
and social progress within the participa-
ting countries.

Cold War Forces
Have Not Given Up

The Final Act at Helsinki was not to
the liking of the most reactionary circles
of finance capital (headquarters USA)
who continuously press, maneuver, and
conspire to push the world back to cold
war positions — to create hot-beds of
international tension and to incite local
wars and confrontations.

One has only to mention southeast
Asia, southern Africa, the Middle East,

and now once again Korea, for evidence
of the provocative and war-making ac-
tivities of these reactionary circles of
finance capital. Or recall the speeches of
the nominators, seconders and nominees
for president of the USA at the recent
Republican Convention.

The drive for super-profits has no limit
as far as these reactionary circles, center-
ing around the industrial-military com-
plex, are concerned. Detente and peace-
ful coexistence are dirty words to the
armament profiteers.

Imperialist States
Step Up Arms Race

The advocates of cold war are be-
coming extremely bold in their strivings
to put an end to detente, for a return to

brinkmanship in international policy and.
for stepping up the arms race. They are ©

meeting with some success as the follow-
ing facts suggest.

Over the past five years the European
countries in NATO have more than
doubled their military spending. In 1975
the ten countries making up the so-called
Euro-Group upped their military spend-
ing by $5.5-billion over 1974. NATO’s
military spending on the whole
amounted to $149-billion in 1975 as
against $132-billion in 1974. The U.S.
Congress-approved military budget for
the 1976-1977 fiscale year, at $11.2-
billion, is the largest ever in the country’s
history.

The NATO Nuclear Planning Group,
in June of this year, considered methods
of modernizing its nuclear forces. West-
er news agencies reported that its
sessions were devoted to drawing up
‘‘detailed plans for NATO countries to
wage a nuclear war against the Soviet
Union and its Warsaw Treaty allies’’.
The armed forces’ ministers discussed
‘*proposals by their specialists regarding
the yields of nuclear warheads to be used
in dealing strikes against some or other
specific targets”’.

At the Assembly of the Western Euro-
pean Union* calls were made to set up
a special European military grouping to
complement NATO. In addition, West
Germany and France were commended
for building up their armed forces.

Socialist States Work
To End Arms Race
Compare the actions of the imperialist
war-posturing states to step up the arms

-race with the following proposals and

suggestions made by the Soviet Union to
end or slow. down the arms race.

The Soviet Union has proposed (1) the
concluding of a universal treaty on the
non-use of force in international rela-
tions, (2) universally banning the de-
velopment of new types of weapons of
mass destruction and new systems of
such weapons, (3) the prohibition of all
nuclear weapons tests.

The Soviet Union suggested to the
United States the idea of reaching an
agreement on the reciprocal renunciation
of the development of: new, more

destructive types of weapons like the .

Trident submarine and the strategic B-1
bomber in the USA and similar systems
in the USSR.

The Soviet Union and the other coun-
tries of the socialist community press
consistently for mutual reduction of
armed forces and the concerted scaling
down of military budgets. The socialist
and developing countries are the ones
that press hardest for the convening of
the agreed-upon UN Disarmament Con-
ference.

Which Path to Take -

Bending to the heavy pressure of the
militarist forces grouped around the
industrial-military complex, the gov-
ernments of the imperialist countries

‘ have not as yet accepted the Soviet pro-

posals. This only plays into the hands of
the enemies of peace. The hesitancy of
the governments of the capitalist world in
implementing agreemerits and under-

standings limiting the arms race and

effecting disarmament slow down the
process of international detente.
Canada is involved in the arms race.

The Canadian government, yielding to -

the pressure of the Pentagon, NATO and
the industrial-military complex, recently
made a sizable increase in arms expendi-
tures. But this is still not enough for the
cold warriors. They want more. Addi-
tional pressures are being exerted to tie

Canada more closely to the aims and am-
bitions of U.S. imperialism through
NORAD and NATO.

The lesson is clear. The imperialist
countries, because of the nature of im-
perialism which is a striving toward vio-
lence and war, must be forced by world
public opinion to continue on the path of
detente and peaceful coexistence. To re-
turn to the cold war means to return to
policies of confrontation and possible hot
war. The imperialist ‘‘theory”’ of ‘““peace
threugh strength’ based on an endless
arms race must be replaced by disarma-
ment with equality of security.

Detente Can Be Made
Irreversible

To make detente irreversible, to com-
plete political detente with military de-
tente is a priority taks for all the forces of
peace, democracy and social progress.
Detente will not develop and grow auto-
matically. It has to be fought for against
the reactionary forces of imperialism.
The attitude to detente is a dividing line
in world politics today. This division is
bound to. find its reflection within and
between political parties.

For its part, the Communist Party of
Canada along with its brother parties
throughout the world raises high the
banner of peace, the banner of relentless
struggle against preparations for another
world war, and the reckless policy of
blackmail and the arms race. -

It is doing everything within its power
to mobilize Canadian public opinion to
press upon the Canadian government to
take a firm stand for an end to the arms

- race and for the early convening of the
UN conference of disarmament.

For this reason the Communist Party
has whole-heartedly endorsed the New
Stockholm Appeal to End the Arms
Race. It is justifiably proud that Com-

-munists are among the foremost
gatherers of signatures to this vitally im-
portant world-wide appeal.

(Includes Belgium, France, West.
Germany, Italy, the Netherlands,
Luxembourg and Great Britain.)

More volunteers

are needed

PEACE

SIGNATURE
CAMPAIGN ©
ROLLING

TORONTO — Supporters of
the Toronto Association -for
Peace are rolling up impressive
scores in the campaign for signa-
tures on the world-wide Stoc-
kholm Appeal to end the arma-
ments race.

Pointing out that they need
more volunteers to go out regu-
larly with the petition, TAP has
been taking advantage of the
drawing power of the Canadian
National Exhibition, and getting a
good response from the crowds,

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPTEMBER 10, 1976—Page 8

many of whom see the far-

reaching significance of such a_

campaign.

In a press release, the peace or-
ganization notes that ‘‘in 1950 the
first Stockholm Appeal was
signed by 500 million people —

and stopped a nuclear. war.”’

Today, TAP warns, “‘‘an
enormous accumulation of fire
power threatens the world,”’
while the billions of dollars spent
on arms ‘‘are the main cause of
inflation ...”’

Canada’s military budget since
1945 — some $75-billion, ‘“‘would
have built three million homes.”

The Toronto Association is af-
filiated to the Canadian Peace
Congress, which has a goal of one
million signatures and endorse-
ments by November, when the
sponsoring body, the World
Peace Council, plans to present
the world-wide results to the Un-

‘ited Nations. The World Peace

Council is a non-governmental

body of the United Nations and
reports regularly to the UN.

In its information, TAP re-
minds Canadians who may, or
may not, remember back to the
horror-filled days of the U.S.
atom-bombing of Hiroshima-
Nagasaki, or to the cold war days
of the 1950s, of the words of the
great French atomic scientist,
Frederick Jolliot-Curie, who be-
came the first president of the
World Peace Council:

“No one individual on his own
can prevent war. Only the
peoples of all nations acting to-
gether can achieve this aim.”’

The strength of the Stockholm
Appeal, it has been pointed out, is
that it bridges all oceans, spans all
continents. It is being signed av-
idly by hundreds of millions in
socialist, capitalist and third
world countries.

In October, the thousands of
petitions completed by Canadians
by that time will be used as evi-

dence to convince the Canadian
Government that the people of —
this country want policies of
peace and disarmament, of de-
tente with other political systems,
in the interests of peace. Canada’s
representatives at the UN will be
urged to fight for this policy.

The Toronto Association for
Peace declares in the spirit of the
Stockholm Appeal, ‘‘together we
will:

‘*Stop the arms race; Ban all
nuclear and other weapons of
mass destruction; Bring about
complete and general disarma-
ment; Accomplish the calling
without delay of the United Na-
tions World Disarmament Con-
ference.”

Like peace organizations ac-
ross Canada, TAP appeals to all
to sign the Appeal, and to take
petition forms and collect more
names. More information from:
Toronto Association for Peace,
Box 94, Station J, Toronto; or
telephone the Tribune.