OS SS ae ea eae ee ae ee RN gm” TE NE MMM Sha MIs RT Cem ee

wt 2 eee ee: eee 8

Ross Russell .. . the events in Vietnam dramatize the great changes i

as brought.

—Sean Griffin photo

n the world that May Day over the years

Communists urge probe
of B.C. forest industry

se call for a full Royal Com-
ie Sion inquiry into B.C.’s forest

Ustry came last week from the
Pa - €xecutive of the Communist

rty,

i : a letter addressed to minister
abe and forests Bob Williams,
in wing a statement by the

‘ister in the legislature that the
full government is considering a

Probe of the industry, the B.C.
°mmunist Party executive, over
ne Signature of provincial leader

'Sel Morgan, wrote that ‘‘such a
Probe is long overdue.”

In addition to welcoming
Re ecatns’ statement, the Com-
cay Party letter outlines’ its
sag on what the terms of
ce for such a Royal Com-

'Ssion should be. The letter
States:

“Underlying the necessity for

such a probe is the need to
establish whether the people of
B.C., who own over 90 per cent of
the forest lands of the province, are
getting full benefit from present
policies and forest tenures. The
three reports prepared by the Task
Force headed by Dr. Peter Pearse
have indicated many problems
without offering solutions.
Recently the head of the forestry
department at UBC said on a
television program that under
present forest policies three times
as many trees are being cut down
than are being replaced by
reforestation.

“The primary aim of the tree
farm legislation and other forms of
licences was to ensure a perpetual
yield of forests through - proper
forest management policies.
Obviously there are serious

Cire /

SOLIDARITY WITH PEOPLE
OF SOUTHEAST ASIA

PUBLIC MEETING

CONLAB HALL - 5 East 8th
Vancouver
Friday, May 16 — 8 p.m.

Auspices: Vancouver City Committee
Communist Party of Canada

Hear

MAURICE
RUSH

Editor
Pacific Tribune

shortcomings which must be
corrected in time. The third Pearse
report points out that of the 34 tree
farm licences, 20 of them expire in
1979 and will be up for renewal.
This makes it all the more urgent
that a Royal Commission un-
dertake its work at once if these
licences are to come under review
and changed by the expiry date.

“The Communist Party urges
that such a Royal Commission
conduct a full public inquiry,
holding hearings in all parts of the
province. All interested parties,
groups or. individuals who wish a
hearing should be permitted to
appear.

“We also strongly suggest that in
the terms of reference laid down by
the government for such a Royal
Commision that they include the
following:

e That all forms of forest tenure
now in operation be opened for
examination. Basic to this should
be an examination of whether
public forest lands (Crown lands)
now alienated to private cor-
porations for nominal sums should

See FOREST PROBE, pg. 11

Union Train, Karl Kobylansky conducting, adding their voices to last week’s May Day program. Also on the

May Day meet
hears unity call

Cont'd from pg. 1

“Yes, the U.S. is out of Viet-
nam,’ he continued, “‘but they
haven’t. got out of Canada yet.”
Still, he saw change here too and
brought the point home to B.C.’s
labor movement in referring to a
fellow electrical worker, George
Gee.

Gee, a business agent for. the
IBEW local 213, was ‘‘plucked
from office by the international —
stationed in Washington and the
agents of the American state
department.’’ Twenty-five years
later there was a note of
satisfaction in Russell’s voice as he
said, ‘‘today, his son Jim Gee is
president of that local. They could
not and dare not attempt to do it
again.”

Another feature speaker at the
rally was NDP MLA for Dewdney
Peter Rolston. His announcement
that he and a number of other NDP
MLA’s had gathered earlier in the
week to “break a bottle of
champagne to celebrate the
liberation of Vietnam,’ won ap-
plause from the audience as did his
suggestion that the $2 million fund
held by the provincial government
should be sent to the new govern-
ment shortly.

Rolston’s main topic was the
Trident submarine base at Bangor,
Washington which he described as
the ‘‘world’s single largest
military project.’ He attacked the
nuclear project as an ‘‘aggressive
system’’ which would lead to a
further impetus in the nuclear
arms race.

Of particular concern is the
incredible costs in developing the
Trident. system. By way. of com-
parison he noted that the single
largest item in the provincial
government’s budget — the
education budget — “would not
begin to pay for one sub.”’

The most vigorous response of
the May Day meeting followed the
stirring statement on. Vietnam:
“We hail victory.”’ The speaker
was Maurice Rush, provincial
chairman of the Communist Party
and editor of the Tribune. “It is
proof to the whole world,” he said,
“that any people who refuse to live
on their knees and who are
determined to fight for their
freedom. are unconquerable.”

Rush joined in calling for the
immediate recognition of the PRG
by the federal government and

beyond that for massive aid to be
sent for the rebuilding of the war-
torn country. ‘“We owe the people
of Vietnam a great debt,” he
stressed, ‘‘there were many
millionaires made in Canada for
their part in the armament in-
dustry.”

The communist spokesman
charged that a conspiracy exists
between big business and right
wing governments to deny basic
wage increases and to weaken the
trade union movement. ‘“‘On 10
occasions since 1867, the federal
government has legislated striking
workers back to their jobs,” he
said, ‘‘and two of these have come
in the last two weeks — the
longshoremen here in B.C., and
their brothers in Quebec.” He
called on the meeting to extend
solidarity to the Quebec
longshoremen with a demand on
the federal government to keep
‘hands off the Quebec workers.’

In a strong and direct appeal for
unity with the NDP and the labor
and democratic movement in B.C.
Rush called for ‘‘a great united
front of democratic forces to defeat
the right wing conspiracy to return
big business government to Vic-
toria.’’ The Communist Party
stands ready, he said, to par-
ticipate in such a united front.

Organized labor made its
presence felt at the rally as Dave
Werlin spoke on behalf of both the
Vancouver and the New West-
minster labor councils. Also the
president of the Vancouver local of
CUPE, he brought with him a
number of union members. who
held out a banner inscribed with
the civic workers’ main bargaining
demand: ‘Parity with B.C. public
employees.”

Werlin said that there would be
no “voluntary restraint’? from
labor. He said there were but two
choices for labor — ‘‘to accept the
suffering of. depression or fight
back.”’

A collection at the meeting with
proceeds to the Canadian Aid For
Vietnam Civilians committee
netted an exceptional $1,370.

Perhaps the thought that
lingered with most as they made
their way home was the words of
Dave Werlin when he expressed
labor’s desire that next year, ‘““We
will put May Day where it belongs,
out on the street with a monster
parade and demonstration.”

—Jack Phillips photo

program was Bargain at Half the Price under the direction of Steve Gidora.
PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, MAY 9, 1975—Page 3

i eae Ta

Prine