By BRUCE MAGNUSON

flation in Canada growing from
© worse . . . Unemployment in

New housing construction starts in
jatch, 1975, only half .of what they
_T€ a year ago.

Or the past 12 months the economy
been at zero growth. Finance Min-
ter John Turner now admits his fore-
St of a 4% growth in GNP this year
aS hogwash. Indeed, he now fore-
Sts a decline in the first six months
| 1975, and hopes for sporadic and.
: See recovery in the second half

into 1976. However, nothing is for
€. Nobody seems to know where we
heading. The only sure thing to bet

Is that the crisis in the economy is.
“per by far than we are being told.
2

_ POLITICAL DOUBLE-TALK

ie a result Mr. Turner has promised
Dann W federal budget soon. But before
ob uncing a date of this new budget,
“stg unister of Finance wants time to
Se three factors: 1) the U.S. econo-
and Policy — where output of goods
d first Services fell about 10% during the
| Sed three months of this year, the
7 We St.drop in a single quarter in 29
if ee and one of the steepest sirice the
so 5 enon of the 1930s; 2) the impact
D cr gher prices on oil and gas — obvi-
thr Y inflationary and reverberating
i sibiie” the whole economy; 3) the pos-
aD oo ity of holding down prices and in-
ol a to fight inflation — which in
l ape of the foregoing appear as just so
5s aw political double-talk for anyone
suilible enough to. swallow.
: a View of all this it would be simply.
ba Omprehensible and .suicidal for
q ee to allow any let-up in its struggle
land igher wages and salaries, for jobs,
a trade union rights. On the cont-
Bai. now is the time for an intensific-
On of that struggle, and combining it
extra-parliamentary mass strug-
“e in the political arena. _

* Es 3

P Bape unemployment, _ inflation and
no Omic crisis we experience now are
Short-term or isolated phenomena.
9, wat we face is a malignant ulcer in
bres socal and economic system. As a
: at. t, not only a faltering economy,
d and numerous other tremendous social
Sho Political challenges face the labor
a eae here in Canada and through-
ne Capitalist world.
tls year of 1975, we have a situ-
> where the socialist world system
Pre stronger and the capitalist
tigen: weaker. The world strategy of
d with Malism is ‘in a general crisis. Faced
fl and the drive for peace and socialism.
it Wun the powerful upsurge of the
“A tho ing class and national liberation
al vement, imperialism is losing many
es most strategic positions. It is
ys poe, this which poses perhaps the
: ca challenge before our trade
he is ns and working class in North
Oe €rica, as well as in all the advanced
1 i pees countries, barring none.
eronalt -as the growing strike
€ment on purely economic issues

ntral Canada the worst in 14 years —

is, in order to maintain and improve
living standards, this movement will
never reach beyond short-term solu-
tions to urgent and immediate econo-
mic problems within the framework of
the capitalist system, and on terms ac-
ceptable to it. The real problem is to
formulate and develop a concrete

struggle around more complex and

long-term social and political issues
that challenge monopoly control and
begin to come to grips with the urgent
need for fundamental, social and
economic change in the direction of

socialism.

POLICY RE-DIRECTION
NEEDED

The former colonial countries are
putting a stop to the age-old plunder
of their natural resources, and show a
firm determination to scrap imperial-
ism. This is a new factor in the world
economy with which countries such as
Canada have to reckon whether they
like it or not. —

In practical terms it means, that
whereas the worldwide crisis of the
thirties began with a sharp decline of
raw material prices which made for
price deflation in the developed coun-

tries, today this is not likely to happen. —

As a direct consequence of this re-
latively new situation, the general rise

‘in raw material prices confronts impe-

rialist countries with new problems
and brings with it changes in the whole
value of structure of such economies,

which hitherto hinged on an abundance
of cheap energy and raw materials.

For Canada, which has a developed
economy as well as abundant energy
and‘raw materials, these changes have
great significance and call for a new
direction of social and economic policy
here at home, as well as a re-direction
of trade and foreign policy.

As the Tribune stated last December,
answers ‘to the problem of jobs must
be both short and long range. Many of

-the measures required are already em-
bodied in demands of trade unionists
— for example those recently present-
ed to Ottawa and Queen’s Park by the
United Auto Workers. This is what in-
creasing numbers of union members
want from their leaders, to act more
boldly, to shake loose from their fear
of rocking the boat, as they say. From
a long-range viewpoint, ‘more and more
workers are looking for working-class
politics — class struggle policies which
consistently fight the exploitative
state-monopoly capitalist system that
sacrifices jobs and living standards of
the workers ot try and solve its own
built-in crisis.

THE WAR ECONOMY

There is the fight for peace, more
crucial now than ever. As Professor
Seymour Melman of Columbia Univer-

sity has pointed out in his latest book, .

“The Permanent War Economy—Ame-
rican Capitalism in Decline”:

.

your kids!”

“Our country is facing a most serious crisis and you talk about feeding

pvveneaveveuunQuuenuaquesuuauvauuuuuunuuauaauacaceccccccneau cece eee eee eM eRET

“| War economy is not a blessing.
but a scourge for the American people,
a parasitic growth on the body econo-
mic, a canker eating away at the eco-
nomic organism.” Melman ~ estimates
that in 1974 the USA spent $123,000-
million, or 62% of the federal budget,

on war preparations and to pay for

past wars. The Pentagon places its
contracts with a select set of suppliers,
and this rules out any competition.
Even if the initial cost is exceeded
fourfold, the Pentagon will find the
money to pay the difference. Why then
try to economize? “If costs go up, SO
too can prices, and thereby profits.
This, in a nutshell, is the logic of cost-
maximization.”

Canadian monopolists have made
plenty of profits through complicity in
the criminal wars of Uncle Sam, parti-
cularly in Vietnam. This is one of the
reasons for inflation — perhaps the
main reason, next to the contradictory
processes of monopoly capital and im-
perialism. : ; ;

Other subsidiary causes are: mani-

-pulation of interest rates, unjust tax

policies, release into circulation of
money not backed by material values,
plus other instruments of state regula-
.tion, all of which have only suceeded
in aggravating unemployment and in-
flation .

The new international climate of
detente, if consolidated and made irre-
versible, can be the key factor to help
promote solutions to the complex eco-
nomic ‘problems created by the effects
of the current crisis in the capitalist

- economy.

UNITED ACTION ESSENTIAL

United action is essential to: 1) stop
layoffs and beat back the monopoly
offensive on living standards, on -jobs
and on trade union rights; 2) ensure
that the fruits of technological change,
including job security, accrue to the
working people; 3) bring about redistri-
bution of the national income for the
working people at the expehse of the
multi-national corporations; 4) com-
plete rejection of the concept of any
and all so-called “equality” of sacrifice
to help solve an economic. crisis for
which labor bears no responsibility; 5)
‘a ‘shorter work week and a shorter
workday with increased take-home pay.
Abolish overtime; 6) recognize housing
needs as a public utility and put the
unemployed to work building homes
for the people at prices they can afford.

United economic action must be
combined with united political action
based on cooperation between the

trade unions, the New Democratic _

Party and the Corhmunist Party. Such
united political action must be directed
towards nationalizing of energy and
natural resources, transportation, com-
munications and certain multi-national
corporations, along with banking and
credit.

On the long-term, this is the only |

path that can advance the political
-aims of the working class and open the
door to the socialist transformation in
Canada. :

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 1975—Page9