Canadian Slavs score
US threat to peace

Protesting agaimst the belligerent attitude adopted by
tae U.S. State Department towards Yugoslavia, manifested
in recent. U.S. army displays in the Julian March area of
Trieste, and also with respect to U.S. violation of Yugoslav
sovereignty by unauthorized flights across Yugoslav territory,

the National Council of Canadian
South Slavs forwarded telegrams
to the British and US govern-

ments and to Marshal Tito. The
telesram to President Truman
reads:

“An associated Press report
from Gorizia ‘states that the
American armed forees in that

city have staged a huge military
parade as a “warning” to Yugo-
slavia. The New York Times in
a Washington despatch says that

the Anglo-American military
staffs are “studying Yugoslavia.”
This is a clear threat of war

against which we most strongly
protest.

We consider that the respon-
sibility for the latest regrettabie
incidents between Yugoslavia
and the American and SBritish
forces lies in the failure of the
representatives of the two latter
countries to respect the sover-
eign rights of Wugoslavia and
to recognize fully the national
rights of the Slavs of the
Julian March. This responsibil-
ity cannot be by-passed by
“protest notes” to the Yugoslav
government and threats of war
against it, and least of all by
the “strong words” of Messrs.
Patterson and Acheson.

The maintenance of peace and
of the world requires recognition
and respect for the sovereignty
and the national rights of all
countries and all peoples, regard-

good relations among the nations
less of size. We firmly believe
that application of this principle
is all that is needed to achieve
and maintain good relations with
Yugoslavia.” A similar telegram
was forwarded to the British gov-
ernment,

The text of the
Marshal Tito reads:

“The Gouncil of Canadian South
Slavs, in the name of thousands
of Yugoslavs. in Canada, wishes
to extend to you and to the
people of Yugoslavia its warmest
fraternal greetings.

We want you to know that we,
as well as thousands of other
Ganadians,: fully sympathize with
your efforts to guard the sover-—
€ign rights of Yugoslavia and to
achieve full liberation of the
Slovene and Croat people of the
Julian March.

Behind the present campaign
of slander and threats of war
against Wugoslavia, we recog-
nize the aim of reaction to des-
troy the great achievements of
the national liberation struggle
of the people of Yugoslavia and
to make it a colony of imper-
ialist powers. But they will fail
in the same way as other
enemies of the Yugoslav people
have failed in the past. Nothing,
mot even threats of war, can
Swerve the people of Yugo-
Slavia from the path they have

telegram ta

taken. That is our firm belief.”

AFL Disruption

Another issue to come before
the council was the complaint
against the International Print-
ing Pressmen’s Union laid by Lo-
cal 226 of the International Typo-
Sraphical Union.

The complaint, which will be
heard by a trial committee dur-
ing the coming week, charged
that the Pressmen’s Union was
“respecting and cooperating with
an organization that is hostile to
all printing trades unions” by
working with strikebreakers at
the Wancouver Daily Province.

Wires crossed

WASHINGTON—Direction, and
depth, of American state depart-—
ment thinking is unwittingly re-
vealed by a so-called “typograph-
ical error’ in the official text of
the savage U.S. demarche to Mar-
shal Tito’s Yugoslav government.
The text was prefaced with this
sentence: “The following is the
text of a note handed to the So-
viet charge d’affairs ad interim
this afternoon.”

The note, of course, was actu-
ally handed to the Yugoslav
charge d’affairs. What the slip
indicated was the anti-Soviet
bias of the state department.

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India

masses of India. This gevernment
as constituted under the provisions
of the British Cabinet Commission
to Imdia, is responsible to the
King and not the Indian people.
Amy proposal which endangers or
infringes upon the basic imterests
of British imperialism will not be
tolerated.

The main concern of. His Ma-
jesty’s Socialist Government is to
prevent unity of the Indian peo-
ple; to perpetuate the policy of
“divide and rule” by playing off
the Moslem against the Hindu on
alleged religious or other grounds
of division. @Qurban believes the
new government will follow the
precedent established by past gov-
ernment set-ups in India.

British troops are still in India
and there is no proposal for their
withdrawal, stated the Indian
leader. -Hundreds of Indian pat-
triots are still rotting in jails.
Trade unions are still closely re-
stricted im exercising their rights
of association and collective bar-
gaining. Civil liberties are limit-
ed to suit the special interests of
India’s exploiters.

The new government will not be
representative of all sections of
the Indian people, with the excep-
tion of the National Congress
Party which excluded millions of
Moslems and other groups, it can-
not enjoy the confidence of India’s
400 million people. The demand
of the people is for a program to
raise them up from the poverty
and starvation which grips India,
and this cannot be done without
first ridding the country of the
domination of British imperialism,
and permitting the Indian people
to run their own affairs. This the
new government will not be al-
lowed to do.

The Indian trade union leader
pointed out that 90 per cent of
Indian trade union organizers re-
ceive no wages, and even the 10
per cent who are paid receive 2
pittance of $10 to $15 a month.

Sometimes they have offices, but
more often not. Offices are usu-
ally dark  ill-ventilated rooms

without telephones, typewriters or
other modern equipment. Trade
union leaders and organizers live
on the same semi-starvation level
as the mass of Indian workers.

Workers families, said Qurban,
live in indescribable poverty.
Their children cannot have shoes,
fruit or dairy products. Their
diet consists mostly of bread and
various kinds of “dal,” a bean
produet. They live in rooms shar-
ed by many families without the
most elementary sanitation facili-
ties.

Im industrial cities like Bombay,
Karachi, and other centres, with
beautiful downtown areas, with
shops selling the fine cloth they
weave, textile workers must often
find a bed on the sidewalk, or live
in miserable hovels* on the out-
skirts of the cities, built of mud
and thatch, kuchka houses—where
epidemics may and do kill hun-
dreds and thousands of people.
The infant deathrate is extremely
high, since few families can af-
ford to pay the fees of hospitaliza-
tion, and new life must be brought
into the world amid squalor, filth
and disease.

To free themselves of this
condition, the people must fit
of all free India from British
domination. The Indian leader
expressed the opinion that Brit-
ish imperialism would scarcely
leave India willingly, nor allow
any government to compromise
its position for the betterment
of the Indian people.

HWazal Qurban is a man of 42
years and resides in Lahore when
not travelling on union work. He
has been a keen student of Indian
affairs since childhood, and knows
the results of British imperialism
first hand. Wot only are the trade
unions under the constant eye of
the British-Indian police, but
Qurban himself declares he was
watched until the moment he left
India, and “Tt know TI shall be
watched form the moment I step
ashore in my native iand again.”

The Indian leader addressed a
public meeting while in Vancouver,
as well as a number of conferences
with local trade union bodies, both
AFL and CCL. While in America
he attended the session of the ILO.

do

“Tp
thing I might have lived out
my life talking at street cor-
mers to scorning men. I might
have
known, a failure. Now we are
not
career, and our triumph. Never
tn our full life could we hope
to do such work for tolerance,
for
standing Of men as now We

our
taking of our Itves—tives of
vn good shoemaker and a poor
fish peddler — all!
moment

it had not been for this

died, unmarked, un-

This ts ouc

a failure.

justice, for man’s under-
Our words—

by acctdent.
Lhe

pains —— nothing!

That _last

belongs to us—that

agony is our triumph!”

Sacco and Vanzetti

Bartholomeo Vanzettt

(left) behind bars

This month workers throughout the world will recall

the martyrdom of Sacco and Vanzetti,

American labor

leaders, who were framed in 1921 and executed by the

capitalist courts in 1927.

lransit Grab

franchise rights in
Vancouver, North Vancouver and
Burnaby, offering better services,
a greater share of returns and a
shorter-term franchise with an op-
portunity for the two cities and
one municipality to acquire its
holdings after a three or five—
year period.

While the Blue Line was forc-
ing the issue and winning con-
siderable public support in a well-
ealeculated campaign, it was en-
gaged in secret negotiations with
the BCER which were concluded
this week with sale of Blue Line

BCER for

holdings for. “an undisclosed
sum.”

The surprise moves leaves the
people of the greater Vancouver

and areas asking why the BCER
cannot now offer the cities and
municipalities affected by its
deal the same terms offered by
the Blue Line.

These terms, as offered to Van-
couver, provided for a minimum
rental of four percent of gross
earnings, regardless of profit, and
re-opening of the franchise at
five-year intervals to give the city
an opportunity of exercising its
right to buy out holdings—after
five years at 75 percent, after
10 years at 50 percent, after 15
years at 25 percent and at the
end of 20 years at at 10 percent.

it also leaves the people of
the greater Vancouver and Vic-
toria areas with the only alter-
native of voting down proposals
to give the BCER exclusive
iranchise rights when  plebis-
ae on the issue are conduct
ed.

it raises the issue of public
Ownership as the one means
whereby the people can defeat

the scheme for complete monopo-
listie control of their transporta-
tion into which they have been
betrayed by their provincial and
civic governments.

This is the immediate issue con-
fronting North Vancouver voters
as a result of the Blue TLine’s
decision to sell out to the BCER.
On September 11 they will vote
on a plebiscite to approve or re-
ject the council’s proposal to give
the BCER a 20-year franchise.

Mayor Jack lLoutet’s immedi-
ate reaction to the announce—
ment was: “North Vancouver

must now either pass the bylaw
giving the BCER an exclusive
franchise or continue to operate
with antiquated streetcars.”

The opposing position taken by
Dorothy Lynas, secretary of North
Vancouver LPP Club, was:

“The proposal to give the
BCER an exclusive franchise
must be voted down. An effort”
is being made to deceive the
people into believing that there
is now no alternative. The al-
ternative of a municipal bus
system which would return the
profits to the city and enable
us to plan our development has
not even been considered. Un-
less the people want to be at
the mercy of the BCER for the
next 20 years they owe it to
themselves to vote ‘no’ in the
plebiscite.”

ANUS

Read— ~

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your copy at

The Peoples’
Cooperative Bookstore
337 W. Pender

Le,

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6,

MAr. 5536 i