‘ i} } Serta: She Are ayy a TEES Sb ir TS A ite SM LPP debates future course as national convention nears When the 6th national con- vention of the Labor-Progres- sive party opens here on April 19 delegates will be guided by the most extensive debate ever to take place in a Cana- dian political party. Hundreds of meetings of LPP clubs across the country, committee sessions and gen- eral membership rallies and conventions in provinces and regions are discussing the party’s work and the conclu- sions on several controversial discussions will determine the course of the national conven- tion debate. An example of the scope of the discussion is seen in the special editions of National Affairs Monthly, LPP politi- cal journal. By the time of the conven- tion, it is estimated} 300,000 words will have been printed in some eight issues of the journal, and those articles which cannot be published be- cause even eight issues total- ling 152 pages are inadequate will go to the convention’s committees. It is a public discussion for anyone can buy or subscribe to National Affairs Monthly. The LPP constitution pro- vides that three months before a national convention a pre- convention debate shall take place and that a suitable print- ed medium shall be provided for it, in addition to meetings. No other party has such a provision. The Liberal party did not have a national con- vention for about 30 years. The Conservative and Social Cre- dit parties rarely hold na- tional conventions. The CCF does not have such a provision and it is known that there is dissatisfaction in that party because the new declaration adopted at last year’s convention in Winni- peg was not discussed before- hand by the members. The LPP discussion centres around its draft policy resolu- tion, adopted by a majority of the national committee last December and two amend- menis submitted by two na- tional committee members, Norman Penner and Charles Sims, which were rejected by the national committee. Penner’s amendment, to re- place the first section of the resolution, charges that the LPP “finds itself outside of the labor moverrerit, weak and isolated,” and calls for “new policies and_ radically different methods of work... ._.to give Marxism-Leninism a rebirth in our country.” The party’s leadership, he asserts, has so far “failed to propose Such a new orientation.” Sims’ amendment, to re- Place four paragraphs of the resolution, declares that “the chief danger to the party is dogmatic thinking and its con- Sequences — leftist sectarian policies and practises...” + The February issue of Na- tional: Affairs Monthly car- ried an article by J. B. Sals- ~. berg, former MPP for Toronto- : St. Andrew, “For a Socialist Realignment in Canada,” in which the proposal for a new party is advanced from the standpoint that the LPP is in- capable of transforming itself into a genuinely Canadian party of socialism. “We need a party that will creatively apply all that is valid in the body of scientific socialist knowledge to Can- adian conditions and chart our own Canadian path to social- ism. The LPP with its long history of subservience to the CPSU, its dogmatism, its sec- tarianism, its isolation from the masses and the distrust with which it is regarded can- not be transformed into such a party,” Salsberg wrote. He said it should be a party that would “not seek to dom- inate but to cooperate with, to influence, as well to learn from every part of the labor movement in this country. Tim Buck, LPP national leader, and a number of others have strongly opposed this viewpoint. : In a recent article, Buck wrote: “The resolution . . . looks to all the changes and im- provements called for in this new veriod; from taking every party problem to the member- ship to developing our distinc- tive independent role in in- ternational relationships. By their. votes to adopt the reso- lution, the overwhelming ma- jority of the members of the national committee affirmed their confidence that our party, guided by Marxism-Leninism, can and will meet the test of this new period. Qur party can and will continue to be the vision, the soul and the conscience of the Canadian working class.” The draft policy resolution tion states that the LPP is fully capable of correcting its errors, ‘successfully combat- ting sectarianism and dogma- tism and creatively applying Marxism-Leninism to Cana- dian conditions. It speaks also of the danger of right oppor- tunist tendencies which lead to proposals for the dissolu- tion of the party. Among the questions being debated are: e' The Canadian path of so- cialism. and the principle of working class state power in -he transition from capitalism to socialism ® Relation of the LPP to other parties of Communists, brought to the forefront by the disclosures of violations of genuine fraternal relations at the 20th Congress of the Com- munist Party of the Soviet Union a year ago and by ev- ents in Poland and Hungary. e Democratic centralism. the organizational principle of Communist parties which combines democracy with cen- tralized leadership. The LPP program Canadian Independence and a People’s Parliament — Canada’s Path to Socialism, adopted in 1954 at the 5th convention, will come under review by the coming convention. The national committee: has set up a commission to do pre- liminary work upon it. The constitution of the party has also been re-drafted and pub- lished and will be taken up by the delegates. Fffie asks reduction of city mill rate taxes on homes this year was advocated. by Civic Reform Asso- ciation president, Mrs. Effie Jones, this week in a letter to city council. . Mrs. Jones urged council to press the provincial govern- ment to pay taxes on their municipal property and a large share of city road costs. She also asked council to take a new look at the basis ‘of taxa- tion, which is at present un- fair and not based on ability to pay. Council should take steps to carry through a re-assessment of commercial and _ business properties, in order to bring them into line with other as- sessments in the city, she said. Drawing attention to the: proposed 1957 school budget, which will show a large in- “crease over the previous year, Mrs. Jones: urged council to press Victoria to’ assume a greater share of education costs. ‘She asked that council petition the provincial gov- ernment to raise the present salary schedule for teachers so that the city taxpayers will EFFIE JONES not have to pay the large amount involved between the provincial scale and the ac- tual salaries paid. Bare plight of Indians VICTORIA, B.C. ‘The same squalid conditions found among 100 Sekani Indians in the Rocky Mountain Trench can be found among many other bands of Native Indians in B.C.,’’ Cyril Shelford (SC, Omineca) said here this week. “TI know that the Babines of Burns Lake, 300 miles south of Fort Ware, exist in the same rags and hunger,” con- tinued Shelford. “It’s about time people were made aware of these things.” Plight of the Sekani Indians was revealed last week when Vancouver Province reporter Ben Metcalfe toured the ter- ritory with superintendent Eric Underwood of the Indian Affairs department. “The economic rot began to devour this tribe many years ago when the fur trade began to decline,” wrote Metcalfe. The Hudson’s Bay Company closed its post at Fort Ware in 1948, leaving the area to a private trader, Ben Cork. At present prices of furs, Native Indian trappers cannot clear more than $200 a season. Many refuse to go out on the trail for such meagre returns. Metcalfe found that white Canadians living closest to these Indians are prone to rationalize their plight on the grounds that “they have al- ways lived like this,” or “they wouldn’t have it. any other way.” One exception was Mrs. Marge MacDougall, who with her husband operates a trad- ing post and post office at Finlay Forks. ‘I’ve bee trying for 20 years to get something done,” she told the Province repor- ter. “They need help of an- other kind than mere rations and handouts. “They need a business agent, or someone to make sure they get the right price for their furs. They need soméone to live among them and guide them properly, to maintain among the litile ones the things they’ve already learn- ed in school.” Condition of Native Indians in “Wenner -Grenland” was first raised in the legislature by Gordon Dowding (CCF, Burnaby). “The Indians up there are practically starving,” said Dowding. “They have insuf- ficient clothing and no means of making a living.” Dowding urged that the pro- vincial Indian inquiry com- mittee investigate the plight of the Sekani tribe at once. PHONE OFFICE SUPPLIES PRINTING 550 Powell St. TAtlow 9627 or write for STATIONERY MIMEO PAPER and Union Printers Ltd. SUPPLIES INVITATONS Vancouver 4, B.C. MARCH 22, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 9 '