Oe a eee pts, cot gn a pa et te pent cg ce ee en ee’ mee me emt Standing dignitary of the Church of England fr6ém. speaking in our ‘country constitutes another intol- beg a i sera pe orp ; UIRIVTENO Up teaah, ot saad wd Ie cial rth j Le FRIDAY, MAY 5, 1950 EDITORIAL a Act now to protect your rights ah HE OUTRAGES against democracy being committed by the reactionary Australian and South African governments through legislation to outlaw the Communist parties of these British Commonwealth countries should arouse every Canadian ta the threat of the police state here. plans to outlaw the Labor-Progressive party. Tory leader George Drew is shouting for the outlawing of the LPP and suppression of the Tribune as the opening of an attack on-all labor and people’s movements for peace and security. It is reported that Senator Athanase David (Quebec) at a meeting of the Human Rights committee,. proposed legislation in Canada similar to the Australian law, and was not opposed. rane External Affairs Minister Lester M. Pearson, spoke in Commons against Drew’s demand for legislation to “make Com- munist and similar activities” punishable under the Criminal Code. Wrapping himself in a civil: liberties cloak (but turning a blind eye to the Padlock Law and other flagrant violations of civil liberties:in Canada) Pearson warned that action such as propused by Drew might lead “to the type of controversy now raging in Washington over alleged Communist influence in the State De- partment.”” He had a better way, he said. Communists should be “kept out in the open where they can be watched.” Perse- cution by force might fail. U.S. tactics “create distrust, almost panic, and that’s what the Communists wish to create.” But the fact remains that sinister forces, both within and without the government, are increasingly turning towards repres- sive measures against all geriuine labor and popular organiza- tions in an effort to extricate themselves from the growing political and economic difficulties created by their own policies. Pragres- sives should not allow their vigilance to be dulled. We recall that Section 98, a fascist law aimed at all poli- tical freedom by attacking the Communists was repealed in 1936 by the force of public indignation. A similar tide of opposition’ to the new threat of a police state and insistence on a Bill of Rights for Canadians, can stop the new efforts to institute fascist gang laws and to wipe the shameful Padlock Law off the statutes of Quebec. There must be no retreat, no surrender to intimidation. Just as war is not inevitable, just as peace can be preserved, so can civil liberties and political freedom be rescued from the hands of their would-be assassins! : Protest to the Australian and South African High Commis- Demand of the St. Laurent government that it keeps its hands off the democratic right of Canadians to advocate peace The Pacific Tribune has on several occasions reporied Ottawa . sioners in Ottawa against the fascist legislation in those countries! City rally will protest U.S. bar against Dean Aetion of the U.S. government in refusing a transit visa to Rt. Rev. Hewlett Johnson, Dean of Canterbury, which forced “This attempt to prevent an out- Be, Labor mourns. Alex Philbin. ble tase of foreign interference Sunday, May 7, at 8 p.m. postpone- ment of a scheduled speaking engagement here, will be protested at a Vancouver Peace Assembly public meeting in the Electrical Workers’ Center; 111 Dunsmuir Street, this coming - National “Youth; Pearl Wedro, Fur and 4,000 support demands for atomic weapon ban at city May Day rally More than 2,000 men and women marched from number gathered at Lumberman’s Arch to hear s atomic weapons, as Vancouver citizens celebrated “Use atomic energy for peace- ful construction—not war and de- struction,” was.the message blaz- oned on a score of floats in the parade, Petitions asking for ban- ning of the atom bomb were wide- ly circulated en route and at the rally, . Harvey Murphy, regional di- rector of Mine, Mill and Smelter, . Workers, told the meeting that “ali labor must umite in defence of peace, and defeat the union- busting attacks of yaiders who shamelessly carry out the cold war policies of Wall Street.” “Hivery militant is labelled a Red,’ said Murphy. “It’s not so long ago that Hitler used that tac- tic to smash the labor movement in Germany. Hitler was going to wipe out the Communists and est- ablish Nazi rule for 1000 years: But just five years ago this month Hitler died by his own hand in a Berlin air-raid shelter—as the Red Army was coming around the cor- ner. “Now it’s a little haberdasher from Missouri who sits in Wash- ington and plots to out-Hitler Hitler. He wants. to split and di- vide and smash the labor move- ment. He’ wants to plunge us into a third world war. But he won’t succeed any better than Hitler succeeded. “All the United States big shots are suffering from the jitters to- day. They scan the sky for fly- ing cups and saucers. They’re frightened out of their wits. Why? Are they scared that the Russians or the Chinese will attack them? Of course not. They’re afraid of the wrath of their own people, the anger of the millions of un- employed workers who are vic- tims of the growing capitalist de- pression, inieee “Labor must close its ranks, unite and fight for peace, jobs and trade with all the world. This battle can and must be won.” Nigel Morgan, LPP provincial leader, outlined the attempts to wreck the Canadian labor move- ment and curtail civil liberties “Labor will repulse these made- in-U.S.A. policies,” he said. “The workers of Canada and the United States will dump the war-makera and the depression-makers into the ashcan of history.” Other speakers were Steve Endi- citt, provincial organizer of the Federation of Labor Leather Workers; and - chairman James Thompson, WCSU. “