THE COMMUNIST PRESS 50 years ago... LONGER HOURS CAUSE “ACCIDENTS” | WINNIPEG — A 16-year-old lad is now in hospital, his right arm amputated as a result of being ripped by a saw around which he was cleaning. He was employed in a box factory for the munifi- cent sum of 17 cents an hour — and this “accident” occured at 5.10 p.m., after having worked eight hours in one of the high speed factories. The thing to notice about this occurance, like other “accidents”, it happened just before quitting time. This proves that most “ac- cidents” are a natural result of relatively long hours. With new high-speed machinery of today’s workplace, the present working day is entirely too long in those establishments in which our phil- anthropists gather the means of advertising their charity and brotherly love. The Worker, . Sept. 13, 1925 25 years ago... RAMPANT RACISM IN MacARTHUR SPEECH * General Douglas commander of U.S. forces in Korea, under whose orders more than 12,000 Korean civilians have already been killed, set down his thinking in a speech to U.S. ve- terans of Foreign Wars last week. He also bluntly set forth United States aims in Asia. “Nothing could* be more falla- cious than the threadbare argu- ment by those who advocate ap- peasement. and defeatism in the Pacific that if we. defend For- mosa (Taiwan), we alienate con- tinental Asia. They do not under- stand -the Orient. They do not grasp that it is in the pattern of Oriental psychology to respect and follow aggressive, resolute and dynamic leadership — to quickly turn from a leadership characterized by timidity and _vacillation.— and they underes- timate the Oriental mentality.” _ Tribune, Sept. 18, 1956 “Doctor, I can’t go on! They struck and won!” PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPTEMBER 12, 1975—Page 4 MacArthur,- ‘Anti-labor appeal unconvincing In its tirade against labor, taking off from the Labor Day speech by Shirley Carr, executive ‘vice-president of the Canadian Labor Congress, the Toronto Globe and Mail trots out a lot of figures and some ‘highly debatable conclusions. It is all done in the cause of defending corporation profits. The thread running through is’ that corporation profits are really shared by workers, and that those millions in after-tax profits somehow filter out in pension funds to make workers filthy rich. The working class and the cor- poration bosses are partners, according to this approach, but trouble makers like Mrs. Carr mar the partnership. Some of the partners fell off in Aug- ust as unemployment went up to 7.3% Support for Portugal's anti-fascist struggle Portugal is on the lips'and in the minds of millions of democratic-minded people around the world. The Portu- guese working class, braced to defend the gains of April 1974, have the sup- port of workers and anti-fascists in scores of countries. The forces of progress in Portugal are striving for the widest possible uni- ty to oppose not only internal fascism but its outside paymasters—who try to whip the country into civil war. The Portuguese Communist Party, the Armed Forces Movement, the Por- tuguese Democratic Movement and In- tersindical (trade union federation) are joined by vast numbers of Portuguese. Their eyes are open to the fascist-CIA . imprint on the brutal assaults incited against trade unionists, Communists and others. They are aware of the pres- sures on government, on sections of the Armed Forces and on political parties — pressures, among others, from the generals of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Statements and actions of solidarity. are essential — not simply to tell Portu- guese workers and democrats and their organizations that millions are with them in their struggle to bury fascism and move forward. _ Such actions are a warning to the governments of big business and their media whose distortions, blackouts of news and efforts to mislead are a crime against Portugal. Around the world the voices of labor, political, church and democratic orga- nizations and public spokesmen are rais- ed in support of the aspirations of Port- ugal’s people to raise their lives to a new level as begun with the overthrow of half a century of fascism. Canadians, by speaking out them- selves, and even more important bv having their trade unions. churches and other organizations speak out, strike a blow against the insane drive to reverse history and to deny the Portneuese the. freedom for which they fought and are fighting. Le SS But every voice is needed. Diseuised intervention is a real danger. It is ure- ent to declare bv statements and soli- daritv actions that there shall be no more Chiles. no more fascist regimes by U.S. imperialism. of the workforce — 736,000 out-of-a-job partners. The editorial referred to takes up the campaign of big business, its gov ernments and its media, to freeze wages, repeating the. fiction that work ers are causing unemployment and com: petitiveness, hence trade, through their wage demands. a Funny about competitiveness — Fin ancial Times staff writer, Peter Cook, | writes in the Sept. 1 issue: “There is no doubt that overtime inordinately high — wage settlements might damage the economy. At the same time — after two | years during which major wage com tracts have been running at 12% oF | higher ;.. there is no evidence Canada | is any less competitive. The opposite | seems true.” i 4 According to Cook’s figures, trade (excepting auto) has improved, and far from being priced out of the market, | our export prices rose only 27% while | our import prices rose 42%. As for the Globe’s urging workers t0 — cuddle up to the trusts, banks, insur ance companies, etc. because workers “are capitalists through their bank sav- ings. their insurance, their mutual fund holdings. their pension funds,” working people, those who have any savings, know well how they are being threaten ed and even depleted in the current re cession. Working-class organizations, unity and short shrift for big business schemes to weaken labor is the best. route to win jobs, roll back prices and |. end the monopoly corporations’ manipU- lation of working people’s lives. Plumptre anti-labor bias showing again Beryl Plumptre’s brazen entry into the lockout by British Columbia’s super, markets, prattling that the workers demands are “in excess of what woult constitute a reasonable settlement, — reveals again (as if we needed it) her | long-established anti-labor bias. This over-paid busybody, whose only function as chairman of the Foo Prices Review Board (!), has been t0 cover up for the corporations and thel! kept government in Ottawa, has now blossomed forth as a labor expert. Mrs. Plumptre’s nosy intrusion: into trade union matters is not only uncalle¢ — for, it is either ill-informed or simply — parroting the labor-hating food profit eers. While Mrs. P criticizes workers — -meatcutters demanding salaries which, at top level would reach $21,000 a year; | bakers, $18,000; clerks, $16,000—she un" |. blushingly accepts $41,000 for what she does — curtaining the intimate antics of the Liberal cabinet and the food cor” porataions. os When the food giants are recording profits of millions of dollars she is silent, — but when it comes to berating workers for pay demands, she is at centre stage, and has the ear of the cavitalist media. Well . . . who else could the corpora” tions and their government get to dO — their dirty job so enthusiastically? As long as we know where everyone stands.