LPP pre-convention discussion

Slogan correct in Saskatchewan
but was not clearly understood

By NELSON CLARKE
t 3

_-REGINA

Is a contribution to the pre-convention discussion Comrade Alex Theodore raises a number of questions
in connection with the slogan and tactical line of the LPP in the Saskatchewan June election. These

questions demand serious consideration.

aspects of the problem, with which I wish to deal.

What were the main features
of the political situation in Sas-
katchewan prior to the election?

First of all, there was a tre-
mendous effort put forward by the

- agents of monopoly capital in the

Liberal and Tory parties to stage
a comeback. This was the main
danger. That it was a real danger
was all to clearly proven by the
gains made in the election.

The CCF government had succeed-
ed in carrying through part of its
1944 program on the basis of the
relatively high income enjoyed by
the people of the province during
the period of its first term in
office, The main spokesmen of the
CCF in the province, and in par-
ticular Douglas, had not yet come
out clearly in support of the inter-
national policies of the King gov-
ernment, as is now the case.

e.

As a result there was little
differentiation developing among
the mass of CCF supporters on
major questions of party policy.
As a result, also, there was not
even the beginning of a develop-
ment in the direction of indepen-
dent political action among either
the organized farmers or organized
workers of Saskatchewan.

Coupled with this, we must also
mention the limited strength of
the LPP itself which was not able
to undertake a campaign with its
own candidates in any large num-
ber of constituencies, even if such

a course had been considered

correct.

Arising out of these factors, it
must be clear that the job of the
LPP was to conduct a campaign
to help unite and bring into mo-
tion the most progressive section
of the electorate in order to guar-
antee above all the defeat of the
main danger — the Liberal-Tory
gang-up — the coalition of the ag-
ents of monopoly capital. This, in
the objective situation then ob-
taining, could only be achieved by
a fight for unity at the polls to
reject the CCF government—the
only possible alternative to Liber-
al-Tory reaction. It was at the same

time very necessary that our cam-

paign should not further heighten
illusions about social democracy
among the masses of progressive
people. This pointed up the need
for a strong independent campaign
on the/part of our Party.

This tactic was correctly ex-
pressed in the slogan, “Defeat the

old parties, unite at the polls to
re-elect the CCF government.” Any

other tactic would have been prac-
tically irresponsible at that time,
and would. have made it more dif-
ficult for our Party to reach the
people. : ;

In carrying through. our tactic,

_there were. serious weaknesses.

Aside from our campaign in Pelly
to elect Bill Berezowski, which was
in general an excellent fighting
campaign winning us substantially
increased support, we had the task
of conducting an independent cam-
paign throughout the province to
make our position clear. In the
course of that campaign, we tried

to do a number of things: (1)

It appears taat Comrade Theodore has overlooked a number of |

sharply emphasize the danger of
the drive for power of the Liberals
and Tories, (2) sharply criticize
the CCF government for its failure
to bring forward a constructive
program for the next four years,
for its failure to develop a fight
against. the monopoly-dictated poli-
cies of the King-St. Laurent-Gard-
iner government, and for the red-
baiting which was indulged in by
certain CCF leaders. While we de-
veloped these points in leaflets, ra-
dio broadeasts, and some public
meetings, we did not carry down to
our membership a full, clear un-
derstanding of what we were try-
ing to achieve. As a result, there
were a number of clubs which did
not do independent work, and
submerged themselves in the CCF.
These weaknesses which reflect
political and organizational weak-
nesses of the provincial leadership
of the Party, do not prove that
the tactic or the slogan of the elec-
tion campaign were incorrect.

Since the election a number of
important developments have tak-
en place. The government has
clearly gone into retreat before the
heightened pressure of financing in
ea period when provincial income
is beginning to fall. This was re-
flected in the doubling of the pro-
vineial hospitalization tax which
remains a’ regressive flat tax. It is
reflected in the recent strike of the
government insurance workers”
which was brought about by the
refusal of the government to make
any counter-proposals to justified
wage demands, and which was fin-
ally setled through an unsatisfac-
tory compromise.

The government is making a des-
perate bid to bring private capital
into the province—the very point
around which Tucker did so much
talking in the election campaign.
Douglas has been to England, Swe-
den and Wall Street looking for
capital to develop, among other
things; the uranium’ resources of
the province. Not one word is said
about the obvious fact that this
uranium will be used for the man-
ufacture of atomic bombs.

Finally, and in many ways most
significant of all, since his return
from Europe, Douglas has come
out clearly in support of the Mar-
shall Plan, the cold war, the Ber-
lin air lift and generally of the
whole war policy of American and
Canadian _imperialism which has
been espoused for some time by
Coldwell, Lewis and the top lead-
ership of the CCF.

There is more and more evidence
that these policies of betrayal are
causing concern and unrest among
the ranks of CCF,members and
supporters. On this basis there is
now a much better possibility of
a real differentiation developing
within the CCF as between its left
and right wings.

This differentiation will. of
course, come about only as our
Party develops greatly its own in-
dependent work, brings forward
its independent policies, and de-
velops its independent criticism of
the right-wing social democrats of
Saskatchewan. :

In ths connection, it is to be
pointed out that our criticisms will

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BY

carry more weight and will be bet-
ter received by the CCF member-
ship precisely because they know
that in the last election we worked
with them to defeat the old parties
and to re-elect the CCF govern-
ment,

It is in the light of these con-
siderations that we must work out
the perspectives for the federal
election in this province. The LPP
must: work for the defeat of those
two public enemies— Diefenbaker
and Gardiner. :

The LPP must further work to
expose the traitorous policies of
right-wing social democracy as ex-
emplified particularly by men like
Coldwell. We will have to develop
a concrete criticism of these Ppoli-
cies. At the same time, we will have
to conduct a positive fight to en-
courage as fully as possible every
progressive tendency which dis-
plays itself within the CCF.

e@

We should not go into the feder-
‘al election with an overall slogan
ealling for the election of all CCF
candidates in Saskatchewan. In the
present stage of development such
a slogan would give rise to illu-
sions. Rather we will have to con-
duct a fight for the maximum un-
ity between the CCF and LPP in
the struggle for peace, and against
the monopolies. We will have to ex-
amine the record and statements
of each CCF candidate before we
can determine how in that constit-
uency we. can best develop the
struggle during the election cam-
paign. We must keep in mind that
the position of the CCF itself is
not static but will be vitally af-
fected by the kind of campaign we
ourselves wage.

Section on

‘not specific enough’

women

By BRITA MICKLEBURGH

—VANCOUVER

HE Draft’ Resolution’s section dealing with Canada’s Women

seems to me inadequate.

It mentions that we must devote “more
attention to the problems and struggles of the women’’; but apart from

a mention of the price issue it is not nearly specific enough.

Many of us whe canvassed for
Effie Jones in the recent Vancou-
ver civic election were met by the

remark: “But Effie Jones is a wo-
man. She wouldn’t make a good
mayor.” This illustrates that dis-
crimination against women has not
disappeared simply because Cana-
dian women today generally vote,
can own. property, hold jobs, etc.
Discrimination against women is
a characteristic of our capitalist
system and it takes many forms,
some open, others subtle and hid-
den. This fact must never be for-
gotten in any discussion of wo-
men’s work. It expains their poli-
tical backwardness, their frequent
reluctance to accept responsibility,
their timidity to take part in ques-
tions of theory and decisions of
policy. The continual propaganda

regarding women’s supposed. infer-

iority and their dependence on the
man for support has had its inevit-
able effects.

We must fight discrimination }

ideologically by giving evidence of
their contributions to the world’s
working class movement, their
courage, their devotion to the cause
of socialism which alone will as-
sure their complete ~emancipation.
Let us examine some of the prob-
lems of Canadian women and how
‘discrimination manifests itself.

Take the housewife who has no
other identity as a human being
than as the appendage to a house.
Lenin described it best when he
said, “Women grow worn out in
the petty monotonous household
work, their minds growing narrow
and stale, their hearts beating
slowly, their will weakened

Critical of style and
phrasing in resolution

By EF,

R. D. >

N my opmion, the content of the Draft Resolution in general repre-
* sents a true analysis and evaluation of the Canadian and world
situation and our part in it. A major criticism I would like to contribute,
however, concerns the style and manner of writing in this document.

I find, running through the en-
tire resolution, numerous examples
of loose terminology, mercilessly
over-exploited phrases and state-
ments that, through exaggeration
or otherwise, convey an impression
‘different from that intended.

I think that a criticism of style
and terminology is not just a sec-
ond-class matter for us. If we want
this Draft Resolution to be pre-
sentable to the Canadian people at
large, it must speak in a language
that is understood, analyze a diffi-
cult situation with perfect clarity
and simplicity and employ more
complicated expressions only where

this is quite necessary. Truly great

works of literature are grasped

by the mass of people, because of |

their essential simplicity, as op-
posed to poverty of style, however.
(The people understood Shake-
speare, yet is his style monoton-
ous?) Political writing, such as
the Draft Resolution, is in this re-
spect. not different from a novel
or play. If we need examples of
how a complex situation can be
analyzed in a factual yet vibrant,
presentation, void of cliches, “let’s
look at the “Communist Manifes-
to” or “Canada: The Communist
Viewpoint.”

Furthermore, the Party member-
ship itself needs a resolution that
is clearcut and unbeclouded. We
are the ones to carry its content
to our fellow-Canadians, in dis-
cussions, person-to-person contact,
even print. Yet I doubt if I could
make much of an impression, if
I spouted terms such as “warmong-

ers”, “monopolists” or ‘“finance-
capital,” without at least explain-
ing them. Moreover, a large num-
ber of Canadians have been pre-
conditioned by their press to think-
ing of Communists as phoney (or
even “unCanadian”) double-talk-
ers. If we speak to them, cliche-
armed, in a strange terminology,
they will be so much more antagon-
ized and believe the propaganda.
Nor is such unclarity conducive to
analytic thinking on our own part.

My criticism covers three  as-

‘pects of the style in the Draft Res-

olution: a) Statements which tend
to exaggerate or otherwise convey
a wrong picture; b) Phrases that
are outworn with use and sloppily
applied; c) Subjective approaches
in dealing with objective situations.
a) In section V, paragraph 7, take:
“Democratic Canadians see assur-
ance of victory in the continuing
and ever-extending triumphant ad-
vance of the people’s forces all
over the world, by the inspiring
post-war achievements of Social-
ism in the USSR.” I think this sen-
tence ascribes to most Canadians
an attitude that is, as yet, at best
subconscious..

e é

In the following paragraph, we
read about “the ruthless exploita-
tion and enslavement of their
countries (England and Western
Europe) by U.S. imperialism .. .”
Essentially true, no doubt, yet I
can't help picturing Simon Legree,
whip in hand, standing over a

(Continued on Page 7)
See CRITICISM

PACIFIC .TRIBUNE —

The home life of the woman is a
daily sacrifice to a thousand un-
important trivialities.”

To recognize the deep social
value of childbearing and home-
making does not change this fact
any more than a worker's exploita-
tion in the mill is lightened by the
knowledge that he is being useful.
Owing to the lack of day nurser-
ies where good care of children
is assured, many women with valu-
able training and a preference for
continuing in their jobs after mo-
therhood are placed in a position
of economic dependence on the
man and spending their days do-
ing work they have no inclination
for. The bad living conditions
caused by the housing shortage ac-
centuate the restlessness of these
young mothers.

Those women who work outside
the home are doubly exploited and
insecure because they are paki
lower wages for their work than
men are, discriminated against in
promotion and advancement, and
wark constantly under the threat
of dismissal in the event of mother-
hood or marriage. In B.C, this year
the B.C. Association of School Trus-
tees introduced a resolution per-
mitting school boards to dismiss
women teachers when they marry.
Nor is the problem solved by a
job outside the home for the wife.
Most of her earnings go to pay for
child care and*the household tasks
have to be attended to in the even-
ings and days off. :

We cannot be satisfied with our
present work in the women’s field.
There are far too few women in
our Party. We must bring more wo-
men into our Party and draw mass-
es of non-Party women into the
fight for peace and democratic
rights.

Here are some suggested propo-
sals for improvement in our work
among women. :

1. A thorough review of the
functioning and activities of our
Party Women’s Commissions
should be made in order to deter-
mine what mass work is being done
and “what results have been ob-
tained. These should be live po-
litical bodies initiating their own
campaigns and functions and. pro-
gram, not as they too often are
at present, the sponsors of an oc-
casonal tea.

2. The Party should carry out
educational work regarding the
Marxist position on the woman
question. These courses should be
for women and men both. A great
deal of misunderstanding and con-
fusion exists in the minds of many
cf our comrades on this particular
question. Bourgeois ideology re-
garding women permeates our
Party and harms it. To root out
every particle of “male superiority”
ideology and feminism is also part
of the fight for the Party.

3. The need for more afternoon
meetings and activities should be
recognized. I have actually heard
comrades in our Party speaking
of canvassing in the daytime be-
ing useless because “only the wo-
men are home.” This is actually the
best time to reach women in their
homes and discuss pressing needs
of the day.

4. The problem of “baby-sitting”
for women club membérs should be
considered by club leadership. Too
many club chairmen are satisfied
to “write off’ women comrades
once they have become mothers
and “can’t get out.”

5. More participation by our
women comrades in mass women’s
organizations like the PTA, union
auxiliaries, Consumer groups, pro-

fessional groups, etc. But we must
stress the need to give these wo-
men political leadership and un-
derstanding as members of these or-
ganizations to assure that progres-
sive policies are fought for,

JANURY 21, 1949 — PAGE 6.

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