_BRITISH COLUMBIA Soviet peace — delegation here June 11 Six Soviet emissaries for peace, including a dean of the Russian Orthodox church, will be the guests at public meetings in Van- couver and on Vancouver Island as part of a Cross-country tour early June. The delegation from the Soviet Peace Committee includes: Ukrainian peace committee member and MP of the Ukrain- lan republic, Vitaly Korotich; executive Secretary of the USSR’s Scientific Research Council on Peace and Disarmament, Lev Voronkov: Viola Anichkina, executive Secretary: of the journal USA: Economics, Politics, Ideology; Arkady Tischuk, dean of Alexievskaya church in Moscow; Soviet Peace committee consultant Vya Chevslav Bayko; and Oleg Skulkoy, interpreter. The group will meet the public and Can- adian peace activists at a meeting Tuesday, June 11, 7:30 p.m. at the Plaza 500 hotel in Vancouver. It is sponsored by the Van- Couver Peace Assembly. On Monday, June 10, the Soviet peace activists are to address'a public meeting Sponsored by the Mid-Island Disarmament Committee. The time and place will be announced later. The preceding Friday the delegation will be hosted at an event in Surrey sponsored’ by the Fraser Valley Peace Committee. Pickets to greet Siar Wars chief End the Arms Race is.calling on peace activists to be on hand for a demonstration against the retired U.S. army general who is here to sell Canadians on the controversial Strategic Defence Initiative — the Star Wars plan. Retired. Lt.-Gen. Daniel Graham will be at the Hyatt hotel in Vancouver June 14 to Promote his Star Wars vision, described by EAR vice-president Gayle Gavin as being So far right that even the Reagan adminis- tration looks at him with incredulity.” The demonstration has been called for 12 noon, outside the hotel at the corner: of West Georgia and Burrard streets. Graham’s talk is being promoted and Sponsored by the Canadian Conservative -Centre, a right-wing organization which Supposedly invited peace groups to the lec- ture so that, claimed a spokesman, peace leaders will “broaden their understanding i the benefits (of Star Wars) to Canadi- ns.” : Graham, a former director of the U.S. Defence Intelligence Agency and deputy director of the CIA, holds the view that Star Wars can be launched immediately. He expounds those views in his book, _ High Frontier: A New National Strategy in Which the general calls fer a $50-billion sys- tem in space capable of shooting Soviet Missiles down in the early launching stage, by 1988. In advocating such measures, said reviewer Daniel Deudney in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Graham calls for a System “intended to supplement, not substi- tute for, the new geenration of first-strike Nuclear weapons such as the NX, Trident II and Perhsing II. In short, Graham proposes the missing link in a plausible U.S. first- Strike scenario.” _Graham’s book openly advocates scrap- Ping the 1972 Anti-ballistic missile treaty, and, by implication, the Limited Test Ban treaty, Deudney notes. avin noted the peace movement's gen- ae observation that the Star Wars plan of © Reagan administration threatens to Scuttle the current disarmament talks in neva, The Communist Party this week issued a unity appeal to “the New Democratic Party and all organizations concerned with changing the government” to work out a common strategy and a broad anti- restraint program to defeat the Social Credit government in the next election, widely expected next spring. Issued by the party’s B.C. provincial executive, the appeal was going to trade unions, community and Solidarity organi- zations, NDP constituency associations and others. The Bennett government has already begun tts election activities with a massive public relations campaign around the false slogan of “co-operation for economic renewal.” Butits . program is basically the same right wing restraint policy with some new pro- - big business wrinkles added. Noting that the CP “considers the oust- ing of the Socred government. . .the most important priority”, it emphasized that a winning strategy requires ‘“‘a broad fight- back program around which thé majority can be rallied and unity of all anti-Socred forces around an agreed electoral policy.” The election of the NDP is the realistic alternative, the appeal states, but the unity must include many who are outside the NDP and the program must include alter- native policies around which all those opposed to the Socreds can be rallied. The appeal has taken on new impor- tance following the provincial convention of the NDP which moved to submerge most policy issues and to follow the stra- tegy of the Barrett leadership in advancing little in the way of program, in the hopes of winning the election on the strength of anti-Socred sentiment. But winning major- ity support for a program which opposes restraint and advocates clear-cut alterna- tives has been seen as particularly impor- tant in an election in which there will be 11 new seats, 9 of them in Socred territory. The following is the full text of the appeal: The Socred government has entered the third year since it was re-elected on May 5,- 1983. There is now widespread specula- tion that the Socreds may call an election next spring, timed with the opening of Expo. Whether it does or not, there is no doubt that we have now entered the pre- election period. The Bennett government has already begun its election activities with a massive public relations campaign around the false slogan of “co-operation for economic renewal.” But its program is basically the same right-wing restraint policy with some new pro-big business wrinkles added. There is nothing in their program which would put B.C.’s 250,000 jobless back to , work, There is no retreat by the govern- ment on its anti-education policy. They are continuing their attack on the trade unions; health care and social services. Lineups at food banks are growing while over 220,000 people are forced to subsist on starvation welfare payments. The past two years of Socred rule have been a disaster for B.C. Return of the Bennett government for another term would be a calamity for the people. We must do everything we can to prevent it SS from happening. The Communist Party considers the ousting of the Socred government in the next election as the most important priority and is prepared to do everything it can towards that end. Recent polls indicate that a majority of British Columbians do not support the Socred restraint policy and that support for the Bennett government has fallen sharply. The possibility for ousting the Socreds and electing a new government, pledged to new policies which put the peo- ple’s needs before corporation profits, is there, provided a-winning strategy is adopted by all those who oppose the Socreds and their right-wing policies. A winning strategy requires two things: A broad fightback program around which a majority of the people can be rallied — and unity of all anti-Socred for- ces around an agreed upon electoral pol- icy. : In the present highly polarized political situation the election of a New Demo- cratic Party government is seen by most people as the only realistic alternative. Unfortunately, however, the recent NDP convention, and the NDP leadership have not come forward with a strong alterna- tive program to the restraint policy of the Socreds. If the NDP hopes to form the next government it must adopt a program which will offer a clear people’s alternative to the Socred big business policies. And it must be prepared to unite with broad sec- tions of the public who are not NDPers but who oppose the Socred government. The Solidarity movement, the educa- tion fightback and the Vancouver civic elections have demonstrated that there are powerful forces outside the NDP who are opposed to the Socreds and want a change. These forces must be united in a broad electoral alliance. The Communist Party believes that the key to a winning strategy for the next provincial election isa minimum program around which all anti-Socred forces can be united. We believe the following major policies should be included in such a pro- gram and we advance them as a basis for discussion with the NDP and all organiza- tions concerned with changing. the government: @ Rejection of the restraint program and its replacement with a program of government action to stimulate the econ- omy and put British Columbians back to work; e A massive program of public housing - The Communist Party considers the ousting of the - Socred government in the _ next election as the most _ important priority and is _ prepared to do everything it can towards that end. . and capital projects to meet municipal and local needs, including hospitals, sewage, roads and parks; e A large scale reforestation and sal- mon enhancement program. Halt the export of logs and revamp forest legisla- tion to restore public ownership of forest lands. Undertake a major effort to pro- mote manufacturing of wood products in BiG © Restoration of funds cut in education and the return of education financing to the 1982 level; increasing funding for secondary schools, colleges and universi- ties; ; @ Bringing all welfare payments in B.C. up to the poverty line and making special provision for young people who through no fault of their own cannot find employ- ment; © Restoration of funding for social ser- vices eliminated by the Socred govern- ment and improvement of social services for the people; © Restoration of labor’s right to collec- tive bargaining and the repeal of all anti- union legislation; @ An end to cutbacks to B.C. health services and hospitals and an end to all charges aiid extra biling for health servi- ces; : : © Restoration of rent controls and adoption of tenant’s legislation with teeth in it to protect the public against unscrup- ulous landlords; e A new deal for Native peoples by recognizing their right to self-government, serious negotiations to settle Native land claims; and a halt to logging of Meares Island; @ Restoration and strengthening of human rights legislation and enforcement, an end to discrimination against women A winning strategy requires two things: a broad fightback program around — which a majority of the - people can be rallied — and — unity of all anti-Socred forces around an agreed upon electoral policy. and establishment of the principle of equal pay for work of equal value. This program is not just an electoral platform. It can be the basis of joint extra- parliamentary action in the critical period leading to the next election. The election cannot be won in 28 days. The people’s majority must take form in political activity around common demands before the election is called. The best way the NDP, trade unions, women, tenants, human rights groups, community organi- zations and the Communist Party can prepare for the election is by consistent extra-parliamentary campaigning around these basic demands. The Communist Party believes that a majority of the people of B.C. can be uni- ted around such a program. Many of these demands have already been put forward by labor councils and other people’s organizations and many of them are included in the Solidarity Coalition’s Peo- ple’s Report. Failure to put forward clear-cut alterna- tive policies to the Socred restraint policies in 1983 lost the election. A repeat of that strategy in the next provincial election would play into Socred hands and leave the people with no clear-cut alternative program. The Communist Party is prepared to enter into discussions with the NDP and all interested organizations with a view to establishing a broad co-operative frame- work for extra-parliamentary campaign- ing and electoral unity based on common goals. The time to do it is now. PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MAY 29, 1985 e 3