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EDITORIAL PAGE
Athens -. a warning

Health vs votes

ell over thirty years ago the

late Liberal swami, Mac-
kenzie King, netted quite a bag-
ful of popular votes on the “pro-
mise” of a national health scheme.
_-Thirty years later, Liberal swa-
mi Pearson in his - “promising”
marathon with Tory Diefenbaker,
“promises” the same King pack-
age in return for votes.

While the urgent need of such
a national health plan as outlined
in the Communist election _plat-
form and consistently advocated
by the Communist Party since its
foundation 40-years ago, is no
longer in doubt, some things need
to be set straight; if only as a
safeguard against Tory and Lib-
eral snake-oil salesmen of Big
Business.

First it should not be forgotten
that the efforts of the T. C. Doug-
las government of Saskatchewan
to institute a partial free medical
and hospital scheme has not only
met with the solid opposition of
one of Canada’s most powerful
“closed shop” unions, in this case

the Saskatchewan Medical Assoc-
jation, but has also been the tar-
get for the jibes and jeers of the
Tory and Liberal vote catchers,
who now promise “national
health” much along the same lin-
es as Tommy Douglas proposed,
meantime inoculating Saskatche-
wan’s medicos with the virus of
Liberal and Tory opposition to
the Douglas scheme. |

Health, as the Communist elec-
tion platform makes clear, is an
2conomic as well as a social prob-
lem, a fact which makes the
health- “promises” of Dief and
Mike a cheap and shoddy piece of
electioneering, aimed exclusively
to hoodwink the electorate.

The first prerequisite of a
genuine national health plan for
Canada should be painfully ob-
vious by now; the need to get rid
of the greatest handicap and men-
ace to national health in all its
multiple manifestations — _ suc-
cessive Liberal and Tory govern-
ments and politicians, who use it
only as a_ political football to
garner votes.

Editorial comment ..

Hq der MacMillan und Seig
Heil. A “secret” agreement
has been concluded between the
British and West German govern-
ments providing for the repair and
refitting of West German war-
ships in British dockyards, consid-
ered by Bonn to be “less vulner-
able” than West German ports.
Huge storage facilities are also
to be provided by Britain for “stor-
ing” West German replacements

Tory, Liberal or Socred labels, the.

issue of “socialism” is used as a
handy punching bag by which
these partisan hacks seek to ob-
scure the real issues.

Thompson may not know it but
peace, disarmament, independence
and democracy are the real issues
— which the Thompsons, Diefs
and Pearsons don’t face up to. So
out comes their stock red herring.

*

he NATO Ministerial Council

-session held in Athens last
weekend and its fateful decisions
for the stepping-up of nuclear war
preparations, must serve to arouse
Canadians on the growing dangers
implicit in Canada’s NATO,,mem-
bership.

In the current federal elec-
tions all political parties, with the
sole exception of the Communist!
Party, support Canada’s continued
membership in NATO. Even the
NDP leadership support Canada’s
continued membership in_ this
suicidal alliance. Only the Com-
munist Party urges a decisive
break with NATO as a primary
condition for the winning of a
lasting peace.

While mouthing fine words
about “peace” the NATO powers,
under the direction and prodding
of Washington, express “great
satisfaction” with their Athens
decisions. The same powers who
“drag their feet” at the Geneva
Disarmament Conference and
search every pretext to hang the
“blame” for its failures on the
Soviet Union, are swift and speedy
in their decisions leading towards

- nuclear catastrophe.

What were these decisions
about. which so much “satisfac-
tion” is expressed by Home, Aden-
auer, Rusk and company?

First that the U.S. would place
at NATO’s “disposal” six Polaris
H-Bomb submarines to enhance
the “striking” power of NATO.
Second, that with NATO’s accept-
ance of this “gift”? so kindly put
at its disposal by Washington,
Konrad Adenauer and his West

Commeni!

German ex-nazi generals will
what they have long been seekil?
joint “control” — and ultima
full control of NATO’s H-Bo#
complement. Hitler never ha
so good!

No wonder Diefenbaker
Pearson, each in their own dem
gogic and _ weasel-like manie
hedge and evade the issue of
lear arms in Canada. Their N
“allies” won’t permit them to
“no”, and their need of votes P
hibit them from saying

answered the question;
will have nuclear arms via
NATO backdoor, with an ex
general at the push-button pan

The U.S. resumption of nucle
testing in the Pacific under ©
pretext of “free world defen
and now the Athens NATO ®
lear build-up; both make a ™™
ery of the peoples’ hopes and |
sires for peace, symbolized in
eva and by millions of mareht
feet — for peace.

Even the NDP leaders
against the background of :
Athens meet, must begin to re™’
their erroneous concepts of N
and recognize it for what it
nuclear conspiracy geared t
single purpose of “rule or ru
by Western imperialism, with !
financial royalists of Americal
perialism and their monopoly
ners in Canada calling the sho?

A break with NATO and all 8#
nuclear conspiracies must. bec?
a matter of public doncern
debate in this election campaJ®

for tanks, armoured car equip-
ment, Luftwaffe planes, etc, to-
gether with ammunition dumps
and “a wide range of equipment.”
In his Royal York speech two
weeks ago in Toronto, MacMillan
said “we work tirelessly for peace”
The Aldermaston marchers from
Holy Loch have other views on
the “peace” Mac works for. ~

* e

Social Credit national leader
Robert Thompson in typical John
Birch style, is trying to alarm Can-

_adians with the bogey of “social-
ism” as the prime issue in this el-
ection. Thompson accused Dief (of
all people?) of “backing Canadians
into socialism” by pursuing poli-
cies directed towards a “welfare
state.”

Typical of all the political huck-
sters of big business, regardless of

Pacific Tribune

_' Editor — TOM McEWEN
Aésociate Editor—MAURICE RUSH
Business Mgr..-OXANA BIGELOW

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Tom
McEwen

ome sections of the “liberal”
S (political-wise) press are show-
ing symptoms of concern at the
“change-over” of Liberal leader
Lester B. “Mike” Pearson from a
socalled ‘‘statesman” to a common
politician. A recent edition of The
Province tearfully pleads, ‘‘Mike,
don’t let them do it to you.”

It may be news to many to have
“Mike” dubbed a “statesman”
rather than a politician, but if any
of our readers have difficulty in
determining the difference, we
quote a noted Canadian authority
on the subject.

The late Bob Edwards, editor of
the famed Calgary Eyeopener of
some years ago had occasion to at-
tend the funeral of a local politi-
cian. The officiating clergyman
had been most profuse in his
euology on the “departed,” heaping
praises upon the public zeal and
_ service of the deceased. Later, over
a beer with a crony, Bob Edwards
coined a classic; “Now I know
what a “statesman” is; a states-
man is a dead politician. We need,
more statesmen.”

That settled, we’ll get back to
the liberal press gripe, and which,
to quote The Province, “statesman”
Mike has been harnessed to the
corniest kind of vote-getting.”

We cannot improve on The Pro-
vince in its presentation of the fall
of Mike from his pinnacle of
“statesmanship” to that of “a typi-
cal politician, an Opportunist, a
kisser of babies, the recipient of
Indian headdresses and the prom:
iser of all sorts of goodies for the
electors who vote for him.” (Em-
phasis ours). And oh, so softly,
Mike ‘“‘may have needed some poli-
tical recasting, but it has been sad-
ly overdone.”

We won’t argue as to whether
Pearson’s political ‘‘face-lift” has
been overdone or underdone. The
main point is that whether Tory,
Liberal or Socred, these aspiring
political yesmen for Big Business
have one thing in common during
elections; they will ‘“‘promise” any-
thing, ‘kiss’ anything, and grab
onto anything that looks as if there
might be a vote or two in it.

Moreover the difference between

either is less than the fictional
difference between an _ alleged
“statesman” and a_vote-cadging'
politician.

Small wonder The Province tear-
fully complains ‘‘Canadians are try-
ing hard in this election to identify”
the differences between parties
(old-line variety. Ed.) and party
leaders. And the parties seem bent
on obliterating all identifying
marks, on being all things to all
men.”

Bravo; the Old Lady could have
said the same thing about the vital
issues of this election, the issues
of peace or war, of Canada’s inde-
pendence from U.S. domination, of
NATO and the nuclear arms race,

“not a matter of how many babie?

etc, and counted herself ‘in’ 0”
the common Dief-Pearson accord

To big business (for whom Thé
Province election bells toll), it is

are kissed, how many promise?
made, or how low the political
opportunism of their partisan yo
men sink in their cadging for vote®
To big monopoly the important
thing is not whether a Dief oF ‘
Pearson “statesman” wins or lose*
monopoly always wins — so far

Just to underscore that pol”
(which the NDP shouldn't ove!
look), it is widely rumored th@
CPA is supplying Dief with a ;
6 jetliner, absolutely free for the
duration of the election, at an es
mated cost of $12,000-per day.

Feeling that this is not quite
“cricket” Shell and Standard 0
are said to be providing “states”
man” Mike with a similar servic®
providing the Personian jetlin®
uses ‘donor’ products? of

We have heard of no such offef®
from monopoly capital to NDP ?@
tional leader Tommy Douglas, oF
to national leader of the Commu?
ist Party, Leslie Morris. But }
won’t put a strain on the QUY
Kids to guess who will ultimate!
pay for toting Dief iand Mike
around in their “promising” maf
thon to determine which will serv!
as the next top “major domo” fo!

a U.S.-Canadian financial oli
chy? z
To big business the choice be
tween a Dief and a Mike is )
material; both are well fitted ant
anxious, as The Province so @P™*
puts it, “to be the Candy Kid
Canadian politics.”

ea RE Se

Rat

May 11, 1962—PACIFIC TRIB