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THE NATION. | :
DP. conditions
concern of labor

By TIM BUCK

HITE democratic Canadians are still gaping

at the brazen pro-fascist content of the
Dominion government's welcome to the French
war criminals, Labor Minister Humphrey Mit-
cheil has given a further demonstration of that
attitude—this time in connection with displaced
persons who have entered Canada legally.

A daily paper publicized the fact that sixty-
five DP’s employed by a sugar company in Mani-
toba were being kept in conditions described by
One of them as worse than. the DP camps in
Nazi Germany. Public reaction to the revelations
was such that Dominion authorities were com-
pelled to order an investigation and Mitchell
issued an official statement upon its findings

The conditions in which the DP’s were em-
ployed were indicated by the following quota-
tions from the report of Fred J. White, Winni-
peg, regional superintendent of the: National Un-
employment Insurance Commission.

“. .. there was indication of the presence of
mice. In the pantry itself there were two bags of
oatmeal where there was evidence that they had
been broken into at least in half a dozen places.
There were excretions from the mice on. the bags
themselves and on the floor under the bags and
also. on the shelf above.’?

“The only source of hot water was the placing of
pails on either: the kitchen stove or leating it on
the small pot-bellied stoves—one in each building.
To accommodate 60 to 65 men this is entirely in-
adequate in my opinion.” ;

“The santitation facilities provided are inade-
quate. There is no staff responsible for the care of —
the privies or the dormitories. Each person is ex-
Pected to look after his own with the result that the
condition is demoralizing. The bed clothing was dirty.
Some clothes lines should be provided so that at_
least it would be possible for DP’s to hang their
clothes or air their blankets.” a

“The 65 men at the present time are g ser-
viced by a cook and one helper with the result that
they certainly haven’t any spare time to clean up,
So the place is dirty... .”

The above quotations only typify the dis-
gusting conditions described in the report. In

Considering them and their significance the fol-

lowing facts should be borne in mind.

The investigation and Mitchell’s statement
Provide governmental acknowledgement of the
unscrupulous official and semi-official threats by
which the DP’s—and not only DP’s—are deterred

from protesting publicly or seeking the assist-—

ance of the labor movement. Among other reve-
_lations concerning the shocking conditions main-
tained in the sugar beet fields of southern Man-

itoba was the fact that a letter had been ad-_

dressed to the DP’s by a minor employee of the
Provincial government threatening “that . men
who failed to carry out instructions might be
Sent back to Germany.”

Mitchell literally “brushed off” that reve-
lation by assuring the public that the letter
“Was contrary to the well-publicized. instruc-
tions of the labor department.”
itude he covered up the fact that such threats
are reported by virtually all groups of DP’s. In-
-deed, such reports come from others besides

Ps. Immigrants from Britain are also reporting
‘Similar threats although, in their case, the
threats are conveyed by oral hints instead
of in official written communications.

@ ;
Did Mitchell propose to do anything to
demonstrate governmental disapproval of such
threats? Not on your life. He suggested that
he might possibly have proposed some discip-
Mary action, “but for the fact that the dis-
Placed persons’ work at Emerson was about
finished.” In other words, if this were the be-

}

ith that plat-—

“The time has come,” the Walrus ’ said,
“To talk of many things: :
Of milk — and eggs — and ceiling rents —.
Of cabbages — and (W. L. Mackenzie) Kings —
And why the cold war’s getting hot,
And dollar bills have wings.”

ginning of the sugar beet season instead of its
end. x

Concerning the conditions in which the men ~
_were kept, Mitchell, declaring fearlessly that he

“would haWe ordered immediate improvements
were it not for the fact that the sugar beet har-
vest is about over,” promised that, before OP’s
are assigned to that company next. year, the
company will be required to provide hot water
for the men to wash themselves, an increase of
the “toilet” facilities, safe food storage, medical
attention, a recreation room, better maintenance
of.the premises. But, concerning the immedi-
ate situation, he could only say that it is too
late to do anything this year.. In other
words, the companies that are maintaining simi-
lar conditions can keep on maintaining them; but
if) they become public they may be compelled to
clean them up next year.

It must be emphasized that this issue is of
immediate concern to the labor movement. It
is true that many of the DP’s being brought into

Canada by the St.Laurent-Howe-Mitchell com-

bination are anti-labor and pro-fascist; they are
“screened” by the RCMP, for their political and
cultural background and opinions to protect Can-
adian employers from the danger of men and
women with democratic political opinions get-
ting into Canada. But, regardless of the political
opinions of the DP’s involved, the conditions
under which they are being made to work, some-
times by threats, are a menace to the camp con-
ditions established by other workers, after years
of struggle. :

The conditions maintained in the sugar beet
camp in southern Manitoba were exposed by
accident. No government inspector had reported
that conditions in those camps were “unsatis-
factory” and Mitchell pretends to believe that
no such conditions exist in other camps. :

But deplorable conditions are complained
about by DP’s in numerous parts of the country.
DP’s put to work in the bush and kept isolated
‘from unionized camps have complained in terms
exactly the same as those used by the DP’s
at Emerson. No influential capitalist daily saw
political advantage in taking up their case so
the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Ontario
Police were able to “protect” the DP’s in that
particular case from the efforts of the Lumber
and Sawmill Workers’ Union to correct their
conditions. —

The labor movement has a direct and vital
interest in abolishing conditions such as were
revealed at Emerson. The labor movement

should demand the right to participate directly:

in the regular inspection of all DP camps.

LABOR FOCUS ical iisicech
Labor lives by ©
honest policies

By LESLIE MORRIS

“eee editorial writers are frustrated and angry
with the results of the Victoria convention of
the Trades and Labor Congress. And well they
might be. What Percy Bengough frequently has
referred to as the attempt of the .St. James
Street press to run the Congress did not come off.
The Congress told it to mind its own business.

The Victoria convention was not fought over
the “control” of the “Communists,” as some
would have it. Precisely because Bengough re-
fused to be sucked into that trap he was able
with the support of a majority of delegates to
stick 10 the main business of the convention.
In doing so the red-baiters were slapped down,
but that rebuff was possible because their pro-
gram was harmful to the continued work of the
Congress.

These reactionary attacks on a growing Con-
gress, which has built dozens of federal unions
and organized 40,000 workers in the past year
masqueraded as a fight against the “reds.” Hall
desperately tried to make “communism” the issue, :
hoping thereby to provoke and then isolate the
left wing, and by means of red-baiting to confuse
and bamboozle the majority of delegates into
supporting him. Had he won, he would have
thrown out the CSU, railroaded through a Taft-
Hartley-like “anti-communist” policy, stopped
the organizing campaign among low-paid workers
and transformed the Congress into a tool of
the right-wing Marshall Planners in the top
circles of the AFL.

The Hall group was in league with the top
circles of the CCF. Towards the end of the
convention the “anti-Communist” ball was carried
by Alsbury, Gargrave and other CCF leading :
lights. The most “political” red-baiting speeches
were made by these gentry whd quite likely had
their caucus operating in cahoots with Hall. Thus
the Congress rank and file, led by Bengough
were confronted with an alliance of Hall, the
CCF leadership, the reactionary press and the —
agents of capital within the trade union move- _
ment. ;

, Against this phalanx the rank and file
stood firm and even the CCF ranks were split
when many of their members went down the
ine with Bengough.

e@
What are same of the lessons to be drawn —
from Victoria? I think the most important is —

_ this: that the workers will follow correct and

level-headed leadership when it is forthcoming.

Bengough’s leadership, which rests on de-
mocracy within the Congress to build the Cana-
dian trade union movement, free from’ any out-
side domination, was never in danger at the con-
vention, simply because he put the issue squarely.
Consequently, the TLC is growing fast.

Mosher’s leadership, stemming from the ugly |
partisanship of the CCF with its abject support —
of the warmongers, ends in union raiding, anti-
Communist hysteria, and ultimately will wreck
the CCL if the leadership is not changed. The
CCL is not growing.

The leadership of Bengough, who is not a
CCF’er, stems from a stubborn independence of
mind and policy,
unity, and which rejects partisan domination.

The contrast between the two is glaring and
instructive. For example, while the Mosher
policy was stultifying, and according to reports,
productive of much gloom among rank and filers, ©
the Bengough policy =
thusiasm which comes from progressive unity.

All that is healthy and instinctively progres-
sive came to’ the fore in Victoria, just as it was
confined in Toronto to the fighting left wing. —
The supreme lesson is that with leadership that —

fights for the independent working-class noinean :

of labor, united in common resolve to build the
labor movement, not only does the advantage —
rest, but that in this period of heavy assault upon
labor significant victories can be won.

Mighty principles triumphed at Victoria; —

_ they must and will triumph ultimately in the

CCL unions. *

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — NOVEMBER 5, 1948 — PAGE 9

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