The World

ae

- Peace
Petition

A new stage in
the fight against war

By TIM BUCK

fp: Pacific Tribune publishes this letter by Tim Buch, national leader of the

Labor-Progressive party, directly addressed to every member of the LPP, because it °

feels that the questions it answers, the tasks it poses, are of interest to every progressive

whose dominating concern today is the fight for peace.

world have
taken new encouragement from the
great Peace Petition which at this
writing has already gained over
100,000,000 names in a few weeks.
Che Stockholm Appeal is sweeping
the world. It is the people’s reply
to the provocators and the would-be
instigators of a third world war.
The democratic people of. all coun-
tries, socialist and capitalist, are
arising in their millions in support
of the following simple but mighty
proposal formulated at the Stock-
holm Conference of the Permanent
World Committee for Peace.

“*. . . the unconditional prohibition of
the atomic weapon as a weapon of in-
timidation and mass extermination of
people.

ae

. the establishment of strict in-
ternational control over the implemenia-
tion of this decision.

*. . . that the government which first
uses the atomic weapon against any
ether country will commit, a crime
against humanity and shall be regarded
as a war criminal.”

“We call all men of good will through-
out the world to sign this appeal.”

The Stockholm Appeal cuts thro-
ugh all the lies and misrepresentati-
ons by which the warmongers strive
to confuse the issue. Its proposals
for action in defense of peace com-
mand support regardless of differing
opinions as to who is responsible
for the growing menace of atomic
war. It proposes action, upon the
need for which all true lovers of
peace must agree, éven if they do
not agree as to whether it is the

socialist or the imperialist govern-
nents that endanger the peace. It
is a clear and unassailable basis for

affective united action by all those

who want to prevent a third world
war.

That is why the Stockholm con-
ference declared: “We call on all
men of good will throughout the
world to sign this appeal.” «

This unprecedented appeal is now

being circulated by the peace mov-
ements in all countries and will be
supported by a majority of the
population of the world. The guaran-
tee for that is that the petition be
taken to every person, and his ior
jer signature sought, so as to build

out of the scattered, individual desir- |
2s for peace, a mighty, co-ordinated, |

single demand, to which the war-
mongers will be compelled to
listen. The 800,000,000 in the socialist
world will join their voices with the
millions in the imperialist and colo-
nial worlds, against an atomic war.

In Canada, the Cana-
dian Peace Congress is
now circulating the \
Stockholm Appeal in
the form of the new
Peace Petition. This
was decided by the
rreat Second Peace
Congress last month, where 1,700
delegates resolved unanimously to do
two things; to seek 500,000 names
to the new petition; to build peace
committees and associations every-
where. The success of the Canadian
Peace Congress, in .spite of the
misrepresentation, campaigns of
press silence, and outright slander
and violence, is one if the most
hopeful signs that the Canadian
people can and’ will be - actively
mobilized as.a great, vocal force
for world peace.

PO TT a

‘The warmongers are afraid of the Stockholm Appeal. But they will be compelled to heed it . .!

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JUNE 23, 1950—PAGE 4

The success of the meetings of
the Dean of Canterbury and Dr.
Endicott, in the face of mob viol-
ence, attests both’ to the growing
strength of the peace movement,

_and the desperation“ of the camp

of reaction,

Experiences in Canada prove that
the lessons learned in all countries
in the fight for peace —lessons
which the Communists have drawn
most clearly and sharply — are
fully applicable in our country.

‘Those lessons aré—that war. is

not inevitable, that the people can
be aroused to fight for peace in a
united manner; that the war camp
is desperate and the danger of war
IS very great but that the war-

mongers can be checked and halted’:
_by the strength of the people and

‘peace can be successfuly defended.

All of these conclusions are borne
out by the experiences in Canada
in the 18 months since the Peace
Congress was first “organized.

We are now entering a new stage,
marked by the increased power and
breadth of the peace movemént —
—now a world movement engaged
in carrying out a world referendum
for peace.

The warmongers are afraid of
the Stockholm Appeal. But they
will be compelled to pay heed to
it, Just as the Canadian government,
as a result of the public actions
‘of the peace movement, was com-
pelled to cancel its decision not to
receive the preliminary Ban the
Bomb. Petition of the Canadian

‘

_ Peace Congress and to try to defend

its criminal foreign policy.

‘All that
has been
done

lent as
was, can be

considered only a preliminary to
what now lies before the peace

movement —and to the work that«

Our party, as a strong supporter
and active’ builder of the united

front peace movement, is called

upon to do.
i

We of the Labor-Progressive party
have done a good job in collecting
names to the Ban the Bomb Petition
and in helping to build peace com-
mittees and associations — particu-
larly after the February National
Committee meeting called attention
to our weaknesses in the fight , for
peace. The party membership deser-

ves congratulations for its staunch

efforts.

However, each comrade must ask’

himself: has the majority of our

membership actually taken out peti-
tion forms and gathered signatures?
Have our members. fully grasped
the tremendous significance of the

Stockholm Appeal and the new

Peace Petition for building unity —

with the workers and farmers for
peace? Have we done all we could
have done to initiate in our places
of work, in the economic or cultural
organizations, or in the communities
in which we live, the peace associa-
tions and committees which are the
backbone of the peace movement?

These are questions every LPP
/ .
members must ask himself or her-
self , which every party club should
discuss right away, and every party
committee consider at once.

The enthusiasm for and political
understanding of the Stockholm
Appeal which are spreading in out
party, must be taken into the labor

HELM ILEL al
y

Tt EY UME ee ete eT