THE NATION

By LESLIE MORRIS

Point 2 in new CCF program
is President Truman's point 4

)RESIDENT Truman's “State of the Nation’ speech
contained the famous Point 4—the export of US.
Capital to the “underdeveloped”
through state action. This was an example of what
Lenin called “state monopoly capitalism.” It was Wall
Street’s plan to take over the British Empire at fire-
Sale prices. First heavy gun fired was the instruction
to the British Labor government to cheapen the pound
Sterling.

The export of capital distinguishes imperialism from
€@n earlier capitalist stage when mainly goods were
traded. Investments in the colonies of huge quantities
Of money gave “permanent” mortgage to the investors,
and because politics come from economics, the affairs
Of the colony were in the hands of the imperialist
country.

- At a time when imperialist politics are being
Shaken by formation of the Chinese People’s Republic,
announcement of the Soviet Union’s possession of the
atom bomb, spiking of Project X intrigues for counter-
Yevolution in eastern Europe and the onrushing econ-
omic crisis in western imperialist countries, the COF
ational council met in Ottawa to add-its dime’s worth
of confusionism. & '

Coldwell, Lewis, Scott and company have produced
the. “solution” to the world’s ills. And what is it?
President Truman’s Point 4! The whole program of
Wall Street! :

y @ 1 | ;

The new 9-point CCF program calls for “inter-
Rational economic planning through international auth-
Crities with adequate resources and power.” Because
the capitalist countries “and the refusal of the Soviet
hion to cooperate” prevent the operation of (Wall
Street’s) - International Bank, “international sotialist

g” must be adopted. Point 2 of this masterpiece
Teads: \ é :

“The establishment of international development

Corporations on a non-profit-making basis to assist in
the development of specific capital undertakings in
the underdeveloped and war-devastated countries of the
_ World.” :

Don’t let that “non-profit-making” fool you. Ask.
any “nationalized” British capitalist’ how he’s doing,

and he will tell you, “Fine. Profits were never better.
hy even Winnie Churchill doesn’t advocate abandon-
ing nationalization.”

And when we see M. J. Coldwell marching at the

_ head of a picket line we might be persuaded to believe
that capitalists invest capital in “non-profit-making’
enterprises. :

Not to be outdone by President Truman the CCF

“National council recommends that Prime Minister St.
Laurent should “establish a Canadian foreign invest-
Ment corporation as a crown company.” “State monop-

a oly capitalism” with a vengeance. How right the genius

nin was when he castigated right-wing social demo-
or as, the handmaidens of imperialism.

‘These fixer-uppers for Canadian big business don't

Speak 6f trade with 700,000,000 people in socialist and
People’s democracies. Not a mention of the dread con-
Sequences of present imperialist policy for the peoples
ff the west. ; Bue
In a world divided into the two camps Of | ,
~emocracy and. socialism, and of war, imperialist OP-
Pression and reaction, these gentlemen of the CCF na-

areas of the world -

capitalist lines. Investments in “underdeveloped coun-
tries” are all right so long as the “state” does it. And
who is the state? It could not be, of course, the ex-
ecutive committee of the ruling class. That would be
subversive communism!

And lest the workers and farmers who vote CCF
should think that such petty matters as wages and
high prices are not the concern of these state-monopoly
“socialist” planners, Point 8 of the New Coldwell Plan
talks about the government “initiating further meas-
ures of price controls and subsidies.” But Point 8 is
a long way down; the other 9 points all deal with
how Mr. Canadian Capitalist can get his fingers in
Mr. Truman's pie.

But the real politics” of the*class struggle don’t wait
for Coldwell and Lewis. On the day the CCF planners

decided to help out “underdeveloped” peoples for the

benefit of Canadian capitalism, 400,000,000 of them in
China set up a people’s republic led by the Communists.
Mao said: “The day of insults has passed.” Among
the insults must be the latest concoction of the CCF
braintrusters. :

Huge profits belie
CMA propaganda

HE constant barrage of propaganda from the Cana-

dian Manufacturers’ Association to the effect that
“the worker must sacrifice needed wage increases if
he is to maintain job security” is dealt a hard blow by
publication of figures in the mogthly statistical bulletin
of the Trade Union Research Bureau showing that
dividends have increased 14.9 percent over last year.

Dividends for the Aistening months in 1949 totalled
$333,369,000, as compared to , $289,993,000 for a similar

_ period in 1948.

“A number of agreements have been signed recently
providing for no wage increase whatsoever in 1949,”
the bulletin says. “Was this necessary? The answer
must be ‘NO!’ i

“The ugly truth is that employers are insisting upon

the maintenance of abnormally swollen - profits, In
‘refusing wage. increases employers are merely seeking

to have the workers subsidize high profits and higher
dividends.” ‘

Figures culled by the Research Bureau from the
Financial Post add to the picture of exorbitant profits.

Canada Packers Ltd. for the fiscal year ending
March 30, 1949, piled up profits before tax of $5,426,241,
compared to $4,753,030 the previous fiscal year—an' in-
crease of $673,211, or 14 percent.

Even more glaring is the case of National Steel
Car Corporation, whose profits for the fiscal year

ending June 30, 1949, were $3,371,402, an increase of
"$955,209, or 39 percent, over the previous year’s profits

of $2,416,193.

‘Power Corporation of Canada rolled up profits of
$1,456,048, a 16 percent increase over the previous fiscal
year’s total of $1,222,769. \

: ‘Beaver Lumber Company profits for the period end-~
ing April 30, 1949, were $2,142,160. Last year it made

$1,609,308. The dollar increase of $532,852 represents
a percentage increase of 31% percent.

By DORISE NIELSEN

One million
- women at work

ELIEVE it or not there are just over one million

women who work for their living right now in
Canada. Among these, 874,000 are wage or salary
earners and three cut of every ten are married. These
women are in the labor market to stay, and the attitude
taken by the trade union movement to them may well
be a deciding factor in the survival of organized labor
during the crisis of the times into which we are heading.

In case there is anyone left who still thinks that
women work for “pin money” I think this error should
be cleared up. Women work as do all workers, in
order to support themselves as single women (often with
dependents), or as married women to keep their families
by selling their labor power to the boss. ‘Unfortunately
there are no figures available in this country, but in
the U.S. where 50 percent of the .women workers are
married, six out of every ten have to work to support
themselves and, dependents,

Other false views are frequently held by both men
and women workers regarding such questions as the
need for equal pay. for equal work, or the priority
rights of married women.

Tke times demand that every trade unionist should
understand the position to which women are relegated
in industry, and the relation this has to his own job
and wage. Shocking inequalities in wages between men
and women exist’ at present. Although the principle
of equal pay for equal work was accepted in the war-
time federal labor code, no provision has been made
for law enforcement.

In manufacturing in Canada in 1947,.which is the
last time for which official figures are available, women’s
wage rates by the hour averaged only 63 percent of
men's hourly earnings: Women usualy work shorter
hours than men (although 54 percent of them work
longer than a 40-hour week) and many only work part-
time. This affects their weekly earnings, which in 1947

LABOR FOCUS

_ were only 55 percent of men’s.

The average hourly earnings of all workers in the
manufacturing industries in 1947 were 86 cents; 92 cents
for men and 58 cents for women.

To enlist women workers in the fight against the
bosses; the unions must give time and attention to the
special problems of how lower wages for women
depress the wages of all workers in the industry. In
industries where the union has Jed a consistent fight
on behalf of women’s wages, significant results can be
seen.

In June, 1949 the United Electrical Workers Union
made history. It called a special women’s confer-
ence to which came 112 delegates for 22 leeals and 32
plants in 14 areas.

These young women, both married and single, —

learned of the fight which all workers must carry on
through their union, for full employment, higher wages,
seniority rights, better working conditions the 40-hour
week and security. : .

The fight as they understeod it from their daily
experience in the shops was not for special women's ©
rights, as opposed to men’s. It was for equal rights
for all workers, as a means of uniting the workers and
rooting out the various forms of discrimination which
the bosses use against organized labor.

The less difference between the wage of men and

' women for equal work Wone, the less threat there is

for men workers. Where the men’s wages are far in
excess of the women’s the greater likelihood there is
in times of depression and crisis of men being laid off
and women being employed at the same jobs for
lower wages. read

Not only should trade unionists know these things,
but they should talk them over with their wives. _
Only too often the wife at home sees a woman worker
as a threat to her husband’s job and believes that
women who work should receive a lower wage. The
security and safety of the home will not be guaranteed
by the women workers receiving a lower wage than
men for equal work, but rather the very opposite. It
is good that women themselves should not be divided
on this issue, and see themselves as antagonists, but
rather as a part of the whole working class marching
forward together towards the goal of full and complete
economic democracy. :

tional council jabber about “world planning” gn state
hare ae ;

oy

TQPEEDEP 15 A WAY OF

‘LERGTMENING MEN'S ARMS |
GE" WORKS NEWS

1948

i

| 14S

1949"

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — OCTOBER 14, 1849 — PAGE §_