a | East Marshall . at The New Democracies forge ahead while Britain, tied to the plan, goes ‘from crisis to crisis \ SIR STAFFORD CRIPPS AS ‘Britain’s ricketty capitalist economy totters into yet another of Sir Stafford “Calamity” Cripps’ perpetual crises, official United Nations figures admit to another brilliant economic triumph in the Communist-led sector of Europe. _ Published by UNO: 6 Trade among the nations of Rastérn Europe was 288 per- Cent greater (nearly three _ times) than’ in 1938, while trade among Western Europ- €an (Marshall Plan) nations was only 72 percent of the Same level. © Production increased in Rus- Sia last year by far more than it increased in either the . US. or Britain. : Actually the American figures, ’ Which are based only on the U.S. Svernment’s claims, conceal the vera fall in U.S. production Since the war and more especially Since the onset of the current — Slump, ‘The results are a powerful Pointer to the British people as ee. the- Way out of their difficul- ties, open to them only if they fan force the Attlee government : to take ‘it ' ‘ Tn this, and in every earlier crisis, Cripps’ only message to ‘© whalemeat, horsemeat-eating _ Workers is to tell them to work harder for less pay. The wave of strikes indicates ‘ that it be used only to buy British Two vital facts are disclosed by that the British workers are groping their way forward to a, socialist solution which would mean higher wages, cutting of military expenditure, breaking of the dollar-fetters and solution of the trade problem by trade with Eastern Europe. The conflict between Britain and the U.S. has come to a head over the question of the Europ- ean Payments Plan under which some of the Marshall Aid coun- tries have to give funds to ; others. ‘Britain is obliged to hand over 125 million pounds to other European countries, but insist goods. The Americans want the money to be convertible into dollars so that it can be used to buy her products instead of Britain's. Belgium — probably the most Marshallized country in Europe— is backing up the 'U.S. proposal. The Economist says: “The in- tention of this proposal was to open Europe to. the full blast of American competition!’ Cripps realises that the. Wall Street plan would drive Britain from European markets and rapidly. drain her gold and dol- ‘ings, the impartial, non-political figures lar reserves. So far three meet- one of which lasted seven hours, have failed to. end. the deadlock between Cripps and U.S. representative’ Averell Har- riman over this question. ’ The London Daily Worker re- ports that Cripps exchanged sharp words with Harriman, ex- claiming: “You have got me be- tween pincers. America will, not West buy our goods, and now you ask us to make available our last dollar reserves to Europe.” Now, amid rumors of a sharp- ening clash between Cripps and Ernest Bevin, another conference is to be held at Washington, with indication that if a settlement is reached, it will be on Ameri- can terms. Other European countries—in- cluding the Scandinavian group —are said to be in support of Cripps. They are finding the Marshall plan beyond the limits of endurance. Through the Marshall plan the U.S. is able to prevent Western European countries from trading with the Soviet Union and the democracies of Eastern Europe. This policy has disrupted the en- tire trade pattern. of Europe, re- cent figures showing that Yankee presSure has cut trade between Eastern and Western Europe to between 30 and 40 percent of - what it was in 1938. But the prospect of trade with the Eastern European countries and the Soviet Union is so tempt- ing that several of the Marshall countries are threatening revolt. materials which don’t cost dol- lars are very attractive. Even .some_ sections in the United States are beginning to think twice about trading with the socialist countries. The New York Herald Tribune writes: “American. producers of machinery and equipment especi- ally, and of many other items which until very recently have been in great demand inside America and abroad, now are forced to cut back output, lay off workers and scurry about looking for buyers. It seems likely that they soon will be more than willing to accept ord- ers from the East;or any other quarter of the globe and further- more to demand that the admin- istration sanction such trade.” Walter Lippman, noted Ameri- | can columnist and commentator, now concedes that the Marshall plan “is operating to bring about a contraction of world trade,” and in the future “it will actually prevent a rising and general pros- perity.” = He is not the only one to point out the dismal failure of the plan. The New York Times warns its readers that Britain’s predicament could have far-reaching effects on the “cold war” against Russia. Russia, it says, has always con- tended that the capitalist world would suffer depression. “The fear is,” the Times regret- fully concludes, “that the Marxist prophecy may come a little too Supplies of foodstuff and rawclose to the facts.” Failure of a foreign policy ‘general in Mukden reported in June, 1947: “Nationalist .. . mili- trators conduct themselves in _ Manchuria as conquerors, not as fellow countrymen, and have im- posed .. unbridled exploita- tion,” as a result of which “the people of Manchuria are not only prepared for but keenly desirous of a change of government.” (P. 248.) Militarily, as reported bit- terly. by U.S. Military Advisory _ Group chief Major General David Barr, Chiang’s armies were los- ing because of “the world’s worst leadership.” What was the solu- tion? ; ; To a normal person, the solu- tion might seem to be to let the Chinese people have their way. To men like Barr and Wed- emeyer, however, this was the one calamity not to be permit- ted. Barr’s report said the only thing that could now “save” Manchuria and China would be actual employment of USS. troops. Wedemeyer recommended that “menaced” Manchuria be alienated from China and placed under United Nations trustee- ship. Under such circumstances, of course, the rising of the Chi- nese people to control their own destiny could be presented as revolt against international auth- ority and suppressed for ostens- ibly highly moral reasons. It is in the light of its own documentation that the White Paper’s “attack” on Chiang Kai-— shek must be judged. It really boils down to only one point: Chiang was too corrupt, stub- born and incompetent to re-en- slave the Chinese people with however, is to the Chinese na- tion, which is punishing the tyr- ant for his crimes against it. The responsibility for leading the - American people into a costly, immoral] in ention is not Chiang’s. It lies with the officials who still back Chinese reaction in. the good name of the United States, just as in Canada it lies with Prime Minister St. Laurent ‘and his successor in the external affairs department, Lester B. ‘Pearson, who have dissipated the © goodwill of the Chinese people . for Canada by furnishing the planes with which Chiang now is murdering Shanghai civilians. 3 _ Party, the one most active nN propagating anti-Seinitism in Canada is the Social Credit Movement and its numerous _ ffshoots—the Union des Elect- | . Urs in Quebec, the Union of Electors in Ontario and sBrit- Columbia, and the Doug- J8s Social Credit Council of Alberta, These children of the parent 8toup believe implicitly that ae Jor C. HL Douglas, the Englishman who founded So- cial Credit, was right when he said that the Jewish ques- tion is closely related to mone- Teform, and that the in- (Yon ternational financiers—mean- . 4g Jews— are in control of © world, gat, 1947, the issue of anti- ‘emitism caused a_ split in Social Credit ranks. The S0- Called moderates, led by Pre- MNer Manning of Alberta, re- Pudiated it as an essential EXT to Adrien Arcand’s — part of Social Credit theory. The extremists held that at- tacking the Jews was more important than anything else. The moderates belong to the parent gnoup, or Social Credit Association. It is led by Solon Low, who was re-elected in the recent federal contest. Low has more than once ut- tered anti-Semitic and anti- Zionist utterances. In 1948 the Association de-— posed the editor and nt editor of the Social Crediter. Simultaneously it banned all articles by the late Norman Jaques who was & fanatical enemy of the Jews. The new. editors assumed a more caut- ious attitude on Jewish mat- ters, but references are still frequent to “international poli- tical Zionism” and tional finance.” * The extremists pursue their “interna- — anti-Semitic ously. In Alberta itself, the Douglas Social Credit Council, consist- purposes vigor- _ing of those ousted by the . moderates, places the Jewish question at the top of the agenda. It has an information service, and publishes, some- ’ what irregularly, a paper, the Social Credit Challenger. — This journal asserts that “the issue in the world at the present time is Christendom ‘versus Zionism,” and that “a deliberate and deep-seated conspiracy to enslave human- ity under a world police state (is) pursued through the pol- icy of monopoly, manifested in international finance, social- ism and communism, and rooted in political Zionism.” In structure and method, the Douglas Social Credit Council is much like the Union of Electors of Ontario, a group that has about 25,000 adher- ents. -Its main publication is the Voice of the Electors, printed in Ottawa. There are plenty of anti-Semitic obser- vations, and supporters are told not to associate with Jews and not to patronize Jewish places of business. Similarly, the Union of Elec- tors in British Columbia, which made ;its first and un- successful bid for public sup- port in the recent provincial elections, is a split-off from the Social Credit organization. Its ranks augmented by the steady influx of supporters among prairie residents com- ing to B.C., particularly dur- ing the war years, Social Credit has gained strength in — some provincial centers, al- ’ though this was partly con- cealed by the divided vote be- tween Social Credit and the _ Union of Electors in the pro- vincial elections, ~ awe The third offspring is the .Union des Electeurs of Que- | , Gredi it in that province. This outspoken Jew-baiters in Can- | Socred spreads poison of anti-Semitism | bec, headed by Louis Even, self-appointed leader of Social — group ran several candidates — in the election. Even also — ‘issues the monthly Vers De- | “main, which carries anti- | Semitic articles and cartoons | in abundance. These .three groups, all them dedicated to the Social | Credit philosophy, are, next to- the Arcand party, the most of - ada. Their influence is great- er than is generally believed. While they did not fare well in the elections, they man-_ aged to spread a good deal of ‘ment that gains in strength 2 as the government follows policies favorable to all re- actionaries. ee: PACIFIC TRIBUNE—AUGUST 19, 1919—-PAGE 5 __