THE NATION

NLY unthinking people will be deceived by the pre-

tence of confidence put on by the minister of
agriculture concerning the prospects’ for the export of
Canadian farm produce. Press reports quote Hon. James
Gardiner as telling newspapermen, with reference to
doubts about the British food contracts, that “the
alternative markets are available, the Bo eieee of them
being in the United States... .”

In addition to the facts that the evidence all points
: in the opposite direction, there is much to suggest that
_ the appearance of confidence was but a mask for a
diplomatic retreat. The minister of agriculture in
Ottawa, December 29, was evidently back-tracking from
the sentiments expressed by the minister of serie:
ture in London on December 17.

In the course of an address to the Canadian Cham-
ber of Commerce in London, Gardiner betrayed pro-
found concern about the British market. According
to the Canadian Press, he declared in the course of
that speech that hopes for long-term, large-scale con-
tracts with Britain have been ‘dashed to the ground.”
He hinted strongly that they have been dashed to the
ground by subordinating Canada’s national interests: to
‘ Washington and Wall street.

The press dispatch quoted him as saying: “We can-

} not sell apples, beans, jams and salmon to anyone at
any price under the present dollar arrangement, and
for the moment we are finding it impossible to dispose
of millions of bushels of linseed at 30 percent less than
you are paying others for it.”

His implied condemnation of “the present dollar
arrangment” was the more significant because it was
made just when it is dawning’ upon Canadian business
men that, unless it is modified quickly, the net result
of that arrangement will be disaster for Canada.

e

#

and Howe under St. Latiren’t leadership was aimed at

the complete sacrifice of the interests of Canada’s

finished goods manufacturing industries. But, it is

also becoming evident that the expectations upon which

the ‘Abbott Plan” was based are not going to materialize.

oS An editorial in Toronto Saturday Night of Decem-

+  ~ ber 25 makes this abundantly clear. Under the head-

ae ing: “The End of Reciprocity,” the editor of Saturday

Night comments: “A report from Ottawa says the gov-

ernment is: now shying away from the idea of some

new form of reciprocity with the United States. Plans

‘for reciprocity—a special deal by: which the tariffs be-

tween Canada and the United States would be cut down

without extending the benefit of those cuts to other

countries—owed their birth to Mr. Dewey, and the

= a likelihood that he and the publicans would win the

: election in the United States last month. A number of

leading Republicans were apparently willing to make

a special deal with Canada, while keeping all the rest
of their tariff wall intact.” ;

“Thus, that precious pair of ministers, Abbott and

Howe, who were so aggressive in their efforts to put

the Abbott Plan over, were aiming as. some “new form”

of reciprocity.

The “new form’ of the reciprocity aimed at was
2. _ indicated clearly enough by U.S. commentators and by

_--—~—-s Abbott when he returned from his negotiations in
ree Washington and New York. The “new form” of
reciprocity planned in cahoots with ‘a number of
leading Republicans” was designed to eliminate Can-
adian competition with U.S. manufacturers and enable
U.S. monopolies to get Canadian raw materials and
specialties more cheaply that they do now. “Reciproc-
ity’ to put the economic clock back in Canada and
make our country a raw material hinterland for Paited
States imperialism.

It is impossible to believe that St. Laurent, Abbott
and Howe were unaware of the implications of. their
scheme, Reciprocity between the U.S., the most highly
industrialized 145 million people in the world, being

; ordination of Canada’s foreign trade to the Marshall
‘Plan, would, inevitably, have marked finish to hopes

_ thereby, for Canada’s economic and political sovereignty.
a ; ; . j
_-The fact that Dewey was not elected is the real
reason the St. Laurent government has hurriedly dis-
carded several of the features” of the Abbott Plan during
the past few weeks. The fact that some of the short-
term features of the Abbott Plan are being discarded
does not mean that the interests which pressed it are
giving up, however. Far from giving up, their’ line is
still the main line of governmental policy. :
At the same time the central thesis of Jimmy

It is admitted now that the deal pressed by Abbott —

organized for war, and Canada, combined with the sub- —

for all-round economic development in Canada and,

By TIM BUCK

: SatGwroiner tite lid Bh trade crisis
created by St. Laurent policies

»

Gardiner’s London speech, as reported in the Press,
constituted an open hint that the minister of agri-
cuiture now questions the wisdom of St. Laurent’s
reckless effort to hitch Canada to Wall Street’s chariot.

Jimmy Gardiner’s attitude is understandable. In
the King government he bore the main public respon-
sibility for persuading Canada’s farmers to sell their
products at prices far
secured all through the years of high prices and un-
limited demand “in the interest of the British connec-
tion.”
demand are at an end and Gardiner does not want to
be held responsible for the loss of a large part of the
British market “in the interests of the U.S. connection.”

In his efforts to clear himself of that responsibility,
Jimmy Gardiner has revived the basic question as to
whether Canada is going to abandon her traditional
export markets and put all her’trade eggs in the un-
safe basket of the boom and bust U.S. market, or if,
even at this late stage, a serious attempt shall be made
to maintain and, where possible, revive Canada’s trade
outside the limits BSY by the administrators of the Mar-
shall Plan.

That could yet become one of the central issues of
a Dominion general election. ‘While it is subordinate
to the fundamental aims of St. Laurent’s effort to
commit Canada in advance to participation in the war
that the U.S. imperialists are planning, it is not ex-
cluded that it could divide the Liberals sharply—-per-
haps even be the basis of a considerable regrouping of
votes,

St. jLaurent’s proposal to commit Canada in ad-

vance to» participation in “an imperalist war of agsres-"
sion, plus the loss of overseas markets as a result of.

his cynical disregard for Canada’s national interests, is
already shocking large numbers of traditional Liberals.
And, after all, Gardiner was, and probably still is,
willing to lead his party. ,

‘THIS ISN’'T GERMANY’

DP. stormtroopers
threat to labor

SINCE the arrival of the so-called DP’s in this country

there has been an alarming growth of organized
hooliganism in many industrial and rural areas and
particularly in those places where citizens of east Euro-
pean birth or descent form a large part of the
population.

During the past year there have been frequent
reports of meetings of cultural and labor. organizations

vhaving! been broken up by DP elements, most of whom

are men and women schooled in the fascist mentality
and trained in the’ gangster methods of Hitler’s storm-
troopers.

At Speddon, Alberta, a judge recently sentenced three
of these ersatz democrats to a term in jail, plus $50
and 30 dollar fines, for destroying property and as-
saulting Canadian citizens. ‘This isn’t Germany” the

_ judge warned as he told the DP’s that until they came

“to teach Canadians, there had ess no trouble for the
last 30 years.”

Labor unions and others have correctly charged
that many of these DP’s have been brought to Canada
for the expres purpose of strike-breaking and under-
cutting Canadian standards.

_ The December issue of the Labor Gazette contains
a statement by Labor Minister Humphrey Mitchell
which points up this ‘contention. ;

“These people,” says the ‘bumbling Mitchell; “don’t
want Communism; they have seen too much, They
want no part of it. In the main, they should be a
great bulwark against Communism. in this country.”
The chief argument of “defense” submitted to the
court by Alberta DP’s was that their hooligan actions
were motivated by a desire to ‘fight communism,”

Mitchell states: “All Displaced Persons, before be-
ing allowed to enter the country are.screened by the
RCMP and by trained Canadian STADE EA ON teams
in Europe.”

The quality of the Vadanine? is seen in the storm-
troop tactics of the DP’s in creating disturbances in
peaceful Canadian meetings.

Echoing the Alberta judge, Canadian labor should
remind the Hon. Humphrey Mitchell, “This isn’t
Germany.” ’ oe

lower than could have been ~

Now the years of rising prices and unlimited

LABOR FOCUS
B.C. job crisis

challenges unions

By BRUCE MICKLEBURGH
an J NEMPLOYMENT is being placed high on the

agendas of scores of union locals in this province.

This in spite of Tory Finance Minister Anscomb’s
recent blurb, “Employment is at a high level. . : .
Watch the progress in your own city, town or village!”

Estimates of jobless range from 25,000 to 40,000.
“As far as I’m concerned it’s employment that’s seasonal,
not employment,” was the acid comment of one worker.

Hardest hit are loggers. shipyard workers, cannery-
men and many in agricultural industries, but plants de-
pending on these industries are feeling it.

Here are some differences between this problem
and that of the “Hungry ’Thirties.”’

| It’s not yet full scale depression (though it may
mark the onset).

Many older workers are laid off, such as men who
worked in shipyards right through depression and war.
“Too old at forty” is monopoly’s verdict on thousands

; of able’ hands.

The unions muster. over twice the size and strength
of the old unemployed days.

That’s why it would be dead wrong to mechanically
revive all the methods of the great unemployed struggles
of the ‘thirties.

@

The need is not for am’ unemployed organization
with a hall on Cordova street, but for the unions them-
selves to fight for their unemployed membership.

It would seem that this requires practical provisions
for keeping that membership, such as unemployed dues,
maintaining contact and throwing halls open.

Hard-hit unions like the Marine Workers and the
Woodworkers are already asking a 50 percent boost in
unemployment. insurance,...continuance. of benefits tll the
worker has a job, and provision for those ineligible for
benefits. Coupled with these demands is the fight to
break through insufferable red tape and inefficiency that
brings hardship to thousands before their claims are
processed.

/

No practical unionist will seek to by-pass the urgent
unemployment insurance question, but workers today will —
not accept unemployment “as a permanent or semi-per- ‘

manent condition.

I have on my desk the better part of a thousand
pages of government wartime recommendations for pro-
jects to “‘take up the slack” in the postwar period. The
elementary need of this country include public housing,

“hospitals, $50,000,000 worth of schools. i in B.C., roads

and the vital question of harnessing the Fraser River.

Labor should demand now that the millions being
husbanded by Ottawa for aggression be spent now to
build up our country at union wages through ah pro-
jects.

6

It would be fatal to ignore the root of the problem:
the Marshall-Abbott pincers that are squeezing the life
blood from our economy.

The St. Laurent government—with the CCF leader-
ship running interference—is doing Wall Street’s bidding
by reducing our secondary industries. More and more of
B.C.’s pulp, ore and fish is to be processed south of
the line.

The Marshall clamps are also on our overseas mar-
kets, Premier Johnson reported that the ‘‘dollar. short-
age” is ruining our British market for lumber, fish and
apples. Washington’s currency strings have no other
Purpose than to garner super profits for American irusts
at the expense of every other trading nation.

Workers in every other nation in the Marshall orbit
are engaged in sharpest struggle against Wall Street’s
grinding down of their living standards.

It’s more than time all our unions united to deuand
that Ottawa break with the Marshall Plan for plunder
and war, that our industries trade where their goods
are needed by workers who can produce what we need:
for example B.C. lumber for British machine products -
Canned herrings or turbines for Soviet citrus fruits; rail-
way ties for Manchurian soya beans (good for peanut
butter and plastics).

Process in Canada the raw riteriate we now ex-
port to the United States! Use barter trade to beat
American trade domination! These are immediate needs

to salvage our dollar-battered industries.
PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JANUARY 14, 1949 — PAGE o

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