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EDITORIAL

Defending democracy

On our country’s 120th birthday, we should pause for a moment to recall that it was
50 years ago — July 1, 1937 — that Canadians fighting fascism in Spain formed the
legendary Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion, carving for themselves and Canada a proud
place in world history.

Against terrible odds, 1,200 Canadian volunteers went to Spain as part of a
world-wide effort to halt Franco fascism. One-third of them gave their lives in what has
been called the “dress rehearsal” for World War II.

The “Mac-Paps,” part of the 25th International Brigade, fought heroically in battles
Jarama, Brunet, Quinto, Belchite, Fuentes de Ebro, Turuel, the Retreats and the Ebro,
winning recognition as “The Model Battalion.” More than one succeeding generation
of progressives were raised on the haunting music which grew out of these times.
Except for France, no other country provided so great a number of volunteers in
proportion to its population as did Canada.

Our country’s contribution in defence of the Spanish republic and Spanish demo-
cracy was also evident in the pioneering work of Montreal doctor Norman Bethune
who, with his medical unit, first brought the miracle of blood transfusion directly onto
the battlefield.

This magnificent effort in Spain was organized and financed by the work and
contributions of thousands of Canadians at home who held countless rallies, raised the
funds, and carried on the political struggle against a reactionary government in Ottawa
who vilified the effort of the Mac-Paps and persecuted them on their return home.

Canadian communists constituted the main core of both the Battalion itself and the
solidarity movements at home. In fact, the party lost a large section of its leaders in
Spain. Organized labour and the CCF (forerunner to the NDP) also played a crucial
role in the many groups formed during those years such as the Committee to Aid
Spanish Democracy, the Canadian League Against War and Fascism and Friends of
the Mac-Paps.

But it was the volunteers, the Mac-Paps, nicknamed “the fighting Canucks” who led
the way with courage and dignity, none of which was diminished in the least when, as a
result of imperialist treachery and superior weaponry, fascism broke over Spain and
then, two years later, engulfed Europe. ;

Few veterans of this magnificent battalion are left. But those who remain will soon
be telling their own story in a book soon to be published.

Also, with customary tenacity, Mac-Pap veterans continue to petition Ottawa for
their just recognition. And, with a malevolence that now spans half a century, the
government refuses.

The people, however, will have the last say when it comes to the honoured place in
_ history of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion,

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{TS .SEAT TLE LABOUR

GRIBOMNE _

Editor — SEAN GRIFFIN
Assistant Editor — DAN KEETON
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Second class mail registration number 1560

hile negotiations in the postal dis-

pute have ended with a _ no-
concessions agreement, Tribune readers
and postal workers both are aware what
caused the dispute: the Tory government’s
efforts to make Canada Post financially
self-sufficient, as a prelude to privatizing
the Crown corporation.

A majority of Canadians showed they
were aware that the government was
responsible, in their answers to a Reid-
Southam poll taken a week and a half ago.
But what many Canadians may not
know — although a campaign has been
waged for some time now, with little mass
press coverage — is that the postal unions
have a sound plan for making their
employer profitable without cuts and
remaining as a public enterprise.

We’ve covered it before, but it bears
repeating. In their campaign, the Cana-
dian Union of Postal Workers, the Letter
Carriers Union, the Union of Postal
Communications Employees and several
other post office unions have called for an
end to postal cutbacks. Instead, the unions
have called for increases in Canada Post
services, including counter sales of items
such as wrapping paper, as a means of
generating additional revenue for the cor-
poration.

What reminded us of this campaign
— buried by the avalanche of sensational
reporting on picket line confrontations
and the like — was an item we found in
the latest issue of the Financial Post. In it,
the author contrasts Canada Post’s lack-
luster performance with the publicly-
owned postal services of the United States,
Australia, Britain, France and West Ger-
many.

While acknowledging that in many of
those countries, shorter distances and
larger populations allow for greater cost
efficiencies, the Post article points out that

Australia, experiencing conditions similar
to those of Canada, manages to turn a
profit each year. It then-goes on to state
that Canada Post “‘must rely almost exclu-
sively on the mails to generate revenue.”

In contrast, “Britain’s Post Office, like
some-of its European and Australian
counterparts, also offers a wide array of
over-the-counter services ranging from
banking to selling dog licences. The extra
money pulled in by this type of activity in
Britain makes up nearly a quarter of the
Post Office’s total revenues.”

When Canada Post has made ventures
in that direction, “‘the local business com-
munity has screamed about unfair compe-
tition,” the Post reports.

That same business community is
behind the drive to chop services at Can-
ada Post and eventually carve up the
Crown corporation for its own uses. That
is the reason for the letter carriers strike,
and that is why victory for the postal
employees is so important.

* * *

hey’ve laboured, apparently quite
quietly, for the past two years. Yet
even without the glare of publicity, the
members of Canadian Aid for Vietnam Civ-
ilians have succeeded in their goal of bring-
ing the gift of health to untold thousands
of Vietnamese.
The organization had set as its task rais-

ing funds to buy reinforcing steel to builda -

typhoon-resistant hospital at Ben Hai, in
Vietnam’s Binh Tri Thien province. The

People and Issues

‘aceasta A CS SOE IRN GS SES,

recent issue of the assistance group’s bul-
letin reports that in mid-January, the last
of four shipments of the steel, valued at
$58,210, was shipped from Hong Kong.

That same hospital already bears wit-
ness to a Canadian connection, with a
plaque naming its pediatrics ward after a
former Parksville, B.C. resident, the late
Harry Hughes, who bequeathed his entire
estate of $50,000 to Ben Hai. The hospital
is located near the 17th parallel, the former
dividing line between North and South
Vietnam, and is one of most devastated
areas of the country, thanks to U.S. shel-
ling from the air, sea and ground.

The CAVC Bulletin carries a letter from
the director of the Red Cross of Vietnam,
Dr. Vuong Dinh Dien, stating that “the
hospital is now being built in another site,
larger than the former place, with the effi-
cacious aid of CAVC.”

CAVC already has its next goal
planned. It’s already donated $15,000
towards the purchase of an X-ray
machine — the hospital currently has
none — valued at about $80,000. The
organization, a registered charity, can be
reached by writing Box 2543, Vancouver,
B.C., V6B 3W8.

ae Skea
Fy summer since 1983 the truck has

stood in the rest stop off the Island «

Highway across from Nanoose Bay. And
every summer the Peace Truck has carried
the same warnings to passers-by about the
military goings-on beneath the usually

placid waters of the bay and the adjoining
Georgia Strait.

Nanoose Bay is home to the Canadian
Forces weapons testing range, under con-
stant use by the United States military. It

tests such things as ASROC and SUB- — |

ROC launching systems for nuclear-

capable missiles and torpedoes, in violation -

of the spirit, if the not the letter, of Cana-
da’s official no-nuclear-weapons stance.
The Peace Truck, on the other hand,
reminds Canadians and other travellers of
that Canada must by totally nuclear-

weapons free, as well as imparting news of |

the latest developments in the peace
movement. It’s sponsored by the Van-
couver Island Network for Disarmament,
and it’s back at its old spot in the summer
of 1987, as of July 4. :

The Peace Truck will be there until
Aug. 30, open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. So even if
you’re one of the converted, drop by the
spot — it’s just south of Parksville — and
pay them a visit.

* * *

Hae American music — as well as jus-
tice for that significant part of the
world — seems to be on a lot of people’s
minds these days. That being the case,
we’re passing on a note we have from the
B.C.-Nicaragua Solidarity Committee, the

organizers of the annual successful Tools-

for-Peace campaign aiding Nicaragua.
On Thursday, July 16, you'll be able to
satisfy a craving for Latin American music
and help the committee by attending a
benefit dance at the Ukrainian Hall, 805 E.

Pender St. in Vancouver. Admission is $8 ~

employed, $5 for unemployed people.

Featured will be Kin Lalat and Banco
del Ruido. The committee announces that
other groups in town to play at the Van-
couver Folk Music Festival July 18-20
may also make appearances.

4 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JULY 8, 1987