Progressive unity

can end NPA rule

The stranglehold on Vancouver's civic progress held by the Non-Partisan Association for the past
20 years can be broken in next ‘December’s civic elections, the most important in the city’s history.
This is the perspective opened up for voters by these recent developments:

@ The wider franchise which for |
the first time will give the vote
to all over 21, adding more
than 40,000 names to voters’
lists. :
The CCF announcement that it
will not contest the coming elec-
tion with party candidates.
The welcome signs that the
trade union movement is turn-
ing to civic political action.
These developments, coupled
with the growing anti-NPA move-
ments in the city, and the increas-
ing’ support given to such progres-
sives as Effie Jones, creates favor-
able conditions for ousting the NPA!
this year, provided broad anti-NPA
unity is achieved at the polls in
December.

Adoption by Vancouver Labor
Council (CCL) of a resolution call-
ing for joint action of the trade
unions to “contest civic elections
and institute policies which will
return the government of the city
to the people,” is of great signifi-
cance.

This resolution correctly char-
acterized the NPA as “an associa-
tion backed ‘by powerful business
interests which for years have con-
trolled civic elections and civic
policies on behalf of business in-
terests at the expense of the aver-
age Vancouver citizen.”

fhe proposal for joint action is
now being studied by the TLC and
Railroad Brotherhoods.

It is quite clear that this demand

for labor political action in Van-
. couver grows out of the widespread
‘discontent among working people
with NPA policies. It stems from
a desire among trade unionists to
take a hand in bringing about a
change at the city hall. For these
reasons every progressive-minded
person will welcome this develop-
ment. :

It would however, be wrong to
underestimate the. size of the job
involved in ‘breaking the NPA
monopoly at city hall . This arch-

By MAURICE RUSH

reactionary machine can be broken
only by a united assault of all
anti-NPA forces in the city.

The. anti-NPA forces are in
the majority, but they have suf-
fered defeat because of divisions
in their ranks and because tens
of thousands of working people
haye been denied the franchise.
Now that the voters’ lists have
‘been extended—in itself a vic-
tory—the main condition for vic-
tory at the polls in December is
the unity of anti-NPA forces.

It would be extremely harmful
if the unions, in their desiré to
oust the NPA, did not see allies ih
the powerful movements. among
ratepayers, pensioners, housing
groups, small roominghouse keep-
ers and in the growing mass sup-
port received by such anti-NPA in-
dependent candidates such as Ef-
fie Jones and Dr. Joseph Blumes.

It would also be extremely harm-
ful for labor if any political party
were to be allowed to take advant-
age—for its own narrow reasons—
of the genuine desire of the union
rank and file for political action
against the NPA. a

Trade union political action
¢an only succeed in breaking the
NPA monopoly at city hall if the
entire trade union movement is
involved in democratically nam-
ing candidates, in selecting is-
sues and participating in the
elections with full strength.

Coupled with such an_ all-out
effort by labor needs to go a broad
unity policy which would unite the
trade union forces with the anti-
NPA movements growing in the
city—particularly with those pro-
labor candidates who have emerg-
ed as Effie Jones and Dr. Blumes
have done, as the strongest anti-
NPA candidates at the polls.

OO Ke ee

The CCF announcement that it
will not run party candidates for
civic office removes one of‘ the
main obstacles to civic unity.

did not help them in the city elec-

For years the CCF, contrary to

established tradition in Canada, in-
sisted each year on running full
CCF slates for council and parks
board with no chance of election.

The reaction of thousands of citi-| 2

zens to the CCF announcement

will be: “It’s about time the CCF]

realized it was getting nowhere in
Vancouver civic politics.”

It has been clear for some
years that the people did not -
‘look upon the CCF as an alter-
native to the NPA... Each year
the CCF vote has declined while
the vote rose for those anti-NPA
independents who stood for
unity.

The crisis in the CCF’s “go it
alone” policy came to a head last
December when Effie Jones polled
2400 votes more than the highest
CCF aldermanic candidate and the
CCF vote showed more than a six
percent drop over the previous
year.

The backing given by the CCL
council to CCF civic candidates

tions. It has become clear that
the Vancouver working class vote
cannot be mobilized around any
one political party. Only through
independent trade union political
action can the unions in Vancouver
enter politics on a broad scale.

The resolution adopted by the
CCL labor council favoring joint
trade union political action by all
labor centres is. itself recognition
of that fact.

This can be the year in which
the labor and popular forces end
Tory-Liberal big business domina-
tion of Vancouver and win poli-
cies which will make Vancouver a
great city of progress, contribut-
ing to peace, world trade, full em-
ployment and friendship between
peoples in the Pacific by the elec-
tion of men and women who will
give ratepayers a new deal in tax-
ation and other policies. The key
to victory in December is unity of

all anti-NPA labor and people’s | ;

forces.

Don’t follow ‘American Wa y’ say
opponents of 6-day store week

Under amended provincial legislation,

. only after a majority plebiscite vote and when at least 51 percent of

the change.

The newly-formed “Save the Wednesday Associ ition’
defeat of the six-day plebiscite June 23, and says: :

“Tf the retail trade is forced into
this working condition, you can
expect the idea to grow and every
business will be expected to follow
the ‘American Way’ of wide open
competition,

“Remember one vital fact; up-

. wards of 70 percent of retail stores
are so small.that they have no staff

' to rotate six days. And the result
is they will-have to work six days

a week!” *

Vancouver is the only major

city in North America with the
five-day work week in the retail
trade. Labor fought hard to win
the Wednesday closing, yet now

a few top “leaders” in the trade

union movement have aligned

themselves with the big depart-
ment stores which want the six-
day week. Fitting me

How does the six-day week af-
fect clerks in the United States?
The “Save the Wednesday” group
wrote a number of U‘S. firms and
received these typical answers:

the six-day shopping week can be implemented in Vancouver

at 163 West Hastings is campaigning for the

the merchants in any class ask for

The Bon Marche, Seattle: “Main-

taining the same number of full
time employees as we had prey-
iously, a rough estimate would be
$4,000 more additional expense per
month to have the proper coverage
during busy times and on the sixth
opening day. Naturally this was
prohibitive. There was only one
answer and that was fewer full
time 40-hour employees‘ and more
four and five hour employees, as
customer habit did not change with
the extended store open hours. As
a result we have approximately

half of the selling force on less
than the 40-hour week.” :

__L. S. Donaldson Company, Min-
neapolis: “About 35 percent of our
salespeople are scheduled on a
part-time basis. _This is the. only
way, in which selling cost percent
can be held to the previous year’s
figures when you go to a five-day,
40-hour work week.”

Lipman Wolfe and Company,

ce!

Portland: “If you can keep Van-
couver on the five-day store week,
you would be very fortunate in-
deed and any merchant who tries
to change from that custom will
live to regret it. . . . It probably
takes from 10 to 15 percent more
employees to staff six days with
five-day workers. The resulting
dilution of force is certainly not
in the interests of the retail work-
er, whose sales and pay cannot be
as great.” :
Appearing before Vancouver
City Council this week on the
Wednesday closing issue, LPP
city secretary Maurice Rush
charged that 40,000 citizens are
being denied a vote because it is
being pushed through on June
23 “at the instigation of big
business interests who fear that
the enlarged December voters’
list would defeat the measure.”
Rush said that the LPP’ will
actively campaign for a “‘No” vote

: H
Wide streets, beautiful boulevards and modern apartment a

buildings distinguish the reconstructed cities of the Ukraine-

TOP: Artem Street in Stalino. .CENTRE: Khrushchev Avenue 0

Gorlovka.
workers in Zhdanov.

Russia, Ukraine mark ©
re-uniontercentenary |

"A
By RALPH PARKER

MOSCOW

While historic Kiev was formally
celebrating the tercentenary of the
re-union of Russia and the Ukraine,
Moscow last weekend was. enjoy-
ing its most festive day since the
end. of the war.

Three hundreds years ago this
year a Ukrainian leader drove the
feudal Poles out of the Ukraine
and proclaimed the reunion of the
Ukraine with Russia at a popular
assembly. The two Slavonic peo-
ples have since remained linked in
close alliance.

The occasion of the tercentenary
has been used for large-scale cul-
tural exchange between Kiev and
Moscow.

Last week at a session of the

on the plebiscite.

Supreme Soviet of the Ukraine ad-

‘dresses from the Soviet govern-

0
PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JUNE 4, 1954 — PAGE”

BOTTOM: An apartment -house for chemical plant

ment and the Communist party —

were read and the highest Sovie
decoration — the Order of Lene
was conferred on the Ukrainian :
public and on the city of Kiev-

The colorful program of spol

ing events in Moscow includ?
horse racing, bicycle race runs
the city, athletics, wrestling 2”
rowing in the parks. y
Football games were playé

e
every stadium, and 12,000 peor

d in

in an open air theatre watch”

chess games. ke

The Dynamo Stadium was Par
ed for a sports and gymnastic © ©.
play, attended by Premier
Malenkov, given by 5,000 Russi?
and Ukrainian athletes. ous

In nearly 50/of Moscow’s fam?
squares, stages were erecte hes
open air performances by ore
tras and dance groups.

Geord)

for