CCL leadership outstrips Tories
blow in like oilwells  |in drive to smash labor unity

By B. R. SWANKEY . By MEL COLBY |
; —CALGARY The main top leadership of the Canadian Congress of Labor placed itself squarely on 1)
News items culled from Alberta newspapers during the/record behind the King-St. Laurent war policies at last week’s eighth annual convention
past week reflect a steady rise in the prices spiral, with most|of the CCL. Actually, the administration’; foreign policy resolution, which was a substitute
items directly affecting low income groups. . |for seven anti-war resolvtions sponsored by Congress affiliates, went far beyond the pro-
Haircuts in Edmonton and Calgary will be increased by|war speeches made by spokesmen, - -
10 cents and shaves by 15 cents. — | for Ottawa. Jackson, UE-CIO Canadian Direct-
Calgary gasoline prices have gone The resolution, which reaffirmed or, that “those who drafted this
up half a cent a gallon. (It seems last year’s support of the U.S. Mar-| document desire war.” ;
that the more oil we find in Alber- shall Plan, also demanded an Am- The resolution, Jackson charg-
ta, the higher goes the price of erican-Canadian military alliance, ed, asked the Congress delegates
gas.) Calgary bread prices may in- and; ignoring the fact that the| to swallow the lies of Big Busi-
erease one cent a loaf due to the U.S. has 180 war bases around the| ness and pledged the CCL admin-
blanket permission given by the world, charged that the USSR was! istration to the task of destroy-
Wartime Prices and Trade Board. “fanning world-wide war.” ing the trade union movement on
At present bread selbs at from 10 CCL spokesmen who-debated in, behalf of monopoly.
to 18 cents a loaf, favor of the resolution urged the “The men who drafted this docu-
majority of the 836 delegates to be-| ment,’ said Jackson, who won loud Dealing with the resolution’s en-
greater struggle than ever to re-| lieve that it was actually aimed at|applause for his ringing speech, dorsation of the Marshall Plan,
store price controls and gain sub-| preserving peace; but the show-of-|“‘hope to go before King and St.| Haddow appealed to the delegates
stantial wage increases NOW-—a| hands vote, while giving the admin-| Laurent and say: | to review the men who are respon-
struggle that requires a united labor istration a technical victory, was: “We have hamstrung the trade | sible for framing it.
movement. / notable for the many abstentions. | unions for you. Give us our re- “Every one of them,” he empha-
No answer was forthcoming from| ward as the Robert Leys of the | sized, “is an enemy of the labor
CCL secretary-treasurer Pat pone Canadian labor movement.” | movement. They are the men
roy to an accusation from C. S.}| The UE leader stressed that the behind the U.S. Taft-Hartley Law,

DBS report shows low ae
wage level of workers _
: —OTTAWA

lynching, the men who are at-
tempting to destroy democracy in
America. Do you expect anyone
to believe these men are worried
about the starving people of Eu-
rope?”
Top CCL spokesman Pat Conroy
did not attempt to refute the ac-
3 : : : : ct cusations that the administra-
Canadian workers will still pay the main burden of in-.
come taxes in this year of 1948 when the cost-of-living is
the highest in the nation’s history—158.9. Figures released
by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics show that the working
class is getting it in the neck in : r : ;
three places (1) low wages (2) making $1,198,000,000. Incidentally
high taxes (3) runaway prices. |the profit figures admitted don’t
DBS figures based on 1946 in- take into account the hidden prof-
come tax returns show that 68 per- its that are. buried in reserve, de-
preciation and other funds.

Alberta price hoists

red-baiting aspects of the resolu-
tion used the same “big lie tech-
nique that Hitler used” when the
Nazis were promoting World War,
Two. :

Robert Haddow, Canadian Direct-
or of the International Union of
Fur and Leather Workers (CIO),
stated bluntly that the resolution
“Ys one which calls for war on the
Soviet Union and nothing more.”

Milk in the Crow’s Nest Pass and
in Drumheller Valley, both coal
mining areas, has gone up two cents
a quart and now sells at 21 cents.

These are only a few of the in-
ereases in the cost of living that
took place during the past week’ or
that are now under consideration.

x All this points to the need for a

Calgary weekly street car and :
bus passes have gone up from $1.25
to $1.50. In Edmonton a further in-
erease in car fares is also under
consideration.

tion’s resolution attempted to de-
dicate Canada’s working people to
eent of the individual taxes were
paid by married men with an av-| 1,

a war policy, Instead, he repeated
demagogic phrases which have.al-
erage income of $2,514—a little over
$40 weekly. The figures also show-

ready been mouthed by the King-
St. Laurent team to the effect that
ing’ that 2,353,122 Canadians (with
52 percent of them making less

Canadian Communists are a “fifth
than $2,200 yearly) paid taxes in

column” bent on “destroying the
nation both politically and militar-
ily.”
The seven peace resolutions which
. 1946. Revealing figures since mean
that about two and one-half million
| of the Dominion’s total labor force
/earn such low incomes that they

cast you've never wondered!) were steamrolled by the adminis-
(seated, left) ,suspended Commerce | are not taxable!

if you should shed a tear for the | tration machine, asked for recog-

poor profiteer take a look at the nition of the need for-friendly re-
figures over the past 20 years: dur-| lations between the Soviet Union
ing that period Canadians paid | and Canada; an end to the Cana-
more than $11 billion in taxes. Of, dian government’s association with

Dept. aide, has filed a $100,000 libel suit against Elizabeth T. | How apbout profits? Like prices

Bentley, self-styled “Soviet spy” who gave the Un-American | they went up. The year 1946 (48 will es |

Activities committee a Gouzenko thriller on her experiences as | be better still) showed that 23,563) ued at more than a million dollans | ing a Canadian peace-time draft

an alleged member of the Communist Party of the USA. The | firms declared a total profit . of during the 1946-47 period. anal have been substituted by a resolu-

lady got on the air with her thriller story—but forgot to get | $1,392,000,000. This was higher than| were listed from Ontario, eight in|

this about $8 billion was paid in| the warmongering policies of the
income taxes, about $3 billion in| United States government; an in-
excess profits and $128,352,371 in, dependent foreign policy for Can-
succession duties. ada and a ban on the sale of Can-
And talking about succession du-| #2ian “munitions ‘which are’ being’
ties, 21 Canadians left estates val-| used against Colonial peoples.
’ | Resolutions submitted oppos-

ete put the bee

on Bentley

William J. Remington

tion which, in effect, okays peace-

congressional immunity to libel, | 1945 when 21,331 firms owned up to! Quebec and two in the Mees CIOs time conscription, an action, which
“ : ft | even the recent Tory convention
: t - T h L p Pp lu 2 tt | dared not take.
e corium ee

A matter of conviction - -_ -

proach made the job harder, not

: | _ | Marshall ‘plan’
By STANLEY RYERSON )

of the revolutionary working lowed through, patiently, perse-

"WO comrades have written _

letters—from Montreal and

class, fighting for socialism.
To a successful outcome of

easier.
This flagrant example should

vermgly, systematically,, in the
case of each individual contact.
For ws to convince a worker

for French miners

—LONDON

General Secretary Arthur

Vancouver—about problems in 15; battle of ideas, capitalism suffice to make the point: re- Rea aees ie cae ears
recruiting new members to the jtsdi¢ contributes plenty, in the cruiting is an individual, pér- that she or he should be in the pee of the British Nation-
sonal - ‘political matter — and Party--we ourselves must be al Union of Mineworkers,

Party. One question has to do
with what is involved in getting
a supporter to join; thee other
asks about the requirements of
membership. In endeavoring to
answer them, I hope to provoke
more discussion, more letters, on

form of brutal] experience; but
actual decision in the battle de-
pends on the work of some in-
dividual Party member, who
through utilizing the Tribune
and Party pamphlets, through
personal example and discussion,
convinces this worker that his or

must be treated as such. (Re-
cruiting meetings are a very
good thing; but their function
should be to convince support-
ers that they should join, clear
up any doubts and difficulties
they may have, etc.; but a pros-

convinced of thé seriousness and
importance of recruiting for the
Party.

That is what was meant by
Comrade Buck when he empha-
sized that what we must learn
to do is to “ask people to join.”

charged October 15 that U.S.

Secretary of State Marshall had

asked President Will Lawther of

the

Same union to take a stand

against the coal strike in France.
As ta himself, Horner declared, “I
don’t take any orders from General

NS ie IRS her place is in the LPP. It is a pective member’s readiness to To be able to ask, we must first Marshall.”

The decision to join the Party matter of convincing—and be- sign up at the meeting should have won their agreement and The request, Horner said, had
is a serious matter. Involved in ing convinced—about the fight be gone into beforehand, or else support for the Party. We must been made at a luncheon attended
it is the recognition that a fun- fo; cocialism, in terms of one the appeal should be made in :onvince them. It’s to this side by Marshall, Lawther and right-
damental change in one’s out- person's life and responsibilities. such a way as to encourage of the job that we need to pay wing French Force Ouvriere
look has taken place; that a cru- joining, not discourage it). greater attention. : (Workers Strength) leader Leon
cial point has been reached, at @ ft e at e Jouhaux. —

which general agreement with
the policies of the Party turns
into active, organized participa-

tion in its life and struggles—.-

“Winning a worker for “the

Party is a personal. individual

job of political work. |
Example in reverse: Prospect-

Winning a new member is a
process—a political process —
and not a simple “organization-
al measure.” How many of our

Note: You could make a con-
‘tribution to the understanding
of this aspect of recruiting if
you'd do this: Make a small

Lawther,
he had been at the luncheon.
denied the rest of the story, say- ‘ «
ing that it is “just plain daft” to

Marshall has made no statement.
however, admitted that
He

as a member of the Party of ive recruits are invited to a : survey. of the main reasons /
Communists. meeting, to hear a talk; at the Party building campaigns have which lead people to decide to say Nat Marshall’s statements there
. mongst people they been presented as though it was join our Party (yourself, some would govern his views.

From this flow three conclu- meeting, 4 While the national headquarters

sions that we very often tend
to overlook, or pay insufficient
attention to:

e ‘

Winning a worker for the Par-
ty is an ideological struggle.
Joining the Party is a matter
of conviction. It’s the outcome
of a struggle to break free from
the ideas and influence of the

bosses, and reach the standpointmechanical,

don’t know, they are publicly
put on the spot -—— “Will they
join up?” They hadn't been in-
formed it was a recruiting meet-
ing, and that this question
would be put to them. There had
been no common-sense consider-
ation given as to how they
would feel about it or what
stage of development each of
them had reached, This kind of
impersonal ap-

just that—a mechanical business
of addition?) r
Overlooking the fact that it’s
a process of development that’s
involved, we'll sometimes visit
a contact, sell the Pacific Tri-
bune and some books or pam-
phlets, begin to have some good
discussions — and then forget
about that person, for months
on end, for some reason or
other. Recruiting has to be fol-

others, including recent re-~

' ecruits); and also some of the

reasons for reluctance on the
part of contacts. or supporters
whom we've not been able to
recruit. I'd be very much intert
ested to learn the results of your
survey. ne
(Next week I'll deal with the
question: What is required of,
an LPP member? What are the
conditions for membership?)

‘

of the NUM has expressed no opin-
ion on the French strikes the un-
ion’s Scottish area, in a delegates’
conference, unanimously voted to
support it as “leading the fight to
defend living standards of miners
in all lands.” President Lawther,
called this resolution “nonsense” be-
cause “French miners can no more
afford a strike than we can.” Law-
ther’s statement was not made on
behalf of the NUM executive.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 22, 1948—PAGE 6 ~