CHALLENGE THIS MAY DAY Unity of left BC’s urgent need — By NIGEL MORGAN May Day symbolizes the unity and solidarity of working people for peace, freedom and _ social progress. It is the day on which the labor and progressive movement of British Columbia, together with workers the world around, gather in meetings to review past struggles and gain new strength for fresh goals ahead. ‘Blowing in the Wind’’ is the title of a song made popular by HISTORIC MOMENT IN B.C. LABOR HISTORY. Ph for Albert (Ginger) Goodwin, shot and killed b ee $7 MOM eat general strike in Vancouver protested the shooting. the young set who express their politics via the guitar — a song about the age of peace and disarmament, of great social reforms, and of freedom and security that is emerging today. And those who look beyond their own disappointments, and see themselves in history (instead of history in themselves) cannot miss the point that fresh winds of See | LAMAN Aw oto shows funeral procession in Cumberland August 2, 1918 y a police constable while evading the Military Service Act. A 24 Winnipeg General Strike Cont'd from pg. 1 profiteers only. It goes contrary to the groundswell of public opinion, which demands an end to this suicidal policy. Here on our domestic scene, taxes and prices are zooming upwards, while the big private monopolies and their state tries to shackle labor by laws that would destroy collective bargaining, replace it with dictatorship by the large employers. *** After fifty years of growth of the working class, the issues and the struggles up to the present day show striking similarity. Despite right opportunism, expressed in class collaboration on the part of some top trade union leaders, on the one hand, and left opportunism, expressed in anarcho-syndicalism and dual unionism, on the other hand, the working class fought a magnificent battle for its rights in 1919, in a postwar anti-labor offensive launched by the ruling class. The veterans, returning from the European battlefields of the First World War, joined with the workers in the struggle. The stakes were high, embracing: demands for a united and truly sovereign trade union movement in Canada; _inter- national labor solidarity; a lasting peace; democracy and socialism. ' One important difference between 1919 and 1969 is worth nothing. Fifty years ‘ago, Canadian workers did not have a revolutionary party with a VANCOUVER revolutionary perspective and guided by a _ revolutionary theory. A party of scientific socialism did not appear until 1921, when the Communist Party of Canada was organized. = The reactionary Tory government of Arthur Meighen helped the bosses to force a retreat by the workers in 1919. A special amendment to the criminal code was_ rushed through Order-in-Council to help’ break the strike. It is not without Significance that this same “Section 98’’, as it was known, was used 12 years later, in 1931, to outlaw the Communist Party , of Canada, and to imprison its leaders. *“** Fellow Workers and Citizens! On this historic May Day, 1969, the demand must be repeated with even greater determina- tion, that Canada withdraw from NATO and NORAD, and bring the Canadian soldiers home from Europe. An independent foreign policy for peace and peaceful co- existence between countries with differing state systems, leaving to history and to the people to determine the economic, social and political system they want. Brothers and Sisters! In the era of great scientific and technological advance, labor must secure a voice in the determination of production and economic policy. Industrial democracy must mean democracy in the enterprises, which in turn means curbs on management’s rights, while MAY DAY RALLY SUNDAY, MAY 4th — 8 P.M. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—APRIL 25, 1969—Page 16 securing a greater voice for workers trade unions everywhere, With the current rapid rise in productivity, it is essential that labor get much more out of the wealth it produces, wealth which now goes to swell astronomical profits of fewer but richer private individuals, who control ever-larger multi-national corporations, operated purely for their own private and selfish gains. Labor in our time is entitled to vastly increased wages, along with reduced hours of work. At the same time, a curb must be put on monopoly’s ability to set prices at will. There must be democratic tax reforms, with tax policies that are based on ability to pay. Decent housing must be provided as a right for everyone. Medical and health care, and the right to a full and free education, must also be provided as a right to everyone, along with much improved pensions and a secure retirement at a reasonable age. In short, we need a Labor Bill of Rights. Demonstrate this May Day in commemoration of the Great Winnipeg General Strike! Withdraw Canada from NATO and NORAD and bring our boys home! Divert the funds from the arms profiteers to social needs! Curb the monopolies, and tax capital gains! Raise wage levels and provide a guaranteed and adequate minimum annual income! A Bill of Rights for Labor! change are blowing in British Columbia today. B.C.’s Social Credit government, with only three of its normal 5-year term-of-office expired but having lost five successive byelections, has apparently decided it had better go to the electors before it’s too late. And, with the Common- wealth scandal topping off the most vicious anti-labor legis- ,Jation in the country, an acute educational and municipal fiscal crisis, and now the most costly and inadequate auto insurance coverage of any province or state on the continent, it is generally conceded a considerable poli- tical shift is in the making. Our Province is blessed with natural resources that have few equals anywhere in the world. Only two or three countries (and those include the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.) rival B.C.’s_ timber output. Practically all important minerals and vast deposits of coal and non-metallics are located here. Our developed electrical capacity is already several times the per capita average of even the most highly developed nations. We have oil and gas and fish in great abundance, yet the Bennett government claims it can’t provide the schools, colleges, hospital beds and other social expenditures urgently needed. GIVEAWAYS No money for schools, but the Bennett government is prepared to go it alone in providing $27 million for a massive funnel at Roberts Bank to ship raw materials to Japan. On the Columbia River we’ ve built three storage dams at an estimated cost of $600 to $700 millions. In return we received $275 million, which with accumulated interest to the end of the construction period will return slightly over $500 million. The $200 million deficit is a pure and simple gift. from the people of B.C. to the monopoly interests of the U.S. British Columbians are becoming aware they are the victims of some cruel and monstrous contradictions. We are told we have the most rapidly growing economy in Canada, yet our industrial development is at a standstill. Our economy grows only in the sense that the volume of irreplaceable resources shipped out of the Province in raw or unmanufactured form, increases. The more the Socreds give the, foreign trusts and domestic monopolies, the harder it becomes to get from the govern- ment the necessary monies to provide the schools, hospitals, housing, health, recreational and other needs of those to whom the natural resources belong. HEAR T j M BU C NATIONAL CHAIRMAN COMMUNIST PARTY PENDER AUDITORIUM — 339 W. PENDER ST. CONCERT PROGRAM ey, Unbearable tax burdens on oyr homes, incomes and daily purchases (amounting to one third of the time worked by the average Canadian) go hand jp hand with massive giveaways of our resources and surrendered job opportunities. Compulsory arbitration and wage guidelines are imposed just when produ. tivity and company profits — and prices, rents, mortgage and interest payments as well — reach an all-time high. These are the policies labor must unite to change to hold its own, let alone advance. MUST UNITE From every group of workers _ comes the universal demand: “‘more take-home money in the wage packet.”” Wage demands are growing and being hard fought for. Woodworkers are insisting their contract be reopened to raise wages in line with company profits. Such demands are both realistic and well-founded. Sharp struggles and significant changes ahead, lie To win labor must develop a program on two fronts — combining with _ self-interest, (economic) demands, a plan of action in the political front, Workers must begin to tackle ina big way the question of profits, government taxes and _ labor policies. The deluge of false propaganda from employers, their representatives in govern- ment, and the mass media, has got to be exposed. Legalistic illusions can only undercut labor gains. Workers will not win easy victories through negotiations and medication, but will have to be prepared to militantly fight for their demands. TIME FOR CHANGE The struggle for decent wages and job security cannot be separated from the struggle to end foreign giveaways and economic and _ political domination, anymore than the struggle against rising taxes and for needed social expenditures can be separated from the senseless arms waste, Canadian complicity in Vietnam and getting Canada out of NATO and NORAD. ending The time for change is here, - and so are the forces if united, Labor and people’s unity can wil the six additional seats necessary to end the Bennett regime and elect a government more responsive to people’s needs that will act decisively for peace, 1, halt the giveaways. What we need is to get beyond talk about the need for left united action! And get on with the business of making it a reality! That is the chalienge before the labor and progressive forces it British Columbia this May Day 1969.