“I had a good home, a devoted wife, six fine children, but I
squandered everything we had on food...”

50 years ago...
POLICE AND SCABS
ATTACK MINERS

EDMONTON — One provincial
policeman is in hospital, and two
badly bruised as a result of their

wanton attack at the behest of

wives,

_ the mine owners, upon miners on
picket duty in the Edmonton
mine district. :

Assisted by their starving
the miners, after being

ejected from their homes to

make room for scabs, and as-

uniformed

saulted by the plainclothes and
thugs, stood their

ground and administered a

"severe drubbing to the hood-
in YUMs.

Thirty-five scabs sought refuge
in the Edmonton Hotel to escape
the wrath of the outraged miners.

The miners came out on top,
and one mine manager is anxious
to settle as he sees that his slaves

show no sign of weakening, but

seem determined to fight to the
last ditch,
The Worker,

January 1, 1923

25 years ago...

LABOR WILL OUST
THE DREW REGIME

The Ontario Federation of
Labor, comprising the 200,000-
strong Trades and Labor Con-
gress unions in the province,
gave excellent leadership at its
convention last weekend.

This is the sort of language
Premier Drew hates to hear.

His’ government’s. path is
strewn with the wreckage not
only of his 22-point program, but
the labor bills which his Tory

puppets steamrolled at the last
session of the legislature.

The OFL’s resolutions—on‘ vot-
ing unity, prices, wages—consti-
tute a lead for all labor in On-
tario; if followed up by organ-
ized unity, the Drew government,
the main obstacle to progress,
can be swept away at the next
election...

Unity is the watchword!
Tribune, Jan. 24, 1948.

* Worth quoting:

“We honor now those Southerners who stood by the Union when it
was attacked by the Confederacy, just as we honor those Germans
who rejected Hitler and his monstrous wars and were martyrs to the
cause of freedom and humanity. Why do we find it so hard to accept
| this elementary lesson of history; that some wars are so deeply

immoral that they must be lost, that the war in Vietnam is one of

those wars, and that those who resist it are the truest patriots?”
Professor Henry Steele Commager
in N.Y. REVIEW OF BOOKS, October 5, 1972

! The contest in the world today is between two kinds of men: those
who believe in the old jungle individualism, and those who believe
in cooperative efforts for the securing of a better life for all.

Dr. Norman Bethune.

Editor — MAURICE RUSH
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Editorial Comment...

Throne Speech a challenge

The Speech from the Throne opening
Canada’s 29th Parliament on Januar
4, placed new challenges before all poli-
tically conscious Canadians.

The Trudeau minority Government
tried, understandably, to touch all
bases to ensure its own continued exist-
ence. Fence-mending, and its depen-
dence on the NDP, influenced its pre-
sentation — but left unchanged its
loyalty to monopoly capitalism. It
should not be overlooked that some of
its fence-mending was in deference to
the Right, such as the promise to cure
so-called unemployment insurance
abuses.

It is not the first time a capitalist
government has had to make peace of-
ferings to the electorate, nor is it the
first time the Canadian working class
and its allies have recognized the op-

ortunity to extract from an unfriend-

y government legislation embodying
progressive features.

The Throne Speech is notable, not
only for the many bases it touched, but
also for its failure to deal adequately
with certain vital requisites.

Whether, for instance, the Govern-
ment “has moved out of the side streets
of social betterment into the main road
of a guaranteed annual income,” as the
Toronto Globe & Mail editorializes, re-
mains to be seen. (The Globe switched
to the Liberals at the last election.)
One is hard-pressed to find the term
guaranteed annual income in any
Speech reference other than to the
aged, the blind and the disabled — wel-
come as is that concession.

And we have no guarantees, on the
basis of previous government perform-
ances, that it will be adequate, even
though guaranteed. The vague lan-

A win for peacemakers

The government resolution criticiz-
ing the U.S. war in Vietnam represents
a people’s victory. Years of effort by
thousands of Canadians, intensified
during the last two weeks of 1972, at
last induced the Government to tell the
United States, publicly, that it is grave-
ly concerned and “deplores the recent
largescale bombing in the Hanoi-
Haiphong area,” and requests the Unit-
ed States to refrain from resuming the
bombing.

That is the view of the overwhelming
majority of Canadians, a fact all parties
in the House sensed. Trade unions,
churches, universities, two provincial
governments, as well as such bodies as
the Toronto City Council urged a pro-
test to the U.S. Canadians spoke out by
every means of communications, in-
cluding an impressive New Year’s Day
newspaper ad in Toronto signed by 600
persons, and a delegation to Ottawa on
Jan. 4. Then the Government acted.
Had it not, the NDP had decided to
place such a motion. ; :

Fault may ‘be found with the mild-
ness of the rebuke, but its accomplish-
ment is a major win. The people tri-
umphed and the Nixon war lords were
dealt another humiliating blow. Con-
gratulations to the peacemakers!

guange of the Speech merely suggests
that the working poor should not be
getting less than those on unemploy-
ment insurance. Hardly justification
for the Globe’s rushing into the “main
road.”

Not by any means does preliminary
talk of a guaranteed annual income
dispose of the immediate need for a
jobs policy. And the federal govern-
ment’s jobs policy is the same old pre-
election, makeshift scheme, with hand-
outs to private industry.

The speech from the Throne is de-
signed to maintain in power the Liberal
big business government by promising
limited concessions to the electorate.

How far will it really go, for instance
to curb foreign control, to tap multi-
million profits, instead of the wage-
earning tax payer, for increased social
needs? Does the vague promise “to at-
tain reasonable price stability” mean
just that or has the Government some
thought of lining up with Tory (and
Toronto Star) demands for a wage
freeze?

The Throne Speech provides more
questions than answers, but it is the

ground on which (with the NDP hold-
ing the balance of power in the House,
and mass people’s action outside Par-
liament) a united working class can
wrest concessions from the Govern-
ment.

Canada’s stature as a spokesman for
peace and detente must not be permit-
ted to diminish because of failure to be
decisive on the German question.

The German Democratic Republic
and the Federal Republic of Germany
signed their historic treaty on Decem-
ber 21, 1972. Even previous to that
numerous countries, including one of
the major Commonwealth countries,
India, had granted recognition.

The Canadian government, always
hanging back from such decisions,
found a way to make recognition condi-
tional on an event it may have assumed
would never happen. It announced it
would begin negotiations after the GDR
and FRG had settled mutual recogni-
tion. Well, that has been accomplished;
there is no longer any excuse.

A Canadian government spokesman
was quoted some time back as saying
that Canada would certainly not be last
to recognize the GDR. If we don’t move
soon we'll indeed be last.

Already such NATO countries as Ice-
land and Belgium have established dip-
lomatic ties with the GDR, and Britain
and Denmark are in the process of
doing so. To date, some 40 countries
have exchanged diplomatic recognition
with the GDR.

Must Canada again drag its feet untii
the USA gives approval? Enough of
taking our cue from the bully of the
world. Catch up with history Messrs.
Trudeau and Sharp! Demonstrate Can-
ada’s support for the historic ste
towards lasting peace, achieved by :
GDR-FRG treaty. Recognize the Ger-
man Democratic Republic now!

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, JANUARY 12, 1973—PAGE 3