By WILLIAM KASHTAN
The far-reaching changes which automation will doubtless
bring about in industry and, indeed, in our whole way of living,
is compelling a growing body of trade union leaders to declare,
as Ralph Hellstein, president of the United Packinghouse Workers
of America did recently, that ‘*a long-term solution needs to be
found.’’

Russell Harvey, Canadian representative of the International
Union of Office Employees, declared at the recent Conference on
Automation and Social Change, that even the measures proposed there
**would not be adequate long-term answers to the aimless, unplanned
rush into automation.”’

This, of course, is true.

So far the trade union movement has been pre-occupied with
advancing defensive programs to cushion the impact of automation
on the jobs of workers but has avoided deal-
ing with the need for basic social transfor-
mations made necessary by automation and
the new scientific revolution. It cannot long
continue on this path without the most danger-
ous consequences both to its present and its
future prospects.
As was noted by Sir Geoffrey Vickers,
a British social scientist who participated in
the above-mentioned conference, ‘‘a social
revolution would come about as a result of
automation, We must find away to assimilate the
unemployed and a way to distribute goods and services free, accord-
_ ing to need. The institutions of the Western world were not designed
to meet the complex and increasing demands of the people for secur-
ity and ease. No one knows what changes in institutions will be
“needed to enable the demands to be met or even whether the demands
can be met at all. This dilemma exists quite apart from automation but
_the growth of automation at this stage increases the instability of
society.’’
_ Summing up the results of the conference, the Toronto Globe
and Mail reporter R. Anderson concluded by stating:

*‘The one common feature of the proposals was that each was
recognized even by its sponsors, as an inadequate or temporary
answer. Nor was there any conviction that more satisfactory basic
answers would be found in time to avoid a crisis. The conference
concluded with the thought that the participants, if they are to solve

_ the problems of automation, would have to gohome and think again.”
* * *

Yes, some homework is necessary.

The working class does not také a negative attitude towards

the. ‘“‘new machines’? which can lighten the load of labor. What the

working class wants and must strive for is that the new machines

operate in the interests of the people, not in the interests of mono-

- = Poly, ‘

: It is not the machines which must be curbed but the owners
of these machines, so that the fruits of automation can be avail-
able to the Canadian people, in the form of continuous full employ-
ment, drastically reduced hours of work, longer vacations, more
leisure time and higher living standards.

: The problem today is whether monopoly will be allowed to go
full speed on automation irrespective of its social consequences or
whether curbs should be placed on so-called management rights.

* * * :
What is required is the regulation and control of technological
changes within a comprehensive national economic and social plan.
Monopoly is today beginning to tinker withthe idea of planning but
what it has in mind is planning under state monopoly capitalism in
the interests of monopoly. However, there can be no effective plan-
ning on the basis of the so-called ‘‘free enterprise’’ competi-
tive system.
To plan effectively in face of the great changes automation
will bring about requires an extension ofthe area of public ownership

_ to all vital sectors of the economy. Without public ownership econo-
mic and social planning in the interests ofthe people is impossible.

Thus, while advancing its minimum program to cushion the
impact of automation, the trade union movement is impelled to go
beyond that and advance a program of economic and social planning
directed at curbing the power of monopoly control, at regulating
technological changes, so that the Canadian people can be the bene-
ficiaries rather than the victims of automation.

Of course, only socialism is the sure guaranteethat the scienti-

- fic and technological revolution will bring the full benefits of auto-
mation to the Canadian people.

Norwithstanding the opinions of some, there is a basic answer
to automation. It is for the.trade union movement to rise up to the
challenge before the country.

Popes very different

ROME—The Italian Communist
newspaper Unita said last week
Pope Paul’s speech to the Vati-

essential problem of the coun-
cil.
Under Pope John, ‘‘the accent

RESULTS COULD HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT

NDP failure to fight on major
issues helped Socred victory

By CHARLES CARON

Now that the election haze is
clearing, perhaps we will gain
a better view of what was really
at stake in the election.

Communists stated at the very
beginning of the campaign that
there was a sinister purpose to
the calling of an election at this
time. Obviously the Socred gov-
ernment was not seeking a man-
date from the eligible voters of
this province, since in their haste
to have the election they disen-
franchised a large number of
the electorate. Neither was the
government pressed to have a

vote now, because legally, its,

term of office did not expire for
another two years.

“a : The Com-
munist Par-
ty worked to
expose the
conspiracy
planned aga-
inst the
people. We
tried to do
that in the
most ad-

- verse condi-

tions, with the radio and press
blackout of our views. Wepoint-
ed out that the reason for the
hasty election lay in the fact
that for some years the Bennett
government, with the silent con-
sent of the other political parties
in the Legislature, placed at the
disposal of the U.S. monopolies
the natural resources of this
province.

Seventy-four per cent of our
wood, mineral, gas and oil re-
sources have fallen into the hands
of U.S. monopolies. This export

of our resources was done at the »

expense of the development of
secondary industries in B.C. The
export tax on resources was re-
moved to facilitate this process,

It is a well known secret that the .

Bennett government has conspir-
ed for many years to give away
our hydro resources, particular-
ly the Columbia to these same
U.S. interests.

* * *

The first attempt by the gov-
ernment was made when it tried
to give the hydro power of the
Columbia to the Kaiser Alumin-
um Company of America for a
song. Although the government
failed in that instance, its plans
were never abandoned. :

When the national Liberal gov-
ernment left the decision of the
present ‘*sell-out’’ Columbia
treaty to the Socred government,
it provided Premier Bennett and

those he represents witha unique
opportunity for an early ratifi-
cation of the treaty. Therefore
it became most, expedient to get
the election out of the way quick-
ly in order to carry through, un-
impeded, this gross betrayal of
the interests of British Columbia.

The election campaign was
conducted in the customary man-
ner by the parties of big business,
that is to say, they studiously a-
voided the key issues confronting
the people.

Unfortunately, the N.D.P. was
a party to such a type of cam-
paign.

All kinds of reforms on which
there is wide agreement were
advanced, such as a health in-
surance scheme, car insurance,
a road here, a bridge there; all
this as a substitute for the real
issues of the election. Such a
campaign was particularly favor-
able for the Socreds because of
the minor concessions they had
carried out as the government.

If the participation of the right
wing of the N.D.P. in this hoax
on the electors was not delibe-
rate, it was to say the least naive
—to think they could become the
government that way. N.D.P.
party leader Strachan went to
great pains in a series of ar-
ticles in the Vancouver Province
to try to convince business that
his party would provide better
administration of their affairs
than the other parties. He em-
phasized that the N.D.P. was not
a party of the unions or other
‘groups, but spoke for all the
people, : ‘

In an editorial titled the ‘‘New
Mr. Strachan’’, the Vancouver

Province of August 28, 1963,

eulogised Mr. Strachan, When-
ever a labor man tries to recon-
cile the interests of the workers
with that of the monopolies and
receives praise from monopoly
Papers such as the Province, a
searching look must be given to
the policies of such individuals.
* * * 7

The leadership of the main
section of the trade union move-
ment went along with the right
wing policy of the N.D.P. The
Vancouver and District Labor
Council press, the ‘‘Labor
Statesman"’, expressed its sup-
port of the N.D.P. policy. Un-
der the heading, ‘Major Points
Outlined’’ it raised such mat-
ters as vacations with pay, hours
of work, portable pensions, etc.
All of these are important mat-
ters but they are not as stated
in the heading, Major «Points.

The effect of the policy of the
right wing of the N.D.P. andlabor

Critical of NDF policy

can Council showed ‘profound
differences’’ between him and his
predecessor, Pope John.

*«Pessimism and condemnation
replace the faith in the modern
world expressed by Pope John,”’
it said in a headline.

In its report on the resumption
of the council.it wrote that the
speech revealed ‘‘the profound
differences from the intentions of
the preceding Pontiff.’’

It was enough to compare the
speech Pope John made when the
Council opened last October ‘‘to
see a displacement of the axis of
its work.*’ Pope Paul had made

his desire to. reform the
church’s structure into the

oe was et te iter eS
% Pa RAS et

+

was put on the Church’s relations
with the contemporary world, on
its pastoral vocation, and on
the optimistic impulse toward a
new order of human relations.”’

The world’s Roman Catholic
Bishops met behind closed doors
in St. Peter’s Basilica for the
first working session of the
Ecumenical Council.

The first item on the council
fathers’ agenda was a draft
decree entitled: ‘‘De Ecclesia,’
dealing with the nature of the
Roman Catholic Church, the auth-
ority of Bishops and its relation
to the Pope’s supremacy.

In it a more dogmatic attit-

ude was adopted than hitherto,

med ito

Gordon Dowding, left, successful NDP candidate in the two-seat
Burnaby riding, told an election night meeting in Edmonds Hall
that the NDP ‘‘must create policies that are different from the
other parties — especially the Liberal Party”’ if it hopes to be more
successful. His running mate Cedric Cox, right, was narrowly de-
feated.

October 11, 1963—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Pag'

unions stands out clearly for
everyone to see. They fail to
understand that without a fight for
an alternative program to the
parties of monopoly captial (for
which they are on record) there
is no guarantee that the working
people will automatically vote
N.D.P. because of such short-
sightedness a serious defeat was
inflicted on the democratic forces
in their struggle for an alterna-
tive government.

Election results sustain the
conclusion that the-loss of seats
for the N.D.P. is not a phenome-—
non peculiar to anyone consti-
tuency or individual candidate.
Results show a drop in the
N.D.P. popular vote of five per
cent, from 33 to 28 per cent.
This loss extends over most of
the constituencies including
strongholds of the N.D.P. such
as Burnaby and Vancouver East.
The loss of N.D.P. is regret-
table. :

As a party we did our utmost
to alert the electors as to what
was really at stake in the elec-
tion, At every opportunity a-

“vailable to us we called for the -
development of our resources for
Canadians, for British Columbia
to be kept free of nuclear arms.
We pointed out that in order to —
achieve these things it was neces-
sary to defeat the Socreds and
elect an N.D.P. government. On-
ly a limited number of consti-
tuencies were contested by Com-
munist candidates to help achieve
that aim.

Unfortunately we were not
strong enough to influence the N.-
D.P. and the labor unions to-the
extent necessary for them totake
up the basic issues for a favor- :
able outcome. Our policieswere —
vindicated in this election but,
to our regret, were not realized
by the election of an N.D.P. |
government, However, thenega-
tive features of the election can
become positive factors if the
necessary lessons are learned
from them.

- * * *

The lessons ofthis election can»
and must mark a break with past
policies of the N.D.P. leadership
and of the unions. All the basic
issues of the election remain
unresolved and in fact, will be ©
aggravated by the results. A |
forthright position and planof ac- ;
tion by the N.D.P. and the unions ~
on the key issues facing the —
people can reverse the tempo-
rary defeat suffered in the elec- —
tion. The N.D.P. and trade
unions must speak out against
the rape of this province by the
U.S. trusts with the willing aidof
the Socreds. ut

In a few weeks time the B.C.
Federation of Labor and N.D.P.
provincial conventions are sche-
duled to take place. These con-
ventions must mark a turn in the
direction taken by these respec-
tive bodies. They must come
forward with a clear alternative
to the policies of monopoly capi-
tal. It is incumbent on all mem-
bers of these organizations to see
that they do.

CP candidates
final vote

Final figures for Com-
munist candidates in the
recent provincial election
were announced late last week. |
In Vancouver Centre R, Forkin
polled 258 votes, W. Stewart,
233. In North Vancouver M.
Rush polled 189. Incomplete
figures for Victoria give E. |
Knott 147.