_ King’s speech presages economic crisis,
_ depression for British people - not socialism

y HARRY POLLITT

—LONDON

NE’S first impression

on reading the King’s

Speech — the tradi-
tional title of the statement
outlining the government’s
program for the new parlia-
mentary session—is that the
first fine careless’ rapture of
“Let. Us Face the Future” has
vanished.

Behind the careful phrases of
the King’s Speech are the first
results of the great capitulation
to big business at home and in
America, and the reluctant con-
fession that things have not
worked out as expected.

How could they when, from
the first day the government
came to power, the whole ap-
proach to every problem has
been carefully designed not to
upset American imperialism?

Now Britain is’ beginning to
pay the price for her refusal
to obtain — as she could have
done—the closest economic, po-
litical and cultural cooperation,
with the Soviet Union and the
new democracies of Europe. _

With this goes capitulation to
big business at home. The gov-
ernment begins not only to soft
pedal on its election program,
but to drop concrete measures

of nationalization which are as ~

vital to carry through as the
_ nationalization of the coal in-
dustry if we are to ‘have a

sound economic basis in the
future,

That is why there is no men-
tion of steel in the King’s |

Speech. To cover this up, great
_ play is made with transport and
electricity,

which, though ‘im-
portant, are secondary to steel
in our economy.

The pious words in_ the

Speech about increased produc-
tion mean nothing, and will
have no effect unless they are
_ accompanied by a clear’ recog-
‘Rition that the workers must
‘Share in any increased produc-
tivity their extra exertions
bring. |

Their share must be higher
wages and the 40-hour weék.

Once the workers know that

a policy of large-scale re-equip-

ment and reorganization of. in-
dustry is being carried through,

_ that their increased efforts are

making it- possible for their
standards to go up and that
the profiteers, despite Morri-
_ son’s recent blessing, are to be
_ hipped in the pocket—then out-
put will increase.

Once the workers are taken
into the fullest confidence, given
_Key positions of responsibility,
then, and not till then, will
_ there be a decisive change re-
_ flected in increased production,
_ mot so much by individual extra

effort, but by better organiza- .

-

icy toward Germany and
Austria would have been better
devoted to the necessity for im-
_ proved relations with the Soviet
_ Union and the new Europe.

Careful observers will — note
of an overall economic plan at
home and a wrong foreign pol-
icy there is now no reference
_in the King’s Speech to the _pol-
: ficy of ‘full employment.’ Instead,

2 ees emphasis laid on foreign
CE pot

that as a direct result of a lack ®nd_ Social

PACiO parmuiee — — PAGE 6

HARRY POLLITT, British Communist Party secre-
tary ... “Now Britain is beginning to pay the price.”

there is the significant substitu-
tion of “the maintenance of a
high and stable level of employ-
ment.”

Behind that phrase lies the
whole significance of the new
period on which we are now
entering.

That period finds Britain iso-
lated because of its foreign pol-
icy, dependent on America, with-
out an economic plan, refusing
to seek new trade agreements
with countries whom it insuits
because of the influence of
Communism in them, and slow
in reorganizing its basic but
paichew se ait!

duction

The armed forces are to be
kept at a level which would be
absolutely unnecessary if our
foreign policy were based on
real peace and security and not
on the continuation of imperial-
ist conquests of the past.

Do we all sufficiently appre-
ciate what the effect of such
a large standing army is likely
to have on the volume of pro-
in Britain?

The main attack on this as-
pect of the King’s Speech must
be against its foreign policy,
for a decisive change in for-
eign policy can radically reduce
the size of Britain’s defense
forces...

grave jeopardy.

_thusiasm

RTUNATELY the ‘mass ac-

tivity of the organized work-
ing class can change this posi-
tion.

The minister of labor, George
Isaaés, let loose at
Trades Union Congress the first
government talk about “prepara-
tions» against the coming slump.”

When this can happen and
when Professor Marquand can
refer to a repetition of the slump
of 1921 being followed by a
greater slump such as we ex-
perienced in the thirties, then
it is high time the workers sat
up and took notice.

There is nothing the Labor
government could do to carry
cut the whole program as out-
lined in “Let Us Face the Fu-
ture,” which the workers would
not support. But the workers
demand attacks on capitalism
and not capitulation.

: C32 ;
Capitulation is the outstand-

ing feature of the whole policy
of the government at the pres-
ent time. It is this which places
the general election program in

i]

ET us face _the present as

well as the future. Reaction
has triumphed in America, but
in France, Bulgariaa, Yugoslavia
and Czechoslovakia reaction has
been defeated.

In the Soviet Union they are
forging ahead with the new
Five-Year Plan. In Czechoslo-
vakia there is an amazing en-
for their Two-Year
Plan. The spirit behind it all
is one we can and must win
in Britain.

‘The .Labor government must
be compelled to change its pol-
icy at home and abroad so that
we stand. four-square with those
nations which think politically
like millions do in Britain. This
is the best insurance against
the predatory designs of Ameri-
can imperialism.

Brighton

“W hat’s in a name?’

OR those supporters of

Technocracy Incorporated
who. are carried away by its
demagogic anti - capitalist,
pseudo-scientific propaganda
and fail to attach any signifi-
cance to its uniform’ garb,
Rolls-Royce “staff” cars and
other fascist trappings, there
is a warning in Italy’s Uomo
Qualunque Party, the so-call-
ed Party of the Common
Man, and actually the party
of resurgent fascism.

A “Letter from Italy” in a
recent issue of the New York-
er contained this comment.

“At first, the Qualunquist
line was technocratic. In a
recent speech, Guglielmo
Giannini (the original Com-
mon Man) came out with a
cheer: for~ fascism, for the
noble fascist war, and for a
new grudge war,...

“His gazette, moving on to
the concept of his ‘party as a
world force, has since claim-
ed the recent American Re-
publican victory as a Qualun-
quist triumph over Roosevelt
and his policy of trampling on
“honest young men like Lind-
bergh.”

“Before Giannini became a
political leader, he was a
writer of movie thrillers.
There was incredulous laugh-
ter 20 years ago when an ex-
blacksmith and an ex-paper-
hanger began leading crowds
of malcontents across a post-
war scene.”

If Britain, the Soviet
France and the other democra-
tic nations in Europe now stand
together, then for these nations
there will be no new. economic
crises or new wars.

Alongside, this policy must
also go the real fight against
monopoly and its profits at
home; improvement of the wages
and working hours of the work-
ers now; speed-up in the build-
ing of new houses, and reor-
ganization of the basic indus-
tries with the full participation
of the workers.

ii ee ee ee

Canadians must unite to win peace - ban bomb

By STANLEY RYERSON

\

favor of “a general reduction of armaments and armed forces” and for “the prohibition of atomic and all other
major weapons adaptable now or in the future to mass destruction, and the control of atomic energy to the extent
necessary to ensure its use only for peace ful purposes.” Adoption of this resolution bears witness to the fact that the

(ae was one of the 54 nations which voted unanimously in the General Assembly of the United Nations in —

demand of the world’s peoples—
“Ban the Bomb!”—has made its
powerful impact felt in the coun-
cils of the United Nations. The
peoples are taking a hand in
the shaping of the peace. Big
Three unity (the crucial factor

in the achievement of unanimity)

can be made to work; and work-
ing,. it achieves results!

This is one great lesson of

the recent session of the United

Nations Assembly, which mark-
ed a first step in the direction
of measures to secure lasting
peace. : tees
®

NUMBER of other positive

achievements were registef-
ed at the New York meetings:
the condemnation of racial dis-
crimination in South Africa, and
the rejection of South Africa’s

_ proposal that it annex the man-
_ dated territory of South West

Africa; the, move to recall en-
voys from fascist Spain; the
limited recognition of the right
of the World Federation of
Trade Unions to submit
for the agenda of the Economic
Council; and the
agreement reached at the For-

eign’ Minister’s Council on trea--

ties with the former satellite
states.

The ssa scetptiue’s forward step

itms.-

was the resolution on disarma-
ment and the atomic bomb. For
Canadians, this question is at
the very core of the overriding
issue of our future: whether or
not this country is to be turned
into a militarized atom-bomb war.
base of Anglo-American imperi-
alism.

The fight for bpietianthdidn
of the United Nations resolu-
tion is the fight for our very
survival. Its urgency is no less
than that of the battles of Nor-
mandy and the Scheldt and the
Italian front: and as with them,
so here, success depends on a
mighty, unstinted effort by the
Canadian people, in alliance with
the power of the world’s. first
socialist state and the peoples’
movements of liberation.

The resolution on disarmament
must become the starting point

for a veritable crusade to secure

a Canadian peace policy—for the
banning of the bomb and Big
Three unity, as the guiding pol-
cies of a world at peace.

That this will demand the ex-

ertion of far greater initiative,

action and unity of Canadian
labor and the people’s camp, is
glaringly evident. For Cana-
dian big business is sabotaging
peace. .

~

_of recalling ambassadors

T the United Nations sessions,
the Canadian representatives
opposed the taking of action
against Franco, and in the vote
on the very inadequate measure

Spain, they abstained from vot-
ing. They opposed ~ the granting

of recognition to the World Fed-

eration of Trade Unions. They

‘sided with the British, American

and South African imperialists
in opposing condemnation of ra-

cial discrimination by the Smuts

‘color-bar’ regime. They mane-
uvered with the Anglo-American
bloc to shelve the question of
a troop census, and to delay and
attempt to weaken the _ pro-
nouncement on disarmament and
the atomic bomb.

‘This shameful record of the

Canadian delegation was enacted
against the background of the
revelation, which broke during
the sessions, that Mackenzie
King had played a leading part
in working for a _ British-U.S.
military alliance on the lines de-
manded by Winston Churchill.
Admission by the British govern-
ment that
weapons’ of the Anglo-American
bloc had been agreed upon, fol-
lowing Montgomery’s visit to
Canada and the U.S., outweighs
their protestation that “there is
no Sy issn

from —

‘standardization of -

The British war machine, like
the British economy, is being
turned into a subsidiary of a

militarized Big Business Ameri- —

ca, And Canada’s imperialists,
actively assisting in the process,
are proceeding to undermine our
national security and interna-
tion peace. ‘ :

HIS is the issue of struggle _

which confronts the Canadian
people. It is an issue which is
not yet decided. Though Drew
has declared war on the Soviet

Union, the voice of Canada’s peo-

ple can drown him out, and
compel a foreign policy that an-
swers Canada’s needs. The state-
ment of Foreign Minister St.
Laurent, welcoming the role of
the Soviet delegation
the resolution on disarmament,
and expressing hope for bettered
Canadian-Soviet relations, is a
significant indication.

But its significance will depen

on what Canadians do—and first ee.

and foremost, on the generat-
ing of powerful,

Union, —

initiating

united action

by the labor movement and all _

progressive people, from Hali-

fax to Vancouver,

which Canada stands pledged—
for reduction of armaments and
banning of the bomb. | = |

FRIDAY, JANUARY 3, 1947

in the fight
to implement the resolution, to