SCENE The March, 1976, issue of ‘©The Dispatcher’’, a paper on the west coast published by the IL- WU, carries an editorial by its In- ternational President Harry Bridges. Here, in part, is what he © has to say: “*There seems to be a general feeling that things have been botched up by the big institutions: big government, big business, big cities, big school systems and, some would say, big labor unions . Everyone is promising to spend less, to govern less, to do less |. “But somehow, it’s all too easy. Anyone can get up and say he is for the little guy, anyone.can take a genuine popular sentiment and twist it to his own advantage. Being for the little guy is like being against sin. The feelings down be- low are real and powerful enough — but I think a whole lot of people are trying to take advantage of it. Simply saying you are in favor of the common folks may get you elected, but it’s not a program for putting people back to work, limiting inflation, feeding the hun- gry and assuring all of our people a decent standard of living. Attack on Unions “*The people on top don’t have the answers ... The solutions which basically involved federal spending to create jobs are im- possible now: another war is un- thinkable, and the use of the pub- lic purse to create large numbers of jobs is also apparently off the list... So the easiest thing to do is to fall back on easy rhetoric and attack ‘big institutions’. ~ “But in the words of Vernon Jordan, (executive director of the National Urban League, USA) ‘less government means less pro- tection for people without re- sources, less spending means fewer desperately needed social programs and stark hunger for th- Ose in poverty; fewer government employees means fewer public services, and less interference means abandonment of civil rights enforcement.” All you have to do is look at the plight of the LABOR Some people of New York — the fired teachers, the cuts in classroom time, the cuts in sanitation ser- vice, in welfare service, etc., to get an idea of what ‘less govern- ment’ really means. “‘T am afraid that people are go- ing to get badly fooled, and that this attack on ‘bigness’ is going to be used as an excuse for an attack on trade unions, the rights of minority people, an attack on ev- erything for which we in the ILWU and the rest of labor have fought for the last 40 years or SDs * * * The arguments exposed by Harry Bridges and quoted at length here, are familiar to most Canadians. They reflect the fear of those who refuse to acknow- ledge that the capitalist system is in a mortal crisis that sooner or later has to bring. about basic structural economic, social and political change. Above all, they are aimed to appeal to large sec- tions of the middle class and petty-bourgeois sections of our society that feel almost a nostalgic longing for the ‘‘good old days’”’ when there was a one-to-one rela- tionship between the boss and the workers, without any unions to get in the way. : But the problem isnot ‘‘big- ness’’ as such. Noris it centraliza- tion of administration and plan- ning of a country’s economy, as such. The big problem is private ownership and control of the means of wealth production concentrated in the hands of a handful of monop- olies and men who own and control finance capital. The problem is not simply ‘‘sovernment”’ as such, but gov- ernment which administers to the needs of the monopolies. Joe Mor- ris of the CLC was correct when he stated on March 22 that the Trudeau Government practiced the politics of class warfare. But Joe Morris was wrong when he said that: ‘* ... when any govern- ment, no matter what its political stripe, succeeds in taking over the people will be badly fooled institutions of a country, then that country is travelling the road to authoritarianism ...”? and again: .. If our institutions need to be reformed, then we will reform them, free from government inter- ference. Governments are there to serve the people — all of the people.’ State Not Neutral In fact, Mr. Morris con- tradicted himself (See article ‘‘Class warfare policies’’, Cana- dian Tribune, March 29/76) when he said: ‘‘Every employer from one end of the country to the other knows that if he gets in trouble the State is there to help him out. He knows that the AIB, which is nothing more than an in- . strument of the State, will knock the workers into line for him.” Clearly Mr. Morris is right in this respect. The capitalist state is not neutral. It is on the side of monopoly and against the people. The mass media is not balanced and fair. It is owned by the same monopoly interests which exploit the working people at the point of production. - As against these instruments of monopoly rule, the working class must strengthen its unity, its class consciousness, its determination to. defeat the monopoly- government offensive. It has the strength to do so pro- viding it correctly combines its economic and political struggle, and works to build up an alliance of all anti-monopoly forces in Canada. The ultimate objective of the class struggle will be working class political power, where a . government of the working class will administer all public institu- tions in the interests of the major- ity of the people, after expropria- tion of the private exploiters. That is the road to our socialist future, when economic planning will abolish inflation and un- employment, along with private exploitation, and where democ- racy will flourish in a society with ever higher social and cultural aspirations. The driving force of development Living standards up for millions in USSR By JOHN WEIR Tribune Moscow Correspondent _ MOSCOW — Socialism is when state power in the country is in the hands of the working class supported by other sections of working people — working far- mers, professional people — and the social means of production (factories, natural resources, means-of transport) are publicly- owned and operated in a planned manner for the benefit of all. The 255,500,000 people of the Soviet Union are now working on their 10th Five Year Plan. Prop- osed by the recent 25th CPSU Congress, the Plan calls for an in- crease in the national income from 24 to 28% by the end of 1980 and at the same time proposed how this be used. It should be noted that up to 90% in the growth rate is to be gained through increased produc- tivity of labor, better machinery and more efficient use of it. Last year, 75% of the national income of the USSR was used for con- sumption; four-fifths, if'we count housing construction and social and cultural development. ~ XA DS AY, fern POR pi \/ /\ aK Rat - ® wi f\ ANS FX sea construction Is boom- ing in the USSR. In the last five years there were 56 million housewarmings. - fund is formed by deducting During the past five years thé, “were 56,000,000 houswarmi wages were increased 75,000,000 workers, pens} payments for 23,000,000 eldef” people, disabled war and lab veterans and their families 4 saw their pensions go up. It should be noted that USSR has the world’s highest — lowances for sick people and Bt lowest pension age — 60 for ml pi and 55 for women. Large sume were spent developing sanitd! and resorts, as well as for tours! recreation and sports. In additl to wages, salaries, bonuses #! farm incomes, a second source | income for people is in the form) payments and grants from public consumption fund. the incomes of enterprises ant increasing at a faster rate than” P rect wages. ne Last ear the fund was %P billion rubles (the average fo} member family received 1, 300% i bles in benefits from it). By 17 the public consumption fund! , slated to increase to at least II billion rubles. In the past # years the fund was used to crease old age pensions and ray scholarships for college studef . by 50% and senior college ‘ ! n dents by 25% : The fund also provides for m& * ical services, housing const! \ tion, and public education. Hea fi services in the USSR are tol@t government financed, all medié q services are free. There are M&y than 30 doctors for each 10,% ¢ people, while in the capit@ y world 20 is considered high. }¢ Increased living standard only come from an increas@}q goods and services. The 10th F? Year Plan calls for the food ind, try to increase its production}; up to 28%, meat by 32%, fis!) | 32%, grain up to 220-million ©) (an increase of from 35-40 mill! tons). Trade turnover inside “ country is expected to grow by to 29% and a 50% increase planned in public services 0” kinds. : By ALFRED DEWHURST A reader asks: “‘Is the class struggle an obstacle to economic and social de- velopment and should it, therefore, be dampened down as often suggested by liberal and social reformists?”’ The answer is an emphatic no. In the first place class struggle in a class- divided society is an objective process and cannot be turned off and on like a tap. But to get back to the question. Far from hindering progress, the class struggle is the driving force of develop- ment in an exploiting society. Its crea- tive, progressive influence is felt under all conditions of development. ** * The capitalists take full credit for all technical progress achieved under capitalism. While this appears on the surface to be true, it is actually not the case. The capitalist is not concerned _ with technology as such. He is con- cerned with profit. And, were it not for the resistance of the workers he would just as soon increase his profit through such methods as cutting the wage bill and lengthening the working day. While the desire to secure a tempor- PACIFIC TRIBUNE—APRIL 23, 1976—Page 8 Marxism-Leninism in Today’s World ary advantage over his competitors is a factor which impels the capitalist to turn to a more advanced technology, it is the persistent struggle of the working class for the protection of its own in- terests that forces the capitalists to seek new sources of increased profit, such as the introduction of new machinery and the improvement of technological processes. ks The capitalist class boasts that it was the capitalists who brought democracy and freedom into the world. This is true in one sense only, namely, the democ- racy and freedom was for their own class. And it was the working people’ who, under the leadership of the emer- _ gent capitalist class, fought the feudal lords for political freedont, justice and equality. The bourgeois revolutions of the 19th century ushered in the capitalist system and gave the political power to the capitalist class. But these revolutions did not give political freedom, justice and equality to the working people. They had to continue their fight, this time against the capitalist class, for ev- ery freedom and democratic right gained. That struggle has to be con- stantly renewed to protect the limited democracy and rights that have been won. This holds true for every capitalist country, including Canada. * * * Only the determined class struggle of the working people, led by the working ~ class, is able to check the reactionary tendencies of the ruling section of the capitalist class in the spheres of democ- racy, social and economic advance. The more persistent the struggle of the oppressed classes against their exploit- ers, the more rapid, as a rule, is the progress made in all aspects of.the life of society. » This part played by the class struggle as the driving force of an exploiting soc- iety is most, evident when the one socio-economic formation is being re- placed by another. This was the case - form of the class struggle. The soc! when slavery was overthrown. same was true when feudalism waS@) placed by capitalism, and in those co} tries where capitalism has been | placed by socialism. The social revolution is the revolution is the highest form of struggle waged by the working cla The forms in which the working ld wages its struggle against capital economic, ideological, political. +” struggle, too, will inevitably lead to 7 cial revolution (whether it be peac® or non-peaceful) to replace the obsolt val capitalist system with a soci@! Society. ; * * * Thus, what has been proven by ” tory is: that both in the evolutiot and revolutionary periods of the @) velopment of antagonistic class SO¥) | ty, the class struggle is the chief driv! 4 \ force of the historical process. ; Those who try to gloss over ld contradictions and preach~peace 7” ween the classes are, whether © know it or not, defenders of social S nation and political reaction.