mt tt tt HENRI BOURASSA. RANDSON of Louis-Joseph Papineau, Henri Bourassa was. born in Montreal in 1868. His death on August, 31 this year at the age of 84 recalls his life work —— deeply remembered by all French-Canadians. . Bourassa was elected to the House of Commons as a Libéral in the celebrated election of 1896 which sent Wilfred Laurier to power in the face of the bit- ter opposition of the Quebec Catholic hierarchy, Three years later in December 1899, he re- signed his seat in - protest against the Laurier govern- ment’s decision to send a Can- adian expeditionary force to participate in the ‘British im- perialist conquest of South. Af- rica, Fiercely ‘opposing the government’s decision, Bourassa denounced’ British ‘‘wars of eenguest and spoilation’” and Britain’s ‘monstrous ambition to paint all the map of the world red.” ; He. showed how participation in the Boer war would constit- , ute a precedent for Canada’s automatic involvement in all British wars and he predicted that the day would come when ~ Canadian forces would, be sent to fight in China! The electors of Labelle con- stituency expressed their protest against the Boer War by return- fng¢ Bourassa by acclamation in January 1900. In 1910 the Laurier govern- ment brought down its ‘‘Naval Bill” for the ostensible purpose of establishing a Canadian Navy but actually to prepare for anada’s involvement in the im- pending imperialist war. : Bourassa fought the Navy Bill tooth and nail. He~was in- strumental in bringing © about ‘the defeat of the Laurier can- didate in the 1910 byelection in Drummon-Athabaska, and was able: to secure, on the issue of opposition to the Navy Bill, the election of 27 of his nationalist followers in the 1911 elections. The mass movement of protest sparked by Bourassa and Ar-.. ‘mand Lavergne prevented the passage of the Navy Bill. Yn 1912 Bourassa left prov- jncial politics to devote his full time to the daily newspaper Le Devoir which he had founded in January 1910. Until the year 1917, through Le Devoir and in a number of pamphlets, Bourassa was the chief spokesman of the mass popular opposition to participa- tion in the war and conscrip- tion, 2 : Bourassa advanced the con- cept of an independent Canada, with a foreign policy based on Canadian interests only. He ealled for an end to Canada’s trade dependence, on Britain and urged trade with the whole world. He spoke out strongly against those who opposed de- pendence on Britain only in or- der to promote the idea of an- } sum(um Um (umUUNtUm(UMUyM yyy emyr mcm enri Bourassa... Pra TET eh Db nexation to the United States. In Le Devoir he wrote that U.S. financial interests were in- tent upon exploiting, Canada and he warned his compatriots that annexation to the U.S. con- stituted a danger to the sur- vival of French-Canadians as a nation. Bourassa’s strong stand “against the servility of the do- minant Canadian ruling circles toward Britain made him a spokesman not only of the petty bourgeoisie which. he repre- sented but of the French-Cana- dian nation as a whole between 1896 and 1917, At the great anti-conscription rally held at the Monument National theatre in Montreal in 1917, there were on the plat- form alongside Bourassa and Armand Lavergne, Beckie and Mike Buhay. Representing ditf- ferent classes and entirely dif- ferent social outlooks, the mili- HE following story was. written by Phyllis Seidkin, a reporter for the Santa Rosa Press’ Demo- crat, who is now traveling in Europe. It is reprinted here in part because of the insight it gives into con- ditions tn Greece. SALONIKA a | AM a marked man. My re- cerd is on file. If I were to speak out I would be sent to prison.” The serious young Greek man Til arvaiiavcgacrmivacontiayanom canrecainccevncaicmniatontenimmnentmmcevacim cence ‘ ait a vital tradition TTL ee By GU! tant Socialists and the Nation- alists united on ‘the national- democratic. issue of Canadian independence and opposition to imperialist war. Although of short duration, this united front was the embryo of the mass united front for Canadian inde- pendence and ‘peace which is emerging today under the lead- ership of the working class. In the period following the “conscription”? election of ~De- cember 17, 1917, the issue pos- ed was, in essence, that of French Canada’s right to deter- mine its own destiny. The peo- ple of French Canada had re- turned 62 Liberals out of 65 seats on the basis of Laurier’s pledge against conscription. In the rest. of the country, the popular anti-war forces had been unable to stem the tide of war hysteria and the Union gov- ernment of Sir Robert Borden was overwhelmingly returned. spoke in ‘a low voice from the shelter of a tall stone wall which. separated him from the busy street nearby. “People in Greece are afraid to speak out,’’ he said, ‘because the government will not toler- ate it. The majority of people here are in the centre in their political ideas. But their lead- erg are in prison or in exile. rn ese people in the centre are not represented in govern- ment because when elections are held, if the voting doesn’t come out ‘right’ as the government wants, the ballots are changed or new ones added until it does. CARON It was at this point, coincid- ing in time with the great Oc- tober Socialist Revolution which ushered in peace and self-deter- mination for the peoples of the tsarist Empire under the lead- ership of the working class, that Bourassa abandoned the “mass struggle. x Bourassa’s petty - bourgeois fear of the masses combined with the sharp insistence and pressure of the Catholic hier- archy that he abandon the struggle led him at the end of 1917 to abandon entirely the leadership of the French-Cana- dian masses. From that time. on to 1932 when he left Le Devoir, and into the years of the Second World War when he emerged from re. tirement to deliver a public lec- ture, Bourassa moved farther and farther away from the true Sentiments and interests of the masses of his compatriots. ‘Why do we hate the Americans? What kind of ‘democracy’ is this? “Why does this go on? Be- cause the people are without power. The United States could change things here any time she wanted. “But she does not and Am- erican aid money turns into graft. It has not gone to the little people who need it but to the rich who have used it to make more money. An ex- ample? There are many. Sup- pose there is a highway to be built. The company which gets the job says it will cost $100,- 000. But it actually is built for only $20,000. What are Athens police attack students demonstrating against continued British occupation of Cyprus, on which island there is a powerful people’s movem ent for union of Cyprus and Greece. PTT COT OUD LE 2th . explain. rit? ‘collapse if the United 9,8 aif vogrrmianianiann elt Nevertheless the Bouras 18 1896-1917 remains a &! and vital tradition of OU ~ ¥ ple. Among the masses French-Canadians, wo? ke farmers, and middle-¢/? the ple in all| walks of life, of impassioned denunciations out the “imperialists”? who 8°” js Canada to foreign imperl@ and the eloquent pleaS ing Canada independent, alt and free will long be bered. 1 The Bourassa of 189034 and the mass| anti-impe™” struggles of this period (iy merged into the national a sciousness of the Frencl at dian people and will find “ye powerful expression ™ | jg months immediately -alte@® i mass struggles for Cana ed dependence, against bondage, for peace 4 Canada’s right to determin? own destiny. people going to think?” asi He paused and looked 4 ad to see if he was being overh& - then resumed. ish There are other reaso™S | g@ | those I have given you. ; “The United States and od ain created incidents °° joit would have an excuse ' pill into Greece and establis tary bases. .. pet! “Tg American aid bad given as we understood goo! : first intended, our Sage would ‘be strong and 4 pe There would be homes and vat ple would have farmS aac? they would be able to DE ol for marketing. Then they | af have money to buy shor ll other necessities so ther? ogi be demand—and the ec? would keep going. fn 0 “But there have De je! houses built by the oven, jo and not enough help ou got farming so that youns me ost it more profitable to séll ott combs on the’ street. 84 sam tant prices than wor tories. id ff' “In order to receive ® st st the United States we ™ jo trade with the Soviet Pry But at the’same time th® et My States provides no mark our goods. +a 90 i “Now the economy 8 “yoll that Gireece probably gal ‘pulled out.’ We ave igs ternative to continuins th they are. : yo “The people here 4° si lievably poor, Eyen ar now there is white bre a we eat brown bread. Xe M4 “We are told to DaP™ as children but. we cannOl aft it so we do not go % aie class BY = We cannot afford t? a? cause we cannot affor ‘ buried.” oo j! PACIFIC TRIBUNE — SEPTEMBER 19, 1952 — ys