Trudeau wants to blow 2.3 billion dollars on 150 jet fighters. : They say it will create jobs! It will if you happen to be an unemployed fighter-pilot. And where will all that money come from? Surprise! Your pocket, the pocket in your pants, the pants with your belt, the belt that Trudeau keeps telling you to tighten! It used to be ‘guns and butter’, but now it’s: Jets or the high-priced spread. They say that the 2.3 billion is our dues to NORAD. That must be some club, the dues work out to 100 bucks for each and every Canadian. : That’s a lot to pay for a sonic boom. So let’s say and make that NATO too. 25 years ago... LPP CANDIDATE CHARGES INTERFERENCE Charges that the RCMP were “interfering in my election cam- paign” were made last week by Labor-Progressive Party federal candidate for Cape Breton South, George McEachern. On May | an RCMP officer grilled a member of United Steelworkers of America Local 1064 in the company’s office demanding to know why he had signed a protest card against the Garson GFiminal Code amend- ments. He was confronted with detailed information on_ his place of birth, social activities and friends. The worker was a friend and neighbor of McEach- ern. The RCMP brought the LPP canidate’s name into. the discussion. Local 1064 at a meeting fol- lowing the incident endorsed a Proposal to launch a protest with the authorities. Tribune, May 25, 1953 50 years ago... WHO’S GOT CONTROL? U.S. Steel corporation em- ployees who have been purchas- ing stock for 17 years would have to buy nearly three times as much more and vote it as a single block to give them the voting power now exercised by the J. P. Morgan & Co! management. This shows how remote is the possibility that workers will ever acquire control of the industry through employee:stock owner-. ship plans, especially since the number of shares which em- ployees are allowed to purchase each year are determined by management. U.S. Steel employees now hold , 1,538,105 of the 10,719,045 outstanding shares of the corporation’s common and preferred stock. But at the annual meeting of the company the Morgan management voted 6,029,940 of the 6,030,929 shares present at the meeting. _The Worker, May 26, 1928 "| am sorry to hear your ceiling is coming down...You will be sorry to hear that your rent is going up... UE News Service EDITORIAL COMIMIEINT Jobless demands sparked A spark has been struck which could well ignite in the labor movement a de- termined fightback against the mass unemployment, layoffs and plant clo- sures which represent the policies of the monopoly -corporations and the governments they control. At a rally on May 7, workers from Local 444, United Auto Workers — Windsor Chrysler workers — called on ‘their local to organize a conference of local union presidents from across Canada to come to grips with the mass ~ unemployment crisis and the continuing layoffs which aggravate it. A similar resolution has now been pas- sed by the Labor Council in Oakville, Ontario, site of the vast Ford plant. It calls for the Canadian Labor Congress to begin an “all-out campaign” to mobilize workers coast to coast to publicize the ominous auto industry shutdowns and layoffs in Windsor. Auto is a key sector of industry; but workers — already jobless, facing lay- offs, and those at present still working — will need to unite in solidarity across industry lines to stop this onslaught on workers’ living conditions and on their outlook for a decent future. - Now, with no election imminent, the fight will be harder if new full employ- ment policies, Canddian sovereignty policies, and policies protecting trade union rights are to be wrung from the monopoly corporations and the governments they control. Labor will get a torrent of promises when the election campaign resumes, but the only sure way to protect living standards and labor’s rights is through labor action, and united action at that. Such proposals as voiced in Windsor and Oakville can be sure of the support of Communists in the labor movement, and of their Party. What is urgent, in the face of the hardening policies of the rul- ing class, and its look-alike parties, is unity of all forces fighting in defence of the working people — the trade unions, the Communist Party, the New Dem- ocratic Party and other labor and dem- ocratic organizations. By seizing the breathing space of the delayed election campaign, workers can emerge strong and united to demand and insist that the next round of election promises be converted into real acts and real policies to put an end to the crime of mass unemployment and vicious layoffs. Urge PM ‘no’ to neutron Whatever may happen on the home front, the prime minister, intent on re- building Liberal fortunes, and creating a ‘heroic self-portrait, will attend several world —‘some merely capitalist world — events. Canada should indeed be in the coun- cils of the world, and speaking as a sovereign state, not an echo of the USA and NATO. While taking note of these world events, workers will not forget the million and a half unemployed, soaring prices — food costs jumped 14.7% from April to April, as well as uncontrolled layoffs. For this the policies of the Liber- als, Tories and the monopoly system they serve are to blame. But world concerns also have a bear- ing on Canada, the neutron bomb for instance, and the USA’s surreptitious plans to build and use it. Trudeau heard the Pugwash scientists discuss the nuc- lear war danger. He knows the neutron opens the way to such war. One. good deed he could do is turn off his defence minister and the “advisors” who would sell out Canada to the Pentagon-NATO neutron bomb scheme. The PM will attend a NATO strategy meeting in Washington, and the UN Special Session on Disarmament, both at the end of May. There is a chance to speak in Canada’s interests for genuine peace, against the neutron arms escala- tion. What Trudeau should be doing before. this trip is introducing a motion in parli- ament expressing this country’s com- plete opposition to the manufacture and development of the neutron bomb. This weapon, which kills and infects people with radioactive disease while protecting réal estate, has been rejected by other NATO countries — Holland, Iceland, Denmark, and by neutral Sweden. Politi- — cal leaders from a spectrum of political arties in Europe have stood up and re- jected the neutron bomb. Why not Canada? Why not Trudeau? Why isn’t Canada pulling its weight for disarmament and détente? Across the country demonstrations and vigils are making clear the opposi- tion to the neutron weapon. Further evi- dence is in thousands of post cards being signed and sent to the PM. Both the Canadian Assembly on Disarmament, held in Ottawa in April and the more recent colloquium of parliamentarians held in Quebec City have voiced repug- nance for and opposition to the neutron’ bomb. If Trudeau won’t take a stand without pressure then right now is the historic moment to step up the pressure to ward off the nuclear war threat that is closing in on humanity. Empty gimmicks Political opportunism is a kind way to describe the zigzags of Finance Minister Jean Chretien as a result of his six-month offer to provinces of backing for a cut in sales taxes. It was at best a gimmick to pump up the election polls. Gimmicks don’t lead to sound policies, and the mess the federal government is in with Quebec and with provinces in all direc- tions emphasizes the crisis-ridden state of a system where finance ministers play parlor games with the treasury for the sake of picking up votes. It is time for a real change — away from the crisis policies of the monopolies and their political parties. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—May 26, 1978-Page 3 =e