What proposals for peace first question facing Churchill’s Tory gov't LONDON The first parliamentary question filed for Prime Minister Winston Churchill, to answer is: “Will the prime minister say if and when he proposes to make a new bid for peace by initiating fresh negotiations with President Truman and Marshall Stalin?” The question, filed by Labor MP Norman Dodds, reflects ‘the issue uppermost in the minds of Bnitish voters, that of peace. It was dealt with only partially in the election campaign that turned the Labor government oout of office after six years. ‘ENTITLED TO BE APPREHENSIVE’ British unions vigilant The Conservatives, whose victory "was generally credited to the fact that they captured the Liberal vote, paid demagogic homage to the overwhelming sentiment for peace although their plans call for even closer military ties with the U.S. Dodd’s question chal- lenges Churchill to make good on the strong hints he let fall during the campaign he planned to work for a face-to-face peace conference by leaders of the East and- West. Although the Laborites are tak- ing comfort from the fact that their popular. vote exceeded that of the Conservatives and showed an increase over the 1950 vote they received, observers within the party believe that if the _ Laborites had gone all out for a policy of peace they would have swept the country. . The listless campaigning of the top Labor party officials created the strong impression that the right wing Labor leaders did not want to take power again with the cost of living searing, a hard winter of fuel shortages and ra- tioning ahead and the country’s finances in a most serious state. As the election campaign devel- Oped, in spite of themselves, the Labor leaders found that the deep underlying desire for peace of the British electorate was asserting it- self. The peace movement and pro-| gressive section of the Labor move- ment did put before the voters the issue that a Tory victory might mean war. In a number of factor- ies Smash the Tory Committees were formed, Most significant result of the vot- ing was the reelection of Aneurin Bevan and all his supporters with “larger majorities than in the 1950 election. |Bevan, former minister ’ of health, resigned from the cabi- Net with: two other officials in April in protest against the gov- -ernment’s plan to charge for teeth and eyeglasses under the national health scheme and against the tempo of rearmament. Reelected with Bevan were Har- old Wilson and John Freeman, the two who resigned with him last spring, Ian Mikardo, Michael Foot, Richard Crossman and Mrs. B. Castle. |Bevan’s big vote was seen as both a rebuke to Labor govern- ment heavy rearmament policies and to’ the Tories who concentrated their fire against the “dangerous” . socialist, Bevan. | | ~ Sy . The few progresive Labor MP’s in the 1950 parliament were- -. reelected, but no new progressives | _ were elected. Among those re- _ turned was the veteran socialist ,S. 0. ‘Davies, Labor MP. for Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales. |His majority increased from 21,436 in 1950 to 22,916 this time. , In ' Nelson, Lancashire, Sydney Sil- yerman was reelected with a slightly increased majority over _ 1950. |Both Silverman and Davies have consistently opposed Amer- ican policy in China and Korea and supported the peace move- ment. Nee ; _ Refusal of the Liberals to join with Churchill in forming a coali- tion cabinet indicated they recog- nized that the Tories will have an} — exceedingly hard row to hoe. The| - ~ Liberals very astutely decided they Wanted no responsibility in carry- ing out the impossible task of pro- tecting the welfare of the British People and at the same time step- ping up remilitarization of the country, ° : ght ae ON ticak A yione expected rar ms ‘ a iy! ap er te tas UN : Ys : i ae } “from the new Tory government is Demand Britain keep pledges to Egypt _ restoration of the steel industry to Private ownership. | Although technically the indus- _ try came under nationalization lasty _ March, the structure of control re- Mained practically unchang ed. by against Tory attacks ~ LONDON The new Conservative govern- ment may face a stormy time with British unions, post-election state- ments by labor leaders indicate. Although many unionists were restive under policies of the Labor government, they were restrained in their actions out of a sense of deep loyalty ‘to what they regard ed as their own government. There will, however, be little of that feel- ing toward Winston Churchill’s pro-employer government. Even a formal statement by the British Trades Union Congress U.S. government — plans ‘no limit’ prosecution of Hall : NEW YORK Government plans for a new “no limit” prosecution of Communist leader Gus Hall were revealed here by U.S: Attorney Myles J. Lane. Lane announced Wall, already under a five-year sentence follow- ing conviction on Smith Act “con: spiracy” charges will be brought to New York from Leavenworth federal penitentiary for trial on a criminal contempt charge. There is “no limit,” Lane said to the sentence that could be meted out on that charge. — The contempt charges based on} Hall’s flight to Mexico following his frameup convictioh. In viola- tion of Mexico’s traditional and constitutional guarantee of sanc- tuary for refugees fleeing political persecution, Hall was spirited back into the U.S. last month by FBI agents. Rohe ay pledging support to the new govy- ernment “to insure the steady pro- gress and betterment of the gen- eral condition of Britain and of. our people” had a sharp barb in it. The statement went ‘on .to warn: “We shall retain the right to disagree and publicly to oppose the government where we think it is necessary to do so.’ A stronger warning came from president Harry Brotherton of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions, representing 37 unions and nearly three million workers. _Addressing 7,000 members of the ‘Amalgamated Union who had as- sembled in London’s Empress’ Hall to celebrate the union’s centenary, Brotherton declared: “Tf the Tory government thinks it can make an onslaught on living standards, the state of affairs that would be produced _in the country by the trade un- ion movement would make them have second thoughts. The Tor- ies now act as cooing doves, but we are entitled to be apprehen- sive,” he concluded, amid loud applause, A similar ovation greeted Abe Moffatt, Scottish miners’ leader, who told a meeting in Glasgow: |] “Tf the Tories come out with a policy against the miners, as they did following the First World War, then we can say that the miners will fight back and fight better . 5 .” The end of his sentence was drowned in applause. At’ present six million — engi- neers, Miners, railwaymen, build- ers and civil manding wage increases, totalling $700 thillion. Efforts to deny these claims would land the Tories in early trouble since all these groups have been led to expect an in-, crease. ‘ : servants—are de~ JL JI | UL Fight Tory policies Commenting on the outcime of the British elections and the faet that Labor led the Tories in the popular vote, Harry Pollitt (above), general secretary of the British Communist party, declar- ed: “The main body of the work- ing class stood firm against the Tory offensive. The urgent need now is for the people to insist that negotiations between Bri- tain and the Soviet Union take place without delay and to back up this with the demand for a . five-power peace pact.” Pollitt said it had become ob- vious as a result of the election that the rank-and-file of the Labor party could not depend on the right wing Labor leaders. “The members of the Labor par- ty should demand that Labor MP’s conduct a real battle against the Tories,” Pollitt stated, urging that Smash the Tories commit- tees set up in factories during the election campaign continue to lead the fight against Tory policies. British troops eject union leader from Suez.zone _ : ~ LONDON British troops this week ejected Abdul El Shami, head of the Egyp- tian Seamen’s Union, from the Suez Canal Zone. British occupation forces also seized seven Egyptian seamen on the Cairo-Ismailia road near Tel El Kebir. f British claim was that the pol- ice were “preventing” Egyptian workers from reaching British camps. Egyptian workers have boycotting all British tion in ‘the Canal Zone. been | installa- * & SR Ca Targe section of progressive British public opinion regards the “get tough” policy with Egypt, : exemplified by this picture of British paratroopers boarding HMS Warrior to reinforce troops already in the Suez Canal zone, as fanning the flames of a new conflict in the Middle East. strong demand in Britain for that country to keep its oft-repeated promises to evacuate all troops from Egypt. ® j / Instead, there is a ¢ Venezuelans follow fran’s oi! policy CARACAS Emboldened by Iran’s’ example, the Venezuelans are beginning to get tough about their oil. > ‘The new trend was signailed by articles in El Universal, a teading Caracas daily, by Dr. Ezequiel ‘Monsalve: Casado. As Dr. Mon- salve is professor of mining and petroleum law in the University of Caracas and was ambassador in 1949 on a special mission to Iran, Iraq, and other Middle Eastern oil. countries, his articles created a sensation in Venezuela. The more so as the military dictator- ship permits nothing to be pub- lished on such an important sub- ject as oil without its approval. Dr. Monsalve not only applauded the Iranian nationalization of oil and denounced Anglo-Iranian Oil for leaving a wake of poverty, misery and ignorance, but added. that Iran’s example holds “pro- found suggestions and important analogies” for Venezuela. He re- ferred to Anthony Eden, new Bri- tish foreign minister, as that “haughty imperialist.” With Iranian oil out of the world market, Venezuela has be- come the most strategically locat- ed source of oil for the western nations, Dr. Monsalve contends. That means that the Caribean na- tion now hold the whip hand, is the “David” of the oil world, and should seek “justice” in the sale of its enormously valuable product. The El Universal. articles con- tend that Uncle Sam is mulcting Venezuela of 10%4-21 cents on every barrel of Venezuelan oil. This is the tariff duty, which the oil com- panies deduct from the price on which royalties are paid Venezuela. The oil companies are charged with abrogating in 1949 the agree- ment governing the calculation of the price of Lake Maracaibo oil, on which royalties are figured. Ne- -gotiations have been dragging on ever since for_a new agreement, and in the meantime Venezuela is mulcted of millions of dollars, Dr. Monsalve charged. Third, and most important, he denounces the practice of Stand- ard of New Jersey and Shell in refining most of Venezuela’s crude in the nearby’ Dutch islands of Aruban and Curacoa. He demands that his country take steps to see that Venezuelan oil is refined in Venezuela, thus affording more work for his countrymen and greater revenues for his nation. “We have nothing to add about Aruba and Curacao,” he concludes, “except that they are remnants of colonial empires which correspond to historical epochs now outdated in the development of mankind.” Mexican workers face (big price increases Fi a s ight Tory policies MEXICO. CITY The cost of living for a worker's family in Mexico City increased at the end of September to 15.6 per- cent above the — corresponding period a year ago and the cost of food went up 18.5 percent. These figures, however, greatly understate the actual increase in living costs. An independent pri- vate agency, the Bureau of Poli- tical Investigation, made a study which showed. that from January 1 to April 20 the cost of 24 basic food items had gone up an aver- -age of 64 percent. Recently the National Associa- tion of Harvesters pointed out that between the farmer and the consumer no less than seven mid- dlemen get their cut out of the profit pie. As a result, prices are more than 100 percent higher than they should be. De- Claring that the actual increase in the cost of living has been 150.3 percent ‘since 1946, Union of Workers and Peasants announced it would campaign for higher wages. PACIFIC TRIBUNE — NOVEMBER 9, 1951 — PAGE 3 it said, the «General ©