hy FLASHBACKS FROM THE COMMUNIST PRESS 50 years ago... FRENCH PERSECUTE GERMAN WORKERS ESSEN—Thousands of German rail workers and their families ‘are still exiled from their homes in the Ruhr by the French in- vaders. The French are also hold- ing 1,700 German citizens in pris- on on charges of sabotage, endangering the public security, etc. Of these at least 600 are political prisoners. The 148,000 who have.either been deported or. expelled are for the most part railwaymen and their families, and petty civil service officials. Reports from Germany tell of the appointment of Fraulein Lisa Tetzner, a former school teacher, as “official fairy story teller.” Her job is to go from city to city, telling fairy stories to the boys and girls who begin to toil in Germany's mines and mills from an early age. The government thinks that the fairy tales will bring a little romance into the dreary lives .of the youthful workers. Governments. are good at fairy tales. : _ The Worker, June 14, 1924 25 years ago... BOSS CONFIRMS BIG MASSEY LAYOFFS The Tribune’s story last week, which was the first to reveal the expected mass layoffs at To- ronto’s Massey-Harris plan, was confirmed two days later when J. S. Duncan, president of the company, was compelled to ad- mit that Canada’s export trade crisis ‘was threatening the jobs of hundreds of M-H workers. About 2,500, half of the plant's capacity, will be affected. Duncan admitted that the Woodstock tractor division of the company . had shut down, as was predicted last week in the Tribune. The cutback in orders in the agricultural equipment industry, caused by Ottawa export regula- tions which are based on Mar shall Plan policies, has placed about 190 Massey-Harris workers on the unemployment rolls. About 500 more are expected to trickle off the payroll during the next few weeks, but the total when the order cutback is com- plete will reach the 2,500 mark, although UAW officials are ask- ing that shifts be reduced from nine to eight hours. Tribune, June 13, 1949 Profiteer of the week: SEER Heard any good explanations lately for tises in gasoline and fuel oil prices? A couple of good ones come from Calgary. Pacific Petroleums Ltd. gouged $12,700,000 in profit in the first three months of the year, $6,000,000 better than the. same period in 1973. And Hudson Bay Oil and _Gas Co. Ltd. rang in $11,500,000 inthe Same 90 days. Quicker than you can say, wage-freeze, they jumped first quarter earn- ings from a mere $7,200,000 in. '73. The in- crease, says a report, is mainly because of price increases. Who would have thought it? €ditor — MAURICE RUSH , Pacific Tribune West Coast edition, Canadian Tribune: _ Sk SRS SST AY Published weekly at Ford Bldg., Mezzanine No. 3, 193 E. Hastings St., "Vancouver 4, B.C. Phone 685-5288. “Business & Circulation Manager, FRED WILSON Subscription Rate: Canada, $6.00 one yedr; $3.50 for six months - North and South America and Commonwealth countries, $7.00 All other countries, $8.00 one year North and South America and Commonwealth countries, $7.00 one year PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, JUNE 14 1974—-PAGE 4 Meat surplus means low prices: ee Last week the giant meat monopolies, Canada Packers, Swifts and Burns, their storage freezers jam-packed with . stock-piled meat, decided to make a double killing. - ; First they would lock out their 10,000 _ workers at 25 plants across Canada who were threatening to strike if they could not get a satisfactory contract. Besides intimidating the food workers, the packing houses hoped, and cutting production costs, it would give them an opportunity to palm off their hoarded storage meat and, using the old cry of ‘Policies VS promises Among people who must live on a worker’s wage or a pension, there is understandable enthusiasm for real policies to roll back prices, ensure in- come stability and bring such things as housing within the reach of ordinary people. The Communist candidates have a platform with workable solutions to the attack on living standards, and a program by which working people can design their own future. On the other hand,the flood of extra- vagant promises from the two old par- ties, which make a mockery of the elec- tion process, try to hide the deep. trou- bles of the system of monopoly capital- ism. The Liberals and Tories, jostling for the favors of their corporation bosses -are in some disarray and are causing uneasiness in the board rooms. The Liberals, who thought up the “Canadian dream” housing plan into which very few houses or incomes can fit, also hooked Bryce Mackasey, the workers’ friend, for the cabinet. And they sent Labor Minister Munro to the Canadian Labor Congress Convention and to the Firestone Rubber picket line to drum up votes. Trudeau dropped an 800-job Air Canada base in ‘Winnipeg. The Toriés, desperately trying to hold the party together as Stanfield goes doggedly on with his incredible wage-freeze scheme, are also romising a feat of magic: their long-threatened slashing of government social s ending would be combined with a double pen. sion for couples when one of. them reached 65. However, their threat to chop unemployment insurance benefits still stands. Still, the Toronto Star, a Stanfield backer since it abandoned its Liberal tradition in 1972, has been pleading with Mr. Stanfield to be more explicit— at least to “flesh-out” his wage-freeze policy. Other spokesmen for corporate . Wealth are just as restless. Tan Sinclair, Canadian Pacific presi- dent, challenged recently: “I invite you to read the political platforms of the two-major parties and tell me what they stand for in anything but the most general of terms.” . True, but embarrassing for the par- ties, who assumed that big daddy would understand that their election promises don’t mean anything, that their con- cern-for-the-people masquerade is just for long enough to get votes. On the other hand the corporations are concerned that the workin class, with healthy support from al demo- cratic-minded Canadians won’t leave it at that, but will demand delivery on the promises made. 4 - the Canadian Food and Allied Wo able to the workers. But the ° help with dozens of tasks, eve? by acti ‘progressive bloc to poe woul ters, meeting on Canadian 5? scarcity (blamed on the workers) prices another boost. re | The plot stalled while negotiator Union bargained for a contra houses were so pleased with the strategy that they went ahead ant ed out 2,500 workers at eight plants anyway. a On June 7, employees at ue Packers in Lethbridge followed noe of Swift Canadian workers te city and rejected the offer by 4! companies. . ee Presumably the lock-out and price gouging by the companies rave into effect, and consumers WI 4 id battle fake price increases. DU for refusing to pay a ransom ters hoarded meat, consumers/v0 +0: ght decide long before election days owe! for a real prices board, with reas | to act against such profiteers. such} | The best assurance of gettine ih board is by guaranteeing @ the be voice in parliament. A vote 10F oly @| eral-Tory front men for monOP™*oys?| ensure only. more of the same i! owed if either of Be old parties 1s 4 gain a majority. . - The Communist Party platfort, anti-monopoly platform; an toa oe nist candidates are commit $ £00 back of 25% on the prices 0 tit sh certain other necessities. (Bug at be remembered that candidat who’ve never taken part in an a 18 campaign before.) Election, be be hich Communists and N g coh ae a major part, would enstt nee sistent struggle for these urs i Besides that, Communist SP in parliament will champlo” a8 to. put such key industn gw manufacturing and process matic public ownership and demor all ? | trol, to eliminate once-and- city fiteering on this prime neces Welcoiric peace offet 0. 2 The foreign ministers of Hout Atlantic Treaty Organizatien 9. canal will meet in Ottawa, June 18 = aocpttl, remains a member despite We aetie public abhorrence of the pe oper t sive nature, its support 0 of port” regimes, and its stockpiling a weapons. . aan a Wr Yet, NATO is the reciplet™ 44 coll, matic, open gesture of pena ania? ‘i from the Warsaw Treaty ntti en of embracing the socialist ©° eat’ af Eastern Europe — born ore thre NATO began issuing wartl 5 its The Warsaw _ body statety t0 variable stand in being ye anid band the Warsaw Treaty disband” simultaneously with the org? the North Atlantic Treaty tio” tion or, as an initial step, ze ” their military organizations 1,0! Canadians must assert N ATO words that we expect the i, 10. this offer of detente, a true 1" %-e% of the new age of peaceftl cold: ence. They must reject 2 ons, 2 projections or confrontati® rity ° cept the will of the majo" human race.