ity FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 1956

Sencakegah Ble aes

This congress will ©
go down in history

§INCE the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the
Soviet Union in February there has been widespread dis-
cussion of its decisions in the Soviet Union and throughout

the world. And well there might be.

The congress told the world of its breath-taking program
of peaceful construction leading to a social order where each
will receive according to his need and give according ‘to his
ability.

It looked at the world situation and found that war is
» no longer fatalistically inevitable. It told of how socialism
had emerged from one country to a world system. It out-
' lined new theoretical postulations on the peaceful transition
’ of capitalist countries to socialism.

4

It called for the healing of the split in the labor move-
_ ment, foresaw the independence of many countries now under
. colonial rule, and an ‘era of peaceful competition between
the two world systems in which the socialist system would
emerge victorious.

Truly a historic, optimistic, inspiring’ Congress.

But oné that did not fail to criticize its shortcomings
in all fields.
; * * *

Perhaps the main point of critical evaluation was around

‘the question of the cult of the individual, which the congress

vigorously condemned. It ended the period in which, under

the leadership of J. V. Stalin, this cult had undermined col-

_ lective leadership and had tended to reduce the creative role

of the party and the people, thereby creating obstacles for
greater economic and social advances in the USSR.

It has become clear ‘that for some time thé Soviet Com-
munist party has been closely appraising the role of Stalin
' — his contributions to the building of socialism in the Soviet
Union as well as errors he committed.

Naturally, some of the disclosures have come as a shock
to many people to whom Stalin was, as Canadian Communists
' have always assumed, the embodiment of the collective lead-
_ ership of. the Soviet Communist party.

It was also to be expected that the commercial press,
ever eager to hurl slander and invective at the Soviet Union,

would crudely distort -this critical evaluation, play it to a

fare-thee-well with lurid headlines and “interpretations” from
\ self-styled “experts,” and print phony and cooked-up de-
spatches from “hitherto reliable” but always unnamed sources.

food

* * *

‘

Fortunately for all interested Canadians, Tim Buck,
national leader of the Labor-Progressive party, attended the
20th Congress as a fraternal guest. Buck, who is in Europe
receiving medical treatment, upon his return will be able to
bring Canadians a first-hand account of the 20th Congress
_ proceedings and decisions, : :

: The process of evaluation at the congress, which is con-
tinuimg in the Soviet Union, will be studied by Marxists
throughout the world as more facts become available.

But, lacking such authentic information and texts, we
_ deem it unwise to indulge in speculations or the drawing of
' hasty -conclusions.. As additional authoritative material be-
‘ comes available, we will publish it. :

The 20th Congress of the CPSU will undoubtedly go

' down in history as its most important since the death of
' V. I. Lenin, founder of the Soviet socialist state. In the

words of Nikita Khrushchev, it “boldly uncovered short-

comings - +. and broke down outdated conceptions, resolutely
sweeping aside everything that had been outmoded and was
. hindering our advances.” » : i
It has set before all mankind a magnificent vision of a
world of peace and abundance. Far from being “Russia’s

tragedy,” as the Toronto Globe and Mail wishfully believes, —

it is her hour of triumph.

' disarmament providing rest of

‘banquet and dance to be held

UFAW U states.

stand on merger |

Election of observers to attend the founding convention of the Canadian Labor
Congress in Toronto next month was recommended in the. officers’ report to the 12th
annual convention of United Fishermen and Allied Workers’ Union, meeting this week

at Fishermen’s Hall here.

“Our delegates should bring the warm fraternal greetings’ of this convention to

the . assembled delegates in
Toronto,” said the report. “We
have a great deal in common
with the workers all across this
country. We cannot and will
not be isolated from them. The
time when our delegates will
sit as equals with the dele-

Continued from page I

MPs INTERVIEWED

China. He said the great pow-
ers are very close to agreement
and that disarmament will soon
be a_ reality. However, he
thought that agreement on dis-
armament should -be the first
step and stopping the tests the
second step. :

Carl Nickle (PC, Calgary
South): Agreed in principle that
disarmament should take place.
Everyone should disarm simul-
taneously.

Gordon Churchill (PC, Win-
nipeg): Always has been for

gates of all other unions in
labor’s parlidment .is coming

the day.”

While welcoming the merger
of TLC and CCL unions, the re-
port stressed that “the new. CLC
must be examined mostly from

tee that led the deputation were
Dr. J. G. Endicott of the Cana-
dian Peace Congress and Pierre
St. Germain of the Mouvement
de la Paix du Quebec.

Others included Nels Thibault
of Sudbury, Canadian president
of the International Union of
‘Mine, Mill and Smelter Work-

~ ers; Rev. Fern Sayles of Wel-
land; and Mrs. Eva Sanderson
of Toronto, vice-chairman of the
Canadian Peace Congress.

Greetings to the deputation
came from the mayor of Hiro-
shima, Japan.

“With one-thifd of the MPs
interviewed, it is clear that most
MPs are prepared to support
disarmament but they want to
be sure that it will be accom-
plished under conditions that
will leaye Canada and all coun-
tries secure against aggression,”
commented Peace Congress sec-
retary Bruce Mickleburgh.

“That, of course, is exactly
the problem that the negotia-
tors have to work out and they
need every encouragement that
public opinion can give them
during the next few crucial
weeks in London. ©

“We believe that stopping the
tests would be a start. No com-

world disarms too.

Henry P. Mang (Lib., Qu’ap-
pelle): Favors general principle
of banning nuclear weapons.
Problem is in working out de-
tails, which must be done at the
top. War will benefit no one.
Favors recognition of China‘.

Rev. Alexander Patterson (SC,
Fraser Valley): Basically agrees
with proposals. Matter is urg-
ent. Believes government is
taking adequate steps.

A minority of the MPs inter-
viewed opposed the idea of ac-
tion to control atomic weapons
and a few even went to the
lengths of advocating atomic
war. Most shocking to the dele-
gation was the statement by
John H. Blackmore (SC, Leth-
bridge), that war was inevit-
able and that foreigners were
responsible for all the trouble
in the world.

“Donald Carrick (Lib., Toron-
to-Trinity) who was opposed to
the delegates’ proposals, said he
was prepared to leave it to the
electors to decide whether to
vote him out of office over the
issue. ; at

Co-chairmen of the commit-

Want to write? Enter
PT’s writing contest

Have you ever thqught, “I’d
like to try my hand at writing

needed because scientists can at
once detect in the atmosphere
the evidence of an atomic or
hydrogen explosion anywhere
in'the world.” ” 2 ‘

Upon leaving Ottawa a num-
ber of delegates said they in-
tended to organize the sending
of messages directly to Norman
Robertson, Canada’s represen-
tative on the disarmament sub-
committee at Canada House in
London, with a request for posi-
tive action on the part of Can-
ada for arms reduction.

your life; a poem or a short skit.
The field is as broad as life it-

~ something?” Well, here’s your self.
chance. ic All entries will be judged by
A Pacific Tribune writing con- the editorial board of the

test will be held during the
next two months, opening March
26 and closing June 1. Fifty
valuable prizes (including a TV
set) will be awarded to winners
at the annual Pacific Tribune

Pacific Tribune, whose decision
will be final, and .must be sub-
mitted with the understanding

that they may be published,
whether or not they win an
award, at the board’s discretion.
There’s no entry fee. So why
. not sit down right now and be-
gin work On your entry? If
you want, you may send in more
than one entry. -
Address, all entries to Pacific
Tribune Writing Contest, Room.
6, 426 Main Street, Vancouver
4. Bx;

in Hastings Auditorium here
June 8. ;

Rules of the contest are sim-
ple. Entries, which should be of
not less than 50 words and not
more. than 1,000, can take any
form and be on any subject —
an ‘anecdote about a strike, for
instance, or an incident from

closer. We urge action to speed :

plicated inspection apparatus is ©

what it really does and tries to
do. To the extent that it per-
mits raiding for any reason
is wrong. To. promote witch-
hunts and political discrimin-
ation is wrong and harmful to

the Canadian labor’ movement.
“On the other hand, volun-

-tary mergers will be all to the

good and united action for
higher wages, better work-
ing conditions and improved
legislation will, be applauded.
The job of organizing the un-
organized should be tackled
with vigor and will receive our
wholehearted support.

“Your officers feel strongly

that the UFAWU should become _

part of the CLC. The fishermen
and allied workers of B. C. have
a right and a duty to be a part
of the ‘Parliament of Labor.’
“At the same time, we do not
advocajie throwing overboard
the democracy, autonomy and
freedom from discrimination

which have been the life-savers —

of this union. The UFAWU has
done a tremendous job for its
members both in and out of the
TLC. We do not advise going
on bended knees to anyone in
order to regain our rightful
seat in the new Congress.”

Continued

SINCLAIR

‘traps which do the work of 20

seiners in Canada.”
He also described the use of

lights and suction pumps to >

catch small fish in the Sea of
Japan, and crab: fishing meth-
ods (crabs are caught and pro-
cessed by factory ships).

On the subject of territorial
waters, he said fishing coun-
tries are split into two groups
— ‘freedom of the seas”*coun-
tries like Britain, Japan ard
the United States, and “coastal
states” like Canada, Russia and
Norway.

_ Blasting the U.S. for failing
to cooperate with Canada on
conservation of pink salmon,
Sinclair said that in future Can-
ada would adopt a “big stick”

\

policy to outfish the Americans —

until they “howled for a treaty.
Last year we conserved (by
government closure) and the
Americans caught — but never
again.” i

Sinclair compared Canadian
and Soviet trade unions, express-
ed the opinion that our unions
were better “because Soviet
unions cannot strike, and union
leaders head the drive to in-
crease production, which is the
main ‘purpose of their unions.”

He facetiously suggested that
the Canadian government would
gladly cooperate in “sending
Homer Stevens, Alex Gordon
and Bill Rigby to Russia as an

‘extension of the Colombo plan

to help raise living standards
of Russian fishermen.’ ;

Other guest speakers at the
UFAWU convention included

. Labor Minister Lyle Wicks, who

welcomed the Canadian-Soviet
wheat deal; Dr. Peter R. Kelly,_
chairman of the Native Brother-
hood of British Columbia’s leg-
islative committee; ahd Frank
Calder, CCF MLA for Atlin.

. :
MARCH 23, 1956 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 12

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