702 IRE

MORRIS ON CHINA

= 5 5
hit
{|
“|
A! !
u sti Litiy
f {hl

ae

FRIDAY OCTOBER 19, 1956

Continued from page 1

LABOR COUNCIL

few days,” Whalen replied.
“Does the _ international
trusteeship still exist over

this ‘new’ local?” another dele-
gate wanted to know.

“ProviSional officers have
been installed and it will func-
tion like any other local,” was
Whalen’s answer.

“How long will the special
committee continue to func-
tion?” asked a delegate.

“Until the local is back on
an even keel,” said Whalen.

“TJ never agreed with the
Tunnel and Rock Workers ac-
tion in disaffiliating, but I
have always agreed with their
determination to conduct their
own affairs,” said delegate Sam
Jenkins (Marine Workers). “I
believe in international union-
ism, but not in international
dictatorship.

“Any .time a trade union
leader goes to jail in the course
of waging the class struggle,
it is unfortunate. When. an-
other unionist appears in court
and gives evidence against
him, it. creates a situation
where I find it hard to hold
my head up.”

“Tf something goes wrong,
it should be put right within
the ranks of labor,’ said
George Home, adding his voice

to those who saw a threat to
other unions in the future as
a result of the action of the
courts.

“This council in stepping in
to guarantee the, autonomous
rights of a local has taken .an
historic step,” said Bill Stew-
art (Marine Workers). “This
is precisely what the rock
workers were fighting for in
the first instance. It is a fight
that must be fought and won
inside the ranks of the main
trade union movement.

“The papers reported that
William Hunchuk, sentenced
to four months, was never near
the . picket lines. Yet he has
been held responsible for the
actions of the men on strike.
A dangerous precedent has
been set. It should spur us to
further our efforts in the battle
against injunctions as_ such.
And we should work for the
release of these sentenced
union men.”

Men now _ serving four-
month terms in Oakalla are
Tunnel and Rock Workers of
Canada president Arthur An-
dres and secretary Bill Hun-
chuk. Appeal against the de-
cision of Mr. Justice Whittaker
is expected to be launched
within the next few days.

Rock Workers vote
to return to jobs

Striking members, of Tun-
nel and Rock Workers of Can-
ada voted Wednesday this
week to return to work and
apply for certification of their
independent union, a break-
away from International Hod

“We are contacting the em-
ployers at the projects which
were tied up, and expect all
our men wil be back on the
job in.a few days,” said union
vice-president Jack Webster.

Asked to comment on the
invitation to his members to
join the local sponsored ' by
the special committee of Van-
eouver and District Labor
Council, Webster said that his
members “wanted the right to
elect their own officers. That’s
what we've been fighting for
all along, the right to elect
officers, and run our union in
a democratic manner free
from any dictation from the

top.”

Tunnel and Rock Workers
of Canada is prepared to con-
sider any proposal for settling
the internal dispute in the
labor movement, providing its
members have the right to
make the decisions, said Web-
ster.

“Our members fought back
against trusteeship, and they
want no part of any deal
where officers are ‘appointed’
instead of being elected,” he
reiterated.

Rock Workers president Ar-
thur Andres. and secretary
William Hunchuk are serving
four-month jail terms for con-
tempt in obeying an in obey-
ing an injanction against
picketing and other strike ac-
tivity against B.C. construc-
tion projects. Several other
members of the union were
fined for picketing.

of China on October 1, 1949. The party is eight times larger than it was them
had led the people of China out of war and chaos thrust upon ‘the country by agele
sion from the imperialists, into the most peaceful and constructive period that

Socialism in’
12 years is aim

(Continued from page 1)

has ever known in her 5,000 years of history.

More: the congress registered the victory of socialist transformation — @®

period of only seven years
since liberation — in the sense
that all. the conditions are
now present for the construc-
tion of a socialist industry
during the next 12 years and
that the feudal-capitalist struc-
ture of China is being peace-
fully revolutionized in such a
way as to leap into socialism.

Even to dream of transform-
ing in such a short period a
country of this size, with its
many nationalities living to-
gether in a people’s state,
with the burden of all the
ingrained feudal and _ semi-
feudal tradition and force of
habit of centuries, plus the
economic .degradation. forced
on the country by imperialist
intervention and interference
and its economic backward-
ness — into a modern social-
ist industrial state in the
shortest period on human re-
cord, would be bold indeed.

Actually to do it, to plan
for it in the utmost detail, to
bring about the participation
of hundreds of millions of
men, women and children in
this conscious action, is the
greatest tribute to commun-
ism since the Russian Revolu-
tion of 1917. te

Added to that revolution,
and the people’s revolutions
in the ten other states under
Communist leadership stretch-
ing from the Elbe River to the
Pacific Ocean, the Chinese re-
volution guarantees the de-
feat of world imperialism by
placing this mighty force in
the dominating position in the
present-day world.

The main documents of the
congress are: the opening ad-
dress of Mao Tse-tung, the
political report of Liu Shao-

chi, the report on the Second,

Five Year Plan by Chou En-
lai and the report on the
draft party constitution by
Teng Hsiao-ping.

The political resolution $ suc-
cintly describes the 1l-year
period from the 7th congress
in 1945 to the 8th congress:

“Our party has led the
Chinese people in bringing the
bourgeois-democratic revolu-
tion to a successful conclusion
and achieving in the main the
victory of the socialist revo-
lution.

“This has completely chang-
ed the social aspect of* our
country. The main contra-
diction in old Chinese society,
namely the contradiction be-
tween ‘the Chinese people and

the rule of imperialism, feud-
alism and bureaucratic capit-
alism, was resolved as a result
of the victory of the bourgeois-
democratic revolution.

“Since the resolution of that
contradiction, apart from the
external contradiction be-
tween our country and foreign
imperialism, the main internal
contradiction has been that
between the proletariat and
the bourgeoisie. This is the
contradiction that has to be
resolved by the socialist re-
volution.

“The socialist transforma-
tion of agriculture, handi-
crafts and capitalist industry
and commerce which we have
been bringing. about is de-
signed to change capitalist
ownership and the root of
capitalism — the system of
private ownership by small
producers.

“A decisive victory has now
been won in this socialist
transformation. This shows
that the contradiction between
the proletariat and the bour-
geoisie in our country has

‘been basically resolved, that

the several thousand years of
history of the system of class
exploitation has now, on the
whole, been brought to an end
and that the social system of
socialism has in the main been
established in our country.”

The party’s ‘mass line”

a concept which is not easy to
render into English, but which,
briefly, means the all-pervad-
ing and centralized activity
of the Communists among the
masses and in external policy
(especially in Asia) with the
utmost participation of the
masses (“from the masses and
to the masses”) — is to solve
the contradiction between the
advanced socialist system and
the backward . productive
forces. The congress said:

“In order to transform China
from a backward agricultural
country into an advanced, so-
cialist industrial country we
must complete the creation of
a basically comprehensive in-
dustrial system within a
period of three five-year plans
or a little longer.”

The economic planning of
the congress and the criterion
of all estimations and criti-
cisms, all arise from this goal.

An example of the sweep of
this is the speech of a+ con-
gress delegate which describ-
ed the abolition of chattel

OCTOBER 19, 1956 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE —

“and agriculture, on the

ie

China

What

slaverly to socialism!
a meaning this has £0? the
African people!

There was an upward ret
sion of the tempo of the 80%
ist transformation, in iM pass

of the party’s experiences i
the past year; the tempo ation
which this transform ae
took place is describe
“tide” and an “upsurge.

The period of socialist bes d
formation (that is, coopera ent
farming and the devel lop at
of state enterprises and d jot
state-capitalist enterp! ses
industry) has been ttle
from about 15 years to 2 in
over five, and the social list
dustrialization ‘of the CO”...
is now estimated to ae
about another 12 years

(The bearing this wi
on the whole world sit i
is a matter that we show®
into account, from 2 BY
of angles; in Canada peal 7
of the effect of the .
industrialization of Ch! nt it j
the next several years te
enormous, and the oppor da
ties for trade between Ca e it”
and China in this imme si
dustralization will © iu
This is especially true © oy
agricultural machinery oy
ports, the growth of oF
chine construction, 42°”
shipbuilding.)

China has 120 millio® pes

Aeon

before the census).
only 300 were in sem, oo
ist agricultural prodicine.
operatives in 1951; at
of June, 1956, 110 mi
91.7. percent of all

households had joiné
cooperatives.

The party developed * Be
al stages of cooperatio lle
simple ‘“mutual-aid” “al
tive labor groups,
the rudiments. of
to “elementary” cooP® olin’
(characterized by the My in? a
of land as shares and tn tb ua
management, but rine nie?
land . and . other tei m a
means of production §
vately owner by \ 200
bers), to “advanced alist il
tives (which are meee: p
character in that the 5 ps
other principal means pee
duction are changed it owner
vate into collective 4, i
ship). This is know 5
“step-by-step policy: — io

pace