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Pacific

TRIBUNE

Tom McEwen Ivan Birchard

Editor Roos «nip eren init Scien ashe oF Manager Subscription Rates: 1 Year, $2.00; 6 Months, $1.00 Printed By UNION PRINTERS, 2303 East Hastings Street — — — Vancouver, B.C. Authorized as second-class mail by the post-office department, Ottawa

Turn on the heat

RITISH Columbia’s 21st Legislature opened its ses-

sions on February 11 with all the pomp and plausable verbiage of pre-war days. The Speech from the Throne, delivered by the gold mining Millionaire, Lieut.-Gov. Charles: A. Banks, contained 21-points of specific legislation affect- ing industrial development, labor and social security. These’ 21-points look good on paper but their implementation is another matter.

In this year 1947 the people of Canada in their respec- tive provinces have already perused a number of Speeches from the. Throne as well as that of the Dominion parliament two weeks ago. All have one feature in common—a harking back to the flowery wordage and custom of the past, but holding out. little perspective of a better social and economic future. A nibble at reforms here and there to take up the worst slack in the evils of our social system, but entirely barren of the courageous boldness which gilded the promises of a ‘brand new Canada’ after the. war against Hitlerite monopoly fascist-imperialism was won, Even the Speech from the Throne in ‘socialist’ Saskatchewan under a CCF

government portrays a similar trend—a note of complacency on past achievements, but little to indicate a bold grappling with the future needs of the people.

_ The cold truth of the matter is that behind each legis- lative program contained in the numerous Speeches from the Throne, stands the sinister power of monopoly capital and vested interests, alert to the growing demands of the people for a fuller life, and exercising its power and influence upon government to see to it that the people will receive just as, little as can be safely handed out without too much protest, and that its own vested interests are not jeopardized in the process, *

While Premier Hart drove a good ‘deal’ with Mackenzie King on tax divisions, the basic problems of Dominion- Provincial relations, upon which the Sirois Commission, spent tens of thousands of the taxpayers’ money gathering evidence to show that unless Canada made sweeping and drastic changes’ in her economy, the bankruptcy she faced in 1939 (saved only by the war) would overtake her before the 40’s expired. The legislative programs of the provinces and the central government, silhouetted against the back- ground of this fear, explain their barrenness of social se- curity for the people, and their concern for the interests of the monopolists. These Speeches from the Throne could well be prefaced in this year of 1947 with that magnificent bibli- cal quotation—“. . . to him that hath, more shall be given, _and to him that hath little, even that shall be taken away.”

The B.C. Speech from the Throne, contains the elemen- tary framework of legislative progress—the skeleton so to speak. It remains for that great power outside of govern- ment—to whom government is theoretically held to be ‘Tesponsible—labor and the people, to give this legislative program living reality. This can only be done by a powerful mass labor lobby camping in the legislature; veterans, old

_ age pensioners, and people’s organizations from every com- munity, bringing the greatest pressure to bear upon their. MLA’s and upon the government, All the promissory ver- biage in post-war plans and legislative programs must now be dusted off, and the government and legislative assembly given ‘to understand that nothing short of constructive action on the pressing problems of the day will suffice. Otherwise the 21-points of the 21st Legislature of B.C. can well become but a sorry prelude to depression, which the csi age aa and their politicians are precipitating upon

anada.

/ UU NM

[* Ottawa the ceremonies for the opening of the House of Commons, steeped in the hoary traditions of the mother of parliaments, went off the track when the new Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod failed to show up. In Victoria as new Lieut.-Gov. Charles A. Banks was reading the speech in the best manner of a trained elocutionist, with his weathered hat and sword well under control, some enter- prising amateur photographer exploded his flash bulb and sent a spray of glass over the House. The press observed that ‘politicians’ wives kept calm’ and the governor-general never dropped a syllable. Other politicians opined that the ‘explo- sion’ was nothing compared with what is to come.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1947 :

‘attacks,

CMA swansong;

‘, .. labor must respect the rights of free enterprise’

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As we see it

if

LOH By Tom Mc Ewen

E recent announcement of

Mr. John Sheridan, Montreal ‘economist’ of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce that his organization plans an_ all-out campaign against ‘communism in Canada’ is scarcely news. Big Business is campaigning all the time against labor. In a changing world however. the Canadian Manufacturers’ Asso- ciation, Chambers of Commerce and similar bodies have realized that it is no longer popular to beam their attacks upon labor as such. In fact Big Business must now keep up a hypocriti- cal pretense of ‘sympathy for moderate labor,’ and is there- fore compelled to adopt the Hitlerite strategy of singling cut “‘communism’ for direct at- tack, in an effort to get its licks in on labor,.

Whatever explanations the hir- ;

ed spokesmen of Big Business may give as to what they mean by ‘communism,’ it is well for all labor at ‘this time, in view of the CCC officially announced to know exactly what these brain trusters of Big Busi- ness actually mean.

Everything that cuts into

’ their glutted profits; that chal-

lenges their vested rights and their politics; everything that means more jobs, homes, wages, security for laber and the com- Mon people is ‘communism’ to Big Business,

The right of men and women to build unions of their own choice, to bargain collectively, to establish the closed shop and union security, is ‘communism’ to the financial moguls of the CMA and their kind. They wail about ‘free enterprise’ being

threatened by subversive ele-

‘ Tom McEwen

ments,’ but there is little of ‘freedom’ in the monopoly dom- inated system which they sweat

to preserve, as any small busi-~

ness man dependent upon mon- cpoly wholesalers and big dis- tributors will tell you. The sym- pathy of the CMA tribe for labor is best summed up by the inimitable Mr. Dooley: ‘Th’ big bhoys will do inything f'r th’ peepul excipt git off th’r backs.’

When labor struggle develops, whether it be for increased wages, better homes, price racketeering, decent old age. or what have you, it is only a short time before the wolf-

pack howl of ‘communism’ is heard. The hir- ed scribblers swing into ;ac- tion with vol- umes of press and radio prop- aganda. The Trestrails, Temple- tons, Morrisons, Stuarts et al are mobilized; tens of thous- ands of dollars are poured into

the maintenance of their lie factories, Learned (7?) profes-

sors are brought up to prove

that ‘socialism won’t work’ and that our social system is ‘the best in this best of all possible worlds.’ Then you begin to read something like this—‘labor’s de- mands are unreasonable’ — ‘the public must be safeguarded’ — ‘communist leadership in unions greatly deplored,’ and so forth.

This type of propaganda’ is aimed to destroy the confidence of union members in their lead-

against ©

pensions ©

ers, and incidentally to destroy the union. The old ‘ted herring’ is disheq up to suit every oc- casion,

e

HIE November issue of the

CMA journal ‘Industrial Can- ada’ contains the full text of an anticommunist harangue by a Gilbert E. Jackson, one of those has-been professors whose chief ability as an ‘economist’ is to distort and misrepresent estab- lished sciences. In ‘this particu- lar spiel the professor set out to satirize the 100th annivers- ary of Marxism, and ended in true Goebbels style by inciting his pay-masters to intensify their efforts against this alleg- ed ‘menace’ of communism.

The professor bases his thesis on the premise that if it weren’t for ‘communism’ our way of life known as capitalism would run very smoothly. Hence all activi- ties which concern labor and the people anywhere and everywhere in the struggle of being born, living, and dying, would be quite unnecessary were it not for this (communism) ‘plot against man- kind,’

Not long ago we had the op- portunity to query the veracity of this sort of CMA propaganda with one of its authors. He didn’t get angry or indignant at being termed an unmitigated liar, but on the contrary smiled blandly and retorted, ‘hell, I should worry, I get well paid for

it.” One could get a similar ex-

planation from the lowest pros-

titute,

-The February edition of the

‘New World’ contains another

Sample of the campaign of Big

Business against the commun- (Continued on next page)

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 4

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