eque’ For Coalition

ty Can Force Reforms

y NIGEL MORGAN, Provincial Leader, La bor-Progressive Party

Sealition’s victory in last week’s Provincial Election in “B.C. has strengthened Bry hand not only in this Province, but. throughout the Dominion. Neverthe- ie tremendous opposition vote of Labor and progressive forces, amounting to | of the total ballot cast, indicates clearly that this Tory-dominated coalition has id any ‘“‘blank cheque’ from the citizens of British Columbia. The fact that hed opposition vote amounted to 43 percent, while the percentage of legislative Iwas less than 23 percent, indicates what happens when labor is prevented from id clearly demonstrates the responsibility the CCF leadership must now should- ‘sting in their adamant, anti-unity, *“‘go-it-alone’’ policy.

5n results fully sub- fs estimation of the fossive Party regard- Live strength of the hapinges of this Pro- ad that estimation fin marked contrast essponsible, “reckless, inf the CGF leaders, ' to protect them- -the growing popu- ‘or labor unity, pre- ‘until after the pools sey were going to-be ‘wer: : -Vineh’s pre-election LPP “defeatism,” oe able to correcily = strength of one’s nd to face facts ‘[shonestly is just iit to the formula- rect tactics for a ¢cty as it is for an 4 s fience, such as was ‘ the CCF leaders in ss, antagonistic at- ere proposals of the 1ent and the trade electoral. unity, is onsible for their de- the former 16 seats 'the last Legislature. Jusand people have _ during the -war, the y.of them to. work in ustries, but the total sis actually less than - in this connection it ind that the CCF ran ‘istituencies, in - 1945 £. According to the ; available, the CCF will_be smaller than in. 1941.

won four new ridings erm and eastern in- n spite of this they - in the industrial total.xepresentation om 16 to ten..<sts% portant-heavily-pop- strial constituencies r, the CCF lost five one of which their held

fant : ‘tom 9,596,to 8,024; son, from 7,434 to 6,- iteeves, from 4,209 to 4 ecreased votes for he worst anti-unity, red..baiters in the . marked contrast to itially inereased vote Sam Guthrie, whose » pro-unity position ole his endorsation by

I :

instead of losing CCF Leader Harold 1 to the amount of wed a substantial in-

crease from 2,757 in 1941: to 3,431 in 1945.

This, in spite of the fact that his coalition opponent was one of the most experienced, cunning reactionaries ‘placed in:the field. Clearly the CCF has.been con- siderably weakened in. the BC

‘Legislature, not only in numbers,

but some of their strongest and most experienced spokesmen have been knocked: out. : One of the most significant developments in the _ election campaign was the fact that the

‘demand for labor* unity reached

an all-time high.

- The resolution of the BCFed- eration of Labor, which was en- dorsed by dozens of the largest and. most important trade unions of the Province, appeal- ing for a meeting between the CGF and the LPP, in spite of the fact that it was unfortun- ately flatly rejected by the CCF, did much to advance the cause of Jabor unity.

The Labor-Progressitve Party’s unconditional acceptance of the BCFederation of Labor’s’ propos- al, their expressed. willingness to meet with representatives of the trade unions, the CCF and other progressive bodies, placed re- sponsibility for continued disun- ity of labor squarely on. the shoulders of the CCF. A typical example of the effects of CCF irresponsibility is that of unity- hating Colin Cameron of Comox who, when approached for the second time by the LPP with a proposal for withdrawal of the LPP candidate, providing he would make a statement favor- ing labor unity and reract some of his vicious, anti-Soviet state- ments published in the “CCF News,” snorted cynically, “Unity with what? I don’t give a damn what you do. Go ahead and run. ‘As far as I am concerned, I don’t give a damn what hap- pens.”. The results of such ir- responsibility are shown in the vote for Comox constituency, which gave the coalition a vic- tory with votes, with Cameron obtaining votes and the Labor- Progressive Party.

~ <"Here ‘is’ one constituency where! unity; which was flatly ‘xefused by the CCF, could have given< the reactionary, Tory, “béss-loggeéer”: candidate of the coalition .a-,resounding defeat.

On ‘the’ ‘basis of the constitu- eneies in which the’ LPP placed candidates (21 in all) the LPP received 5.1 of the popular vote— a much better showing than most other parties have made in their first venture into the provincial field—an achievement that ad- vanced our cause immeasurably. {But why the drop from our poll in the Federal Election? First because Federal and Provincial issues are entirely different— and this election was not fought

- PACIFIC ADVOCATE

on the main issues confronting the people. Reckless CCF vision- aries played into. the coalition’s hands by fighting the election as if it was a debate on ‘“so- cialism,”’ .thus . driving. thous- ands of non-socialist, but .never- theless discontented workers

right into the coalition’s arms. In

spite. of _sharp - dissatisfaction with. CCF. policies thousands felt, even if incorreetly, that the LPP was not yet a powerful enough alternative to the Coaltion, and because of their deadly fear of Tory gains, consequently voted CCF. The LPP vote in this elec- tion consequently cannot be re- garded as an actual barometer of our support. The fact is that the Labor-Progressive Party is entering the post election period in a stronger position as a Tfe- sult of its election work; fully determined to ‘continue and in- tensify the fight for unity of

our people for jobs, homes and-

security.

The results of this election vindicate the fight for labor unity conducted by the Labor-Progres- sive Party. This election must be recognized as but one phase of the many sided struggle for pro- gress and security. The resulis cannot be taken lightly for they place tremendous tasks before the labor movement and the peo- ple of this Province in the solv- ing of our political and economic problems.

Tory representation in the government has been increased by three; while the Liberals have gained but one, which means in- creased Tory pressure to drive the coalition further and further to the right, with probable pol- itical and economic developments of the postwar tending to drag in the same direction.

Only stronger and firmer unity of progressive forces. will be able to combat the pressure of reactionary big-business in- terests.

The right wing'of the coali- tion sees in the victory an op- portunity to press forward and institute policies dictated by monopoly capital. Weaknesses of the last Coalition administration in its berayal of the people’s in-

terest in the housing crisis to |

the real-estate sharks. Their failure to move for the progres- sive reduction of hours of work, and the establishment of a gen- uine labor code with provision of union security and checkoff.

Their failure to do anything about reconversion of our _ shipyard, aircraft and other war indus- tries, as well as the weaknesses of their policy in relation to gen- uine, full public ownership of the hydro-electric, and the de- velopment of our steel resources. All these will likely be aecentu- ated unless labor. rallies its forces and weds a united front

NIGEL MORGAN LPP Provincial Leader

against the ..offensive: of big business.

Typical of what can be ex- pected is the noisy demand open- ly expressed in the daily papers within two days after the elec- tion, for the removal of Minis- ter of Labor George Pearson from his. post. Pearson has rep- resented*a progressive labor pol- icy and it is correctly felt in labor circles that chis -removal from the Ministry would signal- ize a change in policy toward the trade union -and. labor move- ment. It has. been:. known for some time that reactionary min- ing, logging and other big in- dustrial interests have been pressing upon the coalition for a firmer position against labor.

The coalition victory in B.C. strengthens the Toriés right across the country. It censti- tutes a dirtct challenge to la- bor to rally and unify its ranks.

The election reurns-are stated by the political correspondent.of Western Canada’s largest daily paper as having “strengthened Premier John Hart’s hand for the coming Dominion-Provincial Conference in Ottawa,::Novem- ber 26. Mr. -Hart,” -the -inter- viewer states,<‘‘will now beable to go to the. federal capital and tell Prime: Minister King and his government that’? B:Ciassgoing to fight for its rights-and independ- ence, that B.C. is going to sub- scribe to no. centralized govern- ment.”

Thus constitutional changes on powers of taxation and adminis- tration beween.. the Provincial and Federal governments,- which are long overdue, will be sabo- taged. . .

The organized’ offensive: which is being conducted by Duplessis in Quebec, supported*“by the Tory Drew in ‘Gntario' and the Coalition in Manitoba;'must not be supported by the government of British Columbia, for to do so is to sabotage a basic pro gram for progress and security. The program for a ‘national la- bor code, national minimum wages and improved social and health legislation cannot be en- acted without first resolving this inter-governmental relationship.

These: are buta few of the many important. issues. upon which labor unity, or disunity, can have a decisive effect, for better or for worse. The Lahbor- Progressive Party led the fight for unity behind a realistic pro- gram to meet the people’s ‘need during the election campaign. They will continue to lead that fight in the weeks and months

to come. Only unity can bring

victory for labor.

By

Pritchett Refused U.S. Entry

Harold Pritchett, president of District One, International Woodworkers of America, . and two other union officials, Ernie Dalskog and John McCuish, were refused entry to the Unit

ed States this week by U.S. Im-

migration authorities.

The three union officials had planned to attend the interna- tional conference of the IWA to be held. in “Eugene, Oregon, on November 18. mas

Pritchett, who. has been.refused entry to the:States four ‘times, told P.A. that the reason given for the refusal was that he was a “member of an organization that believes in the overthrow of the government by force and <vioe- lence,” and flatly denied the charge. :

An appeal has been: entered directly to the U.S. -Attorney- General Tom. C. Clark in the United States Capital, and a copy of the constitution of the Labor-Progressive |. Party, of which Pritchett is an executive member, has been forwarded to show that the party does not ad-

vocate violent .overthrow of the government. :

U.S. Immigration officials re- fused comment on the case, but indicated that Dalskog and Mc- Cuish were refused entry for si- milar reasons to those barring Pritchett. .

Continued from Page One—

Ford Strike

ber 4, at 2 p.m., and Nanaimo on the same evening at 8 p.m. Port Alberni has arranged a--mass meeting with a dance to follow in the Eric Graf Memorial Hall. Meetings have been arranged for. the Courtenay - Cumberland Area Tuesday, November 6, at 8 p:m.; New Westminster, eWd- nesday, November 7, at 8 p.m., Victoria, Thursday, November 8. at 8 p.m., and Britannia, Friday, November 9, at 8 pm. Follow- ing these meetings, others -will be arranged inthe mining areas and will be announced.

Contributions to the strike fund have been pouring in to the Strike Committee of the BC Federation, of Labor, and _ the committee reports that over two thousand dollars has already been forwarded to the offices of the Canadian Congress of Labor for distribution.

Organized “labor, recognizing that the struggle of the Ford Strikers is the fight of the la- bor movement across Canada, is continuing to rally in ‘support of the Ford Strikers.

The Canadian tour of Mul- berry, model of the prefabricat- ed harbor made by British en- gineers for landing in France,

‘will be followed by similar tours

in other Dominions in the Brit- ish Commonwealth.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1945

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