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PUCRELAteaaconee itis

PACIFIC ADVOCATE

“Sueeveuueseneesuurerisuascauseneusaveocienssnavcnsstteassnseseetsssnavarraraya

P.A.

PEOPLE’S VOICE FOR PROGRESS

Published every Saturday by The Peo le Publishin -
pany, Room 104, Shelly Building, 119 West Pender Stee
Vancouver, British Columbia and printed at East End
Printers, 2303 East Hastings Street, Vancouver,
Columbia. Subscription Rates: One year $2; six months $1.

Editor
C. A. SAUNDERS MA De Sage

There Is Still Time

Ee days from now will be nomination day. On
October 4 the various parties will name their
candidates for the provincial elections.

Reaction has solved its problem. Binding the
Liberals in a coalition with the Tories, the Blaylocks,
the power monopoly, the CPR, have consolidated
their ranks to retain the stifling
capital on the economy of our province.

The figures of the last Provincial elections; the
figures of the federal elections show clearly that
such a coalition cannot be beaten by any one of the
progressive parties. The figures also clearly de-
monstrate that the majority vote of the province is
a progressive vote.

The workers, the trade union movement, all
Progressives, are clamoring for unity at the polls.
They realize that this is the only way to ensure de-
feat. of the Hart-Maitland coalition and achieve
progressive government for British Columbia.

Time is running short. Unity can still be ac-
complished. The Labor-Progressive Party stands
ready to join in any move toward that end. The
trade union movement is demanding that the par-

ties get together so that labors’ vote can be thrown
behind one unity candidate in each constituency.

There is still time. The demand must become
imperative. The CCF leadership in this province
must listen to the voice of labor. Labor is demanding
unity. The LPP desires unity. The way is still open.
The CCF leadership must act now.

Labor Must Win

[re striking automobile workers in Windsor, On-

tario, are spearheading the struggle of all or-
ganized labor, of all forward looking people for jobs
and security.

The moguls of the Ford empire represent the
interests of the most reactionary elements of fi-
nance capital.

Victory for the auto workers is imperative. It

As a fight which concerns the whole labor movement.

~ The strikers are in the firing line and must receive

the support, financial and organizational, of every
union and labor body across the country.

The struggle of the auto workers is for union
security, maintenance of wage levels, against lay-
offs—for reconversion.

- The object of the auto czars is to smash the
Unions, cut wages and return labor to the conditions
existing before the unions organized the workers
in that industry.

Rally behind the Windsor strikers. Every as-
sistance to the auto workers. Defeat the union-bust-
ing plans of monopoly-capital.

PACIFIC ADVOCATE—PAGE 4-

SRT SSS = -

grip of monopoly -

¢

fee P assing By C. A. Saunders. |

VETERANS’ problems come very much to the

fore these days. Problems primarily akin
to the problems of every worker—a good job
at decent wages, a comfortable home, a future
free from the threat of un-
employment.

Then there are the special
problems of the veterans;
pensions. gratuities. univer-
sity training, job training,
the general problems of re-
habilitation.

There are many things
that need readjustment to
give these men the deal they

deserve. We will fight to
see that they are fairly
treated.

But somehow, right now,
I find myself thinking of
the forgotten veterans of
the war against Nazi Ger-
many. The men who returned home in 1938 and
the early spring of 1939. Who received no gra-
tuities, no pensions, no jobs. The men who took
their vacation leave in relief camps and on the
breadlines. The men who were subjected to
abuse and indignities for the part they played
in fighting fascism.

The wounded veterans of the Spanish front
of World War II deserve the same treatment
as those on any other front. It is time this was
acknowledged.

It is time the status of the Franco regime as
a fascist government sponsored and brought to
power by German and Italian fascism with the
connivance of British and French reaction was
recognized.

Around Town By Cynthia Carter = !

ALDERMAN Miller this week proposed in city

council that a charter amendment should
be sought to allow the tax rate to be raised. The
council struck off a committee to get to work
on the problem right away.

At the same council meet-
ing, Mayor Cornett stated
that civic franchise couldn’t
possibly be breadened—be-
cause it would be “against
the city charter.’

Does that sound like a
contradiction? Well, that’s
how our city council works.
If the Non-Partisans want
something done, they usually
find a way to do it. But
if we, the people want some-
thing done, they can find a

“dozen immovable obstacles

in the way of action.

The resolution on tax increases, proposed by
Ald. Miller, is necessary, he maintains, to pro-
vide money for needed local improvements. No
one, for instance, will deny that we need better
fire and police facilities, more nurses and food
inspectors, better street lighting. The contra-
versial point is just who should be made to pay
for these things. Householders, small home-own-
ers, feel they are taxed to the limit now. But
big business is still making profits. in Vanecou-
ver, and many believe that higher taxes on
larger properties is the answer.

The question of broadening the civic fran-
chise is definitely a major one. For years now
trade unions and other progressive groups have
flooded the city hall with demands for a wider
vote. This week the CCF added a note to the pile,
maintaining that the basis of civic franchise
should be the provincial and federal voters’ list.

The council’s reaction was typical.

Mayor Cornett moved to refer the request to
a sub-committee.

Alderman George Buscombe wanted to “re-
fer it to the fire.”

Alderman -John Bennett said, irrelevantly,

’ Mark Haldane’s, the Paddy Tiern |

Spain was the first battlefrce-
in Europe. Fascism could have bee ,
—a world war averted. : t

The status of the men who -
men who are maimed and injure
of that first great fight—must be
status as veterans of the war ag
This is only justice. It is directly —
the fight to free the Spanish De |
fascist dictator Franco. : :

a8
i

N° people have suffered more ale

soldiers of the Spanish Repub*

News comes from England thed|
over two hundred Republicans—m,
with the Maquis in the liberatio
France are incarcerated as prison:
British POW camps. They wear t4
forms and receive the same treatm! 4)
prisoners working for 6d (12c) p
have managed to find a way
themselves, they have laboriously. |
gether materials to make the color
publican flag and sewn it to their |

It is almost ineredible to think —
that such treatment could be ae
gallant heroes of the fight for tro

Patterson’s, the Bill Tough’s, and a
carry their scars unacknowledged,
lives. |

From the battlefields of Spair }
of close to 600 ‘Canadians ring in pr
fcr this Yorky Burton, Scotty Pat.
Anderson; Frank Tupper — a hu
known to thousands of workers ac |
laid down their lives. 4

While these men are ill-treate |

Franco must go—Spain must be

The Veterans of Spain must b |
and “receive their due, including i
the maimed and wounded. This is ju

This is a job for the labor movi

that “Winnipeg is the only Canadian
open franchise”—whatever that w.
to prove. = ie

Alderman Buscombe added the ©
franchise would mean that people “7
‘property owners would be able to; }
forms—horrible thought. et

Mayor Cornett began to babble al {
charter again, and only Alderman - 7}
pointed out that when it comes to i
chise, Vancouver is decidedly behind |)
the country. :

And that was that.

ANYBODY who reads the daily —

will. have noticed, during - the |
months, huge newspaper advertisemei ~
by the organized building contractors £
Columbia. The ads maintain that, =
contractors are as fine a bunch of pu §
fellows as you’d want to meet; that ti -
tion to government housing projects |
altruistic, that they are, in fact, so
that they themselves are ready to t
job of providing homes for returned
singlehanded.

It all sounds very nice, of course. I |
tice, it doesn’t seem to work out s

“Sure we'll build yo
small detail we |
tioned till now. You’re going to
through the nose.”

In New Westminster this wee
thing occurred on a larger scale, wher
for 50 homes for servicemen was —
The reason? Well, four city contractor
the city council that unfortunately ¢
were not going to be big enough.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 2¢