SES imence wkers’ Educational,As- | will commence its third | night classes for wor- week, Claude Donald,. irector, informed: Old timers will learn with re- gret of the death of . David (Dave) Birnie, whose funeral took place last Tuesday. In 1932-3, he was secreary of the Communist party and was ac- tive in all party activities for about fifteen years. He took part in the Winnipeg General strike, being a streetcar metor- man there at the time. He was a veteran of the first World: War and in the past few years was unable te play much part in the labor movement through sickness resulting from wounds received in France. He was born in Aberdeen, Scot- land, 65 years ago and had been in B.C. since shortly after the Winnipeg Strike. He was an en- thusiastie checker player and had many friends among the local checker clubs. Ato are the top monopolies, such as General Electric, General Motors, | Anaconda, Standard Oil of New Jersey and Ford. Most of these investments were made in connection with the stabilization of Germany aft- ter her first defeat, when allied funds poured into the country to restore her industrial power. At the same time, the cartel most two million of American arrangements were made be- tween German, American and British monopolists which per- sisted up to the present war and in part still persist. BIG BUSINESS AIMS \. W. JOHNSON | Columbia Avenue Vancouver, B.C. LOGGERS — HIKERS WORK AND DRESS SHOES. FOR MEN AND BOYS c Low Overhead Saves Vou Maney 3 — PACIFIC ADVOCATE American Big Business is in- terested, of course, not only in eafeguarding these investments but in extending its hold over the German economy. Both aims demand the rehabilitation of German big industry and of the monopolies, in which the Am- erican magnates seek to in- crease their share of: control at the expense of both the German and British monopolists. The report of experts seeks to attain this end. In steel, for ex- ample, the American experts have come around to favoring a yearly production of ten million tons. This compares with the omacy British position favoring _eleven milion tons, while the Soviet Union wants steel production re- duced to three million tons per year. Although the Anglo-Am- erican figure is much below the 25,000,000 wartime capacity of Germany, it is double the Ger- ‘man steel production in 1932, when Germany consumed only four milion tons annually and exported another million and a half. The control of the industry is highly concentrated. The Vere- inigte Stahlwerke — equivalent of the U.S. Steel Corp —alone controls about 40 percent of the industry. together with the other leading steel trusts, such as Krupps and the Hermann Goering Works, the steel mag- nates control a whole monopoly network, including some 70 per- cent of coal production and most of the gas supply. They play a leading role in the cement, elec- trie power synthetic petroleum, armament machine motors and machine-tool industries. STEEL AND CHEMICALS The steel trust is also closely owns a 12 percent interest in Vereinigte Stahlwerke. Controd- ling blocks of stock were held by the Reich government; and this linked with I. G. Farben, which™ presents the possibility for tak- ing over the trusts, should any- one be disposed that way The steel magnates were also among the leading supporters of the Nazi movement, and during the war, extending their holdings throughout Europe. Thus, manipulations are under way to restore German heavy industry, which means also the restoration of the monopoly structure in Western Germany and the danger of a resurgent German imperialism. Hand in hand with this, there develops the anti-Soviet bloe policy, exemplified by De Gaulle’s appeal for friendship to Rhineland Germans, the British “labor” policy of a Western Eur- opean bloe based on ‘ socialist’ governments, and the Anglo- American atempt to bolster psuedo-Nazi and_ reactionary forces in their German zones. In the midst of all this, Am- erican Big Capital, with diplo- matic support aimed at revers- ing Potsdam, is in 2 full-scale struggle to win a dominant posi- tion in Western Germany and in a Western European bloc, should this materialize. This is the main cause of the present crisis among the Big Three. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1945 + ene