ee

Isberg

epresentative Bod
_ Enthusiastic applause greeted the unanimous re-election
Fergus McKean as provincial leader of the Labor-Progres-

re Party at the Satutday afternoon session of the party
pavention held in the Hotel Vancouver, December 8 and 9.

Nominating McKean, delegate
secel -Morgan International
ard member of the TWA point-
® to the leader’s background of
flitant struggle and service to
}> people over a period of years.
ferring to the splendid leader-
p of MeKean he pointed to the

> Ruth Turner, Margaret
Black, Tom Parkin and Nigel
Morgan from Vancouver Centre;
Pereus McKean, Erling -Bjarn-
son, Vi McCrae, Harold Pritchett
and Lawrence Anderson from

—C€ontinued on Page 16

FERGUS McKEAN

luence of B

mn

Greetings from Tim Buck,

Progressive Party, and from

zes Strength —
.C. Labor

national leader of the Labor- -

the LPP national executive

were brought to the second annual convention of the Be
LPP last week by J. B. Salsberg, nationally known trade
union leader and Ontario MPP:

Salsberge paid a slowing tri-
bute to the role of the LPP in
British Columbia, to its leader-
ship in the building up of the
powerful trade union movement
in the province and to the im-
portant influence of this labor
movement in determining: the fu-
ture of B.C.

_ The trade union movement
‘of B.C.,’ he said, “now con-
stitutes the outstanding single
B.C. facter that is capable of
exercising national influence

_ through the constructive role

that it can play in shaping

Far, concise, and down to earth,
PB ynote address,.as indicative of
| grasp of problems confront-
+ B.G. in the postwar.

LPP Secon

Scene of |

‘The following members were
@cted to the Provincial Com-
‘tee: Arthur Brown, repre-
Moitinge the Cariboo; Al Dew-
Erst, Comox-Alberni; Sam Ene-

Fimo; Hal Griffin, Charles Ste-
frt, Roy Lavigne and Jack
feenall, New Westminster;
@d Bruce Mickleburgh repre-
Pating Skeena.

over 150 delegates, representing
55 Labor-Preeressive Party
Clubs from every corner of the
province, In their ranks, they
Van-| represented the cross section of

PMembers from Greater

iver include Minerya Cooper,| cur people. the shipyard and
Bex Gordon, William Rigby, El-| lumber workers, fishermen and
1 Ruddeli, Jean Mason, Coray|miners, farmers and ‘business-
mpbell, from Vancouyer-Bur-| men, professional workers and
rd; Mona Morgan, Walter| students, women workers and
uwrycki, Nick Kopatic, John | housewives.

—Sunday Photos. |

Pictured above are a few of the out-of-town dele-
gates attending the second annual Labor-Progressive
Party Convention in the Hotel Vancouver, December
8 and 9. Reading from left to right are Martin Loveng,
club secretary at Grassy Plains: from Kamloops, Mona
Chester, one of the youngest delegates attending the
M onvention: Carl Gray, who flew all the way from

Whitehorse to attend his first LPP conv nul now a
member of the Provincial Committee: Mrs. Clara ae
active member of the Fernie Club; Sam ee ast
Kootenay Organizer and member of the eens, om-

® nittee for the coming year; Mickey oe u ee
tary of the Ladysmith Club; and George Anderson trom
the miners’. stronghold of Copper Mountain.

df

nterest a
fa, Harold Roemer and Harvey _ By DARSHAN S. SANGHA

ogressive Party held its second annual convention

: : : ver on December 8 and 9.
ish Columbia this was an event of tremendous importance.,

For dSistory itself was made-by |

birphy for Hast Kootenay;|_ The BC. Section of the Labor-Pr
fnry Godd, Frank Halverson,|in the Mayfair Hall of the Hotel Wancou
rmloops; George Hauk, Na-

Annual

Conv:

ntion

In the history of Brit-

DELEGATES

Among the ‘delegates present
was the keen and young sixteen-
year old Port Alberni delegate,
Tom MacDonald. Beside him sat
grey haired, kind-faced and
warm hearted 61-year old Angus
Campbell, veteran of the Labor
Movement for 36 years and now
the standard bearer of the LPP
for Yale Federal constituency.
There was also-present the al-
most legendary fighter of Nanai-
mo and Cumberland miners’
struggles, Sam English, who is

now the United Mineworkers’
vice-chairman at Crows Nest.
Carl Grey, a youthful busi-

ness man, flew all the way down
from Whitehorse, Yukon Terri-
tory, to attend the convention.

Looking at the delegates and
surroundings, Old Bill Bennett,
said, “We have come a long way.
in the great step from the con-
ventions held in the chicken
coops and garrets of Toronto in
1922 to the Hotel Vancouver in
1944.” ’

The convention was declared
open by Charles Stewart,- labor
leader and business eagent for
the Street Railwaymen’s Union,
who has devoted his life to the
cause of the working people.

KEEN ENTHUSIASM -

During the first hours of de-
liberation, keenest enthusiasm
was created in the conyention
by the comprehensive keynote
speech of the Provincial Leader,
Fergus McKean, calling for a
mass campaign for the public
ownership of the B.C. Hlectric;
the development of steel and
secondary industries, for full em-
ployment in the postwar and a
democratic coalition covernment
against the threat of Tory reac-
tion. Delegate after delegate
rose to the floor stressing the
need for public power, rehabili-
tation. jobs and full social se-
curity. The words, “This is the

most down to earth program we
ever had. It meets the needs of
our people,” were on the lips of
everybody present. A young lady,
member of the LPP and the
LYF, a visitor to the convention,
enthusiastically remarked to me,
“This convention demonstrates
the thorough understanding our
party has of our people.” :
FORCEFUL ADDRESS

In the afternoon J. B. Sals-
bere, MPP from Ontario and a
member of the National Commit-
tee of the LPP. delivered a very
forceful and comprehensive ad-
dress on the National and Inter-
national situation and the tasks
facing the labor movement. Pay-
ing tribute to the work of the
LPP in BC. he=said, “The in-
fiuence of the BC Party, under
the present able leadership, ex-
tends far beyond the borders of
BC, it extends throughout the
length and breadth of Canada.”

GREETINGS FROM &
ALBERTA
James -MePherson, the Pro-

vinecial LPP Leader from Alber-
ta, brought greetings from’ the
party of that province. He paid
warm tribute to the British Co-
lumbia party for its remarkable
work in the labor field.

Referring to the national role
of the Social Credit Party, Mc-
Pherson pointed out that some
of the statements of the Social
Credit leaders were definitely
anti-Semetic, anti-United Na-
tions, and pro-fascist> He par-
ticularly referred to the recent
utterances of Solon Low.

During the night session and
ail the next morning lively dis-
cussions continued in the various
panels. A great oyation was
given to Stanley Morris of Vic-

toria, Secretary of the Greek
Democratic Society. when he
outlined the struggle of the

Greek National Liberation Front,
—Continued on Page 10

Canada’s national labor poli-
cies.”

TRIBUTE

“Nhe national leadership of the
Labor-Progressive Party,’ he

continued, “is proud of the role —

which you, our B.C. Party, has
played in the great achievement
of organizing 140,000 workers
into the trade union movement,
thereby making your province

the best organized of all others.

In this regard your Party. and
your -leadership stands for an
example to be emulated by. the
Party in the rest of the country.
That our B.C. Party played such

a role and that it is inseparably

linked with the broad masses of
organized workers of this proy-—
ince, is demonstrated by the «
prominent role which trade union
leaders play in the leadership
of the B.C. Party.”

The national executive mem-
ber also paid tribute to the
prominent place B.C. has at-
tained in the country during the
war. He pointed to the rapid
industrialization which has taken
place in the province and the
special position which it occu-

pies in relation to the WSA, the ~

USSR and as. “a gateway to a
new China, India and other colo-
nial and semi-colonial areas
whose populations- will require
more of the world’s goocs and
will contribute more to the wel-
fare of the world than ever be-
fore.”

REINFORCEMENTS

Dealing with the recent cam-
paign of disruption launched by
the Tories on the issue of rein-
forcements, Salsberge said that
the LPP “understood correctly
that a victory for the Tories on
this question would only not
solve the reinforcement problem,
but would put into the saddle of.
government a force that would
disrupt United Nations’ unity
and that would become a sup-
port for
Munichism everywhere. And we
imew that such a victory would-
not only harm our war effort,
would not only create bitter na-
tional strife, but that it would
also result in a return to the
hunery thirties.”

The speaker said there was no
everall problem of reinforce-
ments for our armed forces at
any time, but that recent de-
velopments in the war had proy-
ed that there had been mistakes
in the estimation of the role of
airpower by some “brass hats,”
with conseauent necessity now of
releasing thousands of men
from this branch of the service.

He declared that the crisis had
been foisted upon the country by
the Tories and a number of their
supporters among the officers of
the army. The King-McNaueh-
ton solution and its endorsation
by Parliament and the people
had been a victory for unity in
which the labor moyement had
played a vital part.

—Continued con Page 16

the last remnants of _