No. 7.

5 Cents

Vancouver, B.C:, Friday, April 5, 1946
_ Formerly PACIFIC ADVOCATE

u

tiz
an e

"he Federal Government

wpsented by the
mil of the CCL the brief lays
prob-

executive

‘al emphasis on the
fof maintaining full employ-
and increasing income
Drawing attention to the
nding contribution of Can-
workers to wartime pro-

n the brief asks “why
lessens learned during:
Pwar should not be ap-

in peacetime, and why a
which could build ships:
Holanes and tanks of vast
atricate proportions cannot
@ the simplest type of homes,
imake provision for decent
4rds of living.”

Ssmmending abolishment of
artime Wages and Control
and of the War Tabor
& both national and reg-
the Congress stated that
from the defects of the
order and the unsatisfac—
“personnel of the NWiLB,
/is no longer any need for
B ccntrol in Canada and that
ime to return to the normal

i z Sane
ss of collective bargaining.

is felt,’ the brief continued,

GL. Brief Advances
fages, Jobs Program

was informed this week that

Sanadian Congress of Labor has adopted a wage policy
bg for a general wage increase for the purpose of pro-
sz a higher standard of living.

“that in- view of the advances in
industrial production made dur-

[Continued on Page 38]
See CCL BRIEF

Billion For
Homes - TLC

TORONTO, Ont.—The ‘Toronto
and District Trades and Labor
Council, largest AFI. council in
the Dominion, last week went on
record calling upon the federal
government to provide one billion
dollars to build low-cost homes
as part of a national housing pro-
gram.

The urgent request of the TLC
delegates was expressed in the
unanimous adoption of a report
of the legislative committee of
the council. The report petitioned
the federal authority to estab-
lish a housing commission im-
mediately, and as a first step to

undertake a program to build 50,-
000 homes.

py Scare

Excuse For

Ignoring Home Needs

Speaking at an Ottawa LPP meeting last week Con-

troller Stewart Smith
Government spent its energies

ironically

remarked, “If the King?
on housing, it would have a

much better foreign policy.’ More fact than fiction!

Two reactions by Prime Min- |
ister’ King this week throw light
on this paradox, observers here
believe. On Tuesday the Nation-
al delegation of the LPP led by
Buck tried in vain to present
its brief on housing and the na-
tion-wide petition signed by 200,-
000 citizens. The Prime Minister
wouldn’t see them. Not even a
lowliest cabinet minister to ex-

is
oi

teek Phoney Elections

ve Reaction “‘Majority”’

a Regardless of the widespread demands for postponement
die Greek national elections last week, these were forced

> elections were completely
ytted by all sections of the
the Communists, Socialists,
tance movements and left
Bais. The elections were car-
Geout under conditions of vir-
: terror. Police and military
© fully mobilized at the polls,
lin the factories the employers
# every form of intimidation
seak the people’s boycott of
Seeclections. Early estimates
that less than 55% of the
jieorate voted.

tic National Liberation Move-
=, HLAS, with which is as-
Geited all the people of the
Eix resistance movement, Com-

igh as planned by the Greek pro-fascist and royalist
Fes, supported by the Bevin-Byrnes forces.

munists, Socialists, trade union-
ists, ete., have already asserted
that the elections were conducted
under conditions which give them
no validity. They declare that
any government which may em-
erge out of this election can only
be a government of reaction, com-
posed of Greek quislings and
Nazi collaborators.

Royalist circles see in the re-
sults of the election a big pos-
sibility of returning, the mon-
archy to Greece. A “plebiscite” to
this effect is already being mooted
by the reactionaries in Athens

and London.

tend government courtesy to a
petition which was the result of
energetic public effort!

On the same day Mr. Buck
answered a question about the
spy investigation to a sizeable
press conference. “The most im-
pressive fact revealed to date,”
he said, “is that Canada held out
against a hard-pressed ally.” He
was referring to technical infor-

any. legislative program for labor,
the feeling was beceming, preva-
lent that labor’s demands were
being sidetracked.

The strengthened bloc in the
B.C. legislature, plus the pressure
of Big Business against any new
labor legislation, gave good
eause for such concern on the
part of organized labor.

The granting of a 44-hour week
in place of labor’s demand for a
40-hour week; the one weeks’
holiday with pay, with its many
limitations, disqualify many B.C.
wage-earners from benefitting by
its provisions, while the Work-

To New Post

mation—the high explosive RDX
and radar, which might have
made a tremendous contribution
to the war effort of the USSR.
Mr. Buck recalled the desperate
back-to-the-wall days of Stalin-
erad, “How many lives might
this have saved—yes, I refer not
only to Russian but to Canadian
lives.” He wanted Canadian par-
ents, wives and children—all Ca-
nadians—to think of what we
ourselves paid in dead because
such information was withheld
from our Ally.

This time the Government re-
sponded, Mr. King spoke in reply
to Mr. Buck’s statement in the
House. He referred to the “nine-
ty-seven million dollars’ worth
of munitions and supplies sent to
the Soviet Union in one year (lit-
erally enough to Keep the Soviet
war machine going: for 10 hours).
But he studiously avoided any
mention of the absence of techni-
éal information.

[Continued on Page 38]

See SPY SCARE

The Provincial Hxecutive of the
LPP anounce the appointment of
Chas. (Chuck) Saunders, as party

organizer in the , Kootenays.
“Chuck” Saunders was editor of
the “Pacific Advocate” prior to
that paper being replaced by the
“Pacific Tribune.” Before coming
to the “PA” he was president of
the Ship and Dock Workers’
Union in Vancouver, and active
in local trade union circles.
Chas. Saunders is a veteran of
the McKenzie-Papineau Battalion
of the International Brigades,
and served two years in Spain
with that gallant organization.
Comrade Saunders will take up
his new duties immediately and
for the next few weeks will work
in Trail. His many friends and
comrades in Yancouver wish him
every success in this new field,
and he is assured of the warm
cooperation of the working class
movement in the Kootenays. On
his new job Comrade Saunders
will remain as staff correspond-

ent of the “Pacifie Tribune.”

BOR’S PROGRAM CLIPPED

Gov't Legislation Far
Below Demands Listed
In Joint Labor Brief

The announcement of Labor Minister Pearson on March
28th that legislation would be submitted to the B.C. House,
providing for a statutory 44-hour week, one week's annual
‘holiday with pay, and a number of important changes to the
Workmen’s Compensation Act, broke the tension in labor
circles. Owing to the government’s delay in bringing down

men’s Compensation amendments
—good in themselves, do not
square with Labor’s demand for
100 percent compensation for in-
jured and crippled workers.

The sidetracking of labor’s de-
mand for a 60c per hour mini-
mum wage in BC, with the
argument that “B.C. had de-
veloped (under existing minimum
wage regulations) the highest
and most uniform standard of
wages in Canada” is not in ac-
cordance with fact.

The labor brief presented to
the Cabinet in February of this
year, listed a great deal of needed
labor legislation, some 20 points
in all, which the report of the
minister ignores entirely. The
bulk of the demands are brushed
aside with the ministerial warn-
ing that “the uncertainty of eco-
nomic conditions immediately
ahead of uS and the necessity of
Suarding against action which
might make rehabilitation and
reconstruction more difficult.”

In the labor legislation brought
down, the Coalition has weather-
ed the session with a minimum
of concessions. Labor has won 2
partial victory, but the main
battle for improved standards is
still to be joined. Rehabilitation
and reconstruction will remain
difficult so long as wage stand-
ards are far below living costs, as
they are in most basic industries
in B.C. The government has not

[Continued on Page 8]
See LEGISLATION

Fighting Fund
For Ship Union

Shipyard workers moved for-
ward in their fight for increased
wages and the shorter work week
as they approved a plan to double

their dues for the next two
months in order to establish a
fighting fund. In addition an

honor roll will be set up for vol-
untary donations by the member-
ship. This decision was taken at
the membership meeting of the
Marine and Boilermakers indus-
trial union this week.

Malcolm MacLeod, chairman of
the Joint Shipyard Conference,
which embraces all of the unions
in the shipyards has announced
the ealling of a special meeting
of that organization, to coordin-
ate action, and work out joint
policy. Meantime, officials of the
Shipyard General Workers Hed-
eration (CCL), will visit Victoria
and Rupert prior to the calling
of a B.C. conference of shipyard
workers.