French Canada ~~ Is for peace

HERE is widespread and deep- going opposition in French Can- ada to the sending of Canadian troops to Korea. The breadth of the Sentiment for peace is shown by the endorsement of the Stockholm Ap- peal by the mayors and councillors of no less than 74 Quebec municipal- ities, in the stand of the St. Jean Baptiste Society against the gov- ernment’s war policy, and in. the anti-war activity of such influential groups as the Union des’ Electeurs (Social Credit).

The only\ voices raised in the House of Commons in opposition to Canadian involvement in the war in Korea ‘were those of three MP’s

‘from French Canada. Their. stand

Was an expression of the historic tradition of the French Canadian people, of struggle against partici- pation in foreign wars, against 1m- Perialism and conscription.

For generations the people of French Canada have fought against

participation in the foreign wars of British imperialism. (Rapidly widen-

‘ing circles of them are realizing

now that the policy of the St. Lau- rent government is aimed at involv- ing them in a foreign war for Yan- kee imperialism; and to help Amer- ican imperialists to fasten on Can- ada the yoke that decrepit and stag- gering British imperialism was not strong enough to maintain. Thus, in French Canada opposition: to the war policy being pursued by the St. Laurent government is part of the people’s struggle to win the right to determine their own national des- tiny. The development and broad ex- tension of the movement for peace in French Canada is of crucial im- portance to the struggle to take Canada out of the war camp.

The people of French Canada wantepeace. They demand the na- tional right to decide through their own elected representatives what shall. be the stand of French Canada on any question which involves the issue of Peace or War; they de- mand the right of French Canada not to be coerced into war against the will of its people.

2

Tasks of the LPP in the struggle for peace and Canadian independence

Pee supieme need of Canada is the defeat of the drive to take

b , an- Our country into war, To keep Ca

ada out of war means to restore and uphold our national SOveUSISD ty. It means winning national, pol- cies based squarely upon the inter- ests of Canada’s people. It sce replacing the government s utes War program by a program ‘une upon plans for peace: plans to a gain our independence, take cana

out of the war camp. and strengthen the world camp which 1s ne Rte for the United Nations Charter an

a secure and lasting peace. To those ‘high and supremely Canadian aims this convention pledges al! the en- ergy of the Labor-Progressive Par-

ty, and directs its membership to_

the following tasks. Build the united front in action

| Wage As the coalition, at the ee of the four parties of imperial ism, the LPP calls for the building of united front action from below. Against the Yankee militarization of our country, the LPP fights for the broadest alliance of all patriotic forces in French and English-speak-

Ing Canada — for peace and Cana-

Nan independence! _ : _ The first condition for the build-

ing of unity from below 1s concrete-

ness: initiating specific action on Specific issues. The place to start 1s

‘Wherever:a Communist meets with his fellow workers. The issues to

Start on are those democratic issues

Upon which his fellow workers are

Willin to act. Sil The benoue condition is flexibility. ur job is to lead struggles. ayd to do so we must guard against sec- tarian narrowness which poses ac-

— feptance of the Communist program a8 a “condition” of united action on

Immediate needs. At the same time

We combat all opportunist passivity,

all underestimation of the great oe Sibilities of united action, and of the Workers’ militancy and readiness to

steht.

® The central, urgent task that this

convention places ‘before the entire |

party is to develop united action

now — for peace, democracy, the

ecohomic needs of the people, and Canadian independence! bias

Build, extend fhe peace movement

HE LPP wholehearedly supports the organized peace movement headed by the Canadian Peace Con- gress, and pledges to redouble its efforts to draw ever-wider circles of peace-loving Canadians into ac- tion for peace. In every locality and industry the LPP will strive to

build peace committees in thé plants”

and neighborhoods and camps. The party will work in support of the organization of public meetings, for- ums, discussions in unions and peo- ple’s organizations, cultural activ- ities, and democratic public actions

~— to greet and make known to

Canadians the historic decisions of

the World Peace Congress in Shei- field and Warsaw. —

Withdraw our

troops from Korea —

HE LPP has campaigned from the T outset against the commitment by St. Laurent of Canadian forces

to the U.S. invasion of Korea. The

LPP calls upon all democratic Cana- dians, all friends of peace, ‘to de- mand the withdrawal of our troops and naval and air force units from Korea! No Canadian lives for Wall

Street’s war of aggression against :

the peoples of Asia!

Recognize Chinese People’s Republic

pe LPP condemns the reckless

‘adventurist policy of provocation

in Asia pursued by MacArthur and

Truman and backed by the St. Lau-

-

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rent government. The party will strengthen its campaign for the recognition by Canada of the Peo- ple’s Republic of China, and the seating o1 its representatives in the security Council.

- Answer, expose fhe warmongers

T IS the task of the LPP system-

atically to expose and combat the Big Lie of the warmongers !—that Canada is threatened with “aggres- sion” by the socialist Soviet Union; that it is the land of socialism that wants war, while Wall Street’s Am- erica is a dove of peace; that the liberation movements of the work- ing class and colonial peoples, and the victorious USSR and People’s Democracies represent “totalitarian- ism,” while the gangster rule of the Yankee Almighty Dollar is “demo- cracy.. LPP members have the task of patiently and systematically ex- plaining the truth to the people — that a new war is not inevitable, that it can be prevented, and that as Stalin has repeatédly made plain, peaceful co-existence of the socialist and capitalist system is fully pos- sible — provided there is a will to peace and provided the peoples act to preserve peace.

No conscription - Hands off youth

HE LPP condemns the shameful deal whereby Canadian boys are delivered as cannon fodder to the

' Yankee war machine. in exchange

for profitable war contracts to Cana- dian corporations, The LPP op- posés the militarization of the schools, the ideological and physical preparation of a whole generation of young Canadians for war in the service of Wall Street. The party will give. leadership to the wide- spread opposition to the looming threat of conscription, and support fully the fight of the youth for opportunity and training to live in- stead of training to kill!

Defend Canadian independence

T IS the task of the LPP to

arouse patriotic Canadians to a realization of the shameful fact that our country is being reduced to the status of a military, economic and political dependency of the U.S. It is our task to arouse the wrath of Canadians against the pillage of our country’s resources, the poisoning of our cultural life, the trampling of our sovereign independence and popular liberties, by the Yankee brasshats and billionaires. We must arouse righteous anger and burning contempt for Washington’s slavish and subservient*yes-men in Ottawa,

who sell our country to a foreign -

power in return ‘for a share in American imperialist war profits.

The LPP fights for the abrogation \

of the North Atlantic war pact, and of the new measures to integrate

our -economy with Wall Street’s

war program, and iilitarize our country for aggressive war. ‘Take the Yankee military forces out of Canada — stop the drive to war!

Welfare, nof warfare - Slop profiteering

THE LPP leads the fight against.

the St. Laurent. billion-dollars- a-year war budget — and demands in its stead the things the Liberal government falsely pledged itself to introduce: a national health and hos- pitalization plan, higher old_age pen-

‘

sions starting at 65 with no means test, more adequate unemployment insurance, higher pensions for the blind and for veterans, financing ot higher education for workers’ chil- dren — and the building of homes instead of bombs! i

In place of the government’s cyni-

- cal scheme to make the workers and

farmers pay the cost of the U.S.- dictated war program, the LPP de- mands that the government tax the rich!

To stop the brazen profiteering of the big monopolists, the LPP fights for the imposing of a 100 per- cent excess profits tax. To keep the prices of essential foods within reach of the purchasing power of wage and small salary earners the LPP advocates the re-institution of con- sumer subsidies wherever necessary to meet this need.

Full employment and peace

THE LPP rejects and condemns the argument that production for war is the only alternative to econ- omic crisis and mass unemployment, It is criminal to deceive the people into believing that full employment can be maintained only by war. The Canadian people can have full em- ployment producing for peaceful construction, raising our own living standards as a result, whenever we compel the government to change its trade policy. A third of all man- kind wants to trade with us. They . could buy more Canadian products every year for peaceful construction and rising standards of life than all that will be produced for destruc- tion at Canadian taxpayers’ expense under the St. Laurent government’s war program, The Soviet Union alone could buy half a billion dol- lars’ worth of Canadian products every year. People’s China wants machine tools, machinery of all sorts. locomotives, rolling stock, steel rails, etc., in almost unlimited quantities. Those markets will grow every years for many years to come. The LPP fights for Canadian par- ticipation in those great and grow- ing markets, for re-establishment of Canada’s right and freedom of ac- tion to direct her own trade policies. We condemn the arrangement which now binds Canada to supply raw materials to the U.S. and sell to

other countries only with the con- -sent of Washington.

Canada must sell-her products te every, democratic country that wants to buy them and we should buy from any democratic country which has products that we need. The LPP will fight to re-establish trade between Canada and the 300 million people of the new world of people’s democracies and socialism.

Higher Wages - Now

EC LPP fully supports the wide- spread and growing demands of the workers for wage increases, to meet the rising living costs brought on by the government’s war pro-- gram. The LPP warns against the deceptive propaganda spread “by right-wing CCF leaders in favor of price controls instead of wage in- — creases. Big business and the gov- ernment will only institute price controls together with a wage freeze — and as part of an overall system of militarization of the —

economy. -

Build and defend

the unions =

TY? MEET the big business war of-_ fensive against labor’s rights and

living standards, the LPP calls upon | Canadian workers to defend the ae