isband Niagara anti-labor police!

lief submitted to the Niagara Regional Council by the tinsula Committee of the Communist Party of Canada)

¥ eppear before you today fy the existence and use ih Wagara Regional Police ln, Task Force. ite first public an- aa of the exstence of fr. . on June 5, 1971 the illist candidate in Lincoln »Mr, John Clout, wrote a ,0 the St. Catharines ln, 22 Which he said the ving: 7” €xactly what demon- tal p Is this Niagara Re- m cllice Force emergency ae to put down? ley mean the art of de-

Ons: carried out by a Who is picketing against , t corporation for a

me dollars in his pocket

improve life to some Rinece for himself and his

t iin

toy “i

#29 on the picket line of 4 berly-Clark operations , om Task Force did its

: the first time and bore mi "'ophecy made by Mr.

* * *

Ie : ¥ . Surely permitted to Nh a ompted the creation ime force at this particu- %i, 4.0 this particular area. PR, © fact that the regional Hb ase overloaded and a OM. ‘0 be found to spend OY se © excess money? This ‘ MS to be disproved by of of

AXA

my Hation of this year’s tira Ich went up by almost hiljgn O_ $22 million’ to Ps, 2, 2 Major part of the iM, - Dein ‘ PTS tole & for just such a

a . ft bey because of a history

} hd ‘mobs” “riots” or | fe Of control” situa- PM; Ne Niagara area. What

wh ag can be recited in f stons WoO decades of such tt re M the Peninsula that i ee the creation of : Ce at such a cost to ‘ty aa We challenge this NG Th Name ai single in- te Worke, first instance of at €r confrontation has Nm the Kimberly-Clark Rengy cisely where the x ap force made its first Were atance. : - Of coincidence, or witong ore than coincidence, ig LO bag Zens awoke a few ht Dol to discover that a i hlshe Ice force had been Mn that city and viol- ine Ushered in on the Likewit Taxpack in Brant- #Isitce © there has been no Win .°! violence of any t city for at least

q ae

“than two months later,

A tery Regional Police herding scabs at Kimberly-Clark.

two decades. (Although there

has. been some evidence of -

police corruption.) * *

It is evident that the creation of these “special police forces” is part of an overall provincial plan and it is equally evident that:they are strategically locat- ed in areas where mass indus- try and large unions exist.

Taken together with a de- teriorating economic situation and a growing demand for wage freeze and for workers to tight- en their belts, it is a fair as- sumption that in anticipation of increasing plant closures, lay- offs, mass unemployment and all the attendant miseries, the police are being geared to run interference for big corpora- tions, to turn disputes between workers and companies into confrontation with the police, with the state.

* * *

We must draw the attention of this Council to an alarming trend of police forces across this country to push for exten- sions of their powers to the point where it threatens the en- tire democratic fabric of Cana- dian society. Beginning with the infamous Attorney General Fred Cass and extending since, throughout the entire police sys- tem in Ontario, and indeed

across Canada, there has been, «:

an open public struggle between democratic-minded Canadians and police spokesmen who are relentlessly pressing to substi- tute police coersion for demo- cratic processes. Ss

We must remind this council of its overriding responsibility to protect the people against such pressures. :

We would also remind you that your very composition, lacking as it is an adequate re- presentation of the working people from the shops, offices and farms of this community, makes it doubly necessary for you to check whatever impuls- es might thus arise to use your offices to circumvent the time tested principles of collective bargaining through extended use of police.

We must also issue the fol- lowing warning. Whatever may be the motivation. of those of you who voted for the estab- ishment of the special force in the Niagara Peninsula, the final effect of this force will be to bring the police into open hos- tility with the producers of wealth in this area. It © will weaken the authority of the police to carry out the func-

ao

tions which ought to be their lot, and invite and encourage the very anarchy in whose name the force was set up in the first instance. % a a

The incidence of crime in our country, including the infiltra- tion of the Mafia into the busi- ness world, the literal fusion of crime money with “legitimate” business, the impact of the drug culture on crime patterns cer- tainly confront. our crime pre- vention agencies with a mas- sive challenge, one which they are not meeting too well in our opinion. It is all the more alarming therefore, that in these circumstances such large sums of public money should be spent for a special police force which is in no way aimed at such cri- minals but at the very people who produce the wealth which makes life possible in modern society.

Gentlemen, we draw your at-"

tention to the deep-going chang- es which are’ taking place in people’s attitudes. We suggest to you that the majority of Canadians mow question the right of corporations to close down, phase out, shut up, or behave in a Way which threat-

‘ens entire communities, simply

because it is not profitable for them to: continue operation.

In these circumstances we ask you what would be the function of ‘your special police force if the workers of McKin- non Industries were to find it necessaary to take the same action as the shipyard workers on the Clydeside. In the name of the protection of private property would they perform the same as they did on the Kimberly-Clark picket line?

* * *

In summary we view the es- tablishment of the Niagara Em- ergency Task Force as part of an overall provincial extension

eae

ROME — The _ unilateral measures taken by the USS. president “are one of the most salient aspects of the present monetary and _finan- cial crisis, through which inter- national capital is trying, by at- tacking their living conditions, to make workers in the indus- trialized countries carry the bur- den of the contradictions inher- ent in itself,’ says the joint statement on the monetary crisis made by the three Italian trade union federations.

‘Faced with this situation, the CGIL, the CISL and the UIL “are convinced that specific ac- tion by working people and their trade unions on a European scale is more necessary than ever, to defend the present level of wages and employment . . oa

French Position

“This crisis,” declares the Bu- reau of the French General Con- federatioh of Workers, “has been caused by incurable ills in the capitalist system...

“In these circumstances, trade union solidarity of workers in the capitalist world, and espe- cially in Western Europe, 1S as- suming major importance .. .

“There must be no confusion of the interests of labor and capital in the name of national

solidarity .- -

of the powers of the police to attack the democratic rights of workers, farmers and all citi- zens struggling against the growing economic crisis in On- tario.

@ We object to the use of taxpayers money to pursue such aims.

e We ask that this council move immediately to disband the Emergency Task Force and to ensure to the people of the Niagara Peninsula -that police forces will not be used to sup- press dissent or coerce or inti- midate people in pursuit of whatever changes are _ neces- sary to satisfy their economic and social needs.

e That those responsible for introducing police provocateurs and spies on the picket line at the Kimberly-Clark strike be punished and exposed.

Vandals at

e That all charges laid against workers arising from police pro- vocations and brutality on the Kimberly-Clark picket line be dropped.

* * *

We make the above submis- sion not with any particular malice to this Council but be- cause we consider the issue a major democratic matter which requires strong language and strong action. You may choose to disregard our opinions and continue the course which you are presently travelling. If so we would only warn you will have to live with-such a deci- sion and answer to the people of this area who, when they fully understand the nature and role of the Emergency Task Force, will rise in mass indig- nation against it and those re- sponsible for its existence.

Bookworld

were political thugs

The Bookworld Management Committee issued the following press release last week:

“Last Friday night or Satur- day morning, Bookworld in -To- ronto was forcibly entered.

“Between 600 and 700 vol- umes of works by Karl Marx, Frederick Engels, and V. I. .Len- in were destroyed by being sub- merged in water in a bathtub and sinks on the second fioor. Water overflowing into the book store did further exten- sive damage to the ceiling and to books on shelves below.

“Over $3,000 worth of dam- age was done, less than half of which will be covered by insur- ance.

“The police were notified at once.

“The singling out of these particular -books for destruction is a clear act of political van- dalism.

“The management committee of Bookworld points out that this outrage is part of a pattern of ultra-right violence that has been going on in this city for some time. That pattern in- cludes the disruption and riot- ing started by the Edmund

‘Burke Society at public gather-

ings including the celebration of the Lenin Centennial in the spring of 1970, the meeting for William Kuntsler in Convoca- tion Hall in June 1970, the use of mace against by-standers at a teach-in on the Quebec crisis last December. It includes the brutal attack this July on a

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1971—PAGE 9

Chinese bookstore and its man- ager, Mr. Howe Kai. It includes the recent pasting on Book- world as well as other left-wing stores of a provocative sticker Have you killed a Communist Today? Do it Now, which is be- ing issued from the Edmund Burke Society headquarters.

“The development of fascism in every country has always in- cluded the emergence of such gangs of storm troopers using extra-legal violence against the democratic forces. It has always included the burning and de- struction ‘of books. Goebbels said: ‘When I hear the word culture, I reach for my re- volver.’

“The Bookworld Management Committee appeals to all de- mocratic and freedom loving people in Toronto to demand in unison that the Metropolitan Toronto Police and the Attor- ney-General of Ontario act at once to stamp out these dan- gerous outcroppings of fascism, to bring its perpetrators to jus- tice, and to press for the max- imum prison sentences to re- move these fascist elements from the community they are seeking to destroy.”

FASCIST BOAST Paul Fromm, Edmund Burke spokesman, in reply. to press queries, is quoted as saying, “If it had been us, we would have done it properly. It would have been the whole store .. .”