Perusing all the Indian papers I can lay hands on both from the United States and Canada and observing the comments of the non-Indian presses, I have gleaned quite a few slants on what is wrong with the Indian and how best to cope with their fourth rate citizenship in our North American Anglo-Saxon Society. No.l citizen is the Anglo-Saxon male; No.2 citizen is your Anglo-Saxon female, who despite the right to vote is still a second class citizen; the third class citizen is the Negro because he's fought his way to that position and for him I say hurrah! Fourth rate citizen is the North American Indian. Despite gestures of loans and facilities to better themselves educationally, the Indian is still the most neglected strata of our modern society.
They were herded onto Reservations all same game reserve. Their education was put into the hands of Missionaries and Churches, the most unrealistic, irresponsible and dreamy section of the Anglo-Saxon Society. The Indian Administration was occupied by people who did not give two hoots whether the Indian thrived or perished on his game reserve. He was allowed to hunt and fish on his Reserve, and a lot of good that did him with the white man's society mushrooming up all around him and making him look all the more an oddity on a Reserve.
One of the first things the Government of Canada did was substitute able Indian leaders with stooges, hand-picked by the Indian Bureau, to represent each tribe. Our people called them Government Chiefs or Indian Department chiefs. The Chieften class of the Indian people had not developed the greedy, oligarchic state their counter-parts had developed in Europe and Asia. They had their share of cruel autocrat chiefs but the general tribal rule was based on communal ownership. Much of the history which the Anglo-Saxon hands down to us today, is taken and judged from the time of white settlement, when liquor was introduced to the Indians and their behaviour corrupted by its use. The Potlatch, a very fine institution before the white man came, developed into a gift squandering affair, encouraged, by the fur traders, so that the Indians would buy more and more blankets to give away, from their trading posts and the Indians had to trap more furs to be able to buy the blankets to squander at a corrupted version of the Indian Potlatch.
Many people say "Why did the Indian allow the white man to outsmart him so?" That's easy! They came with the primary purpose of exploitation and exploit the Indian they did. Exploitation is easily applied and accomplished when you are dealing with a society of people, as were the Indians, with an entirely different social background and culture. However, if people don't think the Indians did not learn to hate this exploitation with the fur trade, should study the Indian wars; there were many and they were bitterly fought with substandard weapons bought from conniving pioneer business men who were out for one end only PROFIT and this "end" justified the means. The Indians in those pioneer days were hopelessly out-classed by the efficiently organized cut-throat methods developed and employed by the Europeans and today they are still hopelessly outclassed by the same methods, brought up-to-date.
In the interim, Indian children were put into boarding schools, to teach them the new way of life and by so doing, the Missionaries broke up the Indian family home. When they broke up the family home, they created a condition where the young people gradually grew away from respecting and minding their own elders and people in general. The white man's way of life was the criterion the young Indians abided by and they turned their backs on their own people and when about thirty years old they began to see the dividing line between Indians and whites and by that time the vigor and ambition of youth is spent and they don't know what to do
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Jerry LeBourdais
In my last article on automation carried in P.W. I dealt only with the problem as it concerned us Oil Workers, as well as how some of us were proposing to fight it. I would now like to explore the question of automation further.
Often I have heard workers say that the reason they were being layed off or demoted was because of a certain department manager, or the plant manager himself. This, except in the odd instance is not the reason. There is an explanation. Capitalism to exist must continually strive for maximum profits.
Today the capitalist monopolies are faced with a continually shrinking field for their exploitation. Approximately 1/3 of the world is now engaged in building socialism.
In these countries the door has been slammed in the face of the capitalist exploiters.
The National Liberation Movement in Africa, Asia and Latin America are directed towards socialism thereby continuing to further shrink the sources of plunder for the monopoly capitalists.
Capitalism on the other hand is faced with another serious problem. This is the contradictions between the different capitalist nations. For example let us look at the monopolies that affect us the Canadian workers most of all. These are of course the American capitalist monopolies and their junior partners here in Canada. Whereas after the second world war they pretty well held full sway, this is no longer the case. West German and Japanese capitalists are steadily fighting their way back into the world's markets. This also applies to such nations as Great Britain and France.
Not to be overlooked is the ever growing economics of the socialist countries who are also accounting for a steady growth in World trade. Due to these factors monopoly capitalism is in crisis. Faced with these problems and due to the economic necessity of obtaining maximum profits the North American capitalist class must tighten the screws on their own working class. This means that they must continue to derive ever more profit out of the hides of the workers. Hence we continue to see automation introduced at an ever increasing rate. Other systems are also obvious, such as, speed up on the job disregard of safety and a hundred and one ways of cost cutting and chiseling on our union contracts. Another reflection of this is the sharpening attack the bosses are launching against the workers' organizations the trade unions. Note the amount of anti-labour legislation and the use of injunctions to make strikes ineffective. The police and the courts are also being increasingly used against strikes and militant workers.
The laws of capitalist economics are such that this growing exploitation of the workers is bound to sharpen and it will become ever more vicious. The job of militant class conscious workers is to explain and point out these facts to their fel-
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It is somewhat ironical that there is no longer a direct flight to Cuba. This summer the Canadian Student Delegation to Cuba had to go through Mexico City. It is ironical because by stopping a direct route, it gave us a chance to compare the general living conditions of Cuba with those of another Latin — American country. To my knowledge, I understand that Cuba before the revolution was much more poverty-stricken than Mexico is or ever has been. Even though we didn't stay in Mexico for any length of time. we were all able to see the appalling condition in which the Mexican people live.
Our first morning in Mexico City is to me an unforgettable one. We left our hotel around 8:30 a.m. and began walking through the streets. Because our hotel was in the business section of town, one would not expect to see beggars, peddlars and generally — everything that spells poverty. However, it was absolutely impossible to ignore the state of the general public. Little children playing alongside of speeding traffic; little children with rags on their backs and nothing on their feet; filthy little children in search of food. Men and women holding out their hands pleading for a penny in order that they can continue to eat. This, however, was nothing to what we were to witness in the afternoon.
We chartered a bus to see the tourist attractions of this area. Everyone I'm sure knows a little of the history of Mexico - in many aspects it is fascinating to look at the pyramids which were all completely hand built hundreds of years ago. If you are idealistic you may let your imagination go. you may think of all the invasions and other historical events of long ago. Nevertheless, one can't help being a realist when confronted with such ugliness: 10 - 15 miles of absolute slums. Slums unimaginable unless seen by your own eyes. I think the word "slum" is complimenting the housing conditions. A great majority of all these houses are nothing but cardboard shelters where the people live together with the cows and chickens. Women wash their clothes in any dirty mud hole or creek. The little children, along with the rest of the family, are too busy grubbing for food to ever learn to read or write. The illiteracy rate for the country is almost 50%.
The average Mexican worker (those who do work) receives 10 pesos a day. Incidently, a Mexican peso is equal to 8 of our cents. How, may I ask, is a family of four or five suppose to exist on 80¢ a day?
Now, one may ask himself, why are the Cuban people now so much better off than the Mexican people? I feel the only answer lies in the social system. One social system consigns the majority to live in desperate poverty - the other to decent living and to a bright future. In Cuba we witness no poverty, no sickness no hunger. Cuba has gone ahead more in 5 1/2 years of socialism, than it did in 60 years of U.S. private enterprise. Cuba
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TO: Mr. Ernest Hall,
Provincial Executive Committee
New Democratic Party.
Dear Mr. Hall:
The undersigned are in receipt of a letter signed by you on behalf of the provincial executive. This communication sets forth a resolution calling on us to state reasons why we "should not be expelled" from the N.D. P., and claiming that the resolution was passed at a meeting of the executive. Your letter, Mr. Hall, raises a number of rather important questions which need to be answered by you and your provincial executive.
First question we would pose is: "Has the N.D. P. not got a constitution setting forth the rights, obligations and responsibilities of the officers and members of the Party?" If such a document does exist (and we are sure you will agree that it does) then disciplinary action against any member could only be launched under its provisions. The legally, correct language contained in your letter, (something to be expected from a gathering literally sprinkled with legal talent) cannot obscure the fact that action taken outside the provisions of the constitution is illegal. This type of action is one which has been recently introduced by you into the affairs of the party and used exclusively against anyone "tainted" with left-wing associations. Authority for such action has never been accorded the executive body by any responsible delegated convention of the Party. We suggest that you forth with cease these illegal methods, and if you desire authority for your undemocratic actions you should request such authority from the delegates attending the next regularly constituted convention and let them determine if they wish to uphold you in your proposed course of action.
Second question we would raise with you is: "On the basis of what facts did the executive decide to expel us?" We ask this question since your letter clearly indicates by its tone - state reasons why you "should not be expelled - that you have already determined on expulsion and challenge us to prove that the order for expulsion should not be made effective. This strange decision was apparently made at a closed session of the executive and certainly without charge or trial - without "due process" we believe is the term. Unknown to us are the facts (if any) which led to your decision. The evidence before us at the moment compels us to conclude that your decision was arrived at on the basis of newspaper reports - hardly to be considered a satisfactory way in which to carry out the business of a "democratic" Party.
At this point we would like to suggest to your committee that if differences arise between members and leaders, which indicate substantial disagreement, it should be mandatory on the responsible officers to discuss the matter directly with those concerned and not to carry on a witch-hunt in the columns of the daily press. If the opinions and actions of such members should be considered detrimental to the best interests of the Party then charges should be preferred as provided for in the constitution and proper trial procedure should be followed.
Events over the past few years indicate that the present leadership of the Party in B.C. is hell-bent on carrying on a crusade against the left, while they make every effort to excuse and cover up the activities of the right which are leading us to destruction. Let us cite just afew from the many hundreds of examples on hand to substantiate this charge.
Mr. Strachan, provincial leader of the party. could not possibly embarrass
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the party more if he were specially trained for the job. He is continually using the opportunities provided him through access to the mass news media for the purposes of insulting and attacking members who disagree with his tactics. This has gone on for some time without apparent protest from the executive. In an interview with Miss Pat Carney some months ago Mr. Strachan described his political philosophy as being that of "a natural tory". Now we ask you, Mr. Hall, do you seriously suggest to us that a tory, natural or otherwise can really represent the fundamental interests of Canadian workers, that group toward whom you make a special appeal for support for Mr. Strachan, and your complete lack of criticism of him, indicate that you believe a tory in the ranks to be perfectly acceptable while the left must be treated like lepers.
There is also the case of Professor Young who suddenly appeared from nowhere and overnight became a sensational success in the party while people with years of service to the movement were coldly ignored - It was this same professor who was given free access to the front page of the Democrat so he could hurl gratuitous insults at the heads of the Socialists. Let us remind you, Mr. Hall, and your very good friend the professor, that it was these same "crack-pot" Socialists who dedicated the greater part of their life to the building of the movement in the hard years when those who now attack us were discreetly silent. Without these so-called "crack-pots" the party would be without a past and stripped of them now, it is certain to be without a future. Remember also professor Young's haste to join E.P.I.C., that short-lived conspiracy to submerge us in the Liberal ranks.
One last example. A leading national figure in the party, who has been honored with nomination and election to office from which he draws a salary four to five times that of the average working-man (not to mention other considerable considerations) tramples underfoot the best and most honored traditions of the working people. This character, not satisfied with his considerable income, finds it necessary to cross a picket line, using the excuse of "contractual obligations" for doing so. If the B. C . Provincial Executive has made any protest about this behaviour it remains unknown to the membership.
Now, Mr. Hall, developments of the recent past indicate that you, and your executive, are not supposed to tolerate, in the party, any point of view which appears distasteful to you. On this there is really only one point on which we differ with you - it has never been endorsed by any delegate convention. We suggest that you go before the next provincial convention with a proposal to declare any left-wing trend unacceptable in the party, and if the majority endorse your proposal we will have no further quarrel with you. It will then be made clear to left-wing opinion that they must, if their voice is to be heard, resort to some independent form of organization and action.
Finally, Mr. Hall, we suggest that the provincial executive desist from their star chamber methods of disciplining members. In place of the secret gathering, where the accused is charged, tried, convicted without even being in attendance, and then challenged to show cause why he should not be executed, we recommend all constitutional procedure of laying charges and open trial before the membership.
Before laying ill-considered charges or issuing bombastic challenges of "show cause", you might be well advised to enquire if your intended victim has any desire to remain a member. Mr. Gene Craven, for example, has paid no dues to the party since August last and it seems to us that there is no more definite way than this to express a complete disinterest in you and your affairs, This is a method, by the way, which has been used by thousands, during the past few years, to express complete disapproval for your policies and program. Your methods are building toward the most catastrophic defeat in the history of the party.
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Dear Sirs:
Recently I met a friend of mine who had just been up to the "Hall of Justice", better known as the Public Safety Building on Main Street. He had been applying for his Class "B" Chauffeurs license.
He arrived at the specified time and encountered a line-up so he waited to be "served" by the Public Servant in the wicket. This officer was in the process of giving a Canadian worker of Italian origin a lecture on the use of better English. His belittlement of this worker in front of the other people there was derogatory in nature. Upon receiving his lecture and license, this "second Class citizen", in the eyes of the law, went on his way with the understanding that to keep his right to work license, he would have to study his English.
When my friend reached the wicket, he was greeted with abuse for not coming at an earlier time although he was still within the specified time. He was then told to telephone at some later date and find out when to come down to fill out the necessary forms. When he asked if he could come down on his day off, he was told that he would have to come down at their convenience, not his. Furthermore, that because he was now working they might not even find time for his application. It was then explained to the Officer that as he didn't know how long his present job would be lasting and in View of the fact that to get these forms processed, which takes six weeks or more, he would like to apply now rather than when he is laid off.
It is now apparent that our esteemed officers of the law would rather have a person accept Unemployment Insurance or Welfare rather than congratulate him for his foresightedness in trying to stay off welfare. As my friend said as we departed, "that's Capitalism".
E,C. Vancouver, B.C.
Dear Sirs:
Sincerely I thank you for the sample copy of PROGRESSIVE WORKER sent to me.
Yes, I am in agreement, we the workers, farmers included, should be the Captains of our economic ship run by the sweat and toil of us all. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Efforts like yours are commendable. From that nucleus, enlightenment and understanding of conditions among workers has spread even if any didn't agree with all the doctrine of the more radical movement. If only this more progressive reading matter could be distributed in homes that otherwise don't buy or subscribe to any. Trouble is, no millions back this kind of literature. . . . . .
L. H. — Dinsmore, Sask.
Brothers:
We were pleased with your sample copy. Would like to have six months sub to same.
Your hopes of working class revolution along mentioned lines sounds good, but presently chances are poor I'm afraid, but one cannot predict what tomorrow will bring.
Fraternally yours,
G. G. & P. M., Scarboro, Ont.
Dear Sirs:
A revisionist is one who believes that if you pet a rattlesnake and talk nice to if, it will eventually change its ways. If you get it to promise to do less damage, it will keep its word and you can go your way with the hope that it will eventually pull its poison fangs and render itself harmless. With persuasion, it may cease lying in wait to strike you at a most opportune moment and become a harmless garter snake. You must sit solemnly by while it bites your friends to death, and you must not have a suspicious mind, for it you do, you might think that after it has disposed of your friends, and you stand alone against it, it will attack you, whose destruction it had in mind from the start.
B. C. Upcoast Contributor
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Just over four years ago, A U.S. backed United Nations force entered the Congo (Leopoldville) with the avowed purpose of defending the elected government of Patrice Lumumba from the attacks of counter-revolutionary forces, supported by African racists and the Belgian capitalist group centered in Union Miniere. Even while the world liberal press was lauding the U.N. operation, and hailing the armed struggle against Belgian-backed Moise Tshombe as an honest—to—god effort to rid the Congo of foreign domination, Patrice Lumumba was murdered under the auspices of his supposed protectors, his government wrecked and the remnants handed over to the hand-picked puppets of U.S. Imperialism. Tshombe, being a Belgian agent, was not looked on with favour by the U.S. capitalists who wanted the riches of the Congo for themselves. So Tshombe was deposed and sent into exile.
Today Tshombe, the vanquished and exiled puppet of a scant two years ago, is acclaimed a hero and now heads the government he had once sought to destroy. Tshombe's return was carefully plotted and supported by the U.S., now working in concert with English, French and Belgian interests - the very forces that had so recently openly or covertly aided the Katanga rebellion against the U.S. inspired U.N. campaign.
Back in action with Tshombe are the same white racist mercenaries who had aided him in Katanga. And what glorious traditions of civilization and culture are represented by these hired assassins — masquerading as defenders of freedom.
The Belgian imperialists (one of the chief partners of the U.S. in this venture) are possessors of a record of sadistic tortures in the Congo going back more than eighty years. This bloody record of torture and mutilation for profit was the subject of gruesome reports by Roger Casement, E. D. Morel, Conan Doyle, and Mark Twain. Cutting off of hands and pouring raw rubber down the throats of their victims was amongst the least of the tortures cited in these tales of horror of the Belgian rule of terror.
Also well represented in this army of "freedom and deliverance" are the white supremacists of South Rhodesia and the Union of South Africa: jailers, murderers and torturers of untold millions of Africans. A prize gathering of killers for cash out to liberate the Congo — from the Congolese people.
Here too you will find the U. S. defenders of the "free World" - those
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unyielding fighters for "freedom" who can't guarantee a Negro child the right to an education of a coloured elector, the right to vote in the "Land of the free".
There is no other single event in this absurd "Free World" of ours that more clearly exposes the hypocrisy of the Western Imperialists than the current events in the Congo. There is such a fairy tale aura about the whole business that it is difficult to believe that it is actually taking place. But the great agony of the Congolese people is sad and irrefutable proof that it really is happening.
What a. glorious era of "christianising" influence these Belgian paratroopers represent! For eighty years Belgian capitalists exercised unchallenged bloody rule over the Congo. Here are just a few extracts from the 1904 report of Roger Casement, British Consul in the Congo and first man to make widely known the sordid details of Belgian rule:
"Two cases of this kind came to my actual notice. One, a young man, both of whose hands had been beaten off with the butt-ends of rifles against a tree, the other a. young lad of eleven or twelve years of age, whose right hand was cut off at the wrist."
A Belgian officer at a rubber station told Casement:
"Each time the corporal goes out to get rubber, cartridges are given to him. He must bring back all not used; and for every one used, he must bring back a right hand."
In a period of six months, in the single district of Momboyo River, 6,000 cartridges had been used, which meant that at least that many people had been killed. But it meant more than 6,000 for, as Casement pointed out, Belgian soldiers killed children with the butts of their guns in order to save cartridges.
One concession company, which had sent in a request for a supply of bullets, on being queried on what had become of 72,000 sent three years before, replied: "They have all been used in the production of rubber."
For those who cry crocodile tears about "hostages", here for them to ponder is a brief extract from a court judgement in the hearing of an appeal in connection with the Mongalla massacres:
". . . . the fact that the arrest of women and their detention, to compel the villages to furnish both produce and workmen, was tolerated and admitted even by certain of the administrative authorities of the region."
And the hostages here referred to were seized in order to ensure continuing high profits and were people who had an unassailable right to be in the territory occupied by them.
Joseph Clark, an American missionary, in a letter dated March 25, 1896, wrote: "This rubber traffic is steeped in blood, and if the natives were to rise and sweep every white person on the upper Congo into eternity, there would still be left a fearful balance to their credit." This was written when Belgian exploitation had scarce begun - how much more fearful has the balance now become?
Much too long is this fearful balance sheet of horror to be squeezed into the limited space at our disposal. But the record is available for those who care to take the time to read. And this rule by torture, which held human life in supreme contempt, was instituted and maintained for the purpose of exploiting the vast riches of the Congo. The myth about the rescue of "hostages" is a well-laid smoke screen
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The case against the seven men and eight women charged with unlawful assembly at the D. S. Scott Transport Co. strike has been dismissed.
According to the Magistrate, the Prosecutor had not proven beyond a doubt that we were guilty of violating all sections of the Unlawful Assembly Act.
A number of lessons should be learned from this experience:
Let me ask you this question? "If strikes are obsolete, then how are we going to fight for our demands?"
Maybe we should fight through the Courts, where it would cost labour thousands of dollars and in the vast majority of cases, the decision goes to the bosses. As for compulsory arbitration, the bosses would like nothing better than to have an Arbitrator appointed by that Great Friend of Labour, the Social Credit Government to settle all labour disputes. So would a number of Union "Officials" who then could sit back in their cushy high-paid jobs and not worry about exposing themselves in a strike situation.
Both of these suggestions must be rejected by all workers. The solution to problems such as injunctions, compulsory arbitration, etc. will come about only when the rank—and-file workers unite to express solidarity against a common foe. (The class of the bosses).
In the process of struggling against this class, the labour bureaucrats will invariably line themselves up with the boss because they are woven into, and a product of, the capitalist society and they will inevitably expose themselves as the do-nothing parasites that they are.
The workers will, in all probability, learn these lessons the hard way, but, nevertheless, they will learn them.
Gene Craven
The two year old Mitchell Press Strike shows signs of coming to life. "Its high time we did something about Mitchell", said Bill Dunsmuir of the International Brotherhood of Bookbinders to a meeting of the Vancouver District Labor Council. Other Rank-And-File delegates supported Dunsmuir with the result that the December 15th meeting of the council was a special closed session that planned a line of action against Mitchell. Although details had not been released at press time, the striking Mitchell Press Workers can be assured that Progressive Worker gives full support to any positive action that may be taken.
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Once upon a time, there was a wicked capitalist who lived in the Beautiful Forest. In his evil drive for gold and power, this wicked capitalist began to destroy the beauty of the forest. He built cold and dirty workshops where he forced people to work long hours for very little pay. The people who did all the work lived in broken-down hovels and never had enough to eat, while the wicked capitalist, who did no work at all, lived in a beautiful mansion where he had lots of servants to wait on him and lots of the finest food to eat.
One day, there came into the Beautiful Forest, a handsome young man called Union Organizer. The handsome young man went around quietly and told all the poorly paid workers the Magic Password - "Organize". After all the workers had learned the Magic Password, they went, together with Union Organizer, to see the wicked capitalist and told him they wanted better pay, shorter hours, and better, homes to live in.
But the wicked capitalist wouldn't talk to the workers. Instead he went down to the smelly swamp and hired a tribe called scabs to come and drive the workers from the shops.
Union Organizer took a committee to see the Kindly Judge at the Law Court who gave them an injunction ordering the tribe of scabs to get out of the shops and go back to the Smelly Swamp. But the tribe of scabs and the wicked capitalist laughed at the injunction and refused to leave the shops.
On hearing the news, the Friendly Police came galloping into the Beautiful Forest, loaded the wicked capitalist and the tribe called scabs into their Paddy Wagons and hauled them before the Kindly Judge. The Kindly Judge was very angry with the wicked capitalist and the tribe called scabs for being mean to the poorly paid workers and he sent them all to jail for contempt of court, resisting an officer, unlawful assembly and for being just plain useless.
The happy workers, now well paid and living in good houses, went back to work in the clean and comfortable shops where they now worked less hours.
Union Organizer married the beautiful shop steward and they all went to the seashore for a picnic, and lived happily ever after.
Reply from Page 6
We call upon you to withdraw your insulting letter. Following this if you wish to discuss with us any differences we may have with you and your colleagues we will hold ourselves ready to meet you at any time and place, and under any conditions that suites your convenience.
J.L.LeBourdais J.A. Scott G.A. Craven
More from Page 3
low workers. Before workers can effectively fight back against this growing menace they must first of all recognize its root causes.
In the next article I will put forward certain proposals that I feel the workers should consider in order that we can win benefits from automation rather than continuing to be its helpless victims.
Cuba from Page 4
shows what can be done when a revolution frees a country from foreign control. She now has an industrialized economy with its first consideration directed towards the people's welfare.
If tiny Cuba can do it, why can't other Latin American countries?
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VANCOUVER TIMES Dec. 5, 1964
The 106 employees fired at McLennan, McFeely and Prior Co. Ltd. this week were working under degrading conditions, a union official said yesterday.
Ray Haynes, business agent for the Retail and Wholesale Union, said the employees walked off the job last Friday in disgust. "We didn't want them to," Haynes said, "but the employees were completely frustrated by the company."
Mc and Mc hired a team of efficiency advisors from Alabama a few months ago, he said.
The advisors made unreasonable demands in an efiort to get more work out of the employees."
Foster Teasdale, one of the fired employees, said each Warehouse order in the hardware distributing company has to be filled in 45 seconds.
"Last week I had to move out 900 pounds of toned wire in this time,” he said.
He said he found an older worker crying in the warehouse because of fatigue.
The girls in the office are under the same type of strain, he said, and are watched constantly.
"Whenever a girl leaves the office she must sign out, and then sign in on her return," remarked a young secretary.
"They even check up on you to find out how long you spent in the washroom."
Pat 0'Neal, secretary-treasurer of the B.C. Federation of Labor, said the company is also eager to destroy the union.
The federation will back the union all the way.
The union asked Labor-Minister Peterson to appoint a mediator and get the company and union together.
The government officer, E. P. Fisher, phoned the company for a meeting with the union on Thursday. The company indicated it would meet with him but also said no change in the original decision to fire the employee was being considered.
Q. Would you tell us the events that led up to the walk out?
A. About six months ago, two American efficiency experts were brought in from Alabama. They tried to pit one man against another. They set up averages and time limits. If you could not keep up, due to different types of orders or goods in different locations, we would be reprimanded by the Floor supervisor. The Floor supervisor is a real B-----, even the girls in the office had to sign to go to the washroom. Conditions became intolerable. We were under constant pressure and harassment. The whole plant was a grievance not like other places where individuals file grievances. We spent months in processing grievances, in fact we exhausted the legal grievance procedure. We were under duress all the time. So we walked off on Friday. This was a spontaneous action and the only recourse we had left.
Q. What happened then?
A. Well, on Friday afternoon the Company said that we would have to go back to work before they would discuss any grievances. We refused. Then the Company said that if we did not go back on the job, they would sue the Union. We held a Union meeting that same afternoon. Ray Haynes (International representative - Retail & Wholesale Clerks Union) wanted us to go back to work because the walk off was illegal and under these conditions there was no basis to meet with the Company. We voted to go back to work and also formed a committee to talk with the boss. When we showed up for work on Monday morning, we were given our termination notices on the grounds that we had participated in an illegal work stoppage.
Q. Do you think you can get your job back by fighting with so-called "legal" tactics?
A. No, workers can't fight the boss on
Continued on Page 14
Wither from Page 2
about it so they join the rest of the tribe whom they spurned, to be in turn spurned by their own youth. I have seen Indian youth who practically crawl on their hands and knees to do the bidding of a white man because they have been brainwashed to think that they are inferior in all ways to anyone of the Aryan race. Those who follow the corrupt ways of the white man create a problem that the Missionaries weep in their tea cups about and they the Missionaries created in the beginning. Of all the types and classes of people on this earth, the Missionary has the most un-analytical mind in the world. The gospel preacher at least has a specific philosophy he pounds his lectern about. But the missionary's sole purpose in Anglo—Saxon Society is solely for the purpose of a slave public relations group, slavishly carrying out the indoctrinal work of their masters, Capitalism, and in turn enslaving the minds of Indians healthy in mind and body, and molding them into creatures as servile as they are.
An institution grew up around the Indian population, the Indian Administration which is the granddaddy of all bureaucracies. They have such a tightly knitted bureaucracy in that institution, nothing short of gigantic pressure will be needed to liquidate it. Members of this bureaucracy burn midnight oil scheming and plotting to keep themselves in operation and living off the avails of capitalism. They like to hand Indians the dole because it keeps them in employment. So one of the major solutions to the Indian problem will be to liquidate the Indian Bureau and allow the Indians to take up the responsibilities which is rightly theirs to untangle the mess of their lives, themselves, and which the Christian Utopian Missionaries created for them. Instead of creating a path to heaven, they've created one, plumb to hell for the Indians.
A socialist realizes that the permanent solution to the Indians' neglect and fourth rate citizenship can only be properly achieved under a new social order, namely socialism. Because when automation will really start throwing white workers out of employment, the white man's dole will be considered first and the Indians will really suffer. It is absolutely impossible for automation to benefit the working class and minority groups under capitalism. It is only under socialism that automation can work for the good and welfare of the neglected class.
In the meantime, I am not one to stand by and see social injustice in the extreme go unchecked, therefore I recommend that a step in the right direction is the liquidation of the Indian Bureau, because it will give the Indians a better chance to think more freely for themselves. As it is now, Indians are not allowed to unite to any great strength before their efforts are broken up deliberately by those who fear to lose that Moola they receive for handling any form of Indian affairs whether through the Indian Bureau or the Missionary Society.
My fellow Indians on the Reservations, remind me of lions in a cage; they have the strength and the fury but are helpless from the barriers built around them through institutions that capitalism has created to hold them in check. The sooner the Indian realizes that the Reservation is a cage to his freedom of expression and capabilities, the better for him. Re-locating Indians is not the answer. The liquidation of the Indian Bureau is, as my unlettered Uncle used to say "more better."
Helen Baylor
Congo from Page 9
to obscure the real aim - the re-conquest of the Congo so that the Congo's wealth can once more be placed at the disposal of the Imperialists.
Mercenaries from Britain, France, Belgium, South Rhodesia, South Africa and U.S., hired assassins, murderers who should be placed in the dock for their crimes are carrying on wholesale slaughter in the name of civilization and freedom. The manner in which the press presents these murderous thugs as defenders of the sanctity of womanhood, and protectors of helpless children, is a gross obscenity which should be indignantly protested by every decent person.
A Belgian paratrooper stopped an African who was riding a bicycle and balancing a bunch of bananas on his head.
"Are you a rebel?", he demanded.
"No", replied the African.
"You're lying", said the Belgian, and shot the man dead.
This was the Congo - not eighty years, but just a scant few days ago. The script for the play remains the same, only the cast has been enlarged to include new actors seeking a share in the wealth of the Congo.
But this is a different world than eighty years ago. The Imperialist plotters will not succeed in their schemes. The Congolese people are no longer alone in their struggle - powerful forces around the world are coming to their aid. The struggle is fierce and the road is long, but the end is sure, the imperialists will certainly be defeated - the Congo will go free.
Halfway around the world from the Congo, in South Viet Nam, the Liberation Front was scoring more massive victories against the U. S. Imperialists and their puppets. After a long—planned action that was touted as the greatest military air lift in history, the U. S. strategists became the laughing stock of the world. Thousands of troops, landed in liberated territory by means of this "million dollar air-lift were-unable to find a single member of the liberation army in seven days of searching. After seven days of failure, suddenly, in their midst, arose the peoples forces who proceeded to inflict on them a stunning defeat and then retreat again into the shadows.
Once again it has been demonstrated that modern machines will not prevail over a people determined on liberation from Imperialist rule. The people, not machines, will be the victors.
THINGS WE WOULD LIKE TO KNOW:
When Mr. Robert Thompson, M.P. made his strange safari into the never never land of Imperialist intrigue, for the announced purpose of securing the release of "hostages", did he consider negotiating with his blood brothers in South Africa and South Rhodesia for the release of millions of Africans they hold in bondage? Did he enter a plea for the release of twenty million Negroes held hostage by rack-renting slum landlords and sweatshop employers in American ghettos?
INTERVIEW from Page 12
these grounds. The boss would back you right into a corner.
Q. Do you think the action of your boss is an isolated case or is it a trend by the bosses in general?
A. Yes, it is a general trend other Workers will be faced with, are being faced with.
Q. What else should organized labour do to help you?
A. We feel the need of help from all workers in every way. The boss shouldn't be allowed to wipe off over 100 workers like wiping off a blackboard. Sure we were illegal but what the hell else could we do? How else can you stop the boss from riding you into the ground. We had no choice. We need help.
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In Canada today, the working class is dominated by the capitalist class. Using their agents, the police, the courts, the politicians and the armed forces: the rich, the monopolists and international financiers convert our country's natural resources and the productive capacity of the working class to their own narrow selfish interests. This system of economics and government, is based on the rule of exploitation of man by man. It is called capitalism.
Socialism is the opposite of capitalism. Under Socialism, all power will be in the hands of the working class. We, the workers, will be the government, the police, the courts and the armed forces - we will control our nation's natural resources, the factories, and the banks and foreign trade. A new way of life will be born: a way of life that will forever end the system of exploitation of man by man.
In each issue of Progressive Worker, we will show what capitalism has to offer the workers and what the alternative will be under Socialism.
How often do you hear people say: "if we didn't have private enterprise no one would work hard or try to get ahead.." "Competition is the life of trade" ... etc. But how many working people really have a chance to get ahead? They work all their lives. if they're lucky to have a job, barely hanging on to the bottom of the ladder. Sometimes they live with the dream that someday they'll save enough money to start a little business of their own. But it remains a dream -- there's always insurance to pay, doctor bills, a new baby, layoff or a death in the family.
The few who get ahead by stepping on the next guy do so because they're caught in a squeeze between the boss and the worker next to them; they see no other way out. But the great majority of us would not take such an opportunity.
And those few who try to make it as small businessmen get caught in a grind that is as bad, and sometimes worse, as working for a boss. They work 12 to 16 hours a day, are constantly in debt, and usually get run out of business by the big chain stores.
The idea of "room at the top" is clearly a myth in this system -- if large numbers were to become bosses, then who would do the work and from where would the profits come? This system can only continue as long as there are millions of workers at the bottom, creating the wealth that a few enjoy, and being fooled into believing that someday they will "get ahead."
How many lucky people do you know who work in a non-profit set-up where there is no competition to get to the top or to buy out the boss -- but they like their job and work harder than anyone else you know? They may even work to get a promotion, but it is mainly because they feel secure in what they are doing and know they are making a contribution to the people's welfare.
People work hardest when they care about what they are doing and feel that the job -- the enterprise -- the whole country, in fact -- belongs to them. Young people will choose their professions and get training.
In all socialist countries today, special benefits and bonuses are given to children of workers to encourage them to go ahead with higher education. In the suburbs of Havana (according to LOOK magazine April, 1963) 70, 000 scholarship students live and study, free, in expropriated hotels or in the former homes of the rich and middle class. "I saw 200 youngsters, many of them fresh off the farm, who had been nine months learning classic ballet, music, Marxism, general subjects and French"
Amid greens of the swank old Havana Country Club a new Fine Arts Center, was rising. In a year, said an architect, it would be a "Lincoln Center, where 1500 qualified students from all over Latin America could take modern dance, drama, ballet, plastic arts, music." These people will not need private enterprise to work hard at their professions once the training period is over.
(Cond. and reprinted from Challange)
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By E. S. Nelson
Conditions they are bad,
And some of you are sad;
You cannot see your enemy,
The class that lives in luxury.
You workingmen are poor ---
Will be for evermore ---
As long as you permit the few
To guide your destiny.
(Chorus:)
Shall we still be slaves and work for wages?
It is outrageous -- has been for ages;
This earth by right belongs to toilers,
And not to spoilers of liberty.
The master class is small,
But they have lots of "gall."
When we unite to gain our right,
If they resist we'll use our might;
There is no middle ground,
This fight must be one round.
To victory, for liberty,
Our class is marching on!
Workingmen, unite!
We must put up a fight,
To make us free from slavery
And capitalistic tyranny;
This fight is not in vain.
We've got a world to gain.
Will you be a fool, a capitalist tool?
And serve your enemy?
