THE HOME FRONT
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
The Home Front By WILLIAM E. BOHN Again - The Northern Light SUDDENLY THIS INNOCENT column is turned into something it never was intended to be. A>long| time ago I expressed curiosity...
...The CCF filled this gap with its famed Regina Manifesto...
...policy, why was it Utmost Confusion in German Affairs By David J. Dallin violated on the present occasion...
...See the article on page 9 of this issue for a report on the CCF and the coming Canadian elections...
...and finally, the new parliament was to inaugurate the new state and hand over power to a new government...
...However, should such a party be elected and then fail in its program, the role of all third parties jvill ,be discredited for a long period...
...Another part of German public opinion tends toward Communism and the Soviet Union...
...I warn you that it will be worth your while to read both chapters...
...Forrestal resigned a few days ago, and General Clay will leave his post in three months...
...third, free and unfettered elections were to be held...
...Be sure to tune in next week to as not to miss the climax of the story...
...Nor/did their job awaken interest among the German population...
...Instead, they worked half a year, as if they sensed that no real importance was attached to their work...
...E. Scott Maynes, of Middletown, Conn., is actually a well-reasoned article...
...Having started it, I am under some' sort of responsibility to keep it going...
...As a result of this trip, I was prompted last Fall to attempt a comparative analysis of political developments in the strikingly similar territories of North Dakota, Alberta and Saskatchewan...
...among these is the right to build a federated Germany...
...A constitution for the future state was to be written by German leaders...
...then there werethe three powers of occupation...
...They should not be expected, however, to become as servile to America as the Communists are toward Moscow...
...The first, from Mr...
...Due to space limitations, I must chop it into two parts...
...and the Union Nationale whose domain is Quebec...
...As they ask at the end of the episode of a soap opera: Will Mr...
...This sprang from two causes: (a) The length and severity of the depression in Canadian agriculture and the lack of any ameliorative New Deal, (b) A conviction long held by Canadian farmers that 'Eastern' capitalists were exploiting the farmer...
...many of the capable leaders of the CCFtoave been drawn from the co-operative movement...
...The party itself, as well as the trade unions led by it, claim certain rights and privileges which cannot be denied even to a conquered people...
...If French wishes were accepted, the Western powers would have withdrawn from Berlin and turned it over to the Soviet military occupation...
...Today's picture is that of utter disorientation and confusion...
...Against this act the German Social Democrats rebelled, and refused to remake the constitution...
...and abolition of the plan, not currency r ef oiSm...
...and its failure to meet popular needs...
...Moscow's blockade of western Berlin was really directed against this plan...
...On each and every issue it has offered stiff opposition...
...control of their social and economic affairs...
...Credit in part the co-ops, as well as the government enterprises of the early 1900's — the Canadian National Railroad, telephones, electrical systems, etc...
...I was one of a party of eighteen American students who visited the province for the express purpose of observing the CCF in action, as well as obtaining a look-see at the vigorous cooperative movement...
...Then the three Allied powers tried to instruct the Germans in Bonn to change the constitution in accordance with Allied wishes...
...In their effort not to lose France as an ally in the struggle over Germany, London and Washington have been making one concession after another...
...If this governs U.S...
...If even limited, financial privileges will be denied a central government, they .said, it will be no government at all...
...When the hundred-percent democratic pro* cedure started to work, amidst the chaos in Germany, and in the climate of growing East-West antagonism, the complicated negotiations hit a snag...
...5) The 'social gospel' emphasis of the United Church, the largest in Saskatchewan...
...No reasons or excuses have been offered...
...Those Germans who still cherish Hitlerite ideas have been silenced and are passive, so far...
...The conflict between American occupation authorities and the German Social Democratic Party implies a major failure...
...True, the annexed territories are small...
...THIS ^CRISIS MEANT a victory of France "over the United States and Britain...
...a,, . "(3) A strong, democratic co-operative movement...
...1) DISILLUSIONMENT WITH CAPITALISM...
...Now it seems as if, despite the display of strength and power on the part of the United States, a retreat on the German problem is actually being prepared and that the most important of all Soviet demands might be accepted...
...Whom are the Germans supposed tg cooperate with in the West if even the Social Democrats are in rebellion...
...4) A widespread pre-disposition to collective action (or at least no prejudice against it...
...The Germans in Bonn should have been able to present a blueprint of a constitution in a few weeks...
...Professor Carleton answered that the political differences between the two countries are due to variations In the development of the economic systems., Mr...
...After all, they did not want to be .pushed around— they were called upon to write a constitution in accordance with the wishes of their people...
...Many feel that religion is something to be lived and that socialism is the only valid economic application of Christianity...
...Maynes prove his-point...
...1) 'As long as compelling social and economic needs of . the moss of the people ,can be root within the framework of the existing two-party system, there is little likelihood that a third party will attain political power...
...On her part, France has not made the long-expected moye toward economic unification of her zone with the Anglo-American Bizonia...
...7) Lessons learned ftom the earlier Progressive party...
...The purpose was to uncover the reason for CCF success, and to ferret out any lessons which might be found therein for Socialist 'third' parties in the U.S...
...Let me focus on the specific Saskatchewan situation...
...I .finally turned up with two tentative generalizations concerning such 'third' parties...
...However, since the days of James Byrnes, former Secretary of State, Washington has'strongly opposed Soviet and Polish annexations in the East in advance of concluding a peace treaty...
...most important, the .co-ops have furnished « large-scale 'laboratory' in which it has enabled Saskatchewan citizens to participate in the democratic...
...2) From time to time there occur long-sustained crises (generally economic...
...For example, .the Social Credit Party, which is dominant mainly in Alberta...
...This continuation is made cosier by the fact that tho response which has flowed back to me has been highly satisfactory, both in quantity and quality...
...Coldwell, this party failed because it lacked a coherent long-range philosophy and program...
...A>long| time ago I expressed curiosity about the achievements of the Canadian Commonwealth Federation...
...9) A one-class rural society superimposed on a one-crop wheat economy...
...The conduct of German policies will be taken over by the State Department, and the State Department has not shown that it knows what its policy in Germany will be...
...This is drawn largely from the now-deceased western Progressive party of the 1920's, and from the cooperative movement...
...Professor William G. Carleton and Philip Rubin answered my question with two opposite theories...
...In fact, people will tolerate a considerable lag in the response of the major parties to popular social and economic demands without seeking recourse to a third party...
...This rather undemocratic move is the latest step in the "truly democratic" procedure adopted for establishing a Western German state...
...they have gone too far in this respect...
...To my surprise and delight, this argument is being picked up and reprinted both} in this country and in Canada...
...No final decision has yet been reached by the White House and the State Department...
...During such periods the accession to power of a third party is most likely...
...I have before me now three letters which cry out for printing...
...Experienced in Soviet moves and countermoves, the three Western powers not only refused to yield, but increased their military power and developed the airlift to Berlin...
...According to M/J...
...There were two big parties, and a few small ones among the Germans, which disagree(Pbver certain aspects of the future constitution...
...France has actually won out in the Ruhr, for the new Ruhr statute has beerv reshaped afte* her wishes...
...What were tire factors which ushered in the first Socialist government on the North American continent...
...It was known that among the strongest opponents of new concessions to the' Soviet government were General Lucius Clay in fierlin and former Secretary of Defense James Forrestal...
...Maynes writes, "out of five weeks spent in the stimulating Saskatchewan climate last summer...
...The American public knows very little about the profound conflicts over French policy during the I last year...
...Only two big parties—the Social Democrats and the Christian Democrats— work openly in favor of cooperation with the West...
...surprisingly, the United States and Britain yielded to French pressure...
...Promises have gone unheeded...
...The simplicity of the social and economic structure simplified the process of party development...
...For about a year the French government, pressed by the growing de Gaulle movement, has been growing more and more uncompromising...
...J * * • "MY INTEREST ARISES," Mr...
...8) Elasticity of Canadian parliamentary government and a tradition favoring emergence of local parties...
...THE PROCEDURE PRESCRIBED by the Western Allies for creating a West German state was thoroughly democratic...
...The co-operative movement furnished a ready-made 'mass-memberfchip basis' to the CCF...
...When I visited Frankfurt and Berlin In the fall of 1948, I saw the irritation prevalent among the "upper levels...
...then the constitution wast to be voted on by the population...
...Ed...
...When they were ready, France objected to certain privileges of the^future German government as far as finance was concerned...
...In particular, the Social Democrats were the main support of German democracy between 1918 and 1932...
...So long as they were influential, no war danger could arise in Europe...
...2) Corruption of the Liberal party (the equivalent of our Democratic party—Ed...
...If this is nationalism, it is legitimate nationalism...
...Beginning with the last few months cf 1947, Soviet opposition against the planned creation of a West German state has been mounting...
...6) Excellent leadership at all levels...
...Note...
...was the condition put forward by Stalin to have the blockade ended...
...it has acted as a brake on Allied activities*^ Germany...
...The magnificent unanimity on the Atlantic Pact cannot conceal the dramatic discord on the most important issue of foreign policy—Germany...
...EVIDENCING A NEW ZIGZAG in its German pojicy, the United States government has consented to the annexation of certain German territories to France and the Benelux countries...
...ATUnHWO POnnr In Western policy regarding Germany has been reached, and something like a crisis has developed during recent weeks...
...I had asked why the first Socialist . government on this continent appeared in Saskatchewan rather than in North Dakota...
...Rubin thought, on the contrary, that the success of the Canadian progressives is due to their system of political responsibility...
Vol. 32 • April 1949 • No. 15
