T IS NOW two centuries since
the birthday of Scotland’s na-
onal Bard, Robbie Burns. Well e Oug an

er two centuries since that
Id and stormy night of Janu-
y 25 in the year 1759, when a

1creasing brilliancy down
rough the years, to blossom
to a veritable Constellation,
ghting a great beacon of hope
id brotherhood throughout the

caoee we? the Immortal Memory 5

By Tom McEwen

pole world — the Immortal alone a foe,

ine warming the hearts For e’en his failings leaned
nd longings of all decent to Virtue’s side.
umanity.

is li i estion is ask-
Thre iste to anyone eae 7th todays wo
ready -been pa ae ear has had, if he so desires, access
History,” said Ralph a6 to the great storehouse of know-
merson (1803-1 Pile 3 ledge in the classical works of
sady taken care Bee +e al- Marxism-Leninism: “What
Ther ae ee __ makes you class conscious .. .
urns’ @ was also nothing in aware of your class position and
irth peace. to denote the role in modern society?” For
urdened Genius; a poor work- many the question is difficult,
ee peasant father, Wil- for others less so.

out ae and a rigidly de- To Robbie Burns, preceeding
town, bearir mother, Agnes Marx and Engels by nearly a
amily. ae and rearing their century, it was an instinctive
ing ee children, accor* question, posed by himself to
ng Ernie will” in an unend- himself, and drawing the answer
xtreme ent of hard toil and from the deepest recesses of his
s d poverty, proud and in-  ploughman’s heart:

“Pendent in their Scottish char-

Cteristic, yet realizing in their ‘If P’'m designed
9

rstbor : : :
ad Pees cr an yon lordling’s slave,
lessed them i: By Nature’s law designed;

I : Why was an independent wish
ae later years, grown to man- e’re planted in my mind?
umbl Burns was to elevate his If not, why am I subject
3 € birth and parentage to to his cruelty and scorn,
Sey heights. On the And why has Man the
s of his father the Bard will and power,

Ts forth his love and sorrow To make his fellow mourn?

n golden word
; ‘ds:
That “independent wish” was
to cause the Bard many hours of

The pityin
ying heart that felt worry and anguish, but he held

for hu
The d Bee hee it to the last days of his brief
fe auntless heart that life span.
a no human pride. When the literati and other
riend of Man, to vice snobocrasy of Edinburgh, were

CANADIAN ICE HOCKEY
WITHOUT CANADIANS? —

Cc :
»,~ahadian Ice Hockey without and Mr. Dawson, the owner of

Ane the heading the Soviet in Canada. They brought along
Omsom leading youth daily, with them a draft decision ac-
Aes Olskaya Pravda, gives cording to which the Canadians

Nown Mmentary by the well- would be allowed to include

byashenie writer, Valentin professional hockey players in

Sal of th 0, concerning the refu- their aggregation. A vote on this
970 w. € Canadians tostage the draft was preceded by vigorous

4 anes Amateur Ice Hockey ‘brainwashing’ of the delegates.

Brin Seas in their country For instance, a harmless film
xtraording the decision of the about the life of professional

-ouncil ane. session of the puck-chasers was shown, To-
Ockey the International Ice wards the end, the Canadian

e ederation banning the hockey president urged the dele-

“anadia Professionals on the gates, from the screen, to let

a otk National team. these boys play for the Cana-
bout he, fans are talking dians. Under the spell of the
eva th € latest news from Ge- Canadian delegates’ promises,

Its ext at the IIHF Council, at 25 members of the IIHF voted in

ey session, reject- favor of this, while the same
ided +t lan ‘hospitality’ and de- number, 25, voted against. The

Amater® ota8e the 1970 World deciding vote, that. of IHF

Hen. Th, Championships in Swe- president Ahearne, was cast for

Dladet . Swedish paper, Afton- the Canadians, because he want-

+ Writes in this connection: ed to ensure the championships
anadian mine, planted against financial difficulties.

in
\ wen World Championships, “The IIHF thus adopted an
fo the pj but with a serious loss unprecedented decision. It was
Wie. unprecedented not in the sense
Mine is this paper re- of amateur hockey _ fearing

terrj
orced? ee Why was the IIHF games with professionals. On
®xtraordi, Bet together for an the contrary, the International
Sudden} ary meeting? What Federation repeatedly stressed
yaters & Muddied the azure the usefulness of such encoun”
did a = amateur hockey, why ters for the mutual enrichment
“The om break out there? of both amateur and profession-
fOngres Participants in the IIHF al hockey. But the participation
) S last July were quite of pros, their presence at this

Urpri
Fepn Sed by the ‘invasion’ of 15 big festival of amateur hockey, —

BS
bh, ulatives of Canada, head- is the first step to the merging

of thy ple Campbell, president of two different sport worlds,
ational Hockey League, two different sport concepts di-

Ms years

Cons URN 24,

rey | radix »KNY

vanadj
Nadians? big dry-cleaning establishments ,

attempting to confer an unsoli-
cited “patronage” on Burns
(many for their own aggrandize-
ment) following the publication
of his early works, the Bard re-
plied to this illustrious gathering
in words that allowed for no mis-
understanding:

_ “| was bred to the plow, and
am therefore independent.”

Like many workingmen of to-
day however, that spirit of inde-
pendence of action nearly lost
him his government job as an
“exciseman,” a job that he dis-
liked intensely, and had it not
been for the extreme poverty-
stricken conditions and hunger
of his family, would have cared
nothing at the losing of it. :

The governing class of Burns’
day, much like ours of today,
showed little concern for the
rights and liberties of working
people, when such ran counter
to their own class interests. Nor
did Burns’ sentiments on the
French Revolution, which he aid-
ed to the utmost of his ability,
endear him.to the ruling class of
the day. Hence, get him off the
government “payroll,” regardless
of whether a “wife and bairns”

. suffer!

With the crash of the Bastille
which shook all of Europe and
even rattled the windows of
“Auld Ayr,” the Bard’s “Tree of
Liberty” did not sit well on the
Establishment’s stomach then —
or today:

vided by a yawning gap: the
Olympic spirit of sport noble-
ness and chivalrous relations
among friendly rivals, outlined
by well thought-out playing
rules on one side; and merciless
clashes between teams out to
win at all costs, harsh playing
rules to please the public, gam-
bling, bribery, blackmail, on the
other. In other words, the differ-
ence is not in whether hockey is
a profession for one or another
player—certain uninitiated fans
see the difference only in this—
but in the function of sport in
modern society. :
“The IIHF decision led to
hockey being eliminated as a
sport and becoming a show, an
attraction. It evoked the imme-
diate reaction of the Interna-
tional Olympic Committee. Its
president, Avery Brundage, de-
clared that the men who would
play with or against profes-

*

Wi plenty of sic trees I trow of a new world citizen, “reach-
The world would live in peace, ing for the stars” and standing
above anything man has ever

man,

The sword would help known, a world society in which
to make a plough, exploitation and oppression be-

The din of war would cease, | .tween man and man has been
man. ended forever.

pee sos in a common Many poets and writers of the

’ : ast have voiced th

We'd on each other smile, have done so Se ete
man, : simplicity and grandeur than this

And equal rights and equal — humble ploughman of Ayr, who
laws, : knew little else but poverty and

Would gladden every isle, ignorance, but whose genius
man. transformed it into a hymn of

victory for all toiling mankind
of what the common people are
capable of doing — what they

where his songs and poems are beyeeg sear and waren ae

not sung and recited with yet:

warmth and love, because in | In his poem “Why should we

their exquisite beauty and idly waste our prime,” Burns

strength, the common people brings that question and its an-

everywhere find reflected in Swer down through the centu-

Burns their own hopes and ries, a fitting finale to the great

struggles and aspirations. struggles of today for indepen-
In the great Soviet Union in dence, freedom, equality and

particular, as well as all other human dignity — and above all,

sectors of the new socialist for peace:

world, Scotland’s ploughman

poet holds a very special place The golden age we then revive,

There are few countries today
where the Immortal Memory of
Scotland’s Bard is not honored,

in the hearts of this great new Each man shall be a brother;
human society, simply because In harmony we all shall live
Burns spoke in the language of And share the Earth together.
the common man, voicing his And future years shall prove
dreams, his struggles, his yearn- the truth

ing forpeace and human bro- That Man is good by nature.
therhood, and especially those Then let us toast with

ideals so magnificently described three times three,

by the Bard in “A Man’s a Man The reign of Peace

for a’ That,” heralding the birth and Liberty.

Develop amateur sports
and recreation

Chuck McFadden, secretary of letics, supported b
the Initiating Committee to form at all ives, free tis oon
the Young Communist League, cial domination. This includes
issued a call for the development the replacement of the commer-
of a genuine amateur hockey as-_ cially dominated Hockey Can-
sociation, ada, and the Canadian Amateur
“Behind the controversy over Hockey Association by a genuine
the ‘participation of professional’ amateur hockey association, with
athletes in international hockey the necessary public backi
competition is the ugly reality of That is the guarantee of Po
the commercial domination of flight Canadian teams in ee
sports in Canada,” he stated in national competition. That is the
a press release. ““What the youth guarantee of national physical
of Canada needs is a vastly ex- fitness, of universal opportunit
tended system of amateur ath- for participation in sports! That
is the guarantee of sports for
sionals in the World Champion- pleasure, not commercial profit
ships would be ineligible for the °F military training!
1972 Olympics. “What prevents Canada from
“In the crisis which followed ‘taking such a course, from em-
this: statement, neither the Ploying its most outstanding
U.S.S.R. Hockey Federation nor athletes and coaches to set up
the Swedish Federation nor the direct, and operate the widest
federations of dozens of other ‘System of amateur sports and
states could sacrifice the sacred recreation, as is done in the
principles of the Olympic move- U.S:S:R., Czechoslovakia the *
ment to please the hurt Cana- G.D.R. and other countries?
dian pride. Nothing — except the domina-
_ “This led to the convocation tion of sport in Canada by com-
in Geneva of an extraordinary mercial interests who fear ama-
IIHF congress, which revoked  teur athletics is competition for |
its earlier erroneous decision. the spectator ‘market.’
The Canadian delegates retaliat- “The youth want and need
ed to this with a refusal to hold better deal! Hockey Canada a a
the World Championship games the CAHA should be replaced b
in Montreal and Winnipeg ... a genuine amateur acca Haa:
The Canadian delegate, Earl with the necessary public back-
Dawson, declared that his coun- ing. The fullest support and de-
oy, was severing | all ties with velopment of amateur sports and
uropean hockey. recreation is needed. Sports for
Novosti Press Agency (APN) man, not profit.”

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JANUARY 23, 1970—Page 7