RALPH PARKER yt T= big lie about alleged Soviet slave camps has been shatter- ed by an American trade union delegation — entirely non-Com- munist —- which,_on a recent visit to the USSR, was given a plane by the Soviet authorities and failed to find the camps they were looking for, The seven-man_ delegation brought from the United States a map put out by the American Federation of Labor purporting to show slave labor camps in the Kiev district. The Americans asked Kiev trade union leaders to let them investigate the districts indicat- ed on the map. They suggested that a low-flying plane would be the best means. ; Immediately, a plane was put at their disposal and in gocd visibility they flew at a height~ of about 500 feet over the areas marked on the map. Says Theodore Bosak, a mem- ber of the delegation, in an article just published in Moscow: “I was a prisoner in a Ger-- man camp during the last war. The Germans shipped me all over Europe. When I was freed I was evacuated by air and saw more camps, “Everywhere in Europe there was a similarity in grouping and style of building in these camps and the usual attempt to screen them from the highways. “At Kiev, we sat in the back of the plane, some on each side, with an AFL map on our knees. The flight lasted till the dele- gates themselves said ‘enough.’ — “No one saw a single labor camp, On the other hand, every- - one would say there was a con- centration of fruit orchards in the Kiev area.” Ve / BRITISH SAY: Yankee, go home POLL conducted by the Cam- bridge Peace Front showed 51.9 percent of those interview- ed disapproved of airfields in England beind lent to the U.S. for establishing atombomb bases. Approval was expressed by 33.1 percent; 7.2 percent were unde- cided and 7.7 percent had no opinion. a : There was a less definite divi- sion in replies to the question: “Do you think that the rearma- ment of Western Germany would make another war more or less - likely?” ‘The percentages were: ‘more likely, 37.6 percent; less likely, 34.8 percent; undecided, 7.7 percent; and no opinion, 19.9 PEPCORE To the question: “Would you approve or disapprove of negoti- ations for a peace pact between the powers if the People’s Repub- lic of China were included among them?” the answers were: Ap- prove, 58.6 percent; disapprove, 22.1 percent; undecided, 3.3 per- eent; no opinion, 16 percent. » . Despite the foregoing, 55.8 - percent considered that the pre- sent rearmament program of the western powers made war less likely and 24.9 percent thought it would make war more likely. The percentage of persons un- decided was five and 14.4 percent had no opinion. — U.S. unionists themselves debunk ‘slave camp’ lie Another delegation member said: “‘There was absolutely no- thing which could be identified as a slave labor camp.” The AFL map, concocted by White Russian emigres in the United States in collaboration _ with the U.S, State Department, has been widely circulated in the American jJabor movement. Through the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (the Right ‘Wing interna- tional with its headquarters in Brussels) it has also been dis- tributed in Britain and other countries, The members of the delegation have now returned home and several have had: their passports confiscated by the government. . All had been sent to Europe by trade union branches, of which some are Officials.’ Leader of the delegation was Charles Mobray, of the United Packinghouse Workers; the sec- retary was Arthur Deutsch, of the Typographical Union. They brought their own inter- preter,-a Russian-born furniture worker, Their stay in the So- viet Union lasted a month. a RSs I ¢ “ eae Py Se ‘. td Sy Sane READER, Vancouver, B.C.: Enclosed find $2, a donation in appreciation: of the work the Pacific Tribune is doing. At the beginning of the Yankee aggres- sion against the people of Korea, your paper was the only one around these parts that carried the true story of the corruption of Syngman Rhee, At that time _all the radios and papers were praising this despotic and cor- rupt individual as a crusader for democracy. Now, today, I read that United Nations sources say Rhee’s talk of a “red plot’ is merely window dressing so that. he can control election of a pres- ident in the forthcoming elec- tions. ’ 4 : 4 “Symphony of Life’ E.M., Vancouver, B.C.: One reviewer of the beautiful film, Symphony of Life, although forced to admit the beauty of the color process of this picture, had to spoil it by an inane refer- ence to the absence of red, which — he opined was the familiar color — of the Soviets. ‘ ‘The ‘beauty of photography showing street, pastoral, river and other scenes, including the building of mighty projects, was. particularly arresting. Among other lessons, this picture teaches the grand lesson of refraining from a line of endeavor for which u ,have no talent. No more touching portrayal of this lesson could be found anywhere, than was depicted on the river barges, when the happy young soldier gave up his accordion, which he had been trying to play (to the annoyance of other passengers) to the lieutenant whose musical career as a pianist had ended because of an injury to one of / ~CHUCK FINE. Mackenzie's Colonial Advocate established militant tradition d ieee date May 18, 1924, will ‘some day be emblazoned as one of the highlights in the struggle for a‘ democratic press in Canada. The day saw the publication of Vol 1, No. 1 of the Colonial Advocate, whose editor was William Lyon Mac- kenzie, then 29 years old. ‘Some historians have labelled Mackenzie as an ‘agitator’? who somehow ‘‘agitated’’ the people of Upper Canada (Ontario) into an abortive rebellion in 1837. A look through the pages of only the first edition of the Colonial Advocate shows that Mackenzie was a serious political thinker, All fields of economics, politics, education, religion and art were his concern. (Mackenzie was hardly four years in Canada but he was al- ready standing forth as a cham- pion of Canadian rights and against foreign ownership of Ca- nadian resources. : _ It is significant that the Co- Yonial Advocate was subtitled ‘Journal of Agriculture, Manu- factures and Commerce,” and in -his hands sustained in doing his toll ib shee Aled. bit to drive out the, Nazi hordes, In the musica] hands of the lieutenant the accordion became ailve with the spirit of music and song and peace. With one accord the passengers fell victims of the glorious contagion of this spirit, and soon the singing and peaceful hearts of all were blend- ing in song, with the flowing waters, the trees and the sky and with all nature. é At first, the lieutenant was upset and discouraged with the prospect of not being able to pursue his musica] career as a pianist, but he was so touched by the people who prevailed upon him to play the accordion and sing the lovely old songs of Si- beria, that all resentment and discouragement vanished, and through being very close to the -song-loving and _ peace-loving people and their music, he gained the priceless talent of muiscal ~ composition. . ‘ The fine lesson taught here points out to us not to be sorry - for ourselves, because a handi- capped condition has brought to naught a promising career in} ‘any particular direction, but go among the simple and musical folk, and there gain the peace- fulness that brings true rest and relaxation and the power to mar- shal other abilities that will ex- press themselves in the interests of the common good. We had our own Canadian “symphony of life’ at the Peace Arch a little while ago when the great Paul Robeson sang and spoke to us. Never a truer artist stepped foot on this earth. Paul does not believe in ‘‘art for art’s sake,” for his art, his work, his whole life is steadfastly given over to promote the health, the welfare and the freedom of all the peoples of the earth. the first issue he writes: “Our foreign commerce, confined and shackled as it is, and as it has been, is entirely in the hands of the British capitalists. ... We are inundated — glutted with British manufactures,” Bitingly Mackenzie writes of the ‘‘chain of debt, dependence, and degradation (which) is be- gun and kept up, the links of which are fast bound round the soul and bodies of our yeomanry; and that with few exceptions from the richest to the poorest, while the tether stake is fast in British factories.” Able printer and journalist and later the fiery. parliamen- tarian and scathing critic, Mac- kenzie informs his readers that in future issues he will print his ‘prepared essays’ on such industries as paper, iron, wool, potash, weaving, printing, ship- . building, glass, and flour mills. He not only fought for the daily bread-and-butter interests of the farmers, workers and growing industrial bourgeoisie. He also projected a program de- signed to fulfil the historic needs ‘of that day. The artist, no matter along what lines his artistry runs, is no artist in the true sense if he ‘fails to hitch the wagon of his ability to the star that works in the interests of peace, free- dom and bread for al] peoples. The little children Know a great man and a great artist when they see and hear one. It was heart-warming to see the forest of little hands around Paul Robeson, eagerly seeking his autograph. I never saw a more beautiful picture of peace than the one of Paul holding the innocent little babe in his powerful arms. His tenderness and love for this little babe is of the same stuff that his tender- ness and love for the whole of world humanity is made of. Such © a man can only, bring peace to the people. To say such a man would create strife is an utter falsehood. The mighty throngs of people gathered at the Peace Arch to listen to the golden voice of Paul Robeson, were so enthralled, the little children too, with the songs and words of this man of peace that the above falsehood was flung right back into the teeth of the base utterers of it. ‘The symphony of life, the sym- - phony of peace is sweeping the whole earth. Something sweeter, something purer, will occupy the throne of students’ thought than the lothsome sexuality which so enslaves them as to force them into such ‘practices as pantie- bras raids, when the affaits of man are guided along peaceful channels. ' Yes, he likes us R. O. CASS, Chilliwack, B.C.: Please find P.O. order for a one year subscription to your paper. It is a damn poor judge that refuses to hear both sides; and they prate about democracy. He early tackled the fight for the development of an industrial economy Jed by the industrial bourgeoisie. The popular fight — for responsible government Was in essence the fight for the in- dustrial bourgeoisie to lead the nation, Mackenzie recognized the basic reactionary and backward character of an economy which was based predominantly on pro- duction of raw materials to thé exclusion of native manufactur- ing. He writes: ‘“‘We earnestly de- sire to see established, throus: out Upper and Lower Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova S¢o- tia, efficient societies for the improvements of arts and manw factures.”’ ‘ understatement he “We would like to see the manu — facturer not quite four thousan miles from the farmer.” ’ A popular fight—not yet bee? fully won—the right to educ@ tion, was raised strongly in the columns of the first issue of the Colonial Advocate. Education at the district schools was @% pensive, amounting to approxi; mately $500 a year, board- cluded, This was double the cos of attending a Scottish univers — ity at that time. — ‘we ought to enrieh the minds of our youth,’ he wrote, “bY giving them such instruction and _ conformation of character as ma: enable them to serve their cou® try, by the practical applicatio? of a systematic education, a2 © like William Pitt, to blend th wisdom of age with the com plexion of youth.” : “We want barristers,” } maintained, “who would at al times prefer, on principle, 4 ‘plead the cause of a poor ™ oppressed, rathey than of a ri¢ oppressor; ‘who would rather physic pomp than pamper it~ yather despise arrogance, clothed with q little brief authority, th@?- cringe to and flatter it... want church men (who are) 10V ‘ers more of the flock than 9 the fleece.” his.) | : (The emphasis # ; Mackenzie displayed 4 symp thy for, and understanding © the struggles of the French Ce nadian people: “The brave stand which a ™ jority of the Lower Canada me™ bers of Assembly have at times made against the encroach” | ments of arbitrary power, is c'@ ditable to them, and will ¥& be beneficial to their constitt ents; sooner or later they “). succeed; in the end they wil obtain their claims.” ; e : One hundred and three yea) later, in 1937, the People’s 4! vocate, named after Mackenzie paper, appeared in Vancouver * carry forward the fighting J° nalistic traditions, the milita®! democratic heritage in the P ple’s struggle against fascil and for democracy and sociali=® As the Advocate it was bannt in 1939, As the Pacific Ad (1944-46) and now the Pa Tribune it fights® against U: domination of our economy independence from U.S, dictal” that bend our policies towal war and distort our trade, ‘creation of a people’s coaliti®! that will free our country: Mackenzie’s words, ‘“‘of deP dence and degradation,” ag give to Canada’s peoples 4 independence based on peace P friendship with all countrie® PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JUNE 13, 1952 — PAGE ;