LABOR BRIEFS “ae vets mount in key B.C. in- |-“UStries, more trade unions realize e > heed of fighting against the _iiteat of another depression. The t for peace, jobs and markets nched by the Labor-Progressive ae some months ago is now be-. ‘hing an integral part of the activity of almost every un- “Depression” is a word that cession” was a popular phrase industrial circles for a time. eeecntly even that word is too pela for Paul H. Frigon, general Sion of the Professional As- a on of Industrialists, who re- “any predicted an economic “re- Some capitalists are afraid to use. |} Trail smelter workers reject share-work plan * am 9 ¥ TRAIL, B.C. Smeltew..workers here have turned thumbs down on a Mine- Mill executive plan to reduce the work week from 42 to 40 hours. in an effort to “spread the work” and ease the layoff situa- tion, which has become acute in recent weeks. ‘ Union members voted 1,033 in favor and 1,227 against, said Al King, president of Mine-Mill Local 480. Sub Talk Get together at New Year ‘by declining to stand for re-elec- Saturday, not by turning to the c discredited CCF administration. vote, carrying with him three of four CCF candidates for council. The only challenger was Non-Par- tisan Councillor C. W. MacSorley who topped the council poll de- spite the CCF sweep. This year, Beamish dismayed the CCF nominating convention tion. Other possible CCF choices were either unable to qualify or feared to run on Beamish’s record. The CCF failed to name a candi- date and MacSorley, the Non-Par- Two years ago, in 1950, CCF Reeve onstructive polici instating the Non-Partisans, whose policies in the past have frequently Broken policy pledges lose Burnaby for CCF BURNABY, B.C. Burnaby voters dismissed British Columbia’s first CCF municipal government from office last 2s offered by progressive independents but by re- been indistinguishable from the W. R. Beamish was re-elected for a second term with a record Election roundup Strong votes polled by progressives Strong votes were rolled up by many independent and other pre- gressive candidates, notably in Victoria, Burnaby and Trail, as voters in British Columbia cities and municipalities went to the polls on Thurs- - 1954 on” before the middle of tisan choice, was returned by ac-; day and Saturday last week. in Dear Leader: clamation—the first reeve of Burn-| . In Prince Rupert a veteran trad Case you wonder what a “re- aby to receive an acclamation in 20 unionist, Ald. George B. tae. years. His comment, after he had been praised by Beamish, was that after election day it was al- most impossible to tell a CCFer from a Non-Partisan on the coun- member of the Mine-Mill union, won re-election with 699 votes, run- ning fourth for four council seats, and another progressive, August Wallin, polled 301 votes. 1 One of the pleasant aspects of my job is receiving letters from readers—those readers who devote so much of their spare time to help- Session” is, and how it differs er: a depression, here’s Frigon’s anation: “A regression would 3 € a real depression, but only €nd of the boom.” Jobless workers who face a hun- fa nristmas will hardly find com- don't Frigon’s explanation. They Digit a explanations of their A ; they need work and wages. * * * one issue of the Labor Gazette, Organ of the federal de- shea of labor, admits that un- 5 ae is growing from coast ets Coast, layoffs in lumber a decline © have been followed by AS the is in construction activity. eduetic abor Gazette puts it: “Some Ons in the high level of re occurred when such Sas the oil pipe line, the n to the Harmac pulp and eee Power dam were com- Vx * ES maitending that “unemploy- ed. paon its should be increas- 4, ne United Worker, organ Ocean Falls Pulp, Sulphite ate and ‘Paper Makers the “Se points to the size of a of. “Aloe the first eight months Bice F the Unemployed Insur- ‘Und increased by $36 mil- 194] parting from scratch, in total © fund in August 1953 ed $887,821,381.49.” * * * mpl, Wagon Drivers and Dairy €es Union and 10 Greater ‘an set : foveme dairies have asked a deal a conciliation board to dispute their deadlocked wage Nepotic’: following breakdown of 3 tions early this week. Union is seeki age seeking a standard (pe for all of its mem- ‘he Lower Mainland area, a $2 in ne crease for Saturday * * * eet wer del Teturne Rati Wier! i basis 1 ast January, Rs bas ok a yeeoree Gee Bee dtter : €ctrical Cont Dis - * n Ane Gas Workers Minister : aah ster Lyle Wicks “turn- y deaf ear” to an AFL “e €8ation which appeared that a this week demanding ae bor Relations Board be ee a full-time basis, dele- th sad R. K. Gervin said. e LRB on a part-time €, business agent for national Brotherhood of ing build the circulation of our paper. Another is meeting those same readers when I go on the road prospecting for ubs, and get a ‘family. from points not too distant from Vancouver will come to our big New Year's Eve dance and smorgasbord this year— but I want to warn them that if they are planning to come to town, to write me at once to reserve tickets for them. Last year we had a packed hall and had to turn many people away. So reserve your tickets early and don’t be disap- pointed. Between now and the end of the year there is still time to pick up many subs, or to send a sub to a friend as a Christmas or New Year’s gift. One final word about street sales. In Vancouver one of our new sales- men, who sold 50 copies of the PT last week, went out and sold 103 on Saturday. We need more sales- cil. Voters obviously took somewhat the same viewpoint when they re- jected the entire CCF council slate and replaced it with a Non-Parti- san administration. Despite the CCF pledge to reduce them, taxes have risen steadily ovet the past three years. Large tracts of land, including the best part of Bur- rard Inlet waterfront, have been handed over to the big oil com- panies. CCF councillors, support- ed by MacSorley, opposed creation of a park board, which would trans- fer control of park lands from the council’s hands into those of elect- ed park commissioners. Although public ownership of transit re- mains in the CCF municipal pro- gram and has been endorsed by popular vote, CCF councillors re- fused to take any steps toward im- plementing their own policy, de- spite mounting public dissatisfac- tion with'B.C. Electric services. Despite the light poll, William Turner, independent, held his sup- port of previous years with 1,220 votes, and a strong showing was made by another independent, John Anderson, who polled 1178 votes in his first bid for council. Following are election results: Reeve: C. W. MacSorley (NPA), acclamation. Council (first four elected): F. men like this! Rita Whyte M. Philps (NPA), 3884; W. Mur- Hughes (NPA), 3433; Arnold F. C. Hean (NPA), 3366; Councillor J. D. Drummond (CCF), 3096; Council- lor F. A. Armstrong (CCF), 3011; Councillor George Isherwood (CCF) 2839; Ray Fleming (CCF), 2113; William Turner (Ind), 1220; John Anderson (Ind.), 1178; Sidney H. Chudleigh (ind.), 630. School trustees, 2-year term (first twe elected): Trustee Ernest Crampton (NPA), 4198; Trustee William Grieve (NPA), 3844; Court- ney Grey (CCF), 2353; William M. Johnson (CCF), 2253; T. H. Wilk- inson (Ind.), 1289. School Board, one-year term (first one elected): Fred Salisbury (NPA), 4457; Mrs. ‘Swea Tracey ray Morrison (NPA), 3718; Sam 'Fishermen’s union, making his first bid for council in Victoria, polled 1,117 votes. Lower (CCF), 2926. An upset was scored by Council- lor Peter Jenewein, member of United Fishermen’s union, when he defeated Councillor William Brown in the contest for reeve of Maple Ridge, polling 1,102 to Brown’s 1,074 votes. : Another member of the United In New Westminster, another newcomer to civic politics, Geoff- rey Amy, won 589 votes running as an independent aldermanic can- didate. Al King, Mine-Mill union official contesting a council seat in Trail, polled 578 votes. In North Vancouver, Charles Darwin, campaigning on a com- prehensive program to develop the North Shore, won 302 votes. Despite a threat that she would be disqualified if elected because she was in receipt of social assist- ance, Mrs. Beryl Wheeldon, First World War veteran, contested an aldermanic seats in Nanaimo and polled 270 votes. Among progressive candidates in V Mainland municipalities, Ivan Birchard polled 222 votes for council and Mrs. Dorothy Lynas 341 for school ‘board in North Vancouver district, Leo Brady, 53 votes in Surrey’s Ward 5 and Carl Hilland, 383 votes in Maple Ridge. LDR leads campa ign for appeal Citizens By JACK PHILLIPS A few weeks ago, Nick Evdokim- off was dreading the arrival of Christmas. Sentenced to 14 years in jail by Mr. Justice A. M.° Man- son, this 55-year-old Doukhobor, who is a sick man, had given up all hope of ever spending Christ- mas again as a free man in the company of his family and his friends. Now, a ray of hope has penetrated the gloom of his cell in Oakalla Prison Farm, where he is being held pending his appeal. Nick Evdokimoff. did not speak out in vain when he declared his innocence “before God and man.” aid jailed Doukhobor The LDR is sending out letters to individuals, to Doukhobor com- munities, to trade unions and to other: associations, explaining the case and asking for financial assist- ance, with the plea: “Let’s make this Christmas the last Nick Ev- dokimoff will spend in jail.” Competent lawyers who are studying this case have given the opinion that “the more you go into it the more you recognize that there is good reason to believe in the innocence of Evdokimoff.” - For example, Peter George Markin of Krestova testified at the that on the orkers, told Vancou- trict Trades and Labor 5 Mem bene cokers were Spnetty: era al 225, but are now in preliminary hearing ; night of the alleged crime Ev- dokimoff had slept in his bed, Friends have come forward and provided him with counsel and funds to launch his appeal, and he Will be week that a strike vote : F i ll. This evidence 2] taken Monda: is confident that his claim of in-| against eee as: . ty a The workers. PRES By: nocence will be me (ae yi a in the official transcript, ry ne Moy, : r branch of the League | reads: : rete Workens been decided upon For Democratic Rights reported] @, Do you know whether the With oe: “ ee s ee, because | this week that $225 had been rais-| accused got out of bed? are the IBEW ST EBaS Bi Snipe ed already, sufficient to provide) — ,_ He would have to roll over Tethers of tree ie eet] the: first copy of the transcript!) ‘me to get out of beds” evidence. A Vancouver business- man contributed $75 and the bal- ance was raised by relatives. How- ever, more money is urgently need- Q. Would that wake you up? A. 1 think so. : Q. Do you remember him crawling over you that night? ed to carry the appeal forward. A. “No. On the other hand,.the main wit- ness against Evdokimoff, Alex Wil- liam Popoff, testified that he saw the accused lying in the grass at approximately 12.30 a.m. and hit ‘him in the back with a heavy stone from a distance of eight feet. Under cross examination, Popoff admitted there had been trouble between himself and the accused’s brother-in-law. Also, under cross examination, he could give’ no reason why the police had found no mark on Evdokimoff as a re- sult of the alleged blow from the stone. : Neither Popoff nor any other witness testified that Evdokimoff had been seen in possession of the jug of gasoline and oil, which the police reported as being found on the spot after Evdokimoff had al- .| legedly fled. The crime for which Evdokimoff was sentenced was for being in pos- session of a jug filled with a mix- ture of gasoline and oil, which is not necessarily an explosive. Should this conviction stand, any citizen could be convicted and sen- tenced to 14 years in jail for walk- ing by a gas storage tank with a jug of gas in his hand, for having in his possession “an explosive substance with intent and means thereof to cause serious injury to property, contrary .to the form of statute in such case made and pro- vided.” This savage sentence can only be seen against the background of the provincial government’s at- tempt to solve the Doukhobor prob- lem by force and violence, by pol- — ice clubs and jail terms.. “Every trade unionist, every citi- zen who believes in fait play and justice will support the LDR in raising the necessary money to guarantee Evdokimoff a chance to win freedom,” says a Vancouver branch statement. “If one man ~ can suffer this way because of the — hysteria against a minority, un- popular group, then the liberty of every man is in danger.” Contributions should be address- ed to the League for Democratic Rights, 339 West Pender Street, Vancouver 3, B.C. PACIFIC TRIBUNE — DECEMBER 18, 1953 — PAGE 7