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3 1 Te

ue OE Taras Shevchenko at Palermo, Ontario. The
of th Was a gift to Ukrainian Canadians from the people

OPEN FORUM —

-ged down in the ritual of the

, ey Could ‘never. band. -:|
they “stood their |

‘the party will always be.a-par-

'nistic. For- those who want

And history serves us well.

So let us look about today

And see where dark clouds
dwell.

Norman Pritchard, Couri-
enay, writes: May I pay trib-
ute to the late Andy Hogarth
who, with his wife, made such
a great contribution to social
justice and peace.

In his way, with Toby his
wife, who shared his priva-
tions and convictions, he was
endowed with as enduring a
courage as those who met and
defeated the Hitler - armies,
taking the fangs of the nazi
beast upon their breast so that
our sons. might live.

I trust that I will not offend
if I say as a Christian that
such courage canont die.

E. H. Tudor, Morningside,
Alberta, writes: When is a new
party a New Party? Does it
shake off the shibboleth of its
predecessor or is it still bog-

old. regime? :
Speaking of the- New Party,

Les Benjamin, chairman_of the}
Saskatchewan. CCF. publicity

committee, said, “Another im-
portant: objective of. the New
Party. will: -be ‘to ensure ‘that

ty. to the -left. By ~ this, of
course, |: do. not mean commu-

communism “they -have their
own . party. in--which ‘to “work
for’ their» views. There is “no
room: for them in our organ-
ization.’ pe ene sete ote
"Benjamin and Co; may boast
that they. are the only. effect:
ive barriers to: communism .but
we are waiting to see them put
into -operation- something ‘that

will shake: off the shackles, of

capitalism. Unless they .do this

CENTENNIAL ON MARCH 10

By JOHN WEIR

HE Ukrainian Canadians

have marked the anni-
versaries of Taras Shevchenko
in our country since the early
years of the present century.
In 1914 (the centenary of his
birth) they organized a_ big
parade on the streets of Win-
nipeg to mark the occasion.
The annual Shevcheko con-
certs -in- March are a ‘ long-
standing . tradition with : the
progressive Ukrainian commu-
nities across Canada. Ten years
ago, to mark the 60th anniver-
sary of the arrival of the first
Ukrainian immigrants in Can-
ada, a beautiful monument to
Shevchenko—a gift from the
people of Soviet Ukraine—was
unveiled at Palermo, near Tor-
onto, to be joined the follow-
ing year by a Shevchenko mu-
seum, with exact reproduc-
tions of many of Shevchenko’s
paintings (he was an artist as
well as a poet) and exhibits
telling the story of his life and
labors.

This year, on the centenary
of his death, the World Coun-
cil of Peace has included
Shevchenko’s name among
those leaders of world culture
and thought whose anniver-
saries will be marked in all
countries. And in our country,
in addition to the 12 regional
festivals and a great national
festival in Toronto which the
Association of United Ukrain-
ian Canadians is preparing,
the Canadian Peace Congress
is sponsoring public affairs at
which Shevchenko, as well as
others, will be honored.

Taras Shevchenko -was born
in Ukraine on March 9 in 1814
in the family of a serf. Early
orphaned, he learned to read
and write by becoming chore-
boy for the village deacon. He
had talent: for drawing, but
when he approached his mas-
ter with the plea to be given
an opportunity to study art,

tions”

book sells for $1.00.

he was taken on as. kitchen;
drudge in the lord’s mansion
instead. When he was 14, he
was taken by his master to St.
Petersburg. Discovered by
them when he was drawing)
statues in the tsar’s park, the
young lad was befriended by
the artists and democratic in-
tellectuals of the capital who
eventually bought his freedom
for 2,500 rubles. Shevchenko
was 24 years old when he be-
came a free man.

After. graduating ‘from the
St. Petersburg Academy of
Arts, Shevchenko returned to
Ukraine. Since early youth he
had also been writing verse
and soon ‘his fame as a poet
eclipsed his renown as an art-|
ist. Hating serfdom, the tsarist
regime and the terrible injus-
tice suffered by the people, he
decided to devote his life and
his talents to the struggle for
liberation—of his own Ukrain-
ian people and of all the op-
pressed.

A consistent revolutionary
democrat, his poems roused
the people to struggle. He was
seized by the gendarmes in
1847, and spent 10 years in
prison and exile. He was
broken in health, but stayed
true to his principles and

Shevchenko’s Works
Now in English

A book of translations from
the works of Shevchenko is
now on the press and will
be printed this week. Titled
“Taras Shevchenko:  Selec-
it has’ 144 pages and
contains a foreword by the
translator, John Weir, 19
poems, part of Shevchenko’s
novel, ‘The Artist,” his auto-
biography and _ reproductions
of Shevchenko’s paintings.
“Published by “The Ukrain-
ian Canadian,’ 1164 Dundas
St. W., Toronto 3, Ont., from
whom it can be ordered, the

Shevchenko's works have
special meaning today

when finally he was permitted
to return to St. Petersburg, he
continued his revolutionary
writing. He died on March 10,
1861, just when he turned 47
years of age—of which only
13. was he free (using the term
loosely, that is, when he wasn’t
a serf or a prisoner).

Shevchenko’s words became
part of the make-up of his peo-
ple, helped them to become
militant patriots and demo-
cratic, progressive people. He_
helped pave the way for the
generations of revolutionaries
that came after him, who top-
pled the tsars and established
a new Civilization in which
Ukraine is a free and equal
partner—and in which all pay
tribute to the Bard of the
Ukraine as their own.

His works have a_ special
meaning for us today, when
the last colonies. are being
wrested from the imperialists’
grasp, when mankind is bat
tling to do away with wars for-
ever, when the world is be-
coming transformed into the
“sreat new family, the kin-
ship of the free”, which he
foretold and for which he
fought.

Acclaimed by all cultured
and _ progressive humanity,
Shevchenko has special ties
with us in Canada precisely
because Ukrainians and Slavs
generally form such a large
section of our population. As
one of the worli’s immortals
and as the poet of the Ukrain-«
ian, Shevchenko’s heritage
should become part of our
Canadian spiritual and culturs
al being. Let us have streets
named after him (there is such
a proposal now in Winnipeg),
let us have more monuments
to him, let our people read
him in English and-French, let
Canadians of all national or-
igins join in paying tribute to
Taras Shevchenko in this cen«

_| tenary year, 1961.

WORKS FEATURE |

“Pwo? original works =will be
highlighted at the 2nd Annu-

Ass'n. of United ‘air
Canadians at: the York Thea-
tre’ (Commercial “at~ Georgia
Sts.) on Saturday, March’ 18°
at, 8) p.ms ae

ment of a Jewish folk song for

orchéstra_and voice by” Searle |
Freidman, as well as a.com: |.

position for. ‘violin “and” piano:
based on Middle-Eastern , folk:
themes by. Karl Kobylansky-

they are not: worthy..of -our| -
| support. ;

AUUC CONCERT |

al- Orchestra- Concert, which-|‘ 4
is. being sponsored - by - the) _
Ukrainian | :

“An newly. composed arrange: |’

‘Adinission is $1.00.

‘is

Satchmo Invited

e

To Tour Soviet —
Old Man Jazz himself, Lou-
“Satchmo” Armstrong hag
been invited to tour the Sov-
iet- Union. . If plans for the
tour go through, he will spend
about eight weeks giving con-
‘eerts in the. main Russian cit-
ies. 4

_ He can be ‘sure of a great
welcome from readers of the
‘youth newspaper Komsomols-
kaya- Pravda: A-recent article
on the .theme. “let us have
‘good jazz” brought in enough
letters to fill six issues of the
‘paper — 96 per cent of them
‘in his favor.

March 17, 1961—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 9%