SUL MM MM LACM EM ee ee Cee Eee CI "ier, Peace is our ] WONDER how many women in Canada shuddered when the news flashed over the radio’ and appeared in the headlines that napalm bombs were to be dropped on Canada. How many looked at their children and felt their own homes tremble and crack, in their minds experienc- ing the horror of the flaming explosions, The bombs, it was announced, were being dropped only in war games, But the re- Port brought very close the ter- tible reality of the drive to war. It meant in fact, that American warfare in all its hideousness Was actually searing the earth of our own Canada up near Fort Norman in the Northwest territories, This International Women’s Day finds the peace of the world threatened as never before. The White House at Washington has @ new incumbent whose first Words were of war. President Eisenhower has made it plain that the U.S. is giving Chiang Kai-shek a free hand — and, you May be sure, American assist- ance in attacking the People’s Republic of China. Not peace, as he promised during the elec- tion, but an extension of the war in Korea is his purpose. In the greater war that Eisen- hower is planning, atomic bombs, Napalm, yes, and hydrogen bombs, will kill and maim. in- discriminately. Korea already knows the ghastly burns of na- Palm. Nagasaki and Hiroshima have experienced the agonies of the bomb. The hydrogen bomb threatens to transform the green €arth into an inferno, destroying human life on an unprecedented Seale., What, you may ask, has all this to do with International Wo- men’s Day? It has everything to do with it. This is the horrible prospect that challenges the women of the whole world. It challenges them.to rise up and fight against the threat of war in which their husbands, sons and brothers will be called upon to use these in- uman weapons of destruction against men, and women and children. For the full fury of any future war will be visited. upon cities, as in Korea—make ho mistake about that. We wo- men must accept this challenge og do something about it NOW. This day of international solid’ arity among women was inaug- urated in the year 1908, or there- abouts, by Clara Zetkin, a leader of the German labor movement for over fifty years. Clara Zet- im was an ardent fighter for Social equality amongst women and for their active participation in the international labor move- ment. Her last appearance in Ger- Many was at the opening of the Reichstag in August 1932, when Hitler and his Nazis attempted to assume power. Clara Zetkin ad come out of hiding because, as a senior member of the Reich- Stag, she was entitled to open the first session. This she did, Im spite of the developing Nazi terror, in which Communist; leaders were hounded and im- Prisoned — even as they are to- day in the “free world.” Her Speech lasted more than an hour. Tn it she vehemently denounced fascism and appealed to the wo- Men of Germany, and to all Ger- Man workers, to form a united front against the threatening Catastrophe. How - clearly she envisaged What was happening in Germany, goal By MARY FLANAGAN LOCOS E ORE ee TT Pn te history has since borne out. But her dream of women ‘participat- ing in the fullest sense in the labor movement has only been realized by the women of the USSR and now by the women of the People’s ‘Democracies and the German Democratic Repub- lic. Clara Zetkin died in 1933. What she dared to do in the face of rising Hitler terror (and who can forget it?) we women of all countries must emulate today. We must call for a curb on the warmongering nations now. Peace must be maintain- ed. : e@ In the twenties, years after Clara Zetkin first launched the movement, Canadian women took up the struggle she had started. Organizations such as the Wo- men’s Labor Leagues were set up across Canada through the efforts of such well-known work- ing women as the late Florence Custanee, Annie Buller, Alice Buck, Becky Buhay and many others, who worked in Ontario and Quebec, while in Saskatche- wan Florence Theodore and in British Columbia Annie Stewart and Henni Bell. amongst others carried the movement forward. Thus March 8 has become in Canada a day on which public rallies are held proclaiming the. international solidarity of women for peace and progress. We can well take pride in the successes that have been achiev- ed by women in the Soviet Union and the People’s Democracies, but in our own Canada, we also have successes still to be won, and our own special responsibili- ties, whether it be as workers or housewives or trying to fill the difficult dual role of worker and housewife. Ethel Genkind of the Congress of Canadian Women has written a fine pamphlet entitled} Our Mine-Mill makes new kind of SOME TIME this summer you will probably have an opport- unity to see a new kind of movie. -It will tell the story of working people and their union. It will be an exciting, heart- warming story, not a document- ary. Most of the cast will be work- ing people, union members act- ing the story of their own lives. Shooting is under ‘way this month. This is the first time in the history of! motion pictures— at least in the U.S. — that a full length story movie has been made by a union. The union is Mine-Mill. -The cast are mem- bers of Amalgamated Bayard (New Mexico) . District Union, Local 890. Script; direction and photo- graphy are by top experts of the motion picture industry employ- ed by Independent Productions Corporation. Working title, which may be changed, is Salt of the Earth. It is the story of a typical mi- ner and his family. It is told mainly through the eyes of the miner’s wife, Esperanza Quin- Goal Is Peace. It gives a com- prehensive picture of what wo- men the world over are doing to improve their lives and also to improve conditions on a world scale. The following is a message from this pamphlet to the women of Canada: “For us in Canada, peace would mean living without fear that our families, our homes, our towns and cities would be de- stroyed. Peace would mean that . money now being spent on planes, guns and _ battleships would be spent on houses, on schools, on recreational centres, on food, on medical care. Peace would mean lower prices for the things we need.... “Peace is our goal too.” tero. She is the mother of three children, one of whom is born in the course of the story. It is a love story, though not the usual romantic kind. This story begins several years after marriage and tells how the love and under- standing between the miner and his wife develop until, at the close of the picture, they are real partners, sharing their troubles, their trials and their joys on the basis of mutual res- pect and dignity. The. story deals with the vnion’s struggle for safety in the mines, with the advance of the Mexican-American people toward equality, and with the acceont- ance of women by their men «as partners in personal and union struggle. ‘ x x * THE PART of Ramon. Quin- tero, husband of Esperanza, is played by Juan Chacon, recently elected president of Local 890. He. has developed a sensitivity and intensity in acting that is the marvel of professional movie people on the set. Within a few days, Chacon had House what the Hollywood people call “camera sense”—something that many, professional actors never do achieve. The only professional actor or actress assigned to a leading role is Rosaura Revueltas, the Mexi- can star, who won the Mexican equivalent of the Academy Award in 1950. She plays the part of Esperanza. Will Geer, star of Tobacco Road, plays the Sheriff. Hundreds of members of Local 890 have taken part in the pro- duction—most of them in scenes depicting union meetings and picketlines. The script was written by Mi- chael Wilson, who won the Aca- deniy Award last year for the screenplay A Place ‘in the Sun. Director is Herber- Biberman, former Theatre Guild and Hol- Iywood director, one of the “Hollywood Ten.” A number of the’ people work- ing on the production have been blacklisted in Hollywood for either refusing to cross a picket line or for contempt» of . the Un-American Activities i a Committee. (Last week, U.S. immigration officials gave Miss Revueltas the choice of leaving the U.S. volun- tarily or being placed under ar- rest, claiming that she had vio- lated immigration regulations ) x * 7 MINE-MILL had planned to start publicity ‘cn the movie when it was nearly ready for re- lease, but press atiacks misrepre- senting the whole project made it necessary for the union to reply. he attacks apparently were inspired by Hollywood pro- ducers intent upon keeping a monopoly hold over movie pro- duction, and by professional red- baiters. Juan Chacon said: ‘“The union has just about as much right as RKO or MGM or any of the industrial corpora- tions that have made movies. If Hollywood tries to blacklist some of its finest workers, that’s Hol]- Iywood’s loss. These people ‘are helping us to tell our story. That’s our gain. We are con- fident that our movie will serve the people’s best interests.” PACIFIC TRIBUNE — MARCH 6, 1953 — PAGE 9