Roberts warns ' against hysteria A warning to Canadians not to be misled “by the shriek- ing and. hysteria which robs —OTTAWA us of all reason’ about the Soviet Union, it people, leaders and policies, was given by Leslie Roberts, noted writer, Club here. Roberts, who fis chair- man of the Council for Canadian- Soviet Friendship, recently re- turned from a visit to the Soviet Union and his most recent book, Home From The Cold Wars, re- counts his experiences and observa- tions. The Soviet. Uhion’s objective is peace, Roberts stated, identifying the ordinary Soviet citizen’s desire for peace with his full support of Stalin and other Soviet leaders. “People who suggest that the Russians are not behind their lead- ers are lulling you .. .-take it with a liberal dose of salt. They are sol- idly behind Stalin and the leader- ship of the country. What has welded them is the experience of war. In all honesty these are a un- ited people, they yearn for peace. I have no doubt about it.” In a scathing attack on those who specialize in misinformation, lies and “senseless diatribes which fill the air with sound and fury,” Roberts said that the picture they in an address to the Kivyanis tried to create, of a people living in consant fear of the secret police, waiting only for a favorable oppor- tunity to rise in revolt, bore no re- semblance to the people as he had travelled among them and talked to them. “The Soviet citizen as an indivi- dual asks of life pretty nearly the same things we ask,’ he observed. “Runaway Russians” who write bitter articles defaming the Soviet Union ‘should, in Roberts’ opinion, be regarded with suspicion. Such individuals, he told the Kiwanis, were either trying to curry favor with the governments harboring them, stating those things about the Soviet Union which could be ex- ‘pected to please their protectors, or they were selling a completely false “bill of goods,” pretending to be what they were not. 2 » “A man ready to sell out his na- tive land would be ready to sell out his country of adoption,” he com- mented. Witnesses petition for federal Bill of Rights Jehovah’s Witnesses, battered about in Quebec because of no legislation guaranteeing civil and} religious freedom, have embarked upon a door-to-door campaign to get -signa- tures for a petition demanding the enactment of a federal ‘Bill of Rights. Going down the line with a brief ‘submitted to Ottawa by the Bill f Rights Committee, the religious sect sponsoring the freedom peti- tion points out that the attempt “to outlaw communism has paved the way for attacks on every kind of democratic organization, as proven by the Padlock Law.” “Loyalty tests among civil ser- vants” was condemned &s a “Nazi _ precedent.” The Witnesses of Je- hovah further: stated that by-laws are used to discriminate against trade unions as in the case of the leaders of the United Textile Work- ers of America in Quebec and the fight of the shipping companies against the CSU in which they are _ aided by the police and the courts. The sect urged legislation to outlaw the public expression of an- ti-Semitic sentiments and called for an end to interference with the freedom of religion as in their own ‘They condemned the Defence of Canada Regulations. because they _ invade the rights of the individual LPP provincial body to meet in city The B.C. Provincial Commit- tee of the Labor Progressive Party will meet in Vancouver, November 6-7. Nigel Morgan, provincial leader will present a | full report on the political situ- | ation and the problems facing the labor movement in B.C. Maurice Rush, provincial organ- izer will report on party organ ization and building. : | Stanley Ryerson, national or- | ganizational se will at- ‘| tend the provincial committee’ sessions. Leading people in all fields of LPP work will also be invited to attend. 4 —MONTREAL as in the case of the “spy suspects” and deplored the provisions of the Immigration Act which are used against non-Canadian labor lead- | ers. ‘ STANLEY RYERSON, national organizational secretary of the La- bor-Progressive Party, will address a public peace rally on Sunday, November 7th, at 8 p.m.,. at the Odeon-Hastings theatre in 'Vancou- ver. Author of “French Canada,” “1837—the Birth of Canadian De- mocracy” and several other books and pamphlets, Ryerson will speak on the topic “Not A Man For Wall Street War,’ under the auspices of the Vancouver Committee of the HEP. : Stanley Ryerson is ‘one of the leading - Marxists in our country and is attending the Provincial Committee meeting of the LPP on November 6th-7th as well as mak- ing an extensive tour of the prov- ince. : Ryerson plans to visit all key Vancouver Island points for a se- ries of LPP conferences. On Nov- ember 12 he will leave for the In- terior and is slated to address meet- ings at the following points: Kam- loops, Nov. 13; Vernon, Nov. 14; Kelowna, Nov. 15. He will also spend a week in various Kootenay points. Will launch campaign for Vitkovich release —NANAIMO Before. Mr. Justice A. M. Manson and a jury largely consisting of smiail business men, Mirko Vitkovitch, Yugo- slav-born Nanaimo coal miner imprisonment for alleged libel self-styled “doctor” and Yugoslav “partisan.” : Coming to Canada recently under a special order-in-council, Zorkin has engaged in numerous red-bait- -|ing “lectures’’ and press statements against the Peoples’ Republic of Yugoslavia, the USSR and com- munism generally. Vitkovich was charged with hav-| ing distributed a mimeograph leaf- | let which branded Zorkin “a traitor to Yugoslavia and a fascist collab- orator.” During the five-day trial sworn testimony taken earlier in the sum- mer in London, England, from four Yugoslav partisans who have known Zorkin from childhood, de- clared him to be an enemy of the people and an all-round “bad egg.” His claims that he fought on the side of the anti-fascist resistance movements were completely refut- ed. Justice Manson, who ruled that “communism’’ was not the issue in this case, allowed crown prose- ecutor F. S. Cunliffe to redbait at will, and brushed aside the lengthy evidence taken in London with a brief comment. The evidence of Major Jones, senior British officer who partici- pated in the Yugoslav Resistance movement was also waived aside by the presiding judge. Veteran of two world wars;;rejected in Can- ada in World War II because of wounds, Jones made his way to England and joined the RAF, and subsequently carried out many dan- gerous assignments of liaison be- tween the British forces and the Resistance movements. Justice Manson wanted to know from Jones “who he owed. his allegiance to? | atomic war of aggression. skies are filled with American At Namao on the outskirts of the city, the Canadian government is building an air base which it is said will be the largest and most modern in Canada, The search for oil is being pushed as part of the war preparations and the oil in- dustry of the province is in the hands of American cartels. Thousands of DP’s are being brought to Alberta, some of whom are being employed at an RCAF base in Edmonton, throwing Can- adian veterans out of work. Minister of Labor Humphrey Mitchell says that ithey are one of the best “bulwarks against Com- munism”! What the Minister means although he didn’t say it publicly was that these DP’s were brought here to act as storm troopers against the labor and progressive movement, to assist reaction in its drive to fascism and war. The refusal of the Edmonton Bulletin and Lethbridge Herald to print the peace manifesto of the National Executive of the LPP asa paid display advertisement, indi- eates the extent to which reaction is going to suppress any move- ment for peace. J. Harper Prowse, the provincial leader of the Liberal Party is tray- elling up and down the province onenly campaigning for conscrip- tion in peace time. A fascist nest of Latvian “refugees” is being es- tablished in Edmonton and a fas- cist paper, “Free Latvia” is being Alberta, gateway to America’s atomic war plans against USSR’ By BEN SWANKEY Edmohton has been advertised far and.wide as the “Gateway to the North.” the truth is that Edmonton is being rapidly transformed into the gateway for a Wall Street The Americans have a big air base here and every day the But war planes coming to and from the north. published here. The Calgary Al- bertan commenting editorially on the case of the four French trait- ors admitted to Canada by special order-in-council suggests that the government may have acted un- wisely “unless for reason of their safety from an unscrupulous, and. for the government to say that they are being allowed in to protect them from the French “Communists”? None of these events are isolated || — incidents—they are all part and parcel of a deliberate plot to de- stroy democratic liberties and to involve Canada in a criminal Wall Street war of aggression. The Red Deer branch of the Can- adian Legion condemned the gov- ernment for admitting the four ‘French collaborators to Canada. The Edmonton branch of the Le- gion has protested the employment of DP’s on military projects here. Critical voices are being raised in the Edmonton CCF asking the pro- vincial leadership to combat the war propaganda. ‘ But while the vast majority of the people want peace, that is not enough. We must act for peace. A|' great responsibility rests upon the shoulders of the organized trade union and farm movement. They should be in the forefront exposing the war-mongering and demanding that our government follow a peace | policy and one that will maintain Canada’s independence in the face of Wall Street encroachments. The time for action is right now, be- cause it is right now that our fu- was sentenced’to six months’ against Mladen Guinio-Zorkin, Defense The Nanaimo Labor | Committee consisting of interested trade unionists and others, art launching a campaign for the jm- mediate release of Mirko Vitko- vich. The NLDF regards the vicious sentence handed down as a form of intimidation, establishing a pre- cedent, in that it now appears to be a crime to expose the fascist activities of persons like Zorkin without running foul of the courts. MIRKO VITKOVITCH Churchmen support CSU Lakes strike —TORONTO “The CSU is actually out on strike to enforce the govern- ment’s own labor code,” the committee on Evangelism and Social Service, of the East Toronto presbytery declared in a_ polic¥ statement heard by the committee last week. Referring to the seamen’s sum- mer-long battle on the lakes, the committee statement demanded strict enforcement of the law. “Labor regulations call for employ- ers to bargain with a bargaining agent constitutionally and demo- cratically selected by the em- ployees,” Rev. I. G. Perkins, Don- lands church declared, in making the report. “To this extent the CSU is actually out on strike to enforce the government’s own labor code and deserves the outspoken sup- ture is being decided. 2 port of the Church,” he said. Editorial -Order-in- ernment circles. There is a ee to answer with ‘libelling’ the Doktor. The question was how, Zorkin came to Canada. The __. The “Dr.’? didn’t come to In his case the immigration visa and was in no “DP” came to Canada circumstances as Order-In-Council! “Dr.” Zorkin belon: . laborators who are fi ‘din for war criminals, Ministers MacKinno: Canada,” The question, house, poses a larger adians. How many of on ‘denazification’? despite the vicious sentence a spade a spade. - Council immigrants. _'THE question might be embarassing to some people in gov- ? Mladen Guinio-Zorkin, Yugoslay during the ‘trial’ of Mirko Vitkovitch, Nanaimo miner charged and under what circumstances Court ruled the question in order. Canada as an ordinary immigrant. rules were waived. I quota. “Dr.” Mladen Giunio-Zorkin and remained here on the same priviliged the four French Vichyite traitors—by special on, are “fit and proper persons to live in reluctantly answered in a Nanaimo court- question for all democratic-minded Can- n these Order-in- als have been admitted to © oe n-Council Nazi war crimin- government, in violation of statutory _ in violation of international covenants of the United Nations The people have a right to know, and will not be silenced given Mirko Vitkovitch for calling flurry of panicy murmuring in that question, Your Honor?” Nazi emigre He had no by the King-St. Laurent immigration laws .. . and~ PACIFIC TRIBUN E—OCTOBER 29, 1948—PAGE 2