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Page Four

B.C. WORKERS’ NEWS

BC WorKERS NEWS

Published Weekly by

THE PROLETARIAN PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION

Room 10, 163 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, B.C.
Telephone: Trinity 2019

One Year _ $1.80 Half Year _ $1.00
Three Months ____-—_— 50. Single Gopy —___-__. 05

Make All Ghecks Payable to the B.C. WORKERS’ NEWS

Send Alt Copy and Manuscript to the Chairman of the Edoitorial Board.
Send All Monies and Letters Pertaining to Advertising and Circulation to the
Business Manager.

Vancouver, B.C., Friday, December 18, 1936

A Law for the Rich, One for the Poor

A M. ANDERSON, a working man and C.C.F. alderman-
e elect, was working part time for the aty and receiving, $40
a mouth for it. Because of this his election is to be declared null
and void.

Fred Crone, employer and exploiter of labor, with a truck
ing business, also works—or has his men work—for the city.
One of his last jobs was moving the City Hall furniture, files, etc.,
from the Holden Building to Gerry’s folly, the new City Hiall
monstrosity, for which he received the tidy sum of $1200.00. But
there is no move made to declare his election null and yoid.

From this it will be seen that whilst a business man dome.

business with the city can hold an aldermanic seat in violation.
of the law, a worker is disqualified because he has a $40.00 a4
month job with the city and is also ineligible if he has no job at all.

Reactionarly circles were jolted out of their cynical com-
placency by the election of three C.C.F. aldermen to the City
Council. They cast about for some legal loop-hole to get rid of
some if not all of them, hence the move against Anderson.

In face of the attack the precipitate action of Anderson in
resigning was ill-advised, to say the least. He should have stood
by the mandate given to him by the electors and tought the issue
out to a finish instead of capitulating on a basis ot legalism.

' The capitalist press has suddenly become so desirous of
economy in civic affairs that it is urging that no election be held
to fill the seat which will be vacated should Anderson be declared
not legally elected, and that Corey, or some other candidate of
veaction who was rejected by the electors, be declared elected, the
excuse being that it would cost the city $1200 to hold the election
9 fraction of what Gerry’s junket to London cost the taxpayers.

All workers and progressives should protest such a procedure.
Tf Anderson is denied the seat to which he was elected, an election
should be demanded.

Legalizing a Steal

HE good old days when huge parts of the public domain were

handed over free to the C.P.R.,-the Hudson’s Bay Company

and other financial buccaneers, when millions of acres ot farm

lands were “sold” to the Siftons and the McRaes for $1.00 per

acre, are here again. The old exploiting gangs were afraid of the

people and consummated their crooked deals behind their backs,
dealing only with the governments. : °

Private interests today desire to have a comeback when out-
raged citizens protest against public domain becoming private
property for purposes ot exploitation and speculation ; they pro-
cure a plebiscite and with a high-pressure campaign, wholesale
corruption, many citizens without the franchise, being disqualified
for one reason or another, they managed to secure consent for
their deals.

The recent plebiscite in the District of North Vancouver is
an example of how private interests work. Grouse Mountain and
contiguous territory to the exteat of 18 miles square was, up until
last Wednesday, public property. This beautiful alpime moun-
tain park was handed over to private interests for the paltry sum
of $100,000. And this after more than a million dollars had been
expended on the property.

Tt would be interesting to know how much slush money was
spent by the private interests to influence the yoters in the
plebiscite. For a slisht, temporary easing of the tax burden the
voters committed a crime against generations to come by au-
thorizing private interests to put a fence around a region which
should have remained public property, aecessible to all.

Lessons of Civic Elections

HIE election of Stewart Smith, Communist, to the City Coun-
eil of Toronto, John Weir, also a Communist, to the Board
of Education in the same city, Ewart Humphries as Deputy
Reeve of York Township, the narrow margin by which J. B.
Salsbure was defeated for alderman in Toronto and the 50 per
cent increase-to 32,000 votes received by Tim Buck for Controller
should furnish material for reflection for those of the C.C.F. who
still hold back from a united front with Communists out of fear
that such association would alienate middle class and other sup-
ort.
2 The results in Toronto, following upon xCeS
in Windsor, Regina and Winnipeg a year aso, and by similar
suecesses this year in Melville, Sask., Mimico, Ont., and other
places, show conclusively that the old prejudice against Commu-
nism and Communists, built up assiduously ever simce the over-
throw of capitalism in Russia, is rapidly being dissipated.

‘And the reasons are not hard to discover. The Communist
Party of Russia showed the path that must be travelled to destroy
capitalism and establish socialism, a path that led to the recent
crowning glory of the new Soviet Constitution. Communist
parties all over the world are recognized by ever-growing numbers
of people as the leaders in uniting the people agaist starvation,
fascist reaction and war.

The victories won in Feronto and elsewhere 10. Canada would
not have been possible were it not for the support given to unity,
and to Communist candidates by members of the C.C.E. where
pnity was thwarted by reactionary C.C.F. officials. The tragedy
of the recent municipal elections throughout Canada is that the
victories were so few where a united labor-progressive front
could have made far greater gains.

Tn order to check reaction it is necessary to send more pro-
gressives into the legislative bodies. To achieve the maximum
success in this endeavor requires unity of all labor and progres-
sive forces. In the present situation neither the Communist Party
nor the C.C.F. standing alone, can secure sufucient mass support.
@.C.F. leaders, in taking the position that the C-C.F. offers an
opportunity to unite all who are opposed to reaction, are evading
the question and dodging responsibility and trying to find an
excuse for keeping the workers divided. :

The masses are not ready to accept the C.C.F. program in
its entirety, nor are they ready to accept the whole Communist
program. But they are ready to accept a minimum program.
which will meet their pressing immediate needs. On such a pro-
gram the C.C.F., Communist Party, trade unions and other pro-
pressive organizations can unite.

The membership of the Cle
clearly that they desire such unity. The Trades and Labor Couneils
of Toronto and Port Arthur indicated by their support of pro-
gressive candidates, Communists included, in the recent municipal
elections that the trade inion movement 1s swinging to support
of unity. ee

What is holding back unity and thereby playing into the
hands of reaction is the opposition of the Woodsworths and re-
actionary trade union officials. This opposition must be broken
down by the mass pressure of the members of the rank and file
: a result of the division in the ranks of the

united front successes

on the whole, have shown

progressive elements ee
Conservative leaders of the C.C.F. have so little faith in

their party that they refuse to associate with other progressive

Why is the Vancouver Local
38-126 of the International Long-
shoremen’s Association on strike?
Coming so soon on the heels of the
six months’ strike of last year, un-
informed persons are confused.

The 1.L.A. is fighting for its very
existence. The organization was
formerly the Coastwise Longshore-
men and Freight Handlers, and its
members were employed wholly by
the coastwise operators who were
not members of the Shipping Fed-
eration of B.C.

The Shipping Federation until re-
cently had confined their activities
solely to the deepsea end of the in-
dustry. During the strike of last
year, they set up two unions. of
strike-breakers, and over 500 of the
former employees in Vancouver
alone are still blacklisted.

The coastal operators,
bound by the Shipping Federation,
after the strike ended employed theiz
former employees.

In June of this year the Goastwise
«+ Longshoremen and Freight Handlers
was chartered by the International
Longshoremen’s Association. From
that date until shortly before the
present strike its members were em-—
ployed by Kingsley Navigation ,Co.,
Frank Waterhouse & Co., Border
Line Transportation €o., B.C. Pack-
ers, Alaska Steamship Co. and sev-
eral other companies.

Pollowinge the strike call on the
U.S. Pacific Goast, the Vancouver
jJocal continued working the coastal
ships under strike conditions, that
is, though they agreed to work
cargo being transported between B.C.
ports, they refused all cargo to or
from U.S. coast ports, or any cargo
¢hat ordinarily would haye been
transported yia U.S. ports.

At this stage the Shipping Fed-
eration of B.C. stepped in. Having
set out more than a year before to
smash eyery trace of legitimate
unionism on the waterfront, they
now turned their artillery on the
only remaining field, the coastwise
operators. They forced the coastal
companies into their game, and un-
der their conditions, that is, that all
men be employed through the com-
pany hiring hall.

When the Rochelle of the Kings-
ley Wavigation Co- arrived shortly
before the strike was declared, the
former employees were ignored and
|men hired from the deepsea strike-
breakers’ unions. A few days later
other coastal companies notified the
LL.A. that they were now members
of the Shipping Federation and in
future would hire their men from the
Shipping Federation Hall.

Officials of different companies
stated to the I.lu.A .committee that
they had been coerced into this ac-
tion. They preferred to deal with
the L..A., they did not want to join
the Shipping Federation, but had to,
otherwise the Shipping Federation
were in a poSition to cut off their
supply of cargo.

The Pacific Coast District of the
L.L.A. was already on strike. The
Victoria local had struck all ships.
The Vancouver local had struck all
ships and cargo that was consid-
ered unfair, but was working purely
B.C. cargo. Now they were locked
out from this work, under coercion
from the same forces which, on 20-
minute notice, locked out 940 deep-
sea men in June of last year, and
who have maintained the blacklist
against nearly 600 of those men to
this date.

The B.C. locals of the I-L.A. are
on strike for their existence.

The District will not be defeated-
Developments point to a speedy and,
for the 1.L.A., a successful termina-
tion of the strike, which will mean
the establishment of the 1.L.A. in
BC. ports.

The establishing of the I.L.A in
B.C., resulting in the unionizing ot
the waterfront workers, will give a
boost to the unionizing of B-C.’s in-
dustries generally. Experience of the

Coast has proved “an organized
waterfront means an organized
iC

That is why all the. guns of the
financial interests haye been turned
on the progressive waterfront unions.
And that is why every progressive,

every trade unionist should throw his
weight right in behind the I.L.A. in
this fight.—G.B.

not being f

ow The Shipping
Federation Forced
Coastwise Operators

| Book Review

THE OLIVE FIELD—By Ralph

Bates.

Another novel of contemporary
Spain. A fine piece of proletarian
literary art, It describes the lives
of the workers in the olive groves
on the estate of a Marquis, who
leaves his bullying superintendent
in full charge, and the struggies of
the Church to maintain its prestige
against the growing anti-clerical-
ism.

Caro and Mudarra, close friends
and both anarchists, are workers in
the olive field, the latter adding
to his miserable wage by playing
the guitar in cafes at night. The
Ghurch authorities hold a big re-
ligious procession. The procession
is headed by a detachment of the
Givil Guards: ‘’fo show that Christ
was dead they carried their rifles
at the reverse. The rifles were
loaded.” The anarchists attack the
procession and break the holy
images. The Givil Guards open fire;
wounding a Communist who tried
to persuade the anarchists to stop
their silliness.:

The peasant’s land is being dried
out by the sun, but the grandee re-
fuses them water, and Caro and
Mudarra volunteer to blow up the
dam on the estate. Caro refuses to
go through with it at the last mo-
ment as he suddenly realizes that
the flaod would destroy the poor
folks’ gardens as well as the olive
field. He leaves the anarchists and
turns to Communism.

Mudarra and others are arrested
following a riot of the olive pickers
over low wages. Commumnists, So-
Cialists and anarchists unite in a
great demonstration to demand
their release, and the demonstration
is broken up by Civil Guards with
great loss of life. Mudarra gets a
year in prison, and Caro goes to
Asturia to work in a mine. Later
he leaves the mine to work on a
waterfront, where he meets Mu-
darra who has completed his sen-
tence.

From this point the author
works up a smashing climax He
describes in vivid language the re-
volt of the Asturian miners of two
years ago; their capture of Oviedo;
their defeat because the revolt did
not spread throughout Spain. as
planned, and how finally they were
hunted down .and shot like wild
dogs by Moorish troops. Mudarra
became a leading military com-
mander in this fight, but being
wounded was captured, tortured
and shot. Caro, a member of the
Revolutionary Committee, escaped.

In view of the present events in
Spain this book is very welcome.
It is a great aid to an understand-
ing of the Spanish people and the
conditions under whieh they lived.
The author. an Englishman, be
sides having a thorough knowledge
of the Spanish language must have
been able to think Spanish to write
this story.

(On sale at the New Age Book
Store, Homer and Pender streets,
Price $2.50)—T. M-

= December 18, 1936

warfare outside Moscow.
and discarded their ’chutes rush
invading force from the rear.

Soviet Skies Rain Soldiers

Air infantrymen oi the Ree Army, trained io jump from transport

planes, float earthward during a recent
in the foreground, troops who have landed

demonstration of parachute

forward to attack a theoretical

Radio Br

_ resumed.

quest that we again go on the

station.

We have set the figure of

started.

given.

Street, Vancouver.

Ever since last June when the B.C. Workers’ News
radio broadcasts were discontinued we have been receiving
letters and individual callers at our office enquiring as to
why the broadcasting ceased and when they would be

The answer was, and is, that the cost was more than
the “News” could bear. So insistent, however, is the re-

resume—providing we are able to build up a RADIO

FUND asa basis to ensure continuation for a reasonable
period and oyer a more powerful, although more costly,

which to begin, and invite all those who appreciate the edu-
cative and news value of such broadcasts and wish that they
be resumed, to contribute toward securing this amount.
Already members of our old radio audience and prospective
new listeners have made contributions to get this fund

We would be glad to have prospective listeners write to
us giving suggestions as to which of the larger stations
should be used, and at what hour the broadcasts should be

Address all communications and send contributions to
B.C. Workers’ News Radio Fund, Room 10, 163 W. Hastings

Editorial Board, B.C. Workers’ News.

oadcasts

air, that we have decided to

$250.00 as the minimum on

The New

Soviet Gon

stitution

By JOSEPH STALIN

An amendment zo article 124 of
the Draft Constitution proposes
that ministers of religion, ex-white
guards, all peoples of former times
and persons not engaged in Sso-
cially useful labor, be deprived of
suffrage, or at all events that
the suffrage for this category of
persons be restricted exclusively
to passive election right. I think
this amendment should be re-
jected. The Soviet power has not
deprived the non-working and ex-
ploiting elements of the suffrage
for ever, but only temporarily, up
to a certain time. There was 2
time when these elements waged
open war against the people and
resisted the Soviet laws. The So-
viet depriving them of suffrage
represented the reply of the So-
viet power to this resistance- Not
a little time has passed since

tion, the ©.C.F.
Federation but a Co-operative

identity and independent party

“Aryan Moors”

the Garibaldi battalion and

The ability of capitalism to

He reported that the single

So imperative is the need for
sive party that if the C.C.F. persists im its sectarian policy and
refuses to help bring it into bein;
taken despite the opposition of those r sactionary leaders whose die-
hard opposition not only exposes the
reaction, but endangers the existence

How sacrilegious! Youngsters
on a well-known Christmas hymm, the first two lines of which are:
= - 5 - 22

“TWark the herald angels sing, Mrs. Sumpson s sneaked our king.

parties and organizations for fear their party will lose its identity.
Although launched as a federation,
is In fact not a

and still in name a federa-
Co-operative Commonwealth
Commonwealth Party.

A Farmer-Labor-Progressive Party is a vital necessity. The
C.C:F. can become the basis of such a party by
of the Communist Party, trade unions, etc.,

accepting afuliation
while retaining its
organization.

such an all-inclusive progres-

o the work will have to be under-

masses to further attacks by
of the C:C.F. itself.

in London are singing a parody

is the term derisively used by Italians of
German members of the International
brigade, fighting on the side of the people of Spain against the
fascist rebels, to describe the troops used by Franco.

corrupt professional people was

elaringly revealed by a report by a doctor in Winnipeg whose
name the capitalist press does not give.
litieal appointee of the baby-starving
his job was to investigate conditions in relief slumgullion joints.
unemployed men were over-fed. But
we are becoming accustomed to these “investigations” by men
appointed to report as their paymasters dictate.

The medico was a po-
Bracken government and

i
then. During the past period we
brought about a state of affairs in
which the exploiting classes have
been annibilated and the Soviet
power has become «an invincible
force. Has not the time arrived to
revise this law? I think the ume
has arrived. It is said that this is
dangerous because elements hostile
to the Soviet power, some former
white guard, kulak, priest, etc.,
may manage to creep into the su-
preme organs or tne country. But,
properly speaking, what is there
to be afraid of? If you are afraid

of wolves, do not go imto the
woods. In the first place not all
former kulaks, white suards or

priests are hostile to the Soviet
power. Secondly, if people here
and do elect hostile persons, it will
show that our propaganda work
was organized very badly indeed
and that we fully deserve such a
diserace. If however, our propa-
ganda work proceeds in a Bol-
shevik manner, people will not al-
low hostile persons to enter the
supreme organs. That means we
must work and not snivel. We
must work and not wait until
everything is presented ready
made by 2edministrative orders. AS
far back as 1919 Lenim said that
the time is not far distant when
the Soviet power would consider it
useful to introduce universal suf-

fraze without any limitations-
Note the words: Without any
limitations.

Significance of the New |
Constitution of the U-S.S.R.
Within a few days the Soviet |

Union will have a new socialist
Constitution, based on principles
of extensive socialist democracy.

This will be a historical document
describing simply and concisely,
almost in the style of minutes, the
facts of the victory of socialism
in the U-S.S.R., with facts about
the emancipation of the toilers or
the U.S.S.R from capitalist slavery,
with facts about the victory in the
U.S.S:R., of extended democracy.
It will be a document testifying
to the fact that what millions of
honest people in the eapitalist
countries have dreamt of and con-
tinue to dream of has already been
achieved in the U.S:S.R. It will be
a document proving that what has
been achisyed in the U.S.S.R. can

} ing

pe fully achieved in other coun-

tries. But from this it follows that
the international Significance of
the New Constitution of the U-S-
SR. ean hardly be overestimated.

At the present time, when the
turbid waves of fascism are be-
smirching the socialist movement
of the working class and tramp-
linge in the mud the democratic
strivings of the best people of the
Civilized world, the new Constitu-
tion of the U.S.S.R. will be an in-
dictment against fascism, testify—
ine that socialism and democracy
are invincible. The new Constitu-
tion of the U.S.S.R. will be a moral
aid and real assistance to all those
who today are fighting against
fascist barbarism. Of still greater
significance is the new Constitu-
tion of the USSR. for the peo-
ples of the U.S.S.R. While for the
peoples of the capitalist countries
the Constitution of the U-.S.S-R-
will have the significance of 4
program of action, for the peoples
of the U.S.S.R. it has the signifi-
cance of a summary of their strug-
ele, a summary of their victories
on the front of the emancipation
of mankind.

As the result of the path of
struggle and deprivation which has
been traversed, it is pleasing and
joyiul to have our Constitution
that deseribes the fruits of our
victories. It is pleasing and “joyful
to know what our people fought
for and how they achieved this
world-historical victory. It is pleas-
and joyful to Know that the
blood that our people shed so pro-
fusely was not shed in vain and
that it has produced results. This
arms our working class, our peas-
antry, our working intelligentsi
spiritually. This calls forth and
raises higher the sense of legiti-
mate pride. This strengthens our
confidence in our own power and
mobilises us for fresh struggles in
order to win new victories for
Communism.

GIBRALTAR .FP)—When news
arrived at rebel-held La Tinea of
the recognition of the rebels by Hit-
ler and Mussolini, 2 great celebra-
tion was organized, culminating in
fireworks and the shooting of fif-
teen prisoners. Eye-witmesses say
that the civilian population held

78

abel Mat RE

By
OL’ BILL

Sometimes a politician.
. is compelled to tell the
Will Out. truth in spite of him-
self. During the “crisis” that
“rocked the foundations of Hm-

Truth

win made a speech that should be
memorable, if only for one thing—
it was a confession that let the out—
siders inte one of the secrets of
the political thimble-rigged game,
unintentionally of course. 3
In his speech to the House of
Commons on that date, he made a
statement that should be pasted in=
the hat of every worker: “Remem~
ber that in this last week I have
had little time in which to compose

so I must tell what I have to tell ©
truthfully, sincerely and plainly.”
Since he was pressed for time he
had no opportunity to doctor his ~
remarks with the insinuations;
equivocations, misconstructions,
legal, diplomatic and plain ordinary
lies, usual to such occasions. Had
he been dealing with the fate of a
couple of million of Britain’s stary=
ing unemployed coal-miners, ship-
builders and textile workers, time
would have been taken to “com=- ©

of course, the “foundations” would
not be rocking and the Hempire
would not be in any great danger.
Even at that, I will not blame |
the reader who expresses doubt
that Baldwin told the truth on this 4
historical occasion; I am in the |
same boat myself. :

. . There is now a bat-
ae On talion of Moors, 1000 ~

ronts. strong, fighting on
the side of the Spanish Government,
When the murder-hordes of Butcher
Franco began their evil work in
Spain there were no Moors in the
whole country. All that are there
were brought by the fascist invad= ~
ers. The legitimate conclusion if;
that the propaganda of the People's
Front Government is winning th
Moorish soldiers who haye been d
luded by the traitor generals an
Franco's head may yet decora
Moorish bayonets as Koltchak’s di
the Ghecho-Slovak’s and Chiang=
Kai-Shek’s—the bayonets of his own”
soldiery. Let’s hope so! j

The trained seals ~
Results of of the Italian

Two Systems. newspaper pbusi-
ness are trying to make the Italian
people believe that Mussolini is al-
most human. Their latest effort is

a sob-story of how that neurotic, —
sadist dictator, aged ten years dur-
ing a ten-day sickness of one of his
childrens When the child was out
of danger, his publiicty agents is-
sued a statement from the Sawdust
Caesar himself, saying: “I should
have preferred a second African
war to my daughter's illness.”

The snivelling, brutal demogague
would rather sacrifice the boys of
hundreds of thousands of Italian
working-class and peasant fathers
and mothers than that the affliction
of one of his brood should bring sut
fering on himself.

Such is the foundation on which
js based the hypocritical ethics of
the “corporate state.’ Compare
this swaggering, cowardly, fascist
bully with the heroic communists,

;

}

suffering the torture of damnation
and giving their lives for their ™
ideals. 4

66 The “Buzzerd’ of the B.C.

eu Collectric is an inspiring
Buzz!” jittle Friday morning ad-
vent in our lives. It inspires More
expletives than anything ~— else
printed on waste paper in this part
of the world—generally summed up
in the subject of the heroic exploits
of the Mexican toreador.

The alibis of Mr. Lighthead, the
editor, are always better than the
solutions of the abstruse detective
mysteries of the 10-cent pulp maga-
vines and always prove that the
“rugged individualism” that Pro-
vides us with crowded, jolting
rattletrap Toonerville trolleys, with
a quarter of the cars necessary to

ownership that provides comfort
able transportation and adequate
service. f

In the latest issue (Dec. 11) the”
alibi for the broken-down scrap-pile ©
at the Main Street sub-station is
“foe”? in connection with whoich
the editor asus, “What could have
been pleasanter than spending a-
couple of hours in the good com-
pany of a crowded street-car?” The
following letter from 4 friend of
Mine is the answer.

Dear OL Bill: I just bin dower
to the city from Shiplap Siding and
sure am glad to git home agin. rt
tried to see you but got stuck in2@
street car. that street car company
must be well thought of they sure
git lots of biz. I could not hardly
git in the car and then I couldn't
git off. I couldn’t see no figgers to
say how many was allowed in the
car; maybe that’s one of the trade
secrets, but I counted 29 out where
the conductor was. Them cCon-
ductors must learn the trade in the
same factory where they put the
sardines in the cans. Maybe Lt
didn’t count very good, on account
of a woman’s hat in my face and 2a
man standing on each of my feet
which spoilt my tally. The doctor
says he’s afeared I got Brights
disease like the locomotive men
gets and one of my kidneys is
pushed up to my neck and my eye
may be O.K in about sex months,
Tt’s a blessing I ain't got no nerves.
See you next time T come to tow2.

completely aloof.

Tll walk. Your friend, Silas.

oe,
aS)
00)
Y

oa

t
|

)
3

pire,” on December 10th, Mr. Bald— me

3
17

a speech for delivery today. And” ~

4

i

i
pose” his speech, but in that case, | |

i

7

Edgar Andre and irnst Tanuationl

handle the traffic, is much more ©
efficient than any form of collective ©