siphae Ser ith opted lap oa paver Seort kok -pattles of the civil war. The same \ _nurseries and kindergartens.” Page Four B. CG. WORKERS’ NEWS WOMEN: THE NEW FREEDOM By BECKIE BUHAY EWEN “Do not let your srief for Lenin spend itself in an outward honor- ing of his person. Do not raise monuments to his name. Do mot or- Sanize splendid celebrations to his memory. In his life he attached little importance io such things. If you syish to honor Lenin remember how much there is to be done. Build ereches, gardens for ehildren, homes, schools, libraries, hospitals, etc., and above all, in all you do carry out the teachings he bequeathed.” So spoke Krupskaya, his life-long com- yade and wife, on the day of his death. And the people of the Soviet Union, the women of the Soviet {inion have carried out Lenin’s be- quest. They have build socialism and among the many other great achievements, have brought sex equality to 170 million people. Lenin, no matter how numerous his tasks, throughout his life gave careful attention to the problem of ‘Women’s Work.’ Many of the leading women of the socialist and eommunist movement were given the personal political guidance of Lenin. Just to mention a few names: Krupskaya, Stassova, Clara Zetkin, Luxembours, Zemiiachka, Smido- vich. In her ‘“Reminscences of Lenin,’ Clara Zetkin, pointed out his tremendous interest in this problem, his valuable eriticisms and proposals on how to mobilize them, not only for the Soviet itself, but on an imternational scale. “In or- der to fully free the women, and give them: true equality with men, it is necessary to have a social economy and the women must par- ticipate in the general productive labor,” Lenin pointed out, and it is precisely because the Soviet Society has been able to open up all avenues of endeavor, of production for her, ¢{hat woman has truly won her free- dom. : Wo one understood more deeply than the great Lenin the important role played by the women of any nation in its progress. In 1868, Marx had laid down this maxim: “Social progress can be measured with pre- cision by the social position of the female sex.’ Lenin strove to change very speedily the role of woman from the old degradation of Czarism, to a new position. “BRyery cook,” he said, “must learn how to govern the country.” Painstakinely this great world leader, whose memory we commemorate this month, helped the women of the U.S.S.R. in the tasks of carrying out the principles for which the Communist Party had fought: He assigned in the Party and all branches of leader- ship capable womien,. who showed that they could ably carry out this task—many of them actively par- ticipating in the most danzerous holds true of Stalin who carried on the work where Lenin by death jaid it down. He convened epoch making conferences, not only of syomen workers, but of peasant women, listening to their thoughts, their grievances, their problems, helping them as well as learning from them. j Ensures Freedom Much has been written in facts and figures to illustrate the tre- mendous achievements of the | women of the U.S.S.R. Nothing, however, tells the story better than that article in the New Soviet Con- stitution, which can be seen and felt in every phase of Soviet life. Article 122 states: “Women in the U.SS.R. are accorded equal rights with men in all spheres of eco- nomic, state, cultural, social and political life. The exercise of these tights of women is ensured by af- fording women equally with men, the right to work, payment for work, rest and leisure, social insur- anee and education, and by the state protection of the interests of mother and child, pregnancy leave with pay and the provision of a wide network of maternity homes, Thus we see in the U.S.S.R., mil- lions of women working, earning: equal pay with men, prominent amons the heroic shock brigaders and Stakhanovites, outstanding in education, the arts, science and government. There is no feat too difficult or sphere too far, for them to tackle and conquer. The Soviet- Jand is one of creative women and youth, and withal a nation of happy mothers, where the function of motherhood is held sacred by provid- ing for it every facility and care, and at the same time, motherhood does not stand as a deterrent to swworman’s work and development, for the state has ereated all those Sources and forms that make it possible for a mother to continue her tasks in the most natural and easy way. From the lips of thousands of women from factory and farm, one hears the descriptive contrast of the ola degraded slavery of Czarism, and this new life that the Russia of today has unfolded for its women. “@he peasant was oppressed and terribly poor,’ wrote the collective farm women of Georgievsky Dis- {rict to Stalin, “but the women were doubly oppressed. Now 2 real life lias come to the village women. We already have electric light. The power station sends its current to the picture house, lights the streets and the thirty houses of the col- jective farmers. Soon another hun- dred houses will have the light in- stalled. Our villages have changed before our eyes, and we, too, have changed!” A factory woman relates: “I went to work at the age of twelve in the textile factory. Under terrible conditions I worked ten hours a day for years and years. I was the low- _exposing: Lenin’s Widow and VYomen’s— Leader. i= a} # ~~ New Fil ew rims \ { How the New Film Alliance sizes them up: GREAT GUY: James Cagney re- appears in a familiar ind of role, racketeers and chiefly concerned with right and left hooks. More was expected. CGRAGE-UP: Mystery, a bit on the melodramatic side. But with its tense moments and its Peter Lorre, we refuse to complain. GIRL FROM PARIS: Lily Pons singing, and Jack Oakie. (grown stout) and Frank Jenks pulling the laughs, make a not bad, though too long, musical. THE REV OLUTIONISTS: Finest recent picture from the Soviet Union. Stery of 2 num- ber of 1905 revolutionaries. Highly recommended. ONE IN A MILLION: Plot built around the agile and charming champion figure skater Sonja Henie. Also several new situations and pleasant arrangements of Adolphe Menjou and the three Ritz Brothers, WE WHO ARE ABOUT TO DIE: Qld death-house story reworked till you think you’ll be the one to die. B. S. STOMANIAKOV Soviet Vice-Commissar of Foreign Affairs. me. I was the butt of his insults. Today this is all like a bad dream. In the place of the filthy factory is a2 new airy plant. I work seven hours a day, I get a month's holi- day with pay a year. I am now foreman of the plant and recently received a reward for my work.” Points Way These simple words speak vol- umes. It is not difficult to under- stand the enthusiasm of these women, who are prepared to defend this freedom with their lives from fascist attack. How different is the picture in Germany and Italy where womanhood has been degraded to the role of Slave and breeder of cannon fodder. How different is the picture from our Canada where the women work long hours for low wares, where the housewife and mother in so many instances is in the unhappy plight of working out for a pittance, leaving her children to the mercy of the streets, of the unemployed girl with no redress, facing a future without hope. And knowing that on top of this all, the terrible fear of war is very real to- day. - The brave women of the Soviet Union, the braye women of heroic Spain, the countless women fight- ers for progress during the last century, have proven that women can play a tremendous part in the great battle for freedom. The Party of Lenin and Stalin has shown the way. Today with the @reat task before us of putting up the most energetic battle in all his- tory, against fascism and war—our women, the women of Canada, can take their rightful place. They can be in the forefront in cementing that unity of all progressive forces that can bring amelioration of the lot of the women and children in the every day struggle, and can be- come a michty for peace and socialism. NEW YORK —(FP)—The Inter- national Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union and the Knit Goods Workers’ Joint Council will launch a joint eampaign to organize non-union knitted outerwear and textile trim- ming workers, especially in Phila- delphia and Cleveland. MOSCOW.— (FP). — Taking 1935 as 100, production in the metallug- ical industries of the U.S.S:R. shows the following increases: iron, 110.4; est of the low. The boss spat at steel, 144.2; rolled goods, 128.5. Of The By GEO. DRAYTON (First Editor of the B.C. Workers’ Wews). In gladly accepting the invita- tion to contribute an article mark- ing the second anniversary of con- tinuous publication of the BC. Workers’ News, I would like to tell the readers about some of the dif- ficulties we experienced during the first few months, before the “News” east off its swaddling clothes. In the first place, the idea of a militant working-class provincial paper was due to the “political weather wisdom’ of the Commun- ists in B.C. By correctly gauging the radicalization of the masses in the province it was forseen that immense struggles were in the offing. True, the “Commonwealth” was being published, but it was a small sheet at that time, and besides it seemed to be suffering from “po- litical anemia’; at any rate, the revolutionary workers in BG. realized that a new paper was re- quired to enlighten the-people and help to mobilize the worxing popu- lation for the class struggle. It was with this in mind that a plan was laid in 1934 to commence publica- tion of the paper. Experienced Journalists Lacking. When this decisive step was taken and appeals for finances were made, the workers of B.C. responded by jumping into the campaign with both feet. Several hundred dollars were raised in a short time, and before the promoters could as- semble the material and assign the forees to get it out, the workers were shouting “What about the new paper?” Few realized the difficulties. No experienced editor was to hand, no make-up man, no qualified report- ers, no advertising salesmen—in fact none of us had the necessary experience to assure successful continuous publication. : However, we had plenty of revo- jutionary ambition and after many The Birth And Early Dave B.C. Workers’ News Gmesiiss. coupled with discussion headaches, plans and counter- plans, the paper was launched- Improvised Equipment. The original plan was not only a “draft plan, “at was a —“rousi cast.” Our office was no more like a newspaper office than the office of the Single Unempioyed Associa-— tion resembles the B.C. Govern- ment Cabinet Chambers. A couple of hundred feet of No. 2 shiplap was thrown together to make “desks.” A: couple of rebuilt typewriters that made a noise like a steam drag-lime were installed, and anybody who was willing tq write was told to write, and write and write. And believe me, some of them sure did write! The first issue carried about four articles that covered most of the whole four pages, and two of them |had to be continued the next week. There were one or two small news items and one small picture. The masthead was four or five inches deep, right across the front page, and as black as the Ace of Spades. Some Plain Criticism. There was very. little criticism locally, so the comrades responsible for getting out the paper wrote to the staff of “The Worxer” for their opinion on it. @ne comrade wrote back: “It’s an atrocity.” Another said, “It looks like an ad. for a fire-sale. Still another said, “Why don’t you write a book?” But they also wrote us some practical advice on how to improve it. The one really good feature we figured on running in the first issue was “Ol Bill’s’’ column, but the editor lost the manuscript, and Ol’ Bill had to re-write it at the last minute—on the back of a leaflet. However, the workers stayed with us, and we stayed with the ship. After a while Malcolm Bruce came to Vancouver and our editorial worries were over. The midnight seribblers went to bed in time to get up for breakfast. The readers wrote in: “It’s a wow!” and from -for keeping it going. then on one hazard after another was overcome. As the first editor of the “News,” even though I am now connected with the revolutionary labor move- ment more than a thousand miles removed from B.G., this fact alone compels me to recognize the in- dispensibility of the B.C. Workers’ Wews to the labor movement of British Columbia. The political content of the edi- torials, written in Bruce’s jnimit- able style, the interpretation of news and explicitness are devoured py leading revolutionaries through- out Canada. The column of Ol Bill, the re- nowned revolutionary commentator, is much more than a column; it’s a mine of high-grade working-class information. The news items are treated with the utmost frankness and revolu- tionary love of truth as opposed to the falsification and distortion of news by the capitalist press. The Walue of a Labor Press. ¥ : \ Some articles may not be writ- e got ten in language that would be N | t it d considered “belles lettres” or aZl n eri ul e “polite” literature but they are in. : the language of the comparative \ =f grammar of the British Golumbia workers vernacular and they are read, enjoyed, and discussed in the mines, mills and forests of the prov— ince. Let these worxers realize that a labor movement without a press is like a dance without an orchestra; its movement has no rhythm and its body has no life. It staggers and stumbles for lack of guidance. Let the second anniversary of the birth of the B.C. Workers’ News signalize the Gnward march of the B.C. workers and the common peo- ple towards united action for better living standards, for democratic freedom and a peaceful, happy life. \ The B.C. Workers’ News has justified its existence in this great struggle for the past two years; everything points to the necessity os = UT of the dim lands hidden Out of the night of the ages With monstrous saurian terrors Bowing to shadowy gods, Bleeding to build a throne In hovel and hut we languished In fear of the overlord, Beyond the last pale star, _ We have heard his yoice atar. We have battled with cold and darkness And exroped through the ancient slime. We fought in the mist and grime, Creeping in fear of the Nameless, oe Enslaved by our blind phantoms _ Enyisaged in creeds and rods, : Lashed by the whip of the master, For the tyrant we fashioned to rule us, Who smiled when he heard us groan. On our graves they build the palace; Our bodies made king and tsar; — Our blood washed the dust from the highway, That smoked with the ruler’s car. The mail-celad first and the faggot, The bigget and whirling sword. Tn mine and in mill we labored, Choked by the dust and din— Spiders they tamed and harnessed, How they gloated to see us spin ENIN. By A M. STEPHEN o * = Garments for lilies of fashion While our hungry brood, in rags, 2 Rode by with their tinselled fags! Whose glory Who have chained the waves and lightning _ To the flashing wheels of speed ; 3 Who. have wrought, in steel and conerete, Safa “Lie atop) oF * Their pseans of And whispering ceaselessly - Of power and glory and beauty And dreams Then open the We are the million forgotten, * By wings that soar and by motors That hum, through the sky and sea, The slaves were we of our labor, Slaves of the Thing we wrought, Till the voice of our Comrade showed us, The coal that our blind hands sought. He brought us forth from our prison, He taught us to dance and sing, To work and to play like Nature To the rhythm of love and Spring. THe is ours, O Song of the Ages, With all that his life ean win .- - - And the World will enter in! MARSHALL BLEUCHER Lool a5 Backward An Old Vancouver Boishevik Recalls the Past He Commanas the Soviet Red Army im the Far Bast. Qr- (franslatead by Gene Dykstra from the “‘Vrede,”’ official organ of the Holland League Against War and Fascism). = eos Many things happened before the truck with thirty women appeared at the gate of Concentration Camp VIII, Ostermoor, Germany. These women, who after a long separation, wauted to visit their husbands and sons, who after weeks and months of waiting for some word, took the courage to plan a visit to the camp. The trip by train from the big city on the Rhine to the far moor is too expensive. But, in a truck paid for by all, it is possible to make the journey. Many attempts to se- cure a driver failed, but finally a man was found who dared to under take the trip and so they rode through the towns, across the fields to arrive on the moor with its threatening silence. The farmers standing on the country roads look at one another when the driver asks for the right road to Concentration Camp Oster- moor, yet they answer and are not = flames in the deed, man made free conquest, purring of a world to be. gates he conquered, \ PROGRESS and the Task Ahead —f By F. McKEAN With the appearance of this issue of The B.C. Workers’ News, two years of continuous publication are completed—two years of publication made possible only by the untiring support of the most politically de- veloped section of the working peo- ple of B.C. It is an achievement of which we may well be proud. Tt has not been an easy task to jaunch and maintain a paper de- F WA AN ¥ people in this province, but the splendid response to appeals for financial support has assured growth. During this period the paper has rendered invaluable assistance in slave camps, the B.C. portant in the fight for force in the fight | | | | working conditions. Has Shown Way actionary legislative measures eruments throughout the province. nally, it has shown what must be be what should in each policy econoniic dene and followed 4d | political struggle in which the oh ple have engaged. the working class. voted to the interests of working its continuous publication and further the strugeles of working people for a better life in publicizing and win- ning support for labor—the strike of B.C: camp boys for abolition of waterfront strike of 1935 and scores of smaller strikes which nevertheless were im- improved The paper has exposed and «as- sisted in organizing opposition to re- or both provincial and municipal gov- It has acquainted its readers with all important political developments in the international arena and -fi- This issue Gf our paper also Com- memorates the 13th anniversary of the death of Lenin, great genius of Tt was Lenin who Stated, in writng of tactics to be pursued by the working class in the political movement for its eman- cipation from capitalism: “The whole of political life is an endless chain consisting of an infinite num- per of links. The whole art of poli- tics lies in finding the link that ean be least torn out of our hands, fhe one that is most important at the given moment, the one that guarantees command of the whole chain, and haying found it, to cling to that link as tightly as possible.” Important Factor A paper representing the jnter- ests of working people can inform them what the key link is at the moment; around what issue the egreatést agitation and mobilization of support should be made. Lenin considered the newspaper as one of the most important fac- tors in organizing the people and co-ordinating their activities in de- fense of their interests. He wrote: “A newpaper is not merely a col- lective propagandist and eollective agitator, it is also a eollective or- ganizer. In that respect it ean be compared to the scaffolding erected around a building im “construction; it marks the contours of the struc- ture and facilitates communications between the builders, permitting them to distribute the work and to view the common results achieved by their organized labor.” In the economie and political struggles (which are elosely con- nected) of the people of this prov- ince, our paper can fulfill the role of a collective organizer. Tt can render great assistance in the task of unionizing B.C. in jaking Van- couver a union city and in wiping out the shame brought fo Vancou- ver by its erstwhile fink mayor, “Gerry’’ McGeer- Build “People’s Front” During 1937 The B.C. Workers’ News will be of still greater assist- ance in building a united **people’s front,” a Farmer-Labor party which is the only weapon capable of de- feating the Pattullo government at the forthcoming elections. To do this effectively, however, fhe paper must be still further im- proved and its influence widened through a greater circulation. More correspondents throughout the province must be obtained to con- tribute regularly to its eolumns news which reflects activities of trade unions, unemployed and every strata of the people strugsling for petter conditions. The paper must be made more attractive to the average reader. Possibly an open forum which would enable readers to express their views on current events would assist in this regard. The B.C. Workers’ News is neo longer a paper appealing only to workers. Its readers today include those who champion the interests of the workers’ allies—farmers, small storekeepers and the profes- sions. For this reason it might be advisable to find a broader name for the paper. Circulation Essential Many of these improvements can and will be attended to by the management. The main factor, how- ever, in making The B.C. Workers’ Wews a paper for the masses lies in materially inereasing its circula- tion, And in this task we must rely mainly on our readers and sales- men. So, during 1937, our third year, jet every supporter put his shoulder to the wheel in building a mass circulation that will make our paper self-supportine. Our circulation can be doubled by the time we celebrate our third anniversary if we all give our attention to the task. Everyone who obtains only one new subscrip- {ion is assisting in organizing, edu- eating and uniting the working peo- ple of B.C. in the movement for which we are all striving: To obtain better conditions and more happi- ness now, and in so doing, to pre- pare the way for ushering in a better social order—a social order in which economic security, cul- fure, recreation and happiness will be suaranteed, Socialism. PHT_ADELPHIA — (HP).— The American Federation of Hosiery Workers have signed a closed shop apreement with the Stowe Hosiery Cc: VOROSHILOV In Supreme Command of U-S:S.R- Fighting Forces. unkind. More willing with their answers are the moor laborers, for these men know that these thirty women come to visit their men behind the barbed wire. x = = The guards on duty at the gate of the camp look at each other and are puzzled. This is a new experi- ence and they have no instructions for an occasion lixe this. Que of the women addresses the watch. In her hands she holds 2 parcel containing some food which she saved bit by bit, so that her husband may haye something extra and may for once have 2 decent meal. The watch comes out to meet her and says, “Ihe prisoners are not allowed to see visitors!” The poor woman doesn’t under- stand, doesn’t believe. Hadn't they spent a large sum of money to hire a truck and didn’t they travel all this is impossible, we haven't seen our men for months! In the meantime the prisoners the news travels from barrack to us! Women in front of the gate! pbuilding, miserable eagerly scanning the a few feet away, standing ‘with stretched hands. trembling barbed wire. Ye eee the meeting. eharge of the camp ing on and in a fit of rag. roars “What is this! prisoners? Are they crazy? Away from here! Damned swine!” He shouts a command, ‘Soldiers’ Come forward! Free the gate!” The Brown shirts have only waited for this command. They spread out and run yelling to- ward the group of women. Some Mills, Stowe, Pa. day to see their loved ones? But understand what is happening out- side the gate. Like an electric spark barrack. Women! Women to visit They come running out of the Jooking creat- ures, stopped by the barbed wire, little group of women. Is it possible? There, only their wives are out- A dozen men and women recognize each other and shout their greetings across the But shortlived is the pleasure of Seated at his desk at headquarters, Major Gobel in hears that something unusual ee SAS DT i what is ga- |] Sas AD Sc He comes outside, sees = SE a NGa ea Women to visit the SAN FRANCISCO. — (FP)—fhe By GEORGE DRAYTON (Reprinted from B.C. Workers’ Wews of March 22, 1935)- It is the year 1955 in Vancouver (now Port Ewen) ten years aiter the Great Proletarian Revolution of the Americans, and these great na- tions of people