SPEC IAL SIX-PAGE SECOND. ANNIVERSARY ISSUE This paper champions the eause of Unity of all Progressive peo- ple in the struggle against re- action. B.C. Workers News Throw the whole weight of the labor movement in the scaies on the side of the Burns Plant Strikers! FULL NO. 105 Published Weekly VANCOUVER, B.C., FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 1937 Single Copies: 5 Cents = VOL. IIL, No. 1 Labor Gains In Municipal Elections Burns’ Alta UNION EXPECTS 10 TAKE VOrE QN RELIEF PLAN Delegation To Victoria| Unable to Obtain Satisfaction In face of growime discontent in the camps, officials of the Re- lief Project Workers’ Union will shortly sponsor a ballot among its members to determine what action shall be taken to press demands for payment of wages in full, recosnition of grievance cOmmiut- tee and full expenditure of the $1,500,000 allotted for relief pro- jects. It is charged that the present forestry scheme does not differ Sreatly from the old relief camp System, that food and accommoda- tion are poor and that no arrange- ments for compensation have been made, Many workers have not yet received any pay, although most have been obliged to run bills for clothing, food and transportation. No Satisfaction. At a recent mass meeting of union workers at Project 2, Cowi- chan Lake, the superintendent agreed to finance a delegation to Victoria. The delegation, however, failed to secure any satisfactory answer to itS grievances at the of- fice of the Forestry Administration. A statement by Hon. G. S. Pear- Son, minister of labor, that-it-is not the intention of the sovernment to provide work and wages, but to look after “‘drifters,’’ was countered by EH. Cumber, union secretary, who States: “Many of those now in the camps were drawing provincial re- lief in Vancouver. Single men on provincial relief are shipped to the camps if they are passed as medi- cally fit.” More than 800 of the 1500 men employed in the projects are mem- bers of the union. SUPA Brief Gives Plight Of Jobless Facts te be Presented To Commission Here This Month Prices of staple foods in Vancou- ver have risen to such a high level that cognizance of the fact is taken in a brief prepared by the Single Wnemployed Protective Association to be presented to the National Un- employment Commission when it meets here this month. ~ While food prices have risen from 20 to 125 per cent since 1932, food Vouchers issued to single unem-— pleyed men by the relief depart- ment have been increased only 12% per cent in that same period. Restaurants patronized by single unemployed haye cut down in food portions, instead of advancing prices to meet rising costs, the brief states. High rentals, present another problem to relief recipients, who are allowed $1.05 per week for lodgings. Cheap rooming houses haye met the problem by doubling up single men on Telief until some of the rooms look more like dormitories. Clothing allowances, the brief points out, should be issued at regu- lar intervals, and should be of ma- terial more suited to YWancouyer’s climate. Rich U.S. Ranchers Move From Mexico SAN ANTONIO, Tex., Jan. 14.— (FP)—American millionaires ranch- ing in Mexico have started moving out with the passage of new aerarian laws by the Mexican legis- Jature. The Hearst ranch in Chi= huahua has reputedly moved part of its cattle into Brownsville. Under new laws. expropriated peons will be settled on former ranges, in connection with irriga- tion and agricultural projects. Preparing For Siege? Here sit-down strikers at the Flint Fisher Body Plant are seen receiving provisions. At some 70 plants in 14 states scenes like this are conimon in the U.S. as General Motors’ employees demand the right to organize and bargain collectively. Medical Science Watches Dr. N. Beth:me In N Madrid Progressives In Congress Send Arms To Spain NEW YORK, Jan. 15—(FP)— To Representative John Bernard, Minnesota Farmer-Laborite, and a small bloc of progressives, the ~ Spanish democratic government owes a shipload of supplies, in- cluding airplanes and munitions, now on the high seas in the Spanish vessel Mar Gantabrico. The ship won a dramatic race with Congress and the admini- stration’s ban on arms shipments. The U.S. Spanish Anti-Fascist Committee is sending 32 field kitchens and 250 water tanks to the Spanish loyalists, three car- loads of flour and $7,000 worth of ‘condensed milk. CO. CRITICIZED BY LABOR MINISTER TORONTO, Ont., Jan. 15.—When Hon. David Croll, Ontario’s minister of labor, made criticism here of the Empire Cotton Mill at Welland where 850 workers are on strike for a 20 per cent wage increase, the company was quick to reply that the criticism was ‘“‘premature and misinformed.’’ Retorted Mr: Croll: “It was after our inspectors examined pay en- velopes that I accused the Empire Cotton company of shameful under- Payment and brutal exploitation. Now that I myself have studied the pay sheets I am convinced that I understated the case. I'll throw back in the teeth of the company Canadian Medical Unit Head’s Experime:zts Successful TORONTO, Jan. 15.—Intimat ing that he has “an interesting political story to tell some future day,” Dr. Norman Bethune, Mont- real surgeon in charge of the Ga- nadian meCical unit with govern- ment ferces on the Madrid front, has cabled Rey. Ben Spence, chairman, Canadian Committee to aid Spanish Democracy, here that the Canadian - organized blood transfusion service is prov- ing even more successiul than he had hoped. Recruiting of French and Ger- man-speaking nurses to form an international nursing corps to at- tend wounded of the now-famous international brigade has started, according to Dr. Bethune. He mentions also the need for a mobile hospital\ convey of six cars similar to that now in use by the French medical unit in Madrid. While there are sufficient physi- cians to care for sick and wound- ed, there is a shortage of brain sur- geons to tend head wounds, Dr. Bethune adds. Volunteer blood’ donors are com- ing in now at the rate of 50 a day. Dr. Bethune has a complete mo- bile laboratory for extracting blood, preserving it sterile and rushing it to hospitals or to the front as needed. Bach day a pint to a pint and a half of blood is taken from ten donors, put in wine mold or vacuum bottles and “xept in a refrigerator. Dr. Bethune has been able to use blood a week old and thinks he can keep blood for several weeks. Hitherto, as far as is known, my charges that they are guilty of brutal exploitation. Their own pay sheets are my surest proof.” Croll said that the management had refused “to raise wages to a decent level.”” The ruling under the women’s minimum wage act is that it takes $11 a week for a single girl to live, yet men with families are receiving only $8 and $9 a week at the Empire mills. Some men on frame-cleaning, working 50 hours a week, get $7.35 a week and boys get $8.35 for spinning. STRIKE VOTE TAKEN. SAN FRANCISCO —(FP).—Jani-" tors in the huge Crystal Palace Mar— ket are taking a strike vote, and if they walk out will ask all other union employees, including butch- ers, culinary workers, and fruit and vegetable clerks, to refuse to pass their picxet lines. (Continued on page 2) See BETHUNE Progressive Arts. In New Production With an ambitious program in course of preparation, the Prog- ressive Arts Players are opening the 1937 season with a presenta- tion of “Private Hicks,” dramatic labor play, and “Devil Among the Skins,” a clever old-English comedy by Ernest Goodwin. These plays will be presented at the Labor The- atre, Hawixes Avenue and Pender Street East, Friday and Saturday, January 22 and 23. Included in the casts are several promising young players recently discovered by the Progressive Arts, in addition to many of the more seasoned artists. . Workers Make Demands EDMONTON TO PRESS UNION RECOGNITION Company “Official Fails To Attend Meeting In City EDMONTON, Jan. 15-— Union employees of Burs meat packing plant have utilized the lock-out in Vancouver tO present the company with a demand for recognition of their local, affiliated to the A.C. C.of L. Union officials in Vancouver were notified by wire that all Burns prod- ucts shipped to the coast have been declared ‘‘hot,”’ and a similar course ean be adopted by the Vancouver local. Company officials met in Calgary yesterday to discuss the dispute be- tween employees and management in Vancouver in view of the action by Edmonton employees. The business agent of the Hdmon- ton local has gone to Galgary to en- list aid of employees there. Meetings Cancelled. A scheduled meeting representatives of Local 95 of the Packing House and Meatcutters’ Union, Adam Beil, deputy minister of labor, P. R. Bengough, general secretary of the Trades and Lalor Council, and Mr. Williamson, gen- eral manager of the local plant, fell flat at the eleventh hour when the latter failed to put in an ap- pearance or have a representative appointed> “He -“sent word from Vic_ toria, through a doctor, that he was unable te attend. Union officials are of the opinion that the meeting in Calgary had between (Continued on page 2) See BURNS Sointula Aids Spain Cause SOINTULA, B:C., Jan: 15:—As the result of a United Front New Year social held here, £30 has been raised and forwarded to the Spanish De- fence Committee's fund in Wancou- ver. In addition, the children’s sec- tion “collected $13.35, the largest amount yet raised by any children’s organization to aid the cause of the democratic Spanish sovernment. The I.W.W., the C.C.F), and the Communist Party and its affiliates combined forces to make this social one of the most successful ever held here. ILA. APPEALS FOR SUPPORT Im an appeal to the B.C. trade union movement the following state— ment was issued Thursday by I.L.A. officials here: “It cannot be denied that a union that can grow under punish- ment and even expand must have a sure and honest) foundation. The LL.A, in British Columbia against Overwhelming odds now contains three locals, Victoria, "Vancouver and New Westminster, with a branch of the ‘Victoria local in Chemainus. } “Tf a union can! show this growth and strength in time of war, what can be expected jof it in times of peace? Cannot every union man See that such vitality must be en- couraged and that, such success puts his own organization on a surer footing? “Send donations to W. French, financial secretary LIA. 38-126, at 233 Main Street! Vancouver. We Zive below a list) of unions which have already performed their duty and set an example that all others should follow immediately. “International |Moulders Union, Local 281, $32.80; Engineers Local 115, 313.00; Intermational Union of Elevator Construjetors No. 82, $10; B.C.E.R. Division 101, $89.30; Sta- tionery Engineers Local 882, $6.25; Jam, Fruit and Vjegetable Canners, BPederal Union No. 105, $10: Inter- national Alliance] Local 348, The- atrical Stage and Moving Picture “Machine Operators, $50.00 Two Elected To C ouncil At Cumberland; Nanaimo Progressives Elect One NEW PHASES THIS WEEK IN SPANISH WAR Developments in the Spanish civil war this week were: In London, application of the Foreign Enlistment Act of 1870 to prevent British citizens from en- listing with either democratic gov- ernment forces or General Franco's Fascist rebels. Legal experts are a | determining whether or not this , Act applies to the Dominions. Gen- | eral opinion is that it applies ex- cept where repealing legislation has been passed. Penalty under the Act is two years imprisonment. In Paris, the government warned that France. armed occupation of Spanish Mo- rocco by Nazi forces, reported earlier in the week to be fortifying Geuta with long range gins, oper ating mines and arousing Moorish tribes against Franco. France is ex— pected to follow Britain’s lead in banning volunteers. From Berlin, Hitler gave ground, temporarily, at least. His assurance to the Blum government that he had no intention of seizing territory. either in Spain or Spain’s colonies, gave rise to reports of a new Franco-German accord. Qver the week-end German newspapermen in Paris wired stories that southern France had gone Communist, and rumor ran rife throughout the Third Reich. Meanwhile, in Madrid, now in its fifth month of siege, evacuation of non-combatants was still proceed- ing as whole sections of the city were devastated by merciless artil- lery fire and renewed mass air raids. Despite Hitler’s orders ‘to take Madrid by January 15,” Gen- eral Franco was little, if any, nearer attainment of his objective. His po- sition grows more precarious as large numbers of his Spanish reg- ulars and Moorish irregulars desert him and it is obvious that only the Support of Italy and Germany is enabling him to continue opposing the overwhelmingly democratic Mass of the Spanish people. CCF, Communist Party and Sur- rey Workers are uniting to sponsor candidates in Surrey municipal elec tions, January 23. would not tolerate : Yvon Delbos Hrance’s forcign minister and a power in European diplomacy. This week he called Hitler's bluff in Spz2nish Morocco when he warned Germany the Blum goy- ernment would not tolerate Nazi occupation of the Spanish colony. WOODSWORTH (HALLENGES LOYALTY OATH OTTAWA, Jan. 15—J. S. Woods- worth, CCE national leader, electri- fied Parliament at its opening Thursday when he challenged the government's right to ask for pas- sage of an address of loyalty to Kang George Vi. Asserting it was “an attempt to deprive members of the opportunity of expressing them- selves.” he demanded that the bill respecting change in succession be heard first. Upon Prime Minister Mackenzie King’s announcement that he intended to make a state- ment later, Mr. Woodsworth with- drew his objections. Saskatchewan CCF Leader Makes Rlea For r Unity Freezing Plant W orkers Stage Sfay-In Strike AUCKLAND, N.Z., Jan. 15.— Demanding higher wages and a shorter working week, workers in refrigeration in this city are stag- ing a stay-in strike, completely ty- ing up the industry. Fired from their jobs Tuesday this weelx, strikers nevertheless contrived to secure bedding and food to en- able them to remain in the fac- tories. With no tfreezing facili- ties available for either meat or dairy produce companies are be- ing forced to reject farmers’ prod- uce. A severe blow at New Zea- land’s frozen meat export trade with Britain is seen if the strike continues. Miners Hurt In Comox Accident VICTORIA, Jan. 15—Six men narrowly escaped death when a cage in Comox Collieries Mine No. 5 dropped about 20 feet last Saturday. H. Scavards sustained a fractured leg and William Cavanaugh a2 sprained ankle. Both were taken to Cumberland Hospital for treat- ment. Reports to the Chief Inspector of Mines state that the men were be- ing lowered down a shaft. The cage seat, a safety device under the cage used when men are going onto it and which is drawn in when the cage is lowered, is be- lieved to have stuck and then sud- denly released, allowing the cage to drop. Tet? s Get abeernce And Get Things Done’— G. Williams REGINA, Sask, Jan. 15.—A warning against any move for s aeeeas School and Parks Boards Also Captured At Cumberland A united front on the municipal field resulted in victories yester- day (Thursday) for progressive forces in at least two B.C. towns, according to results available at press time. In Cumberland, where the CGF, Women’s Labor League and miners united to back a full Slate for council, school and parks boards, the vote was a landslide for progressives. The Progressive Civic League in Wanaimo, initiated by the GCE In- dustrial and Unemployment Gon- ference, was successful in having William CG. Grieves elected as al= derman with 373 votes, while D_ Gampbell, its second nominee, was a close runner-up with 268 votes. J. ©: Wicholls, vice-president of Vancouver Island Ghamber of Mines and a provincial officer of the Liberal Party, came eleventh on a votes. ‘ ; Earlier this week C. L. Jones, vet- eran CCH member, was re-elected mayor of Kelowna by acclamation. Cumberland election results fol- low: Council: Joseph W. Watson (P), S:. L. Robertson (P), William Hen- derson, jr. Sehool Board: Thomas Arm=- strong (©), Thomas Monks (P), Ruth Richardson (P). Parks Board (two years): James Walker (P), Louis Francioli (P), Robert Aitken (P); (one year): Richard Coe (P), Willis R. Sy- mons. : Two of the three aldermen elected. were sponsored by progressives; the third, W. Henderson, is also a sup- porter of organized labor. At New Westminster progressives Were endorsing candidates, and at Vernon the Unemployed and Part- Time Workers’ Ass’n. was sponsor- ing A. A. Lege and Rube Swift for aldermen and supporting mayoralty candidate Dr. L. lL. Stewart. Relief Scale Maximum For Family, $60 Reduction Enforced Where Cow, Chickens Owned Taking their cue from a state ment credited to Hon. Norman Rog- ers wherein he stated that “‘all gov- ernments — Dominion, provincial and municipal—must accept their responsibility to reduce relief costs during the present year,” relief offi- cials have replied to a letter from the Workers’ Alliance, Burnaby local, to the effect that relief to unity that would limit co-opera- tien to C.C Evers or Communists was uttered by George Williams, M.L.A. Saskatchewan C.C.F. leader, in a recent broadcast here. In putting forward a bold pro-. gram for unity, Mr. Williams’ pleaded, “Let us at least get to-| gether on certain things, which we all agree we can do, and get them done.” “There are those in the Liberal and Conservative parties,”’” he said, “who are willing to support a move- ment which will for once draw all people who want a change, into one camp. Those Liberals who are not under the domination of the ma- chine or beholden to the financial interests, are restless. They cannot understand why their party, on which they pinned their faith, has let them down on co-operative marketing, has accepted the debt adjustment plans from the mort- gage companies, has failed to make any worthwhile contribution on Canadian constitutional reform, etc. “Real Wiberals are gradually learning the truth. They are be- ginning to learn that the patronage they resent is the only thing that keeps their party together, and are ready to bolt. But where to? Into another “red herring” party, cre- ated by the strategists of the big boys in the Liberal Conservative headquarters? Wot this time! At least, not if the ©. C.F. can prevent it? any one family, regardless of size, in organized territory will not ex- ceed $60 per month. This maximum figure also applies where works schemes are undertaken. Provincial Administrator Grif- fiths states that his department will not contribute to any more than the sum mentioned. In unor- ganized territory the amount is only $50 per month. Where recipients own a cow or chickens relief is to be drastically reduced, One man in Burnaby who Owns a cow that does not come fresh until March has aiready had his relief cut. A delegation from the Workers” Alliance, Burnaby, interviewed Hugh M. Fraser, commissioner, yes= terday (Thursday). Philippine Chinese To Oppose Japan SHANGHAT, Jan. 15.—Im an ef- fort to expand the united anti- Japanese front abroad, a National Salvation Association has been formed among Chinese in the Philip- pine Islands. The new association includes in its ranks members of various political parties—the Kuo- mintang, Shangchantane (Produc- tive Party), Socialist Party, Na- tionalist Party, Communist Party: and the Anti-Imperialism Federa- tion of China. Lenin Memorial Concert, Empress Theatre, Jan. 21 list of twelve candidates with 130