FE Te et PRE Cy, Rev. E. H. Baker Quits CCF To Join Communist ‘Party e B.C. WorKERS NEWS FULL NO. 111. Published Weekly VANCOUVER, B.C., FRIDAY, FEB. 26, 1937 ==> Single Copies: 5 Cents VOL. Ill. NO. 7 300 Majority Favors Acceptance City Men Dissatisfied At Failure To Make Gain THREE LOCALS VOTE Voting 805 to 548 employees of the BG Electric Railway Com- pany decided, by referendum bal- lot Tuesday, to accept the com- promise offer of the company. A totai of 1351 votes were cast, with three spoiled: ballots. Terms of the agreement, which is for a three-year period, are: Same conditions for bus men as apply to one-man car operators, with wage increase of approxi- mately $14 monthly; same condi- tions to apply to interurban ticket clerks; five days’ holiday annually during the first two years of the agreement and ten days during the third year for all employees coming under the agreement; motormen and conductors to hold present seniority as bus men, where busses supplement street cars. Latter conditions mainly con- cern New Westminster. Recently Wew Westminster voted to replace all cars with busses, and the change will be completed within eight months. Gonsiderable dissatisfaction at the result of the balloting is ex- pressed by the Vancouver employ- ees, who maintain that the majority was piled up principally by New Westminster and Victoria divisions. Except for the holiday provision, local employees gain practically no- thing through the agreement. Three Civisions were invelved in the voting, Division 101, Vancouver, approximately 1200 members; Di- vision 134, New Westminster, ap- proximately 350 members, and Di- vision 109, Victoria, approximately 130 members. Ballots were not separated. Unity Will Be Communist Objective “The aim of the Comununist Party in the coming provincial election is, above all, to mobilize all possible forces to defeat reac- tion—particulariy the possibility of the return of the Conservative Party or a Conservative-Liberal coalition,” stated Fergus McKean, provincial organizer, CP of C, this week commenting on a statement made by CCF Provincial Secretary H. Gargrave in the Sun. “The Communist Party,” he said, “proposes to rally the progressive People of BC around a realistic pro- §ram which wall fill the needs of the #reat mass of workers, farmers and middle class people. With this in view we wish to bring together all progressive currents of political action, such as the CCF, Social Constructives, Social Crediters, trade unions, farmers’ organizations, ete. Such a unified block could win the coming elections and become a popular progressive fovernment in place of the Pattullo regime.” MeKean expressed disappoint- ment in the attitude of the CCF leadership toward proposals for unity. } Street Car Men Accept New Pact A. M. STEPHEN Noted Canadian author and poet. He is president of the Canadian League Against War and Fascism in British Columbia. Clarion Editor On Western Tour TORONTO, Ont., Feb. 25.—Leslie Morris, editor of the Daily Clarion and Weekly Clarion, has left on an extended tour of the western prov- inces. A leading member of the central committee of the Communist party of Canada, he will meet with prom- inent progressives in the West to discuss with them problems which are quickly maturing to a critical stage. He will particularly devote a great deal of his time to Alberta. John Weir will act as editor of the Clarion until Morris’ return. > Joint Action In Burns’ Strike ao Joint action committees on which CCF clubs, CP units, trade unions, ratepayers’ associations, language organizations and youth clubs are all represented have been set up in six sections of the city to raise funds and supply pickets in the Burns strike. Indicative of the conference’s ac- tivities in everyday struggles of the people was the report given to last Sunday's meeting of the CGE Indus- trial and Employment Conference. The Meat Cutters’ Union reported that efforts are being made to picixet every Store and restaurant han- dling Burns’ products and that all Pigely-Wigely and Safeway Stores are on the unfair list. Endorsed by the conference were decisions of the High Cost of Liv- ings Conference (see BC Workers’ News, Feb. 19). Resolution offering full co-opera- tion to all trade unions and asking unions to supply the conference with details of all disputes was also endorsed. In order to give opportunity for fuller discussion by individual or- Sanizations, a resolution pressing for passage of the Health Insurance Act was held over. Grievance Committee reported success with a number of cases taken up and issued an appeal to relief recipients to place grievances before the committee before pre- senting them to elected representa- tives. CIO Union Will Tackle Problem Of Sweatshops TORONTO, Ont., Feb. 25.—On- tario’s sweatshop textile industry will be tackled in real earnest with the placement of several more organizers in the field, goseph R. White, vice-president of the United Textile Workers of America, states. White has an- nounced a conference of all Qn- tario locals to discuss. concerted unionization of the industry. “We are cetermined to organize the in- dustry. I am making a tour of Qntario textile centres now and am recommending a concerted drive and asking the locals to keep it up,’ he said. Relief Workers On Strike In P. Rupert 25.—Re- foreman PRINCE RUPDRT, Feb. fusing to accept a new whom city authorities here wished to place over reilef workers, mar— ried relief workers here laid down tools today. Married men haye been working on what is termed “Garbage Road” where garbage is dumped as build- inge material for the road. The Un- employed Association has been re- organized in Prince Rupert and a special meeting is being called be- fore whieh strikers will place their ease for improved conditions. Progressive Arts Players Producing ‘Bury the Dead’ Timely this week is announce- ment by the Progressive Arts Play- ers of Vancouver that it will pro- duce fIrwin Shaw's anti-war drama, “Bury the Dead,” at the beginning of April. Rehearsals’ under way for two months, are shaping up well. The group has been fortunate in dis- eovering much new talent to fill the large cast de- manded by the play. Director is Harry Lewis, his assistants, James Brown and Kath- erine Esler. Friday, March 5, 6 pm, a public reading of the play to which have been invited trade union, church, youth, peace, women’s and other representatives, will be given at the Grange Hall, Harry Lewis - spectacular | *>Hastings at Gore). Gbject is to se- | eure for the production the widest | possible publicity. “Bury the Dead” has already been played with success by New Theatre groups in Montreal, Toronto and Winnipeg, and is playing in Seattle at the present time to capacity houses. Intimation is also given by the Progressive Arts Players that it does not plan to enter the Dominion Drama Festival this year. | : Malcolm Bruce | Back In Vancouver | ea | Maleolm Bruce, who was sched- uled to speak at the Colonial The- atre last Sunday, February 21, was detained in the East. Comrade Bruce was in attendance at the / Central Committee meeting. Sixty Men Walk Out From Pender. Harbor Project 2 Attitude Of Straw-Boss Forced Action, Men State PENDER HARBOR, BG, Feb. 25. Because of the bulldozing attitude of one man, 62 men from Project 901 here left the project yesterday and are now stranded in Vancou- ver, refused relief by the authori- ties. Action arose following dismissal by the straw -boss, Bert Ecker, of a man ordered to square timbers who protested doing skilled bridge build- ers’ work at project pay. Without any hesitation, Ecker ordered the man to “hit the road.’ The 62 men in Camp immediately quit and called a meeting. It was decided that if good relations were to hold in the camp, Ecker must be removed from the position which gave him power to exercise his exaggerated feeling of importance. This was conveyed to the fore- man, not that the straw boss leave the camp, but that he be put to work without authority over the men. Ecker, however, refused the fore- man’s suggestion that he step down so the men left camp. Interviewed in the city Thursday the men stated the trouble to be out- growth of personal spite of Hecker against the dismissed man. The man, himself an under boss until a few days before, had been demoted as a result of false charges made by Ecker. It was apparent that this was a preliminary move, and that Ecker was awaiting the first excuse, no matter how unwarranted, to re- move the man fron- the camp. Wait For Tag Day Decision Final decision of the city coun- cil on application of Burns strik- ers for a tag day, is expected at Wonday’s council meeting. In committee last Tuesday, op- position ef the Welfare Federa- tion was assailed by CCE Alder- men Pettipiece and Hurry. Aid. McDonald, staunch supporter of the strikers was absent through illness. Organized opposition to the Burns strikers, directed toward breaking the strike, is evident, both in con- tinual delay in granting of a tag day and setting up of a board of investi- gation. The Welfare Federation, a charitable organization whose of- ficial, Mr. Davison, draws an annual salary of $3,000, is the latest to be drawn into the ranks of the union breakers. A mass meeting of the strikers is billed for Friday, March 5. Spealk-— ers and hall will be announced later. Strikers will give their story over CKWX Wednesday next at 7:45 p.m. “ning MRS. E.. KERR She will attend the anniversary celebrations in Moscow this May during a tour of the USSR. ~ Engineers Avert Strike Acceptance of VY. Armand’s offer to employ an extra engineer during the heating season in Capitol and Strand theatres at wages paid shift engineers has postponed for two weeks at least, any strike action of employees. Last week local 882, International Union of Operating Engineers threatened -strike action unless Famous Players concluded satisfac- tory agreements. Members of the union were starting work at 7 a.m. and were not through until 11 pm. Wages, on the other hand, are near— ly 25 per cent lower than in 1930. Armand’s letter to the union merely agreed to employ one extra engineer. No mention was made reparding return of any portion of three wage cuts inflicted between 1930 and 1933. CP Will Hold Convention In March Announcement was made this week by Fergus McKean, provincial organizer, CP of C, that the BC dis- trict convention of the Communist party will be held March 20-21. Delegates from eyery part of the province will be present to partici- pate in discussions. In view of the necessity of ac- quaintinge Communist party mem- bers with the full significance of recent Central council decisions and with an election looming on the po- litical horizon, most of the time will be given over to discussion of efforts to obtain unity of all pro- gressive groups in the province in order to defeat reactionary forces and ensure election of a progres- Sive people’s government. Bill Bennett will open the morn- ing session on March 20 with an address on “The 15th Anniversary of the CP of GC.” Maleolm SGruce will follow with an address, “For a Progressive People’s Government in Be’ At the afternoon session Arthur Evans will give the report of the eredentials committee. In the eve- Tom Ewen will speak on, “Building the Trade Unions in BC.” “Make the Communist party the Dominant Factor in BC Politics,” will be the title of a report to he brought in by Fergus MeKean at the morning session, March 21. In the afternoon delegates will hear the resolutions committee’s report given by Mrs. Beckie Ewen. Convention will close with elec- tisns of the GBC provincial council. FRENCH SP, CP MAY MERGE PARIS, France, Feb. 25—W-heth- ér to rejoin the Communists after a separation of 16 years and form a single Marxist. party was debated behind locked doors last week in Montrouge town hall by leaders of Premier Leon Blum’s Socialist party. They were meeting in national council to prepare for the party congress this sprine. Proposal to fuse the Socialist and Commun- ist Parties will be the most im- portant subject before the Congress. Communists have taken the ini- tiative in negotiation. They are actively Supported by some TLeft- Wing Socialists, such as Mar- ceau Pivert. Blum’s own position has not been stated. influential Socialists oppose the move. A number of are known to Resignation Over CCF Policy “My Place In Vanguard Of Unity,’’ Says Baker WAS CCF CANDIDATE In a letter to the CCF provincial council, Rev. E. H. Baker, CCE Council member for Fraser Val- ley and CCE candidate in New Westminster in the last federal elections, has announced his resig- nation from the CCF. “J have come te the conclusion my place is in the ranks of those who are in the vanguard of the movement for unity and have ac- cordingly joimed the Communist party,’ he states. Full text of Mr. Baker’s letter as released to the press Thursday is as follows: “TJ believe you will agree that the state of the progressive labor move- ment in BC at this time, is at a eritical juncture. “Tf it is to hold the gains which it has made; if it is to gather Sreater streneth in the days ahead, all progressive and honest inten- tioned liberal elements must be forged into an integral whole. “For some time past, I have de- liberated, how I might, for my part, more materially forward this most vital objective. The development of events both internationally and in Canada have forced me to real- ize that only through unity of all progressive forces can the reac- tionary forces be prevented from establishing themselves in power and plunging the country into war. “T have come at last to recognize that the labor movement generally and also the CCE could be more effectively served by me, from now on, doing what I can to make unity of the people an actuality. For this reason I have come to the conclu- sion my place is in the ranks of those who are in the vanguard of the movement for unity and have accordinely joined the Communist party. Free Speech Denied “MIy final decision, I must fess, has been influenced by the re- cent imposition of the executive upon speakers and other responsible CCFE’ers, denying them the freedom to speak or in any way promote unification of the progressive forces in the political field. This measure, { feel, is a result of Trotskyite in- fluence within the CCI, and if suc- cessfully established as a policy in the GCE, must reduce it to a sec- tarian political machine for the op- portunist advantage of a few am- bitious people. “In requesting you to accept my resignation from the provincial council may I remark, that I am not seeking a tribune from which to denounce policies with which 1 disagree. And inasmuch, as I have vet to be accused of shirking any- thing in the cause of loyalty, that, my withdrawal from the CCE is to enable me to materially strength- en the progressive movement or which the CCF is a part and permit me to work with sreater freedom With the CCE in advocating and working for an alliance of all pro- eressive farmers and workers in BC. con- “This is the living issue today, if the people of BC are to prevent re- action coming to power in the next provincial elections. (Continued on page 2) See BAKER CIO Planning Six - Page Special Issue A sharpshooter of the Loyal— ist army takes Shelter behind a dem olished tank in the fighting prround Uni- versity City om the outskirts of Madrid, where Fascists fight a losing battle. the company refused to hire union longshoremen, the SS. Bellingham sailed for Seattle Tuesday with her cargo of 250,000 pounds of frozen fish still aboard. Dispute arose when members of the ship’s Crew asked non-union lonsshoremen to produce their ILA union cards. When none were forth- coming, steam was shut off. Captain and vessel's owner both expressed willingness to hire union men, but the New English Fish Go., at Whose dock the Bellingham was moored, refused, -in line with the Shippine Frederation’s policy. Attempts were made to secure a neutral dock, only to encounter the Shipping Federation’s monopoly de- signed for just such occasions. No dock could be obtained, althoueh during the negotiations tentative arrangements were made to use Canadian Vegetable Oils’ dock, east of Victoria Drive. Despite the fact that Vancouver has a government-owned and oper- ated dock, the Bellingham was American Ships Refused Discharge at BC Ports VANCOUVER ALDERMEN TAKE UP FIGHT FOR RECOGNITION OF DOCKERS’ Tied up here for two days because storeed to take her Vancouver cargo UNION. Seattle. Be Ship Strike-Bound. In San Iffancisco, ingsley Nayi- gation’s SS. Rochelle is tied up with a full BC cargo. ILA and Inland B atmen‘'s Union are demanding that union seamen and longshore- men he employed. Negotiations: With the company are dead-locked, iingsley Navigation being the Ship- Ping Hederations’ latest recruit- As a result of restraint of trade policies of the Shipping Mederation- six American shippine lines with seventeen regular sailings monthly have been Kept out of this port for some months. to OPEN PORT DEMANDED. At the city council Monday, CCE Aldermen Pettipiece and Hurry took up the fight for a unionized water front after a delegation from the ILA had presented its case. As a (Continued on page 2) _ See LONGSHORE “Can't Win Men Trying to Drown Them’ —Gallacher LONDON, Eng., Feb. 25.—Wil- liam Gallacher, Communist MP, replying in the house of commons to government statements that sabotage was being carried on in naval dockyards and ships, stated that if the communists started a campaign in the navy it would be a political campaign directed to win naval men. They could not be won by trying to drown them, he said. The Communist party was oppesed to anything in the nature of sabotage or to anything that would endanger lives of soldiers or sailors. 20 Members Join Grandview CP of C Twenty new members were in- stalled in the CP of € at a meeting addressed by Mrs. Beckie Ewen in GraMdyiew Thursday night- More than 70 new members have joined since inception of the cur- rent recruiting drive. PACKARD BOOSTS WAGES DETROIT (FP) — The Packard Motor Car Go. has raised wages 5c an hour. Payrolls are bioosted 32,000,000 a year, affecting 13,000 workers, among whom unionism is strongly entrenched. CCF Is Warned Of Menace Of Trotskyists In Ranks Ewen Analyzes Tactics of Disruptionists Here In brilliant analysis of the re- cent Trotskyist trials at Moscow, Communist party speakers out- lined to a capacity audience at the Colonial Theatre, Sunday, true aims of the Trotskyists and warn- ed labor to expel them from its ranks as pro-Fascists before they created further confusion and disruption. Tom Ewen, speaking for the GP of C, sketched events in Russia's labor movement since 1903, point— ing out Trotsiy’s role of being al- Ways with the opposition. Even after joinine the Bolshevik party in 1517, he had continuously disrezard- ed majority decisions, Ewen said. Execution of some 10,000 reyolu- tionaries in Finland in 1919, then Part of the Socialist Republics, was directly due to Trotsky’s delay in Signing peace articles with Ger- many, declarea the speaker. Trotsky, an oppositionist in earlier years, had now become an enemy conspiring with the Hitler Gestapo, Said Ewen, reminding his audience that Arnold Johnson, former Trot- skyist, who in company with Maur- ice Spector, visited Trotsky in Nor- way, had stated that Trotsky had expressed his only desire as that of destroying the Soviet Union. “Soviet justice is not measured by the same yardstick as capitalist Justice,” he declared. Decision of (Continued on page 2) See TROTSKYVISTS CCF Group’s Mass Drives MONTREAL, Que., Feb. 25. Affiliation to the Committee for In- dustrial Organization, headed by John I. Lewis, was the unanimous decision of sixty deleeates meeting in convention of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. Delegates represented over 6000 workers from ‘Toronto, Hamilton, Cornwall and Montreal. Their deci- sion marks the first direct move of any large union in Canada to link up with the CIO since it was sus- pended by the American Wederation of Labor executive council last year. DETROILL, Mich., Heb. red by victories gained recently from General Motors, United Automobile Workers (CIO affiliate) centered their attention on Chrysler plants, where a 10 per cent wage incre: was granted, as the next step unionizine the auto industry. CIO jeaders also turned attention to other mass production industries as part of their organizational drive. Industries where the CiO will con- eentrate its forces and affiliates are steel, textile and rubber. 25. —Spur- S tand on Ban Depends on Act-Woodsworth TORONTO, Ont., Feb. 25 —Ac- tion by CCF members in the house of commons on the proposed goy- ernment bill to ban volunteers to Spain will depend very much on its provisions, J. S. Weoodsworth, GCF leader, intimates in a letter to To- ronto District Trades and labor council. “Some of us who protested very vigorously against the intervention of the govern- ment in Siberia may find it diffi- eult, on principle, to protest against the government refusing to allow volunteers to go into Spain. One wrong does not make another wrong thing right. “Undoubtedly 7 the government — must have control 7: over its nation- als,” continued the letter. “In my judgment, the more seri- La S. Woodsworth ous objection to the present bill lieg in the fact that we have no intima tion whatever, that the government. is proposing to stop the shipment of munitions, which, as a matter of fact, seem to be going very largely in General Franco. “You may rest assured, however, that whatever way we actually vote, we shall do our best to drive home upon the government the considera- tions which the Toronto District Trades and Labor council has ad- vised.”’ William Lawson Will Speak Here Visitor in the city next week will be William Lawson, editor of New ‘Frontier, Ganadian journal of social and literary criticism which is rapidly coming to the fore in the field of progressive journalism. Wednesday, March 3, 8:30 p.m, Lawson will speak on ‘“‘New Move- ments in Literature,’’ in the board- room (725-726) Vancouver block. | : F ' Doone aeiennel Logeca ies teat. ay ight nen > ph Ne seventh