i

Pafe Two

THE PHEOPLE’S

ADVOCATE

December 31, 1937

The People’s Advocate
Published Weekly by the

PROLETARIAN PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
Room 10, 163 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, B.C. - Phone, Trin. 2019

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Make All Gheques Payable to: The People’s Advocate

Vancouver, B.C., Friday, December 31, 1937

The Compulsory
Arbitration Act=
Patterned After
New Zealand...

WHEN the Pattullo anti-strike bill—the Indus-
trial Compulsory Arbitration Act of BC——was
first introduced, its sponsors presented it as a sort
of a twin-sister to a similar bill enacted by the gov-
ernment of New Zealand. Premier Pattullo, how-
ever, didn’t liken it to an almost identical bill which
the Japanese war-lords are driving through their
fascist-controlled Diet to shackle the striking
Japanese workers. That certainly wouldn’t have
added to its popularity.

Moreover, in spite of the contentions of some
of our peregrinating socialist contemporaries,
that “‘socialism’’ under the Savage (Labor) gov-

- ernment of New Zealand has developed to a very
high degree, and having our doubts about this
“‘socialism,’’ we are glad in a way that the Pattullo
government went to New Zealand instead of
Japan for its pattern. We too, must go there to
the official record and see how the New Zealand
trade unionists, under a Laber government so-
called, are handling this ball-and-chain legislation.
During the tenure of office of the Savage govern-
ment and since the introduction of compulsory ar-
bitration, there have been more strikes than in
any similar period of New Zealand labor history.

Hundreds of the freezing workers (frozen
meat products) have been on strike in recent
months for wage increases, union recognition and
protective industrial legislation, compensation,
ete.

Over one thousand building trades workers
have been on strike all over the Commonwealth
for similar demands. Hundreds of workers in
light manufacturing industries have been involved
in strike strugsles——_some small and some of quite
large proportions; fighting for union recognition
and collective agreements.

In Auckland approximately 15,000 relief work-
ers have been on strike at various times, against
the low relief rate, which a ‘‘labor-socialist’’ gov-
ernment was quite prepared, with its compulsory
arbitration legislation, to establish as the wage-
labor rate. When those strikes of the relief work-
ers broke out the Labor government of New Zea-
land made pronouncements which Hon. George
Pearson, speaking for our own government, has
often made to the relief workers here—‘*‘No more
relief.”’? A queer brand of socialism.

T the present time the longshoremen (warfies)

and seamen of New Zealand are on strike, and
supplementary to their demands is the slogan,
*°To hell with compulsory arbitration.’’ “‘Com-
pulsory arbitration’’ is not new to the Seamen’s
Union of Australasia nor to any other basic group
of industrial workers ‘‘down under.”’ It shackled
the Australian seamen with a continuous dis-
charge ticket which, to the uninitiated, is a sort of
a license you must get from the government to
continue your calling——upon the say-so of your
last boss. If the boss says you are too much of a
radical, an agitator, a union man, or any of the
other peculiar names that the bosses are wont to
call militants, well, you don’t get your ticket. In
short, a vicious blacklist that spawns from the
seed of compulsory arbitration.

lt behooves our trade union movement to fol-
low the Pattullo government to the source of its
inspiration for its “labor legislation,’ and having
done so, to give the Pattullo compulsory arbitra-
tion the same reception as the workers of New
Zealand and of Australia generally are giving it.
Premier Lang of Australia said it was “the law.”’
Premier Savage of New Zealand says it is ‘“‘the
law.”? The workers of Australasia say it is super-
ceeded by an unwritten law that holds the right of
the worker to organize and bargain collectively
for his labor inviolate; that holds the right to
strike and to picket inviolate. We in British Co-
lumbia must give a like reply to any government
that would dare infringe arbitrating upon those
rights of trade unionism.

Gerald L. K. Smith, professional red-baiter, week after
week howls over the radio for financial] contributions to be
sent to him at General Delivery, Washington, DC.

Postal regulations deny Tom, Dick and Harry general
delivery privileges, except for incidental mail until they can
establish an address.

What’s sauce for the goose should be sauce for the

er.
propagander Se oe

A Japanese rancher in British Columbia is accused of
striking a cow with an ax. “If he were a Japanese diplomat,”
comments the Toronto Daily Star, ‘his defence would be that
he was merely trying to make the cow love him.”

Communists In Trade Unions

By CHARLES STEWART
Nw MONTH in Vancou-
ver delegates from all
parts of the province will
meet in annual convention of
the British Columbia district
of the Communist Party of

Canada to discuss the many
vital questions concerning the
common people and to chart

their party's course during 1938.
As Communists, they
pledge themselves anew to strive

uncéasingly for the building of a

progressive people’s movement in

British Columbia that will defeat
the anti-democratic aims of i-

nance capital and secure the road
ahead for progress.
nists, they will record with pride

their party’s noteworthy role in
the struggles of the working peo-

ple for a fuller life.

In the worst depression years
it was only the organized strug-
gles of the unemployed for ade-
quate relief and work at trade
union rates of pay that kept the
lot of the unemployed from being
much worse. The trade unions
also recognize the service ren-
dered, as it was impossible for
the employing class to use organ-
ized unemployed workers to cut
the wages of those employed.

The ‘splendid achievements of
the organized camp boys are
known to every worker in Can-
ada. Those boys wrote a glorious
page of labor history. And today
many former members of the
camp workers’ union are carry-
ing forward the best Canadian
traditions in the front line
trenches of loyalist Spain.

In these same years when the
advocates of class collaboration
were telling the workers that re-
sistance to wage cuts and
worsening conditions in a period
of depression was futile, strong
exception was taken by the Com-
munist party to this false doc-
trine and it was the Communists
in the trade unions who called a
halt to wage slashing. Successful
resistance was successful in not
only a halt being called to wage
cutting but, in many instances,

will

As Commu-

to securing of increased wages
and better conditions.

Such activity on the part of
the workers did not please the
bosses who had been cashing in
on the depression. The Shipping
Federation, the Boss loggers’
Association and other enemies of
labor resurrected the strike-
breaking Citizens’ League, hiring
thugs, gunmen and criminals to
smash the heads of any who
dared to go on strike.

co)

i sees Communist party sent out
a clarion call to the labor
movement to guard against this
menace by uniting its ranks. The
Communists in the trade unions
intensified their eiforts to fight
for a united trade union move-
ment with the Trades and Labor
Congress of Ganada as the centre
around which all trade unions
should rally. Within a few
months the WUL became a part
of the TILG and since unification
between the API, and the WUL
took place the trade union move-
ment in Canada has never looked
back.

Communists do not act as an
opposition in the trade unions,
but are the most consistent fight-
ers for a disciplined, united trade
union movement, recognizing
that disunity only helps the
enemies of labor.

The Communist party gives full
support to the decisions of the
TLC and it is the Communists
in the trade unions who fight
hardest to carry the Congress
decisions into practice.

At the 52nd convention of the
Trades and Labor Congress of
Canada a great cloud hung over
the trade union movement. The
right wing on the AFL general
executive board was demanding
expulsion of the ClO unions. The
Communists declared that if the
GIO unions were expelled Cana-
dian labor would be set back 90
years. At that convention the
Communists worked overtime to
avoid a split and a policy of
unity was adopted.

The period between the 52nd

and 53rd TLC conventions was a
banner year for Canadian labor.
Thousands of new members
were recruited to the unions and
the 53rd convention saw the
trade union movement stronger
and more united than ever be-
fore.

At both conventions the Com-
munist delegates worked hard,
but in different ways. At the 52nd
convention many rebuffs were
received before a policy of unity
was accepted. At the 53rd con-
vention former opponents were
the best supporters when they
saw what had been accomplished
in one short year and the ad-

vice of the Communists was
eagerly sought and accepted.
The Communist party calls

upon its members in the inter-
national unions, in the Catholic
unions and in the AC€ of & to
work consistently for one united
democratic trade union move-
ment within the Trades and
Labor Congress of Canada.
@
HS provincial convention of
the Communist party will
recognize that the most import-
ant task of confronting the
workers of British Columbia is
the organization of the unorgan-
ized into their respective unions.
The Communist party will pledge
its assistance to build the trade
unions and to defend them from
the enemies of labor.

Tt is the duty of every Com-
munist to join the trade union
of his calling, to recruit new
members and loyally to adhere to
the decisions of his or her union.
Communists do not seek to dom-
inate or dictate to the trade
unions. Communists in the trade
unions ask only the same rights
as all other members but are al-
ways.ready to assume any re-
sponsibility.

CGommunists in the trade
unions set an example in devo-
tion, self-sacrifice and loyalty to
the interests of the workers and
the best principles of trade
unionism.

Much discussion will take place
at the convention on the Com-

pulsory Arbitration Act which
has been foisted upon the work-
ing people of this province. Meth-
ods will be found to combat the
menace of company unionism
and compulsory arbitration
clauses which have been inserted
in the Act at the behest of the
Industrial Council, organization
of the big employers, for the ex-
pense purpose of trying to rob
labor of its right to strike at the
opportune moment.

Plans will be adopted to take
full advantages of the clauses
giving workers the right to or-
fanize. The Communist party
will bend every effort to the re-
eruiting of thousands of new
members into the trade unions
because, in the final analysis,
the strength of the trade union
movement will decide what sort
of a trade union bill British Co-
lumbia labor will recognize.

Fastern Canada has shown the
West what can be done to elect
progressives to municipal office.
The same and more can be done
in BC when organized labor
unites with other progressive
forces. If tried and trusted trade
unionists had been in the city
hall at the time of the water-
front strike we would be in 2
position to tell a different story
today. And this example could
be duplicated many times.

What is happening in the proyv-
ince of Quebes is a direct threat
to the entire trade union move-
ment of Ganada. If finance capi-
tal is successful in smashing
trade unionism in Quebec, at-
tacks will be launched on the or
ganized labor movement in other
provinces. Let organized labor
be ready to let us build and
broaden our trade union move-
ment into a mighty unified or-
ganization that will stand on
guard for the democratic rights
of the people.

The Communists in the trade
union movement send out a
clarion call to all progressive peo-
ple to rally behind the unions
and aid us in making them what
they must become—the main bul-
wark against reaction.

Stage
and
Sereen

OW the New Film Alliance
sizes the new pictures up:
TLL TAKE ROMANCE—Grace
Moore given every opportunity to
warble all the old operatic favor-

ites. Little more than a peg for
her vocalizing, but fine, if you
like it.

ROSALIE—To call this a musi-
cal extravaganza is hardly suffi-
cient. Stems from an old Zieg-
feld show of the same name. To
it, MGM’s lavish hand has added
football games, military parades,
trans-Atlantic flights, good voices
and effects. But managed to ex-
clude good humor or good songs,
though including an oh so clever
bit about “red revolution” in the
Balkans with a pity-the-poor-rich
motif.

LOVE AND HISSES —WNot as
good as Wake Up and Live, first
ben Bernie-Walter Winchell film.

By JOHN R. CHAPLIN.
Federated Press

{ OLLYWOOD—(FP) — Buster

Keaton, whose antics in feat-
ure-length comedies had you in
stitches not so many years ago,
and who has since then figured
more than once in the headlines,
bas settled down to the more-or-
less serious life of a short-subject
director at Metro. His current ef-
fort is a one-reeler titled Too
Many Laws. Im it, Keaton will
show us how, if all the laws in
existence were actually enforced,
a man could be arrested 100 times
during the course of an ordinary
day’s work, and that every Amer-
ican unconsciously breaks some
law every hour. Wonder if he'll
show us the strange way cops
have of remembering those for-
gotten laws when they can use
them against pickets and labor
organizers? ... Wonder if Kea-
ton will touch on the current
frame-up that Beverly Hills police
are trying to put over on Tom
Johnson, veteran organizer and
now circulation manager of the
Los Angeles CLO paper. A turn-
coat, one-tinie Communist has
supposedly “accused” Johnson of
complicity in what are described -
as “Robin Hood burglaries’ —
robbing the rich to give the
money to the poor. It’s one of
the most hideous frameups in
California’s none-too-sayory his-
COLVe aes

@
ORE important in film cir
eles is the decoration re-
ceived by Shirley Temple, who

was chosen again this year, in a4
poll of exhibitors conducted by
The Motion Picture Herala, as
No. 1 boxoffice star of the year.
She is followed, in this order, by
Clark Gable, Robert Taylor, Bing
Grosby, William Powell, Jane
Withers, Fred « Astaire - Ginger
Rogers, Sonja Henie, Gary Coop-
er and Myrna Loy.

We could have told you, even
if it hadn't been made official,
that Mussolini would ban The
Life of Emile Zola. Il Duce re-
fused to give a reason. ... The
whole country is doing raves over
the new Soviet film, Peter the
Great, Its cast includes Cher-

kassov, the unforgettable Baltic

Deputy.

OPEN FORUM

Letters to the PA Open Forum should be brief as possible.
We are not responsible for, and often do not agree with ideas
expressed in this column. Space limitations demand that
portions of long letters be deleted. Every effort is made to
preserve the sense and continuity of letters published.

A Word In

Season
Editor, People’s Advocate:
Dear Sir, — Once a week I

promise myself to write a long
and length letter to you full of
sparkle and sapience. It looks as
if I shall write to you once a year
at this rate. I do want to say, how-
ever, that you are getting out a
hell of a good newspaper and
grateful I am for the opportunity
to read it every week. The PA is
bright and well-dressed and the
propaganda can well afford to
shout out loud in its pages.

We down here are nominally
linked with the CCE. Beyond that
we might well be linked with the
old Edwardians, so litile are we
jolted in our rut. I wish we had
some of the pep you put into your
parade. However, we jog along
with you, having seen the vehicle,
ean well imagine the speed. This
is a good time to wish you and
your paper god-speed in 1938.

Sooke, V.1. F. G.'

Quesnel Thanks

Supporters
Editor, People’s Advocate:

Dear Sir,—The Quesnel Press
Drive committee wishes, through
me, to express to the Joint Press
Drive committee its appreciation
of the diplomas received by the
members of our committee, in
recognition of the work accom-
plished in Quesnel in the drive
lately concluded. It is proposed
to use these for the encourage-
ment of on-coming workers who
will be active in future drives.

We desire, also, to take this
means of expressing to all those
in the Cariboo who, in any way,
assisted in making the drive so
successful in this district, our
profound appreciation of their
help. Cariboo has done well. In
the next drive, let us take care
that it will, through wider effort,
and greater unity of forces, do
even better.

ART KNOX.

Quesnel, BC.

They Will Come

HEYWOOD BROUN

In Scripps-Howard Newspapers

HE armies of Japan press

deeper and deeper into the

heart of China and the rulers of

Nippon would have us believe

that they will not come back.
They will come back.

High on the sispes of Olympus
sit the sisters three. Clotho spins
the web of life. Lachesis meas-
ures its length and Atropos waits
with shears in hand to cut the
thread when the appointed time
is come. They are ancient and to
the Greeks they seemed a somber
trio. That is not true, for they
sing at their work and little
jokes pass between them. When
war lords cry out, ‘History is on
our side and we will follow the
course of destiny,” the old girls
Bigele.

They have seen the elephants
of Hannibal go up to the Alps
and over. They have watched the
Legions of Caesar tramp through
the sacred groves of the Druids.
They heard the tears of Alexan-
der and saw the bloodstains on
the snow in the retreat from
Moscow.

The proud armies of Japan
will break and return for the ebb
is mightier than the fiood. The
pird of destiny is on the wing and
he is heading home.

Tet the war lords of the world
read history, for it is written that
victory in the field is nothing
more than a flourish of trumpets
and when the last note dies away
there is no echo and the silence
comes. The tattered banners of
the brave brigades will never
wave again. There is n0 bugle
shrill enough to rouse once more
that might which was Wapoleon
or a word of command sufficient-
ly imperious to loose again the
horsemen of the Hun.

Deep in the dust lie the eagles
of the conqueror and grass grows
in those places where the aspira-
tion of the aggressor have been
given back to the earth.

All victories are Pyrrhic, for
an army does not march upon
its belly, but upon the necks of
its own people. A bommpb is
dropped in Nanking and in
Osaka an increasing burden falls
on the back of the working
masses. The leaders of INippon
will learn too late that the same
bayonet thrust which pierces a
Chinese coolie tinges with blood
that moon which hangs low
above the mean houses of the
toilers of Japan.

They say that to his people the
Mikado is a god, but even gods
have been cursed and cut down
when they visited too heavy a
tribulation upon their worship-
pers. Men will starve a little
while for the sake of an emperor.
For a span of days or months
or even years they may bed
down with privation if such 4
mate is painted up and passed
off to them as glory. But there
will come the morning when each
worker in Japan will wake and
know her suddenly as a hag and
harlot.

The conflict in the Far East
will not be settled by the planes
which dart in circles above Nan-
king, but in the rice fields of
Japan. The thread will snap. Be-
hind the far-flung army lines will
come the roar of the aroused
millions drowning out the sound
of the siege guns. And to his own
the Mikado will have to make
such answer as he can when they
ery out for bread and peace.

The bird of destiny is on the
wing. The armies of Nippon
must follow the course he set.
They will come back.

Diary
By VICTORIA POST

UNIQUE health campaign is

being launched this week by
the Consumers Union of the United
States, warning consumers against
two types of medicines sold by
drug stores without prescription.
One of the drugs, aminopyrine, is
contained in numerous popular
remedies for headaches, menstrual
pains, colds, ete., such as the
famous lydia Pinkham’s tablets,
Midol, Yeast-Vite, Phenamidol,
Hexin, and many others.

Thousands of posters have been
distributed advising the public
that this drug is the direct cause
of a disease responsible for thou-
sands of deaths mistakenly listed
under other causes. The fact that
you have taken “remedies” con-
taining this drug for a period with-
out apparent evil effect, does not
exclude the possibility of a future
attack. Dr. Klumpp of the Yale
University School of Medicine
states: ‘There is no entirely safe
method of administering amino-
pyrine’—even by a physician!

Another danger to public health
is the widely advertised “nose
drops,” including the well-known
Rexall Nasal Spray, Mistol Drops,
Pineoleum, Vicks Vatronol, and
Hill’s Nose Drops. During the com-
ing years a great many children
will die of pneumonia, caused
mainly by the use of these nose
drops without medical advice.

“This form of pneumonia, called
lipoid pneumonia, has been on the
increase ... due to the extensive
advertising of commercial ‘nose
drops’ . . . and constitutes a pub-
lic health menace!”

The remedy to this danger is ob-
vious. Don’t believe the adver-
tisers. Get medical advice! Nearly
every drug advertisement makes
false or dangerous claims to in-
crease sales. Many of the amino-
pyrine products listed are adver-
tised as “haying no ill effects.”
Consumers Union’s expose of the
danger of these drugs, particularly
the nasal oils, compelled the New
York City Board of Health to is-
sue a press warning against their
use, but did not print the brands,
A complete list can be obtained
from Consumers Union, 55 Vandam
Street, New York City. Pass this
warning on. You may help to save
the lives of many children and
adults.

@

W spite of dirty digs flying all

around me that I can talk about
nothing except the boycott, [1m go-
ing to mention it this week. No
information is available about the
Canadian firm using only Chinese
silk for their stockings, so go on
wearing lisle.

Most of the stores will soon be
displaying a sign that they sell
no Japanese goods, and a list of
stores to be avoided is available
from the League for Peace and
Democracy.

A letter received from Quesnel
requested information about
setting up a boycott committee,
which I pladly gave, but Tm
wondering how many more of you
would like the same information?
We need committees all over the
province to make the boycott ef-
fective, and if you want any help
in getting one going, write to me.

< OS®

OL’ BILL

No Honor The workers
who produce

Among Thieves! ihe aividends
that all show such phenomenal in-
creases in the news columns these
days, are exploited in a measure
the intensity of which is disguised
by the bookkeeping and financial
methods of the bosses.

This, however, does not prevent
the same bosses from practising
the meanest forms of peculation
and picayune thievery of part of
the meager wages they pay out to
their victimized employees.

A local instance of the proof of
this is the case now being fought
by the Fishermen’s union for the
recovery from the fishing moguis
of monies illegally collected from
the fishermen which the Compen-—
sation Act states must be paid by
the employers. They were not con-
tent with the one cent per day
which the workers pay into the
medical fund, but collected the
total Gompensation Board assess-
ment, thus actually stealing from
their unorganized fishermen the
sum they should have paid to the
Compensation Board.

This has been going on for years
and was only possible because the
fishermen were unorganized, with
No union to protect them, but now
they are organized and are geting
back the stolen moneys from the
bosses, some of whom are associ-
ated with the Non-Partisan Asso-
ciation that does not believe in
bringing politics into the City Hall.

Another instance comes from
the stamping-ground of Duplessis,
the Quebec Mussolini, where the
International Ladies’ Garment
Workers Union is taking steps to
secure back wages for French-
Canadian and Jewish garment
workers who have been consistent-
ly paid under the scandalous mini-
mum wage by the Montreal Ideal
Dress company, the largest plant
of its kind in Canada,

The Quebec minimum wage law
stipulates that 70 per cent of work-
ers employed in such factories
must be paid eleven dollars per
week. In this plant only 42 work
ers out of 400 earned the minimum
scale. All the old gags were work-
ed to defeat the law; workers were
ordered not to puneh the clock
two or three times a week; three
girls worked for the contents of
one pay envelope of twelve dol-
lars. Wages paid were as low as
four or five dollars a week.

To cover up such robbery the
Padlock Law and the gangsterism
of Dr. Gabriel Lambert’s fascist
thugs is necessary to the indus-
trial magnates of Quebec.

The ILGWU reports another
scurrilous form of capitalist honor
—the gypping of workers on piece
rates, by declaring rates on gar-
ments a dollar or more under the
selling price, thus securing low
piece rates for the work and then
falsifying their books to hide from
the garment workers the prices
at which the goods were being
sold.

.-The Dress Joint Board's account
ants discovered the fraud and the
union has succeeded in making
these ‘honorable gentlemen” dis-
gorge $10,000 during the month or
Wovember. is

These clothing manufacturers
were doubtless all supporters OF
members of the Non-Partisan As-
sociation or its equivalent in the
towns in which they practised
their thievery — for which they
should be behind the bars.

* * *

No Speed-up! Now we know?

= There is x0
No Highball! “speea-up, high-

ball, or stretch-out” in the woods. —

Wo coroners jury has ever brought
out any evidence to prove that
supers, foremen or Owners have
been guilty of endangering their
men by the use of these methods.

This is the burden of an official
statement of the BC Loggers As-
sociation, written up for publica-
tion in the local press as a contri-
bution to the spirit of Christmas
cheer. The only place where the
speed-up does occur, according to
the log-hungry bosses, is with the
individual logger himself, who im
his greed to become a Rockefeller
or a Sir Herbert Holt takes
chances equivalent ta committing
suicide.

Wo comment is made about
what happens to the logger who
does not “hit the ball,” because
he has no desire to take up a pre=
emption on a coffin. Any logger
knows!

The anxiety of the Loggers’ AS-
sociation to prove that they 4re
not responsible for the slaughter
that takes place in the woods is
akin to the protests of the Queen
Mother in Hamlet. They quote
figures to show that during 1936
the logging industry in BC was
not as dangerous as the homes of
the citizens, logging accidents ac-
counting for only half the number
of fatalities suffered in homes.

The figures are n0 more impress-
ive than many other figures that
are used to prove lies. There ate
nearly 800,000 people in BC living
in homes (of such a kind that
if is surprising more of them ate
not killed). There are only 12,00)
loggers. What are the percent
ages?

The truth still remains. More
men were Killed to produce logs
in the peaceful woods of BC this
year than the number of Mac-
Paps killed on the war-torn pattle-
fields of Spain in the same peri

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