The People’s Advocate

t Western Canada’s Leading Progressive Newspaper
‘LL No. 169. @<== Published Weekly VANCOUVER, B.C., FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 1938. Single Copies: 5 Cents VOL. IV., No. 13

Ne

SPY ACTIVITIES

Air Raids

- On Barcelona have left many scenes
such as this.
the CGatalonian capital into submission.

Franco seeks to terrorize

raitors Prepared To
J Open Gates To Nazis

she

i= LONDON, Eng.—(By Mail) —“We have in this country, as
t@=y had in Austria, a gang of traitors who will sell the country
4 Germany. If the working class movement makes an advance
>y will open the gates to Nazi invasion.”

1h

a

tlelief Strike
At Calgary

x

)5ingle Men Expected
‘To Join In Protest

SALGARY, Alta., April 7—-Two

jusand heads of familics here
seitinue their strike against re-
{ pced food allowances eifective
J@ce April 1. A one hundred per
at response was given to the
ike call, and city projects, on
wich the unemployed were re-
hired to work 40 hours a month,
ere deserted.
Dne thousand single jobless are
Boected to leave their $5 a month
fm jobs and come to Calzary to
$n with the strikers in protesting
t> cut.

ated Police
Officer Retires

Retired on superannuation this
tek was mustachioed Sergeant J.
anlon, notorious city cossack,
1d leader of police attacks on
tikers and unemployed.

Regret at Scanlon’s loss was ex-
essed by the constable making

presentation “because officers
.d learned to trust and admire See Gallacher
ini.”* : (Continued on page 5)

Deliberate, analytical, William
Gallacher, Communist member for
Wrest Fife, made this statement re-
cently in the course of a debate on
the national government’s foreign
policy, driving his arguments home
before supporters of Prime Minis-
ter Chamberlain, who had already
been subjected to pointed criticism
from an aroused Labor opposition.

The Soviet Union had had its
traitors, Gallacher declared, as in-
deed, every other country had, but
in the Soviet Union the cancer had
been cut out by the roots and de-
stroyed.

“The invasion of Austria did not
start with the entry of MHitler’s
troops,” Gallacher said. “It start-
ed with the invasion of emissaries
from Wazi Germany, who conducted
@ press campaign to interfere in
this direction and in that direction.
The same thing is going on here.’’

Britain and the whole of Europe
was facing the gravest situation
since 1914, the Communist member
stated. It was a situation demand-
ing courage. It was a situation de-
manding the unity of peace and
progressive forces throughout
Europe.

Gallacher aligned himself with
Winston Churchill in his remarks
on collective security, saying, “I can
say this with the greater sincerity,
because he agreed with me when I
put forward the same proposition a
year ago.”

“The people were

of Austria

rade Unions Opposing
Chamberlain’s Policies

LONDON, Eng, April 7—While Britain’s Conservative press
yurs smooth phrases into the public ear— End of crisis . -
Hurope now quiet . . .” “Mussolini withdrawing from Spain ...
iere is every indication that the people’s indignation at Cham-
srlain’s betrayal of democracy, far from being lulled, is mount-
ig steadily as new evidence of the national government's du-

icity seeps through.

there the feeling that the gov-
snment’s vast armament scheme
mo substitute for a policy of
llective democratic action.

In Wales, among the militant
embership of the powerful
iners’ Federation, demand for a
tional coal strike unless the
vernment abandons its policy of
pon-intervention” and permits the
Manish Republican government to
forchase arms, is meeting with
trong support.

| Oliver Harris, general secretary
© the federation, announced to the
‘ress, following a meeting of the
Secutive council, that such a2
if

~

:

| Particularly in the trade unions®

3)

strike would have the support of
miners, provided other unions were
generally in favor of the policy...

That the policy does meet with
the general support of organized
labor is evident from the attitude
of the Amalgamated Engineering
Union Gouncil which decided this
week to demand from the govern-
ment, among other things, whether
it intends to permit the loyalists
to purchase arms under inter-
national law and whether it in-
tends to suppress all arms traflic
with the fascist dictatorships, be-
fore agreeing to a speedup of the

|rear-guard action all

50 Mac-Paps Hold

Hill Against Crack
Troops, Artillery

Correspondent Visits Wounded Vancou=

ver Volunteers In

Barcelona Hospital

(Special Gable to The People’s Advocate)

BARCELONA, Spain, April 7—Along the 120-mile Cata-
lonian battlefront where this week loyalists fought every inch
of the ground against invading Italian and German armies,
Moorish troops and an insignificant number of Spanish fascists,
Canadian volunteers of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion again
asserted their right to be called the finest shock troops in the
world in a score of engagements.

At Tortosa, where the vital highway link between Barcelona
and Valencia runs close to the Mediterranean, a handful of

Mac-Paps—there were not more
than fifty of them—with perhaps
a few score other volunteers of the
International Brigade, fought a
through a

long spring day.

Wot far away the Ebro gleamed
copper in the sunlight, but over
the hill dominating the highway
where the Mac-Paps had dug them-

| Selves in, hung a haze of dust and

smoke as the full force of Franco's
artillery was brought to bear.

Against incessant assault by tanks
and infantry, the Canadians hung
on grimly, beating back wave after
wave of attacks until the ground
in front of their position was
strewn with the fascists’ dead.

While they held back Mus-
solini’s vaunted legions, a mere
handful of them defying the mech-
anized might of an army, thous-
ands of loyalist troops were en-
abled to evacuate untenable posi-
tions and consolidate their forces
around the city.

When evening came the Cana-
dians fell back, fighting their way
to loyalist lines.

By JACK TAYLOR
BARCELONA, Spazn, April 7.—1
have recently returned from a visit
to a number of wounded Canadians
in hospital here. None of them is

See Canadians
(Continued on page 5)

2

CLU Branch

Formed Here

Dr. Sedgewich Chosen

As Honorary President

Following the recent visit of
R. LL. Calder, KG, distinguished
barrister, 70 people attended a
meeting in the Hotel Georgia, Fri-
day, to form a Vancouver branch
of the Canadian Civil Liberties
Union, the third to be formed in
the dominion.

Dr. G. G Sedgewlek was chosen
honorary chairman of the Vancou-
ver branch. Other officers are:
Prof. W. L. MacDonald, chairman;
Mrs. Stuart Jamieson, Rey. Elbert
Paul, vice-chairman; Frank Mc-
Kenzie, secretary; Robert Christie,
treasurer; E. A. Lucas, legal coun-
sel.

Elected to the aaGvisory board
were: Dr. W. G. Black, Norman
Brown, Rabbi Samuel Cass, A. G.
Holmes, J. Hundal, Garfield King,
Donald McBean, Ruth McWilliam,
Mrs. E.. Mahon, J. Mecredy, Mrs.
W. S. Planta, N. Nemetz, Mrs. D.
G. Steeves, R. P. Steeves, W. G.
Stephen, Julia Stockett, Mrs. L. C.
Teeple, Dr. Sylvia Thrupp, O. C.
Wilson.

armaments output.

‘Must Extend Democracy’

McKean Raps Pattullo’s
Stand On Doukhobors

“Genuine democrats will welcome the proposal to have a
provision inserted in the revised Elections Act to give Doukho-
bors the franchise in Dominion elections, and they should pro-

test Premier Pattullo’s stated objections,’

?

Fergus McKean,

provincial secretary of the Communist party, stated Wednesday.

Reopening Of
Camps Asked

Single Jobless Plan

Capital Demonstration

Extreme eagerness to herd all
project workers into Vancouver is
being shown by the provincial de-
partment of labor, the Advocate
learned this week.

Young men, all of them from
Otter Point and Milligan’s camps,
near Victoria, told of bus trans-
portation from the now closed
camps, which were timed within
a few minutes to catch the Van-
couver boat.

Imminence of a conference, to
be held in Victoria of Relief Pro-
ject Workers’ Union delegates from
Island camps, and plans to stage
a demonstration in the capital for
reopening of the Camps are rea-
sons given by union officials for
governmental haste.

“The government it seems has no
stomach for facing accusing lads
who are condemned to months of
beggary in a city overcrowded with
job seekers,’ John Matts, union
secretary, stated to the Advocate.

Project Workers state that all
deferred wage vouchers will have
been distributed within the next
three weeks.

100 MILE HOUSE, BC, April 7.
—A general meeting of the Liberal
Association will be called here to
discuss progressive resolutions.

“The Premier’s statement made
before the Rowell Commission that
‘We could not possibly give
Doukhobors citizenship because of
their extreme views and their oppo-
sition to war,’ does not augur well
for the extension of democratic
rights in British Columbia,’ Mc-
Kean declared.

“If citizenship rights can be de-
nied to a particular racial or religi-
ous group because of the views they.
hold, then such a principle, once
established, can be applied to any
group or section whose views do
not coincide with those of the gov-
ernment of the day. c

“The considered opinion of the
Communist party is that extension
of the franchise is long overdue.

“The road to progress and a
higher form of civilization is
marked by universal franchise.’

City Rally
Asks Arms
For Spain

Italian Vice=Consul
Tears Resolutions,
Orders Delegation
Out.

POLICIES HIT

Two thousand people rallied
on Powell street srounds last
Monday to demonstrate their
solidarity with the Spanish
people in their fight to the
death against fascism and to
protest the material aid given
to Franco by Italy and Ger-
many.

Speakers at the meeting were
Tom Ewen, central committee
member of the Communist party of
Canada; Harold Winch, MILA, CGF
whip in the provincial legislature;
A. M. Stephen, provincial president
of the Canadian League for Peace

and Democracy, and Malcolm
Bruce, chairman.

Following the meeting, held un-
der auspices of the Communist
party, a delegation called on the
German and Italian vice-consuls to
present a resolution “strongly con-
demning the armed help given to
Franco” by their respective gsoyv-
ernments and “demanding that all
italian and German troops and war
machinery be withdrawn at once.’
The resolution, unanimously en-
dorsed by the rally, declared that
had it not een for this aid Franco's
revolt would have failed.

Tears Resolution Up.

At the Italian consulate the dele-
gation was met with insulting,
bullying language, the Italian vice-
consul snatching the resolutions
from the hand of A. M. Stephen
and tearing them up.

“Get out,’ he shouted to mem-
bers of the delegation. “I don’t
want anything to do with you or
your Canadian democracy.”’

Warned of the visiting delega-
tion, the German representative
was not in his office when it called.

Later the delegation went to the
police station to lay a charge
against the Italian vice-consul on
the ground that he had destroyed
property other than that designed
for his office. Police demurred,
however, on the ground that the
charge was “trivial.”

The rally on Powell Street
grounds also sent a resolution to
Prime Minister Mackenzize King
demanding that the policy -of his
government conform to the cove-
nant of the League of Nations, of
which Canada is a signatory, and
to the wishes of the Canadian
people. The resolution stated that
the effect of the British National
government's policy of non-inter-
vention had been to prevent arms
reaching the Spanish loyalists
while the fascists pursued a course
of armed intervention.

A collection of $28 taken at the
meeting was donated to Friends of
the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion
for Canadian volunteers in Spain.

Aids Negro Leader
LONDON, Eng., April 7—Sir
Stafford Cripps, KC, MP, has un-

dertaken the defense of Uriah
Butler, negro leader sentenced
after the Trinidad strike of some

months ago, in his appeal to the
Privy Council.

Heng Chih Tao

.. . distinguished Chinese scholar,
who will speak in Vancouver on
April 19 under auspices of the
Canadian League for Peace and
Democracy. Dr. Tao only recently
returned from the International
Peace Congress held in London.

Woods Take
Heavy Toll

Union Seeking Probe
Of Accidents Cause

The BC Coast District Council
of the International Woodworkers
of America has applied to the pro-
vincial department of labor for an
impartial investigation of logging
accidents in this province. The
union suggests that a department
of labor investigator go from camp
to camp, accompanied by a repre-
sentative of the union, to enquire
into the causes of the accidents.

Since the beginning of this year
fourteen men have been killed in
logging accidents in this province.
During the past week alone there
have been five fatalities. Latest
death is that of Arthur V. Peko-
nem of South Westminster, who
was killed Monday at the Elk River
Timber Company’s Campbell River
camp when a log rolled on him.
This is the second fatality at this
camp within the past two weeks.

G-Men Give

Information
To Britain

‘German Garrison’ At
Home Office Bars
Demanded Probe Of
Nazis.

‘BROWN NET’

LONDON, Eng., April 7.—
(Special) —Both the US Fed-
eral Bureau of Investigation
and the French Surete have
asked for action on information
concerning Nazi activities in
Britain supplied by them to the
British government. Their re-
quests have either been met
by Britain with blank silence
or polite evasion.

Publication here of this informa-
tion not only serves to expose the
hand of the “German Garrison” in
the British Home Office, but is
lending strength to the demands of
Winston Churchill and others for
investigation of the Nazi “Brown
Net” of spies throughout Britain.
Thus far, the “German Garrison”
has been able to prevent this.

labor’s victory in the West Ful-
ham by-election, fought out almost
entirely on the issue of foreign
policy, is the people’s answer to the
national government, fighting des-
perately for its life and using all
the weapons of political intrigue
to maintain itself. _

The Chamberlain determination
to allow the fascist international
a free hand in Europe as long as
its attack does not come West, is
the source of the whole situation.
It entails a surrender of strategic
positions, and necessitates the sur-
rounding of France in order to
bring down the People’s Front gov-
ernment, substitute a government
of the Right, and break the Pranco-
Soviet Pact. On this hinges the
success or failure of the entire
policy. If it does fail, the result
will be catastrope for Britain.

Say Surrey Carries Burden

Reeves Head Campaign
Against Tolls On Bridge

CLOVERDALE, BC, April 7.—Asserting that the burden of
tolls on New Westminster bridge is being borne by Surrey
municipality, 15 organizations in Surrey are preparing a cam-
paign for abolition of toll charges.

Among those on the committee to
direct the campaign are Surrey,
Delta, Langley, Coquitlam and
Matsqui reeves and several coun-
cillors. They claim that the bur-
den is placed on Surrey because
motorists coming down from the
interior pay a toll at Spuzzum on
the Fraser Canyon highway and re-
ceive a free pass for the new West-
minster bridge, while residents in
the upper Fraser Valley cross by
the CPR bridge at Mission.

Since the imposition of tolls on
the New Westminster bridge, the
committee claims, all produce and
feed has been increased an aver-
age of five cents a sack, while one
valley busline has increased its
fares. Gas stations are complain-
ing that their business has been
hit and New Westminster mer-
chants assert that it is cheaper for
Surrey residents to go to Blaine
rather than pay bridge tolls.

Grants-In-Aid Restricted

By FRED TYLER
HAT lies behind the news
from Ottawa? Hon. Norman
Rogers this week announces that
a federal works plan will be
launched for “permanent solution
of unemployment.”

The answer is simple.
relief throughout Canada has
reached staggering proportions,
and it is felt both by the people
and the government that public
funds used for unemployed relief
should not be an annual sop to
keep hungry men quiet, but should
be used to help liquidate unemploy-
ment.

The first round in the game was

Cost of

the adoption by Ottawa of the
main recommendation of the Na-
tional Unemployment Commission,
that indigents and ‘unemployables’
be cut from relief rolls and made
chargeable to provinces and muni-
cipalities. Next, it was decided that
grants-in-aid to provinces from do-
minion funds be confined strictly
to that portion of the relief load
classified as able-bodied unem-
ployed.

The effect of this policy was a
storm of protest from local authori-
ties. Victoria, like all centres of
provincial authority regards relief
work, public works and road con-
struction as its special property.

Public Works Scheme Pianned

But Ottawa is no longer satisfied
with allowing provincial govern-
ments to continue administering
millions of dollars, part of which
is provided federally.

Again the reason is easy to see.
As far as BC is concerned, the pro-
vineial policy does not construc-
tively reduce unemployment. The
money is being spent alternately
by members of the government,
ministers of public works and
others to give their own home
towns good roads. Take Salmon
Arm and Cranbrook as instances

See Relief
(Continued on page 5)

Molland Free
Next Week

Grange’s Case Will Be

Reviewed In Summer

Confirmation of news that Harry
Molland, city unemployed leader,
will be released in a few days
from New Westminster Peniten-
tiary on “ticket of leave,’ was re-
ceived this week by Captain J-
Davidson in a letter from M. F-
Gallagher, chief of remission sery-
ice, worded as follows:

“T am now to advise you that
His Excellency the Governor-Gen-
eral has been pleased to authorize
the release of Harry Molland on
ticket of leave, for Hiaster-.

“Similar action in respect to
Fred Grange was unfortunately not
found to be warranted at this time.
It has however been directed that
his case be again brought forward
in June, when you will be advised
of the decision reached.”

Trade Unionists
Assisting Drive

A trade union committee is ac-
tive throughout the city rallying
support for the Advocate-Clarion
press drive among organized work
ers. :
Following a brief address to its
members by Erna Whitman, mem-
ber of the committee, Division 101,
Street Railwaymen’s Union, en-
dorsed a gate collection for mem-

bers on April 8: