age Two PA PE Ora tS ADVOCATE THE PEOPLE’s ADVOCATE Published Weekly by the PROLETARIAN ee eS EEUNT ASSOCIATION 00m 10, 163 Ww. Hastin © gs Street Vancouver, BC. Phone, Trin. 2019 One Year elcome 1 senres MOWrnG 055, ete aes SingleyCony ae eee. 05 Make All Cheques Payable to: The People’s Advocate FRIDAY, APRIT. 15, 1938 eee Votes For Doukhobors STORM of disapproval has met the proposal of the federal soyernment to en- franchise the Doulkhobors. They were federally denied the right to vote in 1934. ere is not unanimity in the Liberals’ ranks on this proposal. Premier Pattullo has protested most vigorously against restoring the vote to these Canadians, For Cana- dians they are, most of them being born here. Pattullo fears that if they be permitted to vote they will vote against him, for it was his cabinet that had a number of them in- terned on Piers’ Island a few years ago. Apart from that there is no reason why they should not vote against him in the interests of the general public. The Doukhobors, a religi- ous sect, were brought to this country from Russia about thirty-five years ago. They settled on virgin prairie where their brawny arms soon con- “verted a barren tract into a model farming community. They proved, more than any group that ever settled in the mid-west, that grain growing could become one of Canada’s Sreatest industries. They slaved and they toiled; they ran their enterprises on an efficient co-operative basis which was the secret of their xloted success in farming. Some of them moved to this province where they still re- main an organized, orderly community. Mr. Pattullo says they are extremists. They refuse to fight. Well, there are many other pacifists in Canada who openly oppose war, and there is no talk of depriving them of the privilege of voting. It is said that the Doukho- bors do not enter into the wider life of the area in which they settle. That is their busi- ness, and one cannot blame them when they have been so often held up to scorn and ridicule for their religious be- liefs. Certainly, to deprive them of voting is one way of further driving them to re- main apart. : The Doukhobors of today are just as capable of casting an intelligent vote as anybody else. If the constitutional rights are denied to them, as it is to Orientals, which will be the next national group to be so affected? It is to the imterest of all Canadians that the Doukho- bors have in full measure all the privileges of. Canadian citizenship. Canada At The Crossroads HERE has always been corruption in Canadian polities. As far back as 1873 a Liberal member of the House of Commons charged that Sir John A. MacDonald had received thousands of dollars from Sir Hugh Allan, president of the Canadian Pa- cific Railway company. The evidence against Sir John was so irrefutable that he and his entire cabinet resigned. Eiver.since, the “outs” have charged the “ins” with graft, and if only a fraction of what they said has been true, both parties are literally plastered with tar from the same brush. Political office has been a pork-barrel that never was empty in spite of all that it yielded. During this session R. B. Bennett accused the King administration with graft without specifying anything in particular. The Liberal party, perhaps to avoid the scandal of an investigation, has brought in a Bill for the publication of all campaign funds. This is a measure that has long been needed. It was as badly needed under the Bennett administration as it is under Mackenzie King. It was generally known that Bennett contributed most of the campaign fund that last elected him, which is just as objectionable as if the Hydro interests, the Bank of Mont- real, or the CPR had done so. A blast against parliament- ary corruption has come trom Premier Duplessis of Quebec, who is having some of the leading Liberals of the Tas- chereau administration up on the carpet for misuse of pub- lic funds. Why all these sudden bursts of selfi-righteousness on the part of Mr. Bennett and Mr. Duplessis? One does not have to go far to find the answer. It is that all the reactionary forces in the Dominion are planning to unite into a bloc tor a National government at the next election. The Con- servative party, in its rejuve- nation plans, “leaves the way open” for entry into its ranks ot the Union Nationale party of Duplessis, formerly Con- servative, now pro - fascist. Such a party may be rein- forced by groups from the Liberal party, and the whole united on a program for-a National government, a pro- gram against corruption and for economy. Such a govern- ment, once in power, would follow the pro-fascist road of Duplessis. The talk of a National gov- ernment is increasing. So is the tall for an early federal election. \ The King government is playing into the hands of these people. The padlock law has not been repealed. If it is not repealed by the beginning of July its permanence is law- fully established. Once per- manent in Quebec, the prece- dent is established for similar laws in other provinces. Just last Sunday in Van- ecouver Archbishop W. M. Duke, at the Holy Rosary Ca- thedral, spoke strongly in support of the padlock law, and in favor of the suppres- sion of Communist activities. Duplessis claimed that his law Was aimed against Commun- ism, yet in effect it is being used to outlaw the trade union movement in Quebec. The padlock law of Quebec is a national menace to free- dom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, and freedom for labor to or- ganize for collective bargain- ing. Mass deception has ever been the policy of fascists. Behind the movement for a national government, for “cleaner” administration, is the hand and weight of Big Business in Canada. Its aim is to padlock all liberties in the country. It is commonly understood in Ottawa today that the padlock law is not going to be repealed, that the King government will escape through a legal technicality. A crucial situation is ap- proaching in Canada, one that promises to be full of enmity for the working and middle- classes. We must begin now to fight back. We have only until the beginnings of July to see that the padlock law-is disallowed. The campaign for this raised a short time ago has lagged behind. It must be revived to a greater pitch of intensity than hitherto reached. The forces of the common people must be united in prep- aration to defeat the combined strength of Canadian reaction which is planning a sudden . federal election, probably this fall. There is no time to lose. This election may tell which way Canadians are going to travel—the road of fascism or the road of democracy. When this election is sprung it should find United Front committees in every constitu- ency in BC, determined to send representatives to the House of Commons who will not only want to defend de- mocracy, but who will carry on a fight for the suppression of all fascist organizations. The New Werks Program 7HNHE KING government plans soon to announce details of a national works program to relieve unemploy- ment, although the amount of money to be allotted — be- tween $25 and $40 million— is totally inadequate to pro- vide work over a very long period. Nevertheless, the principle of a federal works program ean only be approved. Pro- viding employment to relieve suffering and distress is a fed- eral responsibility, and that has at last been recognized. And it ill becomes Pattullo to oppose it when for years he has been bawling his head off for more federal assistance in relief, Chamberlain’s Pro-Fascist Foreign Policy By MALCOLM BRUCE HE inyasion of Manchuria by Japan in 1931 was engaged in with the connivance and approval of the British government, which allowed Japan to forge ahead on the Asiatic Mainland in the ex- pectation that: (a) Japan would accord Britain “open-door” treat- ment in the area torn from China; (b) that Japan would be satisfied with its conquests in Worth China and would not threaten British interests in Central and South China; and (c) that as a consequence pres- sure against Singapore, Australia and the Hast Indies would be re- movéd, and any further aggres- Sion by Japan would be directed against Soviet Russia, after which a Japan, weakened in a war with the Soviet Union would not be able to prevent Britain from reasserting itself in China. Alarmed by Japan’s attack in Manchuria, the United States pro- posed to Britain joint resistance to Japanese aggression. The pro- posal made by Secretary Stimp- son was turned down cold by the British government. This action gave Japan a free hand in China. ) ERCEIVING the impunity with which Japan overran Manchuria and knowing that British imperialism and its Na- tional government were pro- A & Woman’s Diary By Victoria Post . HE much discussed Junior “G-Men" promoted by Con- Stable Eveleigh has now spread itself to include girls, whg call themselves ‘‘G-—Girls.”” Under the guise of teaching girls French, drawing, painting and needlework, which they learn at school anyway, the girls are drilled at the club headquarters, taught to honor all policemen and to idolize their promoter, Con- Stable E\veleigh. They are also taught finger- printing, and encouraged to ob- tain finger-prints of all members of the family. They are urged to try and find out to what political parties their parents belong, though what possible bearing such information could have on the teaching of such cultural subjects as drawing and painting I can’t quite see! In the words of someone I know who was approached to help or- ganize the G-Girls and who at- tended one or two meetings, “I don’t like the look of it. It has definite fascist tendencies and I think the people of Vancouver should be told what is really going on.” Progressive mothers in the prov- ince should be on their guard. Se OSTERS depicting the horrors of the Japanese invasion in China, and pressing home the need for a boycott to cripple Ja- pan’s war machine were a feature at a fashion-show held by the Dr. Bethune Club in Toronto last Saturday. Models paraded in a shop win- dow on Bloor street displaying the style of rayon and lisle as sub- stitutes for silk, and discarded Japanese goods were on show to tell the shoppers what not to buy if they wanted to help stop the slaughter of Chinese women and ehildren. The Dr. Bethune Club is a sec- tion of the Young Communist League, and is composed of active militant young people who are taking a vital interest in the pres- ervation of peace in the world. e EADED by Dr. Ernestina Gon- zales, widow of an American lhilled while fighting for Loyalist Spain, and former director of Madrid university library, more than 3,000 Spanish American wom- en marched on Washington re- cently, carrying banners urging the United States government to permit arms shipments to loyalist Spain. Originally scheduled as a group of 600 women, the mass march grew to 3,000, with an estimated 1,000 women left behind in New York because of lack of space. A statement handed by their delegation to Assistant Secretary of State George S. Messersmith urged the government to revoke immediately the embargo against loyalist Spain, and appealed to “American women, to our goy- ernment, to church, labor, youth and fraternal organizations to help us save our sister democracy in Spain.” The women gathered in a little park near the state department while their delegation was inside, and were later addressed by Con- gressman John Bernard of Min- nesota who accompanied them on their march, and by Mrs. Jerry Q’Conzell. HERE is growing concern throughout Canada among that section of the population which seeks to halt the spread of fascist influence and power in Europe which is aided and abetted by the national govern- ment of Great Britain The latest understanding reached by the British government with Mussolini, and heralded in the press as a safeguard of peace, brings into sharper relief the role of the British government as the leader of world reaction, with the governments of Germany, Italy and Japan as the open aggressors in the field. This understanding (after negotiations by Lord Perth in Rome, during which Mussolini and Hitler poured troops, tanks, bombing planes and munitions into Spain to assist Franco), is réached while Italian armies are in Spain. The statement that the agreement will not go into effect until Mussolini withdraws his troops from Spain only means that Mussolini and Hitler are given all the time they need to subjugate the Spanish people. fascist, Mussolini began the at- tack on Abyssinia. Forced by public opinion at home and at the insistance of democratic nations, particularly the Soviet Union—all members of the League of Nations—the British government yielded on the questions of sanctions against italy, but limited sanctions and not including sanctions against vital war necessities such as coal, iron and oil. And in June, 1936, the British government aban- doned sanctions altogether. _ But Britain not only gave in- direct support to Mussolini in his rape of Abyssinia, it gave direct support. By agreement with Italy it allowed the use of Somaliland ports for the shipment of Italian arms while forbidding their use for the importation of arms to the Abyssinia armies. Successful in rendering the League of Nations impotent, the British government then engaged in treaty-smashing and conclud- ed a naval pact with Hitler whom she had helped to power. The result was the speedy rearma- ment of Nazi Germany and the occupation of the Rhineland which France, because of British opposition, could not prevent or undo. e@ UT it was in the Italian and German-engineered rebellion in Spain and the intervention in Spain by these fascist states that the pro-fascist policy of fhe Na- tional government of Britain was more clearly revealed in all its Shamelessness. it was Baldwin, Hoare and Eden that conceived and launch- ed the “non-intervention” policy which was and is as infamous as it is hypocritical. Thus was col- lective security through the League of Nations an effective resistance against the agegres- Sions of the bandit fascist gov- ernments scuttled. A more perfidicus political erime can not be found in all his- tory than that committed by Baldwin and company in its pro- motion of so-called non-interven- tion in the struggle in Spain. Professing to believe every lie by Mussolini—first, that he had sent no soldiers to Spain, and than that he was about to with- draw those that were there, Bald- Win and Eden and later CGham- berlan, Eden and Halifax bullied Hrance and other democratic na- tions into withholding arms from the legally constituted govern- ment of Spain, while Italy, Ger- many and Portugal were free to supply Franco with men and munitions in unlimited numbers and quantities. When the murderous Firanco’s airmen bombed non-combatants, men, women and children with a ferocity and savagery never be- fore known, and the horror of the people of the world com- pelled some action, the National government, had the brazen im- pudence to admonish “both sides.’ HE WSBritish-invented Non-In- tervention Committee in- eludes 27 states. On all issues that eame before it Britain united with Germany, Italy and Portu- gal. These four states fought against air control in Spain, knowing that Hitler and Musso- lini could ensure superiority in the air for Franco, together, and led by Britain, the four insisted that if the Soviet Union partici- pated in control, it should be as- Signed a zone in the extreme At- Jantic; that the fascist fleets should be assigned the coasts of government Spain and that the control fieets should not consist of mixed units; that the control fleets, should not carry neutral observers; that a humanitarian appeal against bombing, no men- tion be made of Guernica or any other city or town bombed by Franco be named. On all these and many more questions affecting Spain, the United Kingdom, and no other country, supported and formed an anti-Spanish united fascist front. ITH regard to Austria whose independence was guaran- teed by Britain: Before Hitler came to power, when it was a democratic republic and the goy- ernment desired economic union with Austria, Britain supported the reactionary French govern- ment of that time in preventing its consummation. But when Hit- jer overran Austria, destroyed its independence and made it a prov- ince of Germany, the Chamber- lain government restrained France from opposing it. The National government has also given a free hand to Hitler to dismember Czechoslovakia, re- duce it to a state of vassalage, or swallow it whole. POLee WING the world war, and as long as reaction ruled in France, British imperialism Was satisfied-to have France the dominant power on the continent, to keep democratic Germany chained by the Versailles treaty, burdened with reparations and disarmed. But when fascist re- action came to power in Ger- many and the Popular Front gaining the ascendancy in France, Britain made common cause with Germany and Italy, supported the encirclement of democratic France and made the smashing of the Franco-Soviet pact one of its chief objectives. Simultaneously with -the sup- port given Hitler and Mussolini, with the MSBritish-inspired and planned blockade of loyalist Spain and the open door to ship- ment of men and war supplies to the rebels and interyventionists, the British government, in co- operation with the Rightists and fascist, has been carrying on a Struggle against the Popular Eront in France. It was Chamberlain and the Bank of England that led the at- tack against the franc and brought about the downfall of both Blum governments. HiLe it is true that the strengthening of Italy in the Mediterranean area and of Hit- ler by the incorporation of Aus- tria into the Third Reich has relatively weakened Britain poli- tically and endangered SBritish imperialist interests in Africa, India and the Near Hast, it does not mean that Britain’s imperial- ist statesmen are stupid, or that they are confused in their for- eign policy, or that they weakly eapitulate to the blackmail and bluster of Mussolini and Hitler. Mussolini gave secret guaran- tees to respect Britain’s property and commercial rights in Spain in the event of a Franco victory. Britain, in her general imperial- ist interest prefers a stronger Italy and Germany on the con- tinent to the defeat of Spanish and French reaction and the con- Open They Give It Away Editor, Reople’s Advocate: Dear Sir: I am forwarding two copies of The Prospector, which I have been receiving free since last November. Quite aifew homes have this paper on the same terms. Recently I felt compelled to pro- test against Japanese propaganda in its columns which condoned the terrible slaughter of human beings in China. My letter was ignored. The brazen effrontery that would strive to justify the bomb- ing of Barcelona, in its latest issue, prompts me to send this copy also. Like the fascism it champions, the paper has developed from baby- hood into a vicious maturity. For Canada it would emulate the achievements of a Hitler, and, with Mussolini, proclaim ‘We have buried the putrid corpse of liberty.” There is a lot of free poison in this free paper. Enclosed is $1:50' for the Advo- cate. Cranbrook, BC. Paws Wants Real Works Program Editor, People’s Advocate: : : _ Dear Sir: The Labor Gazette for March this year says that in January 2, 187 placements were Forum mace in construction and main- tenance. How many of these were in the forestry projects, or around Van- couver for married people on re- lief? There is every reason to believe that these relief jobs are designated as such to prevent rec- Ognition of organized project workers to be covered by the re- cent labor act, and these jobs are listed in order to present a favor- able employment condition in the dominion. Before November, 1937, figures were produced to show we were back to 1929 levels of prosperity. The vast majority never felt this. Now we are told we are in the throes of an economic recession. As seasonal employment in- creases, there will be loud cries of prosperity in order to cut more families and single men off relief. What is needed is a real public works program. Vancouver, BC. E. W. Marsh. Knowles Not A Communist Editor, People’s Advocate: Dear Sir: Please publish the following statement from the Communist party in Surrey. Due to some misunderstanding which exists, we wish to state that Prank Knowles of Langley Was never 4 member of the Gom- munist party. : H. Eld, Sec’y. South Westminster, BC. tinued existence and extension of the Popular Front, hoping that after the completion of her huge armament program to be able to hold both in check and restore the “balance of power” on the continent which has been the tra- ditional keYstone of British im- perialist foreign policy. if Britain could hold its own as a democratic power with con- tinental democratic powers, so ~ gamble British imperialist states- men, they can hold their own in a fascist Europe, including a fas- eist Britain which they fervently desire and ardently work for. This preservation of SBritish power and defense of imperialist interests will be made easier by giving Germany a free hand in the Bast, ie., against the Soviet Union with its abundant natural resources. : But Britain does not depend upon diplomacy alone. Despite his agreements with Hitler and Mussolin, no one knows better than Chamberlain the worthless- mess of their word or signature. And knowing this, he has launch- ed the greatest war preparation program the world has ever known. (Second article next weel) Stage and Screen By John R. Chaplin He” Associated Film Audiences with Lou Gehrig, the Yankee baseball Star, as a tough tenderfoot who helps cattlemen smash a racketeering protective association. ‘ JUDGE HARDYS CHIDREN- The homely story of a small-town judge involved in intrigue when he goes to Washington on judicial business, with large gobs of com- edy based on the love affairs of the judge’s adolescent son and daughter. Mickey Rooney is good. LENIN IN OCTOBER: To quote Variety, organ of the en- tertainment profession: “ so highly interesting production .. . belies the impression that Mos- cow produces naught but soap boxes ... dealing out reams of comedy ... an accurate historical chronology.” SPEED REPORTER: Slow stuff about a newspaperman who exposes a phoney reform league. So phoney that not even a news- paperman would enjoy it. HE COULDNT SAY NO: Good, whimsical comedy with Frank McHugh and a good sup- porting cast, about a dull office clerk who splurges his bankroll on a statue instead of buying furniture on the verge of a wed- ding from which he wants to play hookey. C) BR FAR the most impressive production ever produced by: Soviet film studios, “Peter The First’ will come to Vancouver at the beginning of next month __ . bearing the highest award of the Paris Exposition. The lavish resources of the largest motion picture Studios in the world were all tapped for this film. Taken from the famous book by Alexie Tolstoy—who also col- laborated on the script—“Peter The First” was three years in production. Whole cities and fortresses were built, only.to be blown to bits in the sweeping battle scenes or burned and inundated in the sequence on the great. St. Peters- burg flood of i704. Hasily the most popular film in the Soviet movie history, “Peter The First” breaks with the stock Portrayals of the famous Czar. The portrait of Peter The Great is entirely in his favor, although by no means an endorsement of Czarism itself. A cast of over was used in the picture It is headed by the Soviet Union's leading film actors. WNikolai Si- monoy, a comparative youngster, plays Peter. His son, Alexei, is created by WNikolai Cherkassov, the internationally known char- acter actor whose work in “Bal- tic Deputy’? made him the toast of Broadway. Alla Tarasova, who created the tile role in the Mos- tow Art Theatre’s famous pro- duction of “Anna Karenina,” is Catherine in the picture. The film carries Peter over irom his defeat by Charles KIT %f Sweden in 1700 to the exciting lays of his victory and the founding of St. Petersburg. Peter’s struggles with his son, vhom he eventually puts to leath, is also shown in its full lramatic thoroughness, The film has English dialogue itles. five thousand Coa By OL’ BIEL Less than two mo} Blood ago, on Februa 7} Money! to be precise, ai the mouthpiece |} the Consolidated Mining Smelting company, S: @ Bla, | addressed a Junior Boar | Trade guzzle at the Comme: His speech was a series of w) howls like those of a cad coyote at the backend of a | winter. It was a follow-up t 1] President’s squawks that | nadian governments and th employed took all the crear | the smelter business. 4 Listen ot Herr Blaylock: | proximately 50 per cent ai + net earnings of my compan: | taken by the tax-collector; / out of our 7000 employees ” working for the government | half the assets of the com are confiscated the same wa |p The paid-up capital of the | Solidated is sixteen and a qu * million dollars, of which 51.¢). cent belongs to the mother pus, the GPR, and if you bed for a moment that wolf Blay js}, Was baying, the moon, get an ip ful of this from the local pre), P April 5: “Consolidated MG | and Smelting reported net 7. of $14,669,663 for 1937, comp ‘jo with $6,953,158 in the Prey 15 year according to the annua’ port issued Monday. Wet Pp was computed, after deduct ?€¢ for depreciation, depletion taxes, equivalent to $449 a sj compared with $213 a share 1936.” $4.49 dividend on ever; Share! 89.4 per cent! Shylock ‘a piker. He only wanted pound of flesh. According to the arnual rej jj: of the proyincial minister’ }, mines, total wages and sala }j paid in the mining industry } BC for 1936, was $17,887,619, i; we knock off three million of} {+ to take care of the salaries | managers, supers, stock-pedd! and barkers of one kind or °§ other, it leaves $14,887,619 as ||; wage of the 15,500 miners, st | ter men and quarry workers ‘B BC. Just about the same fisurr the Consolidated shareholders for merely owning stock in company. F 7 a ie han leah = Sale «ld Nor does this” Something the full story | For the exploitation Nothing. these miners ¢ smelter men ¥ teil for Blaylock and Beatty : their partners in crime. Devel | ment work is being carried o1\ new fields; in Stewart, the W Coast of Vancouver Island, ¢: tario and Quebec. New smelt are being constructed at Gi fields, Sask., and at Great Sl Lake. And the money is all cé ing out of the “earnings” (j sweat and bleod of the slaves | the Consolidated). No new mo} Capital is being taken in and bonds are being sold. At the annual meeting J year, President Warren bemoar the high taxes which he ce Sidered “most discouraging enterprise and if something is 7 done to bring about substant ” production by the recipients public relief, the financial i; sources of the nation will strained to the breaking poim And Blaylock, in the aforeme tioned address demanded “a = turn to the pre-1930 practise } unemployment relief.” The oth director of the Consolidated, $ Eidward Beatty, who claims tol ‘a sane socialist,’ was right wht he told a Chamber of Commerce Kiwanis audience in ‘Toron| (Feb. 5, 1936): “To my mind ot failures have been rather as ci zens than as capitalistic explol ers of the people.” } There is no union at Trail, i has not Dr. Selwyn G. Blaylo¢ proclaimed to the world, or to & people of BC at any rate, that “will not be dictated to by aa organization or -muck-pile of tors.” This is a challenge trade union movement show take up immediately and gi¥ | Pearson's law a try-out. Not only is this fourteen lions blood-bespattered in its p duction, but in its distributi¢ also. Lead, zine, copper, from th Consolidated are being used B Japanese imperialism to drene the once smiling fields of Chim with the blood of the most peace ful people in the world. A ma who sells poison knowing it is a be used for murder is equal guilty in law with the murderet Kose E Some lars are if Biars, Liars triguing The; And Liars! amuse us. Soni are just dum kluks for whom we feel oni disgust. Others, from the manné in which they treat our intelli gence ,insult us. fi In this latter category belong Lord Halifax, during whose reigi of terror in India as Lord Irwin 60,000 Indian people were jaile for their political opinions ani bombs were used in the same wa} Franco is using them today ii Barcelona. 4 At Bristol, England, on Apr 8, this great pro-consul pr claimed, “This country neve goes back on its word.” His mem ory is at least as good as miné On Sept. 27, 1934, representative of Great Britain, France ani Italy signed a document at Gen eva, which recognized “the neces sity of maintaining the independ ence and integrity of Austria. What did Great Britain do whel Hitler jackboots rattled over tht pavements of Vienna?