ee hh at eee ee eee BRITISH COLUMBIA’S PROGRESSIVE HOME NEWSPAPER FOR PEACE, PROGRESS AND DEMOCRACY FULL No. 227. VANCOUVER, B.C., FRIDAY, MAY 19, 1939 TRENCHES MEET THE SEA Ss eS : os While Chamberlain continues to evade the issue of a “Step Hitler” bloc Holland places littie faith in the umbrella man’s appeasement and builds its defenses. The scene shows an officer inspecting trench neiwork im the sands of North Sea coast built as part of the nation’s war preparedness program. TLC MOVES TO AID EMBATTLED BAKERY STRIKE ‘Success of Dispute Will Pave Way For Organization Drive Delesates to the ‘Trades Council moved Tuesday night to render more active support to the seven-months-old strike of Woman’s Bakery employees by adopting Charles Stewart's motion to appeal to local unions for $400 and to sponsor at least two broadcasts. Stewart, who met with the Bak- ery Workers’ Union on Monday, wanted pickets to assist the Strikers while they are fighting a damage and injunction action slat-— ed for June 13, but President Jam- ieson refused to accept it on the Srounds that the Council was the leser in an injurction case a few months ago. *“T don’t agree with the chair- man that we should not picket this establishment and assist the bakers,” declared William Stewart. “Tf we are going to organize the unorganized workers then we have 2at to do something more than just donate funds to the strikers.” Charles Stewart stated it was mecessary for organized labor to assist the strikers to win out as theroc was little use in putting the organization plan into action while one section of organized labor was at grips with the em- ployers. 2 But the president remained un- (Gontinued on page 5) See BAKERY STRIKE PRESS DRIVE NEARS SUCCESS By WI. RAVENCR Smashing all previous records in press Campaigns, Adyvocate-Clarion boosters throughout the province rushed in $482 this week to place the total at $2740, just $60 short of the $2800 objective up to VWvednes- day, May 17. With three days to go, and a number of committees still with funds on hand, it looks as though BC will again top its quota and guarantee a little more margin of safety for continued publication. Wot only was this record set, but the provincial drive committee ful- filled the pledge to the Clarion weekly last Saturday when the final subscriptions and donations were sent airmail to reach Toron- tc before the drive closes. More than half of the BG quota was raised by city committees which have piled up $1650, or $50 better than the entire pledge of Manitoba with only the one paper to support. The contest for provincial honors and prizes has narrowed down to a few committees and the contest is still on among them. Here are the standings in the number of points scored: Langley, 461; Cum- berland, 407; Vancouver Centre, 385; South Vancouver, 323; North Burnaby, 321; Mission, 288; Ver- mon, 239; Nanaimo, 253; Project Workers, 242; Quesnel, 242; North Vancouver, 238; Burrard, 178; Sal- mon Arn, 177; and Prince Rupert, 4165. The press committee has to date received 972 subscriptions to both papers and while this is a splendid achievement it would be a fitting (Continued on page 5) See PRESS DERIVE Thousands Welcome Last Group Of Vets More than 2000 Vancouver citizens crowded the CPR station Sunday night to welcome home ten members of the Mac-Paps recently released from Franco’s fascist jails in Spain. Some time before the train was due members of the Relief Project Workers’ Union marched in a body to the station and formed the honor guard. A banner bearing the union’s welcome was stretched across the station’s street exit. As the veterans entered the sta- tion with the battalion colors, the project men started singing their union song, “Hold the Fort,’ only to be drowned out by thunderous cheers. Prom an improvised ros- trum George Miller, Salmon Purse Seiners’ Union business asent, and chairman of the reception com- mittee, extended the official wel- come. James Carter, a volunteer, spoke a2 few words of sreetine to his former comrades-in-arms. At a local cafe they enjoyed their first evening meal in Vancouver > in company with friends and other volunteers. After a few words of greeting by way of introduction James Haughey, a youthful lad with a pleasant Irish brogue, wanted to linow how many Canadians were still held in the fascist prisons of Spain. He related how the Bri- tish authorities had literally sealed their train in order to prevent any eontacts with the British people. Apart from Leslie “Curly” Wil- son, who had a bandaged thumb, the ex-prisoners showed no out- ward signs of their ill-treatment “Red” Walsh, who was released from a Toronto hospital two weeks azo and returned with the vet erans, still showed the effects of wounds. Wels Madsen, Percy Harry Hesketh, George Hill, Ern- est Muller, Frank Martilla and Arthur Hofiheinz were amon: other veterans who were freed on April 5 from fascist jails. vi DIRECT RESULT OF DEMANDS BY SINGLE JOBLESS Men Ask Pearson For Assurance On Number Affected The BC government’s an- nouncement of an extensive Summer relief and work pro- gram for single jobless was greeted this week by the Re- lief Project Workers’ Union and single men generally as a direct result of the union’s con- sistent demand over a period of years for clear-cut solution to the unemployment problem. “It’s welcome news to the single unemployed men,” Secretary FR. Hendricks of the RPWU told the Advocate. “The six-point plan con- tained in Hon. George S. Pearson’s Statement from Victoria is a con- Siderable extension over previous programs, and although no direct intimation is given that the goy- ernment is prepared to fully ac- cept the responsibility for single men after June i, the points in the program show considerable ad- vance over previous years.’ Hendricks indicated however that his organization is accepting the government announcement with certain reservations. =e “Tt remains to be seen whether it will be broad encugh toe absorb all the single men,” he said. “Mr. Pearson has admitted the respon- sibility of the government in an- nouncinge the plan. Now its his duty to see that it is adequately fulfilled, as a majority of BC peo- ple would want to see it fulfilled.” in brief, Pearson’s program ealls for the absorption of some 2000 jobless in a six-point program to include: (1) A mining training plan for young men between the ages of 19 and 25; (©) Forestry Hilton, - training project which will give work for 300 men; (3) Federal-pro- vineial national forestry program; (4) Special rehabilitation project for single homeless veterans; (5) Summer camp-.projects for single homeless men; (6) A national parks program. RPWU officials have already communicated with Mr. Pearson for more complete information, and meanwhile will go ahead with their meeting on Powell street grounds, Sunday, May 21, at 2 p.m. They will also state the union position over a second broadcast over CKMOQ on Friday (tonight), between 7 and 7:15 p.m. CHAMBERLAIN’S NEW TRICKERY By HARRY GANNES NEW YORK, NY.—Mr. Neville Chamberlain has developed a curious method in his speeches, occasioned, no doubt, by his knowledge of Hitler’s mounting inner difficulties and the search for ways of helping to overcome them. An example of what we refer to was contained in the Tory prime minister’s address before the Conservative Women’s meet— ing at Albert hall, London. That speech was obviously a move to answer the Soviet Union’s sharp exposure of the Chamberlain stalling on peace front proposals. The press here seized Mr. Cham- berlain’s words as a “show of streneth” and a “warning to the Wazis” on Danzig. But here is the suspicious part of Chamberlain’s tactics. The stronger he makes his speeches, under compulsion of British pub- lic opinion which is growing more indignant with the fascists and their abettors, the more loop- holes he leaves for the Nazis to count on “appeasement” and hence, to disregard any strong (Continued on page 5) See CHADIBERLAIN VT CTO German-Canadians Demand Federal Probe Of Nazis ported Gestapo spies to undermine and destroy Canadian democratic institutions, the national confer- ence of the German-Ganadian Peo- -ple’s Society charged here this week. Some 50 delegates of German- Canadian clubs form coast to coast, meeting here for a two-day con- ference, compared notes, tabled documentary evidence of Nazi ac- tivities and espionage, and demand- ed that the government thoroughly investigate these foreign agents in Canada. The conference also ap- pealed to the people of Canada to discriminate between Germans and Wazis. Waturalized Canadians of Ger- man birth who wish to visit rela- tives in Germany are induced by German consuls in Canada to vol- unteer for military service in Ger- many. This was proved conclusively by documentary evidence con- sisting of letters from the Ger- man consul in Winnipee in which he said that he could reduce KITCHENER, Ont.—The Nazi menace to the half-million German-Canadians and to the entire Canadian nation is not merely an independent development in Canada of Hitler sym- pathizers, but a well-organized and determined attempt of im- travelling costs 60 per cent if the applicant would be willing toe undergo military training, while visiting Germany. Tons of Wazi propaganda had been smuggled into Canada by a Montreal importer, the conference learned. This printed matter came directly from Hamburg to Mont- real. It was unloaded on German- Canadians known to have vrela- tives in Germany with the threat that if they did not distribute it reprisals would be imposed on their families at home. “As nearly as we can discover, there are about six Nazi agents in each of the larger cities in Canada,” Max Straub, Winnipeg, i reported. “For them it is a full time, well- paid job,” he added. “We have kept track of several of these men who go off to Germany once a year ostensibly to visit their families but actually they spend most of the time at Stuttgart, headquarters for training agents at work in the for- eign field.” Chinese Army ‘Prepares To Launch Nation-wide Drive mies, in numerous small but the future. April, to a certain extent, marked a turn in military operations: On all fronts there was a definite in- erease in the activity of the Chin- ese troops, who recaptured numer- ous strategic points from the Jap- anese and put up stiff battles at the approaches to major cities, such as Canton, held by the invader. Kaifeng, the most important strategic centre in North China, was subjected to three attacks by the Chinese troops, who worked in close cooperation with guerilla units in a tactic "whose effective— ness has proven costly to the Jap- anese, ; < “The April counter-attacks,” General Li Tsung-jen, a leading commander on the Central Front, told press correspondents, “de- spite their successes, cannot be called a general counter-offensive of the Chinese Army. First of all, 2 minor part of the Chinese Army took part. It must be observed that Chinese operations, which are being transformea into counter- attacks of the Chinese units, are strictly coordinated with the plan for protracted struggle and pre- parations for a general counter- offensive.’’ General Li’s analysis holds good not only for the part of the front under his direct command, but for the military operations throughout China_ The central front is more than 300 miles iong in the part south of the Yangtse River. The five Jap- anese divisions stationed here suf fered heavy losses when the Chin- ese opened offensive operations during April. Throughout China, the Japan- ese losses have been 100,000 men killed and wounded in the partial offensive operations cf the past month and a half The effective— ness of a Chinese general counter- offensive against the more and more fatigued Japanese Army can well be imagined. Chinese commanders and sol- diers are convinced that the Japan- ese are no longer as good soldiers as they were at the beginning of the war. This is what Brigadier-General Chung Wai-Shoyii commanding 2 unit of the central front, had to say about this: “The Japanese artillery units are being shifted around. We traced the transfer of Japanese artillery units from one sector to another. In a sector where the Japanese artillery at the beginning of th CHUNGKING, China. — (Special).— China’s embattled ar- effective engagements with the Japanese invaders, during the past month and a half have laid the basis for broader and even more hard-hitting actions in >war fired an average of 3,000 {rounds a day, they now are fringe a little over 100 rounds, and only during major engagements they fire between 600 and 700 rounds.” The war-time exhaustion of Jap-— anese economy and industry is tellmg. The Japanese at this stage already do not have the necessary Supplies of shells at their disposal. And the Chinese soldiers have learned that the Japanese soldiers now holding the lines are no olns- er the hardened veteran regulars who came to China at the begin- ning of the war. An important part of the new soldiers are poorly- trained recruits. Behind the Chinese lines, the Chinese army, both regulars and fuerillas, is getting special syste matic training as part of mobiliza- tion of all forces for the protracted War against the Japanese. The partisan movement, which developed spontaneously and had no contacts with the army, is tak- (Continued on page 5) See CHINESE TLC SUPPORTS | JOBLESS PLEA FOR WORKS PLAN _ Mac-Pap Veteran Gets Assistance For Wounded Men An explanation Statements regarding the pro- posed plan of summer work for single unemployed men was asked of George S. Pearson, Minister of Labor, by the Prades and tWabor Council Tuesday night after hearing Geo. Henderson appeal on behalf of the Relief Project Workers’ Union. The representative of the Single men felt the plan was inadequate. It provided for 2000 men when 4000 were employed at various times during the winter months in the forestry project camps. He asked delesates to endorse the demand for clarification of the proposed plan and a real works Program paying at least minimum wages. “There is no reason why the gov-— ernment cannot get down to brass tacks and solve the unemployment problem,” he stated Delesate Harris. Civic Employ— ees’ Union, also wanted clarifica— tion as to who was eligible for the Camps and who was not. “I have a boy, 22 years of age who was born in Vancouver, but he cannot get out to camp. We tax payers have a right to Know whom our money is taking care of”? Council decided to ‘write the minister of labor and ask for an explanation together with the Single men’s request for an ade-— quate works plan. Leslie “Curly” Wilson, a former prisoner of war in Franco’s jails appealed to delegates to take books of draw tickets to assist in re establishing the veterans who fought in Spain. Wilson explained that he, along with 250 men of the International Brigade, were crowded in jail with 2000 Spaniards which was built to accommodate 600. The German secret police had finger-printed and photographed them for future reference, he said. The Nazis controlled the jails, har- bors, depots and railways while the Italians were in the front lines. Delegate William Stewart was Siven the post of handing out the books of tickets to the delegates, Delegates refused to enter inte any compromise on daylight saving time, again reiterating their op- position to it. Gordon Farrington of the Jewel- lers’ Union asked the executive te (Continued on page 5) See TRADES COUNCH. OK Valley Aroused At Growing Nazi Activity man residents. Wazi clubs exist everywhere in the so-called German Labor Front coming into existence. The actual situation is, of course, that only a few of the Germans are sym- pathetic to Nazi ideology, the ma- jority having been forced to iden- tify themselves with the movement by covert threats against their re- latives in Germany. The whole question of Nazi Benetration here was brought to a head with the recent exposure of Dr. Ernest Wiese, Nazi spy who entered the Valley several weeks 2g0 with films showing MHitler’s conquest of the Czech Republic. Wiese addressed a meeting of the “labor Eront” on May i at Oso- Yoos, speaking from a platform draped with the swastika flags, and erected’ by. Germans, in] _Semiu— euniform with loud “heils” and the the Valley, with several groups of © Alles” (Special to the Advocate) KELO W NA, BC, May 18.—Citizens of the Okanagan Valley are becoming increasingly disturbed over the growth of Nazi activities and the increasing use of the Nazi salute among Ger- of “Deutschland Uber His speech was devoted to a “justificatien” of German terror— ist methods in Czechoslovakia and praise for WHitler’s methods of Suppressing free trade unions and farmers organizations. Several days later he was billed to speak and. display his films here in Helowna, but protests from various progressive orzani- zations includme the CGansadian Legion forced provincial police te ban the showing and cancel the meeting. He arrived in a bie car of German make carrying German license plates and was welcomed by F. ©. Schultz and RR. Wentschel, local pro-Nazis. Another meetine scheduled for Veron was also banned. singing (Continued on page 5) See NAZIS of press é ' } i FS ‘age sateen he to Sao