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-Page Four

THE ADVOCATE '

Wovember 24, 1939

: 5

eer

sth

Organized

By J. D.

of
bodies attended

Representatives
civic and other

a the celebration.

To George Bartley, first secre-
tary of the trades and labor coun-
cil went the Honor of reading the
minutes he wrote 50 years ago.
Ther, the struggle was for a 39-hour
aay and to prevent the use of
Chinese labor brought in by the
CPR and others for strikebreaking
purposes and lowering of living
standards. Today, while the issue

has never been raised as a central
} Gemand, the struggle is for a 6
Lour day, 80-hour week, and, in
the forefront, to safegfuard organ-
ized lahor’s rights now threatened

by the War Measures Act.
; To Labor Minister George 5S.

Pearson ,no friend of labor, fell the
task of defending his unpopular

» Labor Conciliation and Arbitration

Act. Admitting a great deal of
criticism, he was careful to avoid
) any mention of the Pioneer strike,

' Blubber Bay, or the bakers’ strike
_ at Woman’s Bakery, although he

contended without conviction that
the labor departmenit’s first con-
Sideration was for the worker.

Wey Westminsters Fred Hume
gave the best speech of the even-
ing when he paid tribute to the
union labor that constructed
the beautiful Hotel Vancouver
and declared that ‘we owe a debt
of gratitude to the way organ-
ized labor has built up this prov-~-
ince.”

A contractor himself, he express—
ed pleasure in dealing with his

Labor

In City Celebrates
Fiftieth Anniversary

WILSON

More than 700 trade unionists, their wives and friends gather-
ed in Hotel Vancouver Tuesday night at the largest banquet
ever held by organized labor in the city.
the passage of half a century since the trades and labor council
was founded in Sullivan’s Hall, 61 West Cordova street, on
Nov. 21, 1889, during which period Vancouver’s trade union |
' movement has grown from the six initial unions to 81 affiliated

locals.

The occasion marked

provincial, Union employees and hoped the

firm of Hume & Rumble might be
the first to establish the six-hour
day.

Percy R. Bengough, Trades and
Labor Council secretary, express-
ing the message of the council and
Geclaring support for the war,
stated: ‘We declared war on that
country (Germany) the time they
destroyed the trade union move-
ment.’

The German trade union move-—
ment was destroyed before the po-
litical parties and had the rest of
the countries taken the same ac-
tiom as we did, I doubt if Germany
wotld be as strong as it is today,”
he said.

PIGNEERS LAUDED

Paying tribute to those who
formed the council, the veteran
secretary stated that “as they re-
duced the day to nine hours so we
have the job for a six-hour day
and 30-hour week”

“This may sound revolutionary,
but it is the only practical solu-
tion to our problem and reduce
unemployment and see that every
man has the right to have a job,”
Bengough said.

Other speakers included Lt.-Gov.
E, YW. Hamber, and Ald. John Ben-
nett, representing the city council
in Mayor Telford’s absence.

@Qn the brighter side of the celc-
bration Mart Kenney and his
Western Gentlemen, the orchestra
which played at the recent Trades
and Labor Congress convention,
entertained during the banquet

and between speeches.

tang last week.

niversary of the birth of Dr. Sun
Wat-sen, founder of the Chinese

a

' Republic and first leader of the

Kuomintang.
Chiang Kai-shek, who had just

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‘Chiang Kai-shek States
Japan’s Plans Cracking

| CHUNGEHKING, China-—“‘Japan’s plans to conquer China are
eracking up,’ Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, who this weel:
assumed the premiership of the Chinese government, told the
sixth plenary session of the Central Committee of the Kuomin-

The session marked the 73rd an-¢@returned from a visit to the front,

Save a detailed survey of the mili-
tary situation during the past nine
months.

“The Japanese attempts to
launch an offensive have not met
With success from the military,
political or economic point of
view,” he said.

On his visit to the front, Chianz
Said, he found growing confidence
in final victory over the foe both
among the soldiers and among:
civilians. He reported that there
were numerous instances of
wounded soldiers refusing to leave
the firing line and that many
young people were volunteering fisr
service in the national army, there-
by testifying to a high patriotism.

Chiang declared that the Japan-
ese plans to establish 4 ‘central
government’ headed by the traitor
Wang Ching-wei and their ait—
tempts to reach a settlement in
their relations with foreign powers
are doomed to failure.

He said the actions of the Jap-
anese military clique in China were
designed to weaken the positions
of foreign powers in China and
establish the conditions for carry-
ing out Japan’s plans of world
conquest.

“Ever since the Japanese inva-
Sion of Manchuria,” he told tae
( Kuomintang leaders, “China’s for-
€ign policy has been based on these
principles: resistance in order to
Imaintain China’s territorial and
administrative integrity, support
for international treaties, absolute
independence of China’s diplo-
macy.

“The ultimate aim of all our ef-
forts is to achieve national liber-
ation and China’s equality. After
two years of armed struggle, we
are confident that our cause is
the cause of peace and humanity
throughout the world, and thet
Japan threatens not only the Far
East but the whole world.”

Chiang concluded wih a call to
Hou1omintang members to redouble
their efforts in the struggle for
national liberation and national
reconstruction, which enjoys the
support of all peace-loving nations.

Dr. R. Llewellyn

‘Hepburnism Is Leading To Hitleris

>

sul.

in Turkey.

tion.

Chinese Government
Names Moslem Consul

CHUNGKING, China-——The Chinese Central government
today improved its relations with both China’s 50,000,000
Mohammedans and the Moslem countries on the North Afri-
can coast by appointing Wang Shih-ming, Chinese Mohamme-
dan, as consul at Jedda, Arabia.

Wang is the first Chinese Moslem ever appointed as con-
The only other Moslem in the Chinese diplomatic ser-
vice was Ma Hungtoo, first secretary of the Chinese legation

Wang’s appointment was in recognition of the Chinese
Moslem’s support of their countrys war for national libera-
His first job at Jedda will be to arrange for Chinese
participation in the Moslem World Annual Haji Conference
to be held at Mecca in February, 1940.

S

eek

position which, as Winch has ad-
mitted, means full support, the
qualifications serving only to dis-
fuise the extent of capitulation.
PLAYING INTO

REACTIONS HANDS.

The House, during the past few
weeks, has been treated to a dem-
onstration of how some CCE mem-
bers, in their anxiety to deny all
and any connections with the Com-
munists, have provided a sounding-
board for a few adroit Conserva-
tives.

Thus Harold Winch, faced with
the patently absurd Opposition
charge that he was the Communist
leader in the legislature, proceeded
to deny it with such vehemence
that he wound up by making 2
more vicious attack on the Com-
munists than any conducted by 4
Conservative. This, of course, was
just what the Opposition hoped he
would do.

So Sam Guthrie, seeking to ex-
pound the difference between re-
formism as upheld by the CCF and
Marxism as practiced by the Com-
munists €although he did not put
it in this way) succeeded only in
distorting the Communist position.
All of which made good copy for
the capitalist press.

CCE members were not the only
ones to play into the hands of re-
action, however. Vancouver’s May-
or Lyle Telford, now sitting as an
independent, advanced a proposal
which has frequently of late found
approval in the most reactionary,
cireles. His idea, seconded with
alacrity by the Vancouver Proy-
ince in its editorial columns, was
that the House should be cut from
48 to 24 members. This is just
what those who find provincial
governments an obstacle to pur-—
Suit of their reactionary schemes
would like as a necessary step to-
ward fascism in Canada.
BELIGION AND POLITICS.

Dr. G G Gillis (Zib:, Yale)
emerged from retirement among
his fellow Liberal back-benchers
this week to hurl charges of athe—
ism against the CCE in particu-
lar and the labor movement in
Seneral Dr Gillis is a Catholic, as
he went to some trouble to point
eut, but his understanding of dia-
lectical materialism is poor, for ai}
his scanning of Marx and Hingels
te tear paragraphs from their con-
text for introduction into a House
equally unfamiliar with Marxist
theory. Dr. Gillis’ explanation for
his obvious unfamiliarity with his
speech was that it was written
three years ago, laid away in a
drawer and not resurrected until
this week. Unless~ Dr. Gillis is
proud of his ability to display his
ignorance once 2 year in the House
it would have been better had the
speech remained in the drawer.

Last year Dr. Gillis had strone
words of praise for the padloclc
law, but Since the results of the

(Continued from Page 1)

recent Quebec elections showed
that the people of that province do
mot share his enthusiasm for anti-
democratic legislation, he was
careful to avoid the subject this
year.

Another Liberal whose words of
last year hardly fit him to come
forward at this session as a zealous
‘democrat’ is George Murray. Per-
haps this accounts for his silence.

At the 1938 session of the legis-
lature Murray placed himself on
record as objecting to references
to Hitler as a ‘baby-killer.’? In his
premature attempt to cash in on
appeasement policies the member
for Millooet who dresses like a
Texas senator and talks after the
fashion of Martin Dies put himself
out on a limb. The originators of
appeasement have managed tem-
porarily to scramble back. But
Murray is still out on the limb.

MES. STEEVES AND
THE USSR.

Both Mrs. Dorothy Steeves and
Colin Cameron this week refused
to retract their former criticism
of British and Canadian govern-
ment policies.

Mrs. Steeves told the House, “I
Shall continue to express the truth
as I see it. I do that in my right
as a Canadian citizen.”” Colin Cam-
€ren said that when it was neces—
Sary he intended to repeat his rec-
ent statements before the legisla-
ture to meetings outside the House.

But here the two CGE members
took different paths. Mrs. Steeyves
expressed the belief that the end
of this war would see what she
termed a clear-cut cessation of
hostilities. Cameron differed. “We
shall have to wage a struggle for
the re-establishment of all coun-
tries,” he said, asking members,
“Which side of the struggle wiil
you be on??’’

Mrs. Steeves gave further evi-
Gence of the confusion reflected
in her earlier speech by her refer-
€nces to Soviet ‘imperialism,’ of
which the Trotskyists and others
who, like Bishop G. A. Wells, for-
mer bishop of Cariboo and now
cebaplain-general of the Canadian
forces, would like to see this war
transformed into an imperialist
‘crusade’ against the Soviet Union,
will not be slow to take advantage.

The CCR member for North
Vancouver is obsessed of the idea
that the only real democracy in
the world is to be found in the
Seandinavian countries, particu—
larly Sweden. In all her speeches
she confuses social reformism with
Socialism, a confusion which on
this occasion has landed in the
same ideological’ camp as the
Trotskyists and the most rabid im-
perialists. Yet, while denouncing
British and French imperialism in
the House, she chooses to ignore
British imperialist intrigue in the
Baltic, to which the Swedish capi-
talist class is a full partner.

the Sherman anti-trust law.

ing by factories.

General Motors Fined
On Trust Law Count

SOUTH BEND, Ind.—Fines of $5,000 each were imposed
here last week by Federal Judge Walter C. Lindley on Gen-
eral Motors Corporation and three affiliates for violation of

Basis of the conviction was the forcing by the giant cor-
poration of small dealers to sive instalment sales paper to the
General Motors Acceptance corporation.

The federal jury’s decision was acclaimed by government
lawyers. They said it was a “victory” in the government anti-
monopoly drive and a hard sock at the control of auto financ-

The affiliates convicted and fined were GMAC, GMAC
of Indiana and the General Motors Corporation.

DENTIST

Douglas

Richards
at
Hastings
e

SEymour 5577

>

GAINS

m’ Says Ald. Smith

Ontario Premier
Condemned For
Fascist Actions

TORONTO, Ont. — “Even before the outbreak of the war,
the difference between Hepburnism and MHitlerism was not

very great.

Today that difference has almost vanished,” Alder-

man Stewart Smith told an audience of 500 Toronto citizens at

the Labor Temple last week.

“When war broke out, Hepburn@ Zhe result has been crises, unem-

said: ‘Now is the time, now is the
opportunity; to save the nation, in
fact co help save the whole world,
we will abolish municipal elections
in Ontario’.” the alderman observ-
ed satirically.

“fhe Hepburn government is
the government which led the cam-
paign of the large corporations
against the rights of workers in
Ontario to join the trade union of
their own choosing. His is the
govermment which, organized a
special army to intimidate people.
That crusade of Hepburn’s came
very close to fascism.

“Hepburn’s government is the
one which united with Duplessis
of Quepec in an axis which had
ideological similarities with the
Rome-Berlin-Tokyo axis, to pre-
vent inauguration of a public
works prdgram to provide jobs
instead of relief. That policy of
the Hepburn government was very
close to fascism.

‘Even before the war, the dif-

ference between Hepburnism
and Hitlerism was not very
great,” Ald. Smith continued.

“The difference was only the
democratic mask that Hepburn,
his government and the capital-
ists behind his government still
hold up to conceal the real class
interests behind their policies.
And if there was any great dif-
ference before the war, then I
think it is a very fair state—
ment to say that after war broke
out the difference almost van-
ished. And if Hepburnism) is
left in control, then it will very
shortly become completely Hit-
lerism.”’

Attacking ‘vigorously the pro-
posal of the Ontario sovernment
te destroy the system of yearly
municipal elections, Ald. Smith
emphasized that “the one special
front on which we, the people,
must conduct the fight at this mo-
ment, is the front of municipal
democracy.”

Ex-Ald. J. B. Salsberge also ad-
dressed the meeting briefly. Both
speakers received an attentive
hearing and Ald Smith was given
a standing ovation.
‘BLITZKRIBG’ AGAINST
WORKERS.

Excerpts from Ald. Smith’s ad-
dress follow:

“Hostilities have been slow in
setting under way in Europe but
not so slow in getting under way
in Canada. What we have been
experiencing is the offensive of a
‘blitzkrieg’ against the interests of
the Canadian working class, Cana-
dian farmers and common people
generally.

“With lightning speed, the capi-
talists have attacked on three
fronts — civil liberties, economic
and social.

“Right at the outset of the war,

all formal democratic rights of the
people were legally abolished wun-
der the War Measures Act. Any
Person in Canada can be arrested
or imprisoned without trial for an
indefinite period of time on the
Say-So of the minister of justice,
or the police.
: “For example, they could walk
into this hall, seize me, and put
me in an internment camp and
Keep me there as long as they
pleased. The Toronto Telegram, I
notice, today expresses the vyiew
that this is what should have been
done with me.

“On the economic front the
‘blitzkries” is So0ing on. Capitalists
are cashing in at the expense of
the living standards of the people.
Graft and corruption are rampant
and all the capitalists are gather-
ing around Ottawa like pigs
around a barrel of pork mash, get-
ting: their share of the spoils.

ENDANGERED.

“Qn the third front, the field of
Social legislation, we see that the
Social legislation we have is being
mutilated and is in danger of be-
ing completely destroyed. For ex
ample, the Hepburn Sovernment
has stepped in and removed the
administration of relief application
from the hands of the city author-
ities. Today, when an unemployed
worker and his family, hungry
and starving, apply for relief, the
application must gO to the bureau-
crats in Queen’s Park.

“The capitalist class have
controlled Canada for 100 years.

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ployment, hunger, poverty, mis—
ery and ruin in internal affairs
—and externally it has led te
eatastrophe.

“In Communist circles we've had
a good laugh at statements in the
capitalist press that now the Gom-
munists have been placed in a very.
difficult position. The fact is that
the Communist movement never
more was vindicated in its prin-
ciples and position than it is to-
day.

“Tt is not the Communists who
have to worry and fear today, it
is the capitalists. They are the
ones who should tremble in their
shoes. They are the ones who
should be anxious and fearful be-
cause their whole system is in the
most serious crisis of its history-
Wever has their system been in
Such a desperate crisis as it is to-
day.

“The problem of humanity. is to
Save itself from capitalism before
capitalism results in the destruc-
tion of civilization. That is the
problem before the working class
of the world, and if the working
class in each country does not dc
somethin gabout it before many
years of this war, then I certainly
miss my guess and my judgement

“Let me say: ‘Come out, raise
the issue of Civic democracy
which is the front we must fight
on most at the moment.’

“Douglas Stewart, business man-=
ager of The Clarion, has been ar-
rested by oronto police. We can
see, in this arrest, an attack on
the freedom of the press.

“We will soon see attacks on the
rights of trades unions, we will
500n see attacks with ‘blitzkries
Speed on any and all interests of
the working people. Our duty is
to unite and with determination,
with fearlessness, and with confi-
dence in the truth of our cause,

Carry the fight forward with sure
steps.” =

Italian Emigre
Papers Banned

PARIS, France. — Three Italian
emigre newspapers in France, the
Socialist H Nuova Avanti, the lib-
eral-democratic Giustizia e Liber—
ta, and the Republican Giovane
italia, have been indefinitely sus-
pended by the French government.

The ban on these papers follow=
€d suppression at the end of Aug-
ust of the most important italian
anti-fascist paper in France, La
Vore deeli italiana, published daily
by the Union Popolare italiana.

ar =

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