mt tele =} oe bee: } sATL WORKERS DEMAND. j In the railway industry another } 00,000 workers are demanding a / Q-shilling a week increase. Mean- while, about 75,000 railway work- srs are receiying less than 50 shil- ings ($10) a week. Building trade workers are al- ‘so complaining bitterly of a raw deal at the hands of their trade union officials and employers. Instead of the 3 pence an hour ‘imerease agreed upon, they got a paltry halfpenny, and now de- mand action to force the full claim. In other industries, where over 9,000,000 workers have had’no wage increase since the war started, de- spite the increase of 20 percent in the real cost of living, there is also } sonsiderable unrest and developing resentment against the war. Engineers in the great Clydeside shipping and industrial area have “announced their intention to intro- duce an overtime embargo if the This is the first large scate reac- tion of workers to the speeches of Chamberlain and Sir John Simon declaring that increases In wages must not follow increases in prices. “There is a possibility, said Wil- liam Fyfe, secretary of Glasgow District Committee of the Amal- gamated Hngineering union, “that following Sir John Simon’s speech, engineering employers may feel en- ' couraged to deny us any increase. In that event there will be trouble.” Decision for the embargo on overtime was expected from the resolutions adopted by the eight biggest Clydeside engineering shops. Fyfe said, “Most shops have now decided in the eyent of their claim being turned down not to work overtime.’ Sir John Simon’s refusal to al- low Civil servants to pursue their claim for an increase has greatly angered the 350,000 civil servants involved. Political character of this mass demand for wage increases to meet rising living costs is testified to by Prime Minister Neville Chamber- British. Shipments Protested ‘Stop Sending Arms To Mannerheim,’ Cry Unions In Britain LONDON, Eng. — Sir Wal- fer Citrine, reactionary lead- er of the British Trade Union Congress, this week led a delegation of three to Finland —the Finland of Baron Man- nerheim, not of the Finnish people’s government. The visit undoubtedly is intended to influence Swedish trade union circles still further against the Soviet Union. Wo doubt Sir Walter will see how British arms are being us- ed to kill soldiers of the world’s first socialist state. But even as he prepares his trip, trade union and Labor par- ty branches are passing resolu- tions demanding action of the working class movement to stop the sending of arms to Finland. Most prominent of these are Weweastle District Trades coun- cil, covering one of the most highly industrialized districts in the country; Gloucester district committee of the Amalgamated Engineering union, representing 2,600 men in the most vital war industries; London West End branch of the Municipal and General Workers union with a membership of over 4,000; Cen- tral London Branch of the Na- tional union of Clerks. lain’s recent speech when he ex- pressly warned workers not to seek increases in pay commensurate to the rise in prices. Biggest obstacle in the way of intensifying the fight against the war for wage increases and maintaining trade union stand- ards is the attitude of the trade union officiais. The general council of the Trade Union Coun- cil has gone a long way in ac- cepting Sir John Simon’s view that the workers must not ex- pect wage increases each time the cost of living rises. The main line of a memorandum submitted to the central council of the TUC is that sacrifices must be made by all sections to bring the war to a successful conclusion. Light On I wish to subscribe to The lat le) ws lant lan) Ley la! >a DON'T SPECULATE! Get the Facts in by D. N. Pritt, KC.. @ A COPY OF THIS TIMELY BOOK FREE WITH EVERY YEAR’S SUBSCRIPTION | Use This Form Now! your advertised rate of $2.00. I understand that this entitles me to receive a copy of D. N. Pritt’s book, ‘Light On Moscow, without extra cost. Mosco Adoyeate for one year at ED () GREE () () () GE () ©) SS 0 GED (2) E> O) SESE O GED O GD OO GD CS 0) () () <> () GN (_) <> (_) D> () E> (_) -( ) G- () G-( a ¢ Increase WIVES and children, mothers and fathers, gather at the pit- head at Bartley, West Virginia, where 91 miners were killed in the worst US mine disaster in a decade. wo Million British Workers Demand Wage They Await Their Dead Throughout Canada Social Credit Leader Blasts Intervention WINNIPEG, Man.—Allied intervention in Finland means “the carrying out of the idea of the German General Ludendorf who said in 1919 that the western powers must attack Russia through Finland,” Rev. C. P. Bradley, Australian Social Credit leader, told the press here last Bradley denounced the present¢ regimes in London and Paris as ‘4y70 of the most fascist govern- ments in the world’ and declared that purging of Hore-Belisha from the British cabinet was done in order to pave the way for war on the Soviet Union. ‘We have a fascist government in Ganada now,” he said, referring to the banning of anti-Chamberlain publications and prosecution of critics of the government’s war policies. Bradley has proceeded to Sas- katoon where he will take up a ministerial post. Labor Demands Works Program SASKATOON, Sask.—If we are able to raise $1,000,000 a day for war, we should be able to raise the little bit additional needed to carry on these works projects.” This is the opinion of Gerald Deal- try, Saskatoon trades council sec- retary, as expressed in a state- ment scoring the move to halt the Rogers work program here. In a recent letter to Mayor Nide- rost, Labor Minister Norman Mc- Larty intimated that there was some uncertainty as to whether the program will be completed or not. Saskatoon Trades and Labor council instructed its secretary to send a letter to the minister pro- testing any move to halt the Rogers works program, to ask for an explanation of the letter sent to the mayor, and recemmended that additional works projects be under- taken when the program is com- pleted. It was pointed out that after a desperate fight for work and wages programs, the Rogers plan came into being; that only half the amount asked by the city was granted, and now it was proposed to take away that half on March 31. Winnipeg Labor Hlieets Officers _ WINNIPEG, Man. — Return by acclamation of Grant Mcleod, pre- sident, and C. W. Foster, secretary, featured the annual elections of officers at the last meeting of Winnipeg and District Trades and Labor council. H. Jamieson, of Carmen local 6, was elected vice-president by ac- clamation when J. Martin, former vice-president, declined the nomin- ation. Other officers elected by accla- mation were: T. Barker, financial sec’y; J. Martin, statistician; A. J. Corley, warden. Elected to the executive of five were: R,. C. McCutchan, L. Vassil, B. Hewitt, Campbell and Anderson. Organizational committee mem- bers were: lL. Vassil, G. McLeod, B. Hewitt, JI. McNeil and A. Drage. Auditing, union label, municipal and credentials committees were elected, with J. McNeil elected to fill the vacancy on the war prices committee. week. Must Fight Blackout —IMorgan “We must see there is no black- out of civil liberties and democratic rights in Canada, and an organiza- tion such as the Canadian Labor Defense League can safeguard them by rallying support of other bodies,” declared Nigel Morgan, executive secretary in BC of Inter- national Woodworkers union at a meeting Tuesday night which aiso marked opening of the CLDL’s new offices and hall at 130 West Hastings Street. The union leader stated that while his own organization had its program it was limited to the trade union field, whereas the CLDL had a much broader appeal and could win support among a2 greater number of organizations. Quoting from the War Measures Act, Morgan said it was the most vicious piece of legislation ever passed in British history, for i struck at the very fundamental roots of democracy. It was hard to reconcile Prime Minister Mackenzie King's state- ments made shortly after outbreak of war, that democratic rights and privileges would not be interfered with and his present attitude in face of these regulations, stated Morgan, adding that the Act was much more rigid in Canada than in Britain where no such effort is made to curb the people’s rights to criticize the government. Shifting from the Canadian scene to Aberdeen, Wash., where Mrs. Laura Law was brutally mur- dered by vigilantes, Morgan de- elared it to be inspired and insti- gated by big business, which loud- ly proclaimed sanctity of the law and yet was the first te tear that law down. He warned that the same forces which wrecked the Finnish Workers hall at Aberdeen and murdered Mrs. Law would al- so strike in Canada unless the workers rallied to counteract these moves. CLDL Secretary W. Robson act- ed as chairman of the meeting. Protest Attack On Union Rights WINNIPEG, Man.—Strong oppo- sition to curtailment of civil lib- erties under the War Measures Act was voiced by R. C. McCutchan and other delegates to Winnipeg Trades and Labor council last week, when the executive brought in a recommendation to ask the Dominion government to amend the Act to give more freedom of expression. Labor should be more aggressive on this matter or its rights would be suppressed, it was declared. The executive was instructed to deal with the matter. ae Quits Paper In Disgust MOSCOW, USSR—The Moscow correspondent of the London Daily Express last week-end informed the foreign commissariat that he had resigned from his paper in protest against a false story attri- buted to him, it is learned here. The correspondent, Robert Magi- doff, sent the following letter to the press department of the peo- fle’s commissariat for foreign af- fairs: “On Jan. 12 I received a query on a Finnish question from the Daily Express, whose Moscow cor- respondent I was recently appoint- ed. Without waiting for a reply, the Daily Express published on Jan, 12 an untrue report, alleging it came from its Moscow corre- spondent. “Because the Daily Express re- sorted to such an impermissible method of falsification, which is incompatible with my integrity as a journalist, I in protest refuse to continue my association with the Daily Express and am therefore asking you no longer to consider me its correspondent.” IWA, Board Hold Parley Reduction of the percentage of youths employed in sawmills at wages below the prescribed mini- mum rates last week formed the basis of a two-hour discussion be- tween International Woodworkers’ union and the provincial Fair Wage Board. A promise was elicit- ed that a joint meeting would be held shortly of operators, TWA representatives and the board. Under the Minimum Wage reg- ulations mill operators are given a favored employers’ clause entit- ling them to employ young work- ers not exceeding 33 percent of the entire staff at 25 cents an hour. This was the chief bone of con- tention in a dispute with BC Ply- woods last summer when the com- pany, in order to forestall union organization in the mill, fired a large number of men and replac- ed them with young men under 21 at the 25-cent hourly rate. President James Copping of the Sash and Door union and Presi- dent Don Cameron, Plywood and Veneer Workers, both IWA affili- liates, pointed out to Chairman Adam Bell and his committee that elimination of this clause would tend to stabilize employment. Unscrupulous employees could make use of this clause to change ' employees continually and evade paying the minimum wage, while the displaced employee would not have learned a trade. This regu- lation was incorporated through the efforts of H. R. MacMillan in order “to give youth a chance,” but he was the first to use it to prevent his employees from joining a union. Director John Wigdor of Pacif- ic Coast Labor Bureau and eco- nomic counsel for trade unions, is preparing the Woodworkers’ case in conjunction with union officials to present a sound argument for amending the regulations. III =r Repeal the War Measures Act Anti-Soviet Campaign In Sweden Brother Of Swindler Match Kings Finds Ally In ‘Socialist’ STOCKHOLM, Sweden. — Urging immediate military in- tervention to aid General Man- nerheim, Sweden’s outstanding Socialist leader joined the Kreuger press last week in an intensive campaign to force the country into war against the Soviet Union. Frederic Strom, leading Swedish Socialist, urged the Riksdag (par- liament) to take leadership im cre- ating a Scandinavian ‘defense league’ for immediate military col- laboration with the Helsinki goy- ernment. Similar proposals had already been made by this city’s leading newspaper, Tidningen, owned by Thorsten Kreuger, brother of the late Ivar Kreuger, match-king and international swindler. Thorsten Kreuger himself has served a prison term for swindles committed with his brother, but now is owner of rich mines, cellu- lose plants and newspapers, in- eluding Tidningen. Heavily inter- ested also in Finnish mines and industry, and a member of the London stock exchange, Kreuger has orientated his papers to the anti-Soviet campaign. Tidningen is at the head of the inflammatory attacks on the Soviet Union. LABOR BAN SOUGHT: In line with the anti-Soviet cam- paign, Kreuger’s paper and tne newspaper, Dagbladet, demand a ban on labor organization and the leftist press. They are exerting every effort to convert the Riks- dag into an assembly of the weal- thy ‘co-operative’ owners, indus- trialists and bankers. The tie between Kreuger and the banks and the Socialists and Social Democrats has always been close, but the anti-Soviet campaign has brought these groups into open unity. Tt has also exposed the link between Sweden’s largest banks, the Han- del Bank and the Scandinavian Bank, with London City. The statement of the Socialist, Strom, followed former Foreign Minister Richard Sandler’s recent speech in the Riksdag. ENLIST SOCIALIST AID. “Last week's events have con- vinced me,’ said Sandler, “that the collaboration of the northern countries should not be limited to the Aaland Islands (fortification) question, but should also embrace military co-operation.” Sandler’s plea aroused bitter op- position in the Riksdag, in which many representatives stand for a policy of strict neutrality. But to break down resistance, the war in- cendiaries enlisted the aid of Strom who elaborated on Sandler's plea, urging formation of a Scandinay- ian ‘defense league’ and declaring: “The only thing we can do now is to utilize all our strength, as hurriedly as possible in building up a strong army, navy and air force.” Joining the tumult of anti-Soviet incitation is Colonel Ekstrom, .cad- er of the Swedish ‘volunteers’ in Mannerheim’s armies. Ekstrom’s experience in aiding Mannerheim is seasoned. In 1918 he was pro- moted from corporal to colonel as a reward for helping Mannerheim’s White Guard army crush the Fin- nish workers’ government. Today, Ekstrom is urging the Swedish workers to go to Finland, where they will be paid 950 kronen a month in the service of Manner- heim. USSR Production Up 14.7 Pereent MOSCOW, USSR.—According to statements issued by the State Planning Commission of the USSR on growth in industrial production, car loadings on railroads and re- tail trade turnover, Soviet produc- tion in 1939 reached nearly 96,500,- 000,000 rubles, an increase of 14.7 percent over 1938. This is higher than the 12 percent rate of increase for 1938 and higher than the level set by the Third Five Year Plan which calls for an average increase in production of 14 percent, Youth Congress Set For Mareh Date for the next provincial youth congress, to be held in Van- couver, has been set for Easter week-end, March 22-25. Full details of the agenda have not yet been worked out, but, ac- cording to Jerry Hundal, secretary of Yancouver Youth Council, the four main points for discussion will be: (1) Canada and world af- fairs; (2) Economic problems, de- velopment of natural resources and employment; (3) Social legis- lation, service and right; (4) Com- munity problems, civic and rural.