EF PEOPLE

_ LABOR’S VOICE FOR VICTORY

L, I, No. 2

© canes 5 Cents

JN S$

VANCOUVER, B.C., WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1942

hipyard
onference
rogresses

eclaring the main purpose
is Visit here was to effect a

ous production plan, Jus-
S. E. Richards, chairman of
recent Shipyards Royal
imission, opened confer-
S with union representa-
; here to implement the
mission’s' report.

é conference unanimously ap-
2d the principle of haying a
mr and full-time nurse in each
and approved North Vancou-
Dr. Saunders’ suggestion for
entive medicine’ in the in-
Yex

P

“Weapon, was a needed aid to suc—

Premier King Meets

New Soviet Envoy

OTTAWA, Ont.—When Fyodor Gusev, first Soviet min-
ister to Canada, stepped off the train at Union Station here last
week waiting to greet him was Prime Minister Mackenzie King

with the assurance that ‘our hearts

eountry at this time.”

The 38-year-old minister, whoS
Was accompanied by his wife and
their small daughter, expressed his
deep appreciation “for the aid that
other United Nations, especially
Britain and Canada, have given us.

“In the dark days- of crisis,” he
continued, “every tank, every

cessful resistance. We well knew
that and we appreciate your aid in
that measure.”

Stating his mission to be that
of establishing the closest friend-
ship between two allied countries,

Sontinued on Page Fight)
See SHIPYARDS

(Continued on Page Fight)
See MENISTER

second front immediately.

This is only one, if a Sup iicant instance of the reac-
on to Premier Stalin’s letter within the British labor

ovement.

In the last few days hundreds of meetings have been

Act In ‘Nelson Spirit’
Now British Slogan

LONDON, Eng.—Within a few hours of the publication

Premier Joseph Stalin’s letter on the second front, the
cecutive committee of the National Union of Railway-
ven, which at the recent Trades Union Congress conven-
on voted for the majority decision to leave military
Jestions to “the decisions of competent authorities,” urged
1e British and American governments to establish the

are very much with your

Urges 2nd Front

WENDELL L. WILLKIE

“Premier Joseph Stalin's statement |

‘Soviet

WILLKIE URGES ACTION
TALIN STATEMENT

Expects Response
From United Peoples
And Governments

“I hope Premier Stalin’s statement will forcefully attract
the attention of the united peoples and countries to Russia’s
urgent need. That was also my aim in the statement of per-
sonal views which I made last week in Moscow.”

This statement, made by Wendell
L. Willkie to the Chungking cor-
respondent of Tass, was quoted in
Moscow last week by the Soviet
news agency.

Willkie was commenting on
made in answering written ques-
tions submitted by Henry GC. Gas-
sidy of Associated Press that the
Second front occupies “a very in~
portant place, one might say, a
place of first rate importance,” in
estimates of the current
Situation, and that in order to am-
plify and improve present aid the
Allies must “fulfill their obligations
fully and on time.”

Barlier, in Moscow, Willkie had
declared: -

“Russia can best be helped by a
real second front in Europe at the
earliest moment that our military
leaders will approve, and perhaps
Some of them need some public
prodding.”

Back in Washington this week
after his headline-making trip to
the Soviet Union and China, Willkie
elaborated on his Moscow state-
ment.

Commenting on the criticism
“in some quarters here and in

Stirling Named
CCF Candidate

For Salmon Arm

SALMON ARM, B.C. — George
Stirling was unanimously chosen
te carry the CCF standard in the
Salmon Arm by-election necessi-
tated by the death of Hon. Rolf
W. Bruhn, provincial minister of
public woris.

Liberals and Conservatives,
meeting in a joint nominating
convention, have named Mayor
Cyril Thomson to contest the
seat.

Date of the by-election has
been set at Noy. 25. ‘

London” his statement had
aroused, Willkie declared he had
“found out at first hand that a lot
of us, including public officials,
are going to have to stretch our
muscles and our minds to win.”

In reaching his conclusion that
the second front was “most feasible
and possible,” he said, he nad the
benefit of the opinions of military
experts in all the countries he vis-
ited.

Released Communists Speak Here

Honored At Banquet

ld throughout Britain to support the demand for of-
nsive action in Europe.

Typical of the statements and resolutions forwarded to
1¢ government from these meetings is the wire sent to
rime Minister Winston Churchill by shop stewards in a
ig Scottish shipyard. It stated-

“The honor of humanity and the survival of the British
sople demand a second front now. This is your greatest
sportunity. The workers pledge themselves to stand
shind you.”

In London, the Amalgamated Engineering Union shop
ewards council, representing skilled workers in aircraft
id ordnance plants, has petitioned the National Council
Labor to call a second front conference representative
“all potitical parties and all sections of the labor move-
ent.

This week, on Wednesday, Oct. 21, a record demonstra-
an is expected when Londoners meet in Trafalgar Square

call for the second front under the slogan, “Bring back
e Nelson spirit!”

Three hundred people gave Fer-
gus McKean, former provincial Sec-
retary of the Communist Party, a
Standing ovation when he made
his first public appearance since his
recent release from Hull prison at
a banquet held in Hotel Georgia
Monday night, at which he and
four other released Communist lea-
ders, Tom Ewen, Wiliam Rigby,
Robert Kerr and Harry Asson, were
Suests of honor.

“We are not concerned with the
past, only with the present and the
future, and the part we can play
in strengthening national unity for
victory,” McKean declared in ack-
nowledging the ovation.

Thanking the “CCE members,
the trade unionists, officials of
the Canadian Legion and other
organizations, and all those who
have fought so hard and long to

secure our release,” McKean

stated that “we shall continue
to fight, and are confident we
shall have their continued sup-
port, for lifting of the unjust
ban on the Communist party
so that it can make its full con-
tribution to our common nation-
al aim—victory, full and com-
plete, over Hitlerism.”

Opening the proceedings as mas-
ter of ceremonies, Hal Griffin, ed-
itor of The People, stated that “we
have waited and worked a long
time for this moment of welcoming
back Fergus McKean and his col-
leagues to the rights and duties of
citizenship in our democracy, and
the supreme obligation of citizen-
ship in this crisis to work unceas-
ingly for victory.

“This,” he declared, “is an occa-
sion of rededication to an unalter-
able hatred of fascism and our
determination, which is the people’s

determination,
destruction.”

The toast ‘To Victory’ was pro-
posed by Charles Stewart, chairman
of the Vancouver Gommunist-Labor
Total War Committee, who drew
tumultuous applause when he asser-
ted “there is not a man or woman
in this room, and many now in our
country’s uniform who would other-
wise be here, who is not doing his
or her utmost for victory:

“Inspired alike py the gallantry
of our Canadian Soldiers at Dieppe
and the heroism of the defenders
of Stalingrad, we strive and shall
continue to strive to produce the
tools of war that will bring vic-
tory.”

Replying to the toast, William
Stewart, prominent member of the

to accomplish its

(Continued on Page Hight)
See BANQUET

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