THE PEOPLE

Page Three

panbes 1i, 1942 ee

Jne Union
‘or Seamen

ene

Secretary J. M. Smith of the
Zandboatmen’s Union of the
cific here, has issued an ap-
al to the trade union move-
mnt, and particularly to sea-
ms “unions, to unite to
ekle the wartime problems
the seamen.”

fommenting on a resolution
ised by one section of the sea-
nh, condemning the federal gov-
ment’s wage rate on ships of
merchant marine, which is be-
‘ present rates on the Pacific
ajst and the Great Lakes, Smith
aces: .
The first move which shoul
*e been made was to have united
Seamen’s gsroups of B.C. around
resolution so that it would
‘e had some teeth in it.”
his, he points out, could have
n the start of a movement to
te the seamen of this province
» one strong, industrial organi-
on, which could then proceed to
anize the men who man the
2s which keep the guns, tanks,
aes and supplies moving to the
tle fronts of the United Na-
is.
We cannot win this war unless
) workers are united in the deter-
sation te win. We must unite
) bring victory over fascism new,
a people’s peace after the war,’
ith states in his appeal.
#ontinuing, he declares that sea-
#1’s groups in British Columbia
not be doing their duty if they
not make some effort to or-
ize the men in the merchant
tine, to get improved wages and
“ditions, and to raise morale -so
§ = they can put their best into the
m of keeping open “the bridge of
Is” which is so necessary if
ory is to be gained.
‘No army can go forward un-
s the different units of that
my put forth a co-ordinated ef-
+ and the civilians behind them
ite to insure them getting the
pplies they need to go forward,
d this is especially true of the
imen” states Smith.
he appeal concludes: “Let. the
men’s slogan be: One powerful
nen’s- union that can really
ik for all the seamen, and which,
#:n it speaks, will be listened to
# not ignored as at present, and
ch will be in the position to beat
ismi anywhere and at any time
Aows itself.”
Nhis is labor’s war. Leit’s unite
fight and defeat the foe of all
‘ocratic peoples — fascism—and
preserve our right to organize
a ney order after the war.”
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occupation.

the restoration of plants.

a Ural steel plant and on an

in record time.

Evacuated Plants Now
Working Full Capacity

MOSCOW.—The fall of 1941 saw an endless stream
of trains with workers and equipment moving over Soviet
railways from west to east. These were the plants and fac-
tories evacuated from the districts menaced with German

In the Urals, frequently in open, unpopulated districts,
it Was necessary to organize production in quick time. Fre-
quently-a plants workers and engineers themselves had
to work on the construction site.
open, under heavy rain and the biting winds of Siberia,
sometimes two and three days at a stretch without sleep,
then resting for a few hours and resuming work again.

According to the Soviet press, restoration of the evacu-
ated plants has been completed and they are working at
full capacity. Construction, however, was not limited to

New iron and steel works were built this year in the
southern Urals and construction has been completed on

open hearth furnaces, two rolling mills, a coke and chemical
battery and other aggregate enterprises were completed

They labored in the

auto plant. A blooming mill,

‘Catafighters’ Protect
Convoys To Murmansk

LONDON.—In the year that they have been used by the
Merchant Ship Fighter Unit, the “catafighters,” aircraft cata-
pulted from CAM ships, have fought successfully against great

odds in the protection of the

Murmansk conyoy route from

enemy long-range bombers.

They celebrated their first anni-
versary recently by shooting down
a Heinkel and a Junker, and wing-
ing three other planes which tried
to attack a convoy.

The CAM ships, and their “air-
eraft that never come back’ have
proved to be the cheapest and most
effective insurance against bomber
attacking convoys of merchant
ships.

The idea of catapulting aircraft
from conyoyed ships originated
with Prime Minister Churchill, and
has grown from a dangerous nov-
elty in the hands of half a dozen
pilots, volunteers as an “Atlantic
Suicide Squad,” working with naval
catapult experts, inte a highly spe-
Cialized independent fighting unit,
with pools of pilots in Canada and
Russia, flying specially strengthen-
ed Hurricane fgihters from a sub-
stantial fleet of CAM ships.

The MESU is a combination of
three services; the Navy, which
provides fighter direction officers,
catapult and torpedo men for main-
tenance, and signal ratings, the
R.A.F. which provides pilots, ground
and the aeroplanes them-

crews,
selves, and the Merchant Navy,
which supplies the ship and its
crew.

These “catafighters,’ because

they cannot land again on the ship
from which they are catapulted,
have to be abandoned by the pilot
as soon as their job is done. When
his supply of gasoline runs out, the
pilot signals the nearest escort ves-
sel, and bales out half a mile ahead.
The average time taken to pick him
up is between four and six minutes.

When enemy bombers try to at-
tack the convoy, and it is decided
to use the “catafighter,” the pilot

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holds one hand aboye his head,
through the open cockpit of his
Plane, to show that all is ready.
When he drops his arm, the aero-
plane and its cradle are hurtled
down the runway.

La Passionarias Son

Killed At

Front

MOSCOW.—Senior Lieut. Ruben Ruis Ibarruri, son of Dol-
ores Ibarruri, Spanish Communist leader known throughout the
world as La Passionaria, died in action during fierce fighting in
defense of an important military objective, it was announced

here recently.

Though only 21 years old, Ruben was a seasoned fighter.
He receiyed his baptism of fire during battles of the young
Spanish Republic against the Nazi invaders, fighting on the

banks of the Ebro.

“I could not but be among the
fighters for freedom,” he said then,
“because my blood, my life do not
belong to me, My blood and my life
belong to my people, my country.”

Fighting on the Russian front
with the same spirit as he fought
for his own native land, Ruben re-
ceived the Order of the (Red Ban-
ner for valor. Only last year he
broadcast an appeal to all youth to
join him in the battle for liberty.

“There is no time for delibera-
tion and hesitation. The millions of
victims who have fallen at the
hands of the fascist murderers are
crying out for action, for vengeance
... Hearken! Calling for vengeance
are the ashes of charred Warsaw,
the ruins of Belgrade, the dead
docks of Rotterdam, the depleted
villages of the Greek fishermen .. .

“IT am a Spaniard, and fighting
Side by side with me are a Russian
and Georgian, a Byelorussian and
Kazakh, a Ukrainian and -Tadjik.
Take your place beside us, all of
you who want to win happiness and
freedom!”

Although mortally wounded,
Ruben continued to lead his com-
pany of machine-gunners forward
until he fell, bringing to mind the
inspired words of his mother, La
Passionaria, who proclaimed to the
Spanish people in their heroic fight,
“It is better to die standing up than
live on one’s knees.”

Appeal For
Offensive

MOSCOW. — Stalingrad’s defend-
ers, promising to “deal a crushing
blow to the enemy,” in an open
letter to Premier Josef Stalin on the
twenty-fifth anniversary of the
founding of the USSR, declared:

“The entire world is watching
our struggle. The voices of our
allies are reaching us from all
corners of the globe expressing
admiration for our resistance.

“Accepting this moral aid, we are
sure that the time is not far off
when we shall hear of the open-
ing of a secénd front. This will
be not only moral but real sup-
port for the defenders of Stalin-
grad and will hasten and help to
achieve victory over the enemy.”

The letter estimated that the
Stalingrad garrison in two months
had killed 100,000 Nazis, wrecked
nearly 800 enemy tanks and 1000
planes.

Soviet Spokesman Scores
Opponents Of 2nd Front

MOSCOW. — Declaring that a group similar to the British Cliveden set existed in the United
States, Vladimir Krushkoy, secretary of the Soviet Information Bureau, recently charged pub-
lisher William Randolph Hearst, pro-fascist Father Charles E. Coughlin, and Col. Robert E.
McCormick, head of Chicago end of the Chicago-New York newspaper axis, with “taking every
step to suppress the increasing demand by American public opinion for opening of a second

front.”

Specifically naming Lady Astor
and Capt. Bernard Ackworth, naval
writer, Krushkov stated that the
Cliveden set was still at work in
Britain, trying under various pre-
texts to prove the inadvisability of
invading German-occupied Europe.

Krushkoy notes that the “Ameri-
can press speaks more energetically
for a second front than the British
press,’ but asserted that in the
United States there were also those
“who sympathize with the Munich
men of England.”

“Wars are going on in the Pa-
cific and Near East, but neither
one, nor all of them put together,
are as important as the Soviet-
German front,” wrote Krushkov
in a statement published recently
in the fortnightly “Propagandist.”

“The men of Munich are trying
to prove that the people’s demand
for a second front is a demand by
“noorly informed people.’ It is true
that such opinions were criticized
by the Anglo-Americans. However,
such opinions are not exceptional,
and they reflect the viewpoint of
people who have not surrendered

|up to the present to the old and

harmful ‘policy of capitulation.’
“Besides such people as Lady
Astor and Capt. Ackworth, who try
to diminish in speeches and articles
the importance of the fight which
the Soviet Union is waging, there
are other opponents in England of
unified and decisve action who
conceal their negative wit hall sorts
of motives, such as the impossibil-
ity of opening a second front be-

©

ficient land and shock troops, of the
unpreparedness of commanders, and
of the lack of air superiority.
“Besides, there is a group in
England that believes that England
should first worry about the Hm-
pire’s interests, that British armed
forces should be used first to de-
fend all parts of the Empire, and

‘Wateh on

JOHN GOSS

cause of lack of shipping, of insuf-

therefore draw the conclusion that
the main forces should be used
against Japan. The fear of mili-
tary risk makes some people in
England say that aerial bombard-
ment of Germany and the sending
of increased production of home
supplies te the Soviet Union can
take the place of a second front.””

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