THE PEOPLE Published every Wednesday by The People Publishing Co., Room 104, Shelly Building, 119 West Pender Street, Wancouver, B.C. Telephone: MArine 6929. Epiror Har GrRiFFIN MaNnacinc EpitToR Kay GREGORY Business MANAGER . Epona SHEARD Printed at Broadway Printers Limited, 151 Enst 8th Ayenue, Vancouver, B.C. Production For The Offensive HE tide of victory for the United Nations is rising. It is engulfing the remnants of the shattered Axis armies in North Africa today. And tomorrow, surging inexorably for- ward from the east and from the west, it will sweep across Europe. The strength of the offensive is not measured only by the numerical strength of the Allied forces. It is also measured by figures such as those given by Munitions Minister C. D. Howe, to the Combined Production and Resources Board this week, for these figures represent Canada’s ability to sup- ply the planes, the ships and the guns that will enable the of fensive to be maintained. In Britain now, as after Dieppe, the offensive in North Africa with its promise of an invasion of Europe before long has spurred workers in the factories to new achievements on the production lines. Canadian workers themselves have set production records, as reflected generally in Hon. C. D. Howe's figures. This year, he said, Canada will turn out its 500,000th war vehicle. By the end of the year 1,000,000 tons of shipping will have slid down the ways on our Pacific and Atlantic coasts. All this represents no mean achievement. But it is still an achievement that can be surpassed with greater labor-manage- ment cooperation and the joint will to accomplish. Free labor, producing the tools of war for the offensive that will ensure its right to freedom, has the incentive and ability to make new achievements on the production lines. Every production rec- ord broken speeds the offensive and brings victory nearer. Coal Crisis Demands Action Wie coal urgently needed for so many phases of our war effort, and with production falling, the present serious situation in our provincial coal fields is of national concern. It is more than a question of the personal comfort of city resi- dents facing the prospect of a fuel shortage, for personal com- fort is a minor consideration now. The fact that output of our war plants and maintenance of transportation are jeopardized is the primary concern. Already Allied ships carrying supplies to the fighting fronts have been delayed in coaling at West Coast ports because of the shortage, and if the situation is not quickly remedied, pro- duction in essential industries here will be affected. On Vancouver Island miners are reported to be conducting a showdown, and it is indisputable that production is falling. At Princeton the men have been persuaded by their union leaders to return to work on promise of prompt governmental action, only to come out again because the government's action was tardy and unsatisfactory. The situation is not irremediable. Bold, decisive action could have met it months ago, and it is the failure of the government to take decisive action which is mainly responsible for it, The miners want increases to bring their wages in line with wages paid in other essential industries. At Princeton the question of a closed shop, already established in other western coalfields, is also in question. We believe the miners are mistaken in striking at produc- tion in order to achieve their just demand, for wage increases, because they are striking at their own interests, the interests of the trade union movement in victory. Public opinion can be rallied in support of their demand only when they demon- strate through increasing production in the mines that they _ are contributing to the common cause, not hampering it. By slowing down production the miners are weakening their own sound case for immediate action on their demands and providing arguments, at Princeton, that the Granby com- pany can use in its refusal to concede a closed shop because it fears union organization at Copper Mountain. The government has taken over Copper Mountain in order to attain maximum production of copper there. It has author- ized wage increases for the base metal miners. The main obstacle to production is now the outstanding dispute in the mines upon which Copper Mountain is dependent for fuel. Similarly, on Vancouver Island, the government should act on the miners’ demands now. It was forced to recognize the necessity of raising wages in the spruce logging and base metal industries in this province, and it did not allow the question of the necessary increase in cost to stand in the way of war production. It should also recognize that coal is essential to our war effort and immediately take the steps necessary to obtaining maximum output. which reached me on -Noy. 12. ‘Initiative In Hands A\llies N NOY. 12 Henry C. Cassidy, Associated Press writer in Mos- cow, sent a letter to Premier. Joseph Stalin-asking him three ELD CO aN a coisa SHORT JABS by OW Bill questions on the Allied offensive in North Africa. Following is Stalin’s reply. “Dear Mr. Cassidy. “T am answering your questions “But that is not the only thing that matters. What matters first of all is that since the campaign in i. What is the Soviet view of|africa means that initiative has Press Drive | “pee drive is over and I am goi’ this column to thank the membe- of Ol Bill’s press committee f* si Sec tani hs Tan th us abel takbanaraaitix alien, to use the first paragraph the Allied campaign in Africa? “Answer: The Soviet view of this campaign is that it represents an outstanding fact of major import- ance demonstrating the growing might of the armed forces of the Allies and opening the propect of the disintegration of the Italo- German coalition in the nearest fu- ture. “The campaign in Africa refutes once more the skeptics who af- firm that Anglo-American leaders are not capable of organizing 2 serious war campaign. There can be no doubt that no one but first- passed into the hands of our Allies, the campaign changes radically the political and war situation in Hud- ope in favor of the Anplo-Soviet- American coalition; that campaign undermines the prestige of Hitlerite Germany as a leading force in the system of Axis powers and demor- alizes WHitler’s allies in Hurope; that the campaign released France from her state of lethargy, mobilizes anti-Hitler forces of France and provides a basis for building up an anti-Hitler French army. = * = rate organizers could carry out such serious war operations as the suc- cessful landings in Worth Africa across the ocean, as the quick oc- cupation of harbors and wide ter- ritories from Casablanca to Bougie, and as the smashing of Italo-Ger- Iman armies in the western desert being effected with such mastery.” 2. How effective has this cam- paign been in relieving pressure on the Soviet Union and what further aid does the Soviet Union await? “Answer: It is yet too soon to say to what extent this campaign has been effective in relieving im- mediate pressure on the Soviet Union. But it may be confidently said that the effect will not be a small one and that a certain re- lief in pressure on the Soviet Union “That the campaign creates con- ditions for putting Italy out of com- mission and for isolating Hitlerite Germany; finally, that the cam- paign creates the prerequisites for establishment of a second front peer erereee the good showing they made. T committee was a heterogenceo) kind of an animal. Its national” was almost as wide as the Can dian people; hardly two of its mel jpy bers came from the same part |f-; the world. 4 Its occupations were equally V5 ried. There were three nine workers, one of them 2 Chine {gun Three were Sailors, one a waiter | rel a coast boat and another an 1 )4 master mariner, now the most vi 44“ satile jack of all trades on ‘16! Pacific Coast. There was an ¢}} surance salesman, an assistant — 3 dental parlor, an engineer in § city skyscraper, a taxi driver, : old age pensioner, a roustabout w j7 works every day a little butt His much nor long- in Europe nearer to German's vital centres, which will be of decisive importance for organizing victory over Hitlerite tyranny. = = = “3 What possibility is there of Soviet offensive power in the East joining the Allies in the West to hasten the final victory? * = = “Answer: There need be no doubt that the Red army will fulfill its task with honor as it has been fulfilling it throughout the war. “With respect, will result in the nearest future. “(Signed) J. STALIN.” Germans. But the invasion During the occupation the Nazis have shot more Belgian citizens than the total number of Belgians who perished in the first world war. Three hundred thousand Belgian workers have already been shipped to Germany, and the Germans are now evacuating the populations of the coastal regions of Belgium. In- dustry catering to the civilian popu- lation is almost completely stran- gled. Even the metal industry, the bulk of whose output is now being shipped to Germany, is working at only 45 percent of productive cap- acity. Pre-war Belgium imported grain from Canada, the Argentine and the United States. The German enslav- ers have doomed the people of Bel- gium to starvation, and are forc- ing Belgium to pay 1,250 million francs monthly “for the mainten- ance of the occupation army.” ORKERS’ wages are entirely out of proportion to sky-rocket- ing prices and the Nazis cannot conceal their failure to compel the Belgians to reconcile themselves to the “New Order.” While the guerrilJa movement in Belgium is still in its embryonic stage, the last few months have witnessed a rising wave of sabot- age in the war industry producing for the Germans and mass political strikes have appeared in the arena. Belgian patriots blew up a pow- er station near Brussels. This was followed by an explosion in one of the war factories situated to the south of Brussels. A bridge across Twice Invaded In 30 Years, Belgium Fights Back ie THE past 30 years Belgium has twice been invaded by the © by the German vandals in this war has been accompanied by atrocities before which the hor- rors of the first world war pale into the background. a canal was blown up on Saint Ghislain. The railway running from Antwerp to the German border was wrecked by a mine. A bomb was | dropped into an Antwerp building where occupationists were quarter- ed. The “strike movement spread to the coal, iron, steel and textile in- dustries. ERMAN attempts to requisition the crop in Belgium-met with resistance. The peasants refuse to surrender their grain and cattle to the occupation authorities, and in a number of villages the gend- armes were fired upon. At the beginning of September a decree was issued closing Brussels University. As reported by the Nazi press “the hostile attitude of the professors to the “New Order” caused this measure to be taken. When the handful of adventurers recruited for the Vallonia Legion was departing for the eastern front the people of Brussels showered them with stones and bombs. The legion’s headquarters was blown up and many legionnaires perished. The Nazis tremble before the /prospect of a second front in Wes- tern Europe when they know that Belgian patriots will join with the Anglo-American troops. They have ordered the Belgians to surrender all fire arms and failure to comply with this is punishable by death. But the Belgians reply to the ter- ror by a greater intensification of the struggle against the invaders. 2 The Star | HEWN there was the plumber w iT hunted me up at Vicky Gol ‘ski's wedding party, just aS — came off the job, all covered w FE smudge and grease, to turn in - bunch of subs. There were oth: who linked themselves with | | committee by notifying the bu ness manager to credit their st- and donations-to Ol Bill’s columi § and there was the star member & the committee, Ann Clozza, ¥ slings hash in a down town CE: | Ann was easily the outstand } worker on Ol’ Bill’s committee, § the weeks the drive was in FB f eress she sold 154 subscripti | worth $176 in cash and secu $9.05 in donations. Work like t cannot be praised with words. There were eighteen of us the committee and if we had é! done as well as Ann, we wo have raised $330.00 in cash ¢ been credited with $1836 on 3 quota, or over 900 per cent, wh | would easily have left the No — \Burrard black squad far behin: | Let’s try it next time! How Old Is 1001 BOUT the beginning of the c tury everybody was asking neighbor, “How old is Ann?” G lthe Ann of the preceding pr praph). The popularity of the ai tion resulted from a conundr™ printed in a New York paper, wE read, “Mary is 24 years old. is twice as old as Ann was W she was as old as Ann is now. fT old is Ann?” | — met this poser in a new fc last week. The new question “Wow old is 1001?” That has nt: ing te do with the celebrated i) bedtime stories that flowed fi the lips of the beautiful and sourceful Scheherazade or the sc tillating Strausss waltz inspired the Thousand and One Nights. 1001 is an interurban peregrir ing, ante-deluvian scrap pile on Central Park line of the B.C. ¢ lectric. The question was asked some of the tortured passengers a recent evening while being tra ported (correct word) from Vi couver to Westminster. A swing door between compartments alm brained the unwary passeng foolish enough to come within re: of it. One of them suggested t this was one of the $10,000 c listed in the inventory at the cent inquiry before the Public Ut ties Commission. Qn a label over the rear door an inseription which reads, ‘1’ built 1912. B.C. Electric. New Wi : minster.” How old is 1001?