‘You Too. Hill ... By NIGEL MORGAN §\ST MONTH representatives of over eleven thousand British Columbia lumber workers met in conference—a con- | ference which quite correctly estimated the task of winning this war against fascism, as labor’s No.. 1 problem. gi as the delegates, representing practically every major logging and sawmill operation in the province, hewed out ogram to achieve maximum production and-total war to destroy labor’s greatest enemy, fascism, my mind went @< four years to that day in 1937 when young Bill McDonald, a popular leader and one of the pioneer organizers @he IWA, started off for Spain to do his part in a task which we have yet to complete. *Yes, Bill, we haven’t forgotten! When we heard that you @e one of our Canadian boys, whose bullet-riddled bady was behind somewhere on the banks of the Ebro, we pledged Bw a fight to death with fascism. And today, we’re as de- @nined as ever to make good that pledge to complete the job ae you gave your young life. Simehoyw or other, Bill, you had® inch you weren't coming back. remember your farewell greet- to us, “Goodbye Lumberwork- earry on!” And Bill, this was union, the union you worked, ht and died to build, that met ynference—now eleven thousanc ig. It was the same union for +h you tramped miles and miles ficailroad ties, hiked the long s through snow and slop, and Mixed consistently sixteen hours Sy, seven days a week, fifty-two —is a year. was during the strike of ’36 I first met you on the picket- at Cowichan Lake, and not (Ry months later when the mil- ; of workers and peasants of n rose to defend their demo- ie gains from HEranco’s fascist ons, when Mussolini’s armies Miened the quiet Spanish coun- fide and the cries of little chil- it answered Hitler’s pilots, test- their bombers on Spanish soil reparation for the great Lon- ® blitz. i e | IE. people of Spain called to the world to help them stop fascism f Spanish soil. Their battle-cry xed around the world, “Let in be the Graveyard of Fas- i! Non Pasaran! They Shall Not si” And you heard them, for ea pu went to Spain to stop fas- 1, before it could spread to the of the world. You Knew what ism did to the workers of Ger- ty, Italy and Japan. You knew ® it smashed the trade unions, aced the labor press, slashed hres, kicked the working class in face with an iron-spiked boot. > you went to Spain to stop fas- 2 before it could spread to the stry and the people you loved— you knew you probably would return. ‘orkers like you, Bill, answered n every part of the world. But ortunately rse of history then was being ie by the appeasers. But our voice was not strong enough, and so Spain was sacrificed to Hitler and the appeasers. You can no longer see the hunger, torture and suffering of the Span- ish people, but it goes on. And the fate of the Spanish people is also the fate of the people of Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, France, Norway, Denmark, Greece and oth- ers. Today the Nazis, well armed, well stocked, with two hundred and fifty divisions of men, are pound- ing away on the eastern front for a knock-out blow, which if success- ful, they know and we know, will spell doqm for the people, and vic- tory for Hitler and his new world order. E realize today, Bill, as you did when you left for Spain, that the outcome of this battle against fascism will determine the whole future course of humanity. It will determine whether we shall be forc- ed back to the dark ages of the inquisition or advance into a new world of prosperity and peace, whether we will live as free human beings or exist as oppressed slaves of fascism. We iumberworkers, whom you urged to “carry on,” realize that we, as industrial workers in one of Can- jada’s key war industries, are now too had known injustice and | all of us soldiers in the great army- of the United Nations, for whose cause four years ago you gave your life. Today everyone must choose be- tween slavery and freedom, Every- one has either to oppose the for- ward march of Hitlerism or be Swept before it. If we make no choice, that in itself is a choice; if we take no side, we are on Hitler's Side, just as much as the appeasers, who sacrificed your life, Bill, and millions of others, were on Hitler's Side in Spain. we do not act to Give our Maximum to out-produce Hitler’s slave labor, that in itself is an act which helps Hitler in his for the people the | program of conquest and fascist en- slavement! Just as obviously as a genuine Te ae of collective security could have saved us from what appease- ment in Spain brought on, a second land front in Europe today is the road to final victory. And of ut- most importance to that second front is the obtaining of maximum production from our industrial front in the next few months That is why the most militant and most important thing for any progressive union to do today is to establish joint management-labor production committees, and do everything possible to increase pro- duction to a maximum. This war is by no means won—no more, Bill, than it was at the time of the siege of Madrid. Victory over Hitlerism, or defeat and fascist slavery for years to come—that is the import- ant question now, And in winning that decision, labor, more than any other group, is concerned. For what good will our organization be, Bill, if Hitler comes to Ganada as he came to Spain? With fascism on the rampage in a last desperate attempt to enslave the world, this is no time for an organization of patriotic Canadians to waste time quarrelling aver min- or issues, and as the representative of eleven thousand union ‘wood- workers declared, every issue today is minor to the defeat of fascism. The gains of the past are but milestones along the road to the future. Labor’s course today is clear, the distance far and the time short; but as in the past we must continue—¥forward United. e@ ILL, that fight in which you gave your all, still goes on. To- day the greatest and probably the most important battle of all history Tages on the banks of the Volga. Its approaches are clogged with Hitler’s dead as the Soviet army smashes back the fascist war ma- chine. This fight is the struggle of the people for a better life. For this, Bill, you fought and died, but the battle has yet to be won. Your dying taught a bitter lesson to the world—the lesson of appeasement. The people lost on A familiar and welcome sight to loggers in camps irom Howe Sound to the Queen Charlotte Islands is the An- nart, above, flagship of the IWA on the British Colum- bia coast. the Ebro, but today we marshall our full forces to guarantee we shall not lose on the banks of the Volga. To this we know you, fighting lumberjack, would say: “Give every. ounce of your strength. I gave my life. Carry on! Stop fascism!” Its steppe rolls on=like an epic poem, Its forests are as mysterious as life and its mountains are like great unbridled passion. And it is mountains that the word Caucasus immediately calls to mind. It sym- bolizes the wonder of man at see- ing clouds floating underneath like a flock of sheep. Man in the moun- tains is alone against the world. He is fearless. Darkness and en- emies are lurking at every step. He can ery out for he knows that nei- ther friend nor the echo would be- tray him. The culture of ancient Georgia strikes one by its combination of richness of color and sterness of fantasy and simplicity, delicacy and courage. The love of the “Russian poets for the Caucasus is the love for freedom. It was among the Men Into Mountains qe word Caucasus sounds like magic. Chained to the rugged peak of the Caucasus was the first revolutionary Prometheus who wrested fire from the heavenly dwellers. The moun- tain air is difficult to breathe, too pure for unaccustomed lungs. In the fight for freedom, men laid down their lives there. Freedom was the theme of the delightful verse by the ancient humanitarian Shota Rustaveli. bitter, came from the lips of the olive skinned wome The songs of freedom, dry and n of Armenia. cliffs of the Caucasus that the first Russian romanticists received their lessons in impetuosity. Pushkin, Lermontov, Mayakovsky, Tikhonov drank of this fountain of inspira- tion. The ties of the peoples of the Caueasus and the Russian people are no accident: love of freedom, thirst for truth, and common des- tiny linked them forever. ’ e RMENIA knows that the free- dom of Moscow is the freedom of the Armenians. Last year the November 7th parade was held in Red Square. The parade was re- ceived by a great soldier. The tank led by Mikhail Bagdarasyan rolled past Stalin. A few days later this tank clashed with the German tanks and Mikhail Bagdarasyan, an Armenian, ousted the Germans from a Russian village. One of the defenders of Mos- cow was Artillery General IL. Sid- zi, a Georgian. Another Georgian hero of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gakhonidze, died in the battles for Sebastopol He hurled grenades at the Germans and when the gren- ades ran out, he fired his re volver. When the cartridges ran short he stabbed the Germans with his bayonet. At the ancient Russian town of Rzhev, the Georgian, Chanchibad- ze, ordered: “Bury the dead! The living, move forward!” The Azerbaidjanian, Husein Al- iev alone entered battle against a few enemy planes. His body took 17 wounds, but his heart was stronger than rock. He shot down the enemy and won. e IOLENT battles are now in progress for the Caucasus. After breaking his teeth against the ruins of Stalingrad, Hitler wants to make up for it there. He captured Nalechik and is threat- ening Ordjonikidze and Grozny. His sleep is tormented by visions of Baku. Fighting for the Caucasus are the Russians and Ukrainians, the Byelorussions and Uzbeks. All of Russia is fighting for its pride, the Caucasus. The Germans offend- ed the feelings of the peoples of the Caucasus and this offense can be washed away only with German blood. A year ago we stopped the Germans at the threshold of Mos- cow. We kept them out of Lenin- grad. When, the Germans penetrated Stalingrad, wrath and indignation stiffened the hearts of the defend- ers of the city and the Germans were checked on the streets amid the ruins. The sons of Amenia and Georgia, Azerbaidjan and Daghes- tan, died for Moscow. Will we not halt the Germans in the Caucasus? There is nothing impossible for the brave. The Armenian, Agram Petrosyan, was tortured by the Ger- mans. They carved stars on his cheeks, tore his hair. Petrosyan let not 3 word slip past his lips. “Dig your own grave,” the Ger- mans ordered, but Petrosyan hit the German with a spade and then picking up grenades flung them at his executioners. One of the Ger- man officers wounded: Petrosyan in the arm and head. Petrosyan hurled himself upon the officer and stran- gled him. Then he took a bottle of inflam- mable liquid and crept back to the Red Army lines. Enroute he blew up @ munition dump and was wounded a third time. But he got there. His hatred for the enemy, his love of country was so great, that he could not die and he did not. Not mountains must confront the Germans but men. And the men won't retreat. The men will turn into mountains.