THE PEOPLE Published every Wednesday by The People Publishing Co., Room 104, Shelly Building, 119 West Pender Street, Vancouver, B.C. Telephone: MArine 6929. EpIToR Hat GRIFFIN Mawnacinec Epiror -.....-...-...--.--- . Kay GrRecory Busrvess MANAGER ....-.--.-------—----- Epna SHEARD Six Months—$1.00 One Year—$2.00 Printed at Brondway Petnters Limited, 151 Eest 8th Arenue, Vancourer, B.C. Canadian-Soviet Friendship pee people of Canada will readily endorse Prime Minister Mackenzie King’s words at Montreal this week that “the Arctic wastes, so long an impenetrable barrier between us, now are coming to join us closer together,” and that “as we become neighbors we desire more than ever to become the most helpful of friends.” Among those charged with the grave responsibility of leading the Canadian people in these critical times there is, as in the United States where Vice-President Henry A. Wal- lace has so clearly presented the necessity for Soviet- American friendship, a growing realization of the great part the peoples ot North America and of the Soviet Union must play in achiev- ing victory and of the even greater part they must play in the world of tomorrow. Not “the Arctic wastes” of Canada’s great undeveloped North, but the suspicion and distrust engendered by distortion and false propaganda have, until these years of our common peril, constituted the “impenetrable barrier” between Canada and the Soviet Union. The physical barrier presented by thousands of miles of little-known wilderness and beyond by the polar ice and snow were surmounted before the political. The development of air power, which first enabled the physical barriers to be overcome, is further redu¢ing those barriers. And construction of the Alean Highway, most of which runs through Canadian territory, opens the possibility that before long this country may have a direct road link through Alaska with the Soyiet Union. The necessity now, if “as we become neighbors. .. .” we are also “. . . to become the most helpful of friends,” is to prevent those who, in devious and not so devious ways, seek to preserve and replace the barriers broken down when Canada and the Soviet Union became allies in the struggle to destroy fascism. The Canadian people did not erect them. They have shown that they want all remaining vestiges of them re- moved. Only the quislings, the sympathizers with fascism in our midst, the newspapers like the Toronto Telegram which print their poisonous words, want the barrier per- petuated. Such individuals and such cliques do more than obstruct and weaken the nation’s united struggle for victory. They directly threaten the new world for which the peoples of the United Nations are fighting, the new world in which the peoples of North America and the Soviet Union can and will triumph over every barrier to their friendship and co-oper- ation. To strengthen this friendship now it is necessary first to silence the adder tongues and poisoned pens that assail it. Lift The Ban Wats the people of all Allied Nations are bending every effort behind the offensive for victory this year, Canadi- ans learned with amazement and alarm this week of the threat mmade by the department of justice to anti-fascists and Com- munists who, since their release, have contributed in no small way to the gearing of Canada’s production and armed forces towards offensive action. In a blanket threat of re-internment for all those released anti-fascists and Communists who associate themselves with the Communist-Labor Total War Committee, Justice Minister St. Laurent has indicated his intention to return to his old policies of intimidation and persecution of these men, policies which did so much to harm full unity of the Canadian people upon which depends Canada’s maximum contribution to the war effort. Under public pressure, particularly pressure from every section of the labor movement, Justice Minister St. Laurent released those interned anti-fascists, who then pledged their every effort to aid Canada mobilize for total war. As Tim Buck declared in his letter protesting the justice minister’s action to Prime Minister W. L. Mackenzie King, such threats against the liberty of those who have contributed so much to the Allied cause, who undoubtedly have the full support of the Canadian people as shown by the election of some released Communists to public office, will only vlay into the enemy’s hands. It is time the Canadian government finished with any sign of appeasement. Without slackening for one moment their work for the war effort, all progressive forces should vehe- mently protest the recent threats and force the department of justice to heed the people’s demand for lifting the ban on the Communist Party. GREATER PRODUCTION <== ae [2 aa a = on V-338 ~ Yi2 Oppressed Europe Greece 4 pee plight of Greeks impressed for work in German factories is revealed by information reach- ing here that in barracks at Dres- den, where Greek workers are housed, there is not a single healthy person. The sick are left even without water. The dead lie there days on end. Reduced to terrible conditions, the Greek workers are openly voicing their hatred for the Ger- mans. Scores have been arrested by the Gestapo and sent to prisons and concentration camps for “showing hostility te the German administration.” In Greece itself the occupation- ists have evoked profound hatred among the Greek people—a fact even the Nazi press cannot con- ceal. Numerous anti-Hitler leaf- lets distributed have increased of late. The leaflets contain reports of the operations of the Allied and (Red armies and appeal to the Greek people to intensify their struggle against the invad- ers. “The Red Army on the eastern front and the Anglo-American armies in Tripolitania and Tun- isia are striking powerful blows at our common enemy. The hour of liberation is nigh. Let us help our great Allies to hasten the de- feat of the enemy.” Inscriptions like this appear overnight on the walls of many buildings in Athens, Salonika, Pireus and other Greek cities. Recently a German patrol de- tained two schoolboys on the street as they were posting anti- fascist leaflets. Despite torture, the youthful patriots did not re- veal the name of the author of these leaflets. Infuriated at the courage of the boys, the occupa- tionists shot them. The same night Greek guerril- las raided the German com- mandant’s office in Trikkala, avenging the murder of the chil- dren. : Austria A Die letter, written by a young woman from the workers’ quarter of Alorisdor in Vienna to a young Austrian who died at Stalingrad, tells its own story. “You want to know what has happened in Vienna since you left in May. There is. little that is good. Our meat ration has been cut to 100 grams. Other rations have also been cut and we are left without bread. There are hardly any vegetables and the lack of fats in our food tells on us. The last time we had veget- able oil was in June and the mar- garine is watery, butter too. “Actually our food mostly con- sists of potatoes with meat only to sniff. Anyone who has two hens forfeits his egg ration. Those who have rabbits receive no meat, while those who keep bees are obligated to deliver honey. Soon we shall be using cats and dogs and even bed bugs. ‘During the summer we ate dry potatoes without any fats and without vegetable oil. The peo- ple are suffering from intestinal diseases. I’ am so weak that I can hardly keep on my feet. Shoes are no longer rationed on Coupon No. 1. There is neither leather nor rubber. This is an out- rage. “Most of the restaurants are closed. When you go to a restaur- ant you have to bring along a set of dishes and all the rest. No plates, cups or spoons are to be had in the stores. Not even a hair comb. Speculation is ram- pant, although death sentence is the punishment. “The people in Vienna are op- enly voicing their complaints, es- pecially the youth. The war is dragging on too long. There is less and less food and it is nerve- wracking. I cannot believe that we should have to bear up with another year of this. We have been scoring victory after vic- tory. We have small losses in men and materials. Try and get fools to believe it.” NEEDED FOR ||- SHORT Subversive : HE incident which ocew | at a Junior Board of Tif meeting last week, Sr i speaker named Dr, Elijah Bz os was challenged by members: / the audience, is the kind of i & to be expected while the F yersive propaganda of the E | ish Isrgel World Federatior fi allowed to be spread without & check from the powers that ‘ This Dr. Baron, basing his & marks on alleged WBiblical F phecy, asserted that Ru} would be an ally of Germ >, against Britain, France, § Italy in another world war a > the present conflict is over. — Whis is subversive propaga |. because it has the tendency — disrupt the present unity of United Nations which is ag lutely necessary to bring alf the destruction of Hitlerism } is whole-cloth material ta from the annual report made the Dominion Commissioner the British Israel World Fed: tion (Rev. Mr. Springett), at Toronto convention of that § ganization in September, i194 In that document is to be fo the following very definite st § ment: “One thing is certain { |} here we leave human reasol } and take our stand on ‘the a sure word prophecy’) there | inevitably come a unificatior Russian-German forces having § their ultimate purpose the § struction of the British Emp! § Advising URTHER in his report, prophetic gentleman tells fellow prophets that “we ca | Mr. Churchill as follows: “(German attack on Rus merely a blind to deceive B tain and distract attention fr. real plans which are destr tion of Empire. On no acco; allow British forces be dra in. Remember, Russia is ene also and will finally be c closed in the attack in Pal tine.’”” No more do those ~ do the work of Hitler and cism have to be on the pay of Hitler, Mussolini or Tojo. It is fooling to give this © turer, or the astigmatic ger man who made the report quc above, credit for being sincere to dismiss them as crackp - The old saw says the road hell is paved with sincerity before 1933, Hitler was consi ed to be one of thoSe cracky not worth heeding. The deplorable thing about is, that democracy as we havi here, allows free rein to th subversive elements as if t were the most patriotic sect of the people while the forces law and order devote their tentions to the Communists ¢ others who have been consister working for the defeat of fasci for over twenty years. This nonsense representing be prophecy is on the same pl: as the astrology on which Hii is reputed to pin such faith. He ever labelled, it is propagar disruptive of the war effort. particular, the farcical charac of the prophecies about the Sov Union is being demonstrated de by the immeasurable contribut the Red Army is making to | ultimate triumph of the Uni Nations over German fascisi The sooner such people as - Baron and Rev. Mr. Springett : laid by the heels, the better | our early success in the war.