a 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 Har Grirrm Manacine Eprror ..- 2S AL PARKIN Busrness MANAGER ~—..~-..-...-.- MINERVA COOPER Six Months—$1.00 One Year—$2.00 Printed at Broadway Printera Limited, 151 Haut 8th Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. A Civic Responsibility Ne” that the City Council has settled the all-important question of how much wages it is going to pay ps 28); Gilmour, the new civie fuel administrator, there should be little difficulty in solving the relatively “minor” problem of supplying fuel for Vancouver citizens during the coming winter. Not that there will be any quarrel over appointment of Mr. Gilmour, who has apparently had some experience in the lumbering industry. But people will sharply question the council members’ bland assumption that the mere appointment of an administrator has taken the whole problem off their shoulders. Indeed, the amount of publicity attending the creation of the new post raises a slight suspicion that some of the aldermen hope to make Mr. Gilmour the “goat” next winter, in which case the new administrator will earn every cent of his $500 a month salary. But we don’t believe the people of. Vancouver will be side- tracked from the real fact that the City Council is still re- sponsible. . What has happened, for instance, to proposals that the Council go into the fuel business on a municipal scale? Why do they continue to oppose such a step? Why is it that.pros- pective fuel dealers have difficulty in obtaining licenses to sell wood, even though they have access to supplies? And is the Council’s policy to be continued dependence on the serv- ice offered by the big dealers alone, even though they have proven ineapable of handling all orders? These are only some of the questions bothering many people, and the council’s latest move has not stilled the ap- prehension that exists. The proposal of delegates to the Trades and Labor Council that unionists volunteer to unload cars of coal in city railroad yards indicates labor's awareness of the serious situation. Members of the City Council would do well to consider just as seriously their own responsibilities. Communists and Unity HILE Minister of Justice Louis St. Laurent continues to deal with Communists in Canada by pretending they don’t exist, high officials of the United States government have on more than one occasion shown their realization of the role Communists can play in uniting their country for total production and total war. A notable example of this is the Communist Party of Chile. Faced with the problem of an enormous population of Germans with their full quota of Nazi fifth column organi- zations as well as = strong native reactionary movement, the people of Chile were nevertheless able to overcome these obstacles and establish their Democratic Alliance. This Democratic Alliance was made possible mainly be- eause all anti-fascist forces took part—labor, the farmers, all liberal elements, as well as the Communist Party, whose gen- eral secretary, Carlos Contreros Labarea, is vice-president of the Alliance and a member of the Chilean senate. Recently Labareo arrived in the United States and has since been holding conferences with high state officials, among them Vice President Wallace, Secretary of State Hull and Undersecretary Welles. In this case the American gov- ernment is carrying out the declared policy of supporting the internal unity of all anti-fascist forces opposed to the Axis— a policy officially stated by President Roosevelt. Members of the Canadian government would do well to follow the lead already established by our great southern neighbor, all the more because the problems of national unity in Canada are particularly acute. The Communists have proven conclusively their devotion to the fight for victory over fascism. Recognition by the government of that fact and the lifting of the ban on their party would add strength to the total war forces. The British Labor Party onterence government, it did so for the dur- Following is the first of several articles on the vital problems facing the coming convention of the Bri- tish Labor Party. LONDON. i eae of vital importance to the speedy winning of the war and the establish- ment of a just peace will come under discussion at the 42nd. annual conference of the Bri- tish Labor Party to be held in London, June 14-18, which will represent more than two and a half million Labor Party members. One of the principal issues to come before the conference will be that of affiliation of the Com- munist Party of Great Britain. This question has become all the more important since the dissolu- tion of the Communist Interna- tional, existence of which had been used by the Labor Party jJeadership as the principal ex- cuse for refusing to consider the Communists’ application. Even before the ECCI decision, support for Communist affiliation was very strong, and observers were freely predicting that the vote on the question would be very close. Now, with the last apparent obstacle removed, these same ob- servers wondered just what posi- tion the conservative element in the Labor Party leadership could take. Directly linked with this ques- tion is a resolution to be placed before the delegates that has al- ready received strong support— the formation of a new labor in- ternational to include all anti- fascist labor movements. THER main issues to come be- fore the conference will be: (1) continuation of the electoral truce. (2) withdrawal of Labor Party members from the British Cabinet. (3) postwar treatment of the German people. Under the terms of the elector- al truce, in effct since May, 1940, the Conservative, Labor and Lib- eral Parties agree that whenever a seat in the House of Commons becomes vacant, it shall be filled by the party already holding the seat. Thirty-eight resolutions have been submitted to the conference calling for an end to the truce, on the grounds that it freezes the 3-1 majority which the Tories gained at the last general election held nearly eight years ago (elec- tions are normally held every four years). Parliament no lon- ger represents the feelings of the mass of British people, critics of the truce assert, and consequent- ly small groups not bound by the truce, such as the newly-formed Commonwealth Party, are able to cash in’ on the political discontent of the public. * IGNIFICANTLY, none of the 88 resolutions against the truce come from trade unions. Will Lawther, president of the Miners’ Federation of Great Bri- tain—447,000 of whose 700,000 members pay dues to the Labor Party—stated recently in an in- terview with the London Daily Herald: ‘When labor gave its pledge to join in an all-party $ ation of the war. We cannot af- ford the luxury of general elec- tions, the turmoil and strife of party politics, when tens of thous- ands of our members are at death grips with the destroyers of free- doom and liberty.” The national Executive Com- mittee of the Labor Party, reaf- firming its support for the truce, declared last week: “Only the supreme needs of the nation—as, for instance, the defeat of a gov- ernment which has become too lethargic for war purposes — could justify the termination of the truce.” Raising an issue of still great- er significance, two divisional parties have submitted resolu- tions calling for the party’s with- drawal ffrom the government, At present labor has eight represen- tatives in the cabinet. Demand for their withdrawal came to a head recently when the govern- ment, including the labor mem- bers, postponed action on the Beveridge Report—in direct op- position to the i160 labor MP's who constitute the Parliamentary Labor Party. With the Beveridge situation in mind, the Wood Green Labor Party has submit- ted a “party discipline” resolu- tion which states: “Iivery member of the party, whether a member of the govern- ment or acting in any other offi- cial capacity, must accept and conform to any decision of the party, notwithstanding that this may involve resignation from the government, failing which he shall be asked to resign and, if necessary, be expelled.” It is ex- pected that the conference will oerwhelmingly vote against this resolution, and will seek instead to strengthen labor’s position in the government. NUMBER of resolutions have been put forward opposing “Vansittartism’ (Lord Vansit- tart is the leader of a group of Tories wha advocate post-war dismemberment of Germany) and strongly criticizing Labor Party officials associated with Fight for Freedom, organization of Huro- pean refugees devoted to arous- ing “hatred of the German peo- ple.” Writing in the current is- sue of his union journal, Jack Tanner, president of the Amal- gamated Engineering Union, states: “It is to be hoped that we shall no longer witness the situation of labor men and women—including officers of the Trades Union Con- gress and Labor Party—lending their names and support to the twisted policies of the so-called Fight for Freedom group. The in- teresting thing about this group of refugees who advocate dis- memberment of Germany and its control by British and American forces is that nowhere in their publications do they advocate the Second Front nor the implement- ing of the Atlantic Charter or Anglo-Soviet Treaty.” Leading labor spokesman for ‘Vansittartism’” is James Walk- er, secretary of the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation, labor MP, and member of the general council of the Trades Union Con- gress. Other resolutions, expected to receive strong support, call for freedom for India; more pay for men in the armed services; post- war nationalization of land, sea and air transport—with full trade union representation in the con- trolling government agencies, and the sending of a Labor Party delegation to Russia. dealt with in working ments of this, that-or t commodity, so that eqi opportunity will prevail © citizenry as a whole. ae This was impressed on | I walked through the mie tion of a large departmer 4 The buyer with the ratis | pons for a family a la } Canada has a decided ac over the lonely bachelor single coupon, accompan the necessary coin of the is to provide him with th ings of a Sunday feas' The bachelor who lives tary splendor finds that thr of cuts available to Hi limited. He cannot ask ti cher to cut off three-quar a pound from a ten-pouni or half a pound from the} succulence of a picnic ham the same with most oth of beef, mutton and pork cuts his choice down to th ends used for making m. and slumgullions of one | another or falling back or burger and baloney. : The bachelor doesn’t bee ever, because he knows defeat fascism some mniusi fice more than others and” willing to do his bit (or- his bit rather), but it doe like discrimination against elors such as O] Bill am kenzie King. : Desert Victor F the picture Desert ~ visits your neighborhoo time out from making 8 and go to see it. I hay two great pictures befor makes the third. The fi one of the Soviet silent The Blue Express, a story Chinese revolution, which in Vienna. The next we Ivens masterpiece, The of Spain, the simplest an convincing story that wi told on the silver screen; ord of Hitler’s first milit sault on democracy. Now Desert Victory to make th Perhaps I should include Chaplin’s Modern Time make it four. 3 Desert Vetory impress with the magnitude of t confronting the democraci intense concentration of and the colossal masses © brought together on thé sands create in the mine onlooker a feeling of i cance. Poets have sung of the and men have cowered of it, but the bolts of Jovy lke the rattling of sticl woodbox in comparison 4% man-made thunder in 1 ture. The artillery barrag preceeds the zero hour Battle of E] Alamein is the most impressive ineid depicted on a screen. 4 not showmanship. Itis4 the horror fascism has VI the earth; the fruit of ment. The feeling of insignif overcome, however, by tions of the humans wht the vast aggregations © and matter. A generatit on the dole has been rél this job and it has fF spontaneously. It has the necessary physique will to victory.