S Wis Children Fight In By Z. VENDROFF ; MOSCOW. fr stands begin to sell ; dailies, an old man can sen Standing in front ofa frease on Pushkin Boule- in Moscow reading the s news from the fronts. The bew is oblivious to the beau- €: nature. His mind is on the e fields. ®r reading the latest com- wejues of the Soviet Informa- MeSureau and reports about activities, he staggers to inch, obviously exhausted jistanding so long, and sits @ tracine something with his log stick in the sand; and fig his’ imagination, his hand siuces what seems to him to 2 front lines. (3 hard for the uninitiated understand whether it is a for sector on the Fastern er a battle front in the ec, in New Guinea. He is in | them, for he has children 7; army. This is the story he sne: =: Jews have spread all over Sey orld. IT have a daughter in gica and a son in England. waughter has two sons. You jee from these photographs | hey are fine boys, and they “seaserving in the American -@ which smashed Hitler in e@e irican desert. My London -@eson, his father télls me, is Pit in the RAF and is serv- i) Egypt. ew: the Soviet front here I s@a a regiment of my own — daughters, sons-in-law, and -@@ children, to say nothing gm the nephews, nieces and “@ it relatives. But did I say iment? Why, I could have jole army! e flere are infantrymen in my “a7, cavalry men, tank men, ‘ne gunners, trench mortar, army doctors and engin- 3 - and if you add my grand- @ecen in the American and $i) %h army, then you can say Tt have my own coalition,” the old man, his eyes 28 cling merrily. - @ S probably already have sieroes in your army, I asked. Grandpa Rybak has blood relatives fight- ing in the armies of three United Nations — the US Army in Africa, the RAF, the Red Army and air- force at Sevastopol and Stalingrad. “My eldest son, a tankman, has received two decorations for Se- vastapol and Stalingrad; and the youngest one, a pilot, has three decorations. They have already written about him in the papers and printed his picture too. Per- haps you have seen it — Senior Lieutenant Rybak, that’s him... “Even my granddaughter, not quite 19 years old, is in a field hospital and -already sports a medal on her breast. But as re- gards heroes, I don’t know whether there are heroes or not in my army, because the concep- tion of heroism today is quite dif ferent from what it was in the old days. “ ET us take for example Sam- son. He was a great hero in his time. But compare him to our present-day Samsons—Leizar Papernik, for example, or Cheka- lin Khigrin, or Gestello — and Samson would not stand in com- parison. When you hear of a young man in the prime of his life blowing himself up with the enemy rather than be taken pris- oner, or diving under an enemy tank to block its progress, press- ing his body against an embra- sure to silence a machine gun, erashing with his blazing plane on to an enemy’s head instead of trying to save himself, then what Samson can compare to these heroes? “T am afraid that even the 13- year-old Anotoli Wilin, who proudly marched to the gallows rather than betray his comrades to the enemy, and flung in their faces -the words ‘I don’t sell my country’—even this boy can be placed on the same level with Samson... ‘“Teet us take another» example from history—Jehuda Maccabee. Wo one can deny that Jehuda was @ great hero and general, and that the Maccabees fought like lions, for to smash in two battles Three Allied Armies the Roman lLegionaires, 100,000 Strong and 12,000 horsemen, with only some 10,000 men is no small thing, you will admit. But com- pare the Maccabees with the de- fenders of Sevastopol or legend- ary Stalingrad, then I do not know which of them you would award a gold star “Or take our heroic daughters from history. Can any one of them compare with Zoya Kosmo- demyanskaya, with Zhenya Pol- tavyskaya, Liza Chaikina and the many more brave heroines work- ing in the enemy rear, risking their lives every hour of the day and when caught go to the gal- lows with their lips sealed and their heads raised high . . . “And there you are asking me whether there are any heroes in my family. When any one of them will receive g gold star and the Order of Lenin, then I shall know that he is a Hero of the Soviet Union; and as long as he has not received a gold star I don’t know whether he is a hero or not, as it all relative ‘I AM an old man, closer to 70 than to 60. With my blood I can no longer help the front, not even as a donor. Nevertheless I help a little. In the synagogue they call me Uriye Leib, the agi- tator . Be it a question of collecting money for tanks, win- ter clothing for the Red Army, presents for the men at the front, I am the best agitator in the synagogue . And my talks bring good results.” HERE is no telling, you may some day gain fame by your work, I jested. “I don't expect any medals, LI have not merited them,” he re- pliea earnestly. ‘My greatest re- ward will be if God grants me life to see the liberation of our land and the black downfall of the villain and enemy of Israel, Hitler, may his name be eternal- ly cursed .. .” He fell silent, squinting at the flower beds and trees in bloom, the children romping in the sand, Shaking his head in wonder as if he had just noticed it. And he Said, “What a beautiful world, what a bright world is yours! .., And this villain Hitler wants to destroy it. Never in your life. He will come to the same black end as that of all scoundrels and enemies of Israel, and soon, too, mark my words .. .” eee wo years aiter Hitler made his biggest mistake, the Red Army relentlesly prepares the coming Soviet offensive which will coincide with the Allied offensive in the west. the fascist aggressors.” Leader Of Largest US Union Greets Soviet Metal Workers In a letter of greetings sent to the secretary of the Soviet Metal Workers’ Federation in Moscow, George F. Addes, secretary-treasurer of the United Automobile Workers (CIO), this week hailed the contribution of the Soviet Union in “keeping the Red Army supplied with armaments of all kinds.” He declared: “Our 979,000 members are doing the same for the American Army, and we know from the reports of our government that part of what we make is shipped to the Red Army as well. May our combined efforts and those of all our United Nations succeed this year in beating down The letter was sent thruogh Russian War Relief, as part of that agency’s Write-to-Russia campaign. NEW YORK. Unions And Health 2 specious theory that “health is a matter for experts” dies hard. It is still true that the majority of the trade unions are content to sit back and let everybody else worry about the health of America’s workers. In peacetime this attitude is deplorable; in war- time it becomes a serious hind- rance to the effective prosecu- tion of the war. Let’s not forget that illness is a major factor in absenteeism in War industry, and that if the trade unions are going to succeed in reducing absenteeism they must tackle the health question head on. What could a health commit- tee do in your union? The answer would vary somewhat depending on the situation in each industry. Occupational diseases and acci- dents are very important, espe- cially for workers in major war industries, such as steel, mine, auto, shipyard, electrical and air- eraft. Your union health com- mittee would recommend health and safety clauses in contracts with employers. Both the AFL and the CIO have urged their affiliated unions to cooperate in the nutrition campaign. In California, mem- bers of AFL and CiO auxiliaries have done excellent work, in- cluding participation with nu- tritionists in judging communit lunch box contests. : Tuberculosis is a danger to all workers, old and young, male and female. Your health committee can follow the example of Local 506 of the UE in Erie, Pa., and arrange with the city health de- partment or Tuberculosis Associ- ation to have a chest X-ray of every member taken in the union hall. There are numerous other ac- tivities which a livewire health committee can carry out for the benefit of the union’s members: Red Cross classes in first aid and safety; vaccination pro- grams; campaigns for better housing; lectures and films on communicable diseases and per- sonal hygiene; hospitalization and medical care plans for union members; and so on ad infinitum. The important thing is to get a health committee organized and active in your union. This column Will from time to time deal* with the health hazards of workers in specific industries, and, in addition, will be glad to answer your questions and assist you with your problems. WeDeliver The Tools ERE are some of the details given in the House of GCom- mons last week by €. D. Howe, Minister of Munitions and Supply, on Canada’s contribution to the arsenals of the United Nations and the great industrial expansion that has taken place in the Dominion since the start of the war: Canada now is the greatest ex- porter of base metals in the world. It is the fourth greatest producer of war materials among the United Nations. We account for 95 percent of the United Na- tions’ total nickel output, 75 per cent of their asbestos, 40 per cent of their aluminum, and a sub- stantial percentage of their zinc, copper, lead and mercury. $3,425,000,000 is the amount to be spent this year on supplies for our own and the United Nations’ armed forees. Despite curtail- ments in some lines of produc- tion, there will not “be any slack- ening of the over-all effort.” We are now turning out, every week: six or more escort, cargo or patrol ships; 80 planes; 4,000 motor vehicles and 450 fighting vehicles; 940 heavy guns, barrels or mountings; 13,000 smaller wea- pons; 525,000 rounds of heavy ammunition; 25,000,000 rounds of small arms ammunition; 10,000 tons of explosives; $4,000,000 worth of instruments and com- munications equipment. To date we have launched 500 ships since the start of the war, although not a single seagoing vessel had been built here in the 20 years before the war. We have delivered 8,000 planes, 475,000 motor vehicles, 24,000 fighting vehicles, 55,000 heavy gun barrels or mountings, 630,000 small wea- pons. We have also produced 800,000 tons of chemicals, and ex- plosives and instruments and communications equipment tothe value of* $160,000,000. The total value of our deliver- les of war materials to date is $4,500,000,000, and more than 900,000 men and women are en- gaged in war industry.