«| LABOR’S VO ee ICE FOR VICTORY EOPLE <= VIL No. 25 5 Cents Vancouver, B.C., Saturday, June 26, 1943 The Boilermakers Blaze New Trails By ELSIE, ANDERSON ' ABOR MINISTER HUMPHREY MITCHELL’S belief 74 in the necessity of appointed government controllers » er trade unions would be shaken if he could bring him- : lf to pay a visit to the west coast and look up the Boiler- )3kers and Iron Shipbuilders Union. There he would find » trusted executive committee, returned to office three _) aes in defiance of the efforts of other control-minded =) lividuals to overthrow the democratic functioning of the )aon. And he would find the union and its leaders pre- = (| ring to blaze new paths in organization by becoming the |) st in Canada to appoint a full-time director in charge » sports and social activities. Last weekend the Boilermakers initiated a program m=) provide educational advantages, recreation facilities = d social and cultural interest for their members. Max =) ‘dford, director in charge of the program, hopes that }ier unions in the shipyards will follow the Boilermakers’ ample and that a comprehensive program covering all =) ases of social activity will soon be in full swing for the ‘@ nefit of shipyard workers. If this were done he believes | would be possible to departmentalize the work and have / director, an organizer, for each branch of activity. e SA7HEN seven-day continuous operation was instituted = in BC shipyards it brought many leisure-time prob- =) us for the worker who may have his day off on a dif- ™ ent day than his friends, or on Sunday, and find no sssibility of entertainment of any sort. It is almost im- issible to arrange a time for social or sports events suit- ile for all workers, so a “continuous operation” social josram becomes a necessity. Several ball teams are being organized or are already existence. Gymnasium classes have been arranged for Tee nights a week, and swimming classes will be con- Heted at Crystal Pool with instruction both for beginners id more advanced swimmers. Boxing, wrestling, archery, eresse, soccer, tennis, golf, rollerskating—all these are = ken into consideration in a program aimed at providing Wertainment and sports for youth in industry as well as @men and women coming within the scope of the union. ; But recreation and entertainment is not the sole aim ‘the union. In addition to the gigantic sports program, ith participant and spectator, more serious leisure time cupations have not been overlooked. A library is being tablished. Classes for young people and adults are be- = organized to include coaching in public speaking, and pe union also plans to see that those among its members terested in music, art or theater are given an opportunity develop their talents. Ma, 5. @ THIS plan is not put into effect to stop the workers from - discussing trade unions, politics or the war. It will "ver Interfere with workers concern over production ‘oblems. For behind the recreation, behind the fun and ughter and underlying the concern for workers’ needs is € conception of trade unionism, bulwark of democracy. union that concerns itself with all the needs of its mem- "TS at the same time teaches this basic principle and draws rength from the increased enthusiasm of its members for ir own organization, which can play such a role in their yes and exert so profound an influence over the well- sing of the thousands of men, women and young foiks ming within its scope. Behind China’s Yangtze Drive By ‘VETERAN COMMANDER’ E SHOULD venture to Say that to a majority of people (even those who do try to follow the develop- ments of this war) the Chinese front is in the nat- ure of a jigsaw puzzle. In view of the great “spring surprise’ the Chinese armies handed both to foe and friend by inflicting on the Japanese per- haps the most resounding defeat the Tenno’s troops have suffered in the almost six-year-old war (Tenno, by the way, is Japanese for “Mikado,” which is pure Anglo-Saxon), it seems timely to Sketch a general picture of the only important land front outside the Soviet Union. e AKE Chungking as the stra- tegic center of China today. From here the 2,000-mile longs overland route of supplies leads to the USSR. From here starts the now blocked Burma Road, some 700 miles long. Here ends the so-called Assam air route to India, also 700 miles long, Thus Chungking is the ‘‘heart” into which three “aortas” lead and it therefore can be taken as the strategic center. Chungking has no through rail connections with the rest of China. Its artery of transporta- tion is the Yangtze which runs down to the region of Shanghai, some 900 air mailes away to the Bast= The Yangtze is China's main central east-west line of communications. China’s main north-south line of communications is the Peip- ing - Hankow - Canton railroad Which crosses the Yangtze near Hankow. The Japanese in six years of war have not been able to seize control of this “cross’’ which would have permitted them to consolidate their several fronts into one, reach Chungking and acquire an overland rail route from Manchukuo to Indo-China which made safer their communi- cations between the homeland and their spearhead threatening India. They have waged many 2 cam- paign to seize control of the north-south allroad (as for in- stance the several Changsha cam- paigns which all ended in fizzles). They waged several campaigns to secure a safe line of transporta- tion up to Ichang, but have failed up to two weeks ago (they are now losing this control). .) HE Japanese north-south railroad from Manchuko down to approxi- mately the Yellow River at Chen- chow. Then there is a gap of some 125 miles (in Honan). After that a stretch of some 275 miles is in Japanese hands (in the Lake region). Then a stretch of about 400 miles is in Chinese hands. Finally a little section of the rail- road near Canton is in Japanese lish for the bombing of Japan. ese-occupied sections correspond to the three main fronts — the Wortheastern (Shansi-Honan), the Central (Hupeh-Hunan) and> the Southern (Kwantung). The Wortheastern front has pretty wide land-link with the Central Front. This link is guer- rilla-infested, but the railroads are being run by the Japanese to Tientsin, to Tsinan, Suchow WNanking and Shanghai. From Nanking one travels by river up to Ichang via Hankow. control the A military observer unscrambles some confused ideas pre- vailing as to China’s position in her coun- ter-offensive against Japan on the Yang- tze River. The Central and Southern fronts are linked only by coast- wise steamer. The coast is held by the Japanese only in spots, around WNingpo, Foochow, Amoy and Canton. Between these spots the coast is guerrilla infested, much as all enemy-held territory outside the railroads and the im- mediate shores of the Yangtze. The Japanese front in China naturally faces West theoretical- ly. Thus we see that the Japan- ese lack transversal (or “rock- ade”) lines of communication and once committed to action on one of the three main fronts cannot quickly shift troops from the oth- er fronts except by marching them to, say, Tsingtao, and tak- ing them by boat to either Shang- hai or Canton (or vice versa). Because of this situation the Japanese have so far been con- fined to poking “fingers” at the heart of China. at a distance of about 800 miles from Nagasaki in both free “poc- kets” between the three main fronts, TF is almost certain that the Japanese succeeded in achiey- ing their second purpose and as a result the rice crop of a mil- lion and a half tons has been ruined. But they failed in their bold and reckless stab at Chungking and also failed to wipe out or even threaten the two pockets where Allied planes, now arriv- ing in China in seemingly in- creasing mumbers, can poise themselves in the near future for raids against Japan. : The Central Front of China at present is the most important, for what good will it do the Jap- anese if they cross the Yellow River or reach Kumming in the far south if the heart of China goes on beating at Chungking aud Allied bombers can take off from Lantsi south of Hanchow, in Chekiang? This is why the recent Chinese victory is of such importance. We don’t know how much sup- port the Allied Air Force in China can give the Chinese, but if as a result of this support the Chinese could clear the Japanese out of Ichang, Hankow and Yo- chow, the result for the enemy would be catastrophic. The Chin- ese at this writing are attempt- ing to do just that by attacking Recruits for China’s great army that has withstood Japan’s might for six years line up for initial inspection somewhere behind the lines. HEIR latest “finger” started poking toward Chungking a month ago, roughly along the Yangtze. 7 What were the Japanese ob- jectives? The maximum objective was to reach Chungking and force Gen- eral Chiang to make a separate peace. The next lesser objective was either to gain permanent control of China’s Hunan-Hupeh “rice-bowl”’ or at least devastate it. Finally, the Japanese wanted by thrusting as much westward as possible, to create a perman- ent threat of encirclement to the two free areas ensconced between the three fronts, areas where Al- lied air bases might be estab- hands again. The three Japan- Such bases could be established _from Ichang) concentrically in the directions of these three key cities. To those who might think that is too am- bitious an undertaking, we might point out that the entire Japan- ese army group in the Hankow- Ichang-Yochow region relies en- tirely on the Yangtze as a route of supply and reinforcements, and a good bombardier can hardly miss a river steamer be- Cause such a steamer cannot maneuver. it’s almost like shoot- ing fish in a rain pipe. A squadron of bombers based, Say, at Patung (75 miles upriver can do more to hurt the Japanese now than a like number of bombers at any of our Pacific bases. They can save China and start the over- land march to Japan.