_ PEOPLE’S VOICE FOR PROGRESS FOL. 1, NO. 12 2S 5 Cents VANCOUVER, B.C., SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 1945 The Polish government Lublin adio also “made — “an announce— sent of the capture ot Krakow i South Poland on the road to savy industry in the See -REATEST OFFENSIVE Strikine blow after blow on 600 mile front from Hast Prus- & to Yugoslavia in what was “id to be the greatest offensive = the history of war, the Red ‘smy, with the aid of a Polish cmy of 300,000, was obviously j ming at a knock-out blow at sermany, 2S the - Soviet High ‘ommand earried out its funda- jental strategy of striking at he weakest points: of the main sneentrations of-enemy forces. This strategy was superbly xeeuted in the capture of War- aw where almost simultaneous dows were struck north and ‘fouth of the Polish capital and, oliowine thesé breakthroughs, lhe city was encircled from the (Vest and captured. “OUNTER~ ATTACK STOPPED Meanwhile, on the Western font, Rundstedt’s offensive im he “hulge” has been smashed, with the Germans sent fleeing jack to their Rhine defenses with xt lea:t 100,000 casualties in- dicted on them, and the Allies were again on the offensive m Belend. Further south in Bel- viumt and France the Germans were being held at all points and n Some cases were being driven back as Eisenhower prepared Major offensive action. me up ouickly on the Wastern font as the Red Army captured fhe key East Prussian fortress af Schlossbure and moved to sane ali of East Prussia. In Hungary, Budapest was almost ecmpletely in the hands of the Red Army, and it was imcreas- ingly clear that what was left of the Nazi armies would shortly be engaged in the final battle of OS EEEEEY itself. flesia, a major area of German]: Qther victories were also shap- Nazi Defenses Crumble As Red Army Assault Gains Momentum - Red Army victory offensive to end the war had already ‘aimed the capture of the Polish capital, Warsaw, by press ime this week, after six day of attack, was rolling forward wer shattered German divisions on a direct roue to Berlin: As oan -military - Hees thus i apidly brightened, Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt were pre- & matter of days, to agree on the details of the final biows to re- duce Germany to utter defeat and plan the next stages of the gpostwar plans announced a year ago at Teheran. The slogan of “aneonditional surrender’ was again confirmed by Churchill in the British House of Commons last week as the best means of an early victory over Nazi Ger- many and as a fundamental part! of the Allied policy of no nego- tiated peace with Germany. Churehill disagreed with the “soft peacers” that unconditional surrender would prolong the war and revealed again that it was a policy demanded by all the allies. GREECE With U.S. correspondents bit- terly complaining that British censors were prohibiting reports on the situation, the political sit- uation in Greece was still ob- secure. A truce between the ELAS and British commander Lt.-Gen. Scobie was reported to have been arranged, after the Greek patriot forces had with- drawn from the Athens area. MANPOWER In the meantime, large num- bers of reinforcements have been sent from Canada to our army overseas, reported again in ac- tion in Holland, with 8,000 NRMA personnel volunteering for active service. All men dis- charged from the armed services, who have not served overseas or dn certain other ‘“operational”’ categories. are being called up again and it is expected that a pool of 56,000 for the army will be realized. At the same time, a labor shortage of 100,000—50,000 im- mediately needea in vital war qndustry—is being acutely felt. paring to meet, perhaps within able consideration. York, heard American labor, church leaders call on the U.S. government to sever re- lations with Spain. Among the speakers were (ltor) Dr. Channing Tobias of the YMCA Natl. Council, Bishop G. An anti-Franco rally at Madison Sq. Garden; New government, civic and whelming approval when the Progressive Party stated that contribution to Canada’s future Gf iu caved to prevent a actionary tory coalition coming out of the next federal elections. Declaring that labor unity was a vital necessity during’ 1945, “a year of challenge, when bitter and costly battles will be fought,” the LPP national lead- er scored the policy of the CCF in Grey North where that party is running a candidate against Defence Minister Gen. A. G. L. McNaughton. The LPP, stated Buek, rejects opportunist pol- jeies which are put forward only for the purpose of winning votes. re- The birthday commemoration banquet which saw nearly 800 guests seated in the Crystal Rallvcom of the King Edward Hotel, was compelled to close its doors on several hundred other guests who could not obtain ad- Bromley Oxnam, and Rep. John M. Coffee (D, Wash:) Tim Buck Urges Unity Stop Tory Coalition | By MEL COLBY: TORONTO, Ont.—Nearly 800 guests at the banquet honoring the 54th birthday of Tim Buck voiced their over- national leader of the Labor- labor would make a historic mittance space. because. of lack ‘of Seated at the head table with Tim Buck were a. large number of his colleagues, some of whom had heen associated with him in the labor movement for more than 25 years. Among those who gathered to pay tribute to Bueck’s’ leadership in the labor movement were J. W. Buckley, vice-president of the Trades and Laber Congress of Canada and secretary of the “Toronto Dis- trict Trades and Labor Con- gress; A. A. Macleod, MPP (Toronto-Bellwoods) who chair- ed the banquet; J. B.- Salsberg, MPP (Toronto-St. Andrews); Fred Rose, MP (Montreal-Car- tier): Pte. Wally Dent, wounded veteran of the present war who also saw service with the Mac- ——Continued on Page 8 siUnion, Govt Coating Reach Agreement For Settlement Of Three-way negotiations achieved a proposal for ending the street ras waymen‘s strike this week and indications at press time Were that the street railwaymen would accept their advisory board’s recommendation to vote “Ves'’ and go back to work on the basis of a new Regional War Labor Board review in which many demands of the men would apparently receive favor- CE Strike © Negotiations which result- ed in the settlement proposal came after pressure of public opinion behind organized la- bor’s demand for a three-way conference achieved a meeting - of company, union and gov- ernment representatives. F. E. Harrison, western repre- sentative of the federal de- - partment of labor, brought the BCER and union officials together, and with the assist- ance of Streetrailwaymen’s Union International “trouble shooter” ©. A. Rowan succeeded in working: — out the final com-— promise. : RECOMMEND LIFTS Developments in the strike situation included the announce- ment late last week of the de- cision ‘of Division 101’s execu- tive board to recommend to all workers to accept lifts and other such transportation to work in order that war industry not be disrupted: = Explaining this decision at this week’s meeting of the Van- couver Trades and Labor Coun- cil, Division 101 delegate R. E. Gregory, referring to what he termed the lockout, explained -|that the decision was taken to clear up confusion that had arisen, and because the policy of attempting to compel workers to walk was only hurting trade unionists and not assisting: the street railwaymen. The decision, he reported, was approved by a mass. meeting of the men early in the week. MISLEADING STATEMENTS Gregory said that as the strike developed misleading statements had been made by various elements and the street raibvaymen’s executive felt a statement of a definite policy was necessary. They felt that the walk to work policy was only many hurting the trade unions and the working; people. The fact that foll war production was not be- ing inaintained, despite the good - record of the week, was not de- sirable, and if people had not come to work it would have been a great lever to use against the etreet railwaymen.