RESISTANCE Ci ofa i¥ | | 2 PEOPLE’S VOICE FOR PROGRESS “1, NO. 13 oa 5 Cents : "VANCOUVER, B.C.. SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 1945 onvention verridden - effort, George Harris, san, PAG member, have an- iced their resignation from committee. It is also xre- ed that. another -prominent iber, George Burt, Wnited 9 Workers Canadian direc- will resign shortly. organ’s resignation was week umanimously endorsed ‘he TWA District Council in zouver, which he represent- um PAC. The IWA interna- al board member is at pres- m England for the meeting: t¢ World Trade Union Gon- E ce aS a representative for. CCL. fe resignations, represent- ‘stand of the largest CCL fas, arose out of the action he PAC meeting of Janu- 16 where the decision of the meet in December to con- E political action independ- 7 of any political party was wsed, under the lead of ‘aman C. H. Millard, leading . trade unionist, and a reso- jon pushed through shack- PA€ to a policy of support- the €CF in the coming Fed- ‘election. — 1TISAN INTRIGUE mmenting on the resigna- 8, IWA District President old Pritchett, who substituted Morgan at the Ji SRUALY. meet- Stated: : ' consider the action of PAG, Iting from the partisan in- des of the CCF, as a blow abor and Canada’s war ef- The resolution introduced Shairman Millard completely tsed the unanimous decision the last PAC meet which for fully independent po- mation of substandard al action of a non-partisan ore. fhe time and money %% In preparation to present ™s just demands to the fed- oyernment for amendments Orders-in-Gouncil 1003 and =—which are directed to wanteeinge union security and : CL-PAC Splits When Decision Is By Millard | Charging CCL Political Action Committee reversal of former policy of non-partisan cooperation with other i1ocratic bodies as a disastrous move for labor.and the PAC vice-chairman, and Nigel wages—has been made almost useless, and the achievement of these has been rendered ex— tremely difficult. “Millard’s statement at the PAG meeting that “if a federal election was not. in the offing we might be able to go along on the unanimous action adopted in the last meeting” is an example of sheer recklessness in a drive for partisan power, and jeopar- dizes labor and the nation. It negates all the principles that labor stands for—and tends to destroy labor’s tremendous eco- nomic, social annd political achievements. “This action suspiciously coin- cides with the plans of the Tories in Canada, who conspired to throw the nation into chaos and foree an election on a false conscription issue. The CCF, at that time compelled by popu- lar demand to reverse themselves and support the government and the war effort against the Tories, have now openly joined with the latter in Grey North to disrupt the war government. It is now obvious that the par- tisan recklessness displayed at the PA@ meet was directly linked with the CCF strategy in Grey North. It was directed towards joining with the Tories in forcing an election at the ex- pense of the nation and the war effort, an election in which the major issues confronting the Canadian people will now tend to be obscured by these parti- san tactics. “The District which I repre- sent, and the International of which I am a member, stand for non-partisan labor political action. In my opinion it would be a betrayal of our membership te accept this partisan maneuver in PAG. I am also certain the everwhelminge majority of Ca- —Continued on Page 8 Poland Into Army Smashes Thru jermany And Threatens Striking sledge hammer blows at crumbling Nazi defenses, six Soviet army groups maintained the pace of the most powerful and brilliant ail tary offensive in all history this week. While the victorious Red Army slashed across the Oder River in Silesia, stormed Poznan and moved rapidly to cut off an estimated 30 German divi- sions in East Prussia, another offensive in Czechoslovakia had begun at 7 HAINANG JAP SUPPLY LINE LUZON FOURTH BEST NATURAL HARBOR IN THE WORLD DEEPEST U_S PENETRATION IN SOUTH CHINA SEA = eas In the deepest penetration yet of the South China Sea, US. Third Fleet units, hurling hundreds of carrier-based planes against four Japanese convoys believed headed for Luzon, sank 25 ships and damaged 13. At the same time, attacks on installations between Saigon and Camranh Bay in French Indo-China destroyed 30 planes. Supplies Stop; yor Stops---Says Turner Following to its logical conclusions his argument against Labor's “No-strike” pledge, Arthur Turner, CCEF-MLA, drew a storm of protest at the Town Meeting of the air broadcast over CJOR last week. Asked by a member of the audience during the question period what would happen if as a result of a wave of strikes supplies failed to reach the boys overseas, he answered “well then the war would stop.” Finding that his reply did not go over to well, or perhaps realizing belatedly where his arguments were leading, he proceeded to re- moye all doubt from his list- eners minds by hastily adding ““ell it would on our side any- how.” SACRED PROMISE The exchange climaxed a dis- cussion between Tugner, veteran labor leader Tom McEwen, pro- vinecial chairman of the LPP who upheld labor’s pledge as a sacred promise to our boys overseas which must be sustained in order to assure the defeat of Nazi Ger- many. and James Smith, marine editor of the Vancouyer Sun. ‘Turner’s arguments were ably answered by Smith, a member of the Vancouver Newspaper Guild, who took the position that al- though labor was often provoked by unscrupulous employers and had many just demands, the war was the primary issue and strikes during the war by delay- ing the day of victory were detri- mental to the cause of labor. Turner presented a case for strike action, for although he at times tried to shelter his re- marks behind the partial pledge ispired by CCF leaders at Que- bec, his main arguments were the wellworn theme that we must strike now to gain condi- tions for the armed forces when they return. QUIBLING Quibling over words he tried to build a case out of the dit- ference between a pledge and a policy, giving the audience a fair i cow. in press time this week and was already chalking up major gains. Announcing that the German armies in the east have been smashed the Mos- radio said that several- German battle groups “‘are cut off and caught in caul- drons far in the rear where they are facing inevitable di- saster, indicating the speed of the Soviet advance and the bold strategy of the Red Army High Command. While the German High Com- mand was apparently throwing its last “reserves” consisting mainly of the “grab bag” Volks- sturm battalions and Heinrich Himmier, as well as divisions from the Western Front, Soviet broadcasts repeated again and again the triumphant theme of “We are on the road to Berlin.” Reports of Nazi peace feelers, reflecting the obvious despera- tion evident in their broadcasts, began to be circulated. This was immediately countered by British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden in the House of Commons with ~ the statement that, while the European Advisory Commission was working on the armistice terms to. be imposed upon Ger- many, these terms would not be revealed until the hostilities in Hurope ceased. The reference to imposing the terms was taken to mean that Churchill’s often re-, peated stand for maintenance of the Allied policy of no negotiated Peace was being rigidly adhered to. Hope that this “unconditional surrender” stand would under- mine confidence of Germans in Nazi ability to survive and thereby help shatter their will to resist. was increased by reports of clashes between Volkssturm and S.S. troops. ~ While the Allied armies in the West had not yet taken major advantage of German withdraw- als to launch a major offensive, one vreport indicated that “mo- mentous events were in the off- ing.” Allied air action continued ito take heavy toll of retreating Nazi armies. On the other side of the world American troops on Luzon con- tinued their steady advance on Manila and were within striking distance of the important Glark ' airfield. On the diplomatic front no —Continued on Page 8 — Continued on Page 8