| PACIFIC ADVOCATE “PEOPLE’S VOI CE FOR PROGRESS LL, No. 15 Ess 5 Cents VANCOUVER, B.C., SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1945 jecond Conference Of ‘or Victory 3ig Three Sets Stage And Peace Paralleling the jolting effect on world fascism and re- qnouncement this week that 1 the first question, “to con- yt plans for-completine the de- at of the common enemy.” The announcement, released multaneously in Washington, loscow and London, imecluded an senda of the major auestions to : solved in carrying out the second. part of the ~meeting’s mpose, to concert plans “for nilding, with their Allies, firm umdations for a lasting peace.” | 2EHSAGING UNITY | Inclusion of the agenda was “mediately imterpreted as pre- ‘ging similar unity in dealing ith this phase of the confer- fice, and promising early and horough agreement on the ‘oints involved. Painting out iat “discussions of problems in- olved in establishing a secure ‘eace have also begun,” the bul- “tin said these discussions would zal with “joint plans for the Seupation and control of Ger- sany, the political and economic moblems of liberated Hurope nd proposals for the earliest sstablishment of a permanent fternational organization to daintain peace.” -This Stunning blow to the alamity howlers, who hopefully ‘aw in each inter-Allied differ- mee an insuperable obstacle to mity, offered new evidence that he spirit of Teheran was work- ag more powerfully than ever md raised the hopes of the peo- les of the whole world. STUNNING BLOWS : Stunning and possibly final lows were also in the making a the battlefields of eastern and western Germany as the Red Lrmy made a number of cross- mgs of the Oder River, last Jatural barrier before Berlin, and seneral Hisenhower’s armies edged through the Siegfried Line. Aé press time Marshal Zhu- sov’s Ist White Russian Army “ton of United Nations’ victories on the war fronts, was the the “Big Three’ meeting was a and that “complete agreement’ had already been reached was reported to have gained seven bridgeheads the Qder directly before Berlin and was laying down a punishing ar- tillery barrage. casts already admitting that German defenses cracking: and the stage was being acress German broad- were were set for the final allout drive on the German WESTERN On the Americans capital. FRONT western the a front were continuing slow advanee which was ex pected to accelerate as positions for launching a large scale of- tensive were won. Action on the western front was growing in in- tensity along several stretches of a 120-mile front. While no large scale activity was reported on the northern sector, held by Brit- ish and Canadians, German broadcasts continued to empha- size that they expected the big smash to be launched from this part, around Aachen. PIERLOT RESIGNS Tremendous boost to hopes for solving the tangled European political picture, given by the “Big Three” announcement, had added to it the announcement from Belgium that Premier Pier- lot was bemg foreed to resign under the pressure of a popular- ly supported coalition of Liber- als, Socialists and Communists. Particularly significant in the Pierlot resignation was the ad- mission that his government, which had excluded the popular forces, was unable to either con- duct an efficient administration- cr solve the many pressing eco- nomic problems facing the coun- try. One of the major charges against the Pierlot government, aside from incompetence, was its failure to remove collabora- tionists from leading positions. Results confusion and disunity. Grey North Demonstrates artisan Pol CCF tactics and propaganda resulted in the election of the Tory candi- date in Grey North by-election this week. This result, with its ominous threat to Canadian war unity and the winning of the peace, was achieved by the Coldwell-Lewis-Millard gang by a combination of splitting the progressive vote and a propaganda campaign which went right os Without the help of Soviet workers on the home front, the Red Army could not now on the road to Berlin. Like American workers, those in Russia have topped production schedules to keep the battlefronts supplied, These men are members of the Soviet trade union movement, the largest in the world. be crashing through Germany BCER a six cent hourly wage increase, was inaugurated at this week’s meeting of the Vancouver, New Westminster and District Trades and Labor Council (AFL). The packed meeting wnanim- cusly adopted their executive’s recommendation to set up a committee to bring in proposals for amendments to 9384 at the next regular meeting, and went on to unanimously pass a resolu- tion from Division 101, Street Railwaymen’s Union, to secure support from Trades and Labor inion Full Support Of Labor Dominion-wide campaign of AFL unions for improve- ments. in wartime wage control order, P.C. 9384,, and for pressure on federal labor department to give the “green light’ for the Regional War Labor Board to grant BCER workers Assured Councils across Canada for the street railwaymen’s demands and for revision of the order-in-coun- cil. IMPLIED PROMISE Division 101 resolution asked for support “in bringing all pos- sible influence to bear upon the Federal Labor Department in an endeavor to give the necessary power to the Regional War la- bor Board to fulfill the implied promises of Federal Labor De- icy down the Tory alley of Prime Minister Mackenzie King had not announced his decision on the holding of an- other session of parliament by press time, but it was obvious that the byelection result had made it virtually impossible for him to avoid calling it off. Indications were that Cana- dian unity to back up the final attack on Nazi Germany had been seriously jeopard- ized by the Tory-CCE gang-up- with a general election, in which the false “conscription” issue would receive dangerous promi- nence, in the offing. Prize statement on the results was made by. Vancouver Bast CCr M.P. Angus MacInnis. He told a reporter that “under the circumstances the party had done very well.” Leaying aside the ;|implied admission that the elec- tion of the Tory was a satisfac- tory outcome, this post-mortem contrasted sharply with such pre-election blurbs as the follow- ing by George Grube, Ontario CCF President, comparing Grey North to the CCF Victory in South York three years ago (when arch-Yory Arthur Meighen was defeated by a coalition of left-wingers, Liberals and CCF), “Grey North will be a victory just as great — a victory that may well put the CCF in power at the next election.” This state- ment was made as part of the campaign which the CCE con- ducted from one end of Canada to the other to raise funds for their Grey North disruption. GRAVE IMPORTANCE The result of the byelection in Grey North has lessons of grave importance to the people of Can- ada. It is a signal demonstration that the splitting of the’ demo- cratic forces can only result in the election of a government of Tory xreaction in the coming federal elections. It serves to emphasize the decisive impor- tance of labor’s role in the com- ing contest, and a distinet warn- ing of the result of following narrow partisan policies with the consequent splitting of progres- sive forces. The vote, 7338 for Garfield Gase (Prog.-Cons.), 6090 for Genera! McNaughton (Lib.), and 3136 for Air Vice-Marshal God- frey (CCF), places the respon-— sibility squarely on the should- ers of the CCF. The complete re- versal of the CCL-PAC policy of —Continued on Page 8 —Continued on Page 8