BOMRSMSEAESTODERETELTERSSUS LORS LEDLOLERECSLSSERSSARLTSUESESESRSSESSSUBEREEDERSES PACIFIC ADVOCATE MEOOEUUSEKEUDSSSOSTSRCEADSSTRERVERSSSCOSERAS SUSUR PREDESOTELOCSNSSR PRESS ELST CONES P.A. PEOPLE’S VOICE FOR PROGRESS Published every Saturday by The People Publishing Com-., pany, Room 104, Shelly Building, 119 West Pender Street, . Vancouver, British Columbia and printed at East End Printers, 2303 East Hastings Street, Vancouver, British Columbia. Subscription Rates: One year $2; six months $1. Editor Phone Cc. A. SAUNDERS MA rine 5288 S | Layoffs 3 The jubilance of final military victory over the ‘fascist aggressors had scarcely died down before the realities of peace time problems were hurled in the faces of the people of Canada. The almost indecent*haste with which the gov- ernment moved to cancel war contracts, throwing thousands of war workers out of employment, pre- sented a challenge to organized labor and the people of Canada as a whole. That challenge is being met, and greater unity even than that achieved during the war is being‘ forged in the determined struggle to realize the fruits of victory. Nobody expects or has a right’ to expect that factories would continue producing material of war. Everybody expects and has a right to expect that layoffs will be gradual—that provisions for a tide- over period will be made. Everybody expects that plans will be implemented immediately to convert factories to peace-time production. Reconversion and rehabilitation plans have been worked out by Federal and Provincial authori- ties, every major union in the country has submitted plans for the conversion and continuance of full scale production. ; & These plans must be lifted off of paper and im- plemented immediately. Similarly in the shipyard industry in British Co- lumbia. : The major shipyard unions have been tackling the postwar problem for over two years. Everybody realized that without government action the in- dustry was in danger of sliding back to its pre-war status, employing at the most a few hundred men. There was no need for the sudden and indis- -criminate action that suddenly threw thousands of men on the labor market. Other, perhaps than the end of providing that surplus labor market so necessary to the enemies of organized labor. The demands put forward by organized labor to meet this situation are eminently just. They are supported by all progressive people. Organized labor has won the respect of the nation by its contribution to the winning of the war. It rightfully assumes the leadership in the fight to win the peace. . Reconvene ‘the Dominion-Provincial parley! Back the demand for a special session of the provin- cial legislature! Unify and close the ranks of labor in the fight to exorcise the spectre of unemployment! PACIFIC ADVOCATE—PAGE 4 in Passing By C. A. pulses ANYBODY who attended the mass meeting at Capilane Stadium last Sunday could not but be impressed by the unity of purpose that brought this impressive gathering together. . Over six thousand citizens, representative of all walks of life attended the meeting with one specific purpose in mind. They wished fitst of all to register their protest against the precipitate and indis- sriminate layoffs in war in- dustries. They also wished to express their determina- tion that plans for the open- ing up of new industries, the expansion of the economy of the Province, and immediate implementation of public works projects, should be speeded up to #£acilitate im- mediate re-employment of warworkers. From the platform, rep- resentatives of the main : trade union centers united with veterans in put- ing forward a fighting program that enthused the audience. MP’s and MLA’s were invited zuests. The meeting was a great success. A con- structive program for. immediate action was drawn up and a_ continuations committee ap- pointed to carry on. It was unity in action, the kind of unity that gets things done by mobilizing all sections of the population behind a just cause. ; However, there was one sour note introduced. It- was introduced from the source that has con- tinually advocated policies within the ranks of organized labor that would have left them iso- lated and friendless today. The trade union movement was able to rally the support of the citizens on this issue precisely because they had shown their responsibility dur- ing the time of national crisis created by the war against Fascist aggression and domination. The Trade Union movement pursued those policies in B.C. under the guidance of the “Prit- chetts, the Morgans, Murphys, MacLeods and Stewarts,” as Union leaders, ‘and many of their lesser agents” (presumably the shop stewards). Because of this, they were able to perform mar- vels of production, played a major role in the defeat of Germany and Japan. — they have been able to solidify a organizations. Because of this the tion to play a major role in the peace. yer it was precisely. these men Trade union committee chose scurrilous mimeographed leafiet | side of the grounds. The leaflet ¢ ususl calamity howling style of th ward a program distinguished ~ forward by the meeting solely b 't offered no method of procedur ed merely a set of demands addr and with no intimation as to how implemented. The leaflet deman hour week,-. solely for the reason ing was putting forward the pe able and realizable request for week with no reduction in take4 sumably this was done on the basis your militancy but outdemanding We could envision this going, would make the Trade Union ; absolutely ridiculous. However the program was ob; excuse to. provide a vehicle fo attack on Trade Union’ leaders. — such an occasion and at such a9 only be designed to disrupt and «& nothing to the discussion of the hj of layoffs and merely served to fui anscrupulous and disruptive elen OCF who have long been distingg ability to sow confusion and misré¢ Fortunately it was amply demo meeting, that the majority of — were little impressed by this atta cd generous applause to all spe Harvey Murphy, one of those ; ‘tyaitor”’ in the leafiet. E THE problems of layoffs and recsi the greatest unity in the labo will soon be faced with a provi this province in which it is obvial way the Tory-Liberal coalition cz by the greatest unity of all pra Such attacks as those contained only make the task of unifying vote more onerous and lend aid reaction. = : Around Town By Cynthia Carier VERYBODY talks about the weather, accord- ig to the old joke, but nobody does anything about it. The same thing can be said, I think, abcut our favorite indoor sport, comic strip reading. Everybody reads comics. From the ultra-sophisticates who sneer at everything but Barnaby, down through the half-hearted fans who take a quick glance at Blondie, to the unashamed addicts who buy gaudily colored comic books, we’ve reached the his- toric phase in which we can no longer take ’em or leave ’em alone. At the same time, many of us maintain that comics are a pretty low form of entertaimment. But nobody does anything about it. We often deplore comics because of their “terror and blood” motif. Having been brought up on the relatively more frightening Jack the Giant Killer and Hansel and Gretel, I think there is a much greater danger in the anti-democratic idezs some strip writers serve up daily. In this connection an investigation of comic strips and a campaign to purge the worst offenders from our newspaper pages is long overdue. In the old days comics had one purpose; to make us leugh. Characters had pies thrown at them instead of death rays, and when Happy Hooligan fell off the end of the pier we didn’t stay awake nights wondering if he’d fall into the hands of Super X the Mad Scientist, and his Atomic Ray Gun. Now all this is changed. Comics have discovered continuity, and many of them have messages. Popeye, for instance, plugs for spinach. Dick Tracy proves that crime doesn’t pay. And the finest of all comic strips, Terry and the Pirates, has followed a strongly courageous anti-fascist course for the past ten years. But there’ are others whose propaganda is actually harmful. Consider for a moment the case of Little Orphan Annie (who, I strongly suspect, became an orphan by pushing her parents into a pot of boiling oil) and the fascist-minded, diamond-stick pinned Daddy Warbucks.. (That name makes you think a bit. Does it mean he made his pile during 1914-187) . Long before this war the anti-labor, anti- democratic nature of the strip was apparent. But at the beginning of hostilities Annie and Daddy let loose full blast against the forces of pro- gress. At the outset Daddy coule saw him cast off in a little boat. foreign destination, tearfully m the America of these times (an 7 im a war against fascism) there}, a militant private enterpriser ]f mediately Annie comes up agal: villian wartime controls. She taf cery store where she fights ag: laws, we are shown how foolis, other controls are, and are led to entire price fixing structure is- against the people. ; The next episode shows br battling a villianess whom the wr fully made a social worker, and used to poke fun at those who t: pvloitation of child labor. = And now in the nick of time,. returns, lousy with money and his hatchetmen, to snatch Annief a bunch of unscrupulous lawyer democratic means; but by using | intimidation, and third degree foi! the only way to win is to defy la trol legislation, and any sort of ¢ the law into your own hands to into agreeing with you. 3 Ideas like these, to my way che real danger in comic strips.- comics go overboard supplying should be severely criticized. B Superman advances the theory deciding the problems of a bh. should worry parents infinitely ther Junior will dream about M But what to do about it? ¥ of.comics is tied in with a much of all-over educational reform. 4. teacher, for imstance, agrees W pupils that text books, particulai are practically archaic. (Withi weeks, by the way, I will tell yc versations with school teachers — Comics have a role to play in e their form is interesting and e able. But why not substitute hb human heroes for the Supermt with the Orphan Annie’s? Many. cators are using comic strips 1 for example. This is something * And in the meantime, the 7 .vaise in your Parent-Teacher gro or discussion group. Decide wl: are objectionable, and lobby yot | ber this; to an editor who want” culation, any mass protest Is Ws SATURDAY, |