Review TOM McEWEN, Editor — HAL GRIFFIN, Associate Editor — RITA WHYTE, Business Manager. EDITORIAL PAGE Published weekly by the Tribune Publishing Company Ltd. at Room 6, 426 Main Street, Vancouver 4, B.C. — MArine 5288 Canada and British Commonwealih countries (except Australia), 1 year $3.00, 6 months $1.60. Australia, U.S., and all other countries, 1 year $4.00, 6 months $2.50. Printed by Union Printers Ltd., 550 Powell Street, Vancouver 4, B.C. Authorized as second class mail, Post Office Department, Ottawa ~ Tom McEwen ADIO commentator Jack Webster, a lad who is usually well to the fore in red-baiting and anti-labor comment, ven- tured a few long-range “predictions” on his program over CJOR last Sunday evening, 3 These “predictions” are not new nor did they originate with Webster. In Substance and outlook they are, as could be expected from such a source, provoca- tive, mischievous and generally false. Webster’s “predictions” boil down to this: that as the consequence of a long Period of Yankee-inspired red-baiting, Witch-hunting, and expulsion of workers from unions such as the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), the International Woodworkers of America (WA) and perhaps other Unions, the Communists (in this case the Labor-Progressive party) will organ- ize a sweeping breakaway from the in- ternational unions and form their own Canadian trade union congress. SS seep eke There is no doubt that the resentment and feeling of frustration which affect Tank-and-file trade unionists of all poli- tical shades at seeing their unions torn apart from the inside by goons and Wrecking crews from the U.S., does pro- Mote some “leftist” thinking, and the desire to find a short cut towards get- ting rid of this U.S. domination of Can- adian unions: But the setting up of a Tump congress such as Webster “pre- dicts” is not the answer to the unity needed to halt the U.S. splitters. The fact that Webster’s “predictions” are also his hopes, and hence expose the Provocative character of the _congress - anticipates should be patiently evi- ent, a What Webster and his paymasters Would actually like to ses would be the Communists in the trade unions organ- izing a breakaway from their unions on € issue of these U.S.-inspired “purges.” Then Webster and the whole pack of editorial pundits who supply screaming headlines on every union “purge” like Jackals Moving in to feed on the offal of the kill, would be able to howl about ©mmunist-inspired splits — and thus take the heat off the real union wreck- ie who want to reduce the Canadian fade union movement to a subservient. Vassal of the bosses and the swivel-chair Te nucrats who get their cue from the ‘S. State Department, the FBI and the RCMP, ee The unity developments now going orward between the top leadership of 4, and CIO unions set the pattern for 4 single united trade union congress in anada. In this struggle for unity, beset: with many difficulties, Communist, CCF, and other progressive trade unionists ave a big role to play; a role made more difficult because of U.S. interference and Ought-control “purges” in Canadian unions, : _ In this struggle the right of Commun- ists and other progressives to their poli- en opinions is a basic condition of F ade union unity and democracy. To all victim: to the alluring idea of a Teakaway as “predicted” by Webster, and hoped for by the trade union split- Ts and the bosses, is to abdicate the Struggle for the right of Canadians to build a united trade union movement and to Tun their own unions in the in- terests of their own membership. , Restore Formosa to China PRESIDENT Eisenhower's de- © cision to hold Formosa by force of U.S. arms, even to the point of war, is a provocative action fraught with the gravest danger to world peace. To present it, as he does, in the guise of peace, is the crown- ing cynicism. As it did in Korea, the U.S. has shown its contempt of the United . Nations by committing its armed forces first and then calling on the UN to endorse its actions. The People’s government of China is today as effectively in con trol of its territory as was the revo- lutionary government of the Unit- ed States following the War of In- dependence. Yet ironically, the 'USS., alone of the great powers, refuses to recognize this fact. By organizing a trade blockade, forcib- ly occupying Chinese territory, en- gaging in unfriendly acts and using its influence to exclude People’s China from the United Nations, the U.S. manifests its hostility to the Chinese people. Formosa is indisputably Chinese territory. As such it must be re- stored to the government which represents the overwhelming ma- jority of the Chinese people. The argument that it is essential to U.S. defense, by which the U.S. justifies its support of the repudiat- ed Chiang Kai-shek regime, is the flimsiest of pretexts for interven- tion in the internal affairs of the Chinese people. / Formosa in the hands of the Peo- ple’s government represents no threat to the peace of the world or the security of the U.S. On the contrary, Formosa in the hands of Chiang Kai-shek whose last des perate hope lies in fomenting war between the U.S. and China, is the real threat to peace. There is only one demand that the Canadian people must make of their government, that it dis sociate itself from the provocative actions of the U.S. and take a forthright stand in the UN, first for China to be accorded its right- ful place and second, for the return _ of Formosa to China. The people don’t want it M. J. Coldwell ... For W HILE an affirmative vote in parlia- ment to ratify the London-Paris agreements to rearm West Germany would appear to be certain, there are already many indications that the Liberal govern- ment, and its Tory, Social Credit’ and - Coldwell-MacInnis supporters, not finding it easy to justify their position. All decent Canadians will applaud the courageous opposition to German rearma- -ment expressed by the’ majority of CCF. MPs. Not only did they stand by the de- cisions of their 1954 national convention to oppose rearming West Germany, thus rendering a great moral service to Canada, | but their opposition is also a high tribute to the memory of Canada’s 100,000 dead in two world wars. ° CCF leader, M. J. Coldwell and his deputy, Angus MacInnis, have declared themselves for reinstating the Nazi generals, thereby flaunting the will of their own national convention, and the conscience of the Canadian people. fares by defending Hitler. John Blackmore, Socred mem ber -for Lethbridge has gone even Of a different order, but no less shameful are the pitiful excuses offered by two Liberal MPs, David Croll (Toronto‘Spadina) and Leon © Crestohl (Montreal-Cartier) who support the rearming of West Germany but ‘‘with a heavy heart.’’ Apparently their hearts weren’t so heavy with the memory of overs six million” of their Jewish compatriots, burned alive in the Nazi death ovens and tortured in concent- ration camps, that they could yote against a measure which returns the weapons to the murderers. Regardless of the vote in parliament, the crime of rearming the Nazis, done in the ‘name of “‘preserving peace,’ can only sharpen the danger of global war. It is the decision of the St. Laurent government but not that of the great majority of the Cana- dian people. =~ . \S Stanley Knowles ... Against ~ Hal Griffin pown in Montreal a lively wraith is causing some perturbation within the city council and the Protestant School Board. Prompted perhaps by the pub- licity given to this calculated lunacy in Indiana last year, a parent has complain- ed that the story of Robin Hood is being used to further “communist philosophy” in the creative dramatics class of a Montreal school. . The parent, whose identity is not dis- closed, wants to extend the scope of Premier Duplessis’ padlock law™to Sher- wood Forest and compel the merry out- law to abandon his practice of robbing ‘the rich to give to the poor. In a society whose ethics are based on the right of the rich to exploit the poor, this is a dwnright subversive idea. Obviously, Robin Hood’s persistent popularity among Schoolchildren dis- tracts from the wholesome violence de- picted by Dcik Tracy or the noble art of fomenting war exemplified in Steve Canyon and challenges our whole demo- cratic way of life. ‘ “People get something for nothing and, before they realize it, they’re slaves,” the parent is quoted as saying. Having examined the idea first to make sure it is not just another coupon circulated by the soap, soup or tea mak- ers to foster illusions, most people will feel that there is too little danger of their being enslaved in this fashion. They are much more likely to believe that the danger arises from application of the idea in reverse by governments giving away our natural resources to Yankee freebooters. } But then, even if our hands are tied, they are not entirely empty. In return we are protected against the ideological arrows of Robin Hood. There may be a connection between the undemocratic methods by which the Montreal city fathers are chosen and their lack of faith in the democratic pro- cess. Otherwise they would smile in- dulgently and refuse to lend their names to such inanities. But apparently even the wraith of Robin Hood frightens them : no less than their predecessors in Eng- land six centuries ago were frightened by the men, known and unknown, whose exploits combined to create the legend. x Now, Thomas Sommerville, director of education of the Greater Montreal Pro- testant School Board, acting on the in- ~ structions of Councillor Roy Wagar, must conduct an investigation into the myth of Robin Hood. The council should be horrified when it gets the report. : ' % % % What will the councillors say when they learn that Robin Hood’s day in Old England was May Day — the day when the Morris dancers, expressing the peas- ants’ protest against the greedy lords who took their harvest for themselves, enacted Robin’s triumphs. ' And how will they react to the infor- mation that Robin Hood is the heir of Piers Ploughman, the mythical toiler who became transformed into the legendary outlaw after the defeat of the peasant revolts in 14th century England. = But, no matter what the councillors do, Robin Hood is secure in the hearts of the people who have delighted in his exploits over six centuries. As A. L. Morton points out in his The English Utopia, the story of Robin Hood is part of the folk Utopia. “It is the English Cokagne and the French Coquaine. It is Pomona and Hy Brasil, Venusberg and the Country of the Young. It is Lubber- land and Schlaraffenland, Poor Man’s Heaven and the Rock Candy Mountains.” It is part of the mythology of the Plain people in their struggle for a bet- ter life. That’s why the McCarthyites try to destroy it. PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JANUARY 28, 1955 — PAGE 5 .