pee. Pert Angela Davis (left) attends a press conference held by Billy Dean Smith following his acquittal on fragging charges. Smith charged Army with attempted frame-up because of his opposition to the war. Civil rights battles continue in the US. The police murder of two black students at Southern Uni- versity in Baton Rouge Nov. 17 has been described as “crimi- nal” by CPUSA national chair- man Henry Winston. “It is a logical extension of Nixon’s Southern strategy and his speech against permissiveness,” Winston stated. The students were part of a sit-in at the university’s admin- istration building protesting the “plantation approach to educa- tion” at the nation’s largest black university. They were de- manding reforms including im- proved transit facilities, permis- sion to sell their used books to the campus bookstore and the right to fly the Black Liberation Flag — a right already granted by the State Board of Education. These demands were met by 200 armed police who fired a 10-minute barrage into the stu- dent ranks killing two and injur- _ ing several others. Guns, attack dogs and tear gas was the mayor’s meaning when he told the press, “we are going to get the administration back at any rashes ae * * A military jury of seven offic- ers found Pvt. Billy D. Smith innocent of the ‘“fragging” deaths of two Army officers in Vietnam. Smith, 24, of the Watts area of Los Angeles, went on trial nine weeks ago on charges of setting off a fragmentation gre- nade at an officers’ barracks at Bien Hoa Army Base in Vietnam on March 15, 1971. The defense, in a seven-hour closing argument called the Army’s investigation “slipshod” and the charge against Smith “preposterous.” Several major prosecution wit- nesses in open court contradict- ed testimony they had given in pretrial © dispositions against Smith. According to the Army Times, there have been 550 incidents of fragging in the past four years, including 86 deaths. In 1971, 22 soldiers were con- victed of such incidents, the paper said, mostly in Vietnam. * * * A U.S. appeals court last week reversed the convictions of five of the Chicago Seven de- fendants found guilty by Judge Julius Hoffman of crossing state lines to incite rioting during the 1968 Democratic convention. The decision showed that the attitude of Hoffman and the prosecuting attorney alone would justify reversal, but cited other errors in jury questioning, in not inquiring into the effects of the news media and other steps that would guarantee the defendants a fair trial. Defense attorney William Kunstler said: “I felt from the beginning’ that the judge and prosecutor were deeply involved in an attempt to convict these defendants and I’m glad the court of appeals finally said so, too.” Hill speaks at Lakehead THUNDER BAY — Tom Hill spoke about the 50th annivers- ary of the USSR here at a meet- ing in the Finnish hall where a full-length film ‘““(Omena Putoaa” (Apple Falls) was shown. One of the grand veterans of the Communist Party and the Finnish workers’ movement in. Canada, Tom Hill dealt with the leadership given by the CPSU in building the new society in the USSR, fighting for peaceful coexistence and assistance to the anti-imperialist struggles. He welcomed the continua- tion of Finland-Soviet friendship and mutual aid treaties, and the participation of Finland in rally- ing the all-European conference on security and cooperation, and denounced the chauvinist in- trigues of Chinese Maoist lead- ership in the UN striving to line ‘ap ‘West’ European® “capitalist against \'the 2:Soviet: PAGIEFCTRIBUNE-HERIDAY, DECEMBER SD 1 L972 PAGE 4- countries Union and other socialist states. Speaking of sacrifices made in the workers’ cause he men- tioned the murder of Finnish Canadiari Communists and union organizers Rosval -and~ Vouti- lainen in the battle against paper monopolies, which even- tually moved the lumber work- ers to a general strike move- ment and forced the lumber barons to negotiate agreements with the union. The pioneering work done by the Communist Party has laid down a program which will take us on the road to socialism, he said. The experience of the Soviet people during 55 years and the Leninist policies of self determination of nations and unity of nationalities expressed in the USSR, is helping us to solve our tasks in the national ~question in our-two-nation.coun-; FED DT tHe eGht B20 try: uis Communist leaders meet Rich election experience By JIM LEECH Meeting in Toronto, Nov. 25- 26, members of the Central Committee of the’ Communist Party of Canada, party leaders from the provinces and in various fields of public activity, among them many who were candidates in the recent federal election, shaped policy to meet the immediate situation facing the Canadian people and the prospect of a new federal elec- tion soon. In confident mood, the meet- ing heard Party leader William Kashtan present the main re- port, on the outcome of the Oc- tober Federal Election and Tasks of the Party; and speakers en- riched it with experiences from their own campaigns. The analysis at the Party’s November 1971 convention had proven accurate, the report re- called: “What is qualitatively new is that a polarization of class forc- es cutting across party lines as well as a fragmentation within the traditional bourgeois par- ties, is taking place in Canadian political life. This process of developing shifts and changes creates a fluidity in Canadian politics which suggests that the return of a majority government may be shortlived and that the next federal elections may con- ceivably return a minority gov- ernment.” No single factor. determined the election outcome, the report said, although economic and so- cial policies of the government were dominant. The implications of the elections were, it said, “a picture of a contradictory process, a tendency to the right as well as a tendency to the left,” evidenced by Conservative - gains and by an increase in seats and votes by the NDP. The Right-Left struggle thus ex- pressed “will now be continued in Parliament as well as outside it's Notable in speeches of dele- gates was an enthusiasm born of the vigorous election cam- paign. Speaker after speaker recounted the readiness of Can- John Sweet, aldermanic can- didate in North York’s Ward One, has been active in neighborhood groups for 22 years and served several years on the Executive Committee of the Metro Toronto Tax Reform Council. He has promised to that the costs of education, hospital construction and wel- fare should not be paid through property tax... tell the provincial government | as eo ee i oy ey as adians now to listen to Com- munist candidates and_ pro- posals. There was every indication that the Central: Corhmittee members’ mood reflected ad- vances back home, particularly in the recruiting or activizing of young people. From Edmon- ton, Montreal, Ontario cities and other places across the country the on-the-move spirit was present, though gains were acknowledged as still modest. “At no time since World War II,” said Bill Ross, Party leader in Manitoba, “have we had so many opportunities to speak to people and advance our Party program. “The action taken by com- rades in Toronto, against the media blackout opened doors for us,” he said. The pervading spirit of the meeting on the electoral front, was in favor of more Commu- nist Party candidates in what Wm. Kashtan called “the next round.’? The selection of con- stituencies and candidates was voted immediate attention, with a view to fielding double the number that ran this year. The report stressed the urg- ency of the.struggle “to compel the U.S. government to sign the agreement with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.” It con- demned the Nixon strategem to continue the war with other people’s hands; the U.S. “has not given up its aim of impos- ing a military settlement on the DRV and on the peoples of Viet- nam,” it charged. “The struggle for peace is an integral and important part of the struggle against imperial- ism,” said Jean Vautour, organ- izational-secretary of the Cana- dian Peace Congress, denoun® ing the U.S. plot to leave be hind in Vietnam the third large est air force in the world, an other military might. With strong support from the trade unionists present, the meeting pledged the Party to 4 fight within unions and labor bodies for the legal rights of Communist workers. The meeting determined 10 combat more vigorously ant communism, anti-Sovietism a! the poison of the ultra-left. The main report stressed: “In conditions when mond poly capital and its henchmen are doing everything in thelr power to encourage opportun: ist trends and tendencies amoné working people, ideologic@ work by our Party is of major importance.” In deep-going discussion, the meeting dealt with the resolu: tion on building the Communist Party, the Young Communist League and the Party press, am for much wider distribution ° the Canadian Tribune, Combat, Pacific Tribune and Younes Worker to plants, union halls and meetings. In two resolutions described by speakers as “landmarks” 19 the work of the Party, the meet- ing expressed its resolve 0 come to grips with the prob- lems of immigrant workers, an listed six facets of the work t0 be handled by sub-committees newly decided upon. Fittingly, in this 50th an: niversary year of the founding of the Union of Soviet Social- ist Republics, the meeting g@V© rousing approval to a state- ment, presented by Tribune editor John Weir, which greet ed the Soviet anniversary. “Spoedaup; nov, Fill; we'xe past. the: SeahS-2ci, ow? fea