~ lescent OPEN FORUM Unite for good of all E, PLURIBUS ME, Vancou- ver, B.C.: In five recent pro- vincial elections the Canadian people have returned the same governments to power: the Lib- erals in Newfoundland; Social Credit in. British Columbia; Union Nationale: in Quebec; Conservatives in Ontario; and the CCF in Saskatchewan. It would seem from this that what Nigel Morgan wrote of the Socreds in this province ap- plies in a sense to all provinces; the governments in power rode back in on the crest of an eco- nomic boom which has em- braced all of Canada. What will happen next June when a federal election will likely take place? Will the people of each province vote for the candidates of the par- ties holding the provincial reins of power? It seems to me that the era of great national parties is drawing to an end, and that we are entering a period of political flux. Out of this, at some time in the future, could spring the beginnings of a people’s coalition, a loose unity of candidates from various parties who have common. in- terests in fighting for the people’s needs. How can the left-wing help to get such a movement start- ed? That is the question that needs plenty of discussion be-, fore we come up with the cor- rect answer. But I believe that any action must start at the ground level, in the municipal field, on issues of concern to people in a_ given factory, street or area. This would mean, to begin with, the striving here in Van- - couver for some sort of loose unity of progressive forces in the December civic elections, dedicated to defeating the Non- Partisan Association. The trade union movement can’t go it alone, and neither can any other single group. Ratepayers, unionists and all progressive people and _ asso- ciations should get together for the common good. Other- wise they will again fail to be “effective at the polls. Will Skiffle be next? E. LLOYD, Vancouver, B.C.: I am not an opponent of Rock ‘n’ Roll, in fact, I feel quite a bit of sympathy for the young- sters who like it and are con- sequently under attack by eld- ers who forget their own ado- infatuation with the nasal croonings of Rudy-Vallee, Bing Crosby, etc. : Nevertheless, I believe Rock “’ Roll is just a passing fad, and I’m wondering what comes next. Over in England it seems to be a kind of music called Skiffle, which is catching on like wildfire. Skiffle is jazz, but a different kind of jazz. It has a beat and a swing, and incorporates folk songs from various lands. - At the 1947 Youth Festival in Prizewinning letters Each week the Paci- fic Tribune will present _ a book to the writer. of the most interesting, en- tertaining and_ topical letter published on this page. Contributors are urged to keep their let- ters to a reasonable length. Prague skiffle music made its first international appearance and aroused tremendous en- thusiasm among the young people. Last year in Warsaw it scored an even-bigger success. What, exactly, is skiffle mu- sic? English band leader Rus- sell Quay says that skiffle “combines the homeliness of the folk song with the vital beat of jazz.” He sees it as “symptomatic of a reaction, es- pecially among young people, away from remote commercial music to a music in which they feel they are taking a creative part.” Skiffle music seems to stem from the kind of music and singing introduced by guitar- ists Jimmy Rogers... Woodie Guthrie and Burl Ives, the banjoists Pete and Peggy Seeger, and others. It seems to be.a healthy movement, growing rapidly. Perhaps in the not too distant future it will replace Rock ‘n’ Roll? Bank interest rate ROY REID, Saskatoon, Sas- katchewan: The federal gov- ernment has for the fifth time within a year raised the in- terest rate charged by the Bank of Canada to other banks. The announced intention is to cure inflation. The results the people are led to expect from this increase in rates of interest are hardly what the producers get out of it. The cost of living index shows that for July, 1956, retail Copyrighted - Labor Features | el Me IW prices are the highest in his- tory. : Higher interest rates make things more difficult for small and middle sized farmers, city workers and young people generally. They are often more or less compelled .to operate on borrowed funds. Big business gets rich out of higher interest rates. They have in their industries finan- cial reserves they can use to expend when that is profitable. The control of inflation by our government should be done in such a way as to put the burden on those people who are best able to bear it. Our federal government might res- tore. the excess. profits tax, which was discontinued some time ago. Other national gov- ernments tax capital gains, so why can’t Ottawa? Our government is making things harder for those who work for a living, and easier for those who are already -as- sured of an easy living. Will this action help our country meet the present inflationary trend, in the best interests of our farmers and workers? Lifeitselfmanship — LES HATHAWAY, Vancou- ver, B.C.: Decca Treuhaft’s satiric pamphlet Lifeitselfman- ship, reyiewed recently in your paper, is reprinted in the Octo- ber issue of Mainstream, which can be purchased at the People’s Co-op Bookstore. Every left-wing politician and writer should rush out and buy a copy, and make no more plat- form speeches nor write any more articles until the pam- phlet’s contents are thorough- ly digested. Speaking quite seriously, the reprinting of such a barbed essay on left-wing language in a left-wing publication like Mainstream is one of the hap- pier results of the discussion taking place on the 20th con- gress of the Communist party of the Soviet Union. “JUST REMEMBER THAT ALTHOUGH I MAY YS BE RIGHT ZT AM NEVER WRONG! ~ A song Four White Men climbed ‘to Heaven’s throne; and each man went ‘on his way, alone. The first-man said, when he camé_ back: “The God I met’ was very black; “But when He spoke His teeth flashed white, like a row of pearls against soft light.’ The Second Man cried: “The God I saw had skin as yellow as the sun on straw. “But when I looked in his strong slant eyes sweet lotus petals filled the skies.” “God’s face is brown,” the Third Man spoke, of color “like autumn leaves ~ on a great bronze 0 “And His eyes are dee like bottomless wells and His words are lik a chime of bells.” “The God'I saw,” a the Fourth Man said: “wore a feather plum@ ~~ and His face was 1)” “His eyes were quiet, ~ like forest aisles, and a wildwood rosé — was in His smiles. I gaze from my_ windd as I write; : and I know, as I look ed through the smoke! light, Fl why none of the Four-saie “God is White.” WILSON MacDONAM in ‘Toronto One year ago such a pam-- phlet would have been damned and denounced, especially since its horrible examples of left- wing writing were all drawn from Political Affairs the (U.S. Communist theoretical organ ~ which corresponds to our Na- tional Affairs Monthly—which could have been used just as effectively). Well aware that a section of her readers (the sectarians we have with us_always) would be frantically seeking a label to pin on the author, Truehaft finished her devastating com- ments by supplying “for the convenience of readers, a check-list of appropriate criti- cisms,” to wit: Anti-leadership; Anti-theoretical; Rotten liber- alism; Fails to chart a perspec- tive; Right-opportunism; Left- sectarianism; Philistinism; Pet- ty-bourgeois cynicism. . But the political leaders and the writers in the left-wing press are not the only ones who can profit by taking the lessons of this pamphlet to heart. We have all been guilty, over a. period of many years, of speaking left-wing gibberish which has cut us off from ef- fective communication with our neighbors. Certainly I. for one, am in no position to cast the first. stone. Thanks for retraction V. BEN WILLIAMS, general manager, Pacific National Ex- hibition, Vancouver, B.C.: Many thanks indeed for the unusually generous retraction you printed in your paper re- garding the inferred profits made by Exhibition directors. I certainly appreciate very much indeed the fair-minded atitude you took in making this correction. The thought has occurred to me that you might like to have a little furher information in regard to the PNE and I am sending you along some bro- chures, which I hope you will have time to read. It is quite obvious to me that you would never have made the original statement if we had properly publicised the aims and func- tions and operations of the Ex- > ing thal hibition and I am hop the literature we. are oo will in some way rectify situation. eve We feel that we have of reason to be very proue work done at the Paci tional Exhibition. ° Information wanted L. C., Seattle, Washing! am enclosing my sub reno and wish to say I enjoy «aly j paper very much — esr your “Canada First” em) oy However, I’d like pro additional facts on te - posed detouring of thi bia River. How woul fect the water and | re is supply at Coulee Dam pro know, the entire Coulee Peal ject is considered here f the forward step. Natural, people as a whole don't | as they should from there have been som¢? ments made. Word of good chee! NORMAN _ PRITOBA 19 Courtenay, B.C.: AS oe {he has constantly advoc@’” (ins unity of all progressiV© 2 jal: though not a Marxiat shoul! ist, I am certain that We ont at not yield to discouraser is ? this time, when so mu stake. ne The cult of exalted Pity hi ality has been seen as ult oe a great people. This Coste haunted the steps i wer throughout all, history #7 dine 41 the biggest factor 1” Ha | tee up to the dark ages. It ober ant the truth, bred intolera™ " ghe spawned a host of eve tbe wrack,. the gallows ars ae stake were its instrumé’ ny: the tune was huma? a 50 How can I condemn age! ] viet brothers or evel © pee? 7) have ot at 9° cr) r : 0 the youth of Russia a upon fangs of the Nazi Precause their breasts — and b them my sons live. tly jet If some died unjus panne who live take up the eo of peace and justice. 6 OCTOBER 19, 1956 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE — ?”