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‘Review

‘* EDITORIAL PAGE *

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Comment

TOM McEWEN, Editor — HAL GRIFFIN, Associate Editor — RITA WHYTE, Business Manager.

Published weekly by the Tribune Publishing Company Ltd. at Room 6, 426 Main Street, Vancouver 4, B.C. — MArine 5288
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Tom
McEwen

pown in Lincoln county, Ontario, 2

true-blue Tory Orange Lodge has
decided that Canada’s national anthem
® Canada is “subversive” and has re-
quested the board of education in the
tity of St. Catherines to have it ban
ned from all city schools.

These doughty followers of King Wil-
liam ef Orange who mounted the throne
of Britain several centuries ago to
Make the world “safe for all good
Protestants” have demanded of the
board that it designate The Queen
as Canada’s official anthem, and sub-
stitute The Maple Leaf.Forever in lieu
of O Canada as a patriotic school
soag.

It is sometimes difficult and often
Wellnigh impossible to follow these
Orange-Tory flights into the realm of
‘ Patriotism,” but this particular epi-
Sode reminds me of the little couplet
ee by Augustus De Morgan (1806-

“Great fleas have little fleas upon
their backs to bite ‘em,

And little fleas have lesser fleas, and
S@ ad infinitum.

d the great fleas themselves, in
tura, have greater fleas to go on,
While these again still greater fleas,
amd greater still, and so on.”

Such flea-bitten “patriotism” as that
advanced by the Lincoln county Orange
Order which would discourage the
Singing of O Canada, is a good reminder
of what would happen to Canada were

her destiny left in the hands of such

“patriots.”
: * k x

Writing on Communism in the island
of Cyprus where British imperialism is
Olding its colonial rule over the Cy-
Priots by naked terror and violence,
a feature writer of the Manchester
Mardian, which cannot be accused
of sympathizing with the Communists,

Sutlines the role played by the “Reds” -

i” that beleaguered island.
... Communists dominate the mal
labor movement and the municipal
©ouncils in the important towns of
Magusta, Larnaca and Limassol.
Their excellent work in the labor field
8S gained the Communists the sup-
Port of the vast majority of the organ-
ed trade unionists. The Communist
Mayors and councillors show integ-
tity and ability in local government...

N'this they contrast sharply with the.

‘hurch-sponsored Right Nationalist
_ barty that is swamped by a single-track
Preoccupation with Enosis (Unity with
Greece), }
“The Communists demand uncon-
ditional self-determination, but since
€y are opposed to violence they sel-
dom conflict with the British adminis-
ation. Anti-clerical progressive ele-
™ents tend to sympathize with the
Communists, whose philosophy finds
Practical expression in the model
™edical clinics and social insurance
Schemes for workers, which the British
Administration and the Right trade
“ions have failed to provide.”
With such a record of Communist
achievement in the service of the
Cypriot people, the thing most feared
Y British imperialism in the opinion
of the Manchester Guardian writer is
. .. the risk that a representative
legislature would produce a Commun-
ist majority.” Hence the Tory “balance
Of terror” to enforce Brtiish imperial-
ism’s brand .of “independence” upon
the Cypriot people.
To Eden and Dulles an elected Com-
munist majority: in a free and inde-

Pendent Cyprus is too horrible to con-—

template so—on with the terror!

Canada from sea to sea.

‘This bake oven near Field, B.C., built in 1884, is a reminder of the days when
the Canadian Pacific Railway was being

pushed through to the Coast to link
e

~ Defeat the Padlock Law

HE parliamentary correspon-
dent of the Winnipeg Free

_ Press, Grant Dexter, has described
the Quebec Padlock Law in his
paper as ‘‘one of the most notorious
invasions. of freedom ever to: mar
the statute books of this country.”’

But, he added, “‘after 19 years
the Quebec Padlock Law is reach-
ing the end of the road.”

Prophetic words. Never were
the people of Quebec — of all
Canada — closer to removing the
Padlock Law which has hung like
a shroud over the political life of
that province.

A powerful movement of broad
proportions has come into being in
Quebec and throughout Canada
to defeat the Padlock Law.

Recently the Canadian Congress
‘of Labor added its enormous sup-
port to the fight by subscribing to
the Trust Fund to Contest the Pad-
lock Law, a fund established to
finance heavy legal costs involved
in the test case soon to come before
the Supreme Court.

Eight labor councils in cities
across Canada have spoken. Scores
of union locals, fraternal organi
zation and democratic-minded citi-
zens have rallied to the appeal of
the Trust Fund. °»

The million-voiced condemnation
of the Padlock Law has already suc-
ceeded in winning a greater meas-

‘

ure of freedom for the labor move-
ment in Quebec.

The right of labor organizations
to distribute leaflets and other
materials — so long denied — has

now been recognized in Montreal, .

a most important victory for free
speech. - :

Recently the Montreal city ex-
ecutive awarded a Labor-Progres-
sive organizer an out-of-court
settlement to cover damages
inflicted by the notorious “‘red
squad’’ acting illegally in seizing
his books.

These are signs of the times, a
sure omen that the Padlock Law
has reached ‘‘the ‘end of the road.

We urge all democratic Cana-
dians (and in particular the trade
unions) to respond generously to

_ the appeal of the Trust Fund for

the $10,000 required. Contribu-
tions may be addressed to : Trust
Fund to Contest the Padlock Law,
Box 791, Place d’ Armes, Montreal.

The court of public opinion is
delivering its verdict in advance of
the Supreme Court.

If that verdict is now reinforced,
by the action of many more people
sand organizations across Canada,
it will have a most important bear-
ing onthe legal outcome of the
“test case’” to have the law ruled
ultra vires of the province and
hence unconstitutional.

Hal
Griffin

plight of our senior citizens sel-

dom comes under review without
some politician reminding us that the
measure of a civilization is the way
it treats its old people. .

By that measure we have little to
be proud of, but the U.S. should hang
its head in shame, for it has now taken
to stripping its old people of even
those pension rights they have.

The persecution of “Pop” Mindel is
a case in point. And the facts, as they
were written by his 70-year old wife,
Rebecca, in a letter that came to my
desk the other day, form: thein own
damning indictment of the persecutors.
This is what she wrote:

* * Y

Dear Friend:

I am Rebecca Mindel, wife of Jacob
Mindel, who is now serving a two-
year prison sentence under the Smith
Act since January 1955.

. . . My husband, a Marxist scholar,
74 years old, and ill with heart disease
and complicated chronic stomach dis-
ease, faces another year behind prison
bars.

Not having been charged with any
overt act, he is imprisoned for his
ideas on peace and amity among all
nations.

In September 1955, after one-third of
his sentence was served, he was denied
parole. Neither age nor illness moved
the Parole Board. Indeed, no Smith
Act prisoner has been granted parole...

The Social Security Administration
has terminated old age insurance pay-
ments to us, leaving us with nothing.
They do this after having accepted by
husband’s contributions since the in-
ception of Social Security in 1936.

I am 70 years of age and my hus-
band’s cheques were my only means

of support.
Now the greatest killer of all to a
man with heart disease — anxiety

and worry — has struck. I fear that
great anxiety and constant worry over
my situation, with no means of liveli-
hood, will spell the end for my husband.

Today the entire Smith Act is being
reviewed in the courts and by public
opinion. I feverently hope that all de-
cent and humane people will support
the petition to President Eisenhower
of 46 outstanding Americans for
amnesty for all Smith Act prisoners...

They called the attention of the
president to the “noticeable trend to
reaffirm the basic democratic traditions
of our country” and to the several

‘elderly and sick among the Smith Act

prisioners.

I ask all within reach of my voice
—what does it avail our great nation
to keep a man, 74 and ill, in prison for
his ideas ? ;

How does taking away a pension,
rightfully theirs, from an aged and
sick couple, appear to the American
people and the people of the world?

I know in my heart, you will agree
with me that it can bring only shame
and disgrace to our nation’s good name
and honor. j

Please write to President Eisenhower,
The White House, Washington, D.C.,
urging him to rescind the tyrannical
act of the Social Security Board and to
grant immediate amnesty to my hus-
band. ; '

I would deeply appreciate a copy of
your letter to the president.

REBECCA MINDEL

P.S.—Today’s mail even brings the
astounding demand from the Social
Security Board that I pay them back
$939.90.

FEBRUARY 24, 1956 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 5