“VOL. 11. No. 49

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Vancouver, British Columbia, December D195)

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PRICE TEN CENTS

‘NPA Can | BCE’s public |

be beaten
Dee. 10’

“The Tories and Liberals who
tule Vancouver under the ban-
er of the NPA. can be kicked. out
Of city hall this coming Wed-
nhesday, December 10, if the
workers and progressive people

turn out to the polls and vote °

for anti-NPA candidates,” Ef-
fie Jones said this week. Mrs.
Jones is seeking an aldermanic
Seat as an independent.
“Election victories cannot be

Won without work,” she con- +

tinued: “That is why I am
making a special appeal to all
My supporters to come out elec-
tion day to vote and to:help
With the innumerable tasks that
have to be done. Please call at
My election headquarters, 543
Main Street, or phone TA.
8943.”

Winding up: the public speak-
ing part of her campaign this
Week, Mrs. Jones aimed her fire
at the NPA administration.

“We have a do-nothing coun-
cil,” she charged. “Juvenile de-
inquency, sex crimes and dope
Peddling are on the increase,
but our NPA-dominated council

oes nothing.

“The Clarence Clemens case
and-the tragic suicides in our
city jail highlight the need for
A clean-up in the police depart-
Ment, but the Tory-Liberal poli-
Ucians at city hall take no ac-
tion.

“They do nothing, either, to
halt increases in phone rates and
transit fares. The BCElectric
Seems to have our supine council
IN its hip pocket. As for BC-

elephone, they are already in-

Stalling dime pay phones, al-
though an inérease in rates has
Not yet been granted.

“Our present city council does
Nothing to improve conditions

Continued on page 7
See JONES

How to

Cast your ss
Civie vote
page 7

enemy| No.1

A keen student of civic politics
and an active fighter for progres-
sive causes since the early thirties,
Mrs. Effie Jones is again seeking
an aldermanic seat in Vancouver
civic elections December 10.
former school teacher and a tal-

>

ented artist, Mrs. Jones was born
in the Old Country of Welsh par-
entage, came to Canada in 1919,
and has lived in Vancouver ever
since. Called “BCElectric Public
Enemy No. 1” because of her un-
relenting fight against high tran-
sit fares and poor services, she
polled more than 19,000 votes as
a mayoralty candidate in 1949.

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Chief Rabbi says:

FOR HOUSING

STORY ON BACK PAGE

Lethe LLL UL ULL ILO nt it Men tet

“No anti-Semitism
in Czechoslovakia’

By SAM RUSSELL
PRAGUE

In an exclusive interview with
me in Prague this week the chief
rabbi of Czechoslovakia, Dr.
Gustav Sichl, completely expos-
ed all the tales about the exist-
ence of anti-Semitism in that
country . :

“T want to make it clear,”
the chief rabbi declared, “‘that
there is no such thing as op-
pression of the Jewish religion
in Czechoslovakia. There is not
a single question in this connec-
tion about which I have the
slightest complaint.”

For nearly two hours I dis-
cussed the whole question‘ of the
position of the Jews in Czecho-
slovakia with Dr. Sichl, who is
a hale and hearty 72.

Fleeing from Nazi persecu-
tion in 1938, Dr, Sichl went to
Israel where he remained till
1947, when he returned to
Prague to become chief rabbi.

With the chief rabbi were the
acting chairman of the Jewish’
Communal Council, Emil Neu-
mann, and its secretary, Dr.
Rudolf Iltis, who is also editor
of the Jewish paper - Vestnik
Rady Zno.

I told the chief rabbi and his
two lay colleagues that I had
asked for the interview because
of the tales about anti-Semitism
in Czechoslovakia which had
been spread in the Western
press and radio during the trial
and subsequent conviction of
Rudolf Slansky, former general
secretary of the Communist Par-

ty of Czechoslovakia, and 13 of
his accomplices, ten of whom
were of Jewish origin.

Dr Sichl first pointed out that
as none of the men on trial had
been practising Jews he, as reli-
gious head of the Jewish Church,
had had nothing to do with them
in that capacity,

“As far as the trial is con-
cerned,” he added, “I would just
point out that criminals can be
of Jewish origin as well as non-
Jews.”

I pointed out that since the
beginning of the Slansky trial
the Western press and radio had
declared that anti-Semitism was
being officially encouraged in
Czechoslovakia and had even
said there had been anti-Semitic
demonstrations. :

“That is complete nonsense,”
he declared, “and, as you have
no doubt been able to see for
yourself, there has been no such
thing.”

“To my mind,” he added,
“there was absolutely no ques-
tion of the Czechoslovak gov-
ernment instituting a trial like
this for any such purpose.

“For the first time in our his-
tory,” he continued, “there is a
definite law in Czechoslovakia

forbidding anti-Semitism and

declaring anti-Semitism 4 crime.
“Maybe, asa result of the
Hitler propaganda, some traces
of anti-Semitism may still exist
in the minds and hearts of some
people, but that is all.”

Continued on back page
See CZECH