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

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Comment

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_ Be heard at Geneva

ESPITE the pre-conference
bluster and threats. of U.S.
Secretary of State John Foster
ulles, aimed at wrecking the
Geneva Conference, that historic

' Sathering of East and West

‘ayman,

atound a conference table is still’

N session,
That fact alone, in face of all
the obstacles and difficulties, is a
appy augury indeed for peace’
‘Oving humanity everywhere.
_At Geneva the representatives
of East and West are earnestly
Seeking a formula for peace in

_Wartorn -Korea and Indochina, a

formula which will substitute rea-
Son and compromise for the
hatred and horror of war.
_ Beneath all the diplomatic froth
and doubletalk around and about
containing communism in Asia, ’’
the isstie is as simple as that —
Peaceful negotiations around the
Conference table, recognizing the

tight of other peoples whose so

Cial system and thinking may dif
er from ours.

Canada has. two choices at
Geneva: to play a leading role in

Tom
McEwen

[J§DER our laws the harboring of con-
. Victed criminals or being in posses-
Sion of stolen goods are considered pretty
Serious crimes—at least for the ordinary
It would seem however, that
S0vernments which receive their code
s ‘Morals’ as well as their dollars from
Vashington, are not bound by any such
Seruples of law or morality.
' When Hitler’s armies were scouring
he face of Europe like a swarm of de-
yeuring locusts, the choicest pickings
ae the cultural possessions of the na-
‘ons. they invaded. The collections of
Valuable ‘paintings and other works of
found in the many residences of.
toring and other Nazi “kultur’” collec-
he (some of whom are now heading up
© armed forces of our new West Ger-
=n “ally”) were one expression of what
aur, like some of his would-be suc-
peers in the West today, meant by
tderation,’
we a precaution against this brand of
i sacrilege, many European govern-
Ents sent a great deal of their national
sak and cultural ‘treasures abroad for
is peeping. Thus it came about that
Ot of the Polish cultural treasures

Were sent to Canada where they would be ;

yond the reach of the fascist looters.
Dri €se cultural treasures include many
“se Celess works of art, symbolic of the
®at cultural and religious tradition of
ada Polish people. They are still in Can-
men, “lve years ago the Polish govern-
iste t, in a note to External Affairs Min-
ret, Lester B. Pearson demanded the
Son of these cultural treasures to the
Ish people.

sto € commercial press dressed up the

Ty to its own taste with the result

t !
hat Several hazy impressions were left.

“di

the struggle for policies which

lead to genuine peace and’ the
right of self-determination of the
peoples of Asia, or to follow: the
ignominious and disastrous path
of destruction as planned by the
atomaniacs of U.S. imperialism. To
stand out as an unswerving cham-
pion of peace—or to be a pawn
in the suicidal game of Yankee
aggression.

Canada has a big stake in the
Geneva Conference. How well
External Affairs Minister Lester

B. Pearson defends that stake
must not depend upon the in-

structions of the St. Laurent gov-

ernment, but upon the will of the
people of Canada.

If, in thousands of letters,

cablts and resolutions. from in-—

dividual citizens, trade unions,
farm organizations, cultural and
professional groups, Pearson | is
advised that the people of this
country demand peace without

doubletalk, and an end to all
rty wars’

MALIA

One was that Premier Maurice Duplessis
of Quebec held part of these art treasures.
Another was that the Catholic Church
had laid “claim” to some. Still another
was that they were still in the custody
of the federal government. The general

tone was that we didn’t like the kind of -

government the Polish people had chosen

for themselves — so we kept the art

treasures! 6

Be that as it may, the Polish govern-
ment’s note to Pearson left no doubt as

’ to responsibility for this shameful pos-

session of stolen goods. “. .. The Polish
government wishes to add that until all
the Polish collections have been handed
over to the Polish authorities, the Can-
adian government will bear full respon-
sibility for their fate, condition and pro-
tection.” : :

_ A few weeks ago in the House of Com-

mons the CCF. member for Winnipeg
North put a question to Immigration
Minister Walter. Harris: ‘“‘Are there any

French nationals now resident in Canada .

who have been convicted in the French
courts of treason or of collaboration with
the German occupying forces?”

Before asking this question the CCF
member had asked the Minister for the
number and names of others of this fine
type of “immigrant” who had entered
Canada illegally and had been permitted

. to stay.

The minister unblushingly replied that
“his department knows only of five”:
“pr, Andre Boussat, Jean Louis Huc,
Julien Gaudens, Dr. Georges Montel an
Michel Seigneur.” -°

Each of ‘these criminals has been tried

‘and convicted by French courts for sell-

ing out his country to the Nazis—but
under St. Laurent immigration “screen-
ing,” seems to be a particularly desir-
able type of immigrant. _

Immigration Minister Harris, speaking

for his government, doesn’t_“only know «

five” but only wants to know about five
—and would be very happy if the CCF
and everyone else wouldn’t mention the
subject at all! . :

Another of these French criminals,
now “wanted” by the RCMP for drug

~-at, all by cabinet order.

‘small, then the true voice of Can-

ada will be heard in the halls of
Geneva; heard, respected and hon-
ored!

Only the will of tens of thou-
sands of Canadians expressed
through their demands at Geneva,
together with collective will of
millions of people from other

. lands, will stay the bloody hands

LAA

peddling, one Antoine d’Agostine, alias
Sisco, sentenced to death (in absentia)
by a Toulouse court on July 23, 1948, is,
according to Immigration Minister Har-
ris “not a Canadian citizen nor has he
applied for Canadian citizenship.” -

What Harris and his government did
not mention in their “explahations” of

‘the presence of these French criminals

in Canada, was the simple fact that they

_would not. have been here had the St.

Laurent government not built an immi-
gration “screen” especially designed to
permit such criminal fascist riffraff into
Canada.

These French criminals, together with
hundreds of others from the offscourings
of Hitler’s collaborators from other Euro-
pean countries, found access to Canada
very easy. As the Toronto Globe and
Mail put it, they came “and stayed by
top-level, ultra-special arrangement. Reg-
ulations were waived, irregularities were
regularized, and the facts were blinked
It was the sort
of performance that would not stand
close scrutiny — and the government
showed every intention of keeping that
from it. It looks no better for the time
it has spent out of sight.”

Small wonder that Harris feels em-
barrassed and “knows only five.” But
keeping the figures down to a minimum
does not eliminate the shameful realiza-
tion that under St. Laurent government

_ policies, Nazi criminals are not only giv-

en protection in Canada from the justice
they so well merit, but are also given
every facility and opportunity to spread
their poison in this country; from the
podiums of our universities, in the col-
umns of our “free” press, on the air-
waves and in public assemblies!

» “Sisco” the dope addict and peddler
whom the RCMP can’t “‘find” is prob-
ably the least harmful of a bad lot, de-
scribed by Liberal propagandists defend-
ing St. Laurent immigration policies as
“a highly desirable and fine type of new
Canadian.” f :

But even that hogwash doesn’t cancel
out the hard truth, that the government
of Canada provides asylum to convicted
Nazi criminals — and covers up their

_crimes. with the badgé of Canadian

“citizenship”!

of the Yankee H-bomb. wrecking
crew — and assure the triumph
of reason over brute force.

It is within Canada’s power at
this moment to step forward at
Geneva as a true leader for world
peace. The decision rests with

the Canadian people and their
_ determination to so instruct their
representative at Geneva.

Forty years ago

+ (From the files of the B.C. Federationist,.

May 8, 1914)

Although Mayor A. E, Planta filled the
town with troops and police in an effort
to intimidate striking coal miners, be-
tween five and six thousand people at-
tended a huge May Day rally at Five
Acre Lots in Nanaimo.

Speakers were A. Watchman, presi-
dent, and A. S. Wells, secretary-treasur-
er of the B.C. Federation of Labor; Rev.
W. McLeod of Chilliwack, who reported,
“T had a guard of honor of thirty soldiers
all the way from Chilliwack”: and Joseph
Gilbert, a Socialist spokesman‘ from
Seattle, Wash.

Nanaimo City Council refused a per-
mit for the traditional May Day parade,
miners’ bands were not allowed to play
on the streets and soldiers ordered peo-
ple to move on wherever two or three
stopped to talk.

“Everyone arriving on the boats or
trains was watched and trailed as though
he was an escaped criminal,” the B.C.
Federationist reported. .

Fifteen years ago

(From the files of the People’s Advocate,
May 5, 1939)

‘Mayor Lyle Telford was one of the
*speakers at the traditional Vancouver
May Day parade in which some 4,000
marchers participated under the slogan:
“Stop Hitler and Save Peace.” Largest
contingent in the parade was provided
by the Relief Project Workers Union.

Ten years ago

(From the files of The People,
May 6, 1944)

Vancouver’s ‘Worker - Warrior” May
Day parade to Brockton Point, in which
some 3,000 marchers participated, was
witnessed by an estimated 40,000 people
lining the parade route. Hundreds of
members of aeronautical and shipyard
unions marched in the parade.

. PACIFIC TRIBUNE — MAY 7, 1954 — PAGE 5