bet BECKIE BUHAY’S LAST MESSAGE ‘My feeling for... shining goal of socialism never stronger’ RAVELY ill, but fight- ing-as all her life she had fought, Beckie Buhay, mem- ber of the national execu tive committee of the Labor Progressive party, wrote this last courageous message from Toronto General Hos pital on September 20 last year. It was addressed to her comrades of the LPP national committee and read to them at their meeting September 25 - 27, 1953. The LPP national. executive committee made it public following her death on De- cember 16. e MY warmest greetings to the party. Never did I feel so proud of our party as in the re- cent election campaign, in which, unfortunately, I could play such a small part. For the first time millions of people heard our party put in its true light, as the party.of Canadianism — of the nation. Of course, it was inevit- able that the poison of the anti- Communist slander, the fear of Drew reaction and confusion, would not enable us to cash in on the formidable impact that I am confident our party made on the people with its program of Put Canada First. As I am writing this on the eve of an operation, my condition makes criticism difficult, buts I think the full impact of what our slogan meant did not sink in even in our own ranks till the later part of thé campaign. I think the comrades who went on the road, especially Comrade Buck, did an inestimable job. The putting up of 100 candi- dates, fighting spokesmen for our party, was in itself a tremendous achievement and the 22 women and 11 youth candidates put up by our party (more than all the other parties put together) made me doubly proud. I still think the main weakness, if I may humbly offer, was “not letting go” in our propaganda, and agitation to all Canadians around our slogan, Put Canada First. We must appeal to every- one who stands for Canada be- yond class lines. Although the new methods used were a fine beginning, we have only just be- gun. This is the question that supersedes national issues of policy, such as, our own built sea- way; it is a question of opening a new road in thinking, that strikes an unconscious chord of what deep underneath people are thinking. To place the all-inclusive na- tional character of the slogan first and foremost, and striking home for all it is worth, does not miti- gate the fact that our weakness showed ‘up in the labor field. Here our work demands a thou- sandfold improvement and an orientation much more in keep- ing with the national character of the slogan. I wish I knew all the facts and were able to make constructive proposals. Doubtless the results of the, party and party building as such will be brought home at this important meeting at which you may be sure, I will be fully present in spirit. Now I want from the very bot- tom of my heart to thank my many comrades, from our leader Tim to our sick comrades like Annie Wilson — who visit me often, bring me flowers and en- courage me by their solicitude and comradeship. Lying here, often in acute pain, the power and love of our party has sustain- ed me and will sustain me in the days to come. Comrades, if I cried when I got the beautiful message from the national executive committee, headed by Tim Buck, it was not my weakness; it was the knowl- edge of the love the party has for its own, for the people — the strength, the kindness of the party — the supporting force it always is in our hour of trial, political or otherwise. I am very happy about my party’s concern for me and hope we will always show concern for comrades who are not well. “My life-long comrade and friend from girlhood days, our Annie Buller, has been with me night and day in my sickness. Annie is a rock of strength, a tower of human nobility, with a heart full of love for mankind. Words cannot describe my love for her, or her devotion to me as a friend and a Communist. An- nie is the spirit of our party, in the flesh. We must guard her health. Thank you a‘million, comrades. My love and comradeship pours out to you, and our great party, especially to dear Tim, who al- ways has time for us. I wish your deliberations the greatest suc- cess in the next period’s march ahead — for an independent Canada at peace in a world at peace. I promise you, thanks to your great efforts on my behalf, and to the medical help I am re- ceiving, that I will soon join you again in our fighting ranks to play my full part in the great na- tional convention we are plan- ning. My feeling for our party and its shining goal of socialism, my conviction that our party is right and true and my love and loyalty to our party, were never stronger than now. ' OPEN FORUM. Soviet gold shipments G.T., Vancouver, B.C.: I have a brother in Scotland who spent nearly 20 years as a worker in the Soviet Union. He has sent me his comments on the news dispatches in the daily papers concerning the use of gold by the USSR for trading purposes. He writes: “T see in the papers that on aceount of the huge quantities of gold sold by the Soviet Union, the price of gold has slumped. “As you know, the USS. has been hoarding the (capitalist) world’s supply of gold and now the value is dropping and the US. is very angry. “On account of U.S. prevention of East-West trade, the USSR is unable to use gold for necessary purchases (from the West) and so is now minting gold into large coins about the size of $20 gold pieces. These coins are not for use in the USSR but are for ex- ternal purposes, and so the Far East is selling all kinds of goods in order to have gold instead of paper money. This is worrying the U.S. as it is something they cannot control. . “You should remember what Lenin said: ‘What do we want gold for? It would be a good thing to use it for toilet seats, but it is — wise to buy machines for produc- tion instead’.” Discrimination and law R. MASSE, Nakusp, B.C.: The case of Nick Evdokimoff lays bare the discrimination being practis- ed against minority groups. It further reveals the paradox that our jurisprudence is bringing to bear upon our social life and the precedence being established to further guard the interests of ‘our lords of industry, whose em- pires are toppling fast. Today it would seem that the least evidence that can be gained and the less guilty a victim might be, the more reason for prosecu- tion (or persecution) provided of course that he is a member of a minority group, or a peace,organ- ization, or (better yet) that he may have at one time been in association with, or sympathetic towards a communist. t No wonder the Criminal Code must be revised and brought up to date, especially those sections dealing with the human rights of people. BECKIE BUHAY February 11, 1896 - December 16, 1953 LIVING WITHOUT VITAMIN C .in the back, Report describes test on human guinea pigs Wet happened to 20 human ‘WY suinea-pigs — 19 men, one woman —-who volunteered to live for 16 months without suf- ficient vitamin C is described in a report just published in Brit- ain. The volunteers, most of whom were conscientious objectors, al-— lowed experimental wounds to be made on their legs and the scars to be removed for examination. The ten who had no vitamin C at all in their diet developed signs of scurvy, including abnor- malities of the gums in all but one. . The scars of the wounds be- came red and livid as a result of haemorrhages into the scar tis- sue and the surrounding skin. New wounds made at the height of the scurvy failed to heal at the normal rate. As the scurvy developed, pains joints and limbs were reported with increasing frequency. Colds seemed to last longer. And two of this group of ten developed signs of acute heart GTAMP collectors in Poland are now able to place an annnual subscription with the local post office for four copies of each new stamp is- sued. In the countries where a new . stamp is issued to mark’almost every important event and an- niversary, philately is becom- ing a very lively business in- deed and is a hobby fast gain- ing ground. Polish stamp club members may freely send unused stamps abroad, up to a limited value. : Several home stamps “ are keenly sought — and the field Philately popular in Poland ‘local post offices after the cur- is very much wider than in most Western countries where stamp issues remain staid and conservative. Specially prized are the ones printed by the field post of the First Polish Army when it was still fighting its way back home on the territory of the Soviet Union, as well as the woodcut stamps made by Po- lish prisoners of war. Other rarities are the stamps which were overprinted in rency reform of 1950, and most sought stamps bearing the overprint of Brzeg Dolny, a village where an ordinary cork was used. trouble, and were given large doses of vitamin C immediately. The scurvy could be cured by a daily dose of ten millgrams of vitamin C. But the report sug- gests that to cover individual variations and to provide a safe- ty margin the minimum protec- tion dose of 10mg should be trebled. Of the other ten volunteers, seven received 10mg. of the vita- min a day, and three of these were later deprived of it for a period; the remaining three serv- ed as controls, receiving 70mg a day. aS : The volunteers, whose average age was 29 at the start of the ex- periment —*the youngest was 1742—were fully aware of the nature of the experiement, but for the first six months 18 of them did not know to which group they belonged. They all lived in the Sorby Re- search Institute, Sheffield, living a normal life without strenuous physical work. _Discussing the requirement of vitamin C which is essential to maintain full health, the report says: “Any assessment is, in the pre- sent state of knowledge, a matter of judgment, and must be re- garded as provisional. “So:long as there is no eVidence to support the view that an in- take of more than 30mg daily has any beneficial effects there is no basis for recommending an in- take greater than that amount. “Tt is true that claims have been made recently that larger doses reduce the incidence of ill- ness, but the evidence présented can hardly be accepted as con- clusive proof.” - ‘ Vitamin C is found in fresh fruits such as oranges, in fresh green vegetables, and to a smal- ler extent in milk, meat and other fresh foods. PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JANUARY 8, 1954 — PAGE 4 .