By FRANK ARNOLD

€ Bie rebirth of fascism in postwar Quebec under the
leadership of fuerher Adrien Arcand, who has the clan-
destine backing of wealthy “crypto” bankers and reactionary
clerical circles, was preceded by a meeting of 400 Italian-
Canadians in the parish hall of Mt. Carmel Church in Mon-

Adrien Arcand hears a call

Gazette

treal about one month ago.
Chief speakers at the first secret
conclave, of which the press had
no knowledge, were reported to be
Mayor Camillien Houde, who spent
several years in an internment
camp during the war ,and Provin-
cial Secretary Omer Cote, one of
the leading ministers in Premier
Duplessis’ government,

While no organic connection be-
tween the Arcand and Italian
groups has yet been revealed, the
similarity of “line” and the timing
of the two meetings would seem
to indicate a common “guiding
hand.”

‘Speaking in the name of Pre-
mier Duplessis, Union Nationale
big-wig Cote is said to have de-
clared that “once more Italy and
the Italians (fascists) are in the
front line of battle against com-
munism.” Nominally ‘held to cele-
brate a cure’s birthday, the speak-
ers devoted themselves to a denun-
ciation of “bolshevism” that was
almost identical with Arcand’s
later diatribe.

Mayor Houde, who will stand
for reelection in Montreal next
month, was reported to have de-
scribed his sojourn in the intern-
ment camp to an audience which
included most of the Italian-Cana-
dian fascists who were similarly
locked up’ for the duration and
whose acquaintance he made at
that time. Houde also launched
into an oratorical vent of spleen,
against the “communist menace.”

(Cote left last week for a
seven-week tour of Europe. One
of the countries he will visit
will be Italy. The purpose of
his trip has not been revealed,
but since it is not concerned
with provincial business, the as-
sumption in political circles is
that Cote is making the junket
to establish certain contracts
with reactionary European cen-
ters.) \

re

see recent secret gathering of

the blackshirts in St. S‘anis-
las parish hall, where Arcand
came out of his Lanoraie retreat
to launch the National Unity.
(fascist) party which has been
disbanded during the war, was
very similar in tone to the
“birthday party.” Highlights of
Arcand’s talk were reported to
be scurrilous attacks on “the Jews
and the communists.”

He paid a tribute, albeit unwit-
tingly, to Fred Rose, Labor-Pro-
&ressive MP who is serving a six-
year sentence arising out of the
RCMP-staged “spy scare.”

“The communists, under the di-
rection of Fred Rose,” he stated,
“were responsble by their attacks
and their pamphlets for the in-
ternment of our leaders.”

Fred Rose, the fiery wartime
. Member for working-class Car-

tier, wrote two sensational pam-

Phlets— “Hitler's Fifth Columm
in Quebec’ and ‘Fascism. Over
Canada’—in which he exposed
q the native fascist connection with
a Hitler and Mussolini and demand-
4 ed a housecleaning of local quis-
lings.

Arcand was arrested, but his
trial was cut short by the dt
rect intervention of Hon. Ernest
Lapointe, then minister of jus-
tice, who ordered him interned
before he could be put on the
witness stand, Informed circles
understood that the swift g0Vv-

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1947

ernment action was taken to pre-
vent Arcand, who was once editor
of L’Illustration Nouvelle, a news-
paper closely identified with Du-
plessis, from incriminating any
of his wealthy and powerful back-
ers.

Involvement of “big names” in
the local fifti column, in similar
fushion ta the tie-up between
quisling gauleiters in France and
Norway and the industrial and fi-
nancial czars, would have touched
off a public scandal that was not
to the government’s taste. The lid
was kept on.

Freed and without the trial =

that Lapointe promised, Arcand
took up residence quietly in Lan-
oraie. In his cottage here, last
March, Arcand told me in an ex-
clusive interview, “I’m living here
quietly, nobody bothers me, out-
side of the communists, who are
trying to make an issue out. of
my work.” :

He said then ‘he was biding his
time, “waiting to be called.” He
hinted that influential persons
were interested in his movement
and were awaiting a “crisis” in
national affairs before giving the
green light to the reorganization
of the fascist party.

e
PPARENTLY the

’

“crisis” is

here and Arcand has been ~

“called.” He told the recent
gathering that the National Unty
party would soon be revived. The
meeting, according to police, was
made up of a considerable num-
ber of professional men, includ-
ing doctors, notaries, and
lawyers.

Previously both provincial and
RCMP had denied any advance
knowledge of the meeting while
‘city anti-subversive police said
they were “too busy” watching
CIO rallies that Sunday to keep
tab on Arcand. Reporters who
were barred noted a, number of
sleek limousines outside the par-
ish hall. ‘

The fact that Premier Duples-
sis’ “man Friday” is reportedly
connected with the forced “re-
birth” and has left for Europe
on a reconnaisance trip, is being
taken to indicate that the heads
of the large trustified industries
who make government policy
would like to destroy the grow-
ing union drive in Quebec and
direct the misery of the workers
from the real fight against the
monopolies into a shadow-boxing
tilt against the “Judaeo-Masonic-
Bolshevik” ghosts of Arcand’s hy-
sterical mind.

A look at their calendars would
show them that this is 1947, and
not 1933. The growing, sharpen-
ing fight of labor against Duples-
sis and the reactionary anti-de-
mocratic policies of his govern-
ment which help pave the way
for Arcand, indicates that the
menace of fascism can be squelch-
ed quickly by @ solid, united
trade union struggle against it.

Jean Marie Bedard, head of the
Canadian Congress of Labor
(CIO), summed it up neatly when
he stated, “Arcand represents
nothing but the scum of reaction,
the enemies of labor. The labor
movement, which speaks for the
genuine peovle who want to act
to improve their standard of life,
will fight against fascism when-
ever it appears.” ;

‘Stronger Than Ever Here’
Is Arcand’s Fascist Boast

A His *Attitade Supporting Anti-Semitism Not Damp-
‘ened By Internment Daring the War; Claims
Contact With Groups in Other Nations

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Gazette staff writer,-on Adrien Arcan

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articles by ‘Kenneth G. Wright,”
d, Canadian Fascist leader who

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Chiang faces military dilemna

EHIND the brief report that

40,000 battle-scarred veterans of
the People’s Liberation Army,
part of the field army headed
by General Liu Po-chen, have
crossed the Yangtze River into
the southern part of Anwhei
Province, in Central China, lies a
brilliant military strategy that
confronts Chiang Kai-shek with
an insoluble problem.

The offensive in Anwhei, one
of five major offensives being
mounted by the Communists,
marks the beginning of a new
stage in the war in China.

The grand strategic aim is
simple but daring.

Chiang, in attempting to force
back the Communists, has spread
out his armies over all China;

out of 248 brigades, 227 are out
at the front; 17 more are sta-
tioned far in the west (eight in
Sinkiang and West Kansu, near
the Soviet border, seven in
Szechuan and Sikang and two
in Kwantung).

The break-through into Central
China of Liu Po-chen’s armies,
therefore, threatens the entire
undefended rear in Central
China.

The calculation of the leaders
of the Liberation Armies is that
this break-through combined
with the intensification of fight-
ing on all fronts will put Chiang
in a dilemma to which there is
no solution.

If he withdraws troops from

DD ae ae ay

the front, his whole line of de-
fence will cave in and North
China go out of his hands.

If he does not bring back
troops to fight General Liu’s |
veterans, Central China, where
are Nanking and Hankow, two
of China’s biggest and. most im-
portant (econom: and politi-
cally) cities, will become bases
of democracy in China.

Many observers believe that
Chiang’s fate is now doomed in
the light of the Communist, stra-
tegic offensive, which has com-
pletely taken the initiative out
of his hands and the rising
popular opposition caused by ©
corruption, inflation and starva-
tion in Kuomintang-controlled
areas. $

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE li