COMMUNIST PARTY CONVENTION

Fraternal delegates’ greetings
among convention's highlights

TORONTO — There were
many stirring and memorable
moments at the 16th national
convention .of the Communist
Party here on Thanksgiving
weekend. Among them these
stand out primarily:

“@ The cheers and standing
Ovations that greeted each of

three fraternal delegates from’

other countries — Etienne
Fajon. editor of L’Humanite,
and member of the central
committee of the Communist

Party of France; James Jack-_

son, member of the national
executive committee of the
Communist Party of the Unit-
ed States; and Cesar Escalente
leader of the Havana organiz-
ation of the People’s Socialist
Party of Cuba.

_ @ The moments when the
cables and letters of greeting

from different fraternal part-

ies in other countries
read out to the delegates. (Sev-
eral fraternal visitors were
barred from entering Canada).
_ @ The moment when, after
Seven years of drafting, re-
drafting and discussion within
the party and three hours of
discussion on the floor of the
convention, the draft of the
‘party program, presented to
the delegates by Leslie Morris,

were

bate, the resolution to restorespeech a the close of the con-

the name Communist Party of
Canada was taken by a stand-
ing vote_and carried — again
unanimously,

@ The quarter hour during
which Avrom Yanovsky, vet-

eran labor cartoonist, regaled

and inspired the delegates
with ‘his clever chalk talk,

TIM BUCK -
Re-elected national leader

@ The moving speeches by
Tom McEwen of B.C. and
Blanche Gelinas of ‘Quebec,
when they nominated Tim

vention, in which he declared:
“Our No. 1 job now is to de-
feat the capitalist offensive as
part of the fight to end the
cold war. We must go out now
in a new spirit and with a new
approach to rouse a-great mass
movement among the people
of Canada and force the gov-
ernment to adopt policies in
keeping. with. the new world
climate for peace.” ‘
A national’ committee of 51
members was elected.

The convention was marked
throughout by a high degree
of enthusiasm and a great eag-
erness. to participate in the
discussion and debate issues
and_ problems. ane eae

In all there were 144 dele-
gaies, of whom 83 were wo-
men, and the » overwhelming
majority took an active part:
in the discussions: Oldtimers
were haPpy to note the large
number of -younger delegates
present. Maho

Folk Festival
"O estival

The Canadian Folk Festival
will present its 27th annual
presentation this year in the

new Queen Elizabeth Theatre
on October 22, 23, and 24. :

Was unanimously adopted by
a standing vote.

@ The moment when, af-
ter a thorough and spirited de-

al leader.

Buck for re-election as nation-

@® Tim’ Buck’s

Folk handicrafts will be on
display.each evening in the
main lounge of the-theatre.

inspiring

AN APPEAL TO THE PEOPLE OF CANADA

Sy man and woman in Our country
_is filled with a new hope for peace.

. The dark clouds of world war are lift-

For 13 years we have been drifting into
nuclear war. .

We have been seized with a dread of
a war which would literally incinerate our
“people and devastate our country.

__ Now—new hope has come to us. Peace
is within our grasp. The exchange of visits
between President Eisenhower and Pre-
‘mier Khrushchev promises an end to the
cold war and makes possible the peaceful
~coexistence of all countries.

The bold plan for complete and general
disarmament in four, years—if supported
‘by the people—can release us from the
-heavy burden of armaments—and open
the way to use our factories and mines for
-peace and world trade.

_ Our country’s independence — which
has been lost to the U.S. military because
we have become a military district for

U.S. generals—can best be regained in a ~
aworld at.peace, and respect for sovereign -

rights of all nations,

their enormous public power and demand- |
ing positive action for peace, total dis-.
armament and production and trade for |

But—evil and rich interests are op-
posed to ending the cold war. They are
hostile to peaceful coexistence. They
thrive on alarms, fears, crises and feverish:
and dangerous situations. They are highly.
placed and find support in the Diefen-
baker government and the Liberal party.

They can be set back and defeated by |
an aroused people—by united labor, by the |

farmers’ organizations, municipal coun-

cils, by citizens’ associations of all kinds |

and every individual citizen—asserting

peace. gist d
Fellow Canadians!

Make your views known to the govern-
ment of Canada! get eee

On to Total Disarmament,

On to a Summit Meeting,

- On to a new era of peace and friend-
ship between peoples! . eas

ACT NOW—FOR PEACE !'

16th National Convention, _

Lucille Giscome, Canadian
Tribune staff correspondent in
Czechoslovakia, died of cancer
in Prague on October 4 after
a long illness.

Lucille was appointed Trib-
une correspondent early last
spring. She filed one news
story. Immediately afterwards
she became ill and confined
to hospital for treatment.

Prior to her appointment to
the Tribune staff, Lucille
worked for several years for
the Telepress agency in Prague
and more recently in the
Prague office of the Hsinhua
(New China) News Agency.

She had gone to Europe in
1947 for a limited period but
was: compelled to stay there
right up until her death. The
Canadian immigration depart-
ment refused her re-entry into
Canada on a technicality, des-
pite the fact that she lived
here all her life and that her
home, her aged mother and
all the other members of her
|family live here.

Although she soon learned

>| the Czech language and estab-

lished herself among the
people of Prague, Lucille never
gave up the dream of return-
ing to Canada. But this was
denied her. The immigration
authorities refused her a visa
to return to Canada even after
it was known that-she would
not recover and.did not have
very much longey to live.
Lucille Giscome was born
in Boston, Mass., on September
29, 1912. Her parents had gone
there from Canada the year
before because her father
thought he might find a better
job there. When Lucille was
about a year old, the family
returned to North Bay, Ont.,
where she grew up. The Gis-
comes were the only colored

Joseph Zuken, veteran Com-

|munist member on Winnipeg’s

school board, has been re-elec-
ted to another term by accla-
mation. The acclamation is a
tribute to the contribution he
has made to Winnipeg’s school
system’ and the’ leadership he
has given to the people’s fight

& Communist ‘ Party of : Canada.

for better education... — - 7

“OBITUARY _

LUCILLE GISCOME

family living there at the time.
Mrs. Giscome, Lucilles
mother, remembers that while
she was still at public school
her teacher had asked her t0
write a composition about het
life in Boston. Lucille thought”
this request was foolish, since i
she was just a baby then, but —

she did remember then, some ee

thing that did happen to her —

which even her mother had
forgotten. is

Bee
“Always sharp as a needle,”

her mother recalls. “She gle ji ~

ways loved her studies. It was —
a serious business with her and
she was very. impatient with |
anything that held her back. —
Lucille graduated from es
lic school at 18, with the high

est marks in the district. The

next. three. years were spent .
taking a high school comme!
cial course, which she passed
with honors. Her teachers
were very interested in her
work and always said she
would be a writer some day
Her spare time was ;
working with young peoples
clubs at church. :
Mr. Giscome had always —
promised Lucille that she
would go to college but was
never able to get a job that-
would make this possible, All
his life he regretted the fact

spent

that his hopes to become ab

engineer had been frustrated.

He did, however, encourage

his daughter to try a civil ser 5 :

vice exam and after passing
this she went to Ottawa where
she worked for several years.
In order to save money Lucille
bought a bicycle and rode the
six miles to and from work s0
that out of her meagre pay:
she was able to send home $16
a month to help her parents
pay their rent.

Deciding that she would
never get much more for her
work Lucille left her job with,

| the government and .came 10.

Toronto. where she tried. t0-
work in the educational field..

| | During this period she -travel-_
| led -to- Windsor, Collingwood.

and many.other towns in. On--
tario searching for. -the - early,
history of her people in Can-
ada. st |

For a while, until 1944, she
worked for the Worker’s Edu-
cational Association. After that
she joined the staff of the Can-
adian Tribune where she work-
ed as a librarian and editorial

secretary. In her spare time

she contributed numerous fea-
ture articles and reviews, in
which she displayed her gift
for writing. 4
* Lucille was'a member of the

Labor-Progressive Party from

its foundation in 1943 until she
left. Canada for Europe, She.
was always a keen student of |
the social sciences and took an
active interest in the political
and cultural life around her. .

October 23, 1959—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 2

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