Victims of U.S. Smith Act

Sixteen of the Seventeen New York Smith A ct Victims who are busy organizing their defense ~
and in collecting the $250,000 for the expenses cf their trial and those of other victims of the

Smith Act.

They are: from left to right, first rcw: Marion Bachrach, Claudia Jones, Israel Am-

ter, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Betty Gannett; sec ond row: Aleander Bittelman, William Weinstone,
Isidore Begun, Arnold Johnson, Victor J. Jerome Simon W. Gerson, Louis Weinstock, Albert Lan-
non, Pettis Perry, Alexander Trachtenberg, George Blake Charney. Jacob Mindel, a 70-year-old
Scholar and teacher, was ill at the time this picture was taken.

CONTINUED

~ LIBERALS

ed in holding the Liberal revolt
against the Coalition in check
for the moment, as Finance Min-
iter Herbert Anscomb resisted
Conservative rebellion last year.
Neither party leader is anxious
to precipitate the breakup of the
Coalition and yet both know the
end is in sight and with it per-
haps, ‘their own leadership. ~

As reflected in the Liberal ex-
€cutive session, the struggle for
Partisan political advantage is
becoming so acute that it is plac-
ing impossible ‘strains upon the
Coalition. Members of each party
fear that the other party will
Seize the political initiative and
leave them responsible for’ the
Sorry: ‘heritage of Coalition poli-

~ cies,

Anti-Coalition Liberals want to
Present the Conservatives as /hav-
ing hamstrung their efforts to
-Carry through “progressive” leg-
Islation. Anti-Coalition Conserva-
tives, as represented’ by Mrs.
Tillie Rolston last year, want to
direct the finger of public accusa-
tion at Premier Johnson and the
‘Liberals,

Premier Johnson himself is re-
Portedly relying upon a_ short
Session of the legislature this
Spring to provide the foundation
for Liberal victory at the polls.

ut the Conservatives are also
aware of his intent to force upon
them the onus for opposing his
Projected legislation.

Perry, commenting ‘on John-
Son’s having persuaded the Lib-
eral executive to put over /the
‘Convention time limit to June 30,
8S opposed to the demand for an
Immediate convention, ‘forecast
8 provincial election before next
June,

‘T don't see how it can be
avoided,” the said.

And for the working people
°f this province, smarting under
eet Liberal-Conservative Coali-
eon Policies, it will be a welcome

Vent. But for them the question

Will be: What progressive forces, |

ased on a program of peace and
aneele’s welfare, can offer the
alternative to both Liberals and
Onservatives?

2 tn
“Everything in Flowers”
ROM ...

EARL SYKES

56 E. Hastings St. PA.” 8855
—~___- Vancouver... B.C.

Charles Stewart,
veteran unionist, .
retires from BCE

Thousands of Vancouver trade
unionists and progressives said,
“We're losing one of ‘the best,”
when Charles M. Stewart, 61-
year-old executive member of
the Street Railwaymen’s Union,
retired from service with the B.C.
Electric last week. Stewart will
continue his trade union duties
until June, when union elections
take place; then he will move to

CHARLES STEWART

Jshortly afterwards,

Roberts Creek, seven miles west
of Gibsons, and devote himself to
his favorite pastime, gardening.
(He was at one time a park
gardener.) —

A veteran of the trade union
movement in Canada—he joined
the General Workers Union in
Vancouver more than 40 years
ago and has held a union card
ever since—Stewart has won the
warm ‘friendship of thousands of
workers by his staunchness, in-
tegrity and devotion to the cause
of the working class.

A member of the old Com-
munist Party of Canada since
1931, Stewart has held _respon-
sible positions in that party and
its successor, the Labor-Progres-
sive party, of which he is a foun-
dation member.

Born in Dundee, Scotland, in
1892, Stewart left school at 15 to

earn his own living, came to
Canada at the age of 20. He
settled in Saskatoon and worked
in the CPR freight sheds for
several months; then moved to
Vancouver and took a job as
gardener with the park board.
When tthe General Workers
Union was organized about that
time he became a charter mem-
‘ber.

Three years later Stewart and
his young Scottish wife shifted
their home to Butte, Montana,
where he worked in the copper
mines operated by the powerful
Anaconda Company, a_ bitter.
enemy of trade unionism. But fol-
lowing a disastrous mine fire in
1917 which snuffed out the lives
of 175 men, a spontaneous strike
laid the basis for organization of
the Metal Mine Workers Union.
One of the first to take out a

-card was Charlie Stewart.

to. Vancouver
Stewart
joined the Socialist Party in
Canada, started to work for the
B.C. Electric and immediately be-
came active. in the union. In
addition to his union work, he
helped organize the unemployed
during the Hungry Thirties, and
from the time he joined the Com-
munist Party of Canada in 1931
was a tireless and _ valuable
worker in the cause of socialism.

Returning:

Today, at 61, Stewart can look |:

back upon a life well spent in
devotion to Communist and trade
union principles. And while he-is
retiring from his B.C. Electric
‘job, he has no intention of re-
tiring from_the class struggle in
which the has filled so long and
honorable a role.

PENDER

AUDITORIUM

(Marine Workers)
339 West Pender
LARGE & SMALL HALLS

FOR RENTALS
Phone PA. 9481

LDR stepping up

drive for

of Garson laws

repeal

TORONTO

A stepped up three-point campaign for repeal of the Garson
amendments to the Criminal Code; Quebec’s’ Padlock Act and the
winning of a Bill of Rights will be undertaken during the next three

months. The campaign will seek
into action on civil rights.

Roberts said delegates had
agreed that “the right of every
Canadian worker to belong to a
union of his or her own choice;
and the right of such democratic-
ally-chosen unions to choose their
own leaders to bargain to strike
and to picket; are essential rights
that must be maintained.”

The meeting heard P. Walsh,
LDR secretary in Quebec City,
say that authorities. of the
Duplessis government were re-
sponsible for an attack that
hospitalized G. Fortin, an offi-
cial of the Canadian Union of
Woodworkers. He reported that
evidence brought out in court
showed the government had re-
commended CUW organizers be
kept out of bush-camps at all
costs even by violent methods if
these were necessary.

A national executive meeting
of the League for Democratic
Rights held at Kingston.January
6 laid plans for the drive. They
include publication of a French-
English pamphlet, The Case for
Quebec; issuance of 25,000 post-
cards to Justice Minister Stuart
‘Carson, urging repeal fo the June
1951 amendments and asking for
a Bill of Rights.

Delegates were present from
Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa,
Toronto and Windsor, according
to Thomas C. Roberts, LDR ex-
ecutive secretary. Close coopera-
tion with the trade union move-
ment in defense of labor’s rights
was urged.

LDR co-chairman Edmond Ma-
jor told the meeting that the Que-
bec government was using the
Quebec Labor Board to thwart
and’ deny elementary and basic
trade union rights; unions dis-
liked by Duplessis were being de-
nied certification and their exist-
ing certifications cancelled; com-
pany unions were being certified;
and the ‘police were constantly
interfering with the distribution
of union literature, the holding of
union meetings, and the like.

M. J. Kennedy, LDR secretary,
and LDR co-chairman Roscoe S.
Rodd, K.C., from Windsor, re-

to get at least 100,000 Canadians

ported to the’ executive meeting
on the attacks on trade union
rights taking place in that city.

Firing of 32 members of the
United Aytomobile Workers
from the Ford plant, and the
criminal charges laid against six
of the 32, could only be inter-
preted as deliberate attacks on
basic trade union rights when all
the evidence, was reviewed, the
two LDR officials reported. It
was unanimously agreed that the
LDR National Executive should
offer full support to Local 200
UAW and the six men against
whom charges thave been laid.

Lumber profit up,
so is death foll

Profits of the lumber* barons
went up in 1951—but so did the
death and accident. toll in BC.
woods. R.H. MacMillan net pro-
fits soared to an all-time high of
$15,600,000—but 70 woodworkers:
died and 9,295 were injured in
the first 11 months of the year.

Figures released by Workmen’s
Compensation Board tell their
own story of brutal speedup and
jax safety precautions in the
woods and mills today: 1950 —
deaths, 62; accidents, 5,825; 1951
—deaths, 70; accidents, 9,295 (11
months).

Policy of International Wood-
workers : leaders to “cooperate”
with management in a “safety
program” instead of imposing a
genuine safety program by action
on the job is responsible in large
degree for the record increase in
accidents and fatalities last year.
At the coming IWA district con-
vention the present “safety pro-
gram” of the union is certain to
come under critical’ review by

rank-and-file delegates.

TOM M

: LENIN
MEMORIAL RALLY

at

PENDER AUDITORIUM
339 W. Pender St.

Sunday, January 20 -- 8 p.m.

SPEAKER

Editor, Pacific Tribune

CONCERT PROGRAM

Auspices: City Committee, Labor-Progressive Party

cEWEN

.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JANUARY 11, 1952 — PAGE 7

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