A-bomb-H-bomb fetishism - : : Sas the moment the capitalist press decided to - acknowledge that the Soviet Union had the atom bomb, an editorial policy of “devalumg the atom” has been pursued. The carefully cultivated myth that in the event of war Yankee B-36s could unload A-bombs on their targets, turn city after city into giant mushrooms of disintegration, and force the enemy into surrender within a matter of days, now had to be exposed. For the man in the street was now saying: “Perhaps we'll find ourselves on the receiving end.” Devaluation of the atom reached ridiculous pro- portions, American editors who had previously spoken with hushed reverence of the ‘Almighty Atom’ as the supreme defender of the ‘Almighty Dollar’ now ~ solemnly assured the public that white clothes or a sheet of newsprint was adequate protection against the effects.of bomb blast and radiation. Fashion edit- ors told ’milady to avoid the plunging neckline and to wear cellophane up to the chin as protection against the A-bomb. Meanwhile chair-borne generals in Washington — were frantically searching for a new weapon which they could proclaim all-powerful. It now seems that HE; real estate interests, the big landlords and the trust companies are preparing to evict thousands of Vancouver families from the quarters, good, bad or indifferent, they now call home. And, of course, they expect to. make a nice profit for themselves in the process. The post-war real estate boom is collapsing. Along Howe, Pender and Robson streets the hustling’ agents who, a short time ago, were sneering at clients with no more than $1,500 down payment, now grab at offers of a few hundred dollars. But there aren’t many. High living costs, profiteering in food, clothing and all the essentials of life unrestricted by the St. Laurent government, prevented most families from saving the high down payment required until recently. Red-baiting, division of the labor movement and be- _ trayal of labor’s interests by the top leaders of the peat: and AFL have prevented most organized work- ers from obtaining the wage increases which might now help them to meet the lower down payments needed to acquire a house. Instead, unemployment is eating up what little savings workers have left, and ‘unemployment insurance won’t meet living costs, let alone pay the mortgage for those who are already buy- ing houses the hard way. : : ~ In all this bleak outlook, the real estate interests and the big landlords can still see some hope of profit. ‘Thousands of families are living’ in basément ‘suites, from the high-priced self-contained establishments in newer houses on the west side to the shabby makeshift quarters built durmg the war in many of the older houses throughout the city. Again, under federal war- time housing regulations, many houses in single family dwelling zones were converted into rooming and apart-_ ment houses and bought and. sold as. such, If regulations now being prepared. but not yet announced by Vancouver’s Non-Partisan city council go through, all basement suites will be prohibited and 5 as economic traitors who run this country are quite willing to sacrifice Canadian workers to the jnterests of U.S. monopoly capital. i The phony excuse is advanced by Donald Gor- : don, big business’ new CNR president, that the strik- ing U.S. coal miners are to blame for cutting down’: CNR trains and throwing thousands out of work. - That’s nothing but a lie, and the train cuts are de- ‘signed to smash the railroad workers’ demands for the 40-hour week and wage increases. rae There is plenty of coal in British Columbia, Gordon's ‘big lie’ Alberta, and Nova Scotia for Canadian Foiltaads. they have found it in the hydrogen bomb. The H-bomb, they assert, is “1000 times more’ powerful than the A-bomb.” There is no defense against it. It could completely destroy enemy cities in the event of war. 4 Only hitch in production is, that U.S. scientists have not yet discovered how to make a casing which’ will contain the bomb—the heat, we are told, is so intense that it disintegrates all known materials, Pre-- sumably when such a casing is discovered, there will be a spate of U.S. editorial hosannas crying Glory Be! Uncle Sam Is Now Top Dog Over All the World Again. ‘ People who think all see through the latest at- tempt of the American imperialists to. beguile ‘them into worshipping the H-bomb in place of the A-bomb. Neither can be decisive weapons in any future war. © Both ‘are terribly destructive weapons which can wipe out millions of humans. Mk ee « The Womb must be banned. The Hoa must ~ never be constructed. The madmen of Washington must be curbed so that mankind ‘can live in ‘peace. 3 tas all rooming houses outside approved zones will have to be reconverted to single family dwellings. Thous- ands of families will be rendered homeless, most of them without hope of obtaining other suitable accom- modation at a rent they can afford because the city council has shamefully neglected its housing respon- sibilities. Where will these families go? The real estate interests don’t care—they hope some of them will be forced to buy houses of their own or rent houses ac- guired by landlords who see in lifting of rent controls -an opportunity for highly profitable investment, No one will be surprised by the city council’s contemplated action, for it is merely a continuation of "a consistent policy of serving the interests of big busi- ness. Town planning regulations can readily be ignor- ed when it is a question of allowing the BCElectric ‘to erect an overhead power line along Boundary Road but zoning regulations are sacrosanct, to be amended only for business interests, Slum houses, which should have been torn down long ago are still standing and bringing rents, for the most part held for speculation and investment by big interests. But, all basement suites _ must be evacuated, no matter how well equipped they . are, no matter how much hardship is created, even though the people are driven into slums. There-is no- question of meeting minimum requirements of health and sanitation because that might defeat big. business’ plans. ; eS There will, without question, be an outcry when the city council’s intentions become known. And there should be. It should serve to focus public atterition on the failure of governments, civic and federal, to fulfil the housing promises they so glibly made ‘during war years and so arrogantly, have refused to implement ~since the war's end. Without rent control, and until. sufficient alternative low-cost housing is provided, the’ council’s proposed action is apparent for what it 1S i. a measure to permit real estate interests and big land- lords to profit from a housing shortage for which the council itself is primarily responsible. , Big new deposits of high-grade iron ore in Labra- dor and Steep Rock are announced. Is this ore to be used to build up the Canadian primary steel industry? No, Inland Steel of Chicago and the big Wall Street interests are-getting it while we depend on the U.S, for importing much of our steel. Talk about patriotism! These “‘executives”” are nothing but cynical betrayers of the econoniic interests ; ; of our country. _ eye. The one exposed the ersatz ’. socialist society. The other hides TOM McEWEN As We See It fe WOULD seem that, no matter what the occasion, it is just im- possible for the hired scribblerg of the monopoly press. to stick to the facts. Had the event been other than Ol’ Bill’s funeral, we might have ignored the matter entirely, realizing thd futility of expecting truth from an institution which thrives best on distortion and mis- representation. Ol’ Bill himself? kindly man‘that he was, was never oné to let falsehood and snide cynicism pass without challenge, and certainly wouldn’t in this instance. Among the many thousands who came ‘to pay their last respects to Ol’ Bill Bennett were the Vancouver Sun’s star > columnists, Elmore Philpott and Jack Scott. Their columns on the funeral, Scott’s in the Sun-of Jan- uary 10, and Philpott’s on January 14, each in its Own peculiar way serve as a good yardstick for measuring the “respect” its authors held for Ol’ Bill. : For these columnists—if one is to judge by what they wrote—Ol’ Bill’s funeral meant no more than a golden opportunity to snipe at the party ah the cause to which Ol’ Bill dedicated his whole life. “Elmore Philpott says he came to pay his re- . Spects “to a fine journalist, a fierce fighter and, above all, a kindly man.” So say we all, : Why then, Mr, Philpott, ,put Ol Bill behind the mythical “Iron Curtain” of the monopoly, press which finds it profitable to buy your words, and seek to minimize the “enemy” against which Ol’ Bill dedi- cated a lifetime’s struggle? Perhaps to you the oppression and tyr- -anny of capitalist monopoly is purely a Communist “caricature’— _ an invention! In such case, your last respects to “a fierce fighter” ~ Non-Partisan rent gouge fall something short of being genuine. Yes, we quoted .Robbie Burns because Ol’ Bill loved Burns, and we loved Ol’ Bill as Burns loved his own father. We quoted Burns, not because as you say “there was nothing in Karl Marx suitable for that moment,”- but because Burns in. his day, anticipating the ideals of Marxism, fought all his short adult life for the, things Marx and O! Bill fought for. But perhaps your ‘understanding is too limited to grasp this, just as your sight seems to be failing to the point where you could say, without a blush of shame, “there were no flowers.” “There were no..* prayers at Ol’ Bill's funeral.’ How do you know, Mr. Philpott? Are you God, passing public censure on your fellow men from the lofty altitudes of the Sun tower? r You who pose as ‘an authority on Burns should try to understand Burns better than you evidently do Karl Marx or Ol’ Bill. Have you ever read The Cotter’s Saturday Night on prayer? Read it, Mr. Philpott. It does not square very well with the pretensions of the ‘paper you write for—despite its liberal use of Biblical texts alongside lying editorials, but it does underline your apparent concept of prayer, where : , } ; ; “. .. Men display to congregations wide,’ Devotion’s every grace, except the heart.” , We don’t know whether the new Communist’ state of North Korea sings its national anthem to the tune of “Auld Lang Syne” or not, so we are willing to take Mr. Philpott’s word for it. But we do know that this new Communist state did not come into being without the Marxist-Leninist leadership, devotion, and sacrifice of men and women like Ol’ Bill. We also know that the enemy, which Elmore Philpott disposes of as a figment of Communist imagination, is very rea] and very ruthless. , ae That is why we deeply mourn the loss of Ol Bill—without qualify-° ing the measure of our respect to his memory and the cause he served so nobly. That is also why we scorn those who, disguised as “mourn- ers,” use the cccasion to put across a column of purile anti-Communist propaganda. we ‘aie e Bill’s funeral to pay Simply “because a charming old gentle- / And Jack Scott! No, Jack didn’t go to OY his respects to a fighter, b man I knew had passed on.’ Snide and cynical. ; “A charming old gentleman” whose “capitalist opponents,” ac- cording to Scott, didn’t even know “he existed.” One must needs feel ‘a ‘little pity when assaying the mentality of such columnists. The Pacific Tribune extended every courtesy to Jack Scott in his request for material on the life’s work and ideals of Ol’ Bill. And what was the result? Twenty column. inches of\a cheap sneer at the party and the ideals which Ol’ Bill’s whole life epitomized. It could have been written by a Walter Bedell Smith or a Gouzenko. It was written by ica Jack Scott. Miitieed tat : : } Like’ Philpott, this ink-slinging Philistine bemoans the absence of prayers or hymns. Another God of the Sun tower who presumes to” ea rae pass snide judgment’ on his fellow men, under the pretext of paying his last “respects” to “a charming old gentleman,” that Ol’ Bill's times. One who grows up’ in the Little wonder le V poverty-stricken environs of the Old Land‘ and chooses the path of socialist struggle as-a life’s purpose has good cause to distrust those who pose as progressives... and ‘live by becoming trained apologists and entertainers for reaction, . _ When Jack Scott says that Ol’ Bill’s “capitalist opponents” didn’t even know that Ol’ Bill “existed,” he merely demonstrates his colossal ignorance of the work of the “charming old gentleman” he pretends to eulogize. : ; : _ There are many journals in this province alone to whom the very) — name of OI Bill Bennett was anathema, and have said so in their editorial hysterics, but who Tegard the Jack Scotts with a paternal: and their inherent class character as he blazed the trail towards a ing” word pictures .. . for a weekly wage. _ ra Dai iC acco yay si ia Z oe (RS CINae Tom McEwen .. mh Subscription Rates: 1 Year, $2.50: . Printed by Union Printers Autherized as second class 6 Months, $1.35. mail, Post Office Dept., Ottawa PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JANUARY 27, 1950—PAGE 8 \ s , “benign” face took on a look of “vague distrust” at quality of their “democratic” veneer » those characteristics behind “charm-_ Street, Vancouver, BC.