Photo shows a group of the world-famous ver's Queen Elizabeth Theatre from November

Bolshoi ballet in front of the Bolshoi Theatre in
Moscow taken just before they left for their
tour of Canada. They will appear at Vancou-

p.m.

12 to the 16th. There will be a matinee per-
formance on Saturday, November 16 at 2:30

/Mark Twain and religion

nother of Mark Twain’s’’for-

gotten works’’ has made its
appearance and _ disillusioned
those critics who thought of him
Only as the harmless humorist.

Reflections on Religion was
Yecently printed in an American
literary magazine amid great
ballyhoo and attempts to find
Out what had so embittered this
kindly-looking old southern gen-
tleman, 2

A good clue for all who care
to look can be found in a pre-
decessor to those ‘reflections’
— King Leopold’s Soliloquy —
_ Written by Twain the social critic
in answer to a great social in-
_ justice of his time which was
blanketed by silence when it cried
Out to be exposed.

Of King Leopold of Belgium
Where he had built a giant rub-
_ ber industry, with the approval
_ Of the imperialist powers, on the

_ bodies of the natives.

Twain assessed the situation
and when he finally put pen to
Paper it was not just fruitlessly
to bemoan the fate of the dead,
but to lay bare the cause ofthese
events for all to see—and judge
for themselves.

Into the mouth of a depraved
Md desperate King Leopold
Twain put all the damning evi-
dence; the recognition by the
_ United States and other great
Powers of his sovereignty over
the Congo, the sanctity of kings

WORTH
~ READING

CRISIS OF CONFEDERATION
50¢, A special issue of the Marx-
ist Quarterly, which has var-
tous aspects of the problems of
_ Confederation, A study of new
(baterials on the question of
“Biculturalism, French Canada
nd the Constitution.”

A must reading for aif Ganad-
tans in order to understand fully

Two Nations in One State,”

_ OUTLOOK FOR ANEW LABOR
ADVANCE by George Morris,
15¢. The labor movement and its
Uture are a subject of much
iscussion, This pamphlet has an

Cumulation of developments,
Such as ** Automation and the 35-
Sur week, job security con-
acts, and the fight for peace’’.
he overriding concern in the
ae unions today is the fear
cr being automated onto the

Mman slag heap’’ and chronic
Ployment.

\

This was the Congo empire .

and the power of money and the
inhumanity of God. Z
Is it any wonder the author

‘became so opposed to religion
‘when he saw how imperialism

had employed it in his own
time?

King Leopold’s Soliloquy is
the work of a craftsman con-
cerned with making his point in
the most effective way. It is so
constructed that even when you
realize the horror ofthe events—
Leopold was responsible for the
deaths of millions of Congolese
- you have to laugh at the
hypocrisy and contradictions of
the man, which Twain brings out
so brilliantly.

It has more than historical
value when you remember what
has happened in the Congo in

the last few years, A well-written
introduction draws the conclu-

sions, telling us how the Amer- .

ican financial barons, Morgan,
Rockfeller, Ryan and Guggen-’

heim, bought into Leopold’s busi- -

ness and how their money re-
mained there ever since,

Its literary value is undisput-
ed, It is more than just a pol-
emic which probably explains
why, after being published in
1906; it remained hidden under
wraps for 55 years until being
re-published in 1961 as a Seven
Seas Book.

Does it seem paradoxical that
a book should not be published
because it is so good? Read King
Leopold’s Soliloquy and you'll
understand why.

—VICTOR WILLIAMS

OPEN FORUM

Joe Ivens, Okanagan Mission,

writes: Again in last week’s is-
sue of the Pacific Tribune (Oct.-
11) it has become a habit with me
to read letters from readers of
the ‘PT’ first. I cannot think that
people have lost interest, rather
the reverse. The many letters

I get shows only too clearly that:

people everywhere are more in-
terested than ever.

Last week a letter of mine was
published inthe Canadian Tribune
replying to a Toronto reader who

asked the question, ‘Is the Tri-
bune doing the job it was intended

for? What is wrong?”’

One letter I received complains
that the writer cannot get any
of his letters published because
the editors don’t agree with him,
and he says he will cancel his
subscription. I write him that
I don’t agree with him, and all
the more reason why he should
continue taking the Tribunes, both
of them.

It must be remembered that
an editor has the right to print
what he thinks fit, But the edi-
tors of both papers, I believe,do
more than ‘‘welcome”’ criticism,
since criticism must be the very
life blood of our society.

What is bothering many of our
readers is why the circulation
of our papers isn’t better, I can
give a lot of reasons. The whole
of capitalism is against us, be-
cause capitalism not only con-
trols the means of production,
but the means of spreading false

ideas. :
Other correspondents write me

that the Tribunes take the side of
the Soviet Union in the ideo-
logical dispute between China

and the Soviets; that they both_

follow the dictates of the Com-
munist Party. This dispute has
now become world wide.

The view I take in this is that
I refuse to be dictated to on
this controversy by anybody,
party included. No one should
lose their individuality. Each
reader or party member has the

right to interpret Marxism -
Leninism as he thinks proper in
the interests of the working class
and what is best for his cou-
try as a whole. The articles that
are appearing by Tim Buck are
very ably written, but one does
not necessarily have to agree
with everything he says. Even
Comrade Tim doesn’t expect that.

I don’t believe as some do that
we have reached the point of

‘no return’ in this dispute. Com-_

munists of the world will get to-:
gether again, perhaps under new
leadership, We are all living in
a state of flux or change. In the
meantime I want to see more
letters to the editor. I believe
he will publish them, at least
as far as space will allow.

~ Let us do all we can to get
better circulation, plus every-
thing possible to assist our ed-
itors. Do not lose faith in our
own papers. That is the one weak-
ness that imperialism fattens on,
and the cure for that disease is
more circulation and more let-
ters, which I leave to other writ-
ers. Let’s hear from you.

Some Festival films
you'll enjoy seeing

ast week the PT listed some
& of the films to be shown at
the 6th Vancouver International
Film Festival, November: 24 to
30. The festival will be held at
the Ridge Theatre, 3131 Arbutus,
For further information phone
Sam Shaw at MU 4-0246. ig
In addition to the films out-
lined previously, the following
entries promise to be well worth

watching,
* *

**Codine’’, the Rumanian entry
at Cannes this year, won the
prize for best screenplay and
also shared an award for tech-
nical skill. Directed and scrip-
ted by France’s Henri Colbpi,
whose initial film, ‘‘Une Aussie
Longue Absence’’, was awarded
the Golden Palm as best picture
at Cannes in 1961, Codine was
shot in Bucharest and the Dan-
ube port of Braila and marks the
first filmic co - production be-
tween France and Rumania,

Based on a moving novel by
Panait Istrati, the Rumanian
author popularized in France by
Romain Holland some 30 years
ago, the story tells how a child’s
simple friendship has a civil-
izing influence on a wild soul.

Set at the turn of the century
during the great cholera epidemic
which afflicted Rumania, it con-
cerns the relationship between a
young slum urchin and Codine, the
fiery giant who saves the life
of the boy’s mother, Francoise
Brion is the French actress in
a cast which otherwise co-stars
Rumanian actors Alexandre Vir-
gil Platon as Codine and Ravzan
Petresco as the small boy. —

Others featured in this Dan-
ubian folk drama are Nelly Bor-
geaud and Maurice Sarfati.
Period reconstruction is notable
and photography by Marcel Weiss
makes masterful use of Eastman
color.

: * * *

Herbert Vesely’s ‘‘The Bread
of Our Early Years’? (Das Brot
Der Fruhen Jahre), shown at last
year’s Cannes and London fest-
ivals, is considered the most
advanced film to come from

Germany since the end of World:

War Two.

It is also very self-conscious-
ly aware of all the ‘new
wave’’ trends popularized in
France and Italy in the past few
years, but Vesely, like such dir-
ectors as Godard, Truffaut, Res-
nais, Polanski

and Antonioni, —

works in his own unclassifiable
way in portaying human nature as
he sees it.

Starring Christian Doermer,
Karen Blanguernon, Vera Ts-
chechowa and Gerry Bretscher,
Vesely’s first feature is based
on Heinrich Boll’s novel, a sub-
jective portrait of love set against”
the social conditions of post war
Germany, It has a lot to say
about the German economic

Saninacic?,

Neither the ‘tamiliar **mes-
sage’’ film of the social doc-
umentary pattern nor the con-
ventional ‘story’? treatment in
standard theatrical formula,

**The Exiles’’, an independent
U.S. production,
film to categorize,

is a difficult

Produced, written and direct-
ed by Kent Mackenzie, it is the
re-enactment of one- wild but
typical night in the lives of three
young*American Indians who have
left their reservations to live
in downtown Los Angeles, As
such, it is a motion picture which
evolved entirely from its real
life content, in which the Indians
played themselves, acted out
their own dialogue and recorded
hours of informal comment to be
extracted for narration.

It was filmed almost entirely
on location in Los Angeles and

* took three and a half years to

complete due to the financial
difficulties of independent pro-
duction.

The type of life shown is not
typical of the estimated 25,000
Indians living in the Los Angeles
area today, including Apaches,
Navajos, Choctaws, Blackfeet,
Sioux, Hualapis and others, but
it is true of many in varying
degrees.

Featured players are Tommy
Reynold, a Mexican, Yvonne Wil-
liams, an Apache, and Homer
Nish, her Hualapi husband,

Meany of AFL-CIO

RHYMES
WITH THE TIMES

Wants Canadians all to know,

In shipping problems of today

It’s he who has the final say.
**Your unions are a subsidiary

And that is how it’s got to be.’’

He thinks this thought isn’t funny
For this he’s paid a lot of money,
The state department behind him too
In our affairs — it isn’t new,
Persistant interference, such

You must admit its too damn much.

Lester — say it isn’t true

Are you with that motly crew?
Canadian labor can set things right
We do not need a foreign might

To tell us what we have to do

Or else they'll tighten down the screw.

We have trusteeship now you know

"Cause labour didn’t make a show,

Cold war policies were poor
- ‘They just let riff-raff in the door.

It caused disunity in our ranks

For which big business gives great thanks,

THE LINES ARE SET — WE MUST DEMAND
_ WE WILL BE MASTERS IN OUR LAND!

eer

November 8, 1963—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page