fom.
McEwen

SLICE nee EE

BiG

Ts is the week of that glorious day
When all the sons and daughters of
Erin, far from their native sod, cele-
brate Saint Patrick’s Day—and wear a
_ bit of green shamrock to shout, their
' love of freedom at the world.
Yes, that bit of shamrock is very dear
to a true Irish heart, not merely because
it was Saint Patrick himself sure that
‘Set it” but because what it symbolizes
has been watered with the blood and
tears of his people for the past three
hundred years or more. There was a
time, and that not so very long ago,
when the real patriots of Ireland, the
Common working folk, were shot and
hanged for “wearin’ ’o the green.”
. The struggle for Irish freedom and
Independence from the heavy yoke of
‘British colonial rule and oppression
dates away back to the 17th century,
and with all due respects to Saint Pat-
Tick, this struggle has been everything
- €xcept a “saintly” affair. Back in 1749
the Irish poet Oliver Goldsmith tells of
the oppression of his people in his im-
- Mortal Deserted Village. © And 169
years later during the First World War,
the armed “Black and Tans” of British
imperialism wrote one of the bloodiest
chapters in its long history of colonial
- Tule by gun and torch—a new version
of the Foreclosure Acts of the 18th cen-
tury. which turned Erin into “a garden”
for British exploitation—' “. . . and a
grave” for Trish patriots.
How better to honor Saint Patrick
than to salute’ the memory of one of
his greatest sons, James Connolly, lead-
€r of the Easter Uprising of 1916, pat-
Tiot, leader, and martyr for a free land.
Of Erin. More so since James Connolly
In life epitomized all that is fine and

rand in Irish folk culture, struggle, and

Matchless heroism!
A stocky little man with dark auburn
air, big grey eyes and flowing mus-
tache, with a rich Dublin brogue and a
razor-sharp wit, a tireless agitator and
a brilliant orator, a poet and song-
Writer who drew upon the struggles of
the people of all lands for the inspira-
tion of his songs. The Boys of Wrex-
ford, The Legacy and The Rebel Song
are only a few of his compositions still
Sung by British and Irish workers. Edi-
tor, typesetter, paper salesman, Con-
Holly poured out. his dream of a world
; free from, oppression in socialist papers
in Europe and America. “Somebody
has to spake th’ truth, for divil a bit av
It ye'll find in th’ daily blathers of th’

boss press.’ ;
One can almost hear the fairies laugh
of an evening in the green bogs of Ire-

» land at one of the ironic events of life

_ Which placed James Connolly as a so-
 Clalist candidate in the St. Giles ward
of Edinburgh. At that time Connolly
Was employed by the Corporation of

dinburgh as a “dustman” (garbage col-
lector). To have their garbage man

_ Soliciting their votes for a changed so-

Cial order upset the stout political stom-

_ chs of Edinburgs’s “genteelity” no end,

but the paradox gave.the working class
Many hours of hilarious enjoyment. An
Trish “dustman” raising the kind of a
dust that couldn’t be sneezed off by
learned references to Greek syntax or
affectations of high disdain. In James
Connolly, “dustman” for the Corpora-

tion of Edinburgh, the learned snobbery _

of that centre of “higher education”
found more than their match, because
this Irish rebel with a charming brogue
also spoke several languages and knew
more about their roots and their evolu-
tion than did his “learned” critics.
Writing a tribute to Connolly back in

1937 in the British Labor Monthly, Tom -

Bell describes Connolly’s rapier-like wit
when handling hecklers at public meet-
ings. On one occasion Connolly had
been denouncing the idle rich and the
monarchy. Some smart lad in the audi-
ence “of the clerk type” fired a stock
question: “I would like to ask Mr. Con-
nolly what he would have done if he
had been born with a silver spoon in
his mouth?” Prompt: came the reply
without any trimmings: “Well, [d have
cried like the devil till they took it out
an’ put me on the breast.” On another
occasion. on a Saturday night meeting,
several drunks were in the audience.
As drunks are wont to do, they all got
talking and the meeting sounded like
bedlam. Someone in the audience call-
ed out, “Mr. Speaker, is this a public
meeting?” “Yes,” cracked back Con-
nolly, “what th’ devil do you think it
is; a public house?”

-In 1899-02 the Second Socialist Inter-
national was going through one of its
periodic struggles between the leaders
and the rank-and-file. The division be-

came known in the British Social De- -

mocratic Federation as the “Possibilists”
(the social chauvinists and reformers)
and the “Impossibilists” (the revolution-

ary Marxist). James Connolly was one

of the key driving forces of the “Im-

possibilists,” those working class heroes t
who in each succeeding generation |

“reach for the stars” until final victory
is won. As an editor Connolly the “Im-

possibilist” made the goal of socialism

and freedom for his beloved Ireland
always possible! . :

The name of James Connolly, Irish
patriot and martyr, leader of the Easter
rebellion, is enshrined in the hearts of
all who seek peace and freedom from
the galling yoke of imperialist exploita-
tion, conspiracies and war- Trish na-
tionalists and republicans claim , James
Connolly for their own; the “Lefts and
Rights” of the socialist movement also
hail him as “theirs.” But James Con-
nolly was much more than that. He
was a true son of Ireland, but he was
also a true son of the working ‘and
common peoples of all lands. “| regard
each nation,” said Connolly, on the eve
of the Easter rebellion, “as the posses-
sor of a definite contribution to the com-
mon stock of civilization, and | regard
the capitalist class of each nation as
being the logical enemy of all the na-
tional culture which constitutes thar
contribution.”

Badly wounded in the Easter rebel-
lion, and half-dyi from neglect and
brutal treatment in prison, the tools of
British imperialism had to prop him
up in order to hang him. But Con-
nolly’s concern was not for himself but.
for his country and his people. “The
social democrats will never understand

why | am here,” he told his daughter —

on her last visit a few hours before his
execution. “They will all forget 1 am
an Irishman.” ;

One year later corrupt Tsarism fell

and socialism triumphed over one sixth

of the globe. ‘Thirty-five years later

. thrones and crowns tumbled in a whole.

number of countries, and the dream of
James Connolly became a reality for
over one-third of the world’s people.

And they don’t forget the name of a

prave Irighman who pioneered Marxism

and died for*Freedom.
In the bogs of Ireland the shamrock

still grows green and fresh. Saint Pat-
rick still waters it with the “dew from
his brow,” and Ireland of the working
class remembers its honored dead, as

do all who cherish peace and freedom! »

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The truth will out

LANDS and. Forests Minister E. R. Sommers made a speech in the legislature
last. week which should be welcomed by every B.C. citizen concerned with
the future welfare of this province. Denouncing the deal with the Aluminum
Company of Canada as a “terrible injustice” to the people of B.C., Sommers said
it was a direct outcome of the “disastrous policies” followed by the defunct Liberal-
Conservative Coalition. i ;

These policies, consistently exposed by the Pacific Tribune as giving away

the rich natural resources of B.C. to the big monopolists of the Yankee war trusts.

are now being correctly assessed by other ministers of the Crown who have in-
herited the consequences and are in a position to obtain the facts. For this the
people can be truly thankful—and look forward to the possibility of a halt being
called to the alienation of the people’s heritage to the war speculators and profiteers.

_ On the flooded (and uncleared) 122,500 acres or more within the Nechako
watershed, which includes a vast area of Tweedsmuir National Park, Sommers
could see “. . . . stinking slimy masses of dead and decaying vegetation . . . a most
fitting and lasting monument to the Liberal party.” Of this “ghastly devastation,”
amounting to approximately $26 million in timber values and wild life, the
province will receive about $125,000 annually from Alcan for “water rights.”

The Coalition’s cynical and callous unconcern of the fat

residents of the Ootsa Lake “rea, forced out of their pioneer Beats aie eee
are only a small part of this “ghastly devastation” condemned by Sommers. The
Aluminum Company of Canada could have been forced to meet the full costs of
compensation to settlers, clear the area to be flooded of all trees and construct
its Kitimat project on the basis of what was good for B.C. rather than what the
Yankee war trusts wanted. But with an obliging Tory-Liberal government, Wall
Street and not the elected representatives dictated what was “good” for B.C.

e There is just one point in Sommers’ speech we disagree with, the statement”
that“. . . the government cannot at present do anything to alleviate and retard
the ruination of the economic and aesthetic values of B.C.’s Tweedsmuir Park.”

We believe there is much the government can do. It can te ¢
contractors that the labor laws of B.C. must be recognized. It can ede
to the import of U.S. labor on the ‘Alcan project until all available labor in the
province has been absorbed. It can compel Alcan to clear lands not yet flooded,
and to bear the cost of keeping clean what is flooded. And it can establish now
its sovereign right on behalf of the people of B.C. to dictate terms as to the tenure
behavior and responsibilties of foreign trusts raping the people’s heritage. zs

With the people of B.C. behind him in this, the school teacher from
Castlegar can begin to restore B.C. to its people. Last week he made a good start! —

Klement Gottwald:a great leader

The howl of

KLEMENT Gottwald, president of the
“People’s Republic of Czechoslovakia,

is dead, and his passng robs his coun-
try and his people of a great leader.
On his return from the state funeral
of the Soviet Union’s own beloved
Premier Joseph Stalin, President Gott-
wald was stricken with severe pneu-
monia and pleurisy, and he died on
March 14. He was 56 years of age.

_ Ftom humble worker to the presi-
dency of a great people’s democracy,

the pattern of Klement Gottwald’s life.

runs parallel to that of the Communist
leaders in all socialist sectors of the
world. Through prison, exile and im-
perialist repression and terror, stand-
ing at the head of the heroic Com-
munist Party of Czechoslovaka, Gott-
wald’s life struggle is crowned in the
victory of his people over the forces

. of Munich betrayal and fascist treason.

For many years chairman and leader of
the Communist Party of Czecho-

slovakia and one of its most outstand- ©

ing Marxist-Leninist theoreticians,
Klement Gottwald guided his people
through the stress and tension of the
Chamberlain - Daladier - Wall Street
Munich betrayal; rallied them again
and again in heroic resistance to the
Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia;
and wisely guided his country through

the difficult post-war years of na-

tional reconstruction, against the
threats and obstructions ‘of imperial-
ist’ states on the outside, and the
harassments of their hired traitors and

~ assassins within.
With Gottwald at the helm, the

Communist party and the government
‘of Czechoslovakia successfully expos-
ed and smashed the anti-state conspir-
acy centre, headed by Slansky and his

traitorous colleagues.
“anti-Semitism” that rose from im-
perialist war circles, taken up by the
daily press of the Western countries
and seized upon by Zionists to hide
their own guilt, was a howl of chag-
rin against the vigilance of the Czech

government, its leaders and its ine —

domitable Communist party. Defeat-
ed in a simlar attempt at a bourgeois
putsch” in 1948, the Yankee promot-
ers of “Project X”’ tried again in 1952,
their efforts meeting with equally dis-
astrous .results—for them. me
The leadership of Klement Gottwald
is best measured by the steady growth
and advance of the social, economic
and cultural wellbeing of the people
of Czechoslovakia. The Five-Year
Plan (1949-52), despite the sabotage —
and terrorist actions, of “Project X”
agents, shows tremendous gains in all

_ fields of endeavor, a fact which no

amount of witch-hunting and hysteri-
cal propaganda .can cancel out, and
which, perhaps more than any other
single factor, explains the great moral.
and political unity which characterizes
the People’s Republic of Czecho-
slovakia, and the deep sorrow of a na-
tion at the passing of a beloved leader.

Klement Gottwald will be remem-—
bered as one of the great Marxist-Len-
inist statesmen of this era;-one who,
despite tremendous difficulties and .
hardships, led his people onto the new
stage of a socialist society, and forged
a steeled and vigilant party“ capable of _
building a unity that will withstand all —
attacks and lead a heroic people to new
heights of socialist grandeur. :

Klement Gottwald is dead, but his
life’s work will live in the hearts of |
hs people, an indestructible inspiration, —

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — MARCH 20, 1953 — PAGE 5