“THE BATTLE oF THE

BULGE”

OPEN FORUM.

key aim to develop the content,

‘and the concept of labor literature,
to bridge the gap between culture
and the workingclass, to strength-
en the former with the experience
and art forms of the latter.

Letter to Jodoin

ELMER WALSKE, Haney, B.C.:
Enclosed is a copy of an open
letter sent to Claude Jodoin, presi-
dent of the Canadian Labor Con-
gress, from the Haney club of the
Labor-Progressive Party.

Pertinent sections of the letter
read:

“Your recent statement that ‘bills
passed by the House of Assembly
in Newfoundland are of the Com-
-munist, Fascist, Nazi type’ dismays
us,
“Shortly after the first appeal
for funds made by the IWA for the
Newfoundland loggers’ strike, our
members authorized our secretary
to send a donation to this fund.
Subsequently, individual members
have contributed personally via
collection sheets:

_ “As active members of unions,
our party members everywhere

| have been the first to urge the

dispatch of union funds to aid the
struggle of the Newfoundland log-
gers. r

“Through the years members of
the LPP have not been content to
sit on the sidelines shouting en-
couragement, but (themselves
mainly working men and women)
_ have consistently taken a leading
and active role in defending and
advancing the rights of all Cana-
dian workers.
_ “Though you may not agree with
the principles of Marxism-Lenin-
ism, we resent having this world-
respected philosophy and way of
life linked with that of Facism

| and Nazism, which represented the

lowest point to which capitalism
could descend in the form of ag-
gressive, anti-working class states.
“This is merely repeating the

monotonous clap-trap of employer
propaganda and ill befits a person
of your high union position and
leadership in the Canadian labor
movement...

“As part of the labor movement
of Canada we members of the
LPP sincerely desire to be included
as a part of the broad Canadian

political movement whose forma- -

tion the CLC, the CCF and other
groups aré presently engaged in.”

Shtern’s proposal

MRS. E. BILLSTROM, Vancou-
ver, B.C.: On behalf of the Van-
couver Labor Poets Workshop, I
wish to express our interest in a
proposal recently put forward in
the Canadian Jewish Weekly by
Sholem Shtern for the calling of a
conference of Canadian progressive
writers to discuss their mutual
problems.

The aim of our Labor Poets
Workshop is to achieve publication
of poems which, through being
workshopped, have been found to
have poetic quality and progress-

ive purpose.

In a letter sent to Sholem
Shtern we wrote: Ma

The first part of our meeting is
devoted to a summary of our acti-
vities in literary outlets which have
taken place between meetings. In
the latter half we submit our res-
pective poems, usually one each,
which we want workshopped.

We consider your call to progess-
ive writers to meet as a timely
subject and worthy of notice and
support. Generally we agree in
your statement of aims, and would
be happy to assist in setting up an
organization.

We would add, however, as a

We are also in favor of your
suggestion for a literary magazine,
and would contribute to it; while
we would also note that, first, this
is no substitute, but rather a sup-
plement, for submitting poems,
stories, etc. to the trade union
press;; and secondly, that labor
writers, especially beginners, can
develop only so long as standards,
while important, are not placed
above production itself, Certainly
more young writers would now be
active had encouragement exceed-
ed criticism when they began, and
had organizational leadership been
forthcoming.

There are six of us, and a small
number of other playwrights, short
story writers, and poets living in
the area, all of whom, no doubt,
sympathize with your proposals. It
is a long way to Toronto, but we
could probably undertake some
kind of representation. We deeply
share your belief in the future of
our people, in a land at peace, and
are equally eager to help build a
Canadian péople’s literature.

On labor coverage

R. JOHNSON, Vancouver, B.C.: -

In understanding the issues involv-
ed in the big labor battles now
going on, I find the Pacific Tri-
bune a great help. The paper is

well received among the workers.

on the job and [hope your circula-
tion shows a growth during these
hectic times. Keep up the good
work,

Al Capone and the

The expression, “It’s a business”
has been used to justify everything
from simple dishonesty to murder

‘and Al Capone uses it several

times in the Allied Artists film
Al Capone, a dramatization of
the Chicago gangster’s life story
up to the time his career ended
in Alcatraz.

And only a slight switch in em-
phasis (such as was provided by
Chaplin in Monsieur Verdoux)
makes it plain that business (or
capitalism, if you prefer) itself is
murder.

The parallels are strikingly ob-
vious in this film, for Capone,
rising from a cheap bouncer to
the president of the underworld
during prohibition was, if any-
thing, a business man.

He had all the attributes of the
breed: he was shrewd, he was in-
telligent, he was quick to see an
advantage and press it home, he
was ruthless with competitors. And
he was. in the business of selling
commodities.

“Whatta they want?” he asks at
one point in this story. “Booze,
dames? We give it to ’em.” He
gave it to em, at a profit. The
entire city of Chicago was in his
pocket, from the mayor down to
the lowliest cop, and he had in-
fluence throughout the nation.

For he was an organizer: he
organized the sale of imported
liquor when it was illegal; then
he found it more profitable to
manufacture the liquor; then he
branched out into the business of
selling ‘protection’ — protection
from his mob. Competing business
men were either brought into
camp, given their own territory
(like any salesman) and—when

‘they got out of line—eliminated.

There was a running battle be-
tween the Capone mob and Dion
O’Banion’s boys; but Alphonse
Capone’s chief headaches came
from another former business part-
ner, Bugs Moran. —

When he got too big for his
pants, Capone engineered the cele-
brated St. Valentine’s Day ~Mas-
sacre (1929) and rubbed out six
of his top men. Moran started to
retaliate and the two finally had
to.meet and sign a “peace treaty”,
but it was too late in the day for
Capone.

roaring twenties

For the scandal of his reign
had finally forced Washington to
act and, unable to pin one of any
number of murders on the mobster,
the government nailed him for in-
come tax evasion. He started an
11 year prison sentence, was beat-
en up by his fellow inmates and
died in luxury in 1947 of paresis
(the last stage of syphilis.)

But the organization Capone
had formed, this film makes plain,
still exists in other forms. It is
“the syndicate”—the national or
international corporation or crime
cartel, that has enormous influ-
ence in high places and whose ties
with big business are constantly
exposed—for a moment and su-
perficially—and then forgotten.
For the boys operate better these
days; they don’t need submachine-
guns or “pineapples”; they use
subtler and more effective methods.
And they are still in control of
juke-boxes and prostitution, nar-
cotics and many other profitable
sidelines. They contribute heavily
to political campaigns and are seen
in the most respectable places.

This is no glorification of Ca-
pone. It is a stark examination of
the man and both in the writing,
direction and acting, the nature of
his psychosis is made plain. In its
evocation of the period it is often
brilliant and it boasts, in addition
to a shrewd (if somewhat affected)
performance by Rod Steiger in the
title role, a really brilliant .por-
trayal by a young woman named
Fay Spain, who plays the widow
of.one of Capone’s earlier victims,
and his long-time mistress. (This
relationship is probably fictitious).

There are also the well-projected
roles of Torrio, who put Capone in
business. (Nehemiah Persoff,) Mor-
an, shrewdly played by Mervyn
Vye, and “Keely,” the renegade
newspaperman who was the mob-
ster’s personal intelligence agent.
(Based on the character of Jake
Lingle, and ably played by Martin
Balsam.)

Al Capone is therefore to be
recommended, for it is totally un-
like the spate of films that exploit-

_ ed the gangster era” and made no

effort either to understand it or
adopt a point of view toward the
phenomena involved: crime in busi-
ness; business as crime.

Artists asked to enter works

in festival peace contest

TORONTO—tThe prospect of
“Canadian In A World At Peace”
wins hearty approval from most
people.

But suppose someone asked you
to draw a picture of it. What
would you show? How would a
world at peace make Canada dif-

ferent, or better? What would have

July 24, 1959 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 5

come on the scene, or gone from
it? :

In this spirit the Workers’ Art
League of Toronto is {nviting
everyone interested in peace, or
in art, to take part in its newly-
launched competition of drawings,
paintings, posters, sculptures, or
other works, on the theme: Canada
In A World At Peace.