i . el LULL ATL |

We artists come from the people, and we must serve the people’

adia
but j
at th

© She little inch!”

oT
I remai
Robe Main the same Paul you

i the American north-west to-
the Some of the finest people in
Othe a are behind bars, and
the Ts face jail terms, because
‘h Y struggle for a decent Ameri-

and for peace.

ae truce has been concluded in.
anne. Now we must fight for
wh, &sty for.those brave people
° are in jail because they fought

: Peace and justice.
Wa Y was my passport taken
eae by the U.S. government? Be-
Wn i they said that out of my
Sttugess | have been convicted of
; ein for the independence
and s Colored people of Africa,
in hus I have been ‘meddling’
enme foreign affairs of the gov-
Shiga’ 5 That’s just too bad, be-
Medaee going to continue to
€ in such matters.

7?

they ther Americans can choose

1 ink Franco if they want to—

Ure ®t stretch my hand
88 the oceans to the brave

Papi’ Of Cuba, to people like
® Neruda in Chile, to the
le in New China.

time’ I say, as Jefferson in his
Fren Steeted the heroes of the
out £h Revolution, that | stretch
of Ty hand to grasp the hands
| © Soviet people and the

Tha of the New Democracies.
Can, 'S my right as. an Ameri-

io flashing and his tremen-
tee,” Stirring voice charged with
__,. “Motion, Robeson continued:
in _Peak as one whose roots are

/ Was , SOll of my land—my father
tithens ave—my father and fore-
indig, tiled in cotton, tobacco,
toiled in the great, prim-

i right of my country—I have
Hood. to speak out on their

Ri

ay
Ale Tewse of their toil and strug-
Satth Mf that I will go around the
bog he “Ing peace and brother-
Aerie but a good piece of the
ty gat earth belongs to me and
ten (yep 7, and my grandchild-
‘yy "S I have two grandchild-
rot WY People are determined

© second class citizens

Paul Robeson, in excellent voice, sang to more than 20,000 Can-
ms and Americans at Peace Arch Park last Sunday afternoon—
t was the short, passionate and eloquent speech that he delivered
; N€ close of his concert which brought the huge crowd to its*feet
ae three mighty cheers for the man who pledged that in the fight

Peace “no force on earth can make*me retreat one-thousandth of

have known all these years,” said

Son, “but the times have made it so, that I—and every one of
ne Must battle harder than ever to preserve our basic liberties and
ad triumph to the cause of peace.

in our own country, but to be
first class citizens—and that is

. the rock on which I stand.

“All human beings can live in
friendship and peace. , I know
that from my own experience. It
seems so simple to understand—
someday all will understand it—
that people should live in human

dignity and friendship. .. .

“We artists come from the
people, our strength comes from
the people, and we must serve
the people; not from above the
people, but with the people, on
such stages as this (the back of
a truck), on the picket lines,
wherever people are fighting for
a better life. I will never apolo-
gize for fighting for and with
the people. Let everyone here
remember this — including the
government men who are on the
grounds — in this struggle no
force on earth can make me go
backward one-thousandth of one
little inch. And Ill come back
to sing for you here again next
year.”

As Robeson finished the crowd
was on its feet with a burst of
applause.

Springing to the microphone,
Mine-Mill leader Harvey Murphy
led in giving three cheers for
Robeson, then asked the assembl-
ed thousands: “Are you willing to.
come again next year to hear Paul
Robeson?”

“Yes!” came the unanimous re-
ply.

“Louder,” said Murphy.

“Yes!” roared the crowd.

“Even Senator McCarthy down
in Washington must have heard
that one,” said Murphy.

* * *

Remembering last year’s traf-
fic jam, when cars were backed
up three miles on the Canadian;
side of the border, people began
gathering early Sunday morning,
filtering in slowly at first, then the
trickle became a stream, and by
noon solid masses were pouring
down the slopes.

They spread picnic lunches and

How many people were

a

Ow
itt t pany People from Canada |
g

Py hited States attended
Arch e Robeson concert at Peace
athe p _last Sunday?
bat ene Tribune estimated

itd at th than 20,000 were on
wal yee time of Robeson’s ar-
inion Spon Mill officials, whose
at 25 oonered the rally, thought
Ryd 0 People were on the

‘itates during the afternoon.
wea Tang of Members of the audi-
nthe Vann from 18,000 to 25,000.
aye Visible vor Sun, with no re-
the Esra € at the concert, took
th tow, Se guess and reduced

Y gj % to 3,000! Furthermore,
Sta], vered, by gazing into a
ecko 4..8at Robeson had

€d” by “a small group

(the Contre wae Side.”
hte porter 0 the Sun's figures

Through” Must have been look-

the wrong end of a

ed
A
a

‘ reat border rally? —

telescope from the Sun tower) the
Vancouver Province generously
reported that the audience num-
bered 30,000!

It is difficult to estimate accur-
ately the size of a shifting crowd
in a large park, but the Sun’s
absurd figure of 3,000 is just as
plainly a lie as its cooked-up re-
port .of “heckling.”

One thing is certain. When the
people of Canada and the United
States turn out in such huge num-
bers as they did in 1952 and 1953
to pay tribute to Paul Robeson,
the U.S. state department, which
refuses Robeson permission to
leave the United States, must sit
up and take notice.

As Robeson said when he bid
farewell to the Mine-Mill officials:
“Til be back again next year, and
I hope to be able to sing for you
in Canada by then.”

‘

In January, 1945, Vancouver audiences had the privilege of
watching Paul Robeson give a magnificent interpretation of Othello,
the Moors of Venice. At last Sunday’s Peace Arch concert, Robe-
son announced that he had been invited by the British Actors
Equity Association to play the role of Othello in London and had
also been invited by the Welsh Miners’ Union to sing at a concert-
rally in Wales. Before Robeson can accept these invitations,
however, public pressure must force the U.S. government to give

him back his passport.

ate, watched their children at play,
cast anxious glances at the threat-
ening clouds overhead, bought
copies of the Pacific Tribune, Peo-
ple’s World, Champion and Robe-
son’s own paper, Freedom.

At 2.30 p.m., Robeson was sched-
uled to arrive by car from Seattle
and crowds began to line the road-
way from the American customs.

Five, 10, 20 minutes passed; a
half hour, and still no sign of the
man they had come to see and
hear. Many had travelled a long
way — from Vancouver Island
towns like Victoria, Nanaimo,
Campbell River, Courtenay, Lake
Cowichan; from towns in the
Fraser Valley; from _ interior
points like Trail; and from USS.
centres, Portland, Seattle, Olym-
pia, Tacoma, Everett, Bellingham,
Mt. Vernon, Sedro-Woolley.

By 3 p.m. a visible wave of un-
easiness swept over the crowd.
Neighbor asked neighbor: “Could
something have happened?” Mem-
ories of Peekskill intruded into
people’s minds, though none spoke
their dreaded thoughts; you could
feel the tenseness in the air.

Suddenly a car drew up; a pair
of once-seen-never-forgotten broad
shoulders emerged, and there stood
Paul Robeson, smiling that fami-
liar warm smile—that all-embrac-
ing smile loved by millions, be-
cause it expresses Robeson’s own
love for the millions of working
people everywhere.

There was a rush towards the
great Negro singer. Spontaneous
shouts of welcome rang out and
hundreds of camera shutters click-
ed as Robeson met Harvey Murphy
and the two embraced.

“Hold it, please,” cried frantic
amateur photographers, as Robe-
son and Murphy tried to make
their way to the makeshift plat-
form on the back of a truck. It
was a slow journey; the honor

guard of Mine-Mill members soon
got swamped by the hundreds of
people trying to get near Robe-
son, to shake his hand, to say,
“Hello, Paul.”

Then Robeson was on the plat-
form, shaking hands with Ro-
land Lawrence, grey-haired pres-
ident of the Negro Citizens
League of Vancouver. Lawrence
took the mike and said, “I do
not speak here in the name of
my organization, but as an indi-
vidual | want to greet Paul Robe-
son, one of our own. I have al-
ways admired Paul as a fearless
fighter against racial discrimina-
tion. We have a great deal of
it in Vancouver and we're fight-
ing it, too, Paul.”

Harvey Murphy- introduced the
man who needed no introduction,
but Murphy had something import-
ant to add: :

“We’re here at the border to pay
tribute to a great artist and a
great man. We are here at the
border because he can’t cross the
border to visit us in Vancouver.
But such tremendous gatherings
as this will bring closer the day
when the U.S. government will
have to lift its shameful ban and
permit Paul Robeson to come and
sing for us in the largest hall we
can hire in Canada.”

Robeson shook Murphy’s hand,
paid tribute to his Mine-Mill
friends Whose great union had
sponsored the Peace Arch concert,
and added confidently, “It won’t be
long before Ill be back saying
hello to you in Vancouver.”

34 x, x

Then he sang.

How can one describe Paul
Robeson’s singing? There may be
singers in other countries of the
world whose voices are equal to
Robeson’s but there is only one
Paul Robeson on the stage or plat-
form. ;

Robesorthrills thousands at Peace Areh

By BERT WHYTE

“Didn't my Lord deliver
Daniel...
And why not every man... .“
he began, and went on with Let
my People Go and We are Climb-
ing Jacob’s Ladder. . . .
“Every rung goes higher and
higher, .
Soldiers in the fight...
We are black and white to-
gether
Soldiers in the fight.”

“The fight for peace,” said
Robeson as he finished that song.
All songs take on a deeper mean-
ing when Robeson sings. And it
seems the most natural thing in
the world for him to finish a spirit-
ual and then sing Joe Hill. . . and
from that fighting miners’ song to
transform Old Man River into an-
other song of struggle... .

“You and me, we sweat and
strain

You show a little GRIT and you
lands in jail...

But | keep laughing instead of
crying,

I must keep FIGHTING until
np gying. 4..."

xk L* -

After the intermission, which
brought a collection of $1,090 on
an appeal by Harvey Murphy, Robe-
son sang more favorites, Water
Boy, The Four Rivers (“they’re
called the Thames, the Mississippi,
the Yangtze and the Don”), Chee
Lai, Loch Lomond, and others. He
sang a Russian folk song, and an
old Scottish song derived from the
Gaelic (“but the tune was known
to me.in my childhood,” he add-
ed) and a few light numbers, in-
cluding the popular Oh No John,
No John, No.

At the conclusion of the concert,
the inevitable signing of auto-
graphs — on copies of Robeson
portraits, records of last year’s
great’ concert, children’s note-
books. The crowd flocked around
the platform, unwilling to let
Robeson depart. And stay he did,
until the clouds which had held
their cargoes of water all after-
noon, and even parted to let the
sun shine through a glorious two
hours, now began to weep.

.

Yet for another 15 minutes
Robeson stayed on, seated in a
car to escape the rain, until he
had autographed the last child’s
Picture or notebook thrust upon
him. And that, too, is typical

' of the greatness of the man, for

in the hearts of many small
children he planted a cherished
memory and left a warm, warm
glow.

Peace Congress
appeal endorsed

During the intermission at Paul
Robeson’s concert last Sunday,
Harvey Murphy read a wire re-
ceived from secretary Mary Jen-
nison of the national council, Can-
adian Peace Congress.

“We greet your great interna-
tional demonstration for peacé,’’
said the wire, “and pledge with
Paul Robeson to: fight a little
harder because the times demand
a harder fight.

“We ask on this historic day
that you support the appeal of
the World Council of Peace and
go on record for peaceful solution
of all international problems.

“Peace is within our reach. It
is for us to win it.”

The huge audience enthusiastic-
ally endorsed the proposals con-
tained in the telegram.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — AUGUST 21, 1953 — PAGE 3