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CP wi

“We will build again .. . to
show our anger and our defiance of
this fascist act. And we will call on
all democrats all across Canada to
condemn this attack by helping us
rebuild.”

Just two days before, in the early
hours of June 24, the Communist
Party’s central headquarters at 24
Cecil St., Toronto, had been burnt
to the ground in acarefully planned
attack. :

Thursday evening as several
hundred Communist Party
members from Greater Vancouver
assembled at the Ukrainian Hall in
East Vancouver to hear the news of
the attack on the headquarters,
known as the Bethune Centre, their
anger was apparent.

And they responded to the call of
Communist party central commit-
tee representative Oscar Kogan to
display their anger with a commit-
ment to rebuild the centre. by
donating $20,000 to the rebuilding
fund.

Kogan, a York alderman and
chairman of the campaign commit-
tee which had been raising
$300,000 to transform the Bethune
Centre into the Tim Buck-Norman
Bethune Educational Centre had
flown to B.C. for the meeting to br-
ing the news of the attack on the
headquarters and to outline the
plans for the campaign to rebuild.

“Tt was a fascist attack,” Kogan
told the emotion packed meeting,
“a fascist attack inspired by the
new cold war and the ‘dirty
tricksters’- It must not go

wered.”” :

An eyewitness, a neighbor to the
rear of the building, saw. two men
run out of the building from a se-
cond floor fire escape, Kogan

eported. Moments later as the two
aa into 8 re car, the

*14ing exploded in flames.
as ook the Tribune reported
in error that incendiary bombs
were hurled into the building. In

4 Ft

TIM BUCK — NORMAN
BETHUNE EDUCATIONAL
CENTRE...as it would have
looked after completion of
the renovation project.

Special
appeal

The fascist attack on the Tim
Buck-Norman Bethune
Education Centre at 24 Cecil
St., Toronto, is an attack
against the whole labor and
democratic movement. —

We are determined to
rebuild this monument to
two great Canadians. »

In B.C., for more informa-
tion about the campaign to
rebuild the Tim Buck-
Norman Bethune Educa-
tional Centre, or to make a
personal donation, contact
Betty Griffin, c/o 408 - 193 E.
Hastings, Van.,. B.C. V6A
1N7, 684-4321.

al ‘to all

mocrats’ i

ll rebuild after

ar a, “
soe 24 ogy Oa ‘ ‘
; Solis ;
: / pe:
a sf 2 J 4

More than 70 Toronto firemen ba

ttled blaze at the 100-year-old

Bethune House, 24 Cecil St., Toronto. Eyewitness Tereza Gyivicsan
reported seeing two men run from the building at about 3:45 a.m.
June 24. Moments later the heritage building exploded into flames.

Soe arsonists were inside the
and._set.the whole
and third floors Spice) sone

It took 22 minutes for the
Toronto fire department to arrive,
but by that time there was nothing
left. “‘This wasn’t the work of
amateurs. It was professionally
done,’’ Kogan stated.

Fortunately, the building stood
empty at the time of the attack. All
files and furniture had been remov-
ed for the renovation project which
had begun two weeks earlier and a
decision to have a night watchman
on the site was to be implemented
the following day. If someone had
been in the building, it is doubtful
they would have gotten out, Kogan
said.

The party membership and sup-
porters, and many with no connec-
tion to the party, were outraged by
the attack, he said. When building
trades workers arrived on the site to
continue the renovation, they
broke into tears. By 8 a.m. more
than 100 party members had
assembled outside the razed

_building. One person attempted to
pick up a brick, but was blocked by

a policeman. ‘‘You’ll have to pay

the rebuilding fund for that,’ he
said.
The famous wall mural by Com-
munist artist. Avrom Yanovsky
depicting Norman Bethune and the
Spanish civil war was miraculously
spared in the fire and was literally
hauled from the ashes Tuesday

afternoon, still in the plastic in
Which. it had. been. wrapped. after
being removed from the wall of the
main hall.

“It is a good omen for us
because Avrom depicted Bethune
and the Spanish people’s fight
against fascism,” said CP general
secretary Bill Kashtan. ‘That pain-
ting is highly symbolic and will
hang in our centre once again.”

The CP leadership regards the
arson as a right wing attack aimed
at the entire labor and progressive

_M™ovement, and the entire pro-
gressive movement, and all

democrats across the country, will ©

be asked to respond, Kogan
reported. :

Appeals were immediately sent
to trade unions, ethnic and com-
munity organizations in the Toron-
to area, and delegations have been
dispatched to each of the six
municipalities in Metropolitan
Toronto to request each council to
Pass a resolution condemning the
attack, and to give financial sup-
port to the rebuilding fund.

The original target of $300,000
to renovate the Bethune Centre will
have to be revised upwards now, he
said. The original plans had called
for the renovation of the interior of
the building, and the addition of a
new wing, while preserving the ex-
terior of the building. The Bethune
Centre had been declared a heritage
building by the city of Toronto.

To build from the ground up will

To commemorate the 25th Anniversary of
the adoption of the Freedom Charter

The African National Congress |
invites you to an evening of film about
Southern Africa
Canadian Memorial Church

1811 W. 16th Ave., Vancouver
7 p.m. — Thursday, July 10

KE PHILLIPS

cost more, Kogan said. Although
plans for a new building had not yet
been commissioned, it was agreed
that the new building must be more
secure, built of concrete and steel,
and that at least the front of the
building would be a replica of the
destroyed building, he added.

The rebuilding fund will require
at least $600,000 he estimated.

The new building will retain the
name which the renovated Bethune
Centre was to assume, the Tim
Buck - Norman Bethune Educa-
tional Centre. And as in the
Original plans it will house both the
central committee of the Com-
munist Party and the Norman
Bethune School of Social Science.
The latter will include a Marxist
reference library which will be
available for public use. “It will be
the finest Marxist library in
Canada,”’ Kogan said.

Donations of all sizes are

welcome, he said, although those

who donate $1,000 or more will be
enrolled on an honor wall which
will be a permanent feature of the
new building.

Before Kogan left Toronto,
already $125,000 had been pledged
to the fund. Leading the way were

~ g members of the party’s central ex-
- 2 ecutive — William Kashtan, John
w Bizzell, Alfred Dewhurst, Bill
2 Stewart, Val Bjarnason and Bruce
© Magnuson — who, together with

their spouses, each pledged $1,000.

Other individuals had come for-
ward with donations of $1,500,
$2,000 and $2,500; two, in-
dividuals, Marge Ferguson, and
the recently deceased Jessie
Jackson, had contributed $20,000
The campaign for the
Buck—Bethune Centrein B.C. will
be headed by Communist Party

arson attack

OSCAR KOGAN...called on B.C.
CP and supporters to make a
commitment to rebuilding fund
“in defiance of this fascist act.”

provincial executive member Betty
Griffin. Griffin told the CP
membership meeting that the first
two donations from B.C. were
$1,000 donation from Emil and
Gladise Bjarnason and $200 from
J. Sedgewick of Victoria.

The campaign is for three years,
and donors are being asked to
make pledges based on what they
a give over that entire period, she
said.

“B.C. won’t be found lacking in
the spirit needed to raise the money
to rebuild a centre which will be of
permanent service to the labor and
progressive movement all across
Canada,”’ she said.

In the appeal that followed, that
spirit and more was demonstrated
as hands raised to offer donations
of as low as $200 and as high as

~ $3,000 — from Bill Mozdir of Van-”

couver — to bring the total from
the initial appeal in B.C. to over
$20,000.

_CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING

COMING EVENTS

JULY 8 — _ B.C. Peace Council
meets 7:30 p.m. Public library, Bur-
rard & Robson. Slides of Vietnam
today.

JULY 10 — The African National
Congress (ANC) invites you to an
evening of film about Southern
Africa, Canadian Memorial bidg.
1811 W. 16th., Van. at 7 p.m.

JULY 27 —
Association Annual Picnic, 11 a.m.
to 5 p.m. Barnett Marine Park
(North Burnaby). Salmon & ham-
burger bake. $3.50 per meal
(children $1.75). Games, contests,
musical entertainment,
refreshments. All welcome. Bring
your frisbees & soccer balls.

JULY 27 — Hold this date for an-
nual Cuban Garden Party.

AUG. 17 — Annual East Fraser
Valley Region CPC Picnic, Sampo
Hall, Websters Corners. Proceeds
to Buck-Bethune Bldg. Fund. Adm.
$4; children under 10 — $2. From 1
p.m. on. Dinner, refreshments,
games.

AUG. 17 — Keep this date open.
COPE annual Garden Party, 2 p.m.
Rankin’s place, 3570 Hull St., Van.
Bazaar and handicrafts, music and
food. Donations for bazaar needed.
Phone Jonnie 872-2128.

COMMERCIAL

FOR SALE 1977 Chrysler New
Yorker Brougham, loaded, trailer
package, $4,900 or best offer.
Phone 536-8825.

Burnaby Citizens’ ~

LOST Nikkormat camera at Russian
Hall, June 28. Phone 873-5969.

ELECTRICAL, plumbing, appli-
ance repairs. Don Berg. 255-7287.

ROOF REPAIRS — Reasonable.
New roofs and alum. gutters,
277-1364 or 277-3352.

RON SOSTAD. Writer, research-
er. Will do: essays, letters, manu-
scripts, labor and civic projects, la-
bor journalism. 688-3709.

WANTED TO RENT

WOMAN and 8 mos. old baby
need one or 2-bed house or suite
before July 31. Please call 437-0471
(day) or 254-2630 (evening).

LEGAL SERVICES

Rankin, Stone, McMurray, Bar-
risters and Solicitors. 500 Ford
Building, 193 East Hastings St.,
Vancouver 682-7471.

CONNIE FOGAL, lawyer, #8 —
Gaoler’s Mews, Vancouver (Gas-
town), B.C. 687-0588.

HALLS FOR RENT

RUSSIAN PEOPLE’S HOME —
Available for rentals. For reserva-
tions phone 254-3430.

WEBSTERS CORNERS HALL —

Available for banquets, meetings, -
etc. For rates: Ozzie, 325-4171 or

685-5836.

UKRAINIAN CANADIAN CUL-
TURAL CENTRE —. 805. East
Pender St., Vancouver. Available
for banquets, weddings, meetings.
Ph. 254-3436.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JULY 4, 1980—Page 7