WINNIPEG, Man,: Jacob
Penner, founder and builder
of the Communist Party of
Canada, beloved and re-
spected as the grand old
man of the Winnipeg labor
movement, passed away ear-=
ly Saturday, August 28, after
a brief illness, He was 85
years of age on August 12,

For more than 60 years
he played an active and lead-
ing role in the Socialist and
Communist movements of
this city. He took a prominent
part in the Winnipeg General
Strike of 1919. He was elect-
ed to the City Council from
Ward 3 in November, 1933,
and with the exception ofone
year during the height of the
Korean War, served continu-
ously as an alderman until
his retirement at the end of
1961,

He was looked up to by
friend and foe alike for his
personal integrity and for
his selfless dedication tothe
welfare and interests of the
working people. During the
Hungry Thirties he was in
the forefront ofthe battles on
behalf of the unemployed.
Later on he became the ac-
knowledged champion of
slum clearance and a subsi-

for a new tax deal for the
homeowners,

dized housing program and-

JACOB PENNER

Winnipeg’s grand old
man of labor passes at 85

For many years he was
the dean of the Winnipeg
City Council and set a re-
cord with his second-longest
service as alderman in the
history of Winnipeg.

JACOB PENNER

Jacob Penner was born on
August 12, 1880 in Yeko-
tranislov, in the Ukraine,
now known as Dnieperpre-
tovsk, While still a young
student he joined the revo-
lutionary movement against
the Czarist regime, Because
of police persecution he was
forced to emigrate and ar-
rived in Canada in 1904, al--
ready a convinced Marxist,

One of his first acts was
to seek out other Marxist-
thinking workers and estab-
lish circles of the Socialist
Party of Canada. Later onhe
‘joined the Social Democratic
Party. Following the post-
war developments of 1918-
19, he helped form the first
group ofthe Communist Par-
ty of Canada in Winnipeg
and was elected to its first
national committee. From
then on Jacob Penner was
proud to bear the title‘Com-
munist’ and he brought ho-
nor and dignity to the party
in return,

For 51 years he shared
his life and struggles with
his wife and comrade Rose,
who was ever by his side.
In addition to her, he is sur-
vived by 3 sons, Walter and
Norman of Toronto and Ro-
land of Winnipeg, and one
daughter, Ruth Gulkin of
Montreal, and numerous
grandchildren.

With his passing therehas
gone yet another of that
generation of far-sighted
builders of the Marxist
movement in Canada, His
living monument will be the
Communist Party he helped
to create and the many com-
rades he inspired with un-
shakeable faith in the ulti-
mate victory of Socialism in
Canada,

‘Fought with selfless devotion’

The National Executive of the
Communist Party this week re-
leased a tribute to Jacob Penner:

“The Communist Party of
Canada lowers its banners in
tribute to our beloved Comrade
Jacob Penner, who for sixty
years served the working class
of Canada and fought for its
socialist future with selfless de-
votion.

**At the dawn of the 20th Cen-
tury, Jacob Penner had already
taken his place in the revolution-
ary struggles against Tsarist
tyranny in his native Russia,
which before many years had
passed were to usher in the
Great October Socialist Revo-
lution,

**His life in Canada spanned
the years from the organization
of the first groups fighting for
the great liberating ideas of so-
cialism through the days of the
memorable Winnipeg General
Strike, the formation ofthe Com-

munist Party of Canada, down ~

to the present time,

**His long years as a member
of the Winnipeg City Council are
a page in the history of our
country which will never be for-

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gotten, His courageous and un-
wavering struggle for the in-
terests of the working people of
his city set a glorious example
of what can be achieved by a
Communist public representa-°
tive, t

**No problem brought to him
was ever too small for his sym-
pathetic attention, and yet never

~ for a minute did he lose sight of

the ultimate solution of social-
ism. He lived his whole life by
the great principle of the Com-
munist Manifesto: ‘The Com-
munists fight for the attainment
of immediate aims, for the en-
forcement of the momentary in-
terests of the working class; but
in the movement of the present,
they also represent and take
care of the future of that move-
ment,’’

**‘We extend our deepest sym-
pathies to Comrade. Penner’s
family, and especially to Rose

Labor Day
Greetings
to all
our friends

from
FEDERATION OF
RUSSIAN-CANADIANS

600 Campbell Ave.
Vancouver 4, B.C.

—his wife and comrade through
so many years, In this time of
sorrow, she and all of us draw
strength from the memory of

this life which was so richly

lived, because it was a life given
to the cause of his class, his
country, and all mankind.”’

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‘Keep German troops out

of Shilo,’ Pearson told

The announcement in mia-
August that ‘fan advance group
of German army officials would
come to Camp Shilo in Mani-
toba to inspect facilities to train
and test German equipment’’-has
aroused widespread protest,

The Manitoba ‘Peace Council,
which threatened‘in a newspaper
advertisement last week to picket
the camp if the Germans arrive,
sent a letter to Prime Minister
Pearson which makes the follow-
ing major points;

(1) The agreement to allow
West German troops to train
at Camp Shilo could become an
election issue, along with the
many other ‘‘inept’’ decisions
of the government, Reference
was made to the barring of U.S.
Prof, Mulford Sibley at the bor-
der earlier this year,

(2) Coupled with the ‘‘nuclear
weapons in Canada issue and the
immoral support for U.S. ac-
tions in Vietnam,’’ the German
troops training program could
be detrimental to Canada’s image
as a ‘‘force for peace’’ and to
the prime minister as a ‘‘man
of peace.”’

(3) The training program, said
the letter, is an insult to the
memory of Canadians who died
in the Second World War, par-

ticularly as it is scheduled to.

take place in the year of the
20th anniversary of the Allied
victory over the German fascist
army.

The letter urged Prime Mini-
ster Pearson to re-read the
Potsdam agreement. It said every

effort would be made to prevell
the troop-training agreement #
be put into effect. 4

The Manitoba Peace Countl
has written to other peace group
to urge cooperation initiating |
variety of activities on the issué

The National Board of th
United Jewish Peoples Order it
Toronto has also written th
Prime Minister to protest, Re=
calling that Ottawa had informe
his association last year, after
protest was lodged, that the con
templated tests were not to take
place, acting secretary J. C0"
wan wrote:

‘At this time we once agaill —
register our emphatic protest
against allowing the Germal
Army tests on our soil, We pro" —
test because;

‘(a) The wounds of the last —
war, in which the German Army |
directly participated in genocide
resulting in the extermination
millions of civilians and amone —
them six million Jews, are still
fresh and painful;

“¢(b) The Canadian people av
as yét not convinced that Gel” .
many has been so regenerat
that the country, the main caus¢
of two world wars, should noW
be helped by us in its militari
zation. :

“Hence we ask you to cancel
the proposed plans which woul :
be an afront to the memory %

_the sons of Canada and the world

who laid down their-lives to stoP
Nazi Germany’s’ conquest of
world,” ;

B.C. Communists mourn
passing of Jacob Penner

The B.C. Committee of the
Communist Party, over the sig-
natures of chairman Tom Mc-
Ewen and provincial leader Nigel
Morgan, expressed deep sorrow
this week over the passing of
veteran Communist. leader Ja-
cob Penner in Winnipeg.

In a wire, the party leaders
said:

“Deeply grieved to learn of
the passing of our beloved com-
rade and leader Jacob Penner.
For over half a century his
name and work stand out as a
fearless pioneer and builder of
socialist thought and action in
the ranks of progressive Cana-
dian labor, as a veteran founder
and builder of the Communist
Party of Canada,

*fAs a long time alderman in
his city of Winnipeg he served
his people with matchless de-
votion and _ integrity. We share

pleasant surroundings

the sorrow of his passing with
his dear wife and companiOM —
Rose Penner, and with his f° —
mily suffer the loss of a belov'
father and friend,

“Tn his passing the Communist ;
Party loses one of its most ow
standing leaders,’’ :

Labor Day Greetings

to the Progressive

Movement from

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COUNCIL

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September 3, 1965—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PO9®

SS