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“It’s called: ‘Miner without his lamp.”
—United Mine Workers’ Journal (U.S.A.).

| logger’s wife writes
‘about genuine people

‘A Bough of Needles,” by Myrtle
ergren. A collection of 11 Cana-
dian short stories by a Vancouver
Island logger’s wife. Published by
Progress Books, Toronto. Availab/e
at People’s Co-op Book Store. Price
95¢ (Paperback).

O readers of these pages

the name Myrtle Bergen isa
familiar one, Now, thanks to
Myrtle’s perceiving eye and deft
ben, all of us have an oppor-
tunity to delve into and under-
Stand a little more clearly the
People — all of us — who go to
Make up the population of B.C,

This book is as Canadian as
Maple syrup or smoked salmon,
With discerning, swift and sure
Strokes the author has painted
Vivid word pictures thatare truly
Vignettes of Canadiana, As Marg-
_ 4ret Fairley says in her short
__ but apt foreword:

“These stories are concerned

_ With people of flesh and blood,
The author is able, in a few
Pages, to let us into the exper-
lence not only of a gallery of
Individuals, but also of a whole
_ COmmunity, The impact on their
daily lives of their work, of their
dependence on employers, and of
their comradeship with one an-
Other is presented realistically,

To anyone who has ever visited
the Okanagan or Vancouver Is-
land every one ofthese 11 stories
brings to mind memories of fruit
orchards, canneries, sawmills,
choker lines and logging com-

. munities,

But more than that it also
brings to mind people: farmers,
fruit pickers, fallers, Swedes,
East Indians, Slavs and all the
other racial and ethnic groups
that are part of what Vancouver-
ites call “the interior” and *the

“Island,”

Nor are the children neglected.
In particular “The Day God Died
for Benny” and * The Christening”
are two pieces of working class
literature about young Canadians
which, in this reviewer’s opinion,
promise to withstand the test of
time,

All in all, this collection of
writings is as refreshing as a
cool breeze blowing in off the
Pacific after a hot day in astuffy
office, Not only is the content
devoted to the problems andtrib-
ulations of workers in a class
society, but the manner in which
the author tackles her subject
is devoid of cliches,

—J. Shack

Banned Cuba article
brinted in Vancouver

‘An Interview With Fidel Cas-
tro,” by Charles O. Porter, and 22
Photographs of Cuba, by Roger
Prentice. Published by the Cana-
dian-Cuban Friendship Committee,

138 E. Cordova St., Vancouver.
Available at People’s Co-op Book
Store.

f you are interested in Cuba

or in Cuban-American rela-
tions, here is a booklet you will
Want to read,

Charles Porter, former U,S,
Representative from Oregon’s
4th District, interviewed Fidel
Castro for Look Magazine, But
When the editors saw the inter-
View, they declined to print it,

It was then published in North-
West Review, student publication
at the University of Oregon, Sub-
Sequently the magazine was sus-
Pended and its editors removed,

What is there in the interview

that brought about this strong re-
action? You will want to read it
to find the answer for yourself,
it does contain some rather
trenchant criticisms of U.S,
policy towards Cuba and com-
ments on a wide field of subjects
including freedom of the press,
visits to Cuba by U.S, citizens,
and the Alliance for Progress,
This interview will give you a
new insight into the thinking and
motivations of Cuba’s Fidel
Castro.

You will also appreciate the
22 photographs by Roger Pren-
tice of Vancouver, who toured
Cuba for two months, These
phots were also published in
Northwest Review.

Single copies are 75 cents,
Discount prices on quantity or-
ders: 65 cents each on orders of
15 to 49 copies; 55 cents each on
orders of 50 or over,

t

War toys for Christmas
have ominous purpose

By MARJORIE LAWRENCE
National Chairman, War Toys Committee, Voice of Women

“Consider for example the military toys and war games with which
most children grow up in our society. We often hear it said that these are
good for children, that they serve as outlets for their aggressive feelings. It
may well be true that they serve as such outlets, but they also prepare the
soil for psychological acceptance of war and violence.

“One could justify them only if no other kind of toy or game were avail-
able which could serve equally well as an outlet for aggressive impulses.

“The same argument holds in my opinion with regard to the show of
violence in TV, movie and comic strips. To teach children such techniques
as torture and killing via our mass communications media is not only to
indoctrinate them in methods of brutality but also in progressively desen-
sitize them to the spectacle of human death and violence. If the organized
killings of men is to be rendered obsolete, it is not enough to pay lip service :
to non violence in terms of our religious mores when so many other aspects
of our social fabric condone or even glorify such killings ”

—Dr. Judd Marmor, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, U.C.L.A.,
in the March Issue * Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.”

et set for schoolaction when
Gyo parachute behind enemy
lines with this authentic-looking
fighting gear, You get a plastic
helmet, Patrol Leaders’ automa-
tic carbine with telescopic sight,
Genuine-looking 9 m,m. bullet-
shooting and cap firing Luger
pistol, Hand grenade.”

“Be a combat-ready guerilla
fighter, belnd into the underbrush
with a fully automatic 50 shot
machine gun,” These and similar
quotes are taken from current
advertising of “playthings” we
parents will be pressured into
buying for our children unless
we take a definite stand and re-
fuse to be stampeded,

As the Christmas season ap-
proaches this year, the stores
will be featuring war toys in

Siqueiros offers
thanks for aid

avid Alfaro Siqueiros, re-
leased from a Mexican pris-
on July 13, just 27 days short of
four years in jail, has published a
letter of thanks to those who
aided his campaign for freedom,

“This campaign was a great,
beautiful and profound human
combat without frontiers,” wrote
Siqueiros, It demonstrated “the
relevancy and force of convic-
tion of the Mexican pictorial
movement to which, to my great
pride, I have, am and shall con-
tinue to be a fundamental part
and enthusiastic promoter.”

The artist, now 68, has return-
ed to his work “conscious that
this combat, in which my wife
Angelica Arenal hasplayeda role
of prime importance, has not
ended,”

He referred to the’ continued
imprisonment of others, charged
along with him, for the crime of .
“social dissolution,”

David Alfaro Siqueiros

- Joe,

greater variety and more real-
istic detail than ever before,

One new toy to hit the market
this year is G.I, Joe. He is a

counterpart of the Barbie doll,
made to appeal to boys, The doll
is a male figure, fully jointed
in order to be extremely flex-
ible. This is to enable him to
assume thecorrect war-like pos-
itions — arms up to throw a
grenade or hold a rifle, or bend
to crouch in a fox-hole, He comes
complete with accessories
(shades of Barbie!), but this time
they include Army, Navy and Air
Force uniforms, plus all the cor-
rect equipment and complete with
Army Manual, grenades, rifles,
automatic guns, fox hole kit, etc,
(each one costs extra, of course),

Advertising for this toy is
budgeted at two million dollars,
and T.V. coverage has already
started, using real news clips
from World War II, showing how
real this toy can be, In short
the kids will be the subjects
and parents the victims of the old
hard-sell advertising. The toy
industry and the manufacturers
hold great hopes for the over-
whelming acceptance of GI,

There is also another new one
— an Exploding Mined Road, The
road really blows up — and pre-
sumably takes with it the United
Nations .Jeep and soldiers sup-
plied,

Junior can also get land mines
to sow in his front lawn to
“blow up” unsuspecting enemies,
These are made of plastic, look
authentic, and go off with a sat-
isfactory bang when caps are
placed in the proper spots, Should
this not convince his playfellows

Building

; November 13, 1964—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 9

for Peace

When you’re doing any shopping
~And you’re picking out the toys
Please remember that your choice
Will be building girls and boys,

Tools and science sets and paints
And books of other lands

Should now replace the things of war
In all our children’s hands,

Give them blocks for building peace;
Our youth can make it true,

And toys that make a game of war
Should never come from you!

War’s too grim a thing for fun

And much too sad for play,

So give our youth constructive toys
as promise of a better day.

—Women Strike for Peace bulletin U.S.A.

that he means business then jun-
ior can purchase a cluster of hand
grenades to hang on his belt,
These, too, are plastic and “ex-

plode” witha physically harmless
noise when lobbed at a friend in
a nice game of war,

When the arms race and the
toy race - become synonymous,
what does this mean for coun-
tries that protest to the world
that they ‘stand for peace? Are
we paying lip-service to one
principle, while we carefully. and
psychologically prepare our chil-
dren for the inevitability and ac-
ceptability of nuclear war?

If we are to achieve a lasting
peace in this troubled world, we
will have to educate our children
in new ways, World-wide co-op-
eration is now a condition of sur-
vival for us all, Since there can
be no victor ina modern war, it
is only sensible to eliminate
war itself as a means of settl-
ing international disputes, Can
we expect war toys to equip the
coming generation for the diffi-
cult task of building a secure
world?

Voice of Women, acting on the
theory that the stores will not
stock toys that do not sell readily,
is planning a campaign to educate
parents not to purchase war toys
this Christmas, They are ap-
pealing to all P.T.A, members
to join in this project — to speak
to their neighbours, their friends
— to interview toy department
managers, to protest to manufac-
turers, In short, to do all in

their power to swing the emphasis
back to constructive, not destruc-

tive, playthings,