GUIDE TO GOOD READING ‘Power Without Glory’ greatest novel in recent years Australian INTO THE ARGUMENT about how our writers should go to work and what they could do _ if they were properly encouraged comes one solid piece of evi- dence. , : It is Frank Hardy’s Power Without Glory, probably the most important novel from Aus- tralia in recent years. Its exposure of corruption in ‘the Australian Labor party made it the best-selling novel ever published in Australia and goad- ed an embarrassed government into prosecuting the author, un- successfully. for criminal libel. Yet almost as important as the book, and quite as exciting —it would make a good subject for a novel in itself—is the story ‘of how it came to be written, printed, distributed and read by an estimated million Australians. Frank Hardy, a young veter- an and a Communist, is a mem- ber of a group of working-class . writers which began to ‘meet in Melbourne in 1944, Their work attracted attention, and soon a good deal of it was winning pub- - lication in established magazines and anthologies. Then, as the cold war warm- ed up, publishers began to fight shy of the group’s- work. So “the group turned directly to the working class. : . They persuaded editors of trade union journals to print their stories and poems. “They read them at plant gates and in . public Jibraries. There was a good response. The workers lik- ed them. * * * IN 1050, after four years work in which he lived under an as- ~ sumed name in the underworld of political graft he was later to expose so effectively, Frank «Hardy published Power Without Glory. : No publisher would touch it. STARTS: | MONDAY, JUNE 23 1 WEEK ONLY Produced in Russia~ (U.SS.R.) In Spectacular Magicolor - ‘COSSAKS OF THE KUBAN A Imusty Musical Comedy All Russian Cast Russian Dialogue English Sub-Titles FIRST SHOWING IN WESTERN CANADA A Picture You Can’t Afford To Miss ‘STATE | 142 E. Hastings St. MA, 2784 = aR \ = a i So he had it printed himself. No wholesaler would distribute it. So the author hawked it round the factories and trade union offices. It became so popular that booksellers ordered large quan- tities. The first edition sold out. Then the author was arrested on a charge of criminal, libel.. From then on it was more than a book, It was a political move- ment, — A committee of workers and intellectuals was formed to de- fend Hardy. ,They fought back so effectively that the charge had to be thrown out, Trade unionists banded to- gether to outwit the police, who were trying to prevent further distribution of the book. They stitched and bound 16,000 copies Cobside 4 | Reviews THE SUIT Alec Guinness and ‘a peerless collection of character actors, combine excellent satire and frank comment on the reaction- ary role of big British capitalists —carefully blurred in. weak climax. Despite its kneeling to the Marshall Plan, this remains one of the year’s most hilarious comedies. / A PLACE IN THE SUN _ Misses the social implications of Theodore Dreiser’s great novel,, An American Tragedy, from which it is taken, but is still worth seeing for generally good acting, photography and directing. 6% MY SIX CONVICTS Concerns the efforts of a young psychologist to bring the blessings of intelligente tests and Freudian doubletalk to an American prison. With the as- sistance of six convicts he suc- ceeds, although whether it was worth it remains a matter for debate. The moral may be drawn from the story that men who act resolutely, together cannot be subdued, for the,convicts become masters of their prison until, in an attempted break, individuals act against the will majority. Noteworthy for a rich characterisation by Millard Mitchell, playing the part of a safe-cracker, LAVENDER HILL MOB A collection of British char- acter actors turn the theft of a million pounds worth of gold bullion from the ‘Bank of Eng- land, into a pleasant frolic. MAN IN THE WHITE STRANGERS ON A TRAIN A slick, elaborately contrived Alfred . Hitchcock suspense ‘drama about a murder commit-— ted by a wealth young psychotic (Robert Walker) and his at- tempts to involve a young tennis player (Farley Granger). A lit- tle bit too contrived. | THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL : ; A literate science fiction thril- ler with, of all things, a message about peace. You could do worse. * of the — and got it into every plant in the country, : The book became Australia’s best-seller, running through four editions. Writers who had helped to defend Hardy on the ‘criminal libel charge stayed to take part in the fight for peace. The group of writers, of which Hardy is a member, expanded and developed its work. The rough and ready organi- gation set up to print and dis- tribute Hardy’s novel has been kept in being to distribute other working-class novels. All this happened because one man wrote a book and it was the sort of book a large number of workers wanted to read. And that literary explosion has by no means finished reverberating. * * x, IT IS not a particularly well- written book. Much of the dia- logue is stilted and false-sound- ing, A good deal of the narra- tive is pedestrian. There is lack- ing the compelling power need- ed to carry the reader easily through nearly 700 pages. Power Without Glory, tri- umphantly overcomes these de- fects and achieves stature by. the simple but infinitely diffi- cult means of telling the truth. Here is the truth about Aus- tralian politics and Australian society set down by a man with the wit and understanding to grasp what matters. His picture of corruption and of a society in which a man can -make his way to power by a systematic, single-minded course of bribery, intimidation and murder is not the whole truth. But it is enough of it to frighten a government and to win the im- mediate acclaim of all honest Australians. It is a measure of Hardy’s achievement that even at this distance, without knowing Aus- tralia, one can see that it is true, And the truth illuminates it for working-class readers all over the world. Power Without Glory is ob- tainable here at the People’s Co- operative Bookstore, 337 West Pender Street. The price is $2, paper cover, and $3 cloth cover. Ban lifted—but not on author The Malan government has been compelled to lift its ban on The Choice Before South Africa, published simultaneously in South Africa and Britain. (The book is available in Vancouver at ! People’s Cooperative Bookstore.) But the author, E. S. (above), general secretary of the South African Garment Union. now facing trial for defying the Malan government’s orders und its notorious Suppression of Communism Act to vacate his union post. "THREAT. TO SCIENTIFIC FREEDOM’ _ - “ght Bans force psychologists to cancel U.S. congress _ Canadian government holding Chopin mss. BECAUSE THE Canadian gov- ernment is holding priceless Chopin‘ manuscripts and refuses to restore them to their rightful owners an edition of the great Polish composer’s works, now in preparation, can- ont be completed, This is revealed in an appeal issued by the Frederic Chopin Society in Warsaw to “all who cherish the memory of this great composer” to protest to the Can- adian government against its re- tention of the Chopin manu- scripts and other Polish art ‘treasures. Among the manuscripts held by the Canadian government is Chopin’s Concerto in F Minor, needed for the last.volume of Chopin’s works scheduled for publication next year. Truman, Truman, Kind and human, How does Korea go? Ursury Rhymes FENCE-SITTING POLITICIAN Straddled up there admiring the view Will someday result in a fall for you; Only an acrobat, ’H be bound, Can sit on the fence with an ear to the ground. . PATRIOTS Our country’s ruled by patriots With nice bow ties and stiff white collars.” In their mouths are loyal phrases And in their pockets thirty dollars. _ URSURY RHYME Screaming shells and blazing hells. And pretty babes dead in a row. P SGLOR Why should I hate my fellow man Because his skin ‘than mine is duller? The blood that beats within his veins Is red like mine with freedom’s color. —Contribuied by members of the Realist Writers Group in Sydney, Australia + complete — security safeguards, PLANS TO HOLD the 195% International Congress of Psy chology in New York ‘have bee cancelled “because of difficulti foreign scientists have in visit: ing the United States.” The Congress will meet Montreal, Canada, instéad, American [Psychologica] Ass80 tion has announced in Washin&” ton, “Because of the delays 42 embarrassments which fore scientists experience in attemP ing to obtain even temporary admission to this country, th association decided it could nob issue the invitation,” said the association’s president, Dr. J: M& Vicker Hunt, of the Universit! of Illinois. Fillmore H, Sanford, the sociation’s executive secretal said it recognized the need fo’. put Le thought the McCarran Act cise an axe in dealing with a PT? lem that needs a razor-sharp ap proach.” ; Wee “He added: “The law caus trouble to all foreign scientl who are invited to this count “In effect it prevents a visi from any scientist — howeY brilliant his ideas — who ever had any connection for 2% reason with any group that is ‘suspicious.’ © : “American scientists see it ‘athreat to the healthy grow of American science and or legalized attack upon freedo™ | communication.” a The asSociation claims a mem bership of about 10,000, embr a ing most of the United Stat psychologists. : The International Congres? re? Psychology meets every years, The last one, in St b holm last July, was attended ” 700 delegates from 31 count! PENDER AUDITORIUM (Marine Workers) — 339 West Pender LARGE & SMALL HALLS FOR RENTALS Phone PA. 9481