InArF Tribunes of = the people By LESLIE MORRIS At the age of 81 Jacob Penner faced the television cameta and the professor-interviewer to talk about the Communist tradition in Winnipeg. The veteran Communist alderman ‘was more than a match for the snide question and the oblique insinuation. It was easy to see why. the other aldermen who were interviewed were unanimous in paying tribute to Jacob’s integrity and courage. The managers of the television station had no intention of course, of treating their subject objectively and_ honestly. How coulq Alistair Stewart, the former CCF member of parliament for Winnipeg Nortn, be either? He found the tradition “nauseat- ing.” Fresh from a meeting of Western parliamentarians in Paris, devotees of NATO all of them, Stewart not surpris- ingly was sickened at the thought that Win- $3 : nipeg citizens had regularly since 1933 Leslie Morris sent Jacob Penner to city council to speak for them, to fight the philistines and stand up for the work- ing people. : Had Stewart said anything much different, Jacob Penner Would have been a surprised man. * % % What guided his work on the city council? asked the professor. The interests of the working people, said Jacob Penner. How did his Communist beliefs relate to his work as an alderman? Because he is a Marxist, he understands the class structure of society, and knows that the rich, the com- ' Mercial class, have interests opposed to those of the working people, said Jacob. Always for the interests of the working people, those who work for wages, who may be unemployed, who want better housing and social services} and by tne same token, always against the interests of the rich, the Chamber of Commerce and the “‘Civic Election Committee” _ candidates, the same sort of committee as the “Committee )_ of 1,000” who broke the Winnipeg General Strike in 1919. ae % : The simple and direct honesty, the moral integrity, the incorruptibility, the high principles of this great Canadian; the Welding in him of the principles of socialism with the tactics required in the daily struggles over the many years: his Membership in the Communist: Party, of which she was d ns tudder, ‘the compass, of his stormy life — these qualities _ filled the television screen and gave to the frail body and vigorous mind the mastery of the interview. ee * -.. Next ‘day we buried Alderman Martin Joseph Forkin, Prairie as the show swirled in a bitter. north wind. i Joe Forkin had been*Side by ‘side with Jacob Pénner + ‘for47 years in city council. “Penner ‘and Forkin, the Com- munist-aldermen.” How many times this was read and heard Over the years! Joe;-the leader of the Winnipeg unemployed _ in the Dirty Thirties. Joe, the spokesman of the Estevar _ 0al-miners in 1931 when they struck and were shot down and killed by Mountie bullets. Joe Forkin, hounded by the Mounties for long and dreary months, finally to be acquitted = court when the Crown's “case” against the miners col- apsed. Ss This courageous man, with the language the workers always knew for their own, the ‘‘one:lunger”’ who never gave up to sickness but fought the fight to the end, is gone. * a * Two thousand Winnipeggers came out to mourn him, ©N a working day. Had it been a Saturday the number would have been at least double that. Men and women, grey now, Who had heard Joe on the Market Square fighting for relief young, filed by his bier and said goodbye. ~ The mayor of Winnipeg, 15 aldermen, the chairman of the School board and members of the school board, were there be hear. the last tributes. If they wanted to understand ‘the “Communist ‘tradition in Winnipeg”, and if the television interviewer and “experts” really wanted to understand the Strength of these men ang ‘their party, all they had to do the faces of the working people to see on them the expres- Sie of the Tove and respect and grief when they heard Jacob Penner ‘speak «and when they looked on Joe Forkin for the last time. Do you want to fathom the “Communist tradition’ in innipeg, ladies and gentleemen of the television industry? en see in Jacob Penner and Joe Forkin, and now in Alderman Joseph Zuken anq@ Trustees Marv Kardash and Andrew. Bilecki, tribunes of the people, members of the Communist Party, men and women of printiple, of faith in the working people, of belief in their couhtry and in their class. - One-of the founders, and ‘this fact of membership as. the) whose thin, tubereulosis-wracked body ave laid.in the frozen) in the Thirties, who knew him when he and they were) Was: to look around them at Joe Forkin’s funeral, peer into |) Following are excerpts from some of the fraternal greetings received by the 17th national ‘convention of the Communist Party: The Communist Party» of the Soviet Union-greeted ‘the fight of the Canadian- Party “for the unity and consoli- dation of the working class, of all the. patriotic forces which struggle for the. inde- pendence and bright future of their homeland... “True to the principles of proletarian. internationalism, your party invariably fights for the ever-gtowing ~ihity of the world’s Commuhist move- ment on the basis of revolu- tionary doctrine, by what- ever flag they were covered. “The Communist Party -of Canada ‘won: a. deserved: re- spect of the international Communist movement. by its active struggle in the, name of the triumph of the ideas of scientific socialism, against revisionists and dogmatists; by its consequent defence of the principles written down in the historic documents adopted by the meetings of the representatives of the Communist and: Workers parties in 1957 and 1960.” From the Communist Party of China: “May the Communist Party of Canada win new and greater~ successes in its mmunist Party: opoly capital in the cause defending democratic rights and the vital interests of Can- adian laboring -people.” From. the. Italian. Com- “We Communists have fol- lowed with particular -inter- est your. attitude. and» your policy toward the New:Demo- cratic Party: with whom you intend: to work - ‘together in the.-struggle for peace and) independence, for a. foreign’ policy-of neutrality, for dem- ocracy anda better standard, of livifg, for cooperation, which; however, does:not ex+ clude the ideological struggle against the attempts of right- wing. Social Democrats to fhake compromises with the monopolies.” The Socialist Unity Party of. the German. Democratic Republic ‘sent greetings and declared: “Our policy that aims .at curbing. West German mili- tarism and revanchism is an integral part of the common struggle for the preservation of world peace. “The- conclusion of a Ger- man peace treaty, together with the turning of West Ber- lin into a demilitarized, neu- tral, free. city - will cut through the war plans of the Bonn militarists and serve the. cause -of peace.and the security of all peoples.’ Many messages of solidarity ‘greeted Canadian communists ing bonds of friendship: and joint struggle (that) link our two parties... “Thus it is with the. most lively . interest that French Communists, fighting. against the fascist. threat and: the Gaullist ‘personal.’ power, for democracy, for peace: in Al- geria, for. general. disarma- ment: and world. peace, will follow. the. deliberation . of your convention. “We, wish. all. success. ta your: important: gathering, which will mark.a new.stage in the difficult struggle that -you..are. conducting for the rights of the working people, democracy and the independ- ence of your country, for peace, for the socialist future of Canada.” The. Workers’ Party of Guatemala sent greetings “from the underground where. we are forced to act by the reactionary forces and imperialist Yankees.” ; The Communist Party of Ecuador congratulated the Canadian party on -its 40th anniversary and continued: “We Latin Americans, fighting. for the. national in- dependence of our countries, have ever received expres- sion of solidarity and help from Canadian Communists, our brothers of the contin- ent, exploited and oppress- ed, like us, by the imperialist struggle against: U.S. im- The French Communist) monopolies, especially the perialism and ‘domestic mon- Patty referred to “long-stand- Yankee monopolies.” Mind bp ehia Mali Heb the Pet at 15° ee Appearing below are the A “ Strathconar__-___ . 70° 80° 80° 10° esults of last year's circulation: Victory Square __ 100° 87" 75: 158 efforts:by: BC. Press-Glubs: a" Poy otiannse “3 = abe oa poe i s 3 se eA Me ) . a Oe ad ik _ s well as the: proposed quotas. soui-Burnaby _ 1952201. “74: 100 for 1962: Soe Rais ce 50.50 -45 «46: Riss = : North Shore»___. 110 98 110. 20 = Bar. City Mises... 200177. 50. 300. _ The 1962 figures are sub province General ject to-approval by the clubs Michel Fernie __ 35 28 25. 5 “tate onl’ oFir SS GIRO. on ee 25035: We aa: and are only printed here to 9 New Westminster 75 59° 45 5 ive some: indication of OUF powell River 60 52.45.14 plans for the year. Prince Rupert _. 5 9 12 3 Sointalan se 40. 25. 28 3 = < Stevenson __---=< 10-8 20 2 Congratulations for a job = Trail Rossland -. 70105 90 10 well done in 1961. Let us Correspondence . 20 31, 30 3 direct our energies to‘even gr \) 1. oe ea Peas as in 1962 3° Vancouver Island eater gains in . Alberni’s » 2 100 104 5560 Greater Vancouver Campbell River _ 45.38 40 4 1961 1962. 1962 Cumberland —_-~- Ts fin -BDasi. 20 : Proposed Quotas Cowichan :__-_--- s0- oe. ea 20 Achieved. Quota Ach. ‘Subs. Paper. Nanaimo -~------ 225 248: 275. 130 Sales Parkévilie -___.-- 30 23 24 ~ Advance... —------ "5 133 "5 50° ‘VWaetetia i222 150 160 95 75 Bayview... ------ por Sb. 35S Saanich. ---~---- SO ar | ep 10 Broadway ------ 110 106: 100 15 Déewdney Brothers | —.~---- 33-322 25 15 Haney Maple Ridge 65 60 60 10 a aca hae Ze = Missioh.. .=--2—- 30.10% 60. -- 25... Maisons ------ a0. 255 25° = 2, teupibie es 26... By NOL = 85 7 Grandview... Shs¥ks tdi tg. Veteet -----<--- SP a> Hastings Bast 129438; 7. 75, Delta. Kensington»: ----- Shdlae 765.45... Fi Dangle .---- 50v 460 -58% 2 Maritime «------- 105.126. 100. 25 Surrey Industrial 20 24 40 15 Mt.-Pleasani ..- 65,.. 60 51 14. Tinadiinte = o-2 co 25 a9 25. 2 Niilo Makela .-- 156185 20 2. North Surrey .__ 50°82 75" = 25° Norquays; ------- 60, 60, 60, 15; South»Surrey .--- 26 Yon -2h= . 2 Ol Sin geese Ses AG Ge die 16%" Whellby 255-52" 50 57 50 15 February 9, 1962—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 7