Robeson celebrations

in the G.D.R.

By JOHN WILLIAMSON
BERLIN

When I visited the former Nazi
concentration camp of Sachsen-
hausen, the first thing that I saw
in the museum in front of the
camp was a black-draped pic-
ture of the Rev. Martin Luther
King, in the center of the en-
trance. This was symbolic of the
mourning in all the socialist Ger-
man Democratic Republic.

At each of the various obser-
vances of the 70th birthday of
Paul Robeson, tribute was first
paid to Dr. King and condemna-
tion was expressed.of the racial-
ist and ‘violence-ridden United
States society that made this
assassination possible.

The 70th birthday of Paul

- Robeson received major atten-

tien in the G.D.R. The main ob-
servance was in Berlin’s Opera
House where a packed audience
heard Prof. Albert Norderi, mem-

ber of the leadership of the So-

cialist Unity Party, deliver the
tribute to Paul on behalf of the
government and-the Party,

' A short resolution introduced
by Dr. Frank Loeser, chairman
of the Paul Robeson Committee,
was then adopted. This was fol-
lowed by a 90 minute cultural
program. Among the artists was
Miss Bernice Reagon from Geor-

‘The. following day, in one of
B e & ii
ritain $s
S
peace drive

Mr. Philip: Noel-Baker, M.P.,
Nobel Peace Laureate, whose ap-
pointment as president of the
Vietnam Campaign Committee
was announced last week.

The campaign is in support of
the British People’s Declaration
for Peace in Vietnam, sponsored
by 80 Labor, Liberal and Na-
‘tionalist MPs, 18 Peers and many
other eminent individuals, in-
cluding trade union leaders.

The Declaration calls for im-
mediate dissociation from U.S.
intervention in Vietnam by the
British government, the uncon-
ditional ending of U.S. bombing,
and a settlement based upon the
Geneva Agreements, which in-
clude the withdrawal of all for-
eign troops.

It has been endorsed by hun-
dreds of trade union, political,
religious and university badies.

The campiagn will end with a
rally in London on Thursday,
June 13. cae ae

the main exhibition halls in Ber-
lin, the Paul Robeson exhibition
was opened in the presence of
several hundred invited guests
from the arts and mass organi-
zations.

The exhibition covers the life
of Paul from childhood to his
last visit to the G.D.R., in the
most interesting graphic presen-
tation. It contains many pictures
and documents gathered in the
United States- and other coun-

tries by the Paul Robegon Ar-"

chive of the G.D.R. and never
before available in an exhibition.
After being open to the public
in Berlin for three weeks it will
tour other cities of the G.D.R.
There were other activities in-

; cluding a-cultural evening in the

Maxim Gorky Theatre sponsored
by the Free German Youth and
dedicated to Paul.

From Britain a representative
group of those associated with
the “Grant Paul Robeson a Pass-
port Committee” back in 1956-
1958 were invited. These includ-
ed two Labor MPs, Mr. Will Grif-
fiths and Mr. Arnold Gregory,
Mrs. Gregory, Greater London
Labor Councillor and former
Greenwich Mayor Mrs. Peggy
Middleton and Marx House Lib-
rarian John Williamson. Also
present as a guest, Mr. Alex La
Guma, many - times arrested
South African novelist and free-
dom fighter.

All these Robeson birthday ac-
tivities were organized by the
Paul Robeson Archives of the
German Academy of Arts. It is
headed by My. Victor Grossman.

Central :in the activities was
the recognition of Paul Robeson
the great artist, who brought joy
and happiness to his listeners
throughout the world, but equal-
ly the great fighter for Negro
freedom, peace, democratic
rights and socialism.

Paul’s wide variety of activi-
ties over the years for Negro
rights and freedom was shown
and talked about, but so also
his understanding of the unity of.
this struggle with those of na-
tional liberation and the freeing
of all mankind from capitalist

oppression.
The exhibition portrayed par-
ticularly the active political life

.of this great artist of the 20th ,

century. He was to be found
equally on the picket lines of
the workers in great strikes as
in Spain or Peekskill. He defend-
ed with equal vigor the victims
of racialist violence as he did
the persecuted Hollywood 10 or
the Communist Party leaders on
trial in Foley Square in 1949.

Always he emphasized the
unity of Negro and white in the
struggle against’ the common
enemy and oppressor — United
States imperialism.

The 70th birthday celebrations
in the G.D.R. reflected the love

_and affection for this great fight-

er for Negro Freedom in the so-
cialist world. Without hesitation
Paul always knew the answer
to the question in the song
“Which Side Are You .On?”
when it came to the Soviet
Union, the G.D-R. or any other
socialist state. :

The one sad feature of my first

\visit to the G.D.R. was failure

to see my old friend and col-
league, Prof. Gerhart Eisier. We
participated together in a 6-day
hunger strike in Ellis Island in
1948 to compel the granting of
bail for us two plus NMU secre-
tary Ferdinand Smith, Chemical
Union vice president, ‘ Charlie
Doyle, and Furrier Union vice-
president Irving Potash.

Instead of renewing my long
acquaintance with him he had
just had a third heart attack
which proved fatal. I attended
the solemn and impressive inter-
ment of Eisler’s ashes in the
Cemetery for Socialist Heroes. In
a niche next to the late Premier
Otto Grotewohl the urn was
placed and covered with an ap-
propriate name plate as a large
number of his friends and col-
leagues in the government and
the Central Committee of the
Socialist Unity Party stood so-
lemnly and an army band played.

While expressing my sorrow
to Mrs. Hilde Eisler, she said
that she had received many mes-
sages of condolences.

South Africa barred

South Africa will be barred
from the 1968 Mexico Olympics.

A growing worldwide protest
in which the African and the
socialist nations were key forces
has pressured the aging aristo-
crats who govern world sports
to reject the white supremacist
state. More than 50 nations had
indicated they would. pull out of
the Olympics if South Africa
were admitted.

The president of the IOC, Mr.
Avery Brundage, said that 54
out of the 71 members sent their
votes to the committee’s head-
quarters here—41 for South Af-
rican exclusion and 13 against.

The fight inside the executive
against South Africa was led by
the one member who speaks nei-
ther English or French, Constan-
tin Adrianow, a Russian. The
strongest defender of South Af-
rica was Avery Brundage, presi-
dent of the IOC. Brundage is an
80 year old retired industrialist
from Chicago who has tyrraniz-
ed world amateur athletics for
more than 30 years. He has dog-

"gedly "insisted on’ Sotith ‘Africa's
CUARY 3, 19682_PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Pagé 12

_ readmission in the face of out-

raged world opinion. The defense
of rascism was not new to Brun-
dage. He defended Nazi Ger-
many’s barring of Jewish Ger-
mans from Olympic competition
in 1936 and was an outspoken
American admirer of Hitler Ger-
many.

The reversal was a crushing
blow to South Africa, which hop-
ed desperately for the “respec-
tability” of readmission to world
competition, and for Brundage,
who had staked his personal
prestige and power on the South
African bid.

Gen. Jose de Jesus Clark, Mex-
ican representative on the IOC,
smiled with relief when the new
decision was announced. Mexico
has invested millions in prepara-
tions for the Olympics and faced
a tremendous financial loss if
the boycott continued. Clark had
pleaded unsuccessfully with
Brundage to change his position,
and he indicated that if the exe-
cutive committee still upheld
South Africa’s admission Mexico
would call for an emergency
meeting of the entire IOC, ~

Farmers’ lobby —
in Alberta

binet in the Highways building
They packed the building,
rupted its work, and nec

they couldn’t find a plac

Another farm lobby on the
Alberta legislature — the third
one in as many weeks. And this
time 500 farmers.

They, like the previous two,
demanded that the government
cancel the 3 cent per gallon tax
on farm-used fuels.

The first group of 200 farmers
from north-east of Edmonton
were organized in a matter of
24 hours by District 4 of the
Farmers Union. A few days
later a group of 188 came in
from District 6, east of Edmon-

.ton. The latest group, and up

to now the largest, came from
District 8, east and south of
Edmonton.

Like the previous ones, the
third lobby warned the govern-
ment that the 13 percent in-
crease in fuel costs to farmers
through the provincial govern-
ment’s tax, will become that
extra bit that farmers will not
be able to handle. Thousands of
farmers, they warned, are now
working on such narrow mar-
gins between costs and income
that the fuel tax will compel
them to quit farming and move
into the cities to look for work.

Because of the size of the
lobby ,the farmers were asked to
meet their MLAs and the ca-

;

enough to hold them |
marched back into the leg*™ ,
tive building. arivits

This shuttling in a tel
mood. When Provincial
rer Aalborg tried to pers’.
them: that under Social Credit |
Alberta they were infinitely ad
ter off than farmers any wh
else in Canada, he was rount
booed. = th

It is-rumoured that alfour
lobby is now being prepared the
yet another district Of  /
Union. Whether it comes ih
not, it does seem that the W? it
of the Union is set out bef
it for the rest of the yeal

A single mighty effort a
thousands of farmers can det
the tax and compel the gor)
ment to cancel it and to o
‘with an impending tax on fa wa
homes that the provincial 8
ernment is threatening tO es
in as part of its drive “t? ")
tend the base for munic!
taxes.”

KKK