By WILLIAM KASHTAN

CCL ‘brain-truster’ be
importance of East-West trade

WHE latest issue of Labor Re-

search, monthly bulletin pre-
pared by Eugene Forsey of the
Canadian Congress of Labor,
takes as its main theme the ques-
tion of East-West trade.

In reading it I was struck by
the fact that the demand for such
trade must be fairly widespread,
else the question would be ignor-
ed as it has been for some time.

Not being able to ignore it any
longer, the “brain-trusters” who
wrote it undertook the task of
deprecating its importance with
the obvious intent of throwing
cold water on those who have
been advocating such a trade
policy for quite some time.

The ““brain-trusters,” of course,
dare not come out in open op-
position to East-West trade. 'They
have undertaken to attack it by
saying it has no practical sig-
nificance for Canada and will
-thus be of little value in easing
unemployment.

They develop their arguments
by citing figures for 1946 and
other pre-cold war years and
conclude that the value of such
trade was never very great and
thus can’t help much now.

_ Such an argument flies in. the
face of facts. The issue today
isn’t how much trade was con-
ducted between the Soviet Union,
People’s China, the Peoples’ De-
mocracies and Canada in the past.
After all, People’s China and
Peoples’ Democracies have only
recently come into being. The
issue today is the extent to which
mutually satisfactory trade can
be developed now — today.
EO, SE Toy

. The 12 countries of the social-
ist sector of the world—one-third
of humanity — have all made it
_ Clear that they are prepared to
_ undertake trade with capitalist
_ countries on an _ ever-widening
scale. And as evidence of this,
they have already come to firm
commitments with Britain, to
mention only one country, for an
exchange of goods approximating
the value of $200 “million.

- At the International Trade Con-

ference in Moscow in 1951, the’

Soviet trade ,delegation stated
categorically that the USSR was
prepared to conduct trade to the
value of $3 billion over the next
few years. And not long ago the
Soviet ambassador to Canada de-
-clared that mutually advantag-
eous trade could be conducted be-
tween the Soviet Union and Can-

‘

‘ada on a number of items pro-
duced by industries which are

now in a depressed state.

One would have thought the
CCL research department would
go to work to help develop a case
for such trade. I would go fur-
ther and state that an organiza-
tion which claims to speak for
workers would have gone out of
its way to strengthen the fight
for such trade and for an end to
US. restrictions which stand in
its way. : 4

Instead the CCL “brain trust-
ers” have gone out of their way
to falsely minimize its value in
terms of jobs for Canadian work-
ers and markets for Canadian
farm products—a position that is
contrary to that taken by many
CCL unions:

They suggest that the “Com-

munists and their friends, and
some other people have been tel-
ling us that more East-West trade
is the solution for all our econ-
omic ills.” :

I haven’t seen everything
“other people” have said on the
subject.

I do know that the LPP has
neyer said that East-West trade
“Gs the solution for all our ills.”
The solution lies in a new national
policy for our country, of which
East-West trade is but a part al-
though an important one.

Wide scale trade between Can-
ada and a third of the world’s
population would assume em-
ployment for thousands of Cana-
dian workers. If this isn’t now
the case, it is not due to the lack
of desire on the part of the Soviet
Union to trade with us.

It arises in the main from a
political decision made in Wash-
ington which ?states with whom
our country can and cannot trade.
This political decision arises out
of the warlike policies of the U.S.
directed against peaceful East-
West co-existence and towards
the perspective of eventual war.
This is the heart of the matter.

pee se x

The argument of the. CCL
“brain-trusters” that the demand
for East-West trade is a Com-
munist propaganda stunt is sheer
nonsense and irresponsibility. It
is part of their complicity in the
cold and hot war policies of the
US.

‘The fact is, we need trade more
than the Soviet Union, China and
the Peoples’ Democracies do.

These countries desire trade

NEW dwarf tomato has

been. evolved in Hungary
which is claimed to be one of
the smallest in the world. It
is stiff stemmed and ranges in
height from 7 to 12 inches.

The new plant was produced
by Dr. Gyula Meszoly, director
of Kecskemet experimental
farm, and has been named the
Kecskemet Dwarf. It is from
a cross between the Reziszta
and Fortschritt types, and has
taken five years to perfect.
Its firm fruit is stated to be
especially suitable for export.
It is said to be extremely pro-
fitable for hot bed rearing, but
can also be grown in the open.
An outdoor sowing in Febru-
ary gives a crop at the begin-

+

| World's smallest fomafo

- stead of by spray.' The experi-

ning of July and full maturity
by the beginning of August.
Average crop per plant is
one and a third pounds and the
vivid scarlet tomatoes. weigh
between one and two ounces
each.
Plant pest warfare special-
ists in Hungary have begun ex-
periments in spreading pro-
tective liquids and powders on
erops in the form of fog, in-

ments follow similar ones in
the Soviet Union.

The insecticide is shot high
in the air under very high
pressure by motor equipment
and descends in the form of
“fog,” which settles evenly on
every surface. ~

littles

but if necessary they can manage
without it. These countries do
not face the threat of economic
crisis and mass, unemployment.
The workers who are in power.
are not. concerned with the pos-
sibility that tomorow they may
be thrown out on the street like
an old pair of gloves. , :

Can that be said for Canada
with over half a million unem-
ployed—which would quadruple
overnight once a serious deep-
going crisis hits the U.S.?

East-West trade is vital, not
only as a barometer of peace and
friendship with a third of man-
kind; it is equally vital in the
fight for full employment. The
CCL would be doing a service to
the working class and our national
interest if, instead of pooh-pooh-
ing what can and should be done,
it undertook a nation-wide cam-
paign in support of such a trade
policy.

_ By SIDNEY FINKELSTEIN

“Why trouble
to ban Atom bombs
-our idea is to store _,
them all safely up here!

ATOMIC DEAD END

An orchestra dies -- yet cost of
bomber would keep it alive

was Sunday, April 4, Arture
Toscanini conducted the or-
_chestra through the last number; .
laid down his baton — and the
news broke that this was his last
concert with the NBC Symphony
Orchestra. The next day the
members of this orchestra were
told that they would no longer be
needed when their contracts ran
out, and they had better look for
other jobs. .

‘What chance do most of them
have for jobs?. In New York City,
there is one major symphony or-

chestra. In Philadelphia, there
is another. In Boston, there is a
third.

As for the rest of the United
States, the wealthiest country in
the world, should the musicians
want to travel, the number of.
symphony orchestras that give a
musician the major part of .a
modest year’s livelihood can be
counted on the fingers of one ©
hand.

Furthermore, let a vacancy oc-
cur in any of these organizations
and, as the AFL Musicians Union
can testify, there are dozens of
gifted people to fill each place,
masterful musicians who have
already been long unemployed.

And so a symphony orchestra
has died, and talents which took
20 years or more to bring to flow-
er, talents of the most remark-
able kind, which can bring so
much beauty and joy in life to the
people, are scrapped. There is
no use for them.

e

Radio Corporation of America,

which owns the National Broad-

casting Company, announces that.
after all it had formed the NBC

orchestra “expressly for Toscan-

ini.’ It had given birth to: the
_ orchestra. It had a right to kill
it. \ !

Toscanini represents not only

the musical genius of the Italian -

people, but also their anti-fas-
cism, as shown in his defiance of
Mussolini, and his refusal to con-.
duct in a Germany defiled by Hit-
ler. He has been an adornment
of U.S. musical life for almost
half a century.

At the age of 87 he has con-
tinued to conduct long after
others have retired, and it is pos-
sible that one of his reasons for

ARTURO TOSCANINI

continuing up to now was. his
realization, that should he stop,
the orchestra would be scrapped.

But as he himself would be the
first to point out, the function of
a symphony concert is to present
the glories of the musical herit-
age, and to foster the musical life
of a nation, not to present a con-
ductor. ¢

As there no one else who can
Sive a reasonable facsimile of the
ideas of a ‘Beethoven, Brahms
Tchaikovsky, or Copland? , ;

Toscanini would be the first’to
mention a host of talented names.

The United States has hundreds
of superb musicians who need
only a few years of consistent
work with an orchestra to emerge
as full-fledged conductors.

Of course, RCA, that great oc-
topus that runs a iant network
of radio stations, ae one of the
two giant phonograph. record
companies, runs approximately
half the concert halls and dictates
the career of approximately half
the concert artists in the coun-
try, is not the least interested in
Beethoven and Brahms, or in fos-

tering an American music of

beauty and human feelings.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — MAY 21, 1954 — PA®

_ the Soviet Union, but when

-ing armaments. ‘After all, 27 4 7

It would not care if Toscan
were the worst conductor 1 7
world, so long as it could adverts
him, for 17 years, as a unidl
commodity, a trade mark, a bt?

name, “the best there is.”
e

Not one United States rae ;
chain is willing to suppO" . |.
symphony orchestra. England 1 :
its national radio orchestra.

Periodically the music oriti®
bemoan the “demise” of musi re |
fascist invaders were driven 0°
an integral part of Soviet pee
for rebuilding the wrecked cll
and rebuilding the factories: “
the building of new symphony
chestras. f

In the people’s democracie : a4
Eastern Europe hardly 2 ot a
passes when a major city does ie t
announce that it has a new
estra. ‘

RCA consoles its radio listener 3
with the news that next se, |
the Boston Orchestra will i oe
heard, by wire, at the same DO"’ —

on Sunday. ee

How wonderful the “nt I
how!”

If the Boston Orchestra a |
lapses, music can be piped ae I
Vienna, or Stuttgard. Or i he
be played on records. '
youth of the U.S. forget ae
forget the piano, violin, ¢# |
and double-bass. Music is 29 Kes
them. It is not a talent that ™ oo" 3
profits for the banks and CO%y. |
rations. Let them turn t0 eal 5

live symphony orchestra }§ co

ly.
Bl

To pay the salaries of the «jy

Symphony Orchestra all t ar
round for 10 years would ¢05" 4. |
proximately the price of 0B© "195

ern bomber, of the kind that v4
so useful in dropping T
jellied gasoline on Korea.

4

And so a symphony oreheste
is dead; dead of the cold Wa oh
war plans, the war hysters,". yp
like a great monster is, e200;
not only the civil rights @ f
lihood but the cultural life %
American people.

Ss