ON WAY TO MARS. This is the Soviet interplanetary station
“Mars 1 which was launched towards the planet Mars on

November Ist, 1962.

“Thou shalt not kill”
strong anti-war film

OMING soon to Vancouver’s
Varsity Theatre (after The
Night, another worthy film) is
the militantly anti-war Thou
Shalt Not Kill by leading French
director Claude Autant-Lara, Des-
Pite his prominence and eager-
ness to film the idea, derived
from a newspaper story, Autant-
Lara had to wait a dozen years

before he could finally get on
With it.

First the film lost French fin-
ancial backing under the threat
of official displeasure then it was
banned outright by Italian censor-
Ship. Finally Yugoslavia came to
the rescue and it was made there
in 1960 with French leads and
local supporting actors Although
Shown at the 1961 Venice Film
Festival Thou Shalt Not Kill has
yet to secure commercial exhibi-
tion in either Italy or France

The story (set in 1949) con-
cerns a French conscientious ob-

jector who refuses to don a uni-
form and a German priest who
killed a French Resistance fight-
er during the war The priest gets
off under the umbrella of church
influence despite some personal
“soul-searching”’ on the plea of
war’s exigencies By contrast, the
man who absolutely repudiates
war and killing is imprisoned for
a year which, under French law,
can be repeated indefinitely until
he changes his mind.

Unfortunately, treatment of this
fine theme sometimes tends to be
heavy-handed, partly from im-
precise _ stylistic control of a
rather rambling story-line which
at times is more case history than
drama; and perhaps partly from
the necessity of using Yugoslav
supporting actors who later had
to be dubbed into French.

Nevertheless, Thou Shalt Not
Kill is a courageous anti-war
statement that deserve support as
polemic and will not fail to move’

you as art.

N.E. STORY

UJPO Drama
Presents ‘'The

Wo premiere of a Cana-
dian play, ‘‘The Bunker,”’
Will be one of the highlights of
the Vancouver Drama Workshop
of the United Jewish Peoples
Order “Three One Act Play”
Evening on February 17th and
24th, 8:30 p.m. in the Vancouver
Peretz School Auditorium, 6184
Ash St.

“The Bunker,”’ written by Van-
Couver’s Raymond Hull and di-
rected by the author, is a satirical
Comedy of the imaginary future
Set in a Canadian province de-
vastated by nuclear war.

Act one, consisting of the
Synagogue and Wedding scene
from the Jewish folk operetta,
‘Generations Sing?’ will also
8ppear on the program, Continu-
ity was written by B. Chudnof-
Sky, who will also direct, and L.

asman. Musical arrangements
are by Karl Koblansky and
Searle Friedman. Orchestra of
the Association of United Ukrain-
lan Canadians, conducted by arl
Koblansky, will provide the musi-
fal accompaniment.

“Bontche Shveig’’ by I. L. Per-
(€tz, one of the giants of Yiddish
literature, is directed by L. Bas-
Man. It tells the story about the
Teaction of the inhabitants of
heaven on the arrival of Bontche

Veig, who has led an unpre-

A |

i

Workshop
Bunker”’

tentious and ignominious exist-
ence on earth.

Tickets are available at the
Peoples Co-op Bookstore, 307
West Pender Street or by phoning
‘HE 3-0106. Admission by invita-

‘tion.

ROBERT FROST, grand old man
of American poetry, and describ-
ed as “the poet of friendship,”

passed away Jan, 29 at the age
of 88. He won almost every
American literary honour. Most

recently visited the Soviet Union -
“and is shown above reading his

poems at a meeting in Moscow.

Anew work for peace

ne day last fall, Benjamin

Britten’s War Requiem
was performed at London’s
Westminster Abbey. This
work had its first perform-
ance earlier in the year in
Coventry Cathedral. By many
critics it is considered as one
of the most important among
his long list of compositions.

This would surprise no one
who. has followed Britten’s
career. One of the most con-
sistent features of his person-
ality has been his hatred of
war and his. willingness to
identify himself with activi-
ties which he believed would
help to maintain peace.

It was, indeed, fitting for
him to take full advantage of
the opportunity offered by
war-shattered Coventry to de-
vote this major composition
to a protest of this kind.

* * *

In this Requiem Britten
works out a pattern of words
which is entirely original. He
employs the normal Latin
text, but links it and inter-
changes it with a series of
anti-war poems by Wilfred
Owen, one of the outstanding
of those poets who, having ex-
perienced the horrors of the
First World War, used all
their talents to condemn it.
Britten does well to general-
ize from this.

Such an

original use of

words reveals a particular as-
pect of Britten’s talent. He
has always shown a special
love for poetry, allied to a
great sensitiveness to its mus-
ical expression. This has not
been limited to the English
language.

His major choral work be-
fore the “Requiem” was the
“Spring Symphony,” a full
sized composition for mixed
choir, boy’s voices and orch-
estra, which set the seal on
his gift for heightening the
meaning of words by music.

In numerous other songs he
has employed this special tal-
ent, which inevitably led him
to opera. It is on opera that
his widest reputation is based.

“Peter Grimes” (his second

BENJAMIN BRITTON

opera) was first produced at
Sadler’s Wells in June, 1945:
Written in collaboration with
Montagu Slater, this operatic
psychological study was an
immediate and lasting suc-
cess.

Britten followed it with
other grand operas, such as
“Billy Budd,” “The Turn of
the Screw,” ‘Albert Herring”
and “Gloriana,’” but also be-
gan to write works within the
more restricted limits of
chamber opera.

This produced, for instance,
“The Rape of Lucretia,”
which had a practical relation
to the English Opera Comp-
any in which he had a direct
interest. One of the most sig-
nificant aspects of Britten is
his practical musicianship. He
is not content. to shut himself
away as a composer, but re-
gards music as an all-round
activity.

With his abilities as pianist,
conductor and, on occasions,
viola player, he is in the dir-
ect line of the Bachs and Mo-
zarts. Like them, perhaps
even more than them, he be-
lieves in the alliance between
music and words.

He shows less interest in
pure music, but aims to com-
bine his music with verbal
thought, to the enhancement

: of both.

—THOMAS RUSSELL

Changes in capitalism ?

Twentieth Century Capital-
ism, by E. Varga. Published
by the Foreign Languages
Publishing House, Moscow,
157 pages. Available in paper
back at People’s Co-op Book-
store, Vancouver. 45 cents.

GS
s stated in the preface,
A “this little book is not
a history of capitalism. It is
an essay on the most impor-
tant changes that have taken
place in capitalism during the
first sixty years of the twen-

tieth century.”

There are those who argue
that capitalism today is radi-
cally different than capital-
ism of a hundred years ago.
From this erroneous conclu-
sion they develop such theor-
ies as people’s capitalism,
managerial socialism and the
panacea of the welfare state.

For example, Varga quotes
Hugh Gaitskill, the recently
deceased leader of the British
Labor Party: “If people
thought there was a capitalist

class and a working class they ©

did not know the true posi-
tion. In Britain perhaps 99.9
per cent of the people were

BOOKS

working either at work or at

home. There was virtually no

class left that did no work

that was capable of working.”
* ca *

The essence of the first,
second and third (current)
stage of the general crisis of
capitalism is revealed in each
case. Similarly, the world

policy of U.S. imperialism, a
policy of sterile anti-Commu-
nism, is thoroughly exposed.

While Varga argues that
our capitalist society is essen-
tially the same today as it- was
sixty years ago, he draws at-
tention to the new features
which have emerged. His
treatment of state monopoly
capitalism is a combination of
good science and good journ-
alism.

This book is written in a
popular, lucid style. The
translation seems to be excel-
lent. The central theme is
that historically capitalism is
doomed to perish, to make
way for communism. Twer. i-
eth Century Capitalism is a
sharp weapon for workers
and progressives who are dis-
satisfied with the status quo.

— JACK PHILLIPS

OPEN FORUM

NDP and Cox

H.D. of Arrow Park, B.C.
writes: If the NDP loses the next
election in B.C. it won’t be be-
cause NDP-MLA Cedric Cox went
to Cuba, but because right-
wingers like Bob Strachan and.
others didn’t keep their eye on
the ball.

It seems the only people who
learned anything when Hitler
pushed anti-communism to its
end conclusion are ones like
Premier Bennett. They never fail
to holler “‘red’’ at any oppor-
tunity to cause the anti-commun-
ist phobiaists to get into a head-
hunting, splitting wrangle in the
labor movement.

I have seen some excellent pic-
ture slides of Mr. Cox’s travels
in Eastern Europe. If he brings
back some pictures of Cuba which
prove embarassing to right-
wingers in the NDP, those wha

are so virulent against the es-
tablishment of a socialist state in
the Western Hemisphere, such
pictures also would not be pleas-
ing to Premier Bennett.

If the NDP expects to put even
a normal dent in the Liberal-
Tory-Socred machine, they will
have to purge themselves of this
anti-communist phobia. This is
the only way by which they can
take an objective look at winning
a majority.
Kennedy’s Hate
E. H. Tudor, Morningside, Alta.,
writes: My personal reactions to
President Kennedy’s broadcast
over CBC on January 14. As usual
the demand for subservience ran
all through Kennedy’s speech. In
all history, even before the dy-
nasties of the Pharoahs, this
seemed to me to be the most
bellicose. Hate, hate and- more
hate of our “enemies” and ad-

versaries, ad nauseum.

Nuclear weapons or — nothing.”
The president is very realistic.
Nuclear weapons — and nothing
left of humanity. The Caesars
believed they were gods. Is his-
tory to repeat itself? Will the

, Pentagon “deify”’ its president?

We were savagely reminded of
‘the Berlin Wall. Two thousand
years ago the Romans built their -
famous wall in Scotland to keep
back the barbarian hordes of the
North. The Soviets built their
“wall”? for the same purpose —
to keep back the barbarian nazi
hordes who invaded the steppes,
six million strong in 1941.

Had Kennedy and company
lived up to the Potsdam Agree-
ment there would have been no
need for the Berlin Wall. Ken-
nedy’s broadcast can be summed
up in a couple of words: bom-
bast and braggadocio.

Feb. 8, 19683—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 5