The German Democratic Republic has completely restored
the famous German State Opera House in Berlin (above),
which was destroyed by air raids in 1944.

In London however,

the equally famous! Royal Opera House at Covent Garden has
warned that it may have to close its doors unless the government
provides properly for opera and ballet.

Soviet Union honors
great Jewish writer

AY 13 marked the 40th.an-

niversary of the death of
Sholem Aleichem, great Jewish
humorist. The anniversary was
marked in many countries of
the world. The following :ac-
eount of the Sholem Aleichem

commemoration in Moscow was
published in Soviet News Bul-
letin:

503 x bes

HE literary public of Moscow
T recently marked the 40th
onniversary of the death of
~“Sholem Aleichem.- His books
are published in the USSR in
large editions.

At present, the Detgiz (pub-
lishing house of children’s
books) is issuing a mass edition
of a book of stories for children.
A volume of collected works,
‘including the novel From the
Fair and several short stories,
is being published by the State
Fiction and Poetry Publishing ~
House.

The evening dedicated to the
memory of Sholem Aleichem at-
tracted many writers, journal-
ists, representatives of publish-
ing houses and magazines, and
_ readers. The hall, galleries and
entrance-hall of the _ Central
House of Writers in Moscow

_ si: Ma ai gg cee

JUST OFF THE PRESS !

The new book thousands of
Canadians will soon be talking
; about.

(Ivan Franko
POEMS AND STORIES

Translated by
JOHN WEIR

Inspiring seleetions from the
works of the renowned Ukrain-
ian writer whose centennial
is being celebrated this year
throughout the world.

340 Pages (Clothbound)

Se 50. J

Ask for it at your local book-
store or order it directly from
the publishers:

UKRAINSKA KNYHA

1162 Dundas St. W.
Toronto, Ontario.

au at SE

were filled by admirers of this
outstanding Jewish writer, about
whom Vsevolod Ivanov said, in
opening the meeting:

“A sincere, great talent, ex-
ceptional diligence, and ard-
ent, passionate love for ordin-

ary people, hatred for ignor- .

ance and violence—these mark
the whole of Sholem Aleich-
em’s creative work.”

Ivanov cited a few words
from Sholem Aleichem’s will.

“Wherever I died let me be
buried not among aristocrats,
nobles and rich people, but
among plain workers, among
the true ordinary people, so
that the tombstone which will
be er$cted on my grave might
adorn the simple graves
around rhe, and the simple
graves might adorn my tomb-
stone, as the plain honest peo-
ple in my lifetime adorned
their popular writer.”

“What great and simple words,
what great force, what truth
there is in them,” said Ivanov.
“In 1910, Maxim Gorky wrote
the following to Sholem Aleich-
em about the Russian transla-
tion of the story, Little Boy
Mottele: ;

“‘T have received your book.
I_have read it, laughed and
cried. -A wonderful book! .
The whole of it is full of such
splendid, good and wise love
of the people, and that is such
& rare sentiment in our days.’

“Later, I had occasion while
meeting Gorky to hear his opin-
jons about humor, which he
highly appreciated and under-
stood in literature. In speaking
cf the great humorists, Dickens
and Gogol, he always mention-
ed the name of Sholem Aleich-
em side by side with these
names.

“In a few words, Gorky
beautifully described the talent
of Sholem Aleichem, his subtle
humor, his amazing powers of
observance, his figurative lan-
guage, and his remarkable know-
ledge of life.”

__R. Rubina, well-known Jew-
ish literary critic, spoke of Sho-

lem Aleichem, the man and

writer. ‘

An unpublished article by
Soviet Jewish writer Peretz
Markish about Sholem Aleich-
em, was read to the audience.
Poems dedicated to Sholem
Aleichem by S. Halkin and S.
Marshak were recited.

A comprehensive concert pro-
gram included short stories by
Sholem Aleichem.

Where does U.S. go from point
at which New Deal left off?

HERE is a great re-evaluation
taking place today among
those groups which once made
up what came to be known as
the New Deal coalition in the
United. States.

From the Communists on the
left, to many labor leaders, to
such liberal idealogues as Arth-
ur Schlesinger Jr. the discussion
revolves around such questions
as: How was it possible for Mc-
Carthyism to make such rav-
ages on the body politic? How
did big business and its Cadillac
Cabinet manage to make such
headway? What steps are need-
ed for a resurgence which be-

_ gins where the ‘New Deal left

off?
The Enemy Forgotten by Gil

‘Green is the contribution of a

national Communist party lead-
er to this discussion.

The theme is: “If the New
Deal coalition is no more, it is
because the big business enemy
of the people was forgotten by
some and obscured by others,
and the mass movement became
derailed into a sterile fight
against a fictitious foe.”

“This book,” Green writes,
“written from an avowedly
Marxist point of view, shall
seek to prove that the enemy
of the people is not commun-
ism but special. privilege which
has grown up to become the
monster of big business mono-
poly.”
xt xt tt

There may be disagreement,

Gepending.on the backgrounds
and viewpoints of the readers,
as to how well Green succeeds
in his mission. But I think few
will dispute that the book (ob-
tainable in Vancouver at the
People’s Co-op Bookstore, 337
West Pender, price $2.75) .is
intellectually stimulating, that

one of its greatest values is its ©
-give-and-take tone, that it can

and should serve as a basis for
discussion among all sectors of
the old Franklin D. Roosevelt
camp, and within its left sector.

Readers, I believe, will find
refreshing the absence of. rigid-
ity and dogmatic assertion.

The author sets out to docu-
ment each of his theses from
mainly U.S. sources, usually con-
servative ones.

His polemics are generally
with spokesmen of the labor-
Negro-liberal camp, but these
are polemics of a high order.
They wax passionate at times,
but they do not degenerate to
name-calling; they hold to the
issues, with the author making
no pretense of having uttered
the final word.

The subject matter ranges over
a wide field: the substance of
U.S. progressive tradition, mon-
copoly today, the economic, so-

cial and political dangers today, |
the process of political realign-®

ment, the outlook for labor, the
struggle for Negro freedom and
the U.S. road to socialism.

se og at

Socialism, Green writes, “could ‘

be accomplished in a constitu-
tronal way” and Communists
“do not advocate the use of force
and violence in the achievement
of either their immediate or ul-

timate aims.”

“Socialist democracy in the
United States,” he ‘says, “would
take many political forms not
jjentical with those of other
countries . . . Different political
parties, fore example, could
continue to exist. No political
party or group would be denied
access to the political arena so
long as it abided by the major-
ity will of the people.”

Socialists, he declares, need
to defend socialist advances in
other “lands but “it is not re-
quired of all who consider them
selves socialists ‘to be in full
accord with each and every
thing done in the lands building
socialism.” :

The author asserts his con-
fidence that “the day will come
when the best of these forces,
and many more who have not
yet spoken out, will unite to-

gether with the Communists to |

form a single, united party of
socialism in the United States.”

RECORDS

While he generally refrains
from vitriolic counter-charges
in his polemics, I think he oc-
casionally falls into needless
characterization of certain view-
points as “McCarthyite” when ~
it would have been better to let
the replies stand on their own
merits.

The chapter on “The Process
of Political Realignment” is a
powerful contribution to cur-
rent discussions of the electoral
outlook and beyond, as the chap-
ter on the movement for Negro
liberation is on one of the most
epic struggles of our time.

I think whether or not one
agrees with everything in this
book is of less importance than
the fact it can Serve as a much
needed door-opener for discus-
sions within the groups making
up the political left and those
of the former New Deal coali-
tion as to where does the United
States go from here.

BERNARD BURTON

French Canada has —
rich folk heritage

HIS REVIEW of French Can-
T adian folk music is the second
part of a comprehensive survey
of Canadian folk music avail-
able on commercial recordings.
Further sections will deal with
Maritime, Native Indian and
Eskimo folk music. ~~

% 503 5 o3
RENCH Canada has a folk
heritage as rich as any
people in the

world. Already

upwards to

15,000 songs and

variants have

A been collected,

‘wie about half of

a them by Dr.

Marius Barbeau.

In keeping with

this the avail-

able recordings

ere of a consistently high qual-
ity, with one exception.

Allan Mills - 10” Fkys 29 -
$0 mns. - $4.45: Here is the earli-
est LP of Canadian music (aside
from an unprepossessing, Eskimo
record). Accompanied on guitar,
Mills has chosen an unusually
well varied and representative
collection, still as enjoyable and
popular as when first released
four years ago. His French pro-
nunciation is not all it should
be, but he makes up for it in

-+he warmth and _ self-effacing

charm of his delivery.

Most moving are C’est La Belle
Francoisé, a tender story of
lovers parted by his army con-
scription, and Un Canadian
Errant, the widely known la-
ment about Canadian Patriots
exiled for their part in the 1837

Rebellion: The mood extends

to the rousing lumberjack song,
Les Raftsmen, the playful Mon-
sieur Le Cure, and the humor-
ous Mon Pere Y Ma Marie.

The accompanying booklet in-
troduces an introduction and
complete song texts, but only
brief interpretations in English.
Reproduction: good.

Pierrette Champoux - 12”
Esoteric 536 - 41% mins. - $5.95:
Sixteen delightful songs by a
Montreal CBC artist and folk
collector, accompanied by violin
and piano. Miss Champoux has

a fine voice and diction, but
over-sophisticated for folk ex-
pression, which the instrumen-
tation emphasizes.

Aside from the perennial A
La Claire Fontaine, only two
duplicate other recordings, while
old favorites like Alouette and
Au Clair De La Lune are wel-
come additions to LP. The
other songs, less widely known,
are equally charming.

Song texts are given without
English translations or com-
mentary, an inexcusable omis-
sion these days. Reproduction:
superbly clear and natural. :

Allan Mills & Melene Baill-
argeon (Duets) - 10” Fyks 918 -
2% mins. - $4.25: Only Aupres
De Ma Blonde has been recorded
elsewhere (Champoux)  al-
though all deserve recognition.
This 1955 recording should ac-
celerate that process

All who have heard the artists

on the CBC national network

will know there is nothing arti-
ficial about their arrangements.
They sing expertly, but with
simple honest directness. One
of their specialties is songs with
dialogue between men and
women, like I Went To The
Market, an example of the com-
paratively rare “chanson farcie”
where French and English are
mixed. Equally ingratiating are
the voyageurs song, Fringue !
Fringue !, the ancient Le Retour
De Marin, and the drinking song,
C’est A Boire.

The notes contain a full in-
troduction and compete song
texts, but only brief interpre-
tations in English. Reproduc-
tion: excellent.

Jacques LaBrecque - 10” Lon-
don LB-957 - 2714 mins. - $4.45.
The title sounds the warning:

“Chansons Populaires Du @an-

ada” and, even though most of
the items are (or were) folk

songs, that seems quite accurate.

Recorded about five years ago
with an anonymous orchestra,
probably in France, this is
mierely a series of vulgar

arrangements a la Tin Pan Alley

and Maurice Chevalier. Repro-
duction is good, but there are
no notes whatsoever! This
record is unacceptable.

? _, N. E. STORY —

June 15, 1956 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 8