! 9 p Wig HY 7 y ily ydaGts! a oie thar Ney | FAVA Ress Pole \ Med i VOL. 13. No. 5 Vancouver, British Columbia, February 5, 1954 sg / <> * W464 PRICE TEN CENTS Buck’s call to people “The time has come when the working class of Canada must transform itself from a move- ment of protest to a movement for a new national policy,’ Tim Buck told an audience of. 1,400 Vancouver citizens at Pender Auditorium on Friday evening last week. The Labor-Progressive party national leader drew rounds of applause from an audience which jammed both the main auditorium and lower hall and spilled out into the street, when he presented the LPP’s proposals tg beat the threat of depression. “There is not a shadow of doubt that we are confronted with a PCT EL CELE CO Un ob a LPP delegation will see council Action to combat Vancouver’s growing unemployment problem will be urged on city council this coming Monday morning when a Labor-Progressive party delega- #ion headed by Maurice Rush, city secretary, will meet with the city’s social services committee. “Unemployment has reached such serious proportions that city council must be compellled to take immediate action to relieve distress among thousands of our citizens who have used up their unemployment insurance bene- fits,” said Rush. The delegation will present pro- posals aimed at providing new jobs and ensuring employment for Vancouver workers. Fight for policies to beat depression severe economic crisis unless we, the people, unite our forces and do something about it,” said Buck. He then outlined “the things that must be done” to keep our basic industries humming and put Can- ada’s present jobless workers back to work. Trade with all the world, gigan- tic building projects at home, con- struction of 750,000 low-rental homes and a cut in armaments spending so that money can be spent “on people’s needs” were among the key proposals made by the LPP, said Buck. “Thousands of Canadians will agree with us that these things are practical, possible and reason- able,” he continued. “The work- ing class must discard the idea that we have to wait until there are a million jobless, and then protest. Workers must adopt the idea that there are policies which can maintain full employment, and fight for these policies. “Instead of being victims of capitalist crisis, the people will then become the determining fac- tor in building an independent, prosperous, progressive Canada.” Appearing on the platform with Buck at Pender Auditorium were LPP provincial leader Nigel Mor- gan and LPP city secretary Maur- ice Rush, The latter chaired the meeting and made a financial ap- peal which brought a response of more than $700. On Sunday afternoon Tim Buck spoke to an enthusiastic audience of 200 young people in Hastings Auditorium, and in the evening he addressed an LPP member- ship meeting in Swedish Hall. VICTORIA BOOK-BURNING CHIE McCarthyism condemned on all sides Book-burning ma VICTORIA, B.C. The people of Victoria have administered yor retreats a stinging rebuff to the book-burners. A yiolent public reaction against proposals to remove allegedly “red” books in Victoria Public Library has sent the tinhorn poli- ticians who sparked the plan and their witch-hunting allies running for cover and screaming that they were misquoted. Highlight of the week-long furore was the overwhelming public and press opposition to the book-burners. Clergymen, educators, political leaders, editorial writers and ordin- ary citizens joined in condemning -the cen- sorship attempt. Sample comments were: Rev. William Hills, Anglican clergyman: “] think it’s a piece of sheer civic demo- zogy.” Hon. Harry Perry, former Liberal min- ister of education: “I think the idea is pre- posterous. I’m bitterly opposed to it. Burn- ing books recalls Hitlerism and other simi- lar incidents in history.” Dr. Harry Hickman, principal of Victoria College: “Academic circles must necessarily Continued on back page —See BOOK-BURNERS © Students of Victoria College are shown as they burned Mayor Claude Harrison in effigy on Friday last week to protest his suggestion that all “subversive” books in Victoria Library should be burned. ; statements. tions in Victoria. The board tabled Miss Pollock’s resignation to deal with John Marshall’s appeal against his dis- missal without reason after he had served two months of a three- month probationary period as director of the library’s bookmo- bile service. A statement by Marshall was read into the record and after a long and heated* discussion his appeal was also tabled until the next meeting of the board this coming Monday. In a letter to the press this week, Ronald Ley, president of the British Columbia Library Associa- tion, said: “The librarians of this province are not purveyors of propaganda for any creed or sect; their duty is to serve the people in the broad principles of democratic free- dom.” LIBRARIAN RESIGNS IN PROTEST VICTORIA, B.C. Miss Theresa Pollock, chief librarian at Victoria Pub- lic Library, on Wednesday this week confronted Mayor Claude Harrison and his fellow would-be book burners with the consequences of their reckless and destructive When the new library board met the first item of business before it was Miss Pollock's resignation. “As a result of the publicity the book-burning proposals had re- ceived, she said, her position had been rendered almost ‘unbearable.’ The problem of obtaining qualified librarians at the low salaries paid had been accentuated by the dis- criminatory dismissal of John Marshall and now it was to be expected that librarians would hesitate to take posi are re ee tt te Wallace to be guest at affair J. S. Wallace, the outstanding Canadian poet who has won for himself the title “Bard of Can- ada,” will be the guest at an af- fair to be held in his honor this Friday evening, February 5, at Orchid Hall, 2723 West Fourth Ayenve. The program will include a dramatic recital of Wallace’s poems and two songs adapted from his work. The affair is being sponsored by New Frontiers, the cultural quar- terly of which Wallace is an as- sociate editor.