REAT Fred Ellis, people’s
G ‘artist and midwest yarn-

) spinner, is still crusading for

the return of the horse and
buggy, Fred, a youthful 74,
has never accepted the triumph
of the auto. :

“The auto is just a passing
fad,” he says, good will and
eandor glowing in his hand-
some face and blue eyes. “Fifty
years ago the electric belt was
all the’rage as a cure for rheu-
matism and depressions. Then
Peruna pushed it off the stage
of American history, to be fol-
lowed by the auto. But this
too will pass.”

“Why, Fred?”

“Because people were hap-|
pier in the horse and buggy
age. No gasoline stink every-
where. No rush and worry, no
parking problems, no ulcers or
abstract art. Love was simple
and romantic. Your girl beside
you, you dropped the reins and
old Dobbin would safely see
you home. Try that in an
auto!”’ .

“So you think the horse and
buggy has furthered culture?”’

“Postively. The auto has des-
troyed poetry. Who can write
poetry to a Ford or even a
Cadillae? It is unthinkable. So
in flight from the auto age,

the poets and artists revenge

themselves with.the abstract.
A painting by Jackson Pollock
is as far as you can escape,
isn’t it?”

“Then you believe the horse
and buggy is a cure for ulcers
and capitalism?”

“TI never said that, my
friend. The only cure for
ulcers is corn liquor — prefer-
ably the moonshine variety.
Strong and fearless, this medi-
cine creeps up behind the ulcer
and gnaws it off. The ulcer
falls into the intestine, glad
to be flushed out of such a
hostile system. Any more ques-
tions,. amigo?”

* * ®

DIRTY TRICK — One of

those

tion flunkey type, all set up
with sports car, Ivy League
clothes and haircuts, Scotch
and soda, Playboy and Book
of the Month. Well, they have
two boys, aged 8 and 10. And
last Christmas, the fond par-
ents thought it qa smart gag to
present their kids with gifts of
some good stocks.

Now when the morning pap-
er arrives, the kids snatch it
as usual, but do not, as hereto-
fore, turn to the comics. No,
they turn to the financial page
and study avidly the stock mar-
ket quotations. The parents

MICHAEL GOLD .. . . . The horseless carriage

slick young modern} love it. They think it cute and
couples, the familiar corpora-| boast of it to all their friends.

Poor kids, to be uglified and

ruined so young in life. The

stock market is sure to play
a dirty trick on them, sooner

jor later. The foundations will
‘be snatched from under their

dream house of eternal pro-

fiteering. The stock market
produces nothing essential to

man, hence cannot endure. In

the future America it will not

exist, so the kids are being
trained for futility, nothing-
ness, alienation, like some

Russian Grand Duke. It would
be much better to be an ap-

prentice carpenter or house
painter.

U.S. reader

V. B., San Francisco: Sorry
I am so late renewing my sub-
scription to the Pacific Trib-
une. Enclosed find’ $10 to take
care of that matter, plus a
small contribution. I certainly
had no intention of letting it
lapse. I consider the Pacific

| Tribune a truly Marxist paper,

ing leadership

|
ay

a real fighter in the class
struggle in the interests of the
working class, and a powerful
voice in the fight for world
peace.

Tt can certainly be said that
the Pacific Tribune has a parti-
san viewpoint on all the im-
portant issues of the day and
earries on a struggle on these
issues. It explains what is
happening in the trade union
struggles in Canada and in the
current political struggles,
from a Marxist viewpoint and
vigorously presents this view-
point without any quibbling
or hedging. :

Tt not cnly presents Marxist
views, it is also playing the
role of an organizer and giv-
in the class
struggle and in the struggle for

world peace.

In my opinion this is the
role a Marxist newspaper
should play. This is also my
main reason for renewing my
subscription to your news-
paper. And I must say that it

is a very refreshing experience

every week to read the Pacific
Tribune. I will not say that it
is the only newspaper on the
West Coast of North America
worth reading. I will say that
it is the only Marxist news-
Paper on our West Coast.

Free enterprise

E. E. GASSMAN, Tappen,
B.C.: The following statement
was quoted in the booklet

Monopoly Today, written by
the Labor Research Associa-
tion (the cost of monopoly,
page 11):

“Although falsely labelled
‘free enterprise,” this is actu-
ally freedom only for those at
the top. It is even truer today
than it was ten years ago,
when the TNEC issued its de-
tailed reports, that monopoly
makes a mockery of the ‘free
enterprise’ system.” -

Is not the basis of our capit-
alist system “free enterprise’?
And what, then, is free enter-
prise? Free enterprise is com-
petition and without completi-
tion there is no free enterprise,
and without free enterprise
there is no capitalism.

But what course does com-
petition take since it is a free
enterprise system? Its only
logical conclusion is monoply.
Therefore monopoly does not
make a mockery of our free
enterprise system, but fulfills
its natural growth from its in-
fancy or simple capitalism to
its ultimate growth of imper-

“OPEN FORUM

ialism. For to have our free

enterprise system continue to
be a system of competition, | 8

would be like a seedling con-
tinue to be a seedling. It must
fulfill its growth.

Harold Winch

W. T., Vancouver, B.C.: So
now Harold Winch has joined
the anvil chorus, knocking or-
ganized labor in its efforts to
keep wages even with (or
somewhere near) rising costs
of living.

How that honest old soul,
Ernie Winch, must be moaning
and turning in his grave.

With one of Harold’s state-
ments, however, we can all
agree. That is when he claims
to be as much a socialist as
ever.

How much is- that? Well,
The Sun uses percentages in
getting expressions of opinion
on his blast. Let’s do the same.
That makes it exactly .0 per-
cent.

A Chinese full-length ballet, “Maid of the Sea,” was
recently presented on the Peking stage. It was written by
the students of the Peking School of Dancing under the
direction of Soviet expert P. A. Gusiev.

BILL PHILIPOVICH’S

4

(Guest.column by J. Weir)

ORKERS always love to

listen to Tim Buck be-
cause he explains current
event and problems so clearly,
showing the way in which
they arose and pointing out
where they are leading. His
writings have the same lucid-
ity and historical approach.
When one listens to Tim Buck
or reads his writings, he is not
only moved but he learns
something important every
time.

-It was a matter of great ser-
vice to the Canadian workers
when a careful selection was
made of Tim Buck’s writings
over 36 years (from 1923 to
1959) and they were published
in a book of 400 pages under
the title Our Fight For Can-
ada. It is a course in higher
education for the people!

As you read this book the
whole history of the Commu-
nist Party and of the militant
workers’ movement passes be-
fore your eyes — not as a re-
lation of the events of the past
four decades, but as the pre-
sentation and battle of ideas
around those events, the ex-
plantion of the place they
occupy in the unravelling his-
tory of the class struggle in
our country. ;

How fresh are Tim Buck’s
arguments today — those ar-
guments he wrote in 1923 in
favour of the formation of a
labor party and united labor-
farmer political action in Can-
ada! Only now, in 1959, is the
trade union movement taking
up that challenge — and the
social - reformists are trying
even yet to sidetrack that ac-
tion or to lead it astray.

On the question of the
struggle for peace, Canada’s in-

December 24, 1959—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 5 |

dependence and its socialist
future, on the many problems
which the workers and farm-
ers face in that long struggle,
Tim Buck‘s writings through
the nearly four decades that
he has stood at the head of the
Canadian Communist Party
give wise advice and bring
courage to the working people.

Our Fight For Canada is a
book not only for Communists,
but for all progresstve people
and all students of politics and
social problems in Canada. No
worker’s bookshelf should be
without it.

Tim Buck has the great
quality of explaining difficult
questions in an easy to under-
stand manner. Even people
who aren’t very good in Eng-
lish can read this book with-
out great difficulty. And as to
our younger generation—what
greater favour could we con-
fer on them than to let them
read and learn from Tim Buck,
whose opinions are valued
above those of any other Can-
adian leader by the progressive
people not only here but
throughout the world?

This is the season for giving
gifts to friends and relatives.
A gift of selected writings of
Tim Buck will be of lasting
benefit.

“DISARMAMENT
MEANS PEACE”

By TIM BUCK
NEW 5c PAMPHLET
Available at
PEOPLE’S CO-OP

BOOKSTORE
307 W. Pender

ered