cers In Re view }: hardships, privations and right swindling, which con- 8S a major part of the small mrs life. are all portrayed French Canadians at that m (prior to and during the * World War), still regarded who went “down to the 3’ aS betraying their heri- They hated the sound of the Wsb language, realizing even -—@e that they would have to =) through the years to keep = own language and culture. -) > passage is, to my mind, a ‘eiescription of the unending $ of farm hardships under plist economy. Addressing a zal heeler, who is trying to f reelection for his boss, a e farmer asks: ) about telling us why it is icmers ever get elected? They ® lawyers, doctors, notaries, @eling salesmen, but never @ifarmers. lt don’t look so » I don’t know if fi’s true, but ecard they get eight hundred is Just for getting up and $G Once In a while and then (3 in a rocking-chair and ing in the parlor all fixed up = ‘old things in the parliament eEings. Of course, thai’s too ® for poor bastards of farm- Aen we’ve worked all year ing out tree-trunks and hing and sowing and culti- 7, we’ve maybe a hundred afty dollars profit if it’s a year. And thai’s if the hail get in ahead of you, and the 1 don’t get the strangles. |= seems to me-if they had farmers and fewer lawyers in Quebec they might hear thing once in a while about ind and the poor devils who their guts out farming. They Ri fix it so the price of po- + would go up instead of fig people to fish for cod by But what the hell does Mr. br care if potatoes sell for e cents a bag; he lives in real 1” influence of the Catholic © church in French Canadian ®| town and village life is (8 unmistakably. Practically thing is conditioned by what iest would say about it. effect of the First World this little Laurentian com- is only felt by the price ‘heat or hay, whether barns d be stocked up in specula- for sold for the best price able. The coming of the ma- age foes very much against tires of these simple farm- =who find themselves foréed, ts, bad crops and crooked Ss, to go to work in the factories where “mechan- monsters crouched like wild als in a cage.” =iGUET is the nom de plume of Philippe Panneton, a © of Montreal, of purely th descent, whose ancestors Najor Canadian locial Novel erY ACRES—By Ringuet—MacMillan—$2.50. @ DEFINITE contribution to French Canadian literature pand culture, this book gives in fiction form a Simple pic- got life in French Canada and illustrates most of the facts Sa:nted by Stanley Ryerson in his new bool, French Canada sStudy in Canadian Democracy, in which he refers to the ; as “a major Canadian social novel.” settled in New France in 1640 and 1688. He began Thirty Acres in 1929, and it was first published in France ten years later. where it won the Grand Prix du Roman awarded by the French Academy. Although Ringuet speaks with authority on the conditions of farm life in French Canada from his own personal knowledge, it would have been possible for him. in my opinion, to haye given a little more positive theme to the book, pointing out the solution to present day farm troubles. This, of course, is adequately done by Stanley Ryerson in his work, but Thirty Acres, despite this possible weakness, is cer- tainly an addition to the growing French Canadian culture, a pic- ture of our own native land about which so few books have been written as yet—Kay Gregory. New Novel Gannck Justify Claims Retreat From Rostov—by Paul Hughes—Random House—S3.25. if you believe the advertise- ments, this is a “panoramic novel . reminiscent of Tols- toys War and Peace” This is little short of sheer impertinence. While the novel is interesting in a light way, it does not begin fo be a true picture of the tre- mendous issues inyolyed in the battle of Rostov. The writer, who has never been in the Soviet Union, has had to construct his work from imagin- ation and what he could gei from official communigques and news- paper stories, The book is full of inconse- quential dialogue between prosti- tutes of the German corps, ‘sery- ing’ soldiers of the front line, be- tween German privates or offi- cers, or between newspaper cor- respondents and press censors. Even the picture of Russian guerillas, particularly their group leader, Boris Guidenny, fails to achieve flesh-and-blood reality. Words and thoughts emanate from a most unlife-like Marshal Timo- shenko, who, on receipt of a small Snapshot of a newspaperwoman by whom he was interviewed months before, orders the immediate re- lease from prison of her and her lover! Paul Hughes, who admits he has been searching for a medium, and his publishers, are obviously How To Combat Anti-Semitism Anti-Semitism: What It Means and How to Combat It—By Wil- liam Gallacher, M.P., and Earl Browder — Progress Publishing Company—10 cenis. : W the first part of this pamph- let, William Gallacher explains very ably the way anti-Semitism arises, how it is only the excuse for and beginning of a general outcry against the labor move- ment and the working class sen- erally. Hitler himself said, in a con- versation with Herman Rauschn- ing once the Nazi leader in Danzig and now a refugee, “You will see how little time we shall need in order to upset the ideas and criteria of the whole world— simply and purely by attacking Judaism.” Gallacher shows that the same people benefit from the effects of Jew-baitinge who wanted the destruction of trade unions and the working class movement — big industrialists, monopolists and reactionaries, who fear the onward march of the people more than they feared fascism. Germany is an object lesson of the effects of anti-Semitism and workers of all countries can thus avoid falling into this trap of fas- cism by stamping out Jew-bailing wherever it arises. C2) qe how to combat this angle of fifth column actiy- ity, Earl Browder, in the second part, explains that anti-Semitism and anti-Communism are Hitler’s twin slogans, through which fas- cism can achieve “the complete disintegration of the people, their complete moral and intellectual breakdown and out of that their complete subordination to the Wazi leadership imposed from above.” Browder also shows effectively how the yicious anti-Semitic campaign in the United States emanates from profascist sources, such as the America First Party and the Klu Klux Klan. Qur task, Browder says, is “to identify the sources of the anti- Semitic conspiracy, expose it and destroy its ability to do harm.” trying te cash in on the tre- mendous interest aroused by the Red Army’s magnificent achieve- ments. A much more realistic picture of the Soviet wartime scene. true to life in every detail from first-hand knowledge of ter- rain, military events and the issues involved, can be obtained from any one of a score of Soviet writers. Yet the works of these writers when published in ‘the United States, are generally pan- ned by the same reviewers who are now accepting Retreat From Mostoy as justifying the extrava- gant claims made for it by the publishers. Such a novel as Retreat From Rostov, if not pretending to be historical, would make easy read- ing when one has nothing better to read or do. | = = == | | : al ab E, LE be | i THE SOVIETS EXPECTED IT || [HE PEOPLE BOOKSHOP By ANNA LOUISE STRONG i | 105 Shelly Building — 35 Cents — I : | UNIVERSAL NEWS — 138 East Hastings, Vancouver } 119 W. Pender MA 6929 Vancouver, B.C. ar Films Featured In Current Showings (Gao to the movies this week? If so, you will find all the variety you want on Vancouver’s “great white way’. If you are seeking laughs and music you can find them at the first run theaters where, except for a few exceptions, programs offered are light and very frothy. If you prefer mere serious fare, many fine films are showing in neigh-= borhood theaters this weekend. There is still time to see Ac- tion In The North Atlantic, play- at the Stanley. This movie is def initely one of the best wartime films produced so far. While anti- fascist films haye been shown in every Canadian theater, this is the first major production fo fea- ture trade unionists in the lead- ing roles as anti-fascists. One of the best films playing in down town theaters is The Silver Fleet, at the Plaza, This is a story of occupied Holland, made in England and starring progressive Ralph Richardson, now of the Royal Air Force. S e °e WEB in the tradition of the “big bold lovable roughneck, a devil with the women and a devil in a fight,’ Salute To The Marines, now playing at the Or- pheum, is described as “an up- Toarious extravaganza, in glori- ous technicolor.” Whether the press agents line declaring that “hell bowl you over with laughs as he bowls over the bandy- legged Japs” is in the best taste or not is debatable, and it can certainly be argued that the war against fascism really isn’t fun- ny. More to the point is Bomber’s Moon, a straight adventure film, but one which makes no joke of the war. This is a love story of an American pilot and a Russian girl. On the same bill is the all- colored musicale, Stormy Weath- er, one of the best musicales to come out of Hollywood in some time. If you like your music hot, eheck in for a slice of Fats Wall- er, Cab Calloway, Lena Horne (the army’s number two pinup girl) and the Katherine Dunham Dancers. A) Se e ISAPPOINTED murmurs are coming from those who went fo see Phantom of the Opera, hop- ing to get at least a taste of really good music along with the chills supplied by bogey-man Claude Rains. The picture has been held ever for a third week, but def initely not because of the warb- lings of Nelson Eddy, who is as much out of place in opera as Caruso would have been giving out with Pistol Packin’ Mama. Susanna Foster has a pretty voice, but for a while at least the Metro- politan will look elsewhere for its talent. | French Canada A Study in Canadian Democracy By STANLEY RYERSON We Didn't Ask Utopia A Quaker Family in Soviet Russia By HARRY & REBECCA TIMBERS The War Of National Liberation A Second Collection of the Wartime | Addresses of the Soviet Premier | | JOSEPH STALIN 25¢ | | | ip | | Anti-Semitism | | By William Gallacher, M.P., and | Earl Browder 10c, | | Program of the Labor-Progressive Party 10c| $1.00) a 7 ui