homes followin the history of our party. turn with deeper underst Sto Our political w eyenergy. 4 jyour holiday working up @e2 certificate book in one ha Whe other. Not at all. 4 deliberate about it. 00d wishes, but when the i ee ir he world. LPP Financial Campaign OFS hundred and fifty delegates hay g the best prov energies Of our members and devoted to convention prepa anding and renewed enthusiasm Ork in preparation for the election. N the meantime, Christmas com day tasks are a little less de Lest someone should b co add that there is no sugges and down the street clutching nd and knocking on doors with Bo Christmas will be a time for many conversations, Many political discussions. There will be laughter and song and fnellow over a bottle of Christmas cheer, the things that eople are thinking and feeling most deeply come-to the surface too, and people who are really alive cannot help yut be aware of the events that cast both light and shadow on the path that lies ahead. § s happening in the world, of their boys on the battle fronts, bof when the boys come home again, and jobs in the post- Pyar, and what the people can do to make the future bright.. HIS is a time for neighbourliness and a time for Labor- Progressives to demonstrate that they are not the cold Politicians that they haye sometimes been painted. # novement has so richly demonstrated love of the people, 9 nd oneness with them, as the Marxist movement across Labor-Progressiyes know! that they can im- | rove the quality of their work, if they are part of, if they ‘maintain a living link with, the happiness and pain, the ificulties and achievements of the people. € returned to their incial convention in For the past few weeks the supporters have been mainly fations. Now they will re- €s around and the every- manding on our time and €cOme suspicious, I hasten tion here that you spend There will be nothing heart and the tongue grows They will talk about what No lirts Guild Auditions ‘or ‘Six Men of Dorset’ John Goss, Director of the Labor Arts Guild, announces Bat auditions of trade unionists have been called by Jack | lowdrey chairman of the Dramatic Arts section of the Guild, ? |, 1945, at 641 Granville Street, Fom 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. # This famous play, by Miles @olleson and H. Brooks, depicts 1e of the most stirring and sig- ‘ficant chapters in the early his- ry of trade unionism, dealing With those pioneer leaders who ere arrested and convicted for fanizing a trade union among sricultural workers im Dorset- hire at the beginning of the 19th ntury, and who have since be- me known to all organized Borkers as the Tolpuddle Mar- Ts. “The Guild is particularly for- imate in having secured the S2e ices of Robert Orchard as di- setor of this major production,” States Mr. Goss. Mr. Orchard irected this play with marked Piccess in Winnipeg, and his ex- erience assures an outstanding resentation for Vancouver audi- ir the casting of “Six Men of Dorset,’ z on Monday, January fences, as adapted by him to con- temporary trade union develop- ments. Mr. Orchard is especially anx- ious that the large cast of male characters be drawn exclusively from trade union ranks, amateur or professional. According to him, this plan, which originated with the Winnipeg casting, re- vealed some of the most power- ful and effective leading roles were played by men who had never before set foot on a stage. As the play reflects the life struggle of the worker during any period of history, portrayal of these roles requires daily ex- perience in the labor movement, rather than play acting. Mr. Bowdery therefore urges that all trade union workers in- terested in) promoting this pro- duction report for casting on January 15 as announced above. Saturday, December 23, 1944 — Page 3 Rupert Labor Federation Best Non-Partisans in Civic Elections PRINCE RUPERT, B.C —The Prince Rupert Labor Federation ground out a close victory in last week’s civic elections in this northern city. Alderman Wiullianr Brett, Presi- dent of the Deep Sea Fishermen’s Union headed the poll for the second successive time, with a total of 591 out of 1125 votes cast. Runner-up was Robert McKay, president of the Non-Partisan Association, with 547 votes, and behind McKay came Labor can- didate George Hills, 532 votes, end Labor eandidate Alex Sin- clair, 528 votes. However, Non- Partisan candidate Cliff Ham tal- lied 527 votes, one vote less than Alderman Sinclair, so that a re- count is in prospect. Charge BCER Obstruction Charge that the BEER was using the government wir labor policy as ‘‘a_ shield against the just demands of their organized employees,’ Was made this week by Charles Stewart, chairman of the advis- ory board of the-Street Railway- men’s Union in announcing that the union would conduct a re- ferendum vote among the mem- bership on whether strike action should be taken if the National War Labor Board continues its delay in handing down decision on an appeal. Stewart pointed out that the street railwaymen’s grievances aroSe originally out of the re- fusal of the company to nego- tiate in “the true spirit of col- lective bargaining.” The company had been given 60 days notice of intention to negotiate a new agreement before the former ag- reement expired last March 1, but union representatives had no opportunity to meet with man- agement until considerable time after that date. ~ BCER’s “uncompromising atti- tude has caused a feeling of ex- treme bitterness to develop among the employees toward the eompany,” Stewart declared. “Our proposed demands have been before the government board since June 12; first with the B.C. Regional War Labor Board and now with the National War Labor Board.” Stewart stressed that the rail- waymen do not wish to strike but they feel frustrated by the com- pany s so far successful man- euvers. “Any action in this con- nection taken by employees of the BCER can be traced directly to the company’s attitude and failure to negotiate.”. “The officers of the Street Railwaymen’s Union believe that public pressure exerted in prop- er quarters can avert a serious transportation situation devel- oping on the lower mainland and Vancouver Island. We appeal to the citizens to assist the street railwaymen to secure their just demands.” Victory Square Branch LPP announces that no meetings will be held for the balance of the month. Date of first meeting in January will be announced in the columns of P.A. The closeness of the Alder- manic contest is indicated by the fact that only fourteen votes sep- arated four candidates, two labor and two Non-Partisan, so that the issue was in doubt up till the counting of the very last ballot. Defeated aldermanic candi- dates, in addition to Mr. Ham, were T. B. Black (NP), 518 votes, Norman Bellis (labor), 502 votes J. H. Mair (NP), 272 votes, and Harold Ponder, Labor- Progressive candidate whose campaign was called off by the Prince Rupert lLabor-Progres- sive Club on the eve of the elec- tion 80 votes. In the School Board contest, with three trustees to be elected, the local head of the Progressive Conservatives, Dr. R. G. Large, running on the Non-Partisan tic- ket, headed the polls with 649 votes. Behind him came Mrs. Emily Rothwell and Angus Mc- Donald, both labor candidates, with 517 and 512 votes respect- ively. Defeated for school board were D. Ritchie (NP), 504 votes, J. Mulroney (labor) 443 votes, and Douglas Wood (NP), 378 votes. Labor Mayor Harry M. Dag- gett was elected by acclamation to his second term, and a bylaw proposing: the city take over the Arrow Bus Lines was decisively defeated by a vote of 462 to 282. LESSONS TO BE LEARNED Local polities are busy anal- yzing the results, and some spec- tacular if not altogether tenable conelusions are being drawn. However, there are certain clear lessons for labor in the results, and the Prince Rupert Labor- Progressive Club is scheduling a January conference at which it will advance its proposals to strengthen the role of labor in building: unity in Prince Rupert. LABOR WEAKENED Labor went into this year’s campaign weakened by the ac- tivities of the anti-labor unity, anti-civie unity wing of CCF. as typified by such men as ex-—Ald- erman James Black. During the summer this group split the Civic labor Federation, which previ- ously represented every labor and people’s organization in Prince Rupert, by expelling the LPP, which had been foremost in the | fight to build labor unity and to see the aldermen lived’ up to their platform. Along with the LPP, owing to the clumsiness of the machine, went the House- wives’ League, the Halibut Ves- sel Owners’ Association, Long- shore workers’ union, and both powerful co-operatives. Black’s high-handed tactics in the labor movement made him completely unacceptable to many in the labor movement, and this year a campaign developed to replace him on the Civic Labor slate by Norman Bellis, an ad- vocate of labor unity and mem- ber of the CCL Industrial Work- ers’ Union. Machine tactics de- feated Bellis and Black won the nomination. In this situation the CGivie Labor slate appeared heavily in- fluenced by cheap “agin-the-cov- ernment” policies which antagon- ized the federal and provincial governments and blocked the co- eperation vital to the rebuilding of Prince Rupert. Further there was an absence of constructive proposals designed to advance the welfare of allethe citizens of Prince Rupert and unite busi- ness and labor on the question of jobs and prosperity for all ‘in the postwar. : Consequently, the Prince Rup- ert Labor Progressive Club nomi- nated Harold Ponder for alder- man as part of its campaign to rebuild the shattered unity in the labor movement, and to create a broad unity throughout all the citizens of Prince Rupert. LPP CAMPAIGN In the course of his campaign Ponder raised the question of a city-sponsored conference on jobs and postwar prosperity, a ques- tion which had been sluffed off by the Labor aldermen by point- ing. out they had delegates on an already-existing rehabilita: tion council, which, however, is @ very narrow affair, unable to moblize all sections of the peo- ple, and in part dominated by the Northern B:C. Power CGor- poration, whose narrow grasp on the outworn electric system of Prince Rupert and district lies square in the path of develop- ment of the north. : Ponder also advanced the pro- posal of a Civic Planning Board to plan the development and lay- out of the city im logical fashion, and of a Civic Housing Commis- Sion to initiate action on slum clearance and modern low-cost housing, both proposals which had been significantly dropped from this year’s Civic Labor platform since the council had done nothing tangible on eii1 r question. These proposals met with widespread support, and a coali- tion of healthy elements in labor and business developed around the Ponder campaign for unity. UNITY CANDIDATE A surprise devetoped on nomi- mations day when Jimmy Black was disqualified -owing to his property qualifications no longer being in order, and he was re- placed on the Civic Labor slate by Bellis, who had closely chal- lenged Black for the nomination. The Labor - Progressive Club thereupon withdrew Ponder and threw all its support behind Bellis in a move which it is gen— erally recognized has strength- ened the unity of the labor move- ment. The confused vote, with half the ballots cast showing mixed support for both Non-Partisan and Labor candidates, shows the need for clear constructive pro-= posals to realize Prince Rupert’s destiny as a world port, keep the shipyard in operation, create new industries, build strong ties with the other Canadian and Amer- ican Cities in the Pacific north-— west, and unite the city on the road to jobs and prosperity for all. The present downtrodden, dis- graceful state of the city shows. what a labor-business vendettz ean produce. Impatient citizens will demand—and get—more in the erucial year of 1945.