HUSH settled over
the courtroom as the

jury filed in. The ex-
pectant faces of those in the
courtroom showed mixed
feelings. A handful of those
Gad worked for a verdict of
guilty. But the majority
present hoped for acquittal.

“Gentlemen of the jury, have
you arrived at a verdict?” “No,
we have not,” stated the fore-
man, “we should like the cross-
examination of the accused read
over to us again.” The judge
looked disturbed. The faces of
Toronto's “red squad” lost their
Lappy looks.

The clerk of the court read
the record) The jury again re-
tired. Bhey returned in thirty
minutes. They were asked= once
again: “Gentlemen of the jury,
have you arrived at a verdict?”
“Yes,” replied the foreman, “not
guilty.” The judge was amazed.
Had he heard right? The fore-
Man repeated the verdict: “Not
guilty.” ee

All eyes were on the bench.
Slowly turning to the accused
the judge said: “Mr. Smith, you
are free to go.” Newspapermen
rusheq to their telephones. Night
editors cleared the front pauses
for one of the greatest stories
in Canadian labor history. The
workers talked excitedly in the
cafes and in their homes. Radio
commentators interrupted pro-
rams to flash the verdict; cables
wired the news overseas. In a
few hours the news had travel-
led from coast to coast. A. E.
Smith, gereral secretary of the
Ganadian Labor Defence League
had been acquitted of the charge
of “Sedition.”

Cauldron of Unrest

IN the sereaming headlines
.of the daily newspapers on
January 29, 1934, announced,
“A. ©. Smith Indicted for Sedi-
tion,” the tory authors of the
Charge at Queens Park and Ot
tawa littel knew the seething
cauldron of unrest and discon-
tent which was to brew over by
thejr ill-considered action. The
indictment was an act of des-
peration by the tories to silence
the man who was leading the
CLDIL defence campaign for the
release of the eight imprisoned
Communist leaders who were
Servine five years in Kingston
penitentiary. It was a vicious
attempt to strike back at the
Man and the organization which
hag forced them to stay the
hand of repression in the cases
of thousands of arrested strikers
and unemployed workers. But
it also marked the beginning of
the end of the Bennett regime-
As A. E. then said:
Imow not what they do,”
Hardly had the ink dried on
the charges than the working-

Class movement swung into ac-
tion. Protest meetings were
Calied. Resolutions poured into

the Bennett government. Funds
and campaign assistance poured
into the CLLDL offices. The battle
Was on. The Hon. E. J. MeMur-
Tay, former solicitor-general in

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 11

€

STM

OE aa they”

the King Liberal cabinet, offered
his services Attorney Leo Gal-
lagher came straight from the
Reichstag trials where Geoeri
Dimitroff, Bulgarian Communist,
had just finished lambasting the

late unlamented fascist Her
mann Goering. 2
Tory Attorney-General Price

appointed Peter White, KG., as
Special prosecutor, with the Tor-

ento Red Squad led by, “Art
Critic” William Nursey, as his
Special advisors. INursey had

described the play “Hight Men
Speak” as “evil.” White said:
“We are not going to make a
State trial of this case.’ But the
very presence of large numbers
of police inside and outside of
the city hall courtroom anq the
hature of White’s advice to the
judge on bail and charges to the
jury removed all doubt it was
a state trial.

it was the defiant and chal-
lenging offensive which A. EE
organized that really rivetted the
attention of the nation on the
political character of the trial.
Addressing a Massey Hall meet-
ing after the indictment had
been laid, A. E. showered wither-
ing seorn and ridicule “upon
Prime Minister R. B. Bennett
and his regime which permitted
Suards to shoot into the cell of
Tim Buck

He ripped the entire indict-
ment to pieces. He assailed
Bennett as a powermad dicta-

Lastly, it should not be for-
gotten that atomic bombs used
by one side may be opposed by
atomic bombs and something
else from the other side, and

then the obvious collapse of all’

present-day calculations of cer-
tain conceiteqd but short-witted
people will become all too ap-
parent.

There is a different plan for
the atomic bomb, the plan sug-
gested by the Soviet Union. This
plan is based on entirely diifer-
ent lines.

We, the Soviet people, do not
tie up our calculations for the
future with the use of the atom-
ie bomb. I would recall that the
Generaly Assembly has already
declared for the exclusion of
atomic weapons from national
armaments. Therefore, there is
no reason to postpone the acop-
tion of an international conven-
tion proposed by the Soviet
Union regarding the banning of
the manufacture and use of
atomic weapons,

Those who yesterday fought
against aggressors and who are
the true opponents of new ag-
gression should consider it their
sacred duty to outlaw the use
of atomic bombs and to Be
range for the use of the dis-
covered atomic enerey exclusive—
ly for peaceful purposes. Only
such use of atomic energy will
receive gratitude from mankind

as a just solution.

TEAC TTT

working class’

ae eT by A. ©. CAMPBELL wom 00

tor; a bloated monopolist; who
had made millions of dollars
during the depression He said
the Bennett government was
rotten and cracking - its leader
inflated “with the gases of his
Own decomposition.

in withering tones he asked:
“Upon what meat doth this our
Caesar feed;
That he has grown so great?
Why man, he doth bestride the
narrow world
Like Colossus; and we petty men

-Walk under his legs and peep

about :
To find ourselyes dishonorable
graves.”

“We intend to continue to in-
Sist that there shall be a full in-
vestigation inte this shooting and
that the men in Kingston shall
be released,’ he told the meeting.
“We ask for your support for
this proposition. Sound out the
slogan—an end to division, an
end to all disunity, a united front
of the Canadian working class.” ~

Tories Cracked Up

& results of his trial proved
ganization, He was released,
The Bennett regime berzan to
crack up. One by one the eight
Communist laders were released.
Section 98 was smashed. Bennett
wrote his four famous death-bed
repentance speeches. The work-—

HE United Nations Charter

-authorizes the General As-
sembly to consider the general
principles of cooperation in the
maintenance of international
peace and security, including
the principles governing disarm-
ament and the regulation of ar-
maments. Z

it should be recognized that

the time has come to adopt def- :

inite decisions to carry out these
tasks. Now that the disarma-
ment of the principal aggressive
countries has been carrieqd out
and measures have been taken
to restrict sharply the armz-
ments of other ex-enemy states,
the time has come to effect
measures to carry out a gener-
al restriction of armaments. The
adoption of these measures will at
the same time enhance the con-
fidence that the United Nations
are really permeated by a2 desire
for lasting peace.

Lastly, the reduction of arma-
ments will be a deserved blow
at the expansionist strivings of
those groupS which have not
yet sufficiently learned the les-
sons of the ignominious collapse
of aggressors in the recent war.

In accordance with Article i1
of the United Nations Charter,
the Soviet delegation submits
for the consideration of the Gen-
eral Assembly the following pro-
posal:

@ Im the interests of consoli-
dating international peace and
security ang in conformity with

ing class forged ahead to greater
unity and greater victories.
When the Bennett government
came into office in 1930 the cyc-
lical economie crisis was com-
mencing. Markets were glutted
with mahufactures and farm
produce; thousands of workers
were idle; industry slowed. down;

. prices began to fall; wages were

cut; capitalists closed down their
Plants; an agrarian crisis struck
with full fury in the midwest;
farmers faced eviction and seiz-

ures for unpaid debt: small busi- -

ness was wiped out and every-—

where there was chaos and
_ @risis.

Bread lines; jungles; soup kit-
chens; box cars; pogeys and:

police repression became the fa-
Miliar surroundings of decent
Canadians without jobs, in 1930.
Abandoned to their fate by capi-
talist politicians and reformist
lackeys in the tradeunion move-
ment, thousands of unemployed
soon discovered the one organiza-
tion which fearlessly led them in
the struggle for bread. -

The Communist Party of Can-
ada led by Lim Buck boldly be-
gan to organize the workers and
farmers. Mass demonstrations
against the Bennett Government
were organized. Demands were
placed forward for unemploy-
ment insurance; adequate relief
seales; work and wages. Eivery-
where in the face of the most

Molotov on peace

the purposes and principles of
the United Nations organization,
the General Assembly considers
a general reduction of arma-
ments necessary,

@| The implementation of the-

decision on the reduction of ar-
maments should include as a
primary objective the banning of
the manufacture and use of at-
omic energy for military pur-
Poses.

q@' he General Assembly rec--

cmmends to the Security Coun-
cil to provide for the practicai
achievement of the objectives set
forth in the above-mentioned par-
agraphs 1 and 2.

@| he General Assembly calls
upon the governments of all
states to render every possible as-
sistance to the Security Council
in this responsible undertaking,
the accomplishment of which con-
forms to the establishment of
stable peace and international
security and also serves the in-
terests of the people by lighten-
ing their heavy economic bur-
den caused by excessive expend-
itures for armaments which do
mot correspond to peaceful post-
War conditions.”

The adoption of the decision
on a general reduction of arma-
ments and the banning of the
manufacture and use of atomic
energy for military purposes will,
indeed, respond to the pacifist
strivings ef cur peoples and will
contribute to the development of
international cooperation.

Millions of dollars

2

severe police repression the party
rallied the workers to the fight.

Qn Tuesday, August di, 1931,
the Ontario Tory government ar-
rested the eight Communist lead-
ers; outlawed the party under
Section 98 of the Criminal Code
and declared a war of the knife
against the worling class of Can-
ada.

“I will use the iron heel of
ruthlessness,” said Prime Minis-
ter R. B. Bennett, who loaned
interest free
to the €PR bondholders during
the depression while he starved
the unemployed.

Fought Bennett

ies HIS office at 331 Bay Street,

Toronto, A. E. Smith, defence
head, laid aside the morning
Paper. Turning to Beckie Buhay,
CLDL national organizer, he said:
“Bennett may try that. But he
won't do it for long. The Ga-
nhadian Labor Defence League
will stop him.” 2

“Bree the Eight,” was the bat
ule cry of the CLDL. And the
organization never faltered nor
wavered once in pursuit of this
aim. “This is your doings, Smith,”
Prime Minister R. B. Bennett
snarled as A. EK. heading a dele-
gation to Ottawa, was told the
justice department was literally
Swamped with protest resolutions
and telesrams. “Smith, you’re
a trouble-m2ker,’ shouted dJus-
tice Minister Guthrie. “I do my
duty to the working class,” firm-
ly replied A. E. 5

Along with the campaign for
the release of the eight, hun-
dreds of workers were rescued
from deportations and jails in
the fighting ’thirties. The CLDL
taught workers how to *defend

themselves boldly in court; it
took care of their wives and
families; it entered appeals; it

taught the workers never to pay
fines; to stand up and demand
their rights; to turn every
trial into a political trial; to use
the capitalist court as a forum
to rally the working-class move-
ment to struggle.

It organized some of the great-
est MasS Campaigns ever known
in Canadian labor history: it
broke the backbone of the most
reactionary government Canada
has suffered since Confederation.
No matter where workers strug-
gled—on the picket lines, in slave
camps or before relief offices—
the CLDI—“the shield of the
working class”’—stood ready to
defend them. ;

Today A. &. Smith, who cele-
brated his 75th birthday last
month enjoys the respect and
love of thousands of workers.
“Iron Heel” Bennett is gone.
Most of the judges who tried to
railroad the workers to jail are
gone; Attorney-General Price is
in the discard; but A. EB. is stilt
in the labor movement. He is a
Rreat crusader amd one from
whom all Communists can Tearn
great lessons of courage, devo-
tion, and steadfastness to the
working-class movement of Can-
ada and the Socialist future of
tomorrow.

ERIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1946