Aes -a “control room . . Canada must speak up LL Canadians deeply concerned with safeguarding peace and bringing foreign aggression in Korea to an end will welcome’ the recent statement of External Affairs Minister, Lester B. Pearson in the House of Commons, that he does not “bélieve’) bombing Manchuria, blockading China, or using the U.S.-trained mercenary troops of Chiang Kai-shek in Formosa to invade the Chinese mainland, will “bring peace”. No one outside of the warmongering lunatic fringe of the TrumansAcheson-MjacArthur war conspiracy Can believe that pursuance of such policies can bring anything except global war. It is therefore a very heartwarming and gratifying me Pata to find Canada’s top voice on foreign policy beginhing to take a stand against these suicidal imperialist adventures, despite tory tub-thumping, sniping and provocation. General MacArthur has been ranting “before a USS. Senate Armed Services and Foreign ‘Relations Committee for over a week. ‘The burden of this “old soldier’s” faded- out plea is the “limited” bombing: of key.China centres, blockade and invasion of China, and extension of the Korean crime into a Third World War. Even if the U.S. has to “go it alone”! Facts have little in common with the rabid frothings of an inveterate warmonger, nor does the- distortion of facts trouble such individuals when they really get going on their pet theme of mass murder and mass extermination. Thus MacArthur in his “evidence” before the Senate committee, quoted from a British report on exports from Hong. Kong to China, but failed to mention that behind many of ‘the items quoted was the notation “nil”. _ Mild and timid.as the effect may still be, it is good to hear that Pearson is beginning to. “believe” with the majority of peace-loving Canadians, that the policies of intervention, invasion, and aggression; as ‘enunciated by dollat-imperialism, is not the road to peace, but only to world war. é : Civic ‘ted herrings’ VING whipped up a U.S.-inspired epidemic of war hysteria in some quarters on the issue of civil defense, Ottawa fol- iows the Washington formula by leaving the bulk of “civil defense” costs to local municipal governments. This situation has produced little else to date except a deluge of talk, plus ‘a bit of much-needed cheap notoriety to nit-witted-politicians, ~ whom an accident of history, has elected to responsible office. Last week the Vancouver Daily Province carried a streamer headline reading: “Roundup Of City’s Reds Ready For Emergency”. The story behind that startling headline didn’t rate a column inch in any newspaper, but it did mirror the warped thinking which distinguishes the vest-pocket war- monger at civic level. pee: ; Speaking before the Greater Vancouver Area Civil De- fense Board Alderman J. D. Cornett assured. his “defense” colleagues that the RCMP had all the “Reds tabbed”, and asserted this aldermanic windbag “You'll be amazed at how quickly they will disappear one of these days.” The result? An hysterical headline to waft this civic stink bomb far and wide! ‘ ae Vancouver’s 1951 municipal budget provides for an esti- mated expenditure of $2,000,000 for “civil defence”, one half of which, according to Cornett, is going into the building of . somewhere in the metropolitan area.” That sum, together with other taxpayers’ money, could serve the people of Vancouver a great deal better if put into - much-needed school or ‘hospital facilities or into providing «decent housing for war veterans and old age pensioners. In fact there is no end to the things it could be expended for which would serve the interests of the people much more than “war scares and war costs. That however, would run counter to our “guns before butter” insanity and leave the Cornetts sspeechless ! tre 7 Anti-communist hysteria is a poor substitute for states- tmanship. It is however, as the case of Adolph Hitler proved, a splendid yardstick for measuring nitwits and nonentities,, no matter where they operate. ,. The best defense Canada can have is to stand out before : the world as a builder for peace. The made-in-the-USA “de- _ fense” pblitics of Alderman J. D. Cornett and the press that parrots him, lead to fascism and war. The “red-herring” is an essential ingredient of such “defense” ! TY Attn nl | re i , LG in OR Va NWA) Ss ESV EUINIE Ne i fw) il cy av ™, Li Ne lye , Boascasescsetfhorscebonsanesl = oe Published Weekly at Room 6 - 426 Main Street, Vancouver, B.C. By THE vcvattearescusndhteseassaserracsattll essenne dll TRIBUNE PUBLISHING COMPANY LTD. Telephone MA. 5288 Tom McEwen:..........-: heh Beis va Sosy tOP Subscription Rates: 1 Year, $2.50; 6 Months, $1.35. ®rinted by Union Printers Ltd., 650 Howe Street, Vancouver, B.C, Authorized as second class mali, Pod Office Dept., Ottawa ULL eee by TOM McEWEN sven As We VE were negotiating a wage boost back in the early twenties to ease the cost of surviving. The boss pleaded ‘stark poverty. To him it was “ruination even to think of parting with an extra nickel. We tabulated his annual profits from his own balance sheet. The boss blew up. So did we. Session adjourn- ed sine die, as the legal sharks say. 3 “You shouldn’t have talked that way,” said the Timid Soul, “now you've spoilt everything. The boss is mad and we won’t get a cent more.” We were interviewing the Saskatchewan govern- ment in the late twenties about some much-needed farm relief, seed and feed. The feed was important. Hundreds of farmers aitd their families were as hungry as their half-starved livestock. bod Jimmy Gardiner, slick, slippery and suave then as now, -recited one of his stock homilies on “thrift with all its manifest virtues—a quality which he him-. self in the daily humdrum of eating, sleeping and diddling the farmers, has never had to observe too sely. ‘ : ae dict farmer on the delegation exploded: “By God, if you’d look after the interests of the farmers half as well as you look after the interests of the banking, mortgage and machine sharks, we'd all be well off!” Jimmy stopped “chewing the cud”; so did the dele- gation. Session adjourned sine die. ue “You shouldn’t have said that,” said the Timid Soul when we were out in the clear Regina air, “now we'll get less than before.” We were a delegation of housewives up to see the mayor and council for the umpteenth time for more food, shges and clothing for children—and adults. The mayor promised to give the matter his, oft-recited “careful consideration.” “You will give it your ‘consideration’ will you now, Mr. Mayor? That’s very kind of you. In fact that’s about all you have given us every time we have come here. Well, I cannot feed and clothe my children or anyone else’s on your ‘careful consideration’, and it dosen’t provide my old man with a job. We demand action NOW.” i The mayor ordered his police to clear the council chamber. Clearly the city bondholders had first claim on his civic “loyalty”. Phe session adjourned sine die. “That was no way to address the mayor,” said the ‘Timid Soul when all had smoothed out the ruffles of a hasty exit, “now we'll get less relief than ever. T am not coming back with this delegation any more. Why, you made, the mayor look like a liar”. We were a delegation to interview German and Italian consulates across Canada, demanding that the fascist governments they represented withdrew their troops and halt their brutal atrocities against the people of Republican Spain. “There are none of our troops in Spain,” the fascist consuls said with stony politeness. “You have been misinformed.” “Why, you low down fascist ——”, exploded a dele- gate, as he pushed a commercial press report of the massacre of Guernica at the consul. “Who in hell do you think did that?” % Back on the sidewalk the Timid Soul spoke its piece: “You shouldn’t have said that to a represent- ative of a foreign government. It'll only make things - worse. There’s no use jumping on him, he can’t do anything.” “So sorry gentlemen,” said the be-spectacled and dapper Japanese consul with an exquisite Pearl Har- bor savoir faire, “you are misinformed. My govern- ment is establishing a Co-Prosperity Sphere in Asia. In order to do this we must also emancipate the back- ward Chinese. So sorry, gentlemen.” : “Why, you sawed-off runt...” “What good does ‘it do to embarass the consul?” squeaked the Timid Soul. “That won't get. us nowhere!” Ss t We were a delegation from the great On-to-Ottawa trek for work and wages. “Iron Heel” Bennett, the prime minister of Canada, sat behiftd his huge ma- hogany desk, ill at ease, surveying his fat hands. “Show them in,” barked the “great” man to his RCMP bellhop, “I’ll deal with them.” Arthur Evans, a tall gaunt figure in overalls, symbol of an exploited class deprived of the right to live, stepped forward, “Mr Prime Minister, I speak for tens of thousands of dispossessed workers, con- demned to unemployment and starvation. We de- mand the right to work and wages.” Up the fatty layers of his numerous chins and neck, the blood of class-hate rising like a ripening tomato, “Iron Heel’ Bennett erupted. ‘Who are you to demand? Do you know who I am? I am the Prime Minister of Canada.” ““You are, Mr. Bennett, you are, but you are not fit to be prime minister in a Hottentot village,” replied the gaunt figure in overalls, with the quiet dignity and moral conviction of a Christ. Outside, on the broad steps of Parliament Hill, the Timid Souls rolled their eyes heavenward in genuine social.democratic anguish. “Oh dear, oh dear, now everything is-spoiled. He shouldn’t have said that to the prime minister. Calling him a Hottentot. Now it will make our efforts for the unemployed so much more difficult.. Oh dear.” The moral of history’s countless delegations, despite their Timid Souls, is clear to every worker: Reach for the stars. ~- They are yours! — Hollywood witch-hunt again — pac wees Hollywood director Sam Wood died last year he left a will which ranks high, I think, among the significant documents of our time. " For Wood directed that none of the beneficiaries under his very considerable estate could touch a nickel of his money until they had sworn anti-Com- munist affidavits. ; And not just to say they were not members of the Communist party, mark you. They had to be pure of all contact ‘with any organisation dubbed “subversive” by the U.S. govérnment. That is what the witch-hunt does to some people. It is what they are trying once again to do to the whole of Hollywood. For the: Un-American Activities Committee—this time under Congressman Woods—has descended on Hollywood once again with a long list of “suspects.” Congressman Woods is taking up where his pre- decessor, the unfortunate J. Parnell Thomas, left off a year or so ago. _ (Thomas left off, incidentally, in order to serve a jail sentence for extorting money from his staff). On Wood's list is actress Gale Sondergaard, win- ner of an Academy award, and wife of Herbert Bi- berman, the film director who was jailed last year for refusing to appear before the Un-American Com- mittee. ; Judy Holliday and Jose Ferrer, winners of Oscars as last year’s best actress and actor, are also on thé list. x t So are John Garfield, Ann Revere, Larry Parks, /) Howard da Silva, screen writer Paul Parrico, and many others. ; Hollywood has already been made pretty safe for 100 per cent Americanism and war. They are trying to make it just that little bit safer. > ; . Three years ago William Wyler, one of the’ big- gest producers in the place, declared: “They are mak- ing decent people afraid to express their opinions. They are creating fear in ‘Hollywood. I wouldn’. be - allowed to make The Best Years of Our Lives in Hollywood today.” | Three years of intimidation have unfortunately affected Wyler and a number of other highly paid stars and directors. ae eee For they are no longer spedking out in this fashion. . ¢ Three years ago eloquent protests came from’ ' Myrna Loy, Lucille Ball, Robert Young, Frank Sinatra, Joseph Cotten, Gene Kelly, Burt Lancaster ‘and many others. Today they say nothing. Larry Parks, now:starring in a film entitled ; Renegade, has given secret evidence to the Un-Ameri- can Committee, in which he has named’ a number of his friends and colleagues. ' ' In naming them, he has signed their dismissal notices. But not all Hollywood’s famous figures have been intimidated. Howard da Silva faced the Committee and told them: “I cannot lie. It is not the easy way for me. I love my work, but it can wait awhile. I will not be intimidated by the threat of black list, smoke-screens or stool pigeons.” ‘ ‘ And Gale Sondergaard made this statement after refusing to appear before the Committee: “I would like to have closed the book upon Her- bert’s, return from prison and let the long struggle lie quiet for a while, resting from the pain and the loneliness and the indignities of the past few years: ' “But history decrees otherwise and the struggle must begin again. _ “I have> been chosen. A man appeared at the door of my home, asked my son to fetch, his mother, and handed me a paper bearing Congressman Wood's name—a paper which becomes my economic death warrant, a sentence to my professional starvation, — unless... ‘ . “If tonight I were to say to you: ‘Drop the’ atom bomb 6n Moscow. War is inevitable. Draft 16-year- olds,’ I would be called a good American by the Un- American Committee. I would be permitted to re- turn to my interrupted career as an actress — 4 career I love with a very deep passion.” : And Gale Sondergaaré went on to say that she would not do these things, and that one day the great mass of American people would know she had been — right. Meanwhile, the Un-American Committee pursues its work like a nest of ferrets — scraping and nosing after anything and everything in filmland that might be danerous to MacArthurism, Hooverism, Trumanism, Un-Américanism. ! No wonder the films are no good nowadays. No wonder they had to re-name a squalid little & piece of policeman’s art entitled She Married a Com- — munist. No one would look at the thing under that name. So they called it Beautiful but Dangerous t? catch the sex-drama addicts. : They are killing whatever there was of value in Hollywood. They are sending hundreds of decent — men and women to the pillory. HA PACIFIC TRIBUNE — MAY 18, 1951 — PAGE 8