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Journey to Mexico

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HEN we left Toronto at noon,

Y that soon passed and we crossed the
enough up so they couldn’t bar® us) in the sun,
powder puffs of ‘clouds below drifting along.

the sky was cloudy. But
United States (high
with occasional little
A couple of hours

later we were over the Atlantic and the waves of the ocean seemed
like tiny’ riplets frozen in blue glass’ below. Then we sighted our
~ first islands of the Bahamas, for all the world etched like a map.

We alighted for a short stay at the Oakes airfield in Nassau.

(Remember Harry Oakes?

_ squeezed a fortune out of the miners in northern Ontario and deserted

to Nassau so as to avoid paying income taxes :
his fortune was amassed, and then was murdered—for which murder
his son-in-law, a scion of European nobility was arrested and then —

_ teleased. )
‘AS ‘we walked: off the plane a
Negro servant wheeled in a table
 lodded with glasses of planter’s
punch—free. (In Cuba later we
Sot a Similar reception,
Pinch free, compliments of the

rum

_ Sugar industries. On the plane to |

Mexico we were treated to a te-
Quilla, cocktail). ‘

Palms, exotic plants and flow-
ers. All the work done by Negroes

and some East Indians, The Eng--

- lish alittle different from ours
: + .'moon is mid-day and many

Words were strange, whether. be-
causé of pronunciation or other
than English origin, we couldn't

tell. A girl we talked with did not

know whether there were Indians
or Caribs in the Bahamas before
the Europeans came, perhaps
they were exterminated. ...

+ We came into Kingston in the
evening. The py lights against
the mountains were like dia-
monds . .: Bill Devine insisted
that Kingston was the image of
‘Hamilton, the bay and mountain
and all. We pointed out that, of
course, the “mountain” at Ham-

_ ilton was such by courtesy only,
whereas this one was real. And
there are no steel mills in King-
ston,

All the maps of Jamaica have a —
picture of a pirate at thé side, a —

reminder that this .was where
piracy once flourished. We soon
found out that it is still flourish-
ing, when we went to pay our
hotel biil. .

.

This is the hot season in Ja-

~ _ maica, Their real tourist and holi-

_ day season is in the winter, so
I guess they took us for what
they could. Room $7.50 per night.

_. Meals néarly as high. And you've

got to tip at every turn, quite
apart from the handouts you
must give to beggars on the
street. — ees .

Peace? And how! / |

We walked artound the city on

Tuesday morning and we never

saw a white man working. The
hotels and main streets are im-
Posing, the slums on the side

"streets appalling. Naked children. .

Barefooted workers. Rags. Pov-
erty. Hunger.

We talked to a young fellow |

who told us that the work on the
docks iwas partial, that most of

the! people were unemployed most.
of the time. He himself had ship-
ped out under: contract to work’

on the land in the southern Unit-
ed-States last yean and that was
-a‘high point in his life. Imagine,

working on southern plantations
a thing to remember with grati-
tude! bei ee a

Everybody stops you for a
handout in Kingston. One old fel-
low, his white wooly head and the

hairs on his wiry arms white
against the black skin, started by
telling us that he had sailed with
the merchant marine all over the
world for 25 years and expressing
the opinion that communism was
the greatest danger facing man-
kind, before hitting us up for a
donation. : :

om

We asked him what he knew
about communism.

+ “Oh, all the people are talking
about it,” he informed me sadly,
adding that he himself was a loy-
al subject of His Majesty.

I asked how it was that Jamai-
ca was populated by Negroes.

He informed me that this Is-
land was the “wholesale house”
for Negroes snatched for slavery
from Africa and that the present
Jamaicans were descendants of
those of the “commodity” who had
run away while waiting to be
shipped to the “retail houses” in
‘the New World.

From Jamaica to Cuba we sail-
ed into a storm and I find no
words to describe the awesome
beauty of that experience. We
watched spellbound and wonder-
ed why no artist has yet tried to
reproduce that terrible splendor
in oils—it is so much more im-
pressive than anything that the
earthworms ever see,

Havana is the size of Toronto.
It is more like Paris than any
other city we have seen. The sem-
blance is not accidental—it is a
deliberate attempt to copy Paris.
U.S. billboards and neon signs
spoil it somewhat, but the side-
“walk cafes, constant music and
dancing, the uninterrupted flow
of melodious, liquid Spanish, the
gayety of the crowds, the beauti-
ful boulevards all make up for it.

Cuba is still experiencing the
tail end of postwar prosperity. Its

government (all the other parties —
‘are in a greater on lesser coal-

ition against the strong United
Socialist (Communist) ‘party) is
taking orders from Washington.

A large percentage of the pop-
ulation is Negro. As in Jamaica,
‘it is an experience to see the
women carrying heavy bundles on
theit heads, walking stately and

graceful, Palms, breadfruit trees.

“Next afternoon, we were wing-
ing our way to Mexico.

“We were met at the airport by
officials of the Continental Peace

‘Congress, and after we had reg- |
-_. istered. at the headquarters, we

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to the country where

e

He was the Canadian millionaire who

s

@ This is the main plant of the Atencingo Hacienda, a sugar
plantation once owned by American interests, which was ex-
propriated by the Mexican government ten years ago and is
now divided into collective farms. 5

“did” the’ city—or at least part
of it.

Mexico is a large city, with
many beautiful parks, statues
(the monument to Juarez, the In-
dian who became president and
liberated Mexico from the Em-
peror Maximilian, and the Tri-
umphal Arch are very impressive)
and many large and fine build-
ings. .

The air here is clear and cool
(Mexico City is 7,000 feet above

“sea level) and a relief from the

of the former Warsaw
leader, Meyer Sadowski, and that _

heat of Jamaica and Cuba.

In contrast to some other places
we visited, the Mexicans demon-

strate on all sides a national con- —
‘sciousness and dignity that is

good to see. The names of:streets
and buildings proudly proclaim
the long’ history of the Mexican
people. Even the American ad-
vertising signs cannot dominate
the scene, as they do in Havana,
for instance.

And Mexico has a long and
glorious history. :
This was the seat of the an-.
cient Aztee civilization (and be-
fore that, the Toltec civilization)

.

HAT’S that famous quip?
“The reports of my death

have been greatly exaggerated.”
Well, it’s in vogue again, and
with good reason. ;

On August 14, the New York
Morning Journal stated in a ban--
ner headline: a

“SON OF ZIONIST LEADER |

SHOT CROSSING POLISH
_ BORDER.”

\ ‘ x
And a sub-head revealed, “Wife

also killed by bullets.”

_The writer of this tid-bit, one
L. Ariyah, had the details. He
said that the murdered man,
Heinrich Sadowski, was the son
Zionist

during the war Heinrich lived in
the Soviet Union, About a ‘year
ago he came to Lodz, married,
and started to work for the
agency, ‘Toz.”

“But, confided Ariyah, Heinrich

_ Sadowski wanted to get out of
‘Poland, However, this was forbid-

“den, So, one night, he and his

‘wife went to the border, to es-

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which was so ruthlessly destroyed

by the Spaniards. (Everybody
should read Prescott’s The Con-
quest of Mexico and The Conquest
of Peru to learn about the civiliz-
tions that were on the American

‘continent before the Europeans

came).
Then there were the centuries
of struggle for national liberation
and more recently the decades
of revolution against peonage,

clerical reaction and U.S. domin-:

ation. Mexico has written glori-

ous chapters in the struggle for ~

progress and has produced many
great men. And these things are
not buried (as, unfortunately,
are some of the best pages of
Canadian history), but are re-

-membered and proudly demon- —
strated at every step.

Mexico has developed a rich
culture of its own, drawing, from
both the Indian and Spanish
sources. Its great artists have
created a distinctive style, very
cleverly based on the old Aztec

legacy. And the beautiful silver —

and Mexican jade ornaments,

leather work and wicker work,

are really their own. \
The process of revolution is still

-eape, as it were, undetected. Alas,

they were detected, and when
they were told to turn back, they
chose to keep on running. ‘

Here, translated from the Yid-
dish, is the way Ariyah rounds
out his fable: “Shots rang out.
The Jewish couple were both

. struck several times and died

from their wounds.”

Note that word “died.” Sank
Pretty tragic, isn’t it?
ce Be is
THERE is just one thing

“wrong with the report. It is not

true.

For this we have the word of
the“dead” man himself, Heinrich
Sadowski, nine days after Ariyah
had already buried him, sent a

statement from Warsaw. describ-

ing the story as a tissue of lies
from start to finish.
Here is his letter:
“In connection with the report
which appeared in the New York

- Morning Journal, which I have

just read, I wish to say
if is completely .untrue.
‘In the first place, after I re-
turned from the Soviet Union I
was employed by the agency for

that

A ‘dead’ man speaks

going on, with the Indians and
the peasants in general, together
with the powerful labor move-
ment, pressing forward. |

It is true that U.S. capital is in-
filtrating into Mexico, as it is in
Canada and élsewhere, It is true
that the streetcar system in Mexi-
co City is owned by Canadian
capitalists. It is true that the
wealthy classes still carry on,
that. there is abject poverty
among many of the people, that
industry is still relatively back-
ward. But the Mexican people
act with the dignity of masters in
their country and of people who
have faith in their future. ;

Mexico is not a people’s democ-
racy in the sense of Poland or
Czechoslovakia, but in the Ame-
ricas it is one of the countries
that has over many years defend-
ed its national independence and
whose people are strongly anti-
imperialist. Ce

Canada could learn much from —
Mexico. : oy
‘@ John Weir is editor of the —

Ukrainian Canadian and was
a delegate to the Continental
Peace Congress earlier thi
month. ; ‘

the protection of the health of
the Jewish community in Poland
(Toz-Ose) at first in Lodz, but
since November 1948, in Warsaw,
as supervisor of the bureau, in

which capacity Iam employed to

this present day.

“T categorically emphasize that, —
up to this day, I have not asked

anyone to let me leave the coun-

try and therefore no one refused
me, At the same time I wish to ~

‘state that I have no intention of

leaving Poland, and that I did
not leave Poland in an_ illegal
fashion. e

“Since my return from the So-
viet Union, I live, work, and re-
side in Poland. I find it necessary
to make this statement. At the
same time I wish to prove, by my ©
own signature, that the notice ~
about me in the Morning Journal ©
is an utter fabrication.” ee |

This letter was signed by Hein- —

-rich Sadowski, 60 Shenna street,

and dated August 24, 1949. a
Now we ask you, how low can -

responsible newspapers sink? Is -—
there any limit to the slanders

and lies of the Jewish reactionary .
press? Evidently not! — CANA- .
DIAN JEWISH WEEKLY.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — SEPTEMBER 23, 1949 = PAGE 5

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