A collection of Ital

ian classics, including the works of

z

re

Pa

rarch, Dante and Boccaccio,

has been donated to the University of British Columbia library through Vittorio Bifulco,

Italian consul in Vancouver.

Wright examines growth of
_ Saskatchewan co-op movement

EVEN out of ten adults in

rural Saskatchewan  be-
long to some torm of coopera-
tive.

With less than 7 percent of
the country’s population, the
people of Saskatchewan do
approximately 27 percent of
the business of the country’s
cooperatives.

Twenty percent of the pet-
roleum business in  Saskat-
chewan is done through co-
operatives.

A total of 445 associations
and 39 school units bought
goods worth almost $29 million
and saved over $1,800,000
through their own wholesale,
Saskatchewan Federated Co-
operatives Ltd., in 1953.

Co-operatives do over $500
million worth of business a
year in Saskatchewan.

The outline of the growth
of the organizations which
have been developed to handle
this volume of business has
been well told by Jim Wright
in his latest book Prairie Pro-
gress.

Wright has done a good job
of collecting the facts and or-
g@anizing them. However, one
eannot but wish he had the
flair for dramatization which
made Hopkins Moorhouse’s
Deep Furrows such a read-
able book. It may be that hav-
ig so much more to tell, and in
less space, that Wright at
times, has bogged down in

facts. Where the participants
themselves speak, his talent
for interviewing stands out
and the reader is held.

The book deals with some
of the mistakes of the farn
movement. One in particular,
should be taken seriously to
heart by those organizations
that use “discount buying for
their members.”

The old trading department
of the SGGA which did busi-
ness by having the local sec-

‘retary take individual orders

at local meetings left a legacy
of dislike of group trading
Which took years to eradicate.
Because of this method pro-
longed meetings beyond the
patience of the members and
because the organization could
see, at that time, no alterna-
tive, the old Farmers Union
took a strong stand against
consumer cooperation even
when they were sponsoring
Aaron Shapiro,: U.S. cooper-
ative economist. This opposi-
tion to consumer cooperation
was carried over into the
Farmers’ Unity League and
was a contributing factor in
the great consumer coopera-
tive movement growing up in-
different or latently hostile to
the left wing.

The Dairy Pool, the Co-op
Oil Refinery, the Co-op Whole-
sale which -were surviving a
hectic infancy during the de-
pression years were complete-

ly ignored by the left. One
hopes that this mistake will
not be repeated as the co-
operative movement develops
in British Columbia.

The book brings out, for
those who look closely, the
most important aspect of the
value of a CCF provincial gov-
ernment — its legislative sup-
port of the cooperative move-
ment.

The Saskatchewan Depart-
ment of Co-operation, presid-
ed~ over” by Premier’ T. C.
Douglas, and administered by
his deputy, Dr. B. N. Arnason,
is the best in North America.
The close relation between a
progressive government and
the cooperative movement has
been an enormous factor in
the growth of the Saskatche-

wan cooperative ~movement.
This relationship should be
closely studied and similar

forms of cooperation worked
out for the other provinces.
It is an interesting and in-
formative Canadian example
of the legal combination of
parliamentary and extra-par-
liamentary activity.

Get a copy of this book and
study it. Priced at $3.75 it may
be obtained either through
the People’s Co-op Book
Store, 337 West.Pender, Van-

.couver, or the B.C. Co-opere-

tive Union, 2270 Telford, Bur-
naby, B.C.
ALBERT PRACEY

MUSIC

Soviet composers
argue about jazz

REGING about jazz, a pas-

time almost as popular as
listening to it, has its devotees
in the Soviet Union too. Is
jazz necessary? Is jazz folk
music? Can music that had
its origins in the yearnings of
slaves have a place in a so-
cialist society?

Questions like these have
exercised Soviet musicologists
for some time. Recently the
editors of Sovietskaya Muzika
circulated among musicians,
composers and critics a ques-
tionaire on the subject: “What
do you think about jazz and
light music?” Needless to say,
the discussion was lively.

“Tt is no secret,” the open-
ing speaker said, “that until
recenily many of our,art work-
ers regarded light music con-
descendingly, at best. But
during the past two or three
years there has been a cer-
tain animation in this field of
musical creation. . .. But
there is a danger of levelling.
Why for instance do we have

a standard composition of jazz
bands?”

The eminent Armenian com-
poser Aram Khachaturyan
championed light music.

“Light music can broaden a
man’s horizon, develop, an ‘ap-
petite’ for all good music. ...
Some people say there is no
need for sophistication, for
experiment in light music.
But I call on our composers
to take light music seriously.”

The leader of an Estonian
variety band complained that
the Soviet attitude towards
jazz had changed frequently.
At one moment jazz bands
were created and given the
impressive title of state bands,
at others they were subject-
ed to such a fire of criticism
that no trace of them was
left.

“Now, it seems to me, we
are reaching a _ reasonable
mean. All this fills us with
faich that we shall achieve
successes in jazz music. .
But we have no clear con-
ception of what is good and
what is bad in jazz music.”.

50 % es

Much of the discussion turn-
ed on the hoary old question
as to whether jazz is a style
or the composition of an or-
chestra, on the “specific feat-
ures” of jazz.

Dmitri Shostakovich had
something to say on this sub-
ject:

“It seems to me,” he. said,
“that the jazz specialists willy-
nilly scare away composers

AUUOBENSNENO ES ELE AN EEeLELT

“who would. like to write for

jazz by talking of some mys-
terious ‘specific nature of
jazz.’ ... Of course, jazz has
its own manner of perform-
ance, but I am not inclined
to explain the entire jazz style
by this alone. ...

“My own experience has
convinced me that orchestra-
tion for jazz must be done in

the same manner as for other
orchestras. I attempied to
write for jazz and though I
shave not had any particular
success, I still have a little
achievement—the bits of jazz
I wrote for the film Meeting
On The Elbe... .

“For this. reason I tell young
composers that if any of you
wish to work in the light music
field, pay no attention to talk
of the ‘specific nature of jazz,’
but write more good, gay,
cheerful music, remembering
of course that this music will
be performed by a definite
type of orchestra.”

The conference was brought
down to earth by another Es-
tonian performer who declar-
ed that there was today no
sense is discussing the vexed
question: Is jazz necessary?

*“Our youth shows an inter-

est in jazz, so we must treat
this field of art seriously,” he
declared.

“But we have lost contact
with that youth,” said the
leader of a music hall band,
“We are letting it slip through
our hands.”

This stand, taken by many
at the conference, was sum-
med up by one speaker in
these words:

“Much as we may deplore
the influence of jazz on our
light musie;- whatever differ-
ent substitutes we may pro-
pose, the fact must be faced
that the demand for jazz music
exists, and a very strong de-
mand at that.

“It’s bad, of course, if a
young man wants to hear
nothing by jazz. That is
usually the result of a lack
of culture. But I know highly
cultured and well educated
young people who, though in-
terested in serious. music,
want to rest and dance only
10-977

RALPH PARKER

,

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FEBRUARY 22, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 13