Peg ballet
paralyzed by
McCarthyism

SUDBURY

Citizens of Sudbury are incensed
over the refusal of the Royal Win-
nipeg Ballet to fulfill a contract-
ed engagement here in the
beautiful Mine-Mill Hall.

No one accepts the flimsy ex-
cuse that “illness” prevented the
engagement — especially in the
light of press interviews quoting
the dancers supposed to be sick as
declaring they never felt ‘better.

It is obvious to most people that] °

fear of McCarthyism had caused
the company, due in Washington
next week, to cancel the show.

In its issue of January 18, the
Mine-Mill News, organ of the 16,-
000 member union in Sudbury,
proudly announced the impending
visit of the famous Canadian com-
pany directed by Gweneth Lloyd.
The house sold out in jig time —
including special 25-cent tickets to
high school pupils. It was to have
been the biggest cultural event
in Sudbury in years.

Then the engagement had to be
cancelled owing to “illness,” ac-
cording to R. A. Kipp, president of
the group. Sam Walsh, an organ-
izer of the Fur and Leather union
in Winnipeg, was asked by Mine-
Mill to intercede:

Walsh told the press, after he
had been informed of the compa-
ny’s determination to cancel, that
Ballet officials were “obviously”
uncooperative. Speaking personal-
ly, he said he told them that
“conceivably, since there was to

‘be an American tour, some sort of

pressure had been put on pure com-
pany. ”

The only “sickness” was evident-
ly an attack of McCarthy jitters.
Both dancers supposed to be sick
reported they were quite well and
able to perform, as they did Mon-
day at Etobicoke, near Toronto.

Because it apparently prefers the
audiences of U.S. cities to a Cana-
dian audience in Sudbury, the
Royal Winnipeg Ballet cancelled its
undertaking to dance in the most
beautiful union hall in Canada,
doubtless fearing repercussions
from U.S. immigration officials at
the border. The long arm of Mc-
Carthyism forced the Winnipeg
Ballet to conform.

Bargains galore

at labor bazaar

From the fantasy of Arabian
Nights to our present-day very
matter-of-fact and _ businesslike
world is a long step and it is high-
ly improbable that there will be a
magic carpet at the Annual Labor
Bazaar to be held here February
26-27. There will, however, be
bargains among household furnish-
ings which in themselves will be
something of a miracle in these
days of high prices. _

Dozens of competitive groups are
busily engaged in planning novel
ideas for booths, and in collecting
and making a wide variety of
articles and good for sale. There
will be home cooking and food of
all kinds, home-made candy, chil-
dren’s and babies’ clothing, house-
hold furnishings, costume jewelry,
constructive toys, books and hun-
dreds of other items. :

Featured this year is an apple-
pie making contest for men and
women. There will also be a home-
made bread baking contest. Crisp
new $10 bills are the prizes in both
contests.

The Labor Bazaar will be held
this year in Hastings Auditorium,
and winds up with a big dance
Saturday evening, February 27.
Further information can be obtain-
ed by phoning Mrs. C. Evans, FA.
1471-L.

Fall off Rerlin aoens Monday

his capital.

These shots from the Soviet color film, Fall of Berlin, which
opens this coming Monday at Hastings-Odeon Theatre here, show
Adolf Hitler, alternately despondent and hysterical with hope,

ith Eva Braun (above) in his last refuge, his short-lived fascist
empire crumbling about him, his dreams of world conquest shat-
tered as (above) the victorious Soviet Army plants its banners in
More than one billion people have seen this picture.

Would-be witch-hunters

VICTORIA, B.C.
The Victoria book-burning con-
troversy has exposed to public view
the outlines of a vigilante organ-
ization which wants to impose
thought control on Canadians.
The witch-hunters are centred in
the Junior Chamber of Commerce
which receives strong backing for
its red-baiting program from. the
parent Chamber of Commerce.
A country-wide network was
planned at last year’s national con-
vention of the Junior Chamber after
Victoria Jaycees had reported on
their campaign of disruption at
peace meetings.
It operates through the ‘‘na-
tional affairs committee” set up.
in each branch. Statements by
Jaycee members during the book-
burning debate indicate that they
could very well have access to
the.type of information normally
collected by the notorious Special
Affairs branch of the RCMP for
use against the labor movement.
‘An unnamed member of the na-
tional affairs committee of the Vic-
toria Jaycees said, “When a person
with a communist record comes
into town, we'll make it our busi-
ness to find out about it.”
The case of John’ Marshall, one-
time staff member of the West-
erner, educational director of the
People’s Cooperative in Winnipeg
and member of the peace move-
ment, illustrates how these amateur
McCarthyites work.
Marshall, serving a three-month
probationary period as director of
Victoria, Library’s bookmobile ser-
vice, was dismissed by the library
board with no reason given. The
usual “well-informed sources,” al-
most certainly centred in the Jay-
cees, leaked the red-smear charges
to the press.

A follow-up, again from an “un-
named organization,” charged that
there were a number of “Commun-

ists” in public office and respons-

Jaycees exposed by
book - burning issue

ible positions in the city—an ob-
vious invitation for a McCarthy-
style “trial by publicity” and per-
secution.

Overwhelming public opposition
to McCarthyism revealed in the
book-burning debate compelled the
Jaycees who had often boasted
about their anti-red role, to back
down. They denied any respon-
sibility for the firing of Marshall
and passed a resolution condemn-
ing book-burning. —

It was admitted, however, that
Marshall had been discussed in
the executive before his dismissal
and it had been decided to seek
further information on him.

’ The Marshall case makes it clear
that the Jaycees’ method of opera-
tion is through pressure on their
victims’ employers and the calcu-
lated leak to the press.

In the past they have received
the cooperation of the daily press,
which printed their anonymous
charges. The outcry in the present
dispute has apparently made the
papers more cautious about this
kind of “news” story.

Alderman Brent Murdoch, auth-
or of the book-burning plan and

a past-president of the Junior

Chamber, made it plain that the |
objective of this witch-hunt was
a form of thought control over

Canadians. He announced his in-
tention as a member of the lib-
rary board to ask the RCMP to

“screen” the books in the library.

The extreme reactionary and pro-
fascist character of the Victoria
group is evident from the presence
with the Jaycee disrupters at
public meetings of Frank Part-
ridge, campaign manager for pro-
vincial Tory chief, Herbert Ans-

comb, at the time of his 1952 de-|,

feat, and of Peter Hartnell, a well-
known fascist who was imprisoned
during the Second World War.

«

BILL 7

THREATENS
YOUR

LIBERTY

Write your MP
TODAY
Help preserve
the traditional
liberties of the

people.

USE THIS COUPON

OTTAWA, One

As one oF your constituents, I call upon you to
oppose sections 46, 47, 52, 60-62, 64-69, 365 and
372 of Bill 7.

These sections, if passed in their present form, would
undermine the traditional liberty of the individual
and the pers, of organized labor,

,

PLACE IN ENVELOPE AND MAIL — NO POSTAGE STAMP
. REQUIRED

This Advertisement Inserted By
VANCOUVER BRANCH,
LEAGUE FOR DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS
339 West Pender Street
Vancouver 3 ,B.C. -

’

\

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — FEBRUARY 5, 1954 — PAGE 6