" minded schoolteacher) on a farm ! ‘near the port-of Akkerman on the GUIDE TO GOOD READING Book Union selects Soviet novel; 1 1905 Revolution as seen by boy ORIGINALLY published in the Soviet Union 15 years ago under the title A Lone Sail Gleams White, Valentine Kataev’s absorb- ing novel of Odessa in 1905 now appears in English as Peace Is Where the Tempests Blow and is the March-April selection of the Book Union. (Obtainable here at the People’s Cooperative Book- store, 337 West Pender, the Book Union price is $2.15, the regular price, $3.75). Two nine-year-olds, Gavrik, a gamin, and. Petya, a schoolboy, are the heroes of the novel, and Kataev shows himself a master craftsman in portraying. the stormy events of the 1905 revolu- tion as seen through the eyes of the lads. Petya has been holidaying with his family (his father is a liberal- Black Sea. He hears the word “Potemkin” spoken - mysteriously by the farm laborers. Several times the mutinous cruiser ap- peared on the horizon in sight of Bessarabian shores. Once only, Petya was able to beg a quick look through another Boy’s spy- glass and managed “to make out the bright green silhouette of the three-stacked cruiser, with a red flag on its mast.” The Potemkin steamed west to ‘Rumania, pursued by the Black Sea squadron. Several days later the squadron came back, “towing _the captured mutineer as if on a Jariot. ~ The hunt for the esé¢aped sail- ors from the Potemkin was on, with the czar’s soldiers and police hot on the trail of one of the lead- ing revolutionists, Rodion Zhu- kov. The part that Petya and Gavrik play in helping this Bol- shevik sailor, and later during the armed imsurrection of the work- ers in Odessa, is the dramatic con- tent of Kataev’s novel. * to THE AUTHOR never forgets that his heroes are only nine years old. Gavrik, wise beyond his years, with.an older brother who works for “the Committee”, has an instinctive knowledge of the working class struggle and the responsibility he carries as a courier. But Petya learns slowly, through his own experiences. And both boys, because of their ages, can have their attention distract- ed by events of immense import- ance to children. For example, Petya discovers the fugitive sailor aboard the S.S. Turganev on the trip to Odessa. He also knows the czarist detec- tive who is on the ship, searching for the mutineer. Petya is dread- fully concerned for the safety of the sailor—until the ship’s captain ordered: a sail rigged up. “But what right have I to call it a trifle? A fine trifle!” “At the same time arid on the same steamer—an engine and a sail! A packet boat and a frigate combined! ‘ “T daresay that even you, com- rades, would have been delighted if you were suddenly to have the good luck of, travelling at sea on a real steamer which was.also under sail. — . f “Even in those days sails were put up only.on the very oldest steamers, and then only on rare occasions. Now it never happens at all. “So*it is easy to imagine how Petya felt about it. “Naturally, the boy forgot at once about the fellow with the moustache and about the fugitive. Like one enchanted, he stood astern Without taking his eyes off the barefoot sailor who busied * i himself rather lazily near the hatchway, unrolling a neatly-fold- ed sail. “There was no doubt in Petya’s mind that this was a jib. He AUUC FUND City concert raises $2,500 A CAPACITY audience attend- ed the annual concert held in com- meneration of the great Ukrain- ian ‘poet, Taras H. Shevchenko, at the ‘Russian People’s Home here last Sunday. . The concert, traditionally a high point of the cultural season, proy- ed to be a well balanced presen- tation under the chairmanship of John Chitrenky.- The’ selections by the orchestra and choir under the direction of William Chomyn delighted the audience. The folk dances, instructed by Hannah and Ed Polowy earned thunderous ap- plause. Vocal duets-by Mr, and Mrs. Steve Wynnyk and Mrs. Wynnyk and Mrs. Christine May- uk and vocal solos by Mrs. Mayuk and Victor Sawchuk demonstra- ted again the talent here, as in other centers across the country, through. which Ukrainian Cana- dians are making a great contri- bution to Canadian cultural life. In response to a special appeal made by John Dubno, provincial secretary of the Association of United Ukrainian ‘Canadians a. total of $2,500 was donated by the audience to help build a monu- ment to Taras Shevchenko on Canadian soil. This was the first step towards the $7,500 the As- sociation of United Ukrainian Canadians in British Columbia has pledged to raise as part of a $70,000 national fund. nevertheless sauntered over to the mate, who—because there were no other sailors—was helping to put up the sail. “ Tisten, tell me, please, is that ibe “‘Jib, replied the mate rather ungraciously. “But Petya was not offended. He knew, of course, that a real sea dog was bound to be somewhat rough. What kind of seafaring man would he be if he were mot?!’ Kataev’s portrait of tough, in- dependent little orphan Gavrick, -who lives with his fisherman grandfather in a shack by the sea and earns a meager living catch- ing gobies, is a magnificent piece of writing. The struggle of the © “street urchin” to survive is told in simple words. (When especially hungry, Gavrik would visit Pet- ya's house, where “there was a lot of bread to which no one paid any attention.” : ms * * 4 THIS IS A book about boys, yet it is not a boys’ book, any more than Huckelberry Finn or Gulli- vers Travels are simply advent- ure stories. In, the ‘background throbs the revolution: and Garvik and Petya are irresistibly drawn into it, and play a key role as ammunition-carriers and couriers when the uprising breaks out. The revolution is defeated, and the sailor .Zhukoy escapes the ezar’s police again, to continue his work elsewhere. As the sail of the wherry in which he is leaving becomes a white dot on the hor- izon, Kataev brings his story to a close with a verse from one of Lermontov’s poems: “His track is luminously azure, His sky is molten. gold aglow...” Yet only storms are his pleas- ure: His peace is where the tempests , hlow.” * —BERT WHYTE Ghinetakovich oratorio ~ “Song of the Forests”, the great new oratorio by the Soviet composer, Dmitri Shostakovich pictured above with his daughter, is to be sung in Toronto’s Massey Hall, April 7, by a massed choir pf 160 voices accompanied by a symphony. orchestra under the direction of Emil Gartner. The performance, first outside the Soviet Union, is being sponsored by the Canadian-Soviet Friendship Society. CONTRIBUTIONS INVITED ~ New magazine of art, writing to be issued A NEW MAGAZINE of progres- sive Canadian creative writing and art is being planned for pub- lication within the next few months by Progress Books. It is designed to fill a long-felt need for a medium of expression for writ- ers and artists who have found that practically all other maga- zines have closed their pages to honest creation, be it fiction or poetry, painting or essay. The editorial policy of the maga- zine will be “as broad as is the desire and will for peace among Canadian writers and, artists. At a time when the issue of peace or CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 A. year of action for peace ference can be held in Mexico in August). The World Peace Council de- cides to convene in the Soviet Union in the summer of 1951 an international economic conference —of economists, technicians, in- dustrialists, businessmen and trade union leaders of all coun- tries—for restoring economic re- lations ‘and raising the living standard of the peoples. The conference agenda will consist of: (a) the possibilities for improving the living conditions of the peo- ples providing. that peace is pre- served; (b) the possibilities for improving economic relations among the countries. In pursuance of the decision of the Second World Peace Congress concerning cultural \relations, the World Peace Council instructs the bureau to render every support in organizing a conference of medical men proposed by well- known medical men in France and Italy. This conference will be held in Italy in the current year and will be devoted to the problem of struggle against the “pernicious influence of the pre- parations for jwar on the protec- tion of the health of the people. The council instructs the sec- réetariat to study and assist in holding international conferences to discuss the problems’ of the development of national culture and international cooperation pro* vided peace’is preserved: writers and artists, scientists, workers of the cinema to hold in; 1951 a con- ference of writers and workers in art. f The World Peace Council in- structs the secretariat to support the idea of convening future -con- ferences of teachers, journalists, sportsmen, etc. It proposes to con- sider a form of support which could be rendered to the iniative of youth and student organiza- tions in holding a big world fes- tival in defense of peace in Berlin from August 5-19, 1951. The World Peace Council de- cides to set up at the council an International Cultural Relations Commission which will meet peri- odically. It recommends the set- ting up, without delay, of a Cul- tural Relations Commission by each national committee. These commissions would promote trips, if possible mutual ones, with the object of strengthening the cause of peace as well as the exchange of periodical publications and cul- tural exhibitions. It instructs the bureau to study the question of establishing a cinema center with the task of stimulating and co- ordinating the production and dis- tribution of films in defense of peace, exposing in every possible way the use of the cinema for “war propaganda. ‘ “The council recommends that ~seientfic discoveries the secretariat do everything nec- essary in order that all peace- loving scientists should propose to include in the charter of inter- national and national scientific organizations of which they are members the demand to use their solely for peaceful purposes. The council appeals to all na- tional committees to pay the most serious attention to the collection of funds for the World Peace Council. The success of this cam- paign will be a new proof of the devotion of the peoples to ‘the cause of peace. This will enable our movement to carry out its mission still more effectively. The fulfilment of all these meas- “ures! ‘will positively promote the expansion of our movement which should’ be conducted on the basis © of the decision defining our stand with regard to the problems of peace, with the help of a broad educational campaign among all sections of the population in each country, the campaign which should create the foundations for a free and honest discussion as well as for joint actions in de- fense of peace. Paul’s Beauty Salon e@ RENO’S CURLY CUTTING e@ PERMANENT WAVING 2511 E. Hastings St. HA. 6570 Opposite Forsts (Upstairs) : atomic catastrophe is in perilous’ balance, it sets out to make its’ contribution to peace,” an an- nouncement ‘states. The editorial board is now ask- ing writers and artists to start sending in manuscripts and art immediately, recognizing that the task of gathering material and selecting it is a difficult under- taking. There are no restrictions as 10’ subject matter or form; the mag- azine will) want short stories,. poems, sketches, wood or lino- cuts, reproductions of paintings: suitable for engraving, articles, essays, etc., with particular em~ phasis on Canadian subject mat- ter. is desired, providing only that in content it be honest, creative, Canadian, Tentative deadline for contributions is May 31, but it is emphasized that publication will History, biography, ‘humor, ~ reportage — writing in any form, \ | depend upon the quality and - quantity of the material contrib- uted. } All material and communica- tions should be addressed to the publishers. Progress Books,. 95 King St., East, Toronto 1. » (0) —= (eo) = —— (>) — SPRING FASHIONS Are in Full Swing Now at SILVER’S LADIES WEAR | 6 : o fl Prices are Reasonable (0) —— (6) (0) 1470 Commercial i E: ma) Selection is now Complete | if y