THN

DEBUNKING THE DAILY PRESS

_ By J. GERSHMAN

Facts about Birobidjan
refute vicious anti-Soviet slander

S INCE 1917 it has been alleged, on the average of at
least once a year, that Jewry in the Soviet Union

has been liquidated.” The Jewish community there has
been reported “destroyed” so often that one wonders how
the Soviet always manages to discover new Jewish
Stoups to “annihilate.”

To anyone unfamiliar with the tactics of the Mar-
Shallized Jewish press and the treacherous clique of
Social democrats in New York and abroad, a story Such

83 the one Canadian newspapers recently have given

Prominence to must have been in the nature of a spec-
tacular surprise. Again the ludicrous charge was made
that the Soviet Union practised anti-Semitism against

_its Jewish citizens.

In actual fact, the Jewish Labor Committee, which
™ade the accusation, has been peddling this libel ever
Since the Soviet Union was established, let it lie dor-

_™ant for a few years, and then revived it well before the

Sat

on behalf of the
-War-makers, That is
‘its one purpose. :

.°b Pat, known to

Taig

('Zhiqr

Jews, but to the degenerate French writer Andre Gide
whose surname, in Russian characters, read “Zhid.”

That same year Tom O’Connor of the New York
Compass published a documented report in which he
proved that this latest outburst of anti-Sovietism was
the result of a deliberate conspiracy. He cited from
confidential reports of a secret meeting of the American
Jewish Committee in 1948 at which it had been de-
cided to make Jews believe the Soviet Union was anti-
Semitic. ;

Is Soviet Jewry threatened with destruction? Is its
culture menaced, its institutions doomed? Recently, the
Canadian Jewish Weekly carried an article by V. Ok-
horokov, from the USSR, about the flourishing condition
of Jewish life in the Jewish Autonomous Region of
Birobidjan, where 25,000 students are educated in their
mother tongue, Yiddish, where all government papers
and, laws are published both in Russian and Yiddish

as they are here
ment tie seeps in. English and
With pages meres VA COS French)) where
Doctri See ao. HOLES os y there are numerous
plan ect ves ‘ @ ORES ease eR TS MAP OF THE JEWISH Yiddish periodicals,
’ antic Sete : ‘ : .
Pact, and other as- ||) .> & * KULDU. i | AUTONOMOUS PROVINCE newspapers, drama
Pects of the cold oe 5 groups, choral so-
The accusation z * OBLUCHYE ann, BIRA ik cieties, and where _
that there is anti- ec Bal AY HABAROVSK P Roy industry is growing
Semitism in the 32 PASHHOVO aN Now and flourishing.
USSR is G service In this month's’
rendered by the elections, Birobidjan

Jewish reactionaries

3
ae The author of this }S
* latest report is Jac- BLUECHEROVO 2,

AKURZET
MA_N

Teaders of the Jew:
‘Sh press as an in-

sent five deputies to
the Supreme Soviet.
Okhorokov _ reveals,
too, that hundreds
of Jewish fkmilies,
from all parts of
the USSR, are plan-
ning to make Biro-

veterate slanderer.

Tt 1946, he went to Poland as a Mikolaczyk agent and
*ndeavored to turn the Jewish population against the
®W government. When he returned he made speeches
Predicting Polish civil war. He even revealed how
“nd where the enemies of the democratic administration
Would get ans. ;

ce Naturally, the attempt at civil war in Poland failed,

Pat’s complicity reveals why he is so anxious to
e charges of anti-Semitism against the Soviet Union
“nd the People’s Democracies.

Jacob Pat, R. Abramovitch and the other social dem-
2erats have always found the accusation of Soviet anti-
Semitism a convenient myth. In 1941, they declared
that the Soviet Union was a far greater enemy of. de-

fecracy than Hitlerite Germany and they clamored

for actio : ight and to’ an-
tion to cripple the Soviet war mig: :

Nihilate the socialist state once the job with arcs se

Was done. When Churchill made his infamous speec

at Fulton, these Jewish reactionaries were sure they.

had been given the green light.
To dignify its eaves the Jewish Labor ‘Com-
mittee went into an anti-Soviet partnership with the
American Jewish committee, composed of wealthy as-
Similationists, and embarked on a crusade to win Jews
Leak the war aims of Wall Street ikea
S crusai eak in the sum
When the New aes claimed that the Soviet mag-
azine ‘Krokodil used the term “Zhid” in & cartoon.

against

Jews.) But this story came to naught when
1 aes

disclosed that the cartoon had not referred, to

of 1949

was the insulting term used in Czarist Russia

bidjan their perm-
anent home.

The Jewish bourgeoisie and its social democrat fringe
are on a spot. The truth is that anti-Semitism is mount-
ing in Western Europe, the United States, Canada, and
South America. They strive to smother this alarming
fact by crying wolf at the Soviet Union and the People’s
Democracies.

By their latest anti-Soviet outburst, the Jewish re-
actionaries and their spokesmen mean:

@ To weaken the strong feeling of friendship that the
’ Jewish masses have for the Soviet Union, and thus
to impede the fight for peace;

To discourage Jews from fighting against the re-
vival of fascism and anti-Semitism in Western Ger-
many and against the growth of fascism and anti-
Semitism in the western world;

To make Jews forget the splendid role the Soviet
Union and the People’s Democracies played in the
UN in ensurang the establishment of Israel, and
the militant role they are now playing in safe-
guarding the independence of the! Jewish state.

But the Jewish masses are not deceived. They know
these libels for what they are. They know that the
beasts who caused: the death of 6,000,000 Jews during
the war are back in|’ power in Western Germany. The
Jewish workerss and masses are wise to Jacob Pat and
all his tribe. They will never consent to an alliance
with their enemies, with those war-hungry forces whose
one aim is to destroy the best friend the Jews have ever
had—the Soviet Union, : ;

ROPNEY YOUNG. former CCF member for

AX Vancouver Center, has been declared 1950 cham-
Pion of the Canadian University Debating Association,
in final contests at Ottawa for debating the affirmative
on a motion to make ‘‘a criminal offence’” out of Com-

- Munist activity in Canada.

oon Emerging a co-champion was Alistair
campaigned for Defence Minister Brooke

the last general election. Both are from the Univer-

Fraser who

sity of British Columbia.

| Young wins championship 3 for red

Claxton in —

b a
aiting

Both Young and Fraser debated the affirmative on
the following motion “Resolved that Communistic ac-
tivity be made_a criminal offence in Canada.”

- Judges included Raoul Mercie, KC, Carleton
County crown attorney, who figured prominently in the
notorious Gouzenko case. _

When asked to comment, M. J. Coldwell, CCF
national leader, and C. Gillis, CCF MP for Cape
Breton South, dissociated official CCF policy from the
arguments advanced by’ Young in the debate. -

ee :

LABOR FOCUS By J. B. SALSBERG

Canadian miners
and Lewis’ call

HE U.S. coal miners won a brilliant victory in their

recent strike struggle. Their gains exceed anything
by far the steel and auto workers received under the
Murray and Reuther leadership. The miners also signed .
a two year contract and it would seem at first glance
that they were “safe” and “settled” for the next two
years. That, however, would be an illusory conclusion
to come to in the face of the sharpening class struggle
in the U.S.

John L. Lewis, the dynamic leader of the brave and
battle-scared coal miners, showed that he understands
the danger of such an illusion. The ink on the new and
hard-won coal contracts had hardly dried when he made
two electrifying moves to achieve the kind of trade
union unity that would safeguard the UMW and all other
unions from the danger of destruction which the “finan-
cial interests” are eager to bring about.

Lewis first offered the United Auto Workers Union a
loan of a million dollars to help it in the protracted
Chrysler strike. He followed this up with a proposal to
Philip Murray, president of the Steelworkers union, to
establish a “mutual aid alliance” to meet the attacks of
the common enemy and to broaden this aHiance to in-
clude other unions as well.

Lewis’ proposals have a, special meaning for the
, Canadian trade union movement and more especially
for the members and leaders of the ‘United Mine Workers
in Canada. Canadian coal] miners from Cape Breton to
Nanaimo have a unique opportunity and an inescapable
duty to shape and apply a Canadian unity policy having
the same objectives as those indicated by their inter-
national president.

John L., as he is generally known, is no radical. But
he has shown that he senses danger away ahead of the
ordinary crowd of “labor leaders” in the U.S. Next to
the Communists he was the first major leader who grasp-

' ed the importance of industrial unionism and the press-

ing necessity of organizing the millions of unorganized
workers as the only means of saving the American work-
er. He led in the formation of the CIO and his bold
and grand-scale offensive, in which the left played an
historic rele, swept new millions into the ranks of the
trade union movement.

When the union-crushing Taft-Hartley law was en-
acted in the U.S. it was again John L. Lewis who, as
did the Communists and the whole left of American
labor, declared open war on that infamous law. The red-
baiters were anxious to abide by Taft-Hartley because,
they argued, it was aimed against the Communists in the
trade unions. Lewis, like the Communists, understood
that Taft-Hartley was aimed at all labor and he broke
with the AFL when the reactionaries who dominate
that body decided to sign the Taft-Hartley affidavits.

For the last few years, while Murray and Reuther
surrendered the wage struggle and accepted pitiful pen-
sién schemes, the UMW won both wage increase and a
high pension plan. The recent epic struggle of the coal
miners showed the rest of American labor that a militant
policy pays off. :

But Lewis knows well (as the left wing has been

warning for some time now) that big business is out 2

to weaken, divide and destroy organized labor. In his
letter ‘to Murray, Lewis states that in the circles of in-
dustry and finance an idea has crystallized to attack and

_ destroy the big industrial unions one by one. He calls

for unity to smash that evil plan.

e

Aren’t we faced with the same problem in this
country? Didn’t the asbestos and seamen strikes prove
that?

What of the resistance the coal miners, electrical,
auto and railroad workers are now meeting? What of
the wage-cutting demands which make their appearance?
What of the Duplessis government and the new “labor
bill” which the Tory Ontario government has introduced?

-Don’t these signs point in the same dangerous direction?

Of course they do. But what do certain sections of “

the union leadership do in the face of this growing —

danger? They resort to the worst sort of union raiding,

_and union splitting. At the very moment when union
unity, union preparedness and united action is most |
urgently required, at this moment the Moshers, Clonroys

- and Millards embark on the most disgusting campaigns |

to destroy unions and to kindle the flames of warfare
in the ranks of labor.

Silby Barrett, the Canadian director of District 50
of the UMW, Foie against the shameful proposal to
allow Millard to raid thé metal miners’ union. He made

known his opposition to this treacherous deed in an si:
‘interview in Washington, while visiting the UMW head- ©

quarters a few weeks ago. Most coal miners’ locals in
western Canada have expressed their opposition to this |
criminal raid on their brother miners. The same senti-
ment prevails undoubtedly among the militant miners of
Nova Scotia. Why then should not the UMW of Canada —
as a whole come out with a clarion call for an, end of the
destruction of unions and for the unification instead of
all labor forces to meet the dangers which threaten all
workers and all unions? a

Such action by the UMW of this country would stir
the labor movement from coast to coast. It would rally
the masses against the raiders and halt them in their
tracks. It would end the disastrous course which threat-
ens the very existence of our trade union movement and
it would open the road to a unified advance of labor’s —
forces. The coal miners can accomplish this as no other
section of labor can.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — MARCH 24, 1950 — PAGE 9