‘A RESOLUTE FIGHTER FOR PEACE’

Albert Einstein, at 75, ranks as
intellectual giant of ecrebinal

ALBERT EINSTEIN, one of the
intellectual giants of mankind,
was 75 years old on March 14.

Born in Germany in 1879, as a
child he showed no signs of be-
ing an infant prodigy. Indeed he
was backward in learning to talk
and his parents feared he was
abnormal.

At 16 he failed the entrance
examination to the Swiss Federal
Polytechnie School in. Zurich.

On the basis of our present
school entrance system, it may
well be that the youthful Ein-
stein would not be considered
sufficiently intelligent to obtain
admission to a grammer school.

Yet it has been Einstein who
has probed more deeply than any
of ‘his contemporaries into some
of the most fundamental problems
of science.

‘In the 19th century many sci-
entists believed that all the fun-
damental laws of nature were

already known. The future task.

of science was to fill in the details.
Few suspected that many of

the existing theories: rested on

very insecure foundations.
“Among the defects of these

theories was the supposition that ©

space and time were absolute,
something like the grid lines rul-
ed on a map.

“The first shattering blow to
such ideas came in 1891, when
the famous Michelson and Morley
experiment showed that it was
impossible to measure the speed
of light relative to absolute space.

‘The problems which this pre-
sented baffled the great ‘scientists
of’ the. day. ‘The correct answer
was discovered by Einstein in
1905.

His idea was ‘that space and
time could only be understood in
terms of moving bodies, in terms
of real happenings.’ Absolute
space and time, divorced from
matter do not exist.

“A famous equation basta on
Einstein’s theory is the basic
equation of atomic bombs. It is
also the equation which. shows
how all man’s requirements for
fuel and power can be met.’

In all his many contributions to
science, Einstein’s approach. is
always that the processes of na-

ture can be mastered by man and ;

understood in a rational sinats
* yg

ONE MAY disagree wiih: some:!

of Einstein’s philosophic ideas,
just as one may disagree with
some of his ideas on Zionism or
on world government, but one
cannot fail to be moved by the
profundity. of his scientific
thought and by the sincerity of
his humanism. -

: In the period before and during
the First World War Einstein was
a resolute opponent of imperial-
ism and of the militarisation of
German science.

Nazis attacked Einstein’s
thedries as “Jewish science” and
claimed that they were intended
to give support to Bolshevism. His
books on the theory of relativity

‘were publicly burned in front of j
_ self-pity and leering salacity.
Driven from his native Ger- |

the Berlin State Opera House.

miany, he sought refuge in the
United States in 1933. But he did
not escape from persecution.

In September 1950 Congress-
man John E. Rankin described
him as an “old faker”. with a
“Communist front”: ‘récord, ~

In April 1951 he' was “named”
by ‘the. Un-American ° Activities
Committee as ‘a “supporter : of

“subversive organisations.” ‘There |

have even been stories of renew-
ed ‘ganas Soars
* *
THE DEVELOPMENT of atom-
ic weapons has been of great con-

cern to Einstein. It was he who

ALBERT EINSTEIN: 75th birthday

first wrote to President Roose-
velt in 1939, warning that the
Nazis were probably developing
atomic weapons and suggesting
that such research should be in-
itiated in the U.S.

Later he stated that if he had
known . the consequences he
would have had nothing to do
with the atom bomb program.
Again and again he has explain-
ed the unspeakable disasters
which will ensue if atomic war-
fare takes place. Rett

He has resolutely opposed U.S.

cold-war policies. He states that
the policy of “security through
superior military power” has led
to

“the concentration of tremen-
dous financial power in the
hands of the military; militar-
ization of youth; close super-
vision of the loyalty of citizens

. ; intimidation of people of ©

independent political thinking;
the indoctrination of the public
by radio, press and school; a

. growing restriction of the range
_0f public information under

pressure of military secrecy.”

He has unflinchingly opposed
the witch-hunt. He has said that
anyone called before . Congres-
sional committees ought to refuse
to testify even if it means jail.

He has always supported the
Persecuted and oppressed. . Be-
fore the Rosenbergs were judici-

ally murdered he wrote to Presi-
_dent Truman:

“My conscience
compels me to urge you to com-
mute the death sentences.”
_ Above all he has been a reso-
lute fighter for peace. He said:
“We scientists believe that
what we and our fellow men do
or fail to do within the next
few years will determine the
fate of our civilization.

“And we consider it our task”

untiringly to explain this truth
. and to work . ... for under-
standing and ultimately agree-
ment between peoples and na-
tions of different views.”
World peace would be more
secure if more scientists were to
endorse Einstein’s words. — DR.
MICHAEL SEATON.

West German movie

LET’S NOT mumble about film
art. Let’s call a spade a spade.
The West German film The Sin-
ner, currently showing around the
province, is a piece of pornog-
raphy which ought not to be
shown in a civilized country.

Its theme is a justification of
cynicism, vice and suicide. Its
tone is a compound of whining

Its style is the heavily shadow-

ed gloom of the German silent.

film. Its appeal is to the defeat-
ed and the depraved, to those
who cannot take life and hate
humanity. f

- Its heroine is*1 Hamburg pros-
titute whose mother is a middle-

class slut. The family is impov-
erished because her step-father is
an anti-Nazi.

His anti-Nazism is no more
than an obstinate adherence to
the officer caste of 1914, but-: it
gets him arrested long enough for
his stepdaughter to be seduced
with. money by his son.

When he comes out of prison

.

paintings... :
‘self to a young surgeon in order

he can think of nothing better to
do than shoot himself. You are
expected to admire and sympa-
thise with him.

The girl rapidly becomes an
experienced and expensive pros-
titute—and you are expected to

admire and sympathize with her,

too.

Like every other prostitute of
this kind of fiction she develops
in time a heart of gold. She falls

_in love with a drunken artist she

Picks out of the gutter one night
(he is an admirable and sympa-
thetic character because he is
going blind).

When the artist’s sight begins _

to fail she sells herself to an art
dealer in order to sell her lover’s
She tries’ to sell her-

to get a brain operation for her
lover.

The surgeon picks up the pros-
titute to console himself for his
own incurable disease which
gives him only a few years to
live. But he is decent enough to

BOOKS

“START TO DIG this spring.
Canada has already waited far too
long for St. Lawrence navigation
and hydro electric power. :
Let us make it an All-Canadian
project, on the seaway and, if.
necessary, on power, to develop
Canadian natural resources and
industry and open a great new
channel for Canadian trade.”

So declares a new 20-page book-
let It’s Canada’s River for Can-
ada’s Future, prepared by Idele
Wilson, BA, AM, director of Re-
search for United Electrical,
Radio and Machine Workers
(UE). The intention of the union
is to distribute the booklet na-
tionally to unions, school teach-
ers, farm groups, political parties

_and other interested citizens.

The booklet, already presented
to MPs during a union lobby,
‘gives all available facts about a
project which, UE asserts, “‘de-
mands priority consideration to
improve the wellbeing of the
Canadian people.”

Dealing with the power aspect
of the seaway, UE’s booklet ‘calls
for the development of power at
the International Rapids on an
all-Canadian basis if no agree-
ment for joint development with
U.S. is reached by June, 1954.

Says the booklet: ~

“On this vital national issue
- . we. cannot afford to pay the
price of bargaining away Cana-
dian control of the seaway and
the future of our country for
the relatively small return of
U.S. participation in developing
power at the International
Rapids. We cannot allow the

Historic letter found

WHAT IS described as “a mag-
nificently inspiring letter” writ-
ten by Elizabeth Lount, widow of
Samuel Lount, martyred hero of
the 1837 Rebellion, will be read
at an all-Canadian concert to be
sponsored by New Frontiers in
Toronto this Saturday. The let-
ter was only recently uncovered.

A dramatic sketch from the
trial of Louis Riel will also be
presented at the concert.

operate without payment when he
finds out about the artist.

After the operation the artist
has a lucid spell to enable the
girl to pose for him—and for the
more infantile moviegoer—in the
nude. There is also time, in the
convention of this sort of story,
for the girl to pray.

Finally the artist, a former
Luftwaffe pilot, goes blind and
commits suicide. The girl com-
mits suicide with him.

* * *

THROUGHOUT the film there

is not one normally decent char-
acter who believes in life and is
not infected with the self-destroy-
ing decadence of a rotten society.

Hildegarde Neff, who plays the
part of the prostitute, is a pro-

duct of the Nazi theatre. She

won a Hollywood contract as a

- Yesult of her performance in this

film and has since appeared in
American ‘anti-Communist films.

She acts here with considerable

power and realism, but fails to.
PACIFIC TRIBUNE — MARCH 26, 1954 — PAGE 8

UE wants Seaway as
all-Canadian project

U.S. to hold us back any longer
from getting on with the job.”
* * ea

POINTING OUT that “Canada
has had the vision of this great
deep waterway for well over a
century with the first proposal
made by Canadians in 1820,” US
shows that Canada has already in-
vested some $300 million on de-
veloping St. Lawrence Great
Lakes navigation whereas the
U.S. has spent but a small frac-
tion of this amount.”

“Now,” the UE booklet de-
clares, “powerful U.S. interests
are trying frantically to delay
Canadian action, or if they *can-
not, to get in on a good deal. But
they want to get in cheap and to
take over control.”

The union booklet strikes out
at the Wiley Bill (U.S. legisla-
tion to gain control of the seaway
project) and states that “the
Wiley Bill is such an affront. to
the national rights of the Cana-
dian people that it cannot be con-
sidered by Canada.”

Dealing with the 30 years de-

lay already occasioned by selfish
interests in U.S., UE declares that
the federal government “must in-
form the United States at once

‘that the question of a joint sea-

way is dead — that Canada is go-
ing ahead to build it on its own.”

UE sees the seaway and power
project as “opening up almost
limitless opportunities for Cana-
dian industrial expansion and for
new jobs for Canadians.”

The booklet says:

“A century ago, the immedi-—

ate dream of Canadians was 2
Canadian railway across our

country from sea to sea. That

dream was fulfilled, binding
Canada together economically
and politically and creating our
great nation.
“Today completion of a great
Canadian Seaway is our national
_ dream. Like the transcontinent-
al railway, it would bind Can-

~

ada together economically and

politically, and establish Canada
as one of the great nations of
the modern world.
must see to it that nothing is
allowed to stand in the way of
its achievement.”

vice for its own sake

make the character of the girl
other than stupid and self- a
ing.

' Her voice, in English with a
German accent, drones through
the film supplying a spoken nat-
rative to an otherwise almost
silent film. In the few places
where other characters speak the
dialogue is ludicrously dubbed.

I can think of no grounds to
justify the showing of this re-
pulsive film, unless it be to dem-
onstrate how surely films reflect
the nature of the society in which
they are made.

For the cynical defeatism of
this picture is as typical a pro-
/ duct of Adenauer’s West Germany.
as—in other films not. being shown
here — the fun of The Merry
Wives of Windsor, the charm of
The Marriage of Figaro and the
courage of The Condemned Vil-
lage are typical of the German
Democratic Republic. cite
SPENCER.

\

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Canada