BOOKS

Socialists can learn from
writings of Antonio Gramsci

SS Gramsci is one of

the martyrs of the Twen-
tieth Century. He coughed his
lungs out in a series of Mus-
solini’s prisons, dying in 1937
after 11 years of cruel incar-

ceration. It is only now that
his mind and spirit are made
to live again in the English-
speaking world.

This resurrection could not
come at a more opportune

New pamphlet proves
need for China trade

5 Fae WITH CHINA would
create thousands of jobs
in British Columbia and
throughout Canada ‘by re-
vitalizing our economy, con-
tends a new pamphlet issued
this week by the B.C. pro-

vincial committee of the
Labor-Progressive party.
Recognize China, Vitalize

B.C. (available at the People’s
@o-op Bookstore, 337 West
Pender, Vancouver, price io
eents) is a 16-page, pocket-
size summary of the argu-
ments for Canadian recogni-
tion of the People’s Republic
of China, and the develop-
ment of trade.

Attractively presented in
easy-to-read format, and il-
lustrated with photos and
cartoons, the pamphlet should
enjoy wide circulation.

Trade with China, it points
out, would “provide a vast

- market for many of our basic
industries, such as pulp and
paper .and lumber, and the
waterfronts. of Vancouver,
Victoria and other Canadian
ports would hum with
activity. :

“Our annual prewar trade
with China amounted to
$370 million while in 1956 it
was down to virtually noth-

ing. Yet even the prewar vol-

ume is but a trickle com-
pared to the trade we could
do with the new. thriving
China.”

Noting that unemployment
has doubled in Canada in the
past few months, the LPP
pamphlet. argues that in a
land as rieh as Canada there
is no justification for any un-

employment.
“Canada, in its own national
interest must .- break with

NATO policy and evolve a
new and independent policy~
We must abandon atomic
provocation in favor of peace-
ful co-existence with the 900
million people who live under
socialism. We must end the
economic embargo that is so
harmful to us, and instead
develop a flourishing trade
with all countries willing to
trade with us.” :

The ‘pamphlet’s author

makes one error when he re-_

fers to China as the world’s
largest country in area, and
Canada as the second largest.
Actually they occupy second
and third spots. In area the

largest country is the USSR»

(8,429,972 square miles) com-
pared with China’s 4,480,992
and Canada’s 3,509,616.

| Let the toiler Sleep

Ye revelers who sometimes sing and strut

Beside the workers’ wretched haunts, O please.
‘Tread softly by the lowly little hut

And let the weary toiler sleep in peace!

Because of him you have a sinecure,

Though he must live in squalor till he dies.
That man is cold who can deride the poor,
And. cold the heart that sleep to toil denies.

For welcome is the evening, cool and dim,
That offers sweet relief. O who would spoil
The blessed night, or want to waken him
Whose waking hours are filled with heavy toil?

One would not long desire to sing and strut,
If sentenced to the slums, like one of these.
So pass with care the lowly little hut

And let the weary toiler sleep in peace.

DAVID STEFANSSON _
Translated from the Icelandic by |

Paul Bjarnason, Vancouver.

moment, for in these days
when the socialist third of the
globe is re - examining its
Marxist heritage, it is pre-
cisely the insights of this
fearless Italian thinker which
are becoming more and more
the working principles in Mi-
lan, in Moscow and Peking.
In The Open Marxism of
Antonio Gramsci (obtainable
here at the People’s Co-op
Bookkstore, 337 West Pender,
price $2), the translator, Carl
Marzani, has endeavored to
show exactly how Gramsci’s
creative Marxist thought
might haye prevented some
of the unnecessary political
errors of the past 40 years.
The core of the problem for
Gramsci, as for both Marx
and Lenin, was to prevent the
ossification of revolutionary
thought into a series of rigid
dogmatic principles which
superficial thinkers might
mistake for “eternal truths.”

This problem has two sides:

one which involves an _atti-
tude towards general Marxist
precepts, regarding them as
over-all guides to social and
physical reality: the other
which bears on the relation-
ship between the Marxist
party and the people. When-
ever the former becomes
separated from the latter, the
first victim is apt to be the
quality of Marxist thought it-
self. :

This profound truth was
voiced by Gramsci within the
stone cage which fascism built
around him, Thus there was
little reason for those enjoy-
ing more favorable vantage
points to be unaware of this
pitfall. A careful reading now

of Gramsci’s works ought to -

be the first duty of all those
who seek to guide socialist

destinies.
STEPHEN WALDEN

Centennial
guide out

A GUIDE to more than 500

places to go and things to
do in the province this year
has been released -today by
‘the British Columbia Centen-
nial Committee.

It lists nearly 200 events
planned from January to
December for the Lower
Mainland and Fraser Valley
area. ;

The calendar is being dis-
tributed throughout the world
through the British Columbia
Centennial Committee and
provincial government travel
bureau.

% The totem design on the British Columbia Centennial

silver dollar (above) has stirred a controversy between
Native Indian leaders who say it is taken from a Tsimpsean
mortuary pole and call it a “death dollar,’ and provincial
museum authorities who say it is from a Haida house pole.

RADIO-TV

CBC plansambitious —
centennial program |

Ts YEAR will see a great
many activities celebrat-
ing centennial year carried on
CBC radio and television.
“The Centennial Year Cal-
endar of Events lists more
than 150 events for the Lower
Mainland alone,’ says the
regional program director for
the B.C. region, Doug Nixon-
“We hope to cover as many
of these as we can on radio
and on TV by means of film
cameramen, our TV mobile
cameras and our studio facili-
ties, though, naturally, we
can’t give them all full treat-
ment. In addition to the Cen-
tennial programs, we will
also be covering the Vancou-
ver International Festival.”
Centennial programs will
include sports events, like the

Grey Cup and the $50,000 —

Centennial Golf Tournament;
-special events ranging form
the Indian Potlatch at Port
Alberni through the Inter-
national Film Awards, to the
Welsh Centennial Festival.
Of particular interest are
the re-enactments of various
historical scenes from British

Columbia’s history. These in-
clude: g

@ Three Indian canoes car-
rying 18 adventurers will
travel down the Fraser from
Prince George to Vancouver,
the same journey. that Simon
Fraser made 150 years ago;

@ A mail run, similar to
those made in the days of

stage coaches, will go from —

Barkerville to Victoria. This
is planned to mark the spec-
ial issue of the B.C. Cen-
tennial stamp; :

@ Members of the Royal
Engineers (brought specially

from England) will be dress-

ed in the early 19th century
of the Engineers ~

uniforms
who built the first road
through the Fraser Canyon

when they take part in May «

Day celebrations.

“The ~stage-coach mail run,

complete with shotgun guards
and outriders, will travel the
460 odd miles from Barker-
ville — now a ghost town
but once the’ centre of the
goldmining industry — _ to

Vancouver over the Cariboo”

Highway.

We Wish to Extend Our Very Best Wishes for

A Peaceful and
Happy New Year

To All Our Friends Throughout British Coumbia
SAM ENGLISH and FAMILY
Michel, B.C. -

January 10, 1958 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 8