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Anton Muzichenko, 78-year-
old active worker in the Can-
adian progressive movement
for many years, left- Vancou-
ver to return to his native
Russia last summer, and is
now living on a_ collective
farm in the USSR. Im a recent
letter to a friend here he des-
cribes what life is like in the
Soviet Union.

“T live on a collective farm
With my nephew,” says the
labor veteran in his letter.
“Im not working as yet, and
Spend a lot of my time listen-
Ing to the radio from Moscow
and Kiev, to reports on the
Work of other collective farms,
and the development of in-
dustry.

“People in the Soviet Union
really respect old age. I am
78, but I feel much younger
here. Life is interesting, and
I do quite a bit of reading. I
have heard no talk about war

Now he lives on
collective farm.

here; in fact, the people talk
a great deal about peace and
how they are building a bet-
ter life,

“Our collective farm is a
rich one. We have 200 milk-
ing cows, 195 young calves,
600 sheep, 500 pigs, 600 steer,
and 70 horses. The collective
has 3,000.members, and each
family has its own house, cow,
pig, chicks, garden and so on.

“There is freedom of relig-
ion here, and those who go to
church are not criticized. Even
my nephew is religious, but
his two sons are not. They are
both students, and receive 450
rubles per year for good work.
The village has two schools.

“Best wishes to all my
friends in Vancouver, espec-
ially to those active in the
peace movement. I remember
the many fine petition cam-
paigns for peace in which I
took part.”

Pressure can keep
city mill rate down

Public pressure persuaded’ Vancouver City Council to
reduce the mill rate by more than five mills last year, and a
Similar campaign is needed this year to prevent higher taxes
on homes, says Effie Jones, president of Civic Reform Asso-
Ciation, in a letter sent last week to labor, ratepayer, fraternal

and pensioner organizations.
“City council is preparing
the budget for 1957 and unless
public opinion makes _ itself
felt there is great danger that
new taxes on homes will be
Imposed,” wrote Mrs. Jones.
“Assessments on home pro-
berties have gone up sharply,
the average being about 15
Percent with many going as
high as 40 percent. Total in-
Crease in assessments in Van-
Couver is $100 million.

“Unless the mill rate of last

year is sharply reduced, taxes
Will rise, which in turn will

Offers to aid

ratepayers

BURNABY, B.C.

“Full cooperation” with all
ratepayers in processing their
problems was - pledged by
Councillor Emmett Cafferky,
Speaking to Capitol- Hill rate-
Payers on Thursday last week.
“Keep me fully informed on
your sewer and tax problems,”

_ urged Cafferky.

Ratepayers welcomed the
offer and will invite Gordoa
Dowding, the newly-elected
CCF MLA, to speak at the
February meeting of their
8roup.

The executive committee has
been instructed to complete a

‘Survey of community needs in

Preparation for the annual pre-
Sentation to the council.

It was also agreed to reopen
the basis of assessing costs on
the Capitol Hill sewer com-
Pleted last year with council
Prior to sending a delegation

to Victoria,

affect homeowners directly
and non-homeowners indirect-
ly through higher rents.

“Last year assessments were
also raised but strong public
protest by many organizations
to city hall succeeded in con-
vincing city council to reduce
the mill rate by more than five
mills, Public opinion can do
the same this year.

“Everyone will agree that
civic costs are rising and that
more money is needed to meet
these expanding costs. How-
ever, there are other means
for raising funds to balance
the budget without adding ad-
ditional burdens on homes
which are already overtaxed.”

Mrs. Jones suggested these
measures:

@ City council should press
the provincial government to
follow the federal government's
example by agreeing to pay
taxes on its $9,750,000 worth
of provincial property which
is now tax free.

@ The provincial govern-
ment should also be pressed to
contribute to Vancouver’s road
costs, which will total $55 mil-
lion during the next 20 years.

@ Use the estimated $500,-
000 surplus from last year to
balance the 1957 budget.

@ Revise the basis of tax-
ation so that. profit-making
properties pay taxes on the
basis of 75 percent of improve-
ments. At present all proper-
ties—homes and commercial—
pay on the same basis for gen-
eral purposes; that iis, 100 per-
cent on, land and 50 percent
on improvements. This is un-
fair. Commercial — properties
should be required to pay more
than homes,

US. court order enables lawyer
to go to China for evidence

By PHILIP M. CONNELLY

Did the United States wage aggressive war in North Korea?

Were the cease fire negotiations “stalled” by U.S. General Matthew Ridgeway?
Were U.S, casualties “glossed over” in reports given the American people?
How authentic was the evidence that the U.S. engaged in germ warfare during the Korean

struggle?

The first step had been
taken toward unanswered
questions in a trial before

a U.S. federal court.

This was the meaning of
Fed. Dist. Judge Louis Good-
man’s order at San Francisco
authorizing Los Angeles civil
liberties attorney A. L. Wir-
in to travel in the People’s
Republic of China and in
North Korea under unprece-
dented court protection.

The Los Angeles Legal Jour-
nal noted that Wirin will be
“the first American to travel
abroad under a protective or-
der of a U.S. court.” It is ex-
pected that he will be gone
two months.

Wirin will be acting as de-
fense counsel for John William
Powell and Sylvia Powell,
currently under charges of
sedition at San Francisco for
material they wrote in the
now defunct magazine China
Monthly Review during the
Korean struggle.

Wirin, in an exclusive inter- *
view, outlined for the Daily
People’s World what he will
do in China and North Korea.
Among others from whom he
will seek statements for use
in the subsequent trial of the
Powells will be Premier Chou
En-lai of China and President
Kim II Sung of the North Ko-
rean Republic.

Scores of depositions will

be sought and as many as 150
to 200 witnesses will be round-
ed up by Wirin to be brought

to San Francisco so that their -

direct testimony may be offer-
ed before the court, particu-
larly on the issue of germ
warfare.

The Powells are charged
with having made false state-
ments in their magazine “de-
signed to interfere with the
U.S. armed forces” during the
Korean war. These false state-
ments are the basis of the sedi-
tion indictment.

First of such statements are
that the U.S. engaged in “ag-
gressive warfare,” ~Wirin
pointed out. He said he will
interview the heads of state
of China and North Korea —
Chou and Kim — to substan-
tiate the truth of the “aggres-
sive warfare” allegations.

Concerning a second charge
that the Powells lied when
they charged that General
Ridgeway was “stalling”
peace negotiations, Wirin said
he would seek statements from
the heads of both the North
Korean and Chinese peace ne-
gotiations teams. He will seek,
also, to inspect the minutes
of armistice negotiational
meetings kept by North Kor-
ea and China delegates and
now in possession of the war
departments of those two
States.

He will seek further, Wirin

CONVERSATION .OVERHEARD ON BUS

said, to inspect records kept
by the North Korean and Chi-
nese armies of the extent of
US. casualties in the field, in
order to offer evidence that

the Powells based themselves
on» factual material in their
magazine articles. alleging that
casualty reports given the Am-
erican people were minimized
and ‘their severity “glossed
over.”

A major project in itself,
Wirin envisioned, will be the
job of arranging for some 150
to 200 Chinese and Korean
witnesses to be brought to the
S ~ Francisco trial for direct
testimony on the germ war-
fare and other issues. Trial of
the Powell’s is scheduled to
start April 15.

Wirin obtained the unpre-
cedented order to travel under
court protection from Judge
Goodman after the U.S. State
Department had refused to
validate the attorney’s pass-
port for travel in China and
North Korea.

Judge Goodman’s order not
only directed that Wirin enter
China and North Korea, but
that the expenses for his travel
from Los Angeles to Hong
Kong and then into China and
North Korea be paid by the
U.S. government since the
defendants do not have funds
of their own for this expense.

Those terrible, terrible workers’

By BERT WHYTE

I settled down in the bus
and opened a newspaper.
“MacMillan - Bloedel Earns
Profit of $18,685,615,” said the
headline over the first story
that caught my eye. This
didn’t interest me too much,
for it has become routine for
big lumber firms to rake in
millions every year, but just
as I prepared to turn the page
a woman’s voice behind me
said:

“Isn’t it terrible, those wood-
workers demanding a 30 per-
cent increase in wages?”

“Terrible,” agreed a man’s
voice. “They’re going too far,
but that seems the pattern of
unions these days. They’ll all
end up by pricing themselves
out of jobs.”

I sneaked a quick glance
over my shoulder. The woman,
about 30, well dressed, prob-
ably an office worker. The
man, middle-aged, perhaps a
floorwalker or department
head. I decided to bend an
ear.

“Yes,” agreed the woman
in a slightly deferential tone,
“these unions today just don’t
know when to stop.. Where do

they think the money is com-
ing from? One of these days
the big boss will put his foot
down and fire them all for a
lesson, and I won’t blame him.
If he didn’t put up the money,
they wouldn’t have any jobs.”

The man cleared his throat
and spoke authoritatively.

“It requires a great deal of
capital to keep the wheels of
industry turning,” he said.
“Workers do not realize this,
and their union leaders get
them to endorse impossible
demands. Unless capital re-
ceiver a fair return on its in-
vestment, the wheels stop
turning.” :

“And did you see, I think
it was the bakers, they want-
ed a 35-hour-week?” said the
woman. “How ridiculous!
What would they do with their
spare tir ?”

“Hold down two jobs, I ex-
pect,” declared the man. “Our
workers today seem to want
something for nothing.”

“Down east I read there is
some talk of trying to organ-
ize the banks,” said the wo-
man. “When I first started
at the Royal 10 years ago they

tried to organize us, but didn’t
get any support.”

The man’ spoke quickly.
“There isn’t any attempt to
start a union in the bank now,
is there?”

“Oh, no,” protested the girl.
There was a nervous tremor
in her voice, as if she had said
something indiscreet. “None
of us would have anything to
do with the union. A few in-
dividuals were fired and we
never heard any more about
it. I’m sute the unions would
know better than to try any-
thing like that again.

“Uf course our wages haven’t
kept pace with living costs—
my husband and I are both
working and we haven’t been
able to save anything this past
two years — but if only the
unions would stop making
their ridiculous demands. . . .”

“That’s just it,” said the
man. “They are profiteering
at the expense of we white
collar workers. And what
can we do about it?”

I rose to get off the bus, but
couldn’t resist the impulse.

“Organize,” I said, and left

them speechless.

JANUARY 25, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 9

TTT WITT

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