A new Poland arises from the terrible destruction done by

war-devastated land the people are working to build anew with an indomitable courage and
sacrifice. Robert Denton, young Canadian miner and Mill-Mine delegate from Canada to the
International Conference of Working Youth, tells of the visit of the Canadian delegation to
Poland, and the appeal of the Polish workers to “tell the people of Canada when you return

that above all things Poland wants peace.”

_A new Poland
faces the future

ite

Rg

the Hitlerites. In this

a

—WARSAW

-F the Canadian delegation
to thg@e Warsaw Youth
Conference had any doubts
about the progress of Poland
towards socialism, that skepticism
has now vanished.

In this war-devastated land the
people are working under terrible
hardships towards a new society.
Their spirit is almost unbeliev-
able. One can be told about it, but
one has to be here and feel it to
believe it.

For the Polish, people are mili-

_ tantly determined that their coun-
try shall arise as a model nation
from the ashes left by war. And
for Poland the ashes of war are
bitter. :

Poland lost 6,000,000 dead, Vir-
tually 100 percent of her farms
were ruined by mines. Tubercu-
losis struck a fifth of her people.
Freight cars were destroyed—98
percent of them. One third of her
rail lines were wiped out. War-

- saw, her capital, was the most
ruined city of Europe. All western
Polish cities were at least three
quarters damaged.

In Poland were the worst ex-
termination camps in human his-
_tory—places like Oswiecim where
four million were killed, Belsen

and Maidanek.

Out of this terrible destruction
has come the spirit of a new Po-
land. The twenty-four of us from
Canada who were privileged to
be delegates and observers at the
International Conference of
Working Youth saw something

of this new spirit. As guests of

the Union of Polish Youth we
were taken on a tour of Poland.

Immediately after the conference

we and 400 others from 46 nations

_ visited typical Polish centers on

a special train, ;

€
Warsaw represented the de-

struction of Poland. We saw a city

90 percent destroyed, The damage
was so great that even the Poles
- believed the site would have to be

abandoned as uninhabitable. We

walked through the ruins of the

old town, through streets deep in

’ rubble and with green bush grow-

ing thickly in the shells of six-
teenth centry buildings.

We visited the Warsaw Ghetto,
where perished 300,000 Jews in the
heroic 1948 uprising. There one
must look to the horizon to see
even the upright wall of a build-
ing. .

At Krakow, historic center of
Poland’s past, we were met at the
station by a vast throng of youth
and citizens of all ages.

After a breakfast banquet
in Krakow’s best restaurant we
climbed to the old castle of Wavel
which crowns the city. There we
glimpsed old Poland jin the 1200-
year old courtyard and the tap-
estry hung halls and throne room
of Polish kings.

In the Katowice industrial area,
six great cities cluster together
to make up the “Ruhr of the
East.” ee /

We arrived at night at Bytom.
Tens of thousands of people pack-
ed the dark streets cheering and
singing as the delegates marched
to the banquet hall for dinner.

At the head of the parade
Polish Youth members bore flam-
ing torches, silhouetting the* ban-
ners and waving arms of the

_ young marchers. Again and again |

La Marseillaise and the Inter-
nationale rose from the crowd.

Next day most of the British
Columbia people ‘went under-
ground in the Rokitnica colliery.
From the workers we learned
about working conditions before
the war, during the Nazi occupa-
tion, and the advance being made
at present, All Polish miners get

free rent and receive special cards -

entitling them to slashed food
Prices. We learned about their
great enthusiasm in working
hard to rebuild their country and
their consciousness of their im-
portant role in the industrializa-
tion of Poland.

oe:

Katowice welcomed us with a
great rally. Twenty trucks rushed
us through the streets to Sos-
nowiec, where we marched two

miles through thronged streets to
a large theater, There young
miners and other groups staged
for us a program of dancing and

singing.

Wroclaw, ‘the pre-war German
city of Breslau, is today the larg-
est city of the “Recovered Terri-

%

’

at

ROBIN
DENTON —

tories” (Pomerania and Silesia)
restored to Poland in 1945 after
centuries of German occupation.

The city’s name was changed,
its German signs painted out and
Poles from eastern Poland came
to replace the Germans. In this
77 percent destroyed city, with

‘POLITICAL prisoners?” the

colonel repeated. “Well, what
about the political prisoners,
Commander?” The colonel re-
moved his glasses, rubbed his
eyes, and then looked around
the table at the officers,

“Why, Colonel,” the command-
er said, “I believe political pri-
3sonens were listed on the Marine
basic plan. The problem would
call for the use of troops.” He
was striving to be prudent, but
-he felt, nevertheless, that he
must hold his ground. g

“Damn it all,” the colonel said,
“somebody look it up. There’s
been a foul-up somewhere, and
we'll find out who’s responsible.”

A young captain thumbed
quickly through the bound vol-
ume of orders. “The basic plan
holds neither the Navy nor
Marines responsible, sir.”

“Nonsense,” said the
mander, “I saw the order with
my own eyes. Read it to me,
Evans.” .

“Yes, sir.’ The captain had
been waiting for his majority
‘for two or three months, He
read aloud:

“Disposition of political pri-
soners, if any, will be made by
the senior officer in the area
concerned, according to estab-
lished policy.” ,

There was a momentary si-
lence in the room, The colonel
cemoved his glasses again and

com-

its entire square miles of build-
ings that are only hollow shells,
delegates saw the most inspiring
proof*that a great new Socialist
Poland is on the way.

The mayor welcomed the dele-
gates in the 600-year old city hall,
We were taken in the city’s best
street cars across the Oder River
to the Recovered Territories Ex-
position (Wystawa Ziem Odzy-
skanich). Modern fair buildings,
built by 5,000 workers in three
months, housed beautiful exhibits
depicting the history of the newly-
acquired western territories and
their plans for the future. We saw
portrayed the war damage, the
struggles cf the artisans, and
the present reconstruction. A big
machinery exhibit showed the
modern equipment being pro-
duced in the new territories, and
a model farm gave a picture of
what farms will be like in the new
Poland>

The Polish people support the
government's policies of land
reform, nationalization and eco-
nomic planning, Polish workers
solidly back the Polish Work-
ers’ Party—a fusion of the Social-
ist and Communist parties—and
are working hard to see that the
Three Year Plan quotas are far
surpassed. The peasants are
pleased with the great Land Re-
form measures and increasingly
support the cooperatives, which
the government hopes will become
the main agency for food distri-
bution, :

Most of all, the Polish people
want peace. They hate the Ger-
man Nazis, and because they feel
that Britain and America are re-
viving Germany’s war potential
they are distrustful of the west-
ern powers. Hence they regard
their neighbor to the East, the
Soviet Union, with friendship.
As a young Polish partisan we
met in Wroclaw said: “The Sov-
iet Union is the champion of all
peace-loving peoples. We must
bave peace, for Poland and the’
world cannot take another war.
Tell the people of Canada when
you return that Poland wants
peace.”

By GERALD WILLIAMS

Phase of U.S. occupation

placed them on the table. He
cupped his face in both hands
and stared downward at the pile
of documents. His blouse wrin-
kled as he leaned forward, and
three rows of ribbons bunched
together beneath the blue and
white bar for the Navy Cross.
The regiment had been splendid
at Iwo Jima, and he had been
a good colonel, Still covering
his face, he spoke again.

“Then no disposition has been
made of the political prisoners?”

“No, Colonel, nothing has been
done, said the commander.

e :

At 3 o'clock that afternoon,
trucks carrying rifle _ platoons
arrived at the‘ four prisons of
the city. At each the Marines
found identical situations: the
cells were unlocked, the jailerg
had fled. The criminals serving
long sentences jand the political
prisoners, for the most part were
too weak to move. A_ few,
stronger than the rest, brought
drinking water to their com-
rades, but there had been no
food since the jailers left, al-
most a week before.

In the cells, helpless on tatter-
ed straw mats, the men lay
shivering on the damp concrete.
Four or five had died, and de-
spite the cool air the corpses
were beginning to go bad and
the odor was very strong,

Once, however, the military

government
Police in charge of the miserable
creatures living on the water-
front, awaiting repatriation to
China and .Korea, Each week
five or six thousand would gath-
er in the area adjacent to the
ruined warehouses near the sea
wall. They were processed by
military government teams, and
deloused and inspected by a
medical unit. Mostly, Japanese
doctors and minor oficials were
entrusted with the bulk of the
work under U.S. nominal super-
vision.

Some of the doctors were
really dentists or veterinarians,
and they neglected to sterilize
the hypodermic needles between
innocu lations,
some interesting diseases were
transmitted while the repatri-
ates were being protected
against typhus
Some 10 year old children and
90 year old great-grandparents
acquired disorders unusual for
people of those ages.

The situation was discovered |
quickly, if accidentally, and one
night at the Officers’ Club, the
senior medical officer told me
no great amount of damage
had been done. Really, he said, ~
if you looked at it in a certain
light, there were amusing facets
to the incident. He was ‘tall, had
iron-gray hair, and was very
distinguished looking.

Placed civilian °

Consequently,

and cholera.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPTEMBER 1%, 1948—PAGE 4