Robeson arrives in London jtish
0 receive triumphial welcome Nazi return affront’

BY BOB LEESON
LONDON

brothers All mankind are

ee first message. as,

F aS Wife Elsanda, he ar-
in
London on Friday

We 4
Bes to receive a tremen-

Welcome,

ae it, to the melody of
Ovens Movement of Beeth-
Rest ba th Symphony, his
Thisper SS muted almost to a
» before the television

Meras ;
mn i Ma stuffy little hut

Dork, €dge of London Air- -

i
ee the ‘same Paul, hair
touders but the mighty
Vice a Unbowed, the fine
Waly uj holding its magical
hem, € smile as wide and
Oy ‘acing as ever,
the in the hot sunshine,
abo, Slant aircraft wheeled
Ord € Sang again for the
Ome O friends who had
tine 4 © Welcome him after
bs § years away.
brig Sang Water Boy, the
Sees love hit, Swing Low
Si, Tot — and it seem-
‘May . years had dropped
iy St the years of exile
lee, **Secution had never
¢
hig a Waving, pressing
Mauauetes and thrusting great
tans : upon him, were In-
Md thie fricans, West Indians,
Sle, cS fTom the U.S., old
Amn *s from Britain.
Roy, NS the crowd was well-
Ye Precble associated with
i the alk of life who helped
tig D “ampaign to win back
Vj ®Ssport, ;
Chitin Stansgate, Will
Mey s, MP, and Councillor
ny us lddleton, chairman
Meson ety of the Paul
lp, Re Committee, Professor
th > *"hal, opera singer Mar-
bike anes actress Pat
‘ = Harry Francis, as-
ts ta? of the Musi-
di Was Dr. Cheddi Jagan,
Shing: unister of British
“here, Betsy Blair, famous
en 2 Screen star, Donald
Ma i tewart, the American
<i Who only a few
Wn mers ago regained his
eve] Port. and. freedom to

heering
>

; Vag h

Mites t8PbY to be back in
iy tepjig; om happy,” Robe-
: yi : &d. “I am here, I-hope
tty end at some point to
‘T * told the press.
niteg aa American,” he
ie a ith note of deep
tke any his Voice. “I am here
ntl oe American. artist
a frig 28erald, Satehmo, and
oi iy. Count Basic.”
i Uss jntent to return to
ef Ked , certainly do.”
bing grout legislation now
eas fUssed in the U.S. to
Those aborts _ to citizens
dey eavel abroad “might

— that was Paul

not be in the interests of the
United States,’ he said:

‘Tt hope it will not go
through. I hope the American
people will understand. It
would be inconsistent with’ our
democratic ideals.”

He would certainly return
to his country “under any
conditions.”

Asked if he regretted what
he had done  which~ “had
caused him to lose his pass-
port,” he said; “I in my own
way have made a struggle for
the colonial peoples, for peace.
These things today are axioms.

ee aa
PAUL ROBESON

“But this is a past chapter.
I am here as a singer. I would
rather say. . .” And here*his
voice slid into the*® deep~ fa-
miliar notes of Water Boy.”

Then, to the surprise of some
newspapermen present, he
went on. to expound. his théor-.
ies on music, on the links be-
tween ancient African music,
chorales of the 11th century,
Bach chorales, and finally, il-
lustrating as he went with
brief snatches of song, he drew
his triumphant conclusion.

The Ode to Joy, the choral
section of Beethoven’s Ninth
Symphony, with its message,
““Al] men shall be brothers,”
he saw as springing directly
from the roots of folk music
of many centuries and many
countries.

“T hope to show by my. con-
certs that all men are brothers,
because of their music,” he
said, before he stepped from
the conference room, out on
to the sunlit airport road, to
sing to and greet his friends.

A relaxed and _ cheerful
Robeson met the press again
later for a full hour. He quick-
ly corrected any misunder-
standing that he had not been
able to sing to concert audi-
ences in the US. in recent
years. ae j

When television and the big
auditoriums were closed to
him, --he said; - the: Negro
churches -were wide open.

To a reporter, who sug-

' gested that this was not on

the ‘same basis, he replied that © - n ‘
be same ‘¢oalition ‘of the Social Demo-

2,000 people in his brother’s
church in New: York were a
coneert audience as far as he
was concerned. aS

Questioned about the Dulles
Bill to restrict. freedom of
travel, he said. there was no
guarantee that the bill would
be passed since all Americans

were affected by it and many

opposed it.

He hoped to go back to the
U.S. in October in the same
way as any other artist who

“went on a tour.

Of assertions that he was
isolated from the Negro peo-
ple, he said: “You should fol-
low the Negro press. There
is no people prouder than they
that I have gained the right
to travel — the very essence
of freedom for us.”

Asked if he thought “that
the Sputniks’ freedom to travel
was anything to do with’ his
gaining freedom to travel,” he
replied that whereas. in the
past one might philosophize
about peace, the development.
of missile projection. now made
it clear that the world must
have peace.

Pressed by a newspaperman
about his political affiliations,
he patiently explained that
American people had been
struggling’ for. years for the
right not to answer such ques-
tions if they chose.

Would .he take part. in any
political ‘activity while in
Britain? — “Well I have been
invited to tea at the House of
Lords.”

British doctors calf

LONDON__Reinstatement in medical practice of Nazi war
criminals tried at Nuremberg and found guilty of medical war
crimes was condemned by the British Medical Association in
conference at Birmingham last week.

Facts on these cases were

‘reported by Dr. E. Townsend

whose resolution, passed by
the’ conference, instructed the
BMA: Council “to take what-
ever steps seem practical and
effective to bring the views of
the BMA to the notice of
those responsible for this cyn-
ical affront to the honor, mor-
als and high ideals of the true
practice of medicine through-
out the world.”

Dr. Townsend’ said that
Herta Oberheuser, a young
and fanatical Nazi doctor, vol-
unteered to be camp doctor at
the ‘notorious | Ravensbruck
concentration camp.

At this camp experiments
were conducted which  in-
cluded inflicting wounds and
neglecting them to produce
deliberate infection. Ground
glass and sawdust were peri-
Odically rubbed into the
wounds, he said.

In 1947 Herta Oberheuser
was sentenced to 20 years im-
prisonment. In 1951 this was
reduced by the U.S. military
authorities to 10 years.

In 1952 she was released
and “not only. reinstated but
treated as a returned prisoner
of war,” said Dr. Townsend.

This entitled her to an ex-
gratia payment, an _ interest-

free loan and admission to
the insurance list without
which it is impossible to
practise in West Germany.

He quoted other cases. A
camp doctor, who was at
Buchenwald, and later con-
victed at Nuremberg, is now
again in medical practice.

Another, who was accused
of killing 1,000 victims from
a mental hospital, was sen-
tenced to death and later re-
prieved.

“It is our plain duty to pro-
test that such men and wo-
men, should be allowed to
practise again,’ said Dr.
Townsend.

“What of the victims?” he
asked, “They have been most
inadequately compensated.
Very few of them had any-
thing at all.

“T have had a letter from
a doctor in London who has
patients now who were sur-
vivors of these experiments.
He says that even now they
shrink from the simplest and
kindest of examinations.”

What will Finnish Social Demos do?

Workers’ parties now in majority

HELSINKI—The People’s. Democratic Union, a Communist-led alliance, scored a re-
sounding success in the recent Finnish elections.
The PDU advanced from 43 to 50 seats in the 200-seat

now tops the list with the Social Democrats, w.
The Agrarian party dropped from53 to 48 and the right

The Independent | Social
Democrats, a_ breakaway
formed just before the elec-

tion, secured three seats.

The extreme. right-wing Na-
tional Coalition party advanc-
ed from 24 to 28 seats, and
the. Swedish Popular party,
holding similar views, advanc-
ed from 13 to. 14.

This + election, with ~ its
strengthening of the extreme
left and right, follows .a four-
year period of rising and fall-
ing coalition governments. -

While unemployment has in-
creased and prices have risen,

‘the Social Democrats ‘and

Agrarians have striven’ < to
patch up one unsuccessful
‘non - Communist” — coalition

-after, another.

Finland was governed by a

érats, Agrarians- and People’s

“Democratic Union until 1948

when, after manoeuvres simi-

lar to those practised in other

countries, the People’s Demo-
cratic Union was forced out.

The period of instability ,
beth economic and_ political,
dates from then.

The | People’s. Democratic
Union warned in 1957 against
growing fascist tendencies of
groups backing the Coalition
and the .Swedish Popular

party.

But the leadership of the
Social Democrats persisted in
seeking» a coalition with the
Coalition-party, causing a split
in their own ranks.

Similar moves by the lead-
ership: of the. Agrarian party
caused -grave discontent among
their members. Five of the
seven new seats. won by the
PDU_ were taken from. the
Agrarians,

The PDU fought the elec-

July 18, 1958 —

single-chamber parliament and
ho dropped from 54 to 50 seats.

-wing Popular party from 13 to 7.

tion on a program of extended
trade, particularly with the
socialist and newly independ-
ent countries, increased pur-
chasing power, better health
and maternity provisions,
school-and-home-building, and
assistance to farmers.

This PDU objective ef in-
creased - working class repre-
sentation in parliament has
been achieved. The working-
ciass parties now hold 103
seats instead: of 97. With the
undoubted support among
many Agrarian party mem-
bers fer a pregram of peace
and progress. a stable govern-
ment on the 1946-48 model
could be. formed.

This depends above all -on
the Social. Democrats.. Even
if they fail to respond, the
dalliance of their leaders with
the extreme right has been
given. a sharp — and unex-
pected — rebuff.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 3