cay, Saal eee

By PEGGY CHUNN

I remember my first May Day
Celebration — it took place in
Winnipeg, Manitoba, in the year
1935, There was hunger, unem-
ployment, sometimes despair and
hopelessness running rampant
throughout the country in those
days .. » and there was also
hope and belief in a better life.

One needed few lessons t
know that our govermment car
not a whit for its people and in
the main we quickly took a stand
with our class to fight for our
survival, (both physically & spiri-
tually), and for what we hoped
would be a better future.

Thirty years later, I had the
wonderful opportunity to stand
in Moscow’s Red Square, watch-
ing the May Day Parade in the
first land of Socialism, .and to
participate with the gay, happy
Muscovites who filled the streets
by the thousands that evening,
celebrating this international
worker’s holiday.

May Day is a milestone in the
lives of the international work-
ing class, Originating out of the
struggles of the American work-
ers who came out in thousands '
demonstrating for the eight hour
day, it has become a symbol of
struggle, of victories which were
hard fought, of international
solidarity and unity of the work-
ing class throughout the world,

I’ll never forget that first May
Day in my experience in the labor
movement, There was excitement
and fun — a holiday spirit per-
vading the atmosphere, Hundreds
and hundreds of people were
gathered in Winnipeg’s old Market
Square (an historic spot in its
own right, now turned into a
parking lot), Parade Marshalls
were running about bringing order
into the demonstration, and at last

1966
MAY DAY

GREETINGS

from
The
WEST END CLUB

CHRISTIANITY
AND MARXISM

IN DIALOGUE
A Special issue of:

CHRISTIANITY
AND MARXISM

FEATURESINCLUDE:

The Marxist-Christian Dialogue:
Possibilities, Problems, Necessity

Roger Garaudy
Communist Faith and Christian

Faith

Margaret Fairley:

United Church and Communist
Discussions in British Columbia
Tom McEwen

SINGLE COPY 50c; BUNDLE ORDERS
AT SPECIAL DISCOUNT '
SUBSCRIPTION RATE: $2 A YEAR, |

$5 FOR 3 YEARS ;

Available at:

PROGRESS
BOOKS

44 STRAFFORD ST.,
TORONTO 3

or your local bookstore.

we were off! — first the baby
buggy contingent; then the Pioneer
children’s organization, followed
by many hundreds of others.

There were Communists,
CCFers, trade unionists, both
men and women, members of cul-
tural organizations and many with
no particular organizational at-
tachment, but who marched in
the May Day parade as was their
right as members of the working
class.

With our banners flying, bands
playing, singing groups here and
there throughout the parade, we
whlked the route laid out by the
committee and swung back to our
starting point, Market Square.
There we stood shoulder to shoul-
der listening to the May Day
speakers as they outlined the
significance of the day, its his-
torical roots and some of the
immediate problems facing us —
our struggle for cash relief, and
more of it; for work and wages;
to stop the drive towards World
War 2 already looming high on
the horizon, and so on,

And that celebration was dupli-
cated in numberless cities and
towns across Canada at that time,
We have witnessed, and been part
of, much that is history since
those days; emerging from the
depression, helping in the defeat
of world fascism in 1945, and
realizing the untouched potential.
in growth and productivity in our
land, we had high hopes for that
‘better life’ in a world at peace,
which is the basic dream of
most of us,

But the dogs of war are not
so easily routed, As we celebrate
May Day in the year 1966 the
world is balanced very pre-
cariously on the brink of thermo-
nuclear destruction, In the front
line of this battle are the dedicat-
ed, courageous people of Vietnam
absorbing in their very flesh and
bone, the assault of the war
machine of the biggest capitalist
nation on earth, the UnitedStates
of America!

“For 25 years” said Dang
Quong Minh, of theSouth Vietnam
Liberation Front, whom I had
the opportunity of speaking to
while in Moscow last year, “we
have had war in my land, We
want peace more than anything
else in the world, but we will con-
tinue to fight the Americans as

MAY DAY GREETINGS:
for 1966.
from
SOUTH
VANCOUVER
PRESS CLUB

1966.
MAY DAY GREETINGS

to our
friends & Supporters.

wok
NANAIMO PRESS
CLUB

SUPPORT ‘SCAN’
New YOUTH MAGAZINE

Donate your
BEER BOTTLE EMPTIES

Phone 254-3792 for
pickup

May Days | remember

long as they remain as aggres-
sors in my country”.

When the people of Vietnam
celebrate May Day this year,
(and you may be sure they will
celebrate it in one way or anoth-
er,) they will do so in the knowl-
edge that that international soli-
darity and unity symbolized by
May Day is reaching out to them
from all sectors of the world,

It is there in tangible evidence
of help from the Socialist coun-
tries, and in the first place from
the Soviet Union, It is there in
the growing movements of people
in many lands for medical aid and
support to the Vietnamese, It
is there in the growth of the
protest movement in the United
States itself, where thousands of
decent honest people are speaking
out more loudly, are marching in
their thousands and in numerous
other ways demonstrating against
the policy of genocide being car-
ried out by their own govern-
ment against the people of Viet-
nam. -

We in Canada have a special
role to play, as a member of the
International Control Commis-

sion in implementing the deci- —

sions of the Geneva Accord, of
demanding that our government
take an independent, humanitarian
position, using its influence to
stop the mass murder of thou-
sands of men, women and children
in Vietnam, Based on our record
of almost a century of struggle
since Confederation, I feel con-.
fident that Canadians will mea-
sure up to that responsibility,
splendidly.

Pitin (Havana)
“Our side suffered no casual-
ties.”

Signing the petition on the streets of Nanaimo under the hanged effigy of

Alphonse Quimet.

Protest ‘7 Days’ firing

Over 2,000 Nanaimo citizens
have signed a petition protesting
the action of Alphonse Ouimet
in dismissing the hosts of the
CBC program, “This. Hour Has
Seven Days.” The petition de-
mands the reinstatement of the
co-hosts Patrick Watson and
Laurier LaPierre. and was
sparked by a committee headed
by Mrs, Ann Royle of Nanaimo,

On Saturday, April 23, a group
of citizens from Nanaimo headed
by Wilfred and Sven Royle trav-
elled to Vancouver to stage a
protest in front of the CBC offices
where they burned an effigy of
Ouimet as part of their protest.

Commenting on’ the petition,
Mrs, Royle said it has met with
enthusiastic support from ~ the

public, The petition will be sent .

to local MP Colin Cameron, along
with copies and affidavits to the
CBC Board of Governors,

Mrs. Royle said the dismissal
of the co-hosts does not only
hit at the “Seven Days” program
put is an attempt by the CBC
bureaucracy to stifle criticism
and free speech, She added that

the fight to save the program is —

also a fight for free speech and
the right to criticize without
fear.

John (Jack) Lewis, pioneer
trade unionist and a class con-
scious worker all his life, passed
away last April 1 in Cumberland
where he and his family had spent
many years. Born in Wales, he
would have celebrated his 81st
birthday in May.

Arriving in Canada in 1892,
he found his way to Cumberland
in 1906 and worked in the mines
and in his union till 1954

Jack Lewis had belonged to
one or another of the miners’
unions on Vancouver Island since
1910, when he helped in the for-

Veteran unionist passes

mation of the first working class

organizaing attempts by the coal —

miners of Cumberland and
Nanaimo.

He was an outstanding sup-
porter of the Pacific Tribune,
its predecessors and the labor
press generally for all his adult
life, right up to the moment that
his heart stopped beating. He was
also a long time member of the
Communist Party and the Labor
Progressive Party, until old age
and failing health forced a cur-
tailment of his working class
activities.

—

Classified Advertising

NOTICES

COPY — DEADLINE FOR ALD

ADVERTISING, All copy must
be in the offices of the PACIFIC
TRIBUNE no later than 12 Noon
on MONDAY,

ey]

During the Pacific Tribune Fin-
ancial Campaign the PT Office
will be open on SATURDAYS
from. 10 a.m, to 2 p,m.

COMING EVENTS

CELEBRATE MAY DAY onSAT-
URDAY Evening APRIL 30th,
from 8:30 p.m.
FROMME RD, in NORTH VAN-
COUVER, Enjoy a pjeasant,
relaxing evening — with good
food and refreshment, All wel-
come,

Pass this Trib on
to your friends

April 29, 1966—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 10

on at 3440°

BUSINESS PERSONALS

CALL NICK —#Transfer and Big
7 Furniture, New location, 1636
E, Broadway.Phone TR 4-5410,

VEST END RADIO — Special-
izing in TV Repairs, Latest
precision equipment used.
(Formerly OK Radio Service).
Now. at 1721 Robson Street,
MU 3-2618,

REGENT TAILORS LTD, — Cus»
tom Tailors and Ready-to-
Wear, 324 W, Hastings St.,
MU 1-8456 or 4441 E, Has-
tings — CY 8-2030, See Henry
Rankin for. personal service,

FOR SALE

FOR SALE — Kenebec and Red
Pontiac potatos at $2.50 per
100 lbs, Carrots, Cabbage,
Unpasteurized Honey and farm
fresh eggs. A. MURYN, 363
No, 5 Road, Richmond,

HALLS FOR RENT

CLINTON HALL, 2605 E, Pender.

Available for banquets, mge-

tings, weddings, etc. Phoné

AL 3-9964,

ee

RUSSIAN PEOPLE’S HOME -

Available for meetings, -bat-
quets and weddings at reason~-
able rates, 600 Campbell AV®
254-3430.

PENDER -

(Marine Workers)

339 West Pender
Phone MU 1-9481

Large and Small Halls
for Rentals

Auditorium|