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OME of the alleged aS news_ stories that appear in

the capitalist press would lead the

reader to believe that the editors of these sheets were crassly ig- - norant of the political trends of the world in which they live if the reader did not remember the ‘class nature of. society. “My coun- try, right: or wrong,” has been said to be (thes key to. the behavior of ultra -pat- Biots. . “my class, right or _ owrong,” is un- _ doubtedly the guiding = prin- cg ciple of the Cenietist editors. They keep grinding out the same lying statements, whether know- ingly or in ignorance, when a lit- tle time spent in investigation _ would show them the truth—that - is, if they were honest with their readers, which they are not. _ The recent publication of some “off the cuff’ remarks of Presi- dent Truman by U.S. and Cana- dian papers is an example of this. The U.S. has had some poor pre- sidents and Truman gives prom- ise of being the poorest since - Buchanan and that includes such bright and shining figures as Ted- _ dy Roosevelt, William Avoirdu- _ pois Taft, the silent Cal Coolidge and the saintly Quaker, Hoover. This latest blast of are

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Short Jabs

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had it been made by some poli- tical nobody,. might have been taken for an “off the cuff” splash, but, considering its source, it leaves more the impression of a studied, calculated effort of war- mongering imperialism.

He-accuses the Soviet govern- ment of “refusing to keep. the agreements Premier Stalin made at Yalta and Potsdam;” “of op- posing agreements which might pave the way for preserving the peace in troubled spots every- where”; of making it clear that “contracts are not sacred” in its dealings with the U.S. and the Western Powers.

The printing of this tissue of falsehoods, for that is all it is, by, among other papers, the Van- couver Sun, disposes of the claim of Jack Scott that the Sun prints both sides, for it did not, then or at any other time, print the Soviet side of the matter and if I thought it would get results in that line, I would challenge the Sun to print the note of the Soviet gov- ernment of Oct. 3, 1948, in reply to the identical notes of Great Britain, the U.S.A. and France, of Sept. 26th. It is published in full in National Affairs Monthly October-November 1948.

In that document is the proof that, not the Soviet government is “blocking peaceful settlement” or “opposing agreements which

might pave the way for preserv- ing peace in troubled spots every- where,” but the warmongers of the U.S., Britain and France, par- ticularly the Wall Street gang.

, Forestall

In face of the actions of the imperialist powers in Germany since Potsdam, Truman has a lot of gall in even. suggesting that the Soviet government refuses to

keep the agreements Stalin made ©

at Yalta and Potsdam. Not the Soviet government, but the cham- pion breaker of treaties, the U.S.A., is responsible for every breach of these agreements. Let us hear Truman or the editor of the Sun name one contract which has been broken by the Soviet. government.

Stalin has their says:

“The point is that the inspir- ers of the aggressive policy of the U.S. and Britain are not in- terested in agreement and co- operation with the USSR. What they want is not agreement and cooperation, but negotiations about agreement and coopera- tion, so that after nullifying the agreement, they can put the. blame on the USSR and ‘prove’ that cooperation with the USSR is impossible, The instigators of war who are striving to unleash a new war, dread above aill, agreement and cooperation with the. USSR, for a policy of agree- ment with the USSR under- mines the position of the war- mongers and renders the ag- gressive policy of these gentle- men futile.”

The editor who prints only the Truman blasts is as much a war- monger as. John Foster Dulles, or any other Wall

number;

Streeter.

(*RIME, tike iis ened is

a by-product of our social sys-

tem. As the indexes presaging

economic crisis nose downwards,

_ the rising curve of these twin

evils of “our way of life” shoot -Skywards.

During recent weeks Vancouver has been hit by a “crime wave.” An al- ‘arming phen- omena is the number of

youthful of- _ fenders, rang- ing in. age from 16 to 20 years, involy- ed in -“hold- ups” of one _ kind or *anoth- he : Our ‘police have» “explained” that the rise of crime im our midst is due to the fact that the _ ¢riminal element of other centers

- are moving to the coast. You can hear similar apologia any day _ from any government official ‘“ex-

plaining”’ the alarming rise in unemployment... However, it is some comfort to know that the police and politicians of other _ centers say the same about Van- couver in their “explanations,” so “everyone has a good time — and the problem remains!

Some weeks ago we attended the annual meeting of the John ‘Howaré Society in the Hotel Van- couver, A lot of prominent people “were there. Psychologists, psy-

nas prison churchmen, educationalists, police

Pagis ee

officials, and so on. The best one could say of this gathering is that it consisted of

well-meaning people, whose |

praiseworthy efforts, embodied in numerous reports, showed them to be conscious of the great social evil of crime,. but who content themselves with trimming the branches rather than slashing deep at the roots of this social disease, _

e@ Ys Like unemployment, crime is a major problem. What to do about it? To tackle it realistically one

must examine the soil in which it

grows. To do so might uncover greater criminals who are listed as very “respectable” we equivocate. Meet crime with crime. That would seem to be the formula advanced by two of our leading organs .of “public opin- ion,” the Vancouver Sun and the News Herald. On December 14 the Sun editorialized thus: “Brutal and revolting as it may seem to

sensitive and civilized minds, the

use of the lash in punishment of violent crime is justified by its results.” :

The Sun scribes and those who share that opinion may not know it, but aside from its ignorant sadism, their editorial “The Lash Does Its Job” constitutes a de- claration of utter failure in the objective desired.

Then comes the News-Herald of

December 30 with a real pearl of ©

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CINE:

y evans Ld ike Dy commen

Published Weekly at 650 Howe Street By THE TRIBUNE FUBLISHING COMPANY LTD.

Telephones: ‘Editorial, Tom McEwen Subscription Rates:

MA.

5857; Business, MA. 5288

Cea Saree | . .Editor a Year, $2.50;

6 Months, $1.39.

“Printed be Union Printers Ltd., 650 Howe Street, Vancouver, B.C.

people. So .

HA

edibeniay REG toes is

indicating that the paddle is the most effective aid to correct thinking and behavior yet de- vised.” The ironical humorist on the News-Herald should have add- ed “deportment” since the victims of its recipe for “correct thinking and behavior” prefer to stand or walk for a goodly period follow- ing each treatment!

This writer has seen men—and boys—come out of this well- guarded torture chamber, their backs cut to ribbons with the lash and their buttocks resembling a raw beefsteak after one of the Sun’s or News-Herald’s treatment for “correct thinking.” We have seen strong men weep—not with contriteness or remorse for their crimes against society, but with searing hatred toward a society which pinions them helplessly upon a table—and awards a uni- formed sadist an extra dollar in his pay envelope for flogging them into raw meat.

At this brutal operation the |

psychologist, the psychiatrist, the judge and editorial “reformer’’ are (for them) happily absent. Only the prison doctor, the war- den, and the hired sadists are present, and any poll of the form- er two in every prison in North. America would reveal an over- whelming opinion against this 16th century “cure” for crime.

Even the press—with its durable elastic conscience—and ability to turn such events to the advyan- tage of gross sales, is absent, so that its “proof” of the efficacy

of the lash and the paddle as in- —

struments for combattin

crime are as bankrupt as the la

e “Tron

Heel” Bennett’s slave camps were ©

as a “cure” for unemployment.

We don’t presume to have all the answers to this vexing prob- lem of crime, but we are happy to belong to that growing section of an enlightened public opinion which regards corporal and cap- ital punishment in all its forms as a blot upon civilization.

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* munism.”

Fascism in the making

{LLIAM M. PATTERSON, prominent American Negro

attorney, visited Canada to speak at a Civil Rights Union rally in Toronto. Fromptly arrested by Canadian Immigration authorities, Patterson was released on bail with the proviso that he would not speak while in Canada.

When Patterson wrote a speech which was read at the meeting by a member of the CRU he was advised by the authorities that he must not write speeches while im Canada. :

As a final measure of “defense” against freedom of thought or expression, Patterson was forthwith sge to the U.S. ey the St. Laurent-King government.

All this was during ‘Christmas week when the spirit of “‘peace”’ and “‘goodwill’” was presumed to be abroad in the land. It was also just one week after the United Nations had adopted its iong- discussed ‘“‘Declaration of Human Rights’’!

Formally, official Canada pays lip service to these declared rights; in practice however, as seen in the Hitlerite treatment accorded Patterson, official Canada tramples these rights underfoot.

As with the deportation of Mine-Mill organizer Reid Robinson and other CIO union officials from Canada, this deportation action is covered with the sorry excuse of “safeguarding Canada from com- William M. Patterson is not a Communist. He is an outstanding American Negro attorney who believes in democracy for Negroes as well as for white people, for working men and women as well as for Wall Street financial royalists, for people who desire and work for peace, against those who work for despoilation and war.

“can the police state,

The Patterson case is one more proof that it not only happen here’ but is happening. Thought-control, call it what you like, it is fascism in the making.

Added to the Martin case in British Columbia, the Patterson case again drives home the timely reminder that “‘eternal vigilance is the price of freedom,” and that only mass protest and action on the part of all freedom-loving Canadians can halt these attacks. It points up the growing need for a virile, powerful Civil Liberties movement in every Canadian center.

“it’s downright unfair of the unions to attack our profits —

now and seek higher wages—when we’re not there to defend — ourselves!” f

Poking backward

(From the files of The People’s Advocate, January 6, 1939)

Canadian industrial and mining stocks paid to their wealthy owners a total of $313,108,385 in dividends during the year 1938 according ‘to preliminary surveys issued last weekend. This amount

| Struck a new all-time high record. 3

The year .was one of considerable mass Ameraployment and de- clining industrial and trade levels, yet those who profit from the labor of the industrial workers and miners paradoxically gained more

profits than during the years of socalled prosperity which ended with the onset of the crisis in 1929.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JANUARY 7%, 1949 — PAGE 8

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