SK Nima ideo

Avrom at work on portfolio

: e One of Canada’s most outstanding people’s ar tists, Avrom (Yanovsky), has just published his first folio of drawings, obtainable in Vancouver th rough the People’s Cooperative Bookstore, 337 West Pender Street, price $2. Here Avromis shown at his drawing: board completing work on his folio, which is representative of his contributions to labor publications over the past 25 years. a%

GUIDE TO GOOD READING

Splendid biography of

socialist in Ernest Jones: Chartist

TIF YOU HAPPEN to know a right-wing labor man who as- serts that the Communist con- ception of class struggle and working class dictatorship ‘is “foreign” to the labor move- ment in such countries as Brit- ain and Canada, ask him when and by whom these words were written:

“The capitalists of all kinds will be our foes as long as they exist, and carry on against us a war ‘to the very knife. There-

fore they must be put down. Therefore, we must have class

against class—that is, ‘all the” ’ oppressed on the one side, and

all the ‘oppressors on the other . all other mode of proceed- ing is mere moonshine.”

The answer is over a century ago (September, 1851), and by a pioneer English revolutionary democrat and socialist whose life and work is fittingly ex- pounded for 'the first time ‘in Ernest Jones: Chartist, by John Saville, obtainable ‘here at the People’s Cooperative Bookstore, 337 West Pender street ($4.75).

A young and wealthy aristo-

erat (his godfather was a royal

duke), Jones gave up every- thing for the ‘Chartist move- ment, ‘becoming an ‘outstanding leader by its last high point in 1848, ‘before he was 30. He endured extreme personal ‘hard-

ship without flinching and sur--

vived a two-year jail term un- der ;conditions so ‘barbaric that they read like a description of incarceration in a medieval Cen- tral European principality. .

John Saville thas constructed his book in ‘the form of a de- tailed introductory study, fol- lowed by the reproduction of the key passages of Jones’s writ- ings and speeches, together with documentary appendices and-an important bibliography.

As a work of ‘Marxist scholar- ship it is indeed a model; and I must stress that, though it

is a work of learning of the.

first value for expert ‘historians,

it is written in so easy and lucid —

a fashion that it caters most acceptably for any active work- er-student.

oa *

THAT LAST POINT should be well taken. 'The significance of Jones as the only Chartist leader who developed views close to the scientific socialism of Marx and Engels (with whom he enjoyed intimate personal contact) needs to be grasped by the labor movement, not just in the study.

The quotation with which this review opens sums up Jones’s most important contri- bution to Chartinm—its devel- opment, as a contemporary put it, “‘from the idea of a simple political reform ‘to the idea of a social revolution.” ;

That this line did not come to fruition in the wofrking-class

Capsule ~ Reviews

t BEND OF THE RIVER

Histerically inaccurate, poor- ly , written, ‘widely ballyhooed picture of earlier settlers in Ore- gon’s Hood River valley. Reeks with chauvinism, Stepia Fechit returns to screen in stereotyped role synonymous with his name. Goed performances by James Stewart and Arthur Kennedy plus Cinocolor scenery can’t re- deem this one. —

PHONE CALL FROM A STRANGER

’ Surprisingly human _ Holly- wood film about a lawyer (Gary Merrill) who survives a plane erash and in ‘trying to comfort

the families cf some of his dead

companions solves some prob- lems of his own.

THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH

A 2%-hour attempt ‘to bring ©

a circus to the screen. ot enough circus atmosphere; too much love interest and ‘other diversions. Faithfully adheres

to jimcrow nature of the busi-

ness.

movement for another 40 years, that Jones ‘himself ended his life (he died in 1869, when ‘he was only 50) as a progressive radical democrat, in no way de- tracts from the great pioneer- ing importance of. his ideologi- cal and ‘political ‘battles of the eighteen-fifties. ¢

Jones was in advance of his Chartist ‘colleagues in a whole number of respects. Thus, on the famous controversy over “moral” and “physical’ force he wrote:

“T dislike to hear the distint- tion drawn. For what does moral force mean? It means being in the right. And what does physical force mean? It means having the power ‘to es- tablish that+right. Therefore they are twin cherries ‘on on stalk.” ’

Again, on organization, he fought against looseness and in- efficiency and for what we would call a closely knit party (“without it the people is a mob; with it an army”).

Jones stood for the freedom of the peoples oppressed iby Brit- ish colonial rule in Ireland, In- dia and elsewhere.

He was a gilfted pioneer of the /working-class press, his most important venture being the People’s Paper (1852-58). To maintain and extend the paper he conducted through its col- umns a circulation drive and a fighting fund—he only needed a guaranteed £3 a week to keep going!—with penny-a-week col- lectors in the workshops and lo- calities.

Scr ek *

JONES AD shortcomings and weaknesses which ‘have not been discussed ‘here, though they are fully analyzed by John Sa- ville. But even in his last years in Manchester, when he had re- treated from his revolutionary

socialist position, he enjoyed un-;

paralleled authority among the workers.

And, as Engels wrote to Marx after his death, “he was the only educated Englishman among the politicians who ‘was, at bottom, entirely on our side.”—ALLEN WUTT.

pioneer

‘WORLD CLASSICS ON LP

Czech records winning q wide popularity abroad

THE AIM OF the ‘Czechoslo- vak phonograph industry is ‘to make good music available to the largest possible number of

* (people. The unification, in 1945,

of . Czechoslovakia’s two pre- war ‘phonagraiph record firms into one nationalized enterprise has eliminated the profit-motive from ‘the selection of music to ‘tbe recorded, with two important results.

First, the phonograph indus- try has been able to bring to the Czech public and the world outstanding works of art which have never before ‘been re- corded. And second, records are sold at a price which brings the classical masters within the reach of everyone.

The industry has a motto: “The better 'the music, the low- er the price,” and it-is actually true that a Beethoven symph- ony is considerably less expens- ive than an album of fox-trots.

The output of the phonograph industry ‘has scarcely kept pace with the demand for records, both in Czechoslovakia and abroad. Whereas in 1939 a total of 545,000 records was issued, in 1950 the total was over 5 ‘million, and 12 million are pran- ned for 1952. And of these 12 million, 52 percent will be re- cordings of classical music.

The number of records sold abroad trebled in 1951 as com- pared with 1950, and was ten times higher than in 1947, Eighty percent of the records exported were, Czech and world classics, and they ‘thave created a world public for the works of the modern Czech composers Suk, Novak, and particularly Leos Janacek, whose composi- tions were hitherto little known: outside the country.

‘One of the _ outstanding achievements of the industry since the liberation ‘has been the issue of 300 records made from the mats of the Czech Academy Archives. These include ex- amples of old songs, folk-lore and stories, the music of ancient instruments, and the playing of early folk-artists.

There are also recordings of Smetana’s music played ‘by his pupil and first interpreter, Jir- anek, and in turn by Jiranek’s pupils, so that the authentic method of playing Smetana is preserved for today’s music- lovers.

Records in this ‘collection also include excerpts from Shake- speare, Racine, Moliere, ,and other classical writers, rendered

“iby outstanding professional ac-

tors.

Two other important contri- butions to the treasury of re- corded music have been a 50- record anthology of choral works, and the first 100 records in a series on the history of Czech music. The latter traces the development of music from the oldest treasures of the 11th and 12th centuries to Smetana, thus making pre-Smetana Czech music, including the Hussite chorales and the works of Mys- livecek, Benda, Vranicky, Dusik, Skroup, ‘and others, accessible to many people for the first time. e (

* * *

IN GENERAL, the phono- graph industry’s purpose is to record Czech and Slovak music, “Slavonic music, and world class- ‘ies, performed by the best in- tenpreters. These include the Czech Philharmonic, the Or. chestra of ‘the Czechoslovak

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — MARCH 238, 1952 — pace ® 4

\

Broadeast; the opera companies of the National Theatre im Prague and ‘the Brno Theatre; the Ondricek and Smetana Quartets; the Czech Nonetto.

‘Among the soloists are the celebrated violinists Plocek and Sroubek, the cellists Sadlo and

' Heran. ‘

°

Recording of outstanding S0 viet music has been made pos sible by an arrangement with the Soviet phonograph industry ‘permitting recordings in Czech slovakia from Soviet mats. Thus the compositions: of Shostako - vich, Prokofiev, Kalbalevsky and Khatchaturian, as well as folk: music from all parts of the $0 viet Union, are available in the finest interpretations.

The playing of many foreign artists ‘has been recorded during their visits to Prague. Three hundred sides were recorded at last year’s Spring Music Fest val with the best artists of the Soviet Union, Poland, Hungary and the German Democratic Re

-public.

Another 300 sides were T& ‘corded of ,the Youth Festivals for Peace in Prague and 3? Berlin in ‘the last ‘two years, $° that national songs sung in the original by groups from Eng: land, France, Canada, the Unit ed States, the Soviet Union China, Korea, Viet Nam, and in fact all parts of the world are now available to record buyers both in Czechoslovaki@ and abroad. 3

Most recent development i? the industry hhas been the pres: ing for the export market long-playing micro-groove dis¢s: The first hundred include T@ . cordings of performances in the Soviet Union, the other People’s Democracies, the Genman Dent — ocratic Republic, France, a” other countries as well as 1% ‘Czechoslovakia.

Among the world classics now on Czechoslovak long-playin$ discs are the complete sy™ phonies of Beethoven (with thé Ninth conducted by Herman? Abendroth, of the German De” ocratic . Republic); the . sy™ phonies of Schubert, Mozatb and Brahms; the violin conc! tos of Tchaikovsky and Mozart Mozart’s bassoon ‘and ‘horn co” certos. Ravel, Debussy, Bizet and Mendelssohn are also rep!™ sented.

* * * BUT THE ‘ACTIVITY of be.

- phonograph industry does 1?

stop with record ‘production. has established a Theatre ° Music in Prague, in Bratislav® and in Ostrava, where audienc® for a very low admission * can spend the evening sitt! in comfortable lounge chail listening to. programs of % corded music,. accompanied

a short commentary.

These programs range in con tent from light and ‘popular ™ ‘sic to chamber music, symphony and opera. In the Pragt theatre, every Monday night i reserved for playing of new 7 cordings, followed by critic discussion by the audience. Th 5 theatre has given 2000 formances in the two years its existence. "

\The story of the phonogta industry’s development Sp 1945 demonstrates the way ae gates are opened to cultural ‘ velopment when-art is no 10 ‘ne | subordinated to commercial ne terests by profit-seekers, DU! longs to the ‘people.

dese