Pafe Two AMIS RED 357 Oe SoS ADVOCATE January 7, 1938 The People’s Advocate Published Weekly by the PROLETARIAN PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION Room 10, 163 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, B.C. - Phone, Trin. 2019 One Year Se Sy ee oR es $1.80 Pal F Near ain ete n eee are $1.00 Single Copy ...-.----------- .05 Make All Cheques Payable to: The People’s Advocate Vancouver, B.C., Friday, January 7, 1938 Unemployment Insurance To HUNDREDS of thousands of Canadian wage Géarners haunted by the fear that the multi- millionaires who control Canada’s industry may sacrifice them and their dependents on the altar of profit, just as in 1929 they deprived thousands of workers of their slender economic security and left them to the cold consolation of relief, the ques- tion of unemployment insurance to come before parliament when it opens on January 27 assumes paramount importance. One of the main planks of Premier Mackenzie King’s 1935 election platform was his promise to institute a federal unemployment insurance scheme. Since he took office Premier King has on more than one occasion intimated his willing- ness to take the necessary steps toward imple- menting this promise. Now the federal govern- ment is reported to be preparing a draft amend- ment to the British North America Act in which the provinces, already approached on the ques- tion, will be asked to cooperate in making possible the passing of a federal unemployment insurance act. It is on this vital question of federal-provincial cooperation that the tyrants of Canadian indus- try, the multi-millionaires whose policies have brought poverty and suffering into thousands of Canadian homes, hope to thwart the demand of the people for unemployment insurance. (LEEeNs their puppet, Premier Maurice Du- - plessis of Quebec, they are adroitly endeavor- ing to confuse the people with sectional disputes. The two most powerful reactionary organs of fi- nance capital in the Dominion—the Montreal Ga- zette and the Toronto Globe and Mail—are throw- ing their whole weight behind this campaign to sabotage unemployment insurance. Canadian corporations in 1937 distributed $305, 759,403 in dividends alone. This was $97,- 944,023 more thanin the peak year of 1929. But in their greed for still greater profits Canada’s multi-millionaires are preparing their ruthless at- tack on unemployment insurance as the spear- head of their drive against all progressive legis- lation. In attacking unemployment insurance, how- ever, they are attacking the united will of the great majority of the Canadian people. The entire labor and progressive movement, the churches, social welfare and taxpayers’ organizations, farmers and small businessmen, have already voiced their demand for federal unemployment insurance through the overwhelming vote they gave the Liberal party in the last election and through their organizations. of Canada, of L have all gone on scheme. The Trades and Labor Congress the Catholic Federation, and the ACC record in favor of such a Shall Premier Duplessis and the multi-million- aires whose willing tool he is, be allowed to frus- trate this long overdue social legislation? The answer of the people must be that he shall not! The reactionary aims of finance capital must be exposed and defeated, and in this fight the trade unions must take the lead. The Ineffable Mr. Sweeney Out of Vancouver where, of course, we have no fascists because it would be so un- British, y'know, there has arisen a businessman who longs to impose the regi- mented misery of the work- ers of Nazi Germany on the workers of Canada, who yearns to be a fuehrer. We refer to the ineffable Mr. Leo Sweeney, head of Vancouver Cooperies who, as retiring president of the Ki- wanis Club, is anything but retiring in his admiration of the Nazis. The first essential in order to be a fuehrer is publicity. One doesn’t require intelli- gence or sanity, although a toothbrush moustache or a double chin which looks like the rock of Gibraltar when photographed from the right angle help. But the main thing is publicity and if Mr. Sweeney was looking for publicity when he advocated Nazi methods to deal with unemployment in Canada be- fore the Gyro Club, he cer- tainly got it. Some of it, per- haps, was not the kind of publicity he wanted, but you can't have everything — or can you? We'll have to ask Sir Herbert Holt or Sir Ed- ward Beatty some time. Anyway, the daily papers certainly did a good job. The fact that it was right down their alley, what with their efforts to popularize reac- tion’s bid for power, had something to do with it, we suspect. They put Mr. Sweeney on the front page and they are keeping him there. Percy Bengough had some very unkind things to Say about Mx. Sweeney and particularly his labor policy at the Trades and Labor Couneil the other night, but Ma. Sweeney is confident he can explain what he really meant to say at the next Council meeting. Were not at all bloodthirsty, but were going to be there just the same. But, if Mr. Sweeney, who shudders for fear the gov- ernment will go too fast and too far in introducing pro- gressive legislation, intends to praise the Nazis again, we advise him to go back to Ger- many where there is no dan- ger of Hitler ever introduc- ing any progressive legisla- tion. It will be ‘Heil Hitler” instead of “Heil Sweeney,” but maybe they ll let him run a concentration camp as con- solation. * normal HH aims of reaction Canada, as expressed through the Duplessis - Hep- burn alignment, are clearly re- vealed in the following analysis received this week from the Do- minion erecutive committee of the Communist Party of Canada. T Canada’s Bastern gateway, in Quebec, second largest proy- ince in the Dominion, fascism is raising its head. The Duplessis government, through its present campaign of repression of civil and trade union rights, is in the van- guard of Tory reaction’s march along the path to fascism. Using the smoke-screen of ‘‘anti- Communism” to justify unconsti- tutional illegal methods of repres- Sion—the arbitrary ban on free speech, the padlock law, which gives the attorney-general dicta- torial powers and allows of no ap- peal to the courts of justice, the il- legal raids on private homes and confiscation of all manner of books and periodicals, and the open encouragement of violence and disorder on the part of or- ganized reactionary groups — the Duplessis National Union govern- ment has become a public menace, not only to the people of Quebec, but to the whole Dominion! While attempting to gag the labor press and ban all expression of progressive opinion, the Du- plessis administration is at the Same time setting about the de- struction of trade unionism. Faced with the growth of or- ganization and strikes for better wages on the part of the shame- fully exploited Quebec workers, big: finance has dictated the wage- laws passed by WDuplessis, laws aimed at doing away with the whole principle of collective agree- fixed by corporatist government boards in which the unions have no representation and are not even consulted on the decisions reached. At the same time every attempt is made to split the trade unions, the right to the closed shop is de- nied, and the outlawing of strikes and the establishment of corpor- atism are announced as the gov- ernment’s objectives. In the inter- ests of St. James Street Duplessis blocks an amendment to the BNA Act which would clear the way for Dominion unemployment insur-— ance. e@ HE Quebec administration is the first in Canada openly to ally itself with the foreign es- pionage agencies of nazism and fascism — and to allow these agencies to achieve a foothold within the-government set-up from which to work for the destruction of democracy in Canada! With the results of Nazi-Fascist penetra- tion in Brazil before our eyes, we are now witnessing the first seri- ous inroads of the same network into our own country! The Premier of Quebec’s in- timate advisor and editor of his organ (@vTllustration — largest morning daily in the province) is none other than the “Huehrer” of the WNational-Socialist (fascist) party in Canada, Adrien Arcand. The editorials transmitting Du- plessis’ policy and denouncing the King administration as an “anti- national government,” as a “cat’s- paw of Belshevism’’ are written and published by the same people who issue the infamous anti- semitic brochure, the “Key to the Mystery,’ which the Nazis are spreading througnout Canada. The German and Italian spy- agencies are utilizing their close connections with the Duplessis and Raynault (Montreal) admini- stration te press for a pro-fascist home and foreign policy for Canada; Quebec is being made the Canadian base for the Rome-Ber- lin-Tokio axis as a means of bring- ing pressure on the federal govern- ment to assure a steady flow of nickel, copper aluminum and other war materials to the war- makers. This is the most deadly threat to our country, an attempt ta enmesh it in the web cf the war-plans of the fascist aggres- sors, the assassins of world peace. e IN view of these facts, it is clear that the Duplessis- Hepburn alignment implies more than ap- pears on the surface. It not only marks the sell-out to the power interests of two poli- ticians who got themselves elected as “enemies” of the power-trust; and a concerted move to block un- employment insurance and to jointly wage war on trade union- ism in Ontario and Quebec. it marks a new step in the drive of Tory reaction towards a national concentration of reactionary forees for a “national” govern- ment. This is admitted by the Con- servative Montreal Star, while Du- plessis’ L'Illustration now talks of “probabilities of an appeal to the electorate” of the country. The fascist threat in Quebec and coupled with it the sinister Du- plessis-Hepburn tie-up, marks a new stage in the growth of reac- tion in Ganada, and is the con- cern of the whole Canadian people. Unless the march of fascist reac- tion is stopped immediately it will become a threat to the demo- eratic and peace-loving population of Canada. C) WN Quebec, the trade unions rep- resenting: 50,000 organized eaction Prepares its Attack in ments, and imposing wage-scales French - Canadian workers, have taken a strong stand on behalf of democracy and trade union rights; the leadership of Quebec Liberal party, under pressure from a large section of French - Canadian Opinion, has denounced fascism as the main danger facing the prov- ince; the Civil Liberties Union is carrying On a campaign which is winning wide support; Clarte and the Clarion are continuing to ap- pear despite the ban, and are gain- ing wider circles of readers; the Quebec Communist party is work- ing tirelessly to organize and unite the popular forces for the defeat of reaction. It is up to the people of the rest of Canada to give every support to the struggle being waged by the democratic forces in Quebec. ’ Canadian publie opinion must be aroused; the lead given by the Trades and Labor Congress and a whole series of local trades coun- cils, as well as by numerous church bodies and other groups, which have protested to the Du- plessis government and called on Ottawa to refer the padiock law to the Supreme Court for ruling, must be followed up. A torrent of protest resolutions to the Quebec administration—a Dominion-wide demand for federal reference of the law to the Su- preme Court, and for an immedi- ate federal investigation into nazi and fascist activities and their tie- up with the Duplessis government —unity of all the forces of the labor movement and of all progres- Sives: in this way we can help the French and English-speaking friends of democracy in Quebec to defeat the growing threat of fas- ecism, and block the advance of reaction which threatens the whole Dominion. Stage and Screen OW the New Film Alliance Sizes the new pictures up: WISE GIRL: All about a rich girl who lives with a down-and- out Bohemian. Strives vainly to be funny. Miriam Hopkins plays the lead. LADY BEHAVE: Another tale about a rich girl, unconscious bigamy, and too much liquor. Completely unbelievable. CRASHING HOLLYWOOD: Ex- tremely trivial though amusing melodrama about a screen writer and a bank robbery with Lee Tracy. BEST FILMS OF' 1937, as picked by Associated Film Audiences: Life of Emile Zola, Dead End, Black Legion, They Won't Forget, Spanish Parth, Road Back, Good Barth, The Last Night, Baltic Deputy, Captains Courageous, The Golem, Plough and the Stars, Re- turn of Maxim, They Gave Him a Gun, You Only Live Once, Mayerling. @ By JOHN R. CHAPLIN OLLYwWwWooD. — Gaumont British has had an idea that deserves imitating by MHolly- wood’s studios. Putting to work a group of unemployed actors, directors and other creative ar- tists, GB. has produced Derelict, first of a series of 5-reel films to be made on a cooperative basis. Gost of the film is only about $10,000, or 10 per cent of what a commercial production would cost. Profits are to be dis- tributed among the artists who worked on the film, with a share going to relief funds for unem- ployed film workers. Technical work was done by Gaumont technicians, at the GB. studios. The British firm feels it will learn a great deal about how to produce films more cheaply, from the experimental work of these rehabilitated unemployed. There will be five more such experi- mental 5-reelers made. . . Metro has imported so many foreign stars and directors that the place is a veritable Tower of Babel. The wags say Mr. Mayer is going to have a sign put on the front of the studio, reading: English Also Spoken Here. .. That arch-reactionary journal of so-called news, The Los An- geles Times, proved once again that there is no consistency among the fascist-minded. When the famous ambulances sent by the film stars left Hollywood for Spain, the Times ignored them completely. It was not news. And the publicity man of the Motion Picture Artists Commit- tee knew better than to try to spot a picture of the ambulances with that sheet. But then The Wew York Times issued a still of General Pershing’s nephew bidding, bon voyage to the ambu- Jances enroute to Spain. The LA Times takes the NY Times photo service; and now, they ran the picture. Somehow, to Mar. Chand- ler’s Times, Hollywood’s ambu- lance, somewhere between Holly- wood and New York, had become news. It ran on the Times’ Sun- day page which is titled History in the Making. . - Which reminds us, since we're speaking of Spain, that Gale Sondergaard and Luise Rainer, of the MPAG, traveled to Mexico City for a huge mass meeting for the benefit of the Spanish children. OPEN FORUM Letters to the PA Open Forum should be brief as possible. We are not responsible for, and often do not agree with ideas expressed in this column. Space limitations demand that portions of long letters be deleted. Every effort is made to preserve the sense and continuity of letters published. Hits CCF Use Of Japan Goods Editor, People’s Advocate: Dear Sir,—i think the Nanaimo and Brechin CGF clubs, which dis- tributed novelties made in Japan at their joint dance December 27, should be put on the spot. Here their own national execu- tive records its stand as being all for the boycott and the campaign is getting under way in Nanaimo, when two such clubs pull a boner like this (even if the novelties were obtained free). It may not be altogether an acci- dent either, because these two clubs have not participated in the local Peace Council, now growing in popularity and affording an ex- cellent medium for education on international questions. It’s time for some real Socialist eriticism of these shortcomings. Wow is the time to give some lead- ership to the community; to join in the life of the people and help CLDL Thanks Concert Artists Editor, People’s Advocate: Dear Sir—The district council of the Canadian Labor Defense League, through the medium of your paper, wishes to thank the following artists who so willingly gave their services in a concert at Oakalla prison farm, New Year’s day, made possible through the courtesy and co-operation of Warden W. Qwen and Deputy J- Eldridge: Gordon Bligh, ‘Vancouver's premier basso; Julie Sysak, youth- ful impersonator; Alvo Fay Tutte, baby singer; Mrs. F. Tutte, Mrs. FE. Hayes, M. Finlayson; A. Min- chin; Mae Sysak, accompanist; Petroni Boys orchestra; Ernesto Marrillo, MC. CAPT. J. C. DAVIDSON, Vancouver. Dist. Sec., CLDL. build a better world. Time for a change. Nanaimo, BC. MARXIST. ‘PILOT —CHILDREN’S CHOICE More than 200 boys and girls from Nova Scotia to British Columbia sent letters in the recent contest spon- sored by Always Ready, to choose a new name for this unique juvenile publication. A ten-year-old Toronto girl suggested the winning name, Pilot. Children want fun, ad- - venture, companionship, she wrote, and Pilot will direct Our course to fun and ad- venture. There were shy children who suggested names such as Garden of Happiness, Wonderbook, Children’s Friend, and then there were the “tough guys” who sug- gested Jungle, Explorer, Ad- venturer, Pal and Compass. There were letters of such neatness and diction that might easily bring blushes to the cheeks of oldsters. From prairie outposts where schooling is sparse, clear ideas triumphed over spelling inadequacies. Excuse, Please! (A Japanese Apology) Where blossoms and bees, In fantastical trees, Are a samisen tuned to a sky Of porcelain blue And erystalline hue, Sits the Little Brown Man of the Sea And sly Is his beady, black eye. We taught him the wiles Of our wonderful isles Where a guinea may cover a Sin. Once wizened and old, Now dapper and bold Is the Little Brown Man of the Sea, And thin Is his shiny, bronze skin. Where cherry buds blow And the lanterns aglow Are as myriad eyes in the night, A gun from our steel, A Juggernaut wheel Is the Little Brown Man of the Sea, And “Might” Is the way he spells “Right!” We furnished the blade For the sword he has made And taught him the things that we knew. Tf our harvest is red— Why—charge up our dead To the Little Brown Man of the Sea, Who slew As we taught him to do! —_A. M. Stephen. By VICTORIA POST NE of the most talked-of women today is a member of a trio of sisters, Soong Ching-ling, Soong Ai-ling, and Soong Mei-ling. This trio all married prominent men who have played a-leading part in the development of China, but possibly you will fail to recog- nize them by their own names. Ching-ling is Madame Sun Yat- Sen, widow of China’s revered leader who gave his countrymen three principles to follow: democ- racy, nationalism and the people’s livelihood. Ai-ling is Mrs. H. HM. Kung, wife of China’s Finance Minister, who is now reported to have taken over the reins of administration from Chiang Kai-shek. Mei-ling, although the youngest of the trio is the most spectacular. She is Madame Chiang Kai-shek, to whose husband Chinese people are looking to lead them out of the present crisis. Madame Chiang Kai-shek speaks excellent English with a slight southern accent, as it was in Georgia where she and her sis- ters received part of their educa- tion. Music, French and English literature were favorite studies of Mai-ling, and she even wrote poetry that was accepted by sey- eral American magazines. This didn’t, however, prevent her from studying problems of her own peo- ple as assiduously as she studied English. Chiang Kai-shek now depends on her to act as interpreter and correspondent to a foreign news agency when out on the battle- fields with him, to hold press con- ferences in his place. Im addition, she plays an important role in the New Life movement. Followers of this movement do not gamble, smoke, wave their hair, or wear skirts slit above the knee. One theatrical aspect -of the movement is the fad for mass marriages. A marriage feast in China is usually a very ornamental and expensive affair, but bride- grooms may now economize by getting together, fifty or more of them, and haying their ceremonies all performed at the same time. The brides are identified by a num- bered badge corresponding with their bridegroom’s number. It would be amusing if the badges got mixed in the scrimmage one time and they all had to be mar- ried again! Soong Mei-ling married Chiang Kai-shek only after he had put away his former “lotus wife’ and his old religion. It was made doubly effective by an ordinary Marriage ceremony in the bride's home and then a big public cere- mony in the ballroom of a popular Shanghai hotel. Before you start to shout that this sounds like the society column in one of the big newspapers, give me time to say that these three sisters will undoubtedly play a big part in the struggle of China against Japanese aggression. The fact that they are sisters wiil link their families together in the struggle for the salvation of China. COO By OL’ BILL = Fr: (G2. B ro wen; Did You president of the |) Get Yours? Canadian Manu- facturers’ Associ- ation, in his New Year message, says in part: “Not only must we develop a fuller measure of co- 4) operation, but all must work for a better national spirit.” Undoubtedly we have not had a ~ full measure of co-operation dur ~ ing the past year. The mining in- — dustry of Canada only paid 102 = million dollars in dividends; cor- porations reporting to the Torento | Stock Exchange, increased their dividends by 46 millions. BC lee— gers produced 80 million dollars worth of forest products; BG min- ers dug up 73 million dollars and BC fishermen caught 17 million dollars’ worth of fish- : Trail Smelter only paid 1114 mil- 4) lion dollars, $3.50 on a $5.00 share, | or 70 per cent. The Royal Bank only made 5% million dollars. Undoubtedly what we need iS more co-operation—on the divide-~ up. @ In 1932 or 733 Leo Tell It To Sweeney had found Sweeney! the straight path to the New Jerusalem,” All the evils that Satan had visited © on Society were going to be washed away. Everybody was going to be happy and no longer would hunger and want afflict our fair BC. Mr Sweeney was an Oxford grouper, We has seen the light again; © not the light that would uplift so- | ciety by changing the inner man” from the inside, but the light that burned down the German Reich- stag; that consumes in its flames © every piece of literature that say- ors of civilization and culture. Just returned from Naziland, the | ~ only thing he saw, apparently, | j were “motor roads,” one of Hit 4) ler’s masterpieces. Press reports { i do not say whether he told his] ” Gyro audience that these “motor |! roads” are primarily military ~ roads and run straight into the heart of Denmark, Chechoslovalia and France. Press reports also do not say whether Mr. Sweeney saw Ernst Thaelmann, who has been languishing in a Nazi torture dun- geon for five years without being brought to trial. eon eo ae a But Mr. Sweeney, suffering from the failure of the Oxford plan to” make good, hopes to see adopted here, ‘‘a modified WNazi policy,” one of the demands of which is” that Pattullo must not raise the™ standard of living “too high.” (Ox ford Group standard: 43 cents & day or 16 cents a day in Oalallat) Scotch Nazi-ism and let Sweeney live on 43 cents a day! a @ 1 3 The readiness with | which the Japanese) war - lords apologize ~ when they sink an Am-~ erican battleship or machine-gun a British ambassador is puzzling > to the Western-trained mind. 4 During the recent “incident” ) when they were dropping bombs} from one hand and apologies from | the other, it was even hinted that the apologies were all prepara before the “unfortunate mistake” 4 Very Sorry! “Apologizing” plays a large pare in the life of the Japanese people as a whole and the imperialist militarist clique only break ne} ground with their apologies. a Buddhism is the national re" ligion in Japan. Buddha banned] the killing of all living things, yer” the Japanese live largely on *fish So to make things right the priests go in large companies round the™ harbors in boats and apologize in memorial services for the souls of the fish eaten by the Japanes Buddhists. It will need a lot of apologies to wipe out the stain of the mass murder of innocent Chinese ci vilians, women and children, by the military. machinery cof Jape- nese imperialism, to whom thé principles of Buddhism mean 10 more than the teachings of Christ do to the majority of the Christian” capitalist exploiters. ec ._ It is impossible ta Something start the New Year New. without referring 10 the Clarion calendar for 1938. This calendar is a d& parture. It is something new, It is more than a list of dates. It 15 a literary production, a worth while contribution to Canadian it erature, and has already been sO treated by one reviewer. Tt is not a multi-colored oleo of “Derby Day” or” “Strathcona Driving the Last Spike.’ It is 2 mass of valuable data about the meén and women who carry on the industrial and agricultural life of this country of ours: the loggers, miners, fishermen, textile workers, railroaders, farmers, and so on. If some of the handbooks that sell for $5 are worth the price, ther this Clarion calendar should cost $50 instead of the modest two-biés that it sells for. Get one before they are sold out and you will find many uses f= its valuable contents during the coming year.