CR the. he ST. LAURENT’S POLICY Exlude Britishers, admit fascist DP’s We were then locked in a cell until the alc: Tues- day . . When we wee grilled by officials and asked—did we believe in trade unions?—did we support This didn’t happen in Hitler Germany i in 1939. Canada in 1949, Here is the story. It began in Europe in 1948. while the Beaver Brigade, composed of representatives of Canadian youth organizations, was in Budapest, Hungary, attending the World Youth Festival A young Englishman named David Barrett joined the Brigade there, and he and another English lad, George Hadley, soon expressed a desire to come to Canada after the tour. They came—and were stopped by immigration officials at Hali- fax, though thousands of DPs on the same ship were whisked through without question. Let young David Barrett take it from here. In a letter to a friend in Kimberley, B.C., he writes: “The immigration officials found the British statement at the War- saw. Youth Conference and said: “Tf you want to come to Canada this is not the literature to bring in. “We were then locked in a cell until the following Tuesday, when we were grilled by the officials and asked such questions as: Did we belong to a union? Did we believe in the present government? Were we Communists? “Then they told us we would be deported. I stated we were Brit- ish subjects and wished to ap- peal They said it would take W. C. JONES 31 Years’ Service | HAVE BEEN ON THE © e Province, and I worked there bought the paper. Southams took over. “Southams rewarded my my Job. printers. We will be there ference table in good faith.” PICKET LINE AROUND THE DAILY PROVINCE FOR 32 MONTHS “Until I was forced on-the picket line by the Southam Go. in June, 1946, I had worked in the composing room of the. Daily Province for 31 years. “I contributed my fair share to the building of the Montreal moved into Vancouver with their millions and There never was any trouble until the months on the picket line, obtained a court injunction, sued members of my union for damages in the Supreme Court and imported individuals from all over Canada to take “I am still on the picket line with’ my fellow I.T.U. abandon its union-wrecking policy and sit around the con- : 1 ASK YOUR SUPPORT ”> the present government? . . . It happened in two weeks, so we were taken away and for 23 days we were locked up without a bath. “We sent a letter out to the local press. A reporter called, agreed we were being given a raw deal, and promised to give the story big headlines. He didn’t, but we got moved to a cell with a shower and five bars across the door. “At 8 a.m. we were escorted to breakfast, then back by 8:30; at 11:30 escorted to dinner, then back and locked up again. “By the fifth week we were fed up with no fresh air or exercise The Sobieski (the ship the boys came on) came back again, so we sent word to the board chairman appeal and be deported on the So- bieski. he was too busy. “After six weeks I would have done anything to get out for fresh air and exercise. In the dining hall we were not allowed to speak to other people ...I passed word to them that we needed fresh air; so on leaving the dining hall I did not fall out into my cell, but led the boys out onto a barred bal- cony. They threatened to put me in the strong room, but the boys backed me up and we won our strike and got fresh air “During the seventh week, four guards escorted George and I TAM AR PRINTER long before the Southams of lifetime of- service with 32 until the Southam Co. will that we wanted to withdraw our He. sent “word back lay and was being held for deporta- ‘Bill Bennett Arrested as spy Reports from Moscow _ this week stated that Anna Louise Strong, widely read American writer on the USSR and China and one-time editor of the Mos- cow News, had been arrested as a spy by Soviet security police tion to the United States. The reports quoted brief back page announcements Carried by all Moscow newspapers. ; onto the Polish liner Batory and locked us in another cell, but Polish officers let us out and in- stalled/us in a luxurious state- room. “During the voyage back to Eng- land. we were taken to a meeting of the crew and officers in the first-class dining hall. After the meeting we all sang songs. It was ” great to be free ” 12,000 back tax repeal Petitions calling for repeal of the unpopular provincial Sales Tax are pouring into the Vancouver city office of the Labor Progressive Party, and will be presented to the legislature at Victoria during the coming week. More than 12,000 signatures have already been received and more petition forms are coming in by every mail, Elgin Ruddell, LPP organizer, told the Pacific Tribune. ‘ .. Kitsilano and Hastings East -were the first two LPP clubs to surpass their signature quotas Other Vancouver clubs which have done good work in the Sales Tax campaign are Victory Square, Building Trades, Grandview, East End No. 1, Georgia, West End, Bill Bennett (West End), Mount Plea- sant - Fairview, Norquay, North Vancouver, Olgin (Mount Pleasant- Fairview) and Niilo Makela (Hast- ings East). During the short, vigorous cam- paign, several radio broadcasts were sponsored by clubs; consider- able street canvassing for signa- tures was done, and hundreds of people obtained signatures by go- ing from door to door and talking tq citizens. Many trade unions passed resolu-. tions condemning the Sales Tax, and several organizations conduct- ed drives seeking its amendment or repeal. When the LPP petitions are presented to the legislature it is expected that sharp discussion on the tax will result. ; Honor roll Is your name on this list of Pacific Tribune sub- -getters for Feb- ruary? Greater Vancouver Percy Budd (Commercial Dr.).. 2 Dulce Smith (Fairview-Mt. Pl). 2’ Province George Stevens (Ladner) ...... 3 L. Tellier (Extension): ........5. 2 Les Fillmore’ (Kamloops) ...... 7} Miners brand CCL order to Mine-Mill ‘outrageous raiding’ Dan O’Brien, formerly president of the B.C. Federation of Labor, left Vancouver this week to take up his new post as union organizer for the International“Union of Mine, Mill and’ Smelter Workers (CIO- CCL) at Timmins, Ont. Top brass CCL order for Mine-Mill to surrender organizational jurisdiction in Timmins and Port Colbome has back-fired against Pres- dent A. R. Mosher and Secretary Pat Conroy. From coast to coast mine locals have passed resolutions denouncing’ the union-busting move and back- ing Mine-Mill. A strong letter to CCL heads from powerful - Local 480, Trail, terms the “get out” dictate “an act of outrageous raiding ‘that ... could only lead to the destruction of organized labor in Canada.” Michel Local 7292, UMW, strongly protested the CCL or- @er and suggested to Conroy and Mosher that “there are yet many thousands of workers in other fields who are unorgan- ~ ized and it would be in the best interests of the working class if the CCL would get to work on these unorganized workers.” East Coulee Local 7331, UMW, protested the Congress action, termed it dictatorship, and offered full support to Mine-Mill. WIU men reinstated —NORTH VANCOUVER, B.C. Four discharged members of the Woodworkers’ Industrial Union of Canada are back on their jobs at Capilano mill following protest re- action by the crew and union ac- tion in taking the case before the Labor Relations Board WIU President Harold Pritchett presented the case before the board Friday of last week. He re- lated how the company had told the men they could come to work only if they took off their —Witc buttons. Last Sunday,. Capilano workers discussed the case and later placed the facts before the meet- ing of WIU Local 217. The local voted to give the crew full support. The crew sent a delegation to see company officials, and later the men were reinstated. Fraserview residents will send petition to Ottawa Central Mortgage bigwigs climbed half way off their high horses this week following united protests from Fraserview residents who face expropriation of their property by dictatorial measures. A flare-up in the House of Commons last week resulted 1 in the gov- ernment flying an official to Vancouver with instructions to settle the question amicably. S. H. (Sy) Connery, president of the Fraserview Property Own- ers’ Association, announced that a petition to the federal govern- ment for help in retaining their property is being prepared. The petition will ask the federal government to amend the order- in-council under which Central Mortgage acts so that “traditional property rights will not be violat- ed any longer.’ Fraserview residents are not op- posed. to the project, which will provide 1100 homes for veterans. But they are up in arms over the manner in which it is being) car- ried out. A, D. Wilson, a top Ottawa offi- cial of Central Mortgage, arrived here this week and stated that “the project will go ahead, but we will do all we can to assist the property owners living on-the site.” Inspectors are now supervising the work and they will ensure that there is no further trespass- ing by bulldozers, which have damaged some private’ property. Vancouver City Council has side- stepped the issue, claiming that the matter is strictly one between the federal government and prop- erty’ owners. Depicts seige of Leningrad “Once There Was a Girl,’ first-run Soviet film opening at ' State Theater here this Sunday the children of Leningrad during the siege. midnight, is a gripping story of Actual newsreel scenes shot by 22 cameramen during the siege are skilfully worked into the film story, giving it a completely authentic background. . PACIFIC TRIBUNE — FEBRUARY 18, 1949 — PAGE 12