11 In Review DRAMA BOOKS fascism and democracy, is also a Startling thing to te that French-Canada, the : of some of the most appal- conditions of hardship and jon, was also the back- id for our fiercest batiles for sstablishment of native Ca- m democracy, and that the 2h - Ganadians themselves taken part in the fight for a and independent Canada to Sreater extent than the rest ie population. niley Ryerson’s new book is yelation on the way of life uebec and reading it, it is fimes hard to believe that Canada he is describing. A BRIEF historical review Part One, Ryerson has given nplete picture of the major played by*French-Canadians je development of Canada ‘ds. a democratic nation, settlement to Confedera- and after. ‘ introduction gives a chapter hich any Canadian can be : the contribution of the ers Mount-Royal regiment i raid on Dieppe, August 19, where they fought beside compatriots, not particular- © England, not for France, or Canada, “to spare her the tr of bombardment ... from * war reach your homes to- Sv... .to prevent Hitler reaching out, tomorrow, to ‘y our faith, our language tur institutions.” nting out that the relation- between English-speaking French Canada has been a - issue in our national life, son shows very clearly that .the two nations “have Stanley Ryerson drawn closest together, it has been in the course of a common struggle to extend their free- dom.” They have, on the other hand, “been most deeply divided when forces hostile te democracy have been able to exploit just grievances for evil ends. National inequalities — political, social or economic—breed prejurices and resentment on which fascism fastens its hold and fattens.” Thus, out of French-Canadian resentment against inequality was bred the reactionary Duples- | : | French Canada | | By Stanley Ryerson | Paper Cover SI —Cloth Cover $2 | : | The People Bookshop | | 105 Shelly Building | | 119 West Pender MA 6929. Get Your Copy of Vancouver = Cradle mocracy INCH CANADA—A Study in Canadian Democrac ss — $1.00 and $2.00 (Cloth). OW, when the entire world, directly or indirectly, is involved in the Struggle between it is somewhat of a shock to recall that not so very long ago ar-fascist provincial government held office in Canada for three years and that within borders of our own country exist conditions u ' efforts to undermine the full and unified co all the implied dangers to Canada’s democratic post-war future. y — By Stanley Ryerson — Progress pon which fascist elements are seizing in ntribution Canada can make in the war, sis government, on the false slogan, “Down with the trusts” and a blaring of violent national- ism. This same theme is sounded today in the Bloc Popularier and fifth column propaganda. GAIN, a great many of Can- ada’s most democratic lead- ers have arisen from French CGa- nadian origin, Papineau, Lafon- taine, Laurier, Louis Riel. “Canadian history is more deeply woven into the popular awareness of French than of English Canada. It is in Quebee rather than elsewhere that the heroic moments of our Past and the successful achievements of Canadian sovereignty —from the 1873 Rebellion to the securing of the Statute of Westminster—are commemorated by public demon- strations.” Yet French Canada is today regarded generally by the rest of the country as backward. Ryer- son shows the unmistakable hand of imperialism in keeping it so as a part of a deliberate policy to entrench reaction in positions of power, quoting as proof ex- tracts from official documents and reports to various governors in the early days when the French were a majority in the country. One fierce struggle has been that of the French Canadian people for the right to their own language. Ryerson points out that English was the sole language of the armed forces until as late as the summer of 1942 when WNa- tional Defence Headquarters “started the practice if issuing directives in French to the French-Canadian units.” Also revealed is the astounding fact that compulsory education for children up to fourteen years has only this year been intro- duced—in May 1943 by the God- bout government—as a~result- of growth’ of popular democratic pressure in this period of war against fascism. @ BY giving a complete picture : of the historical background and present conditions of the French-Canadian people as an in- tegral part of Canada’s heritage, backed by copious quotations from authoritative sources, Ryer- *son has added another work to his already yaluable contribution to native Canadian literature, 1837—Birth of Canadian Deme- racy. But it is this tendeney to let others speak for him in quota- tions and figures which, in my opinion, mars the book. While it is an invaluable work for stud- ents, I feel that muth of it may be lost to readers who may not have patience to read through lengthy quotations from briefs, nor stop to analyze the signifi- cance of tables of figures. To my mind, Ryerson would have made his essential book more readable had he presented the facts now. given by direct quotations in his own words, giving the source of Lis statements in an appendix. In this way, readers who have no intention of studying the ques- tion at length would neverthe- less find the book Just aS ab- sorbing as students of the marxist approach to our country’s history to whom the book is an essential addition to their library. Having read it, any Ganadian cannot help but have a better in- Sight into the problems of-the minority nation which is part of Canada, problems of national unity between French and Eng- lish-speaking Canadians without which we cannot go forward as a nation, problems which “can _ be understood and resolved only by probing deep beneath the sur- face of our past and present his- tory; - . . and laying bare, in depth, the actual unfolding of the social and economic forces on which rests the life of every na- tional community . . . Canada is as strong as the unity of her people.-—KAY GREGORY. City’s Winter Music Season Holds Out Little Promise [Pee the point of view of external glitter the forthcoming musical season in Vancouver promises well. But there is far little indication that much of solid worth will be pro- vided, or that by next spring the city’s growing reputation as a musical center will have been appreciably enhanced. Those indefatigable impressarios, Hilker Attractions, are bringing us the usual galaxy of bright, particular stars, and, for those who prefer their cultural pills with a lavish sup- ply of jam, a second and more popularly palatable series is an- nounced; and Miss Laverock has induced the incomparable. Szigeti to visit us on October 14. What else? The Symphony So- ciety, whose duty it should be to provide the city with an orchestra of which it might be proud and which others. might envy, has Given up the task and appealed for support on the strength of a bevy of highly publicized conduc- tors. We shall flock to see their antics, the society will show a small profit at the season’s end, and we shall hear, when we can wrest our attention from an un- familiar conductor’s agile forearm swerve and superb knee action, several brillant last-minute im- provisations on too well-known compositions, some hair-raising moments of indecision and as much music as we deserve. In other cities on this contin- ent, orchestras, in addition to their usual symphonic series un- der tried and trusted leaders are announcing concerts for children, popular concerts at low prices, concerts for troops and war-work- ers; and in Britain the orchestras have gone into the factories, Nothing faintly similar is prob- able in dear old non-partisan Vancouver. By next March we shall still possess a body of competent play- ers, but the orchestra as such will have as much style and discipline as the Hatonswill Town Band and not be half as funny. HE Lady’s Music Club still persists in callings itself the Woman’s Musie Club but shows less evedence than ever of be- coming so. It also plays for safety by decreasing the number of its concerts and increasing its sub- Scription, but gives us no neon- lighted celebrities or original ideas to off-set this depression policy. However, it will enable us to hear the much heralded negro singer from Halifax, Portia White. if this artist is worthy of a place alongside that great triumerate, Paul Robeson, Marion Anderson and Dorothy Maynor, the club may still be a going concern in 1944, though probably in dire need of a blood transfusion. The Musical Competition Festi- vale will take place as usual un- der the plodding, public-spirited if not highly incandescent gsuid- ance of the Knights of Pythias: and the Vancouver Parks Board, fired by the summer success of the “Theater Under the Stars” may be contemplating a winter venture of like nature. iS the Junior Symphony can dis- entangle or cut the Gordian knots of personality and profes- Sionalism in which it has become enmeshed it may well be that the one organization in the province, outside the Kitsilano Boys Band, whose activities can be favorably compared with any other of its kind on the continent may sur- vive the winter rains. Not the most optimstic, however, dare at this moment believe that the omens are good, Brass bands are showing signs of resuscitation, and choirs and comparable amateur organiza- tions may, under the influence of the dangerous complacence as to the outcome of the war now prevailing, increase their mem- berships. But there is a lurking suspicion that the great British choral tradition built by Handel and revitalized by Elgar is des- tined to a pallid, twilight exist- ence pending the arrival of a ~ composer who has something miore to say about life as we live it today than is contained in the Ten Commandments or the Ath- anasean Creed. The prospects are not rosy. Is it that we require a public audi- torium or a conservatory of music? Or is it rather that we need a young and imaginative leadership which will involve the common people in its schemes, and break the palsied middle-class grip on the artistic life of our fair province?—J.G. rat nib!