Czechoslovakia radiates confidence . . .

«A small country about which we know very little;” ‘the
late tory Chamberlain’s apologia for betraying —
Czechoslovakia to the Hitlerites. |

KJement Gottwald, Prime Minis—
ter of Czechoslovakia, and gen—
sec. of the Czechosicvakian Com-
munist Party, which had 70,000
members in 1939, and now has
1,250.060. Ecur parties make up
the National Front; Communist,
Secia] Democratic, National So
cialist (net te be confused with

unity,

EN MILLION Czechoslovaks

living in the center of Eur-
ope are determined to make
their country the strongest, the
Most prosperous, and the most
democratic of the small powers.
And in a little more than one
year of peace they have already
advanced very far in this di-
rection.

The late Mr. Chamberlain
ence unctucusly remarked that
Czechoslovakia is a small coun-
try about which we know little;
its smaliness and our ignorance
being, presumably, sufficient
grounds for his betrayal of the
Czechs to the Germans. We now
imow a little more about Czecho-
slovakia, but certainly not
enough. So far, the British lar
bor movement has hardly awak-
ened to the inspiring fact that
Czechoslovakia is becoming sc
Gialist. i

@zechoslovakia today radiates
confidence, it enjoys political
it is working to an eco-
nomic plan, and its people know
where they are going.

You feel this immediately
upon arrival at the attractive

rague airport and when your

By WILLIAM RUST

and ancient city, hardly scarred
by the war, which stretches it-
self along the WVitava and on
the surrounding hills,

ei

IN some ways Prague has al-

ways attained its pre-war mag-
nificence. The streets are full,
trams, cars and lorries make
up an unending stream of traf-
fic, the hurrying crowds are as
xsell if not better dressed than
Tondoners, and flashing electric
signs illuminate the main fquare
at night.

Shopping in Prague is a great
pleasure, as my wife very
auickly discovered. Lovely Bo-
hemian china and glass is to
be found in abundance, ice
cream seems to be unlimited,
and we quickly decided that
low-priced sandels without cou-
pons wasS a2 concession sadly
overdue in Britain.

Not that Prague is a paradise.
Food sup, lies are much better
than a few months ago, but the
st-ortage of meat and fats is
still serious and UNRRA plays
an important part in the supple
menting of the fpeople’s diet
Coupons must be given up in
restaurants althouzh concessions

nazi), and the Catholic Party. coach takes you into the busy sre made to fcreigners.
| KEEP LABOR’S VOICE =:
> ¥ 2 4
; ON THE AIR! ;
> te
$ ate a
z >
AN OPEN LETTER TO
4
$ DEAR FRIENDS:
; @ For several months now [| have been
speaking to you nightly at 6 p.m. over Van- P
9 couver's Station CKWX on a radio program
: that | believe is unique in North America,
and certainly has ne counterpart in Canada.
4 This radio program — “Labor Looks ‘
BEHIND the Headlines” — is Canada’s only
daily labor news commentary. Among all ;
; the thousands of commercial programs, it is
the only one that attempts to go behind the
“tron curtain” of confusion to bring the labor
3 and progressive angle on national and world
events to radio listeners. ©
@ #£~But daily radio programs cost money. And | must warn you that my 3
labor news broadcast is in real danger of being forced off the air. To guar-
antee its continuance until at least the end of the year, and to extend the
$ daily-air-time to ten minutes, | will need $2,000. Unless 1 can raise that
é amount very quickly, I will’ be unable to continue, and B. C. fabor will lose
; the foothold it has won in radio broadcasting.
As you know, my program has been supported up to now by the Pacific
Tribune. But like most labor newspapers, the Tribune also relies on the
dimes and dollars of the workers for its own funds. 1 could, of course,
secure a commercial sponsor. But 1 am unwilling te take any step that
might place me in a position of having to leave out certain stories and “‘tone
3 down” on others.
>
@ Will you, then, help me to keep Canada’s only daily labor program on
the air? Yeu can do it, cither as individuals or as members of an organiza-
tion, by helping me raise the necessary $2,000 through collections among $
your friends or by direct donations. All contributions should be sent to me
im care of Station CKWX, Vancouver, or at Room 104, Shelly Building, Van-
couver. They will be promptly acknowledged and an audited statement of
receipts and disbursements will »e sent te every contributor. 5
>
> ye
Ve f
CA Cag ,
eee
@ P.S.—Plesse note my new breadeast time of 7:15 p.m. nightly, same station, beginning
September 9.—A.P.

4
“4
q
cs

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE i2

It’ is pleasant to walk the
streets of this preat city with
the knowledge
ity of the people around you are
either Communists or Socialists.
The Communists are the strong-
est party here as in the country
ai large. The Communist Lord
Mayor of Prague was recently
installed in effice. Total member-
ship of the party throughout
€zechoslovakia is over one mil-
lion.

Czechoslovakia possesses a
large Givil Service (thanks to
the Austrian tradition), and it
will have to be considerably re-
duced in order to meet the needs
of industry. But ministers are
easily accessible and ample in-

formation is available to the
inquirer,
The easy, democratic freedom

of Czechoslovakia should be ex-
Ferienced by tose jaundiced
eritics in Britain who hold the
fantastic belief that Commun-

- ist leadership of the nation must

automatically result in the sup-
Pression of simple liberties,

TALKED with Dr. Vaclav

Kopecky, the Gommunist Min-
ister of Information, about home
affairs and foreign relations. He
enjoyS a great popularity, for
he is a subtle man of affairs and
a brilliant speaker. We are go-
ing to Socialism, he told me, in
a way that surprises many peo-
ple who have doubts about the
path of peaceful progress.

He asked me what the peo-
people of Britain thought about
Czechoslovakia’s achievements. I
was asked this question not
once but a2 hundred times, and
i realized that it expressed the
pride of the- people in what
has been done and their anx-
iety that the West should under-
stand its meaning.

But I always had to reply that

that the major--

EDGUARD BENES

President of Czechoslovakia,
and - beloved leader of the
Czech people, who rallied them
to resist fascism after the Bri-
tish tories had sold-out their
country te Hitler.

the British people are insuf-
ficiently informed. The recent
Parliamentary delegation, led by
Ellis Smith, has done 2 lot of
good, but the leaders of the
Labor Party do not seem to
be disposed te popularize Czeco-
Slovakia’s Socialist achieve—
ments by democratic parliamen-
tary methods. Transport House
hostility to the Communist
movement blinds them to So
cialist progress in this demo-
cratic land.

Possibly ancther reason is the
closeness of Czechoslovak alle
ance with the Soviet Union
which so alarms Mr. Churchill
and other propagandists of the

fron curtain myth. But this al —

liance cannot be disturbed. Tt is

based on strong economic ties
= and the

profound conviction
based on the liberating role
played by the Red Army that
Soviet friendship is the strong-
est guarantee of Czechoslovak
freedom and independence.

Palestine

with the Arab Peasant League.
It is obvious, therefore, that it
is entirely wrong to argue that
there is no basis for Jewish-
Arab cooperation.

Problem for world

E final and conclusive re-

ply to those who argue
against the proposal for Jew-
ish-Arab cooperation is the
question: “What is the alterna-
tive?” There are 30,000,000 Arabs.
Seven countries surrounding
Palestine are Arab countries.
For their own narrow and
profit-seeking interests finance—
capitalist interests of Britain
and the United States seek
friendly relations with the Arab
States. The only alternative to
cooperation is persisting and
sharpening antagonisms with the
Jewish community allowing it-
self to be used as the bone over
which Arabs and the western
powers quarrel and in which
only the Jewish community can
suffer. y

The fact that we emphasize
in this connection is the fact
that it is not the problem of
Jewish Canadians alone. It is

a problem of world policy. The.

attitude of the Canadian govern-
ment toward this problem . will
be determined, in part, by the
attitude of the Canadian people
as a whole. Every Canadian who
believes in the need to sirive
to make world peace secure
must accept a personal respon-
Sibility for action to set Pales-

tine free under the guarantee
of the United Nations.

The people of Canada should
demand that the Canadian dele-
gation to the forthcoming ses-
sions of the Economie and So-
cial Commission of the United
Nations proclaims publicly that
Canada will set an example to
the world in meeting the prob-
lems of the anti-fascist refugees
by accepting a quota of 25,000
immigrants to our country. The
future of Palestine can be deter—
mined in a democratic way only
by Setting Palestine free. The
Labor-Progressive Party calls
upon all democratic Canadians
to press our Dominion pgovern-
ment to take a stand in favor
of granting the people of Pales-
tine freedom and helping them
to establish @ sovereisn demo-

cratic state that constitutionally _

Guarantees equal rights and
equal responsibilities for all its
eitizens, Jew and Arab alike.
As a guarantee that such 2
proposal can be carried through
we propose that the British La-
bor government should be called
upon to surrender its mandate
and Palestine should be a trust
of the United Nations until a
new constitution has been adop*-
ed and stable government is in
operation.

~

“A free and sovereign Palestine
will then be in a position to

decide how many immigrants it

desires to accept without dicta-
tion from the British Foreign
Office and War Department.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1946