Tet un Vel k No. 40: ‘Five Cents Vancouver, British Columbia, Eriday, November 15, 1946 Formerly PACIFIC ADVOCATE Labor-farmer unity aim of LPP provincial meet Phe fourth annual conven Party, B-€.-Yukon section, he to 11, was the largest, tion of the Labor-Progressive Id in Wancouver, November 9 miOSst representative and constructive gathering of B.C. Communists in Many years. This was the estimate of the 141 accredited deiesates who cheered their re- elected provincial leader, Wigel Morgan; and sans the “Interna- tiomale” to close the three days @f sessions at midnight Monday. Meeting in a period marked by. “the peoples’ march toward peace and Socialism in Europe and to Liberation in cclonial Asia,” as LPP national leader Tim Buck Placed it, the convention dele Sates expressed their confidence in the ultimate victory of the Ca- hasian working people in numer- US positive resolutions, and in CCL-TLC unity urged by Mosher can bring about even the degree of cooperation it lead to consolida- into “Tt ow, slighted will ultimately Hien of the two congresses Gne single organization.” This was how President A. R. Mosher of the Canadian Congress ef Eabor placed the question of trade union unity when he ad- Gressed delegates to Vancouver Council (CCL) on Tuesday this week. Voicing his satisfaction that the @rades and Labor Congress of Canada, at its convention this year, had appointed a_ comimittee te confer with the CCL, Mosher Geclared that labor’s “Crowning Success” would be when the TLC 2Ad the CCI. came together to “bury the hatchet.” Phe CCL leader urged fuller co- ®peration between the two trade Uaion centers as labor’s greatest need, warning that “unless we are able to build a bigger and better Sfeanization, we will utimately crift into that cycle where we will have facing us again a period ef depression and unemployment. NIGEL MORGAN /Beciected LPP provincial leader the drafting of a 1947 provincial Program which set as its goal the defeat of the Hart-Anscomb Coali- tion government and its replace- ment by. a “coalition of progress” based on a labor-farmer admin- istration. The note of confidence that fea- tured the convention sessions was heightened by Tim Buck, whose re- port to the delegates on the open- ing day and his speech to the giant mass meeting in Pender Auditor | ium, stressed the progress to- wards socialism being: achieved by. the people of those 13 nations of postwar Europe now being ad- ministered by working class gov-| ernments. Significantly, the com- munist parties are playing a lead- ing role in many of the new Eu- ropean democracies, a fact that is inspiring Canadian commun= ists to redouble their fight against the monopolists of Canada, who would like to imprison this coun- try in the stockade of fascism. Representation at the conven- tion indicated the progress dur- ing the past year in spreading the LPP'’s influence among the work- ing people and farmers. The 141 accredited came from 68 I.PP clubs in every part of B.C. It was notable that out-of-town delegates outnumbered the Vancouver delegation 88 to 53. Sixty-five of these attending were leading figures in their trade union, 33 were women, and the remainder came from 35 dif- ferent mass8 organizations includ- ing farm groups. One of the first actions taken (Continued on Page 8) See LABOR-FARMER UNITY delegates || OTTAWA—An international Quebec City to London and Rome spokesmen, in the capital. disappeared lies a story of thisers in this country who By ROBERT M. LAXER PARIS—The masses of economy Remembering the experiences Cf the pre-war years which found their highest expression in the Popular Front and their lowest in the treachery of Vichy, they resisted all attempts to di- vide them. Seeking for policies that prom- ised to meet both their domestic needs and their needs as 3 na_ tion in a continent whose peoples are organizing themselves along new democratic lines, their vote sent the Communist Party to the new national assembly with the strongest representation ‘of any Party. They remembered that the Cemmunist Party fought to bring the Popular Front into be- ing, fought to jAmaintain it and, under Nazi rule, fought to unify all_-liberation—forces- = = H Hrench elections, as a result or which Maurice Thorez, the Gom- munist leader, May become the next Premier. Incomplete returns, with some seats in the colonies unreported, Save the Communists 173 seats, ‘ PALMIRO TOGLIATTI voted to undertake the reb This is the significance of the1 Communist parties of France, Italy, lead vote the French people on Sunday uilding of their war-wrecked in the same spirit of unity with which they || fought for liberation. MAURICE THOREZ the Socialists 95, Leftist Rally (Radical Socialists) 59, the MRP 161, Rightist Bloc 85, Indepen- dents 12: A tally of the popular vote, also incomplete, gave the Com- munists 5,475,955, a gain of 272,- 909; Socialists 3,454,080, a toss of 744,000; Leftist Raliy 1,$71,000; a loss of 207,407; MRP 5,033,430, a loss of 55,700; Rightist Bloc 3,136,630, a sain of 512,951. ROME—The Bloc of the Peo- ple, a coalition of Communist, Socialist and two smaller leftist parties, won a Sweeping victory in Italy’s municipal elections on Sunday. a : In Rome itself the Bloc of the People, on incomplete returns, Polleq 158,996 votes, the rightist Momo Qualunque (Common Man) movement 93,034 and the Christian Democrats 88,987. Student body gives LPP leader lim Buck enthusiastic ovation at campus meeting Stirred by their Student Council’s refusal to allow Tim Buck to speak on the cam- pus, a decision later rescinded after strong protest from students and Critical comment by faculty members, University of British Columbia students packed the auditorium on Tues- day this week to give the Labor-Progressive Party’s national leader an i i dience of Urging his overflow au é some 1,000 students to think for themselves and not be blinded by Tim Buck emphasized rejudice, 1 Seat as future professional and business people, university stu- dents must realize they could hope to find employment and a mea- sure of economic security only un- of high living der conditions standards for the mass of the le. : P Dhis fact, he said, constituted not only a matter of importance to students, -but placed upon responsibility to under- mee aren areies were core if Canada were to progress an to support whatever political par- ty they found to be the cham- attentive hearing. Pion of such policies. Pointing to evidences of huge inventories of consumer goods, a decrease in the market price of luxury items and a noticeable drop in new capital expenditures, he said that unless the present poli- cies of the King government turn- ed in the direction of fulfilling wartime promises of government action leading to full employment and a high level of popular pur- chasing power, the country must expect an economic crisis in 1947. Evidence of irresponsible news reporting was seen Tuesday eve- ning when the scab-produced Daily Province headlined “Students Boo Tim Buck.” Actually,, students themselves silenced 2 handful of individuals who attempted to in- terrupt the answering of ques- tions by heckling. The UBC Social Problems Clup voted last Friday to ask the Stu- dent Council to make an official retraction of the statement that had the council not refused the SPC permission to, present Tim Buck, “it could have been proved that direct political affiliations were being made by the club in question.” Also passed was a resolution opposing formation of “any corm- mittee that would restrict the right of clubs to present political or other speakers.” AWA SANCTIONS THEFT OF POLISH TREASURE political scandal reaching from Ottawa and - was revealed this week by Polish Legation: Behind the charge that priceless art intrigue by fascist Polish emigres and their Sympa- have so far Prevented the return of tapestries and treasures have other works of art to their lawful owners, the people of The story as it emerged through statements) made by Dr. Alfred Fiderkiewiez, Polish minister to Canada, and reported to the Pa. cific Tribune by an extremely re- liable person, Was this: in 1939, during the German in- vasion of Poland, the most valu- able taipestries, religious ormna- ments and other priceless objects ef historic value in the Polish national museum of Cracow were Spirited away through Rumania to France. The man in charge, the official custodian of the 34) caxes Containing the treasures was the Curator of the Wowel museum in €racow, Dr. S. Swierz-Zaleski, who is now doing everything possible to have these treasures’ returned to his native land. When the cases reacheg Pranée, Prof. Kotnow, Polish ambassador to Italy, and once a Member of the Sikorski Cabinet, appointed a second custodian named Polkow— Ski, a former architect of the Wo- wel museum. From France the two custodians brought their cargo to Canada on the Polish steam- ship Batory, arriving in Halitux July 13, 1940. The treasures were then taken to Ottawa’ by special train. Through the assistance of FH. MeCurry, director of the national gallery in Ottawa and anetott of the state archives, the treasures were deposited in the Records Building of the federal govern- ment’s experimental farm. : There they remained until the j five years. In May 1345, W. Babin- (Continued on Page 8) See POLISH TREASURE Labor trustees support teachers CLOVERDALE, B.C__A bitter anti-labor campaign has been launched by School Trustee David Brankin, chief spokesman for a clique which has constantly op- posed policies followed by Sur- rey Scheol Board since progres- Sives won a majority two years ago. Brankin, whose own policies as board chairman were character- ized by a lack of farsighted plan- ning, which is responsible for present overcrowding in Surrey. Schools, is directing his attacks mainly against trade unionists on the board—Floyd Hamilton, board chairman, IWA international or= ganizer, and Alex Hiyton, execu- tive member of the United Fish- ermen and Allied Workers Union. At a stewardship meeting here, Brankin denounced the board’s action in reaching: a salary apree- ment with the B.C. Teachers’ Fed- eration without arbitration, as- serting that some board members had “a very close connection with the Teacher’s Federation.” : He charged that teachers had come before the board “with their propaganda about starvation wages” and established a sched- ule higher than the basic sched- ule laid down by the Cameron re- port. Pointing out that the basic sal- ary Schedule contained in the Cameron report was acknowledged to be only a minimum, Hamilton Said that school boards in Surrey. had always had difficulty in ob- taining teachers with high qual ifications because of the poor wages paid, with a _ consequent lowering of educational standards. “By paying our teachers a de- cent wage we are ensuring that taxpayers get full return for their money in the quality of the edu- cation their children receive,’ he declared.