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ADVOCATE

Wovember 11,

THE : PEOPLE’S ADVOCATE

Published Weekly by the Proletarian Publishing Association, Room 10, 163 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, B.C. Phone Trinity 2013.

One Year —.._-___ $2.00 Three Months Half Year Single Copy

Make All Gheques Payable to: The People’s Advocate

Vancouver, B.C., Friday, November 11, 1938

Behind Secession Demands

OR again from harassed, oppressed

farmers in the prairie provinces there is issuing a call for secession from confederation. By this means they hope to escape the stran- glehold of the financial oligarchy of Eastern Canada, which uses the federal government and outgrown restrictions of the British North America Act to prevent enactment of legisla- tion more in keeping with the needs of the farmers.

From time to time a similar cry is heard from Wancouver Island, whose people, ex- ploited and discriminated against by the big corporations which have their general or pro- vincial headquarters in Vancouver, seek a way out of their difficulties by efforts to have the Island secede from the mainland.

Wo fair and sensible person can deny that prairie farmers are mercilessly exploited by the big interests of the Hast. But so are farm- ers in every province of Canada; and workers and small business men as well. But is seces- sion the way out? Could the three prairie provinces secede if they so desired? And if they could and did secede, would they be able to extricate themselves from the grip of fi- nance capital which is international?

The farmers of San Domingo, Cuba, the workers of Brazil and other countries are not a part of Canada politically any more than they are geographically, yet they suffer from exploitation by Canadian capitalists in the same way and, in many Cases, to a greater de- gree, than do the farmers of the prairie prov- inces. :

One can but sympathize with those farmers in their plight; yet they must be made to rea- lize that it is not by such acts of despair that 4 successful struggle can be waged against the financial octopus of the East. It is not by dis- associating themselves from all other victims, including their natural allies, the wage work- ers, that amelioration, much less complete success, can be secured. What is required for all victims of financial oppression in Canada —including those of the Western provinces, is not dismemberment of Canada, but further unification of Canada under confederation. And this demands removal of restrictive pro- visions of the BNA Act which are used by Canada’s Fifty Big Shots to keep the prov- jinces in opposition to and in competition with one another, and to prevent social legislation which could be of benefit to the farmer.

To accomplish this unification it is neces- sary that the farmers, -—workers, and all who are victims of the Eastern financial interests recognize that there is too much disunity in Canada now; and instead of greater disunity, even to the point of proposals for secession, it is greater unity that is the imperative need. In other words, a democratic front of the Peo- ple against Monopoly Capital must be built up in Canada to relieve the burdens which interests, wherever located, have heaped and are continuing to heap upon all the toilers of Canada.

Unity im the Elections

RESUMING that the leading editorial in

the current issue of the Federationist ex- presses the official viewpoint of the CCF, it is regrettable that the CCF continues to reject cooperation with other progressive groups in the civic elections. That this is not the view- point of all CCF members was indicated by the desire for joint electoral efforts with other groups expressed by many delegates to the CCF nominating convention recently.

Maintenance of the CCF’s present position ean only aid the anti-democratic front of big business as represented by the Won-Partisan Association. ~

The Federationist advances no new argu ment, no reason for the CCF attitude other than the contention that the CCF in itself rep- resents all progressive citizens.

But the fact that the CCF includes among its adherents individuals who are also mem- bers of trade unions, ratepayers and other progressive organizations does not justify the Federationist’s claim that the CCF represents all progressive trade unionists and all rate- payers. Nor does it entitle the CCF to deny other progressive organizations participation jn civic politics under pain of being termed a “ump convention’ of vote-splitters.

The Federationists argument is rebutted by the fact that such a conference of trade unions, ratepayers and other groups was called, representative of all shades of progres- sive opinion, to determine a slate and platform on which all could agree.

The 60,000 Vancouver citizens represented by the labor-progressive conference want progressive civic government, but the fact re- mains that the majority of them are not yet prepared to subscribe fully to the rigid CCF platform. Yet they are prepared to support a joint slate and program acceptable both to themselves and the CCF.

Their sincerity is signified by their resolve to leave the door to unity with the CCE wide open. There is still time for negotiations. If the progressive vote is split it will be because the CCF rejects these negotiations. A united slate will ensure victory for progressive forees. Division will seriously weaken the chance of the next being Vancouver first progressive council.

Czecho- Slovakia

Hitler’s — ‘Fitth Column’

Huts “Fifth Column” in Czechoslovakia—rep- resented in polities by the ex- treme right of the Agrarian Party and in business by the leadership of the vast Zivno- bank—has for months been playing a dark and dangerous role more or less behind the scenes.

In May they opposed moboliza- tion and intrigued with Henlein in Sudetenland.

Throughout the summer they were number three in the sinis— ter partnership between sections ef Gzech finance capital, the Run- eiman Mission, and Hitler.

They certainly approved Lord Runciman’s demands for the suppression of the Left parties. For the sake of the destruction of democracy and progress in their own country, they were prepared to consider having bits cf their country given away to Hitler.

They did so because there only one way of. refusing the Berchtesgaden terms. That was a direct appeal to the Soviet Union.

And just because they knew the answer would be “Yes,” these people refused to allow the gov- ernment to put the question.

They were afraid of democracy, afraid of the Soviet Union, afraid, in a word, of “the people.”

Se

was

EPTER the general strike, the

demonstration of a quarter

of a million people in front of the

Parliament House, and the fall of

the WHodza Government, these

people were little seen for several days.

Tt was not until several hours after the terms of the Munich Agreement were known that the Sirovy Government finally reached its decision not to fight-

Tt had been at six in the morn— ing that the German Charge qd’ Af faires arrived at the foreign office, dragged the foreign minister out

First pedestrian traffie over the new First Narrows Bridge, longest suspension bridge in the British Empire, will take place this Saturday between 9 pm and 5 pm. The new span will epen to auto traffic early

next week.

Photo by Alfred Kause

of bed, and with careful insolence handed over the ultimatum signed by Hitler, Chamberlain, Musso- lini and Daladier.

Bhe said: “There is our deci- sion. There is the map. Good morning’ — and left without even asking for an answer.

Se ie government made one last effort. Tt tried to find out from London and Paris what the British and French Governments would do if Czechoslovakia fought for its life. After Berchtesgaden, Britain and France had simply declared they would dishonor their pledges and “distinterest”’ themselves if Czechoslovakia re- fused Berchtesgaden and was at-

tacked by Hitler.

This time their answer w2s more brutal still. The Munich eoalition was a reality. Zhe Gzechs were given to under- stand that if they opposed }fun- ich, Britain and France would not simply fail to aid their for- mer little ally, but would assist Germany in any steps she might take.

They were given to understand that France would permit Hitler to release his divisions from the Siegfried Line—described by Gen- eral Gamelin in London as “‘a line

of jam pots which we could break in two days’—and throw them against Czechoslovakia. Britain, they learned, would supply Hitler with the necessary money for a war.

Even then they still hesitated whether or not to make the one appeal they had never made—to the Soviet Union. It was touch and go. At the last moment the eapitulations won, and the appeal was never made.

e@ OW, with MHitler’s army 22 miles from Prague, no forti- fications left, no communications left, hardly any industry left, the reactionaries of the extreme right have enormously strengthened their position.

Benes represented a certain parrier to the advance of reac- tion. That was why Hitler, backed by the Munich coalition, gave for- mal orders to Prague that unless Benes resigned within twelve hours the invasion would con- tinue from all sides—Germany, Hungary, Poland.

Benes has gone.

Therefore, now, the whole of Czechoslovakia, even outside the new German frontiers, is threat- ened with the blackest reaction, manipulated from Berlin.

Comments From Our Readers

Editor, People’s Advocate:

Tf there is any place under the sun where kindness, sympathy and understanding should hold sway, it is in our mental institu- tions.

Patients who are properly con- fined to these places usually re- spond to decent treatment. Those whose condition is so bad that they are not subject to reason shoulc be given every considera- tion compatible with proper dis- cipline and safety—but unfor- tunately, these things are not the order of the day, and the govern-— ing and handling of our institu- tions has degenerated to a point where the higher-ups should step in and reorganize the whole sys- tem of administration.

There are many cases on record right here in our own institutions where unnecessarily severe pun-— ishment has béen meted out to re- fractory patients whose actions were no doubt due to their state of mind.

Then we have other cases where the same cruel and inhuman pun- ishment has been the lot of pa- tients who had regained their sanity and who dared to assert themselves as normal people are accustomed to doing.

My investigation into the af- fairs of cur so-called mental homes has been very limited be- cause of the fact my “absence is desired.”’ However, I have learned enough of the conditions to be able to say that most of those committed to the institutions are sent there with little regard for the procedure as set down in the Mental Hospital Act. Consequent—

Digest Of This Week’s

MONG letters received by the

editor this week is one from

G J. at Northlands, BC, who has

some nice things to say about OV Bill.

“Allow me to congratulate Ol Bill for the very meaty @ think that is the word) comment in his eolumn,”’ G. J. writes. “I am sure he is appreciated by your circula- tion manager. I have elipped his coluean and sent to many of m5 friends.”’

G. J. has also some nice things to say about the Advocate. “Full speed ahead,” he coneludes. “You are doing fine.”

Se ORR, 1309 West Pender St., e« Wancouver BG, thought he saw a submarine in port the other day, but it turned out to be San Francisco Maru loaded down to

ly, the way is made easy for ‘railroading,’ which has proved to be an inexpensive way of getting rid of someone whose presence is embarrassing.

There are many who have suf fered and are suffering as a con- sequence of the system prevail- ing. Man’s inhumanity to man has surely reached its climax in these institutions, and not only in Brit- ish Columbia.

The recent disclosures in On- tario, for example, where it was found over 1000 inmates were per fectly sane, many of whom should never have been committed in the first place, should be enough to awaken the people of BC to the fact that all is not well.

All the mess, confusion and in- justice arises ‘out of the fact the outside social services knew nothing of these things and did not pretend to know. They take the easiest way out, which lands the accused behind the prison—lke bars of our mental hospitals. Once in there it becomes a “life sen- tence,’”’ no matter what the men-— tal condition may be, unless some- one on the outside intercedes Ou their behalf.

As far as mental experts— psychiatrists—are concerned, they do not seem to know the differ— ence between the sane and the in- sane unless the condition is very marked or violent.

The only safe people we have in this necessary work are those who possess the combination of common sense, honesty and train-

ing. To them we must look for’

freedom from the intolerable con-

the waterline with concentrates for Japan's war industries.

“To cap it all,” he comments, “the people here who make these shipments possible are our ‘lead- ing’ citizens, the people who as- sure us that our future can safely be left in their hands. At the rate British metals are being shipped to Japan, we can expect those same Japanese suns that are now devastating China to packfire into the Pacific Coast one of these days-

“But our ‘leading’ citizens won't be here to feel the repercussions. They ll be down in the West In- dies, in Florida or Bermuda.”

eo RITING from Prince Rupert,

BC, a reader who signs him- self V. G. says:

ditions with respect to our mental institutions. Col. H. E. Lyons, Vancouver, BC.

Editor, People’s Advocate:

Dear Sir,—On the basis of a report given by our organizer f£ was instructed to write to yon and tender our thanks for the many valuable writeups you have given our union.

T feel sure that a paper such as yours will play a great role in the organizing of the unorganized.

Tts consistency in urging unity of the AFI. and the CIO is correct and will bring success to the jabor movement if it is followed out.

Your efforts to achieve some degree of unity among all pro- gressive organizations in the

forthcoming civic elections are

commendable and our wishes you every success.

union

Your recent expose of the Ca- nadian Federation of Labor and certain persons in Vancouver who went to Trail to disrupt the work of A. MW. Evans and the union he represents was news of a kind that does not appear in the dailies and we say, more power to you, We hope you continue to expose the true nature of Labor Yruth and the disruptive elements as- sociated with it and the Canadian Federation of Labor.

Gordon Farrington,

Acting Secretary,

Local 42, International

Jewelry Workers’ Union. Vancouver, BC. :

Letters

“The series of articles by Hal Griffin you have been publishing recently created quite an impres- sion in Prince Rupert. Many of us fishermen have had good rea- son to be suspicious of the activi- ties of certain Japanese fora jong time past, but I don’t think any of us recognized the real political significance of these activities un- til the publication of these art— jeles in the Advocate.

“Tm not one to be chauvinistic. I chink that the majority ef the Japanese in this province would make good citizens if only the Japanese consul would Jeave them alone.

What are we to think, though, when we see big Japanese out- fits, backed by some of our so-

called respectable citizens, erab- pine our natural resources?”

SHORT JABS

A Weekly

Commentary

By Ol’ Bill

On the coming-of-age of the workers’ fatherland, the Un- jon of Soviet Socialist Republics, it is interesting to compare, even only one of, its accomplishments, with what is being done, even in one line of en- deavor, in the capitalist countries and particularly in this neck of the woods where the People’s Advo— eate is published. ;

In Vancouver.

For a long time now our city solons have been talking about and around the necessity of a civic auditorium. Gerry McGeer spoke of the idea, but Since it was not possible to sneak the Indians’ land at Kitsilano, nothing came of the proposal.

A few weeks ago Mayor “Charlie McCarthy” Miller revived the auditorium talk. (There is an election due in a few weeks.) It never got very far, however, as baby bonds cannot be sold for every- thing and the ventiloquist dolls in the city council echo in chorus, “Where is the money to come from?”

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2 Pa Wow different it is in the In The USSR. Soviet Union! In Moscow,

the Palace of the Soviets is nearing completion- ‘hey did not have to steal the site from the aborigi-— nes, and they don't have to pay three prices to the pbanker-thieves for the loan of money to Day wages and buy materials.

The building itself would make Mayor MeCarthy Miller’s eyes pop out of his head. It is 23 feet higher than the Empire State Building, at present the tal- Jest in the world, and it is surmounted by a statue of Lenin, half as big again as the Statue of Liberty.

There are many auditoriums in the building, the largest of which will accommodate 20,000 people. Tts roof, which will not collapse as the one at the Forum did, is a dome nearly two acres in extent. Tt is thirty stories above the ground, so that the audience gets a feeling of being out oi doors. There are 200 elevators and escalators in the building, which has a ground floor coverage of 20 acres.

Besides the auditorium, there is a cireus ring, 2 swimming pool, a skating rink, the largest revolving: stage in the world, movie theatres and several arenas for physical culture displays, sports parades and . pageants.

Once, when-Ii was putting up 2 fight at the city council meeting for relief for foreign-born unem-— ployed workers, Mayor McCarthy Miller demanded of me, “Why don’t you go to Rooshia?’’ I should have answered by getting someone to come here from Moscow and show these wiseacres how to build an auditorium.

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Wears ago when I first read the It Happened phrase, “Anything can happen in- In LA. Los Angeles,” I thought I Knew what it meant. I didn’t I failed to understand the degree of foolishness that springs, toadstool-lke, from the rotting and corrupt mass of 2 decaying economic system. :

The almost unbelievable mass hysteria caused by a tadio broadcast of H. G. Wells’ pipe-dream story ‘war of the Worlds,” when people are even reported to have committed suicide, although it never struck Los Angeles, helped me to understand the phrase referred to above a little better than I had previ- ously, Since it occurred at the same time as the receipt from a correspondent, of a leaflet issued by one of these mystic moonshine peddlers for which LA is justly famous.

The writer of the leaflet calls himself by a name that sounds as if it were drawn from Fiindu myth- ology. He is probably a native of the Bronx, Joplin, MMiss., or Little Rock, Ark. We claims to be the ex- positor of “The Mighty TI AM Presence,” a vision vouchsafed by God Himself, to a family who call themselves the “Accredited Messengers of the As- eended Masters.”

So far the program is purely local and does not extend beyond the bounds of what we expect from LA, but from then on it partakes of the nature of 200 percent Americanism.

One of the functions of this “Mighty I AM Pres- ence” is “to wipe out the viciousness of Communism that is trying to bring war, destruction and revolu- tion into our Beloved Land, for America is the ‘Cup of Light’ for the rest of the world.’’

The communists are “insane with vicious feel-—

ings. TO DESTROY is their only object,” and “No other power can help America and her people now quickly enough, to stop the strikes and vicious-— ness whirling all over our country in this hour of national crisis.”

The “Mighty I AM Presence,” however, “always reserves the right to refuse admittance or to have anyone removed from the audience at our disere- tion.”

Thus decadent capitalism in its death struggles adopts to its uses those who are prepared to make a racket of religion. Byerything that is holy and vsacred is profaned, as Marx says, but the “law and the profits’? must be reserved.

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. It is deplorable that the mistakes Forget Not; made by the working-class are Suffer Not. so soon forgotten. The Bourbons learned nothing and forgot nothing, and this is un-— fortunately true of some sections of the working elass leadership alse. At the finish of a laudatory editorial on the renegade Kautsky in the local CCF paper we read this obituary comment: “Kautsky did good work in his day and his best work lives for the enlightenment of our generation, his mistakes will be forgotten.”

Kautsky did good work undoubtedly — for the bosses. His mistakes must not be forgotten. They have already been responsible for the Golgotha of the German and Austrian workers; the dismem- perment of Czechoslovakia is the result of his mis- takes; the threatened fascist slavery for the world’s workers is a further result of them. The mistakes of the Paris Commune pointed the right path for the Russian workers who established the Soviet rule in 1917 and if the German workers had profited by them also after 1918 instead of forgetting them on the advice of Kautsky they would not today be mired in the Nazi bog. :

The only thing we can learn from EKautsky is from his mistakes, for his whole teaching was “how not to make a revolution.” Let us NOT forget Kaut- sky's mistakes!

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