WIN

‘|

| The ADVOCATE

FOR PEACE, PROGRESS AND DEMOCRACY

PASS THIS PAPER ON

1 DL. 6. No. 8. Full No. 269.

VANCOUVER, B.C., FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 1940

SS ® 5 Cents

ralorne Miners Charge Doublecross

RIDGE RIVER ARMED CAMP

Rich Must Pay For War -- McKean

Police ‘suard cabs

Labor Demanding Just Settlement Of Pioneer Strike

> BRALGRNE, BC. — Miners at >ralorne on Thursday charged they id been doublecrossed ‘when umes Thompson, provincial labor spartment official who allowed "iperintendents, nurses, technical ‘aff and soda fountain girls to Mte for continuation of the co- erative committee as the collec- ive bargaining agency. >The vote was 246 for the cooper- Five and a solid miner vote of \on-confidence of 180. Had the » hers been ruled out the decision fould have been reversed. ) Day shift miners voted for a 48- Yur sympathy strike with Pioneer irikers but a meeting of the night uift crew favored leaving the de- sion over to a meeting of miners 1 Sunday. Pioneer mine is virtually under artial law with 60 provincial po- se guarding 50 strikebreakers, ily six of whom are underground iners. No outside scabs have been nt in yet. A police detachment at Shalalth 1estions everyone going and com- g and only those with unquestion- gle reasons are allowed through. )viction of the remainder of Pio- 2er strikers is expected Friday.

BRALORNE, BC.—Indigna- on of miners in this key gold ‘oduction center of Bridge iver Valley at the provincial yvernments methods of set- ng Pioneer mine strike with rikebreakers protected by covincial police, is running igh this week as miners vote 1 the question of joining the IO union affiliate.

Possibility that the strike may sread to other mining camps was sen this week as miners at Cari- 90 Gold Quartz and Island Moun- iin mines pressed employers for ‘tage inereases. Bralorne miners jatered elaings for wage increases, ut received only a part, and min- rs in other camps fared similarly.

| Interveiition of the provincial government to “effect a quick and just settlement” of Pioneer mine strike was urged in a res-

(Continued on Page 2) See PIONEER

Says Warships Eo Clear Path For ‘Velunteers’

LOUISVILLE, Ky.— Only 500 people attended the mass meeting sponsored by the junior board of trade here for Lord Duff Cooper and Lady Diana Manney. Cooper was quite distressed by the Russian capture of Koivisto Island.

He said he hoped that Sweden and Norway would aid Finland and added that the chief reason for British vessels in the Arctic was to insure a clean path for Eng- lish volunteers. He com- plained that ‘America is more anti-German than it is pro-British.’

Jobless Plan Campaign

Crystallization of a wide move- ment among Vancouver wunem- ployed citizens to gain a higher relief rate pending their employ- ment on works projects, was ef- fected last weekend when an Un- employed Joint Council was set up and officers elected.

The next council meeting, with representatives from other organ- izations, will be held Monday.

Plans are now going forward for a mass meeting in the auditorium on March 18, where the case for public works will be outlined.

in the meantime delegations are visiting local trade unions to en-

list support behind their campaign for upward revision of relief rates and continuation and extension of works schemes under the Munici- pal Assistance Improvements Act.

Refuses Vote

On Conscription

Continuing its policy of denying University of WBritish Columbia students freedom to express their opinions in a democratic way, the students council this week refused to allow the Canadian Student As-

sembly on the campus to take a poll of conscription among UBC students, terming the poll “un- necessary and inopportune” at this

time.

Police Arrest Editor — If Mid-West Clarion

Throughout Canada this week a new wave of arrests was arried out by RCMP and local police under Defense of Canada

ssulations. In Winnipeg, John Jilliam Tuomi, Bertha Smith sted in raids. _

They are charged with publish- 2, printing, circulating a news- aper (Mid-West Clarion) said to nvain Statements intended or xely to be prejudicial to the ef cient prosecution of the war. Anton Leniew and John Kulba ere arrested recently in that city jarged with distributing the Com- unist party's election manifesto. Grace Fugler Victor Guy and obert Keay were arrested under milar charges in Hamilton and quantity of Communist election umphlets seized when RCMP aged a raid.

Further east in Ottawa Harry inder, former parliamentary cor- spondent for the banned Clarion,

9uis Binder, private in the Royal

Weir, Mid-West Clarion editor, and Edna Shunaman were ar-

Canadian Engineers, and Arthur Roy Saunders, a federal finance de_ partment employee, were arrested Feb. 26 by city, provincial and RCMPolice and charged with dis- tributing Communist election lit- erature. A quantity of pamphlets and a multigraph machine were found in Saunder’s home with type set to print such slogans as: “Stop taxing the people for war,” “The rich grow fat on war; let them pay for it” “No conscription,” “Bring our boys back to Canada.” Attorney-General Gonant of On- tario attaches much importance to this trial and if successful in gain- ing a conviction says he may move to have the Communist party de- celared illegal in the province.

‘Dollar A-Year' Men Hit

Candidate Asks Who Will Pay For Half Billion Budget

Observing “that Canada’s es- timated war budget of $500,- 000,000 for next year equals the government’s total federal revenue for the next year,” and remarking the appointment of big businessmen to control boards — “the dollar - a - year men drawing $20-a-day ex- penses” — Fergus McKean, Comunist candidate for Van- couver East drew a roar of ap- plause from the audience at- tending his opening campaign tally at Maple Hall, Tuesday, when he demanded: “Think What this means in higher tax- ation, in higher living costs, to

1 the werkinge class—and then:

ask wourself why the rich should not be made to pay for this war?”

That the King government is Placing costs of the war, not on the rich but on the poor, the work- ers, was evident in its refusal to boost the excess profits tax, Mc- Kean said.

Supporting McKean on the plat- form were Malcolm Bruce and Chairman William Bennett, both of whom have contested the Van- couver Fast seat in previous elec- tions.

Pointing out that Canada was actually at war before parliament met, and that when it did meet, it was to endorse an accomplished fact, McKean declared that ‘the people should and must take ad- vantage of the present election to

Following is a list of meetings arranged to date in support of Fergus McKean in Vancouver East constituency. The Com- munist candidate will attend all’ meetings. Other speakers will be announced later,

Thursday, March 14, Rio hall, Kingsway at Joyce road; Sun- day, March 17, Victoria Commun- ity hall, 43rd and Victoria road; Thursday, Mar. 19, Olympic hall, Hastings at Garden drive; Wed- nesday, Mar. 20, Norquay hall; Kingsway at Slocan.

register their yote for or against Canada’s participation in the war.” The candidate pointed out that all other parties accepted the war as something over which the people had no control and delib- erately avoided discussion of the basic issue of whether the people approved of Canada’s participa- tion.

Although the war on the West- ern Front had not yet got under way to any degree, McKean said, War was developing on two other fronts. A war front was being built wp against the Soviet Union in Finland and the Near Bast, while at home a war was already being waged against the living standards and civil liberties of the working people.

“Not satisfied with war against Germany, reactionary imperialist interests in their hatred of social- ism wish to plunge Canada into War against the Soviet Union as well,” he said. “In fact, despatches from Europe have stated the in- tention of sending a Canadian divi- sion to Finland. Certainly the Can- adian people gave no mandate for troops to be sent to Finland to fight for the pro-fascist Baron Mannerheim against the land of Socialism.”

(Continued on Page 2) See CANDIDATE

oN

Fall Of Vipurii Near As Red Army Crosses Frozen; Bay.

Fall of Vipurii, city of ruins, appeared imminent this weekend as Red and Finnish People’s army troops crossed the ice of Vipurii bay, capturing the three towns of Hejnlahti, Vilajoki and Muhulabti on the west coast, and moved to complete encirclement of the strategic seaport, while other troops fought their way through the suburbs towards the city center.

Elsewhere along the Karelian isthmus, the Red army widened the breach it has made in the Mannerheim line, cutting important communication lines and occupying more of the Fin- nish White Guards’ strongly-defended fortifications.

On the Arctic front a Red army column driving southward from Petsamo forced the White Finns back to the Nautsi river.

In a statement issued earlier this week, Leningrad military head_ quarters declared that the Finnish White Guards were “approaching the end of the adventure,” reported that Finnish soldiers refusing to fight had been shot by the White Finns.

From Q@slo came explanation of why a number of meetings in that country had refused to hear Man- nerheim’s emissary in his mission to enlist aid for the White Guard regime.

In northern Norway from ter-

ritory adjacent to Finland, num-

erous Norwegians have seen how the Red army advanced in north- ern Finland to the Norwegian frontier. They saw how the Fin- nish White Guards set fire to the homes of the peaceful population and forcibly drove the inhabitants onto Norwegian territory. Hun- dreds of refugees, divested of clothing in the bitter cold, crossed the frontier on foot, told the Nor- wegians of their sufferings under the Mannerheim regime and of their joy at the arrival of the Red army.

In Stockholm, Communist Deputy Hilding Hagberg this week demand- ed a parliamentary investigation of the explosion and fire in the build- ing of the Communist newspaper,

——T ne

Bombay Textile Workers’ Strike Brings Out 150,000

BOMBAY, India—Only 6,000 of

this city’s 160,000 textile workers

remained at work this week as millworkers came out on strike for a

15 percent wage increase. dustries.

The strike is now spreading to other in-

Strike leaders rejected a compromise offer of a 10 percent increase made by a British-controlled conciliation board.

While the strike is based on economic demands, the workers are reported to have included the Indian Congress’ fundamental political demand of complete independence for India.

Worrskensflamman, charging Swed- ish Activists and Social Democrats with responsibility. In a wine to Prime Minister Per Albin Hansson, Social Democrat, Deputy Hagberg detailed the arson plot that took the lives of five people in the town of Lulea, including the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Arthur MHellberg, chairman of the district committee of the Communist party in WNor- botten and a member of the Swed- ish party's central committee.

The fire started at three o’clock Sunday morning after a powerful blast heard over a mile from the three-story building, which was soon a mass of flames.

In addition to MHellberg, his wife and seven-year-old daughter also perished in the fire and the young woman treasurer of the Young Communist district com-

mittee and her child were also burned to death.

Ny Dag, Communist paper, branded the fire ‘political murder,’ declared:

“We place the responsibility for the murder of these five people on the league of military activists who for several months haye been conducting an unparalleled campaign of slander against the Communists and all revolutionary workers in Sweden.

“Murders in Lulea are the con- tinuation of the unbridled cam- paign which led to the removal of the Communists from leading posts held by them in the trade unions and other organizations, to their being driven out of the fac- tories, and to the Communist press being deprived of freedom of the press which has existed for 120 years.”

Vipurii Burned Second Time In 25 Years

By G. STANLEY MOSCOW, USSR.—A photograph taken in 1918 and pub- lished in the world press shows a man standing in a street, amidst the fire-blackened ruins of houses. Only brick chimneys and stoves remain, the wooden houses having been burned

down.

This is a picture of Vipurli (Vie

borg) on the day of its occupation by White Guards. The inhabitants had fled or been killed.

The photograph was accom- panied by a report from a war correspondent in Vipurii that Mannerheim’s troops had razed the town to the ground.

Again all that has been built by the Finnish workers in 22 years of continuous effort is destroyed by Mannerheim and the Schutz- corps in their furious hatred for the working class, a hatred which they manifested in 1918 and many times since.

Vipuri, which the White Guards

burned down twice in less than 25 years, is a town with many as- sociations in the history of the rev- olutionary labor movement. Through Vipurii an important rail- Way junction of Eastern Finland passed numerous illegal contracts of Russian revolutionaries with or- Sanizations abroad. In Vipurii the Bolsheviks storéd arms in prep- aration for armed struggle against tsarism. Much revolutionary lit- erature was smuggled into Russia through this town.

(Continued on Page 3) See VIPFURIL

Business Controls Boards

Posts In Britain Held By Bankers, Financial Magnates

LONDON, Eng.—im the larg- est vote recorded by an anti- War Candidate since war was de- clared six months ago, WV. Ross polled 6016 votes in the Ketter- ing by-election Thursday as against 17,914 polled by the win- ning Conservative candidate, J. D. Profumo. In 1935 the Con- servatives obtained 22,885 votes, Labor 21,042.

By PHILIP BOLSOVER LONDON, Eng.—Britain has generals on two fronts — the war front and the home front. While the war front generals sit before their maps with little colored pins far behind the Maginot Line, the home front

generals are far from inactive.

And little wonder. Of the 88 home front generals, 21 are bank- ers and 385 are directors of big fin- ancial trusts.

These men control British life today—and control their own war profits,

Little wonder that living costs have zoomed up 14 percent,

A few powerful monopolists have been given complete control of the majority of things necessary for the existence of millions in this country.

Of the 88 men appointed to the Imost important home war posts, 54 are big business men, holding 297 company directorships. They run the network of councils and

committees of the war. They have dictatorial powers over food supplies, army supplies,

mnunitions, war finances, prices, Wages and production.

CONTROL OWN PRODUCT

Here are examples: Eighteen of- ficial government food controllers hold 84 directorships, mostly in big food manufacturing or trading firms. Lever Brothers, the £67,- 000,000 food and fat monopoly, has directors who have been made Eov- ernment controllers of cooking fats, canned fish and similar ma- terials made by their firm.

The bacon controller is a direc- tor of the Harris Ltd., the biggest combine in the bacon trade. One of the directors of Tate and Lyle, Ltd., huge sugar producers, is su- gar controller. Directors of Ranks and Spillers, the flour combine, are Members of the cereal imports committee o* the ministry of food.

Sir Andrew Duncan, former chairman of the British Iron and Steel Federation, was iron and steel controller and is now minister of trade. His successor is Sir W. C. Wright, who is a director of a big stee] firm,

Lord Balfour in the House of Lords this week said that the na- tion will have to reduce consump-

(Continued on Page 3) See BUSINESS

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