12. OLDAL
KANADAI MAGYAR MUNK&S
1953 NOVEMBER 12, CSüTöRTolT
LAST WEEK a book of ppéms by J. S. Wallace, titlecT ALL MY BROTHERS, was publishedby New Frontiéin Progressive cultural "quarterly. This is an Jevent of major importánce in Canadian wríting ~ J. S." Wallace is. un-doubtedly one of the' great poets of the English-speaking world today, hé is the grektest poet Canada has yet pro-duced. This is his second volume of poéms.
Of the first' limited edition, 500 copiesare being díonated by the author to assist New. Frontiers. It is beau-tifqlly designed and ilhistrated by the Wftll-known Can-adiaa artist Kari. Rix. ALL MY BROTHERS will sfell ior $1.00. ,
^ Margaret F'airley, editor of New Frontiers, has. inter-viewed the poet and here is her article on him.
@y MARGARET FAIRLEY
I HAVB.KNOWN Joe WaHace for somé yeanr now, but hadnever heard. him talk much about his úwn Ufe: So it was a treat ta he able to sit down and- ask him thQse rather imperiinent qitestions which wotúd help me to undérstand a little hőw he came to he what ,he-is.: ;;,^::v,.
B^ore we hegan.to tallc-he reád xne his latest work, a long and veiy inspiring poem on-^Nonnan Bethiine. As he read i. thought of ".the . -eat subjects Joe has choaen for his poetry. and I compared him with the timid wiiters who can only look at themselves.'
I was^ interested tó know how he came to he a socisűist, and how he came to write poetry. "My father," he said,. '"was somethins of a rehel; he sympathized with the Boers in the war of 1899; and both he and my motherwere entirely without race prejudice. I had a teacher too who was genii>^ Jnely fond of poetry. And perhaps it was wh^ I was about ten years old that I decided swearing seem-ed rather a poijntless sin —- you got nothing'out of it, unliké steal-ing — so from Ihen on, when I was Toused, I had to search for my own words instead of the swear-worda that most people feli back on. I think that may have
been the beginning of my interest in right word."
I asked him if he could remem-ber any. expetience which pushed him towards socialismu "Tes",
he said, "but not an experience of my own; it was sometíiing I ohseryed and felt veiy keenly. When I was in my teens somé friends óf mine, whp; were every bit as' decei.t and intelligent as myself, got. into troublc (as I did)/ and because <4 the^míserable poveriy bf their slum homes, th(q? sank Jlower. andíower.' Ihat was a real traged^, and it opened my eyes. I kiiew thosé boya .hadn't a fair chance."-
«a Understood Workers''
I asked him whetlier tíie'drive to socialism and his j:rowth as a poet had. gone together as one movementv or wether they were sei>arate. 'Tou know,"' he said, "my eariy associates, after I grew -up, were a pretty resi)ectahle hunch, middle class people. We were Liberals, and I was looked upon as a promising pariiament-arian. But somehow I found it
hardto talk with them. If, at a political4neeting where I had made a speech.:. a worker got up. and chalenged 'me, I always ünderstood him. lö fact, whenéver Z came |n contact with workers, I imder-stood^ them right away. In 1917 when ihepapers were beglnniiig to tall^ about Iienin, I thought That man is going to: make trouble |ör Tis. I was stili on the^ other side; buti could hot rfmt'my eyes. And very soon I understood the revolution and knew that I was for it. .
•T was doing pretty well, high up in. an advertising firm, and what was I to do? Socialist-mind-ed business or pröfessional men like-mé have no unions to protect them;.it is hard for them to come. out in their true.colors: But they can, if they wish, leave their class and. beoome workers," ánd that is what í did.
"Lootóng, back at these- associates in business world, 1 could say: 'Coioae ön in, the water'a fihe!' and fine it is fbr a; poet, There are so many subjects' those. othens can-not touch aS' lon^* as they close théir eyes to what,>is going on. But we,''' and Joe'a face' lit up* "we- hatne the most gl<^ious and thrilling themes, and. we must write better because'^we have bet-ter thihgs to say, Never think Vs_ is enough to have great themes; we must perfect om* craf t in order to exprísss. these themes In the best. 'way poasible."
Had he leamt müch fröm oUier poets, " the niodems," he repüed. "Most-of them have stopped talk-ing to the people; they just, talk to eaclí other. They^ try to hide their nakedness''in obscurantism. They have never grown up. How
can you grow up^ if yoü run away from the world? Ofcourse there is Aarbn Kramor, he*s different
"The Rity is that so many people, listening to these modern poets, think poetry; has. to b^ like that. This is a great bloíir to the people, robbing them of what shouid be theirs. Actually the people, without ■ knowing it, are talking poetry -aH the time. I listento their talk, and use'their ppáses in my poétiy. It is.becEuise' I have been able to write freely, without fear, tha^ I have , come near to' peopleV and it is ibecause i' am~near them that I can write truly.I have been writing inow^in the people's press for' thisty years, and I have-: leamt much'froni thíe people and have been able to teach them tóo." .
- Confident In. Future '
Ours talk'fieemed to-ííave given Joe ábird's. eye view, of his life,
and,he suddenly ^aid: "I have had the happiest life, and now, when t should perhaps be slowing dowa I have the most joyfui optimisní I i^nderstand people.. and see tha gqod in them; I feel physicallv weU and I am confident in üí future. I Icnow my^ edücation has been narrow,; but one thing i am ^rat^ul-ror'*^ . . he spoke:wiUÍ greatemphasis. .. "It is all wtodr for a man :to do nothing hit physical: work, all wrbng for him to do riotitíng but mentái work-and my life has been a mixtuíe-I haVe done plenty of both, and that-^is gopd."
Joe^a; Joyful- confidence in tha future wás^Wijth-me as I left han. It wasn^t^'ust his words, but his whole manner.Bnd his strong/yóic^ and gestures which conveyed it, and which must be knágmed by thbse Who have not heard him talk.
'T LET C
^ SMS VAWY
'/__.
VARSITY, the official undergrad-uate student paper. at the Univer-aity of Toronto declared editorial-ly in its Nov. 3 issue: "It is about time more of us realized that it is better tc be a free state and restrict relations with the south than- to be a satelUte to a totalitarian natton."
The paper was commenting on the démonstratlon early Sunday moming Nov. 1 when 2(M) student, moatly írom Victoria College, burned an effigy of the U.S. witch-hunting Senátor Joseph McCarthy on the U of T campus.
The students, wearing white shrouds and carrying candles, parádéd along two jnain Toronto streets chanting "Bum McCarthy" — "Dopwn with Joe." As the eífigy was burned, students" spoke, con-
16
OHINESE POW's who escaped from Fanmunjom camps cheer Ilag of Peoplé's Chlna. ,
THE TRUTH is coming out. Ever since explanations started for the repatriation of somé 22,(X>0 re-maining Koreán and Chinese POWa there has been vigorous denials in Canadian dailies that the FOW'a were under any forin of compuláion barring a free de-mocratic choice about their return home. But the dead themselves demning the U.a government förf^ ^W speaking out, reminding
ita "terror tactics" In its anU-Communlsf ^^tchhunts. They wamed that Canadiana must guard against sLrAllar actions here,
Telegrams were scnt to Preai-dent EJiscnhower. Scnator McCarthy and the UjS, Embassy in Ottawa, cpndemnlng McCarthy "not as the man, but os the symbol of American politics which has rob-Jbed the vltality of North American democracy."
In Ita cditorial commcnt, Var-aity declared: "Varsity regrets that the organlzers of the démonstratlon did not Includc all Caculties on the campiis."
the world of the horror that atlll goes on in Korea despite thé truce,
Wilfred Burchutt. con^gspondent for L'Humanite and co-authoi* of Kője ITnscrecned cabled hla paper Oct. 9:
-C}ra\-€s rnder the Tcnt*" "The most dctailed and specific orders have l)een glvcn to the ROK and Kuomintang Icádéra In the camps to prevent the prisoncrs from attcndlng the explanatlons. The prisoncrs are being tortured and murdercd in these camps. RacUet drums, bugles, trumpcts and other musical Instruments arc
now. regular features late at night, in the camps to cover the groans and death cries of the victims. Tbus far we only have stories from those who succeeded in escaping. From those whotried and failed there is ailence and a grave dug under the tents which servo as the agents" headquarters. The truth will out, The graves. in the custodlan camp will be open-ed. The mouths of retuming prisoncrs will also open. Nothing, no matter how despera'te, can pre^ vent the exposuer of these shame-ful incldents in American his-tory."
Despite NNRC chairman Gen. K. S. Thimayya'a statement made the day the bodies of murdercd POW's were found that "we can't find out why any of the captivea were killcd." thcr»í is a stagger-ing body of cvidcnce tliat incri miriatos the U.S. command, Syng-man Rhce and Chiang Kai-shek. 140 Ha\« Gono North Thlmayya himself had author-
ized a statement issued Oct. 6. de-claring there were.-"tight organr ization existing in the: camp... it is tncorrect to jsiay that all <rf these 23,00^17^. POWs^^ do not want to go north becaus^ 110 (now 140 — Ed.) have got öút ahd.waiited to go' home... despite" the'risk of l)eing. shot .when climbtoig'over thOr^^ barbed wirc fcnce or being beaten to death, they still; try to gétoüt.**^^ He, further teatiíied that/Indián custodian' fórces were lülly aware that "beside' weapons íike. speaf-headed fiagi>olés smuggl^ into camp, a lárge number «f weapons including dc^g^rs háve been made inside the; camp."
. Plans -for mass breakouts, at-. tacksoii Indián troops and co-operation with the XT. S. military aré-. being circula.ted daily in the compounds. U. S. innitary plahes' áré éven toleratec. over the.compounds. to encourage the-: tijshtly. organizéd Kuqmihtahg' ^é^tö cir^ ciüaling from camp to camp, más-querading as "cháplainsí*; "UN oh-servers", "corréspcmdents" and "Compound Ifilitary Police". Us^ng these oover-titles, armed kíUers move freely outside the coinpounds and^ éven through thé repatriation. tents wheré explana-tions are conducted., - .
'Ttehearsals" for sanotaging .ex-planation work are conducted in the POW camps where ^prisphers are forced to participate under páin of death or torture.
Horrifylng átory
Two Chinese POW's told a hor-rifying tale of how one prisoner was slain to. members, of the NN RC. Thimayya is still sileht ahout this story. , ' -
The POWs Yu-Hsueh-ho and Chien Shun-ktm reported that on the aftemoon of Oct. 3 U.S. and Chiang Kai-shek agents. in Camp No. 28 forced prisoncrs. to de-monstrate against explanátiön. One of them, Chao Tzü-lung, re-fused to participate, say ing in a low vpice: 'Xong'Live Chairman Mao." He was beaten for over. an hour. Chien' Shim-kun then said: "When Chao Tzu-lung was beaten to a bloody mass, one of the agents suddenly took .out a dagger and stabbed him in the chest. He then cut out his heart and lifted it with the dagger. Then, thia- devil poured gasoline on the heart and burned it It was an unbearable sight and many of üs shed tears."
U. S. newsmen are present at these recitals of terror and bru-tality. but hesitate to ask asingle question and of course, unlversally reportthat the POW's are "volun-tarily" refusing repatriation.
Forcible tattoing of POW's in the Oicju and Kője Island cámps under, the direction of the U. S. command began as far back as August 10 and were carricd through unUl Sept. 12. This was done in preparation for the repatriation commission in order to. show the NNRC that the POW's .did not want to go home and to terrorlze the POW's about repri-sals against them by the Chinese alíid North Korcans if they did retum with such anti-Communist marklngs on their skin. Tien Chung-chcn, a Chincnc
POW reported on the Cheju Island tattooing, declaring that^ while it was>úndérway. a U.S. major, ; the Cheju camp cöhunánder twice visited the camps to ín-spéct.toa lyork of^^ the Chiang íageritsi He éilso. accoöipítniedKuö-mintangr ágént Fang Chlh on a tour inspectíön, while POWs ;weré stripped to wáist to show their n^rkings.-
Cells
TÍi?íjkuomintang flag has/been táttooed öli • thé prisoncrs' chesta, the fls^taff running from th» lef t shbnld^r. right < arónhd to thfr waist, wiüi Ktuműntang emblems táttooed .pn^^eír. Iiaciu in-s^]ting^ógBns- on axms and Many escaping POW's. ímve deli-berately ikratéhéd táí the markiig; infHctihg horrible wounds 'themselves in order to, clearly dtf-niöxistrate their desire to go^home.
Fidl deit£d£s crf; torture chamben built" trndér a tent in Compound No. :36i tncluding a map showing Its: pósítion« were deposited bythe Koreans joid Chinese in a letter tp; Geri, liiimayya Oct. 23 and 24. They demanded that action take piacé in thecasc oT the murdered Óbao Tzu-Iimir mentióned above whosé body was buried in Com-poimd 28. .
Thé Korean^hinese sídé lodged a strong formai protest to the U. S. nwlitary command Oct. 19 in the name of Lt. Gen. Lee Sang Cho at the Military Armistice Commi^ioris.
Lt Gen. LeelSang Cho cTiarged: "The; present situation is that your side ih the first place sneak-edsecret agents into the custodial location and directed them to ea-botage the explanation work, and in the sec'ohd place used the sec-ref agents' to disturb the explanation and tó threaten our captur-ed personnel in thé explanation tents."
He déjscribed how on Oct. 17 a secret sgent attacked an explain-ing X)fficer of the Chinese-Korean side in Explanation Tent No. 18 and was arrested by the Indián custodial military force. The agent then openly told'a U.S. oíficer: "It" is yoü ísrho have told me %o do all thls;:What am I to do now?"
Emboldened by.the pledge of U. S. military support for their action. the/ compound terrorsquads have .detained Indián officers as hostages. One such incident on Sept. 25 involved the seizurc of Gen. Thorat, cömmander of the Indián custodiai: force. Thor&t In-cidentally was responsible for maintaining'intttct.the Cheju and Kője Island terror-organizatlon: during the operation to transport the POWfl tc the repatriation sites íA Panmunjom.
An eyé-witness rcport of the acüon bya POW. ChuShu-wuana confirmcd by níno other POW« from Compound Nol 31 told hoW Thorat was surroundcd andstruCK eeveral timcs. A major, a captaln and a dozen other Indiana arme^ with trunchcons were also seiwo-Thorat agrccd to algn a H-st of úc-mands as a condition for ^'^/JT Icasc. The truncheon.3 were ie« bchind.