Chapter 33 - 1938 - The Dr. Heng Chih Toa Tour

In April, 1938, Dr. Heng Chih Toa was able to return to Canada and began an extensive tour of Alberta with my father. Dad recalls:

“Another speaker we brought at the time was a Chinese scholar Dr. Heng Chih Tao. He was a poet.  He had books of poetry in China.  He was a most unusual speaker.  He would get up before an audience and say, “I’m going to speak to you but I’m also going to sing to you” and he would start to sing songs in Chinese.  The songs of a farmer hoeing – this farmer singing this song through the motions of hoeing.  He would explain that this was hoeing out the weeds of imperialism.  He made comments like that as he went on. It was interesting, hoeing out the weeds of imperialism.  I travelled all over the province with him.  He was quite interested in Alberta because he said parts of Alberta were like parts in China.  Drumheller Valley and places like that..  He was always surprised in this country at the long horizon that went on. We’d be driving along the highway and he’d see a town in the distance and I’d say, “How far away do you thing that town is?” And he’d say it was about two or three miles.  Well it was about twelve miles.  He couldn’t get over the clearness of the air and the long horizon, the view that you get at this high clear altitude.”

On April 10, 1938, Dr. Toa addressed a large audience at a peace rally held in the Grand Theatre in Calgary. The RCMP provides this account:

1/A mass meeting was held under the joint auspices of The League for Peace and Democracy and the Chinese Benevolent Association on Sunday April 10^th at 2.30 p.m. About one thousand people attended in the Grand Theater. The Rev. Robert Paton was chairman.

2/Mr. Frank Ho Lem spoke briefly and read a letter from Nanking, telling of the torturing of Chinese citizens by Japanese soldiers, he also spoke on the terrible conditions in China, and the suffering of the Chinese people in the districts controlled by the Japanese.

3/Dr. Heng Chih Toa, visitor, spoke on Peace. He said it is not enough that to say “Britons will not be slaves they should say “Briton will not make slaves”. He stated that “In Canada, I notice your peace forces don’t cooperate very well, that the Conservatives and the Radicals suspect each other and that isolates the forces of democracy. In China we ask just one question, “Are you for resisting Japanese aggression?, Yes or No? And they join together in resisting Japanese aggression, one party, all for one and one for all.”

4/Dr. Toa also sang Chinese songs and said the titles of them were “Workers of the World Unite” and “The Dancing of the Hoe”.  These songs were sung by the Chinese workers, making new roads to the Russian frontier and to Indo-China, so that munitions and supplies could be brought in other ways than through the Port of Hong-Kong. He asked for the Canadian People’s sympathy and financial help for China in her war against Japanese aggression. (Note: The last sentence of this paragraph is blanked out, meaning it is still censored after all these years.)

Chapter 32 – 1938 – R.L. Calder Speaks Against the Padlock Law.

In March of 1937, the Province of Quebec passed legislation known as the Padlock Law which not only made it illegal to publish anything that promoted “communism” but also to house any organization considered to be “communist”. Any property that was used for meetings could literally be padlocked for up to a year and the organizers sent to jail for up to thirteen months. Because the legislation did not actually define “communism”, it was conveniently used to suppress all types of “undesirable” political activity from peace groups to labour unions.   In March of 1938, the Canadian League for Peace and Democracy sponsored a tour featuring R. L Calder, vice-chairman of the newly formed Canadian Civil Liberties Association. His address entitled “The Quebec Padlock Law – A Menace to Canadian Democracy” was held in Calgary on March 6, 1938 in the Al Azhar Temple with those attending the meeting voting on a resolution urging the Dominion government to disallow the act or refer it to the Supreme Court for judgement. 

Dad remembers the meeting in his interview with Marilyn Jensen:

“I remember having a meeting at the Al Ahzar Hall on 17^th Avenue.  It was a dance hall in those days.  It was huge. They had chairs for about 1000 people and you had to rent the other chairs.  One of those meetings was R.L. Calder KC from Montreal.  He was a lawyer who opposed the padlock law on constitutional and legal grounds – a very legal argument.  At that meeting the editor of the Calgary Herald was the chairman.  Several hundred people were turned away.  They were finally put down in the basement and were allowed the loudspeaker to be turned on and even then there were people outside listening to the loudspeaker.  It would be hard to get people interested that much nowadays.  Before we had television, people were more interested in what was happening around them and they would come to meetings like that.”

Several paragraphs from the RCMP’s report of the meeting are as follows:

“A public meeting was held in the Al Azhar temple on Sunday afternoon March 6 under the auspices of the Canadian League For Peace and Democracy, about 800 attended. Paul Reading executive editor of the Calgary Herald acted as chairman and who, in introducing R. L. Calder K.C. former Crown Prosecutor of Montreal, stated he was an outstanding public speaker and a man distinguished in law and the reason for his speaking tour, is to arouse the fair minded people against the Quebec legislation, which is being savagely enforced.”

“Fifty-four dollars was donated by the floor for these men to carry on their work. The door collection covered expenses. The platform was occupied by R.L. Calder K.C., Paul Reading, M.M. Ross, A. Roberton, R.H. Parkyn, N. Smith and Fred White.”

Chapter 31 – 1938 – Dr. Bethune in China – Dr. Heng Chih Toa

In January of 1938, Dr. Norman Bethune left for China joining the army of Mao Tse Tung. 

In February, a Canadian lecture tour was arranged featuring Dr, Heng Chih Toa, general director of the Chinese National Association for the Advancement of Education and described in The Albertan as “a leader in China’s struggle to modernize her institutions”. Although Dr. Toa was unexpectedly called away and unable to attend the first series of meetings in Alberta, his message was read to large crowds by Calgary businessman Frank Ho Lem in Calgary, Edmonton, Drumheller and Lethbridge. 

Here is how the RCMP reported a second meeting held in Calgary:

 “At 2 p.m. Feb 6^th, a meeting was held in the Grand Theatre Calgary under the auspices of the Canadian League for Peace and Democracy, about one Thousand people attended. Fred White was chairman, speakers were Rabbi J. Eisen of Edmonton, Rev. E. Melville Aitken of the Central United Church, Arnold Roberton, and Frank Ho Lem. A collection was taken up and the sum of $266 collected for Medical aid of the Chinese in China.

Arnold Roberton, official of the League for Peace and Democracy, described himself as a “Scotch-Canadian” pleading a common cause with his Chinese friends in their struggle against Japan. (Note: “Scotch-Canadian” again is the original writer’s spelling.)

The Chinese, like the Scots are resourceful, and mentioned how he had read that the Chinese had built dummy tanks and airplanes to draw Japanese shells.

Roberton appealed for funds to send to China for medical supplies etc. to help these people.”

Chapter 30 – The Second Sino-Japanese War 1937

At the same time as the Spanish Civil War was being waged, the Japanese again invaded China  beginning the second Sino-Japanese War (July 1937). The Canadian League for Peace and Democracy undertook an additional series of meetings presenting the films, “China Strikes Back”, “Shanghai Bombed”, “Thunder over the Orient” and arranging speakers. Quoting further from Marilyn Jensen’s 1988 interview, Dad recalls:

“First of all we organized a program of opposition to Japanese imports, and opposition to Canada’s export of war materials to Japan. At that time, a train, not a car-load, but a train-load - a mile long train of scrap iron - went west everyday in Canada to be shipped to Japan.   So we launched a boycott of the scrap iron trains and the shipment of Canadian nickel, which was vital to the aggression of Japan against China, against Manchuria.  We launched campaigns against the shipment of war materials to Japan.  At that time Canada [supplied] 90% of the nickel to the world, so in effect, if you could put a ban on the shipment of nickel, you could stop acts of aggression.  Nearly all the nickel that went into bullets came from Canada.  So we made a big stink about that.  Mind you, it’s not an easy thing to go into a town like Trail, like we did, (and Rossland), and put on a meeting which advocates the banning of the shipment of nickel to Japan, but we did it and we got good meetings in those times.  I remember going into Trail and someone saying, “You won’t be able to find a hall in the first place and you won’t be able to find anybody to hire for putting up posters or being chairman or handling the machinery of the meeting” or anything like that. But we went into Trail and strangely enough in a drug store - one of the first people I spoke to was the owner of a drug store – and he volunteered to be the chairman and put on this meeting.”.

 

Returning from the third annual congress of the Canadian League for Peace and Democracy in November 1937, Dad also addressed at least two meetings, one in Fort William and the other in Regina. In Fort William, he spoke along with scholar Edward Wing and in Regina, he shared the platform with Chinese businessman Joseph Hope from Victoria.

One of the press clippings from Fort William notes: “Mr. Roberton is the president of the Calgary League for Peace and Democracy and is in much demand as a speaker throughout the Dominion.” 

Below is a Canadian League for Peace and Democracy handbill from this era.

Chapter 29 – 1937 - The Heart of Spain Tour (continued)

From Dad’s  collection of press clippings, I know the tour included the Crowsnest Pass September 6-14^th as well as  Southern Alberta (Sept 15 – 25^th) including Fort MacLeod, Pincher Creek (September 15)  Lethbridge , Picture Butte, Taber, Turner Valley (Sept 20^th) and High River September 24?) . In a High River Times article dated September 30, 1937, Dad refers to a total of 13 meetings in Southern Alberta.

Additional meetings were held that same fall in Drumheller, Bowden,Wetaskawin (October 4),  Edson (October 23),  Rocky Mountain House (November 4), Nordegg (November 5). Pictured is the 1937 advertisement from the Rocky Mountain House newspaper, the Mountaineer, another from the local Edson paper and a newspaper article from the Lethbridge Herald.

Chapter 28 – 1937 – The Heart of Spain Tour

In the fall of 1937 under the auspices of the Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy, Dad (noted as the President of the Calgary League for Peace and Democracy) began a tour of Alberta showing the motion picture ‘The Heart of Spain’ by filmmaker Herbert Kline. Brought to Canada by Dr. Bethune on his return in June 1937, it was described by the United Farmers’ of Alberta’s Vice–President Norman Priestley as “an impressive and terribly realistic picture of the war now going on in Spain” with actual footage of Dr. Bethune at the Spanish Canadian Blood Transfusion Institute collecting blood for use in the field hospitals. Besides presenting the film, Dad also addressed audiences about the urgency of combating fascism and of course, a collection was taken in each town for Dr. Bethune’s work (sometimes also referred to as the Canadian Medical Mission Transfusion Unit). Below is the letter of introduction written for Dad by Norman Priestley.

Chapter 27 – 1936 -1937 – The League for Peace and Democracy/Calgary/Anna Louise Strong

In 1937, both the American and Canadian League Against War and Fascism groups changed the name to the League for Peace and Democracy. Dad’s explanation: “We decided that was too negative a name.  It’s easy to be against something but it’s more positive to be for something. So we changed the name to the League for Peace and Democracy.”

One of the events taking place in Calgary on April 9, 1937 was a lecture by American journalist Anna Louise Strong who had recently returned from Spain. The meeting was held in the Central United Church with proceeds going to Dr. Norman Bethune and the Canadian medical unit.  The meeting was chaired by Joseph H. Ross and although neither the newspaper article nor advertisement mentions who hosted the meeting although I’m fairly sure it would have been The League for Peace and Democracy.

 Thanks to the website http://www.peace.ca/, I discovered a long list of peace/protest groups that have been under RCMP surveillance over the years. Because many of the old files have been transferred to the National Archives of Canada, I discovered I was able to request specific items through Access to Information, and for a $5.00 fee, received documentation concerning the “Calgary League for Peace and Democracy and Aliases – Calgary, Alberta (Communist Activities Within)” The pages date from June 1935 to September 1938 and again, prove to be interesting reading.

One memo notes that on August 16, 1937, "a meeting was held in the Labour Temple with delegates from different progressive organizations”. It names “some of those present” as Fred White (labour), A. Roberton, and Corry Campbell." Quoting item # 2 from the same page:

“The discussion centered on building of a strong Spanish Democracy Committee, but it was decided to let this rest for awhile as the MacKenzie Papinue [sic] Committee can carry on till fall, till such time as the harvest is over and all members of the progressive organizations are back in Calgary, as at present so many of them are away at the harvest. The matter will then be brought up later on for discussions and plans.”