va RIONICA WHYTE
— In _ projectin
hang eats of the Soviet fen
le Rie Improvements in liv-
Feonid a the next five years,

- wtezhnev also reviewed

‘ services,
‘buy years — increased
Pree Power and consumption
= everything,
‘ Beate from paper to
ticg look» © some of the statis-
One 9
hat a the major changes
eis in og Place in Soviet
4 ie sphere of shopping

to me: “You are
you live there is
Store.’

1 That gt
M0 the pt Was a poor cousin

mo ‘
, ket style gleaming, super-
have retail outlets that

\a 0
Where

| 0 t
| Acros
e

ere

Q Self-Service

Sprung up every-
Ne

Not Only in Moscow,
. e Bonicy as well.
: Wide range of =
an pro
Packaged foods such
aay am, butter, cheese,
‘fresh fruit S, bakery products,
Ady wei and vegetables al-
“this Rene and priced. All
lon ins ant a minor revolu-
okey Dice are habits that has
iP three i na matter of two
re thinks i And in case any-
of Setting Was just a ques-

(itt Wasn't UP the facilities—

r
ot Standing in
; Ww airy products.
# Othe, 8 butter i sith
S all Weighed and
ey also had
; ee the five women
that” the me, two insist-
; “Poun aelerk Cut off their
ge lock T Pound from the
* il pp of butter. In vain
hag Otesteg that the but-
Ped Cut, weighed and
“te the 5 Y that morning be-
| “tw tee. Pened. The wo-
°gineg wreamant, It can be
; time-consum-

S to

@ cut and
. a Measure. In fact,
: peeing is largely
ae stin the queues
ef frequent in Mos-
Pattern ,.VeVer, the shop-
= being changed.
N (and men) are

glaq of
Noi th i
Xiong nlf-seryi e time

A further rise in the standard
of living is the main task of the
9th Five-Year Plan. The na-
tional income will be increased
37 to 40%. In the report of the
CPSU Central Committee de-
livered by Leonid Brezhnev it is
pointed out that “special signi-
ficance now also attaches to the
task of satisfying the growing
solvent demand of the popula-
tion for foodstuffs, manufactur-
ed goods and services. Consu-
mer goods production must go
up at a higher rate than the
cash incomes of Soviet people.”

Even today, visitors to Mos-
cow are struck by the buying
power of the people. If imported
raincoats come on sale at 90
roubles (not cheap) there is sure
to be a long line of people ready
and willing to buy. Since the
cash incomes of the people will
rise substantially over the com-
ing five-year period, light indus-
try is faced with an enormous
task—that of satisfying a mar-
ket which at times seems truly
insatiable. :

“We are equipped to improve
the supply of consumer goods
considerably in the new five-
year period,” Brezhnev report-
ed. “It is planned appreciably to
increase the production of tex-
tiles, garments, shoes and knit-
ted goods. In the case of such
durables as TV sets, domestic
refrigerators, radios and . wash-
ing machines, there is a real
possibility of almost fully satis-
fying the needs of the popula-
tion. The sale of cars will in-
crease greatly: their 1975 output
will be nearly four times that
of 1970.” And further: “In the
new plan nearly twice as much,
that is, 8,700 million roubles, is
allocated against the. preceding
one for the development of light
industry, and almost 14,000
million roubles for the develop-
ment of the food, meat, dairy
and fishing industries.”

The report also dealt with
shortcomings in the consumer
and service trades: “We have
many years of heroic history be-
hind us, comrades, when mil-
lions of Communists and non-
party people consciously accept-
ed privations and_ hardships,
were content with the bare es-
sentials and denied themselves
the right to demand any spe-
cial amenities. This could not
but reflect on their attitude to
the production of consumer.

Living standard is rising

goods, to their quality and
range. But that which was ex-
plicable and natural in the past,
when. other tasks, other under-
takings stood in the forefront,
is unacceptable in the present
conditions.”

This aspect of the matter is
frequently reflected in conversa-
tions with older Russians who
have not forgotten grimmer
times. They are delighted with
improvements but not particu-
larly quick to criticize short-
comings. This is not true of the
younger generation who are
much more impatient.

Brezhnev noted that there are
still administrators who “coexist
peacefully” with shortcomings.

I can remember when a ball-
point pen was an item in short
supply. Today stores are flooded
with them and the fact was re-
cently reflected in lowered
prices. Managers at times mis-
read the market. “As a result,
goods reach the shops out of
season or go anywhere but the
places where they are needed.
Also, it has often happened that
some commodities are ordered
in unjustifiably small quanti-
ties, with the result that their
production is reduced, creating
acute shortages. This was the
case now with domestic sewing
machines, now with pressing
irons and other goods. In many
cases, too, the service in the
shops leaves much to be de-
sired.” i

This can mean that in Mos-
cow it is hard to buy a fur hat
while in sunny Sochi there are
all kinds of them. Or that can-
ned corn, which is very good
and cheap. here, has virtually
disappeared from the shelves
for over a year.

The service trades have re-
ceived considerable attention

recently. One problem is that -,

young men and women have
been reluctant to enter the field.

However, campaigns in the
press point out that work in a

restaurant or in a store is just.

as valuable and essential to the
country’s economy and well-
being as any other field and to-
day eager young faces, helpful
and willing, are appearing in
ever-greater numbers. This fac-
tor will undoubtedly do much
to transform the Soviet Union’s
retail trade, catering and service
industries.

These are fruits of socialism

By :
MOsegy ERT WHYTE

0 5 ~~ Hi
te Mil} “igher wa
ng ovens, WOrKErS. and of
| rag ori : [ae for
F, °ds i) ers, no
ons = inste, + Of Consumer
Wom; SU fad, s
Wort, pUCh a ome reduc-

Reo

Ron: Vg . Reporti
Sioa of the CBSU
lege aes, ep winded dele-
“Possip Socialism the
Satisfaction of
nal and cul-
Sis the su-
Production.”
Monthly wage
Ox, which in-
. 6) 60

Tj roubles
"B the last Plan,

Sy :

will go up to 70 roubles. Aver-
age wage of workers and office
employees will rise to 146-149
roubles. Cash wages for farmers
will average 98 roubles. Teach-
ers, doctors, nurses and people
in several other professions will
receive higher salaries. Various
bonuses and pay boosts will be
given to workers who pioneer
in new areas of the Far North,
Far East, Central Asia and so
on.

By Canadian standards these
wages seem low. But looked at
in relation to other needs the
whole picture changes. Rent
here is ridiculously cheap—less
than 5% of wages. Transport
costs are negligible: streetcars,
three kopecks; trolley buses,
four kopecks; gas buses and
Metro (subway) five kopecks.

Social consumption funds —
a term unfamiliar to many PeOo-
ple in the capitalist West—play
a big role in the life of people

here. By 1975 these funds will
amount to 90,000 million
roubles. They will be used, as
Brezhnev pointed out, to raise
minimum old age. pensions and
to improve pensions for invalids,
to increase scholorships, to in-
crease the number of paid days
allowed for caring for a sick
child, and to introduce 100%
paid pregnancy and maternity
leaves for all- working women
regardless of length of employ-
ment, to increase the allowance
for meals in hospitals and urban
vocational and technical schools.

All this, and more. Of course,
as Brezhnev reported, “One can
distribute, one can consume only
what one has produced. That is
a self-evident truth. Our plans
derive their strength and realism
from the fact that they closely
connect the improvement of the

living standards with greater .

social production, with a higher
productivity of labor.”

Delegates Vera lichuk of the Barnaul chemical fiber mill and Kiev

factory worker Sophia Verbitska during intermission. :

Canadian guests visit

first woman cosmonaut

By P. AVENESOV

MOSCOW (APN)—When the
second day of the CPSU Con-
gress ended, three members of
the delegation of the Commun-
ist Party of Canada, guests at
the 24th Congress — William
Kashtan, Samuel Walsh and
Nigel Morgan—were received in
the Soviet Women’s Committee
where they were welcomed by
the committee’s chairman, Val-
entina Nikolayeva-Tereshkova,
the world’s first and so far only
woman cosmonaut, who also
had just returned from the Con-
gress at which she occupied an
honorary place in the presidium.
Also present were Valentina
Titova, a member of the Com-
mittee’s executive, Olga Che-
chyotkina, vice chairman of the
Committee, and a political ana-
lyst of Pravda, Lyudmila Bala-
khovskaya, secretary of the
Committee, and several other
leading members.

Valentina Nikolayeva-Teresh-
kova said she and her colleagues
were very happy that the 24th
CPSU Congress gave them an
opportunity to meet comrades
from Canada. She spoke about
the concern shown in the Soviet
Union for women in general and
for mothers in particular, and
the new measures about which
Leonid Brezhnev spoke in the
report of the Central Commit-
tee:

Women, comprising the
greater part of the country’s
population — 54% —have equal
rights with men not only in all
aspects of economic and cul-
tural life but also in govern-
ment, social and _ political
spheres. In 1970, for example,
463 women were elected to the
Supreme Soviet of the USSR,
which is 31% of the deputies.
. The Canadian guests said they
were greatly impressed by the
speech of Smirnova, a Congress
delegate, a weaver from the
Yakovlev linen mill, who finish-
ed a textile school literally on
the eve of the Congress.

“Now I have a special tech-
nical education,” she said. “This
will help me to live and work,
and I will do everything so that
my husband, a bricklayer by
trade, will be able to finish his
studies in a correspondence
building trades college course.”

Though Smirnova spoke about
many other things that are
being done at her mill to im-

prove living and working condi-
tions of women weavers, it was
these words, showing the con-
fidence of ‘the Soviet women,
that produced the greatest im-
pression on them.

Speaking about the participa-
tion of Soviet women in the in-
ternational women’s movement,
Valentina Nikolayeva-Teresh-
kova said that the Soviet
Women’s Committee is in every
way developing contacts with
women’s organizations in more
than 100 countries of the world.
Months and weeks of solidarity
with the fighting people of Viet-
nam were organized in the
country. The Committee collects
money for the peace fund as
well as for the fund of assis-
tance to Vietnamese women to
whom it sends foods, medicines
and clothing. It is also conduct-
ing a large-scale campaign to
help release Angela Davis in the
US:

After this William Kashtan,
followed by Samuel Walsh and
Nigel Morgan, spoke about the
position of women in Canada,
the struggle of Canadian women
for their rights, and the partici-
pation of the Communist Party
in this struggle.

At parting, Valentina Niko-
layeva-Tereshkova presented
each of them with a kerchief
and a badge which the Soviet
Women’s Committee issued as
a token of solidarity with the
fighting people of Vietnam. Pre-
senting the souvenirs, she said
that she was pleased to learn
that the women of Canada and
the Soviet Union attach equal-
ly great importance to such
questions as aid to women and
the whole people of heroic Viet-
nam. :

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 1971—PAGE 7