WORLD Apartheid in South Africa Challenged now as never before Hilda Bernstein is a South African ar- tist and author. Now approaching 70, she has spent 40 years in the liberation movement, as a member of the African National Congress (she now works in the ANC External Mission in London), and a founder in the 1950s of the multi-racial Federation of South African Women. Bernstein recently toured Quebec with three other women, cne each from Nicaragua, Guatemala and the Philip- pines. Organized by several Quebec organizations, among them the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, the YMCA’s International Development Program and the Workers Pastoral Centre, the tour took the four women to several groups in and around Montreal and Quebec City, most of them smallish community groups of working class women, who prior to the visit knew little of the struggles of women abroad. While in Toronto, Hilda Bernstein generously took time off her busy schedule to talk to the Tribune. , Tribune: If you were asked to charac- terize the struggle of South Africa today in very few words, how would you doit? H.B.: First of all, each new struggle steps off from a higher level, so we’re already not stepping off from the begin- ning. I would call the current struggle ‘‘unprecedented”’ in its on-going opposi- tion to the regime, especially in the age and the range of people taking part; there are young people, as well as old men and women who lost family and friends in earlier struggles. Right now there’s great ferment in South African society, a greater sense of the coming power of the people. The apartheid regime has never been chal- lenged in the past as it is being challenged today. Tribune: What is the level of women’s involvement in the struggles in South Af- rica today? H.B.: I have to begin by saying that women have always been heavily in- volved in the struggle; they have a long history of struggle and organization. However, women are now more visi- ble; they now appear to make up the bulwark of the resistance. Also, women have risen to leadership in mass organ- izations. Furthermore, one cannot dis- count the impact of feminist ideas and thinking. What is new is that there is an increas- ing number of young white women parti- cipating in the struggle. Young women ’ academics have made a major contribu- tion through studies on women’s oppres- sion in South Africa, and through provid- AND Sar DarR=aia AGITATION Nleee _.. are those who want crops without plowing. This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing and without a demand. It never did, and never will.” — Frederick Douglass (1857) ing a great deal of factual information, which has increased enormously. Tribune: Can you tell what you feel are the highlights of the current struggle? H.B.: First, there is the immense growth of the United Democratic Front, the multi-racial mass organization. In many areas it has put on a show of enor- mous strength, one I could mention is the boycott it organized of the ‘‘electians”’ to the impotent Indian and ‘‘coloured”’ chambers of the legislature, in which well under one-third of those eligible voted — despite the regime’s pressure and intimi- dation. Second, there is the growth of the trade union movement, and of the mus- cle it is now showing throughout the country. Then there is what I would charac- terize as the continuing revolt of the young people. Although over 200 have been murdered by the-police and army in the last while, they continue to confront the regime undaunted. They are really outstanding. Finally, women’s organizations have re-established themselves after a period of quiescence, and are displaying that fighting spirit shown in the past. Tribune: We have constantly been told by the miass media that the African National Congress is dead, or at best dy- ing. Care to comment? H.B.: Listen — the population’s understanding and acceptance of the ANC as their mass liberation organiza- spread. One manifestation of this is the choice of Nelson Mandela as the sym- bolic leader of the people. As you know, the UDF has named him honorary presi- dent. The ANC has always had mass sup- port, and continues to have growing mass support. A lot of young people who were not even born when Mandela was the focus of the Rivonia trial now see and accept him as the leader of the country. So the ANC’s far from dead. Tribune: And the South African Communist Party? H.B.: Throughout its long history of over 60 years, the SACP has always been part of the national liberation struggle. However, because of the underground conditions in which it has operated, and now operates, it is hard to assess the extent of its influence. Many Communists have been in the forefront of the struggle in a very public way. Perhaps the best example is Moses Kotane, the late long-serving general secretary of the SACP, who was a lead- - ing member of the ANC for many years. Tribune: Finally, do you feel the Canadian tour helped? — H.B.: The tour was tremendously im- portant — I was amazed how the aware- ness of this grew on me. Solidarity is a key factor in furthering our struggle, and the solidarity links we forged here will, I feel, help us win the release of many of those now detained, _ such as Albertina Sisulu of the UDF and tion has never been higher or more wide- others. By JIM TESTER ‘ The Don Coal Basin, or Donbas, has been famous for many years. I recall a former Scottish miner, Charlie Smyth, telling me back in.the *30s, the Donbas miners took up substantial pit-head collections to support the _ British miners’ strike of 1926, which dragged on for eight, agonizing months. The Soviet miners could ill afford such international solidarity support, because war, following the Russian revolution. In later years, John Weir, Trib correspondent in the Soviet Union, told me the militancy of the Donbas min- ers was legendary. He claimed it was they who had first conceived the notion of Workers’ Councils, or Soviets. This was acknowledged by Lenin, who greatly admired the pluck and resourcefulness of the tough miners of the Donbas. Late Last October, I was discussing the Donbas with the Deputy Minister of the Coal Industry in the Ukraine, Pavel Nikolaevich Ivanov. He, too, brought up memories of Lenin, whose larger-than-life black granite statue is the focal point in the main gardened square of Donetsk. It expresses the close relationship between Lenin, the miners and the future. they were just recovering from the effects of the civil ‘*Tenin said coal was bread for industry,’’ observed the deputy minister. ‘‘He also said socialism in the Soviet Union was not possible without the Donbas.”’ Lenin was not only thinking of the rich coal deposits, but also of the militant, class-conscious, innovative miners. His faith was well founded. The Donbas was historically important to the development of the whole country. With the building of industry in various parts of the Soviet Union, Donbas production now plays a lesser role in the country’s total economy. However, the Donbas produces 192,000,000 tonnes of coal per year — which is the production of Great Britain, France and Canada combined, in a year of normal production. Still, a lot of coal! All types of coal are mined in the Donbas, including lignite and anthracite, but most of it is bituminous, the bulk of which is processed into coke, coal gas and chem- icals. The coke of course, goes to steel mills; the coal gas to heating plants; and the chemicals to a sophisticated chemical industry that makes every known substance derived from coal-tar, such as benzine, nylon and dyes. There is nothing remarkable about the processes. They are similar to those in every advanced industrial society. What is remarkable is the integrated planning. The mines, repair shops, steel mills, chemical plants and Coal is the bread for industry machine building works are all part of the Donbas indus- trial complex. Every region, in the 26,500 square kilo- metre Don Coal Basin, has been worked into a master plan, so that its resources and geographic location are fully utilized. It is true many mines have been worked out in the past quarter century. Mining is now generally deeper than it was, especially in the older pits. On an average, they go down 15 metres deeper each year. There are now about 100 mines that are 600 to 800 metres deep; 30 pits go - down to the 1,000 metre level and beyond. That becomes very expensive mining, but Soviet planners are determined not to waste an ounce of recoverable coal! Besides, it is all so close to the coking ovens, once it comes to the surface. Transportation costs are virtually nil. As old mines are phased out, new ones come on stream. The present plan calls for existing level of Don- bas coal production to be stabilized until the year 2,000. Beyond that they aren’t saying. But I learned from one reliable source that at the present level of production, the known coal reserves in the Donbas are good for another 200 years, at least. Production isn’t about to collapse. They'll still be mining Donbas coal ten generations down the road! That’s planning. (Second in a series) — 12 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, APRIL 24, 1985 — M.S.