The USSR and the German
Democratic Republic have sign-
ed a new Treaty of Friendship,
Cooperation and Mutual Assist-

ance which will further the de-_

velopment of fraternal relations
between countries of the social-
ist community.

The new treaty was signed
during a visit of a delegation
from the Socialist Unity Party
of the GDR to the Soviet Union
earlier this month. It is fully in
line with the decisions of the
Conference on Security and Co-
Operation in Europe and con-
tains clauses which expand the
principle of world-wide detente.

Realization of the Peace Pro-
ram advanced by the 24th Con-
gress of the Communist Party
of the Soviet Union and prepar-
ations for the CPSU 25th Con-

gress and the 9th Congress of.

the Socialist Unity Party were
also a topic of discussions held
in Moscow.

“We live at)a time,” said
Leonid Brezhnev, CPSU general
Secretary during a reception in
the Kremlin, ‘“‘when the influ-
ence of the Communist Parties
of the socialist countries has in-
Creased immeasurably, just as
has their responsibility to their
Peoples and to the working
people of the world for the suc-
cessful construction of socialism
and communism in their coun-

tries, for the preservation and
consolidation of world peace.”
A visit to the Urals evoked a
special feeling in the GDR dele-
gation for it was here, 30 years
ago at Stalingrad, that the turn-
ing point was made in the war

against German fascism.

More than 800 large Soviet
factories, research and design
establishments are directly con-
cerned with international social-
ist integration. Of these, 150,
including 51 in, the Urals, are
closely connected with GDR in-
dustry. A photo of GDR delega-
tion leader, Erich Honecker,
first secretary of the SUP, in
the bucket of a giant walking
excavator brought comment
from a Soviet engineer during
talks at Sverdlovsk. Because 99
of these excavators are present-
ly in use in the GDR, the engin-
eer speculated that this very
machine may well by number
100. “We will send the 100th
excavator to the GDR to mark
the coming 25th Congress of our
Party and the 9th SUP Con-
gress,” he promised.

Over the past few years this
Soviet plant has supplied heavy
drilling, cold rolled steel plant
and other equipment to the
young steel town of Eisenhut-
tenstadt in the GDR. Converse-
ly, GDR equipment can be found
in Soviet factories.

he

ca he
ae
<—

<f) sts

It was here in the Urals also
that tanks and_ self-propelled
guns were built for the war
against Hitler. In the square in
Sverdlovsk the last gun, which
wasn’t used because peace was
won, stands as a memorial to
the contribution made to the
war effort. Honecker, who spent
10 years in nazi prisons until
freed in 1945 by Soviet soldiers,
examined the monument with
emotion.

The German leader, also was a
student to the international
Lenin School in 1930, has volun-
teered to help build the Magni-
togorsk Steel plant in this Urals
city. ‘“‘The dreams and plans of
those distant years,” he said,
“have been repeated a thous-
and-fold in the life and work of
the Soviet people.”

Recently the two states co-
ordinated their 1976-1980 draft
plans and the amount of trade
between them will increase from
20,000-million to 28,000-million
roubles. They will draw closer
together also by the share of
products made through cooper-
ation jumping from 27 to 35%.

The visit and signing of the
new treaty opens new prospects
for closer cooperation and eco-
nomic integration. It will also
help coordinate large-scale joint
projects in the economic, scien-
tific and technical fields.

During the signing of the USSR-GDR Treaty in Moscow, Oct. 7.

US. role in Lebanon cited

Recent armed clashes in Le-
banon are not the result of a

religious conflict, but are largely

due to American interference in-
Side the country. So said Nicho-
las Chaoui, general secretary of
the Communist Party of Leba-
Nen in a recent interview in

‘Beirut by a Hungarian television

Correspondent.

“Reactionary elements in the
Tab world and in Lebanon, to-
Sether with the Western press,
ave been striving to make in-
ternational public opinion be-
‘@ve that the things going on
in Lebanon are basically a reli-
8lous war between Christians
and Muslims,” the Communist
arty leader said.

“

- .. In our view, the armed

Clashes in Lebanon are based on
Wo fundamental causes: the
Tst is national and_ patriotic;
© second is socio-economic.”

The national cause is con-
Nected with the designs the

ee ted States has on the Middle
ast,

“The Americans would like
Lebanon to keep detached from
the common Arab cause while
they strike a crushing blow
against the Palestine resistance
movement,” Chaoui said.

“The Americans are well
aware that the Palestinian
movement is the greatest ob-
stacle in the way of carrying out
their designs on the Middle
East. Washington therefore de-
cided to intervene together with
the rightist and Falangist forces
in Lebanon, to arm them to the
teeth, in order to try to smash
into pieces the Palestinian
movement in Lebanon.”

The armed clashes that have
taken place over the last month,
are the result of the resistance
by the left to the U.S.-aided
right-wing assault.

The Communist Party leader
also attributed the conflict to
the growing social contradic-
tions inside the country.

“Social contradictions in the
leash a civil war,” he concluded.

grown extremely sharp. Along
with this came a higher degree
of class consciousness, an in-
crease in the number of workers
and peasants . . . a sharpening
of the struggle they are waging
together with the dispossessed
and the impoverished: the war
of the poor against the rich.”

Chaoui stressed the Commun-
ist Party’s opposition to army
intervention in the clashes, say-
ing that the military will not
carry out its role as a buffer
between the two sides, but will
eventually take sides in \he
politics, which might lead to
civil war.

“We Lebanese Communists
therefore oppose army interven-
tion and demand, together with
groups, a positive line emphas-
izing democracy and economic
development in this country.
The most important thing at the
moment is to smash the fascist
and’ right wing groups which
are constantly plotting to un-
past few years in Lebanon have
the rest of the progressive

- specialists

ih

Determined to restore
rights of Palestinians

MOSCOW—The Soviet Union
and Syria last week declared
they were completely in agree-
ment over the Middle East. The
statement was issued after Syr-

ian President Hafez al-Assad
ended a one-day visit to Mos-
cow.

“The leaders of the Soviet
Union and Syria have discussed

the present Middle East situa- .

tion and its influence on the in-
ternational situation as a
whole,” the communique said.
“Both sides stressed their de-
termination to do everything in

their power to restore and safe-

, guard the legitimate rights of

the Arab states and the Arab
people, including the Palestinian
Arabs.

“The talks took place in an
atmosphere of friendship, cordi-
ality and complete mutual un-
derstanding,” it added.

President Assad was in Mos-
cow at the head of a high-rank-
ing delegation — the first visit
of its kind since Egypt and Is-
rael signed their second interim
peace accord last month in a
move bitterly condemned by
Syria.

Western readers know
little of Soviet writers

By A. PALLADIN
APN

OTTAWA — Not long ago,
the Montreal Star, carried an
article by John Richmond, an
outstanding literary critic, in
which he said that while writ-
ings of Soviet “dissidents” and
emigrants are published in large
editions in the West, excellent
works by talented Soviet writ-
ers are little known to Western
readers.

Richmond is ready to bet that
nobody in the West, excluding
in modern Soviet
literature, knows anything about
Vasili. Shukshin, Vasili Bykov,
Fazil Iskander, Chingiz Aima-

- tov and many other Soviet writ-

ers and poets. No wonder. These
authors, unfortunately, are not
translated in the West, although
they are very popular in the
Soviet Union. The literary merits
of their works place them in the
same rank with well-known
Western writers.

These remarks, according to
Richmond, are the result of his
meeting Shingiz Aitmatov, who
recently spent 10 days in the

country and met local writers ©

and poets, literary critics and
people who simply love art.

“In the main I lecture about
Soviet literature,” said Aitma-
tov when I interviewed him. “I
spoke at the Faculty of Slav

Philology and the Institute of

Islamic Studies of McGill Univ-
ersity and talked with local writ-
ers, poets and playwrights.

“During these meetings I not
only told my listeners about our
literature, but also ‘tried to ex-
plain why the development of
the world literary process is im-
possible today without close
contact with Soviet authors.

“J invited our Canadian col-
leagues to more often exchange
views with us. One way to im-
prove contact is translations.
Everybody with whom I spoke
expressed readiness to expand
mutual contacts.

“I met Minister of Culture
Hugh Faulkner and discussed
with him the problem of mutual
translation and distribution of
the best Soviet works in Can-
ada and of the Canadian books
in the USSR.”

Recalling his talks. with Ait-
matov, Richmond said he was
embarrassed to learn how much
the Soviet writer knew about
Canadian literature and how
deeply it is being studied in the
Soviet Union. He admitted he
was equally embarrassed every

~ time he saw the Moscow literary

monthly Inostrannaya Litera-
ture, which has a circulation of
2 million copies, and which ac-
quaints the Soviet readers with
works by Western authors, not
necessarily pro-Soviet.

Since literature gives a chance
to better know the life of other
nations, Richmond therefore be-
lieves it absolutely necessary for
the West to learn to understand
what Soviet people write about,
read and honor.

Afro-Asian filmmakers’ meeting in June 1974.
PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 24, 1975—Page 5

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