SPARSE 2

SS Sins

Xray nemerow

DENSA REED IER ISAT LN FIA TB

TOs

AO OO

WORLD

Soviet unions, gov't, respond to British miners’ request

MOSCOW — The Soviet Union, as an expression of
solidarity with the striking coal miners of Britain, has
stopped the shipment of coal and oil to that country. This
was done on the request by the National Union of Miners
(NUM), through its President, Arthur Scargill.

On receiving the request, the Central Committee of
the Soviet coalminers union, after consultation with the
oilworkers union and the seamen’s union, requested the
Soviet Government to halt all shipments of combustibles
to Britain. The Government acceded to this request,
even though it meant that the Soviet Union would lose a
significant sum in British currency it had been counting
on towards balancing its international trading accounts.

The Soviet Government also decided to stop the use of
Soviet ships carrying combustibles to Britain from other
countries, which represents another loss in foreign cur-
rency. According to reliable sources here, once the
strike is over, it may be difficult to regain these contracts.

Your reporter had a most informative meeting with
Alexander Belousov, Secretary of the Central Com-
mittee of the Soviet coalminers union. For this occasion,
he proudly wore his cufflinks and tie pin with the crest of
district 18 of the United Mineworkers of America, given
to him recently when he headed a delegation hosted by
District 18 in Alberta.

Belousov told me that his union of 2.5 million mem-
bers has a long tradition of class struggle and inter-
national solidarity. ‘‘We will never forget’’ he said, ‘‘the
outstanding role played by the British miners during the
Hands Off Russia campaign in the crucial period follow-
ing the establishment of Soviet power.”

After the collapse of the British General Strike in 1926,
the British miners continued their strike under very
difficult circumstances, and the Soviet workers, al-
though suffering great hardships then, contributed a sum
of money to the British miners in the amount of two
million pounds sterling.

Subsequently, as Belousov told me, there were ups
and downs in the relations between the Soviet Union and
Britain at the state level, but good relations always pre-
vailed between the miners of both countries. Citing
World War Two as a period of unity and cohesion be-
tween the workers of both countries, he pointed out that
after the post-war split in the world trade union move-
ment, the British miners found themselves in the Inter-
national Confederation of Free Trade Unions while their
Soviet counterparts remained with the World Federation
of Trade Unions. “‘Despite this split’, he told me, ‘‘the
British miners managed to maintain their faith in inter-
national solidarity and freedom of expression.

Two days after the British coalminers strike began last
March, the Soviet coalminers union began to receive
letters from individual miners and working collectives.
Our main concern was ‘“‘how can we help”’ the British
miners. ‘‘Can we send money? Do they need food?”’ At
that time, there was no request for assistance from

Jack Phillips new
Moscow Correspondent

The Canadian Tribune
announces the appoint-
ment of Jack Phillips as
the paper’s Moscow cor-
respondent. Phillips,
with long experience in
journalism, politics and
the trade union move-
ment, will cover a wide
range of topics in his reg-
ular reports from the
Soviet capital.

Although he calls Van-
couver his home town, Phillips has been, from 1981
to 1984 the representative of the Communist Party
of Canada on the board of the magazine, World
Marxist Review, in Prague.

As an active trade unionist over many years, he
served as secretary of the Vancouver Civic
Employees Union (Outside Workers), and as a
staff representative for the Canadian Union of Pub-
lic Employees. While in the trade union move-
ment, Phillips was active in the Vancouver and
District Labor Council.

He worked for the Communist Party in British
Columbia from 1974 to 1981. For several years he
wrote a popular commentary, Labor Comment, in
the weekly Pacific Tribune.

This is Phillips’ first report from Moscow.

Britain.

When the request came in April, the Soviet miners’
union consulted their Government and the ban was
imposed on the shipment of all combustibles to Britain,
as per the request of the British miners.

When I asked Belousov if his union had found any
difficulties in convincing the Soviet Government to make
this decision, he replied witha smile, ‘‘As in all questions
relating to the lives of our workers, there was a process
of mutually arriving at a decision through discussion and
consultation.”

Try as I may, I cannot imagine a Canadian trade union,

or the Canadian Labor Congress, obtaining the same
results after a discussion with the Mulroney Govern-
ment. To this date, Soviet miners have donated more
than one million pounds sterling to the British miners and

have sent large quantities of food. The Soviet miners’ .

union has received many requests from working people
who are not miners; from students and from pensioners,

USSR halts coal shipments to UK

asking where to send money to help the British miners.

In response, a special account with a bank number
was set up for this purpose. Some pensioners volun-
teered to give part of their savings. Others wanted to
send clothes or food. One pensioner wanted to send
apples from the trees in his garden.

When I asked him what motivated the Soviet miners to
donate so generously, Belousov was direct and concise:
‘‘The British miners are fighting for the right to a job, a
basic human right. We won that right, constitutionally
and in practice, more than 50 years ago. Yes, we close
mines that are no longer economic to operate, but a new
mine is opened up in the same area or another enterprise
is commissioned to provide suitable employment for the
displaced miners. Our society has a planned economy,
operated in the interest of the working people. We iden-
tify with the British miners.”

Belousov led a Soviet delegation which attended an
international conference for solidarity with the British
miners which was held in Paris on October 15. At this
conference, Vern Jones, head of the International
Department of the Mineworkers Union in Britain,
painted a grim picture.

Some 7,000 miners have been arrested on the picket
lines and five people have been killed as a result of
clashes with the police. On October 13, A Dutch ship
arrived in the British port of Hull, carrying food from
socialist countries in Europe and from Denmark and
Sweden. British dockers unloaded the cargo free of
charge, but it was then placed in quarantine, allegedly for
health reasons but in reality to strike another blow at the
miners and their families.

The Paris conference appealed to all national trade
union centers to step up their aid to the British miners. It
also called on the Thatcher Government to change its
attitude towards the strike.

When I asked Belousov for a message to the Canadian
workers, he replied as follows: ‘‘International solidarity
is the only channel through which help can be organized
and people spared from hunger and death.’’ This is a
grim message, but it is a realistic one, given the critical
situation confronting the striking miners and their
families at this time.

Currently, there is a large group of British miners and
their families enjoying a one-month holiday in this coun-
try as the guests of the Soviet coalminers union. In a
recent press conference, Derek Reeves, head of the
delegation, said he was especially impressed ata meeting
in the Donetsk Basin where miners decided to donate 10
per cent of their daily earnings to the British strike fund.
Similar responses came from other mines.

“On our part’’, said Reeves, ‘‘we will do everything
we can to broaden the international labor solidarity cam-
paign which is a good platform for large-scale actions by
the working people of the whole in the struggle against
the arms race.”’

Solidarity marks Chile protest days

By PAUL OGRESKO
TORONTO — As the general
strike on Oct. 30 rocked the
Pinochet regime, mass rallies of
support were held across Canada.
Speaking to a large rally in Toron-
to, Waldo Gonzalez, spokes-

person for the Popular Demo-
cratic Movement (MDP) stated,
*“We have never witnessed sucha
turn-out across Canada as we

resolve, after 11 years, that
Pinochet’s days are truly
numbered.”’

Chile’s general strike, accord-
ing to press reports, exceeded
organizers’ expectations and took
place despite a curfew imposed
by the regime. Transportation
and business ground to a halt and
protesters battled with police who
fired on crowds killing four per-

power lines, banks and govern-
ment offices.

Radio Chilena, the Catholic
radio station, was banned from
broadcasting news about the
events while a second decree ob-
liged newspapers and magazines
to use only government-supplied
photographs. Television stations
are also required to use only film
supplied by the regime.

have seen today. This shows the

sons. Bomb blasts damaged

—

Support rallies, vigils, and
hunger strikes took place in
Halifax, Quebec, Montreal, Ot-
tawa, Winnipeg, Regina, Saska-
toon, Edmonton, and Vancouver.
o Oct. 30 was marked in Toronto by
| & a spirited demonstration outside
=the Chilean consulate and the
¢ presentation of thousands of sig-
4 = natures of support for the Chilean
| people in their struggle against the
© Pinochet regime. However when
| Duncan MacDonald, represent-
Zing the Ontario Federation of

% © Labor which had fully supported
& : Wee fe ; “the general strike, attempted to
Toronto marchers add their voices ‘to the demand for an end to present the petitions to a rep-
Pinochet's regime. resentative of the Chilean

government he was told the con-
sulate was ‘‘closed for in-
ventory”. Winnipeg supporters
sent 500 solidarity cables to the
MDP in Chile.

That evening MacDonald ex-
pressed the support of the Cana-
dian Labor Congress at a rally
held in Toronto. ‘‘I’m proud to
tell you the CLC stands in solidar-
ity with the Comando Nacional de
Trabajadores (CNT) and its gen-
eral strike. You have the full sup-
port of the international trade
union movement.’’ The mood at
the Toronto rally became increas-
ingly one of celebration as it be-
came clear the breadth and mili-
tancy of the strike in Chile had
succeeded all expectations.

While news from Chile was li-
mited since the military junta had
shut down the offices of the MDP
and had censored all media ex-
cept for official government
communiques, reports from
Radio Havana indicated the suc-
cess of the general strike. Radio

Havan reported a ‘‘state of siege”’
had been declared by Pinochet;
thousands had been arrested,
schools and universities closed,
factories shut down, and, in spite
of brutal attacks by the police,
thousands had taken to the streets
in protest.

The tremendous role culture
plays in the lives of the Chilean
people was evidenced by the
music played by Group Retorno,
songs of protest and of freedom,
and by two magnificent murals
that had been collectively painted
that day. One of the murals, by
Chilean Mothers For Peace, was
an expression of peace and re-
union. The other mural was

‘painted by Chilean Youth In Exile

and was a replica of a mural that
had adorned the walls of the Uni-
versity of Concepion, a mural
which the fascist regime had or-
dered painted over the day follow-
ing the coup.

As one of the artists explained,
“It is a homage to the people who
have returned to Chile.”’

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, NOVEMBER 7, 1984 e 7

ne ee ct Ma LM LM LE EE PRA EAS BEE AIA LAA LE ARLES ANNALS ELE ELLA ARERR A AER RENE BEES ELLA AOAC AM MAMA ALAM LALLA ALAM AEE AREER IEA NAMELESS ALLAN NANPA LL LOLA LALLA ALON NANT AEN AION een reagan

ea le er at

a i
eaeencretaides 60) 6 hs hae og Biel emt aglp