PT editor Maurice Rush was in Romania for the 30th enniversary
_Selebration. Photos show Romania today. Top, a diesel
Scomotive plant. Centre, Romania’s biggest port at Constanta on

€ Black Sea. Below, mining coal.

Canadian textbooks aim
of teachers, authors

Students in B.C. schools may
Witte reading from school texts
183 from a Canadian viewpoint
tect efforts by the B.C.
Ca a Federation and the
ay een Authors. Association find
se iiaales in the provincial
Dub Ment of education and

T Shing houses.
branch Vancouver and Victoria
Associ.) Of the Canadian Authors
Peg, “tion and the B.C. Teachers
&tap)-t10n succeeded last week in
Which Sting a joint committee
Make Will review manuscripts and
Yenare recommendations. to the
‘ontign nt of education on their
Natio a for school use. The for-
tise, 1.Of the committee followed
ety, Slons held earlier this year
two *en the Canadian authors and
de otticials in the education
Prog, ent responsible for
“Abpruming and curriculum.

Can Topriately entitled From a
Mites sn Viewpoint, the com-
Yo S been seen as an im-
Stand; achievement in a_long-
ueate Campaign waged by
XE sat ors, authors and parents to
Canad: the domination of the
a textbook industry by
n publishers and writers.
soo! Millway, president of the
tq .2tion’s Vancouver branch

. Mitte, member of the joint com-

Pointed out that the

publication of school texts is a
major branch of the publishing
industry in which U.S. publishers,
with their huge press runs and
lower unit costs, have a distinct
advantage over their Canadian
counterparts. She added, “the
situation has been worsened in
recent years by U.S. takeovers of
such Canadian publishers as W. J.
Gage and Ryerson Press.”

a Miliway also noted that the
committee would be one means of
satisfying the rising demand from
teachers, parents and students
themselves for material presented
entirely from a Canadian
viewpoint — not merely Canadian
adaptations of U.S. texts.

Material sought by the com-
mittee includes well illustrated
non-fiction for beginning readers,
fiction drawn from Canadian life
and history for older students and

biographies of Canadians from all

walks of life who have helped to
shape this country. te
Manuscripts and _ inquiries
should be directed to Betty
Millway, Canadian Authors
Association, in care of the B.C.
Teachers Federation, 105 — 2235
Burrard St., Vancouver, B.C.
Envelopes should be marked From
a Canadian Viewpoint and a
nominal fee will be charged for
handling and mailing costs.

WHILE CAPITALISM IN CRISIS

Socialist countries
are forging ahead

By MAURICE RUSH

The thing that impresses one
most on returning to Canada after
visiting the socialist world is the
sharp contrast between the
booming economy and optimism of
the people in the socialist coun-
tries, and the economic crisis and
pessimism which has gripped the
capitalist world.

This was brought home most
vividly to me and my wife Lillian,
when we returned to Vancouver in
mid-September after spending a
month in Romania as guests of the
Central Committee of the
Romanian Communist Party. I had
visited Romania six and a half
years ago aS a member of a
delegation from the Canadian
Communist Party which. was
headed by Tim Buck. Measured
against my earlier visit, I was able
to see the spectacular advances
made by Romania in building
socialism. :

Our visit started out as a holiday,
but when we arrived in Bucharest
we were invited to take part in the
official celebrations marking the
30th anniversary of the liberation
of Romania from _ fascist
domination. It was an_ inspiring
experience. It not only gave us an
opportunity to see the advances
being made by Romania, but also
to meet and talk with leaders of
Communist parties from many
socialist countries such as France,
Spain, Japan, Luxembourg,
Norway and many of the Latin
American countries. In addition,
there were many representatives
from newly developing countries in
Africa and Asia.

As it turned out, many of the

delegates stayed after the official

celebrations for a few days of
holiday at Romania’s Black Sea
coast and in the Carpathian
Mountains where we met many of

them and held some very in-*

teresting and informative
discussions. :

From what we saw in Romania,
and from what we were told by
comrades from other socialist
countries, it’s clear that socialism
is reaching a new stage of maturity
and is surging forward everywhere
to a new and more advanced stage
of development.

In a very interesting discussion
with two members of the Central
Committee of the Communist
Party of France we saw the
seriousness with which the French
Communists are approaching the
fight to gain the last mile which
would enable them, together with
their democratic allies, to form a
peoples’ government in France.
The French party is convening an
extraordinary congress. in
November to gear themselves for
the next political battles after
coming within a hairsbreadth of
electing a popular government in
the last election.

One of the French comrades put
‘it to me this way: ‘‘We know the
great responsibility we have to the
international working class
movement. A victory for the forces
of democracy. and socialism in
France would bring about
profound changes in. the political
situation in Europe.”

Romania, which has about the
same population as Canada, has
undergone a sweeping. tran-
sformation ‘from the semi-feudal
country it was 30 years ago, toa
modern industrial state. Socialism
has. changed the face of the
country. And along with the in-
dustrialization which has, and is

taking place, the standard of living
is rising rapidly. For example, the
national income is today 12 times
as great as it was in 1947. Real
wages of workers are ap-
proximately five times what they
were 25 years ago, and farmers’
income has more than tripled
during this period.

This is reflected in the wellbeing
one sees on all sides. My wife
remarked, after seeing the many
restaurants, sidewalk cafes, shops,
that ‘‘they are the eatingest people
I’ve ever seen.”’ It’s also reflected
in the large numbers of new
apartments, parks, recreational
areas; and by the people on the
streets who are well and stylishly
clothed.

We spent a major part of our
time on the Romanian Black Sea
coast which is called the Romanian
Riviera. One has to see it to believe
it. The whole Romanian Black Sea
coast is beautiful sandy beaches
from one end to the other. The
Romanian government has built
resort hotels and complexes which
have few equals. One such complex
at Mangalia, called Olympus, is
the most spectacular all-round
beach resort I have ever seen,
combining beautiful hotels, shops,
swimming pools, restaurants,
recreation facilities,
development and promenades.

The facilities on the Black Sea
coast are capable of serving two
million people a season. In addition
to the facilities being used by the
Romanian people, tens of
thousands of tourists come from
western Europe who are
discovering the Romanian Riviera.

On the plane from London to
Bucharest. we met an English
couple who told us they were going
back for their second holiday. They
had been to the south of France,
Spain and other European resort
areas, but they liked the Black Sea
coast best. ‘“‘They really look after
you there and the facilities are

‘wonderful without crass com-

mercialism,’”’ they told us after
explaining that their friends
cannot understand why they go to
“a Communist country” for their
summer holiday.

beach

The Black Sea coast tourist in-
dustry is ‘a large source of foreign
currency for the Romanian
government.

In our travels to Brasov, a major
industrial city in the mountains, we

passed many of the new industries“

which have sprung up in Romania.
We travelled through the oil-rich
Ploesti area where before the
revolution, the oil industry was
owned by foreign capital, and not a
barrel was processed in Romania.

Now they -have a large petro-
chemical industry, a plastics in-
dustry, and are searching for new
oil resources for their booming
manufacturing industries. This is
an object lesson for Canada. It
shows what a small country can do
with its oil resources once it gains
control over them and uses them to
develop its economy.

Romania now manufactures its
own automobiles, trucks, farm
equipment and heavy industrial
equipment. It has a steel industry
which was modernized with the aid
of the Soviet Union. It has an ad-
vanced computer industry and an
institute for atomic physics.

Its major port of Constanta on
the Black Sea, which we visited,
has large facilities with scores of
huge cranes: for loading and
unloading. The Soviet Union has
given great assistance to Romania
in developing its new industries
and in modernizing the old ones.

Romanian trade, especially with
the socialist countries and the
Soviet Union through the socialist
common market called
COMECON, is expanding.
Cooperation is growing, and dif-
ferences with the Romanian
Communist Party on a number of
political questions is not standing
in the way of Romania’s socialist
development and its growing
cooperation with the socialist
camp. The closer relations with the
Soviet Union was underscored by
the fact that Soviet Premier
Kosygin headed the Soviet

delegation to the anniversary
celebrations.
While in Bucharest to attend
See SOCIALISM, pg. 12

——

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1974-Page 3