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mowing is am-except
from the Cuban Embassy’s
}™onthly. This is from the No-
7 "mber, 1962 issue.

; .

| Jack Scott is one of the most
7} Widely-read journalists in Can-
7 a. His column for the Vancou-
Yer Sun is reprinted regularly in
7 Many other Canadian newspap-
ers,
7} Scott, who recently paid hig
_ first visit to Cuba since 1946,
jas taken great interest in the
} “Periences of the Cuban Revo-
lution from the very beginning.
On his way back to Canada after
_ } “veral weeks in South America,
: Scott spent fifteen days in Ha-
7 Yaa; he visited all areas of the
“7°, nearby towns and _ inter-
7 Ylewed Cubans of variotis social
7% economic backgrounds.
} Scott came into direct contact
] With Students, professionals, for-
zr Mer housemaids, workers and
farmers, From their lips he heard
f the truth about Cuba, repeated in
; tis column on his return to Can-
} ada,
aa * * *
} In the school for former house-
) Maids that functions in the Hotel
| acional, Scott interviewed a 16-
) Year-old student and a 2l-year-
{ld instructor, both former house-
| Maids.
| The young student told Scott
_) *0W she had been doing domestic
) Work since she was thirteen, and
OW the Revolution had given her
| the Opportunity for a better fut-
| We, ;
“This is something new to me,”
Scott told her. “I have a daugh-
_ ®t your age, and she’s more
_Mterested in Elvis Presley and
Musical comedies than in political

... While

WwW: have undertaken to
destroy the country
‘Md are pursuing this effort
With the tenacity of idots,”
© conservative Correo de La
“de (Buenos Aires) wrote
"cently.
And to one revisiting this
| “ountry, the destruction is ap-
Parent. Roads are no longer
| “ing repaired and in the
"entre of Buenos Aires there
*fe entire blocks where one
pt walk in peril amid traf-
. dodging the gaping man-
Zed holes in what once was
mvement. New _ buildings
‘ae incompleted, their
Uctures rotting and crumb-
1g; old houses are disinte-
Stating, with nobody able to
we for repairs; street light-
eae residential districts is
ty, and indoor electricity
Night is so weak only child-

€
N can manage to read.
Sa

_ a
MANAGEMENT? | BOR a

, “
So long... partner!”
FRED WRIGHT

ee

affairs. In my country, we get.
interested in politic’ when we're
in our thirties.”’” ™**

Aracellia, the young iffStructor,
almost interrupted the journalist
in her eagerness to answer:

‘When he was thirty years old,
Fidel Castro was already fight-
ing in the mountains of Oriente
for the liberation of his country.

uba marching ahead...

ready with another question:
“T’ve seen people puing to the
Ministry of Foreign Kelauong to
get their pasypects, surely be-
cause they wt to leave the
country. What ao you think about
that?’’

The 16-year-old answered him:

“Those people want to leave
because they’re selfish and they

“Do you believe tk=t food ra-
tioning or scarcity evan detract
from the popularity of m2 Revolu-
tionary Government?”’

“Why don’t you go and ask the
people you saw there waiting for
their passports?” asked the girl.
“Maybe they think there’s ration-
ing or scarcities and they’re up-
set about it. But for people like
us, who never had anything be-
fore and now have plenty to eat
and other opportunities, for us

Vancouver Sun columnist Jack Scott (right) Rene Arcay Co-operative in Meriel, province

visiting a new town under construction on the of Pinar del Rio, Cuba

And last year, at Playa Giron,
14 and 15-year-old boys shot down
enemy planes and fought the in-

vaders.”’
* * *

Obviously impressed, Scott was

Argentina

The crisis has affected all
sections of society. Civil ser-
vants, soldiers, old-age pen-

sioners, and many workers
in private industry receive
their pay two to three months
late.

The recent Post Office
strike, which lasted a month,
was called because postal em-
ployees had not been paid
since May.

Minister of Economics Also-
garay has now suggested pay-
ing civil servants in govern-
ment bonds—bonds which
pay neither for bread nor
meat nor milk, though they
may be used to pay such
items as utilities. The same
small drama is enacted daily
in millions of families—there
is no money to buy food or
replace essential clothing, and
children walk several miles
to school to save the few pen-
nies in bus fare.

* * x

“Even where wages are paid

on time, most housewives

can’t make ends meet, for

te aw! x  #:
‘

don’t like the fact that they no
longer have speciai privileges,
that evervore fas the same op-
portunities in lie.’

The Canadian s9«iqued ques-
tioning: ;

© e e

though wages stood — still,
prices have doubled for
light, gas, transportation, oil,
eggs and potatoes.

One of 20,000 peas-
ants who recently
staged a Hunger
March in Argentina.
Since the emerg-
ence of a_ strong
united front (Com-
munist, P er o nist,
etc.) an explosive
situation has de-
veloped in this
country, . which is
presently under
military rule.

Wages which must provide
for an average family of four
run between $50 and $100 a
month, with consumer goods
selling at world market prices
and above.

Shopkeepers use every art-
ifice to increase sales, but
the stores remain empty. At
movie theatres, where one
used to have to make reser-
vations or stand in line for
hours, only the cheapest seats
are sold out and one can walk
in at any time.

Bankruptcies and suicides
are daily occurrences, accom-
panied by capital ‘flight and
the flight of capitalists. In
business circles, merchandise
is being accepted as payment,
but many _ creditors don’t
know what to do with the
vast amount of goods re-
ceived.

* * *

On Oct. 12 the Union In-

dustrial Argentina in a unan-

”

there’s no rationing . . .
ak * *

On the Arcay Henequen Co-
operative, near the town of Maria-
no, 35 miles west of Havana,
Scott visited the homes of farm-

imous resolution asked the
government to take action to
save the country from ‘‘total
economic collapse and chaos.”’
The union declared:
“Enterprises lack capital

due to continuous inflation, -

-zpeated devaluation of the
currency, increasingly heavy
taxation and servere credit
restrictions. There is no
money to finance the pur-
chase of raw materials need-
ed to maintain the normal
rhythm of production
Sales are falling constantly,
as purchasing power = de-
creases with every day. :
“New machinery lies idle,
with no funds available to
buy primary materials, pay
wages or promote sales, so
that today we find ourselves
in a position where the ma-
jority of articles which could
be produced within the coun-

ers to see for himself how they
lived.

- He asked permission to look in-
side the refrigerators in two of

the houses — they were well ©

stocked with food.

One of the men, who had been
employed by ‘the old Henequen
company, told him about life
there:

“Before the Revolution, yes, we
were hungry here. Beef stayed
in the butcher shop for fifteen
days, because it was a luxury
article. There was no money to
buy it. Now we slaughter two
bulls a week and the beef is sold
out in one afternoon. Meat is not
rationed here and there are no
ration books. We distribute food
according to the needs “of the
familie, living on the co-opera-
tive.”’

Scott saw the new homes, al-
most finished, where the mem-
bers of the co-operative will soon
be living.

* * *

The following day, Scott visited
the JoSe Marti Elementary School
in Santa Maria del Mar, a coastal
town east of Havana. There he
chatted with children of Cuban
repatriates and foreign refugees,
children whose parents had to
leave the United States. The son
of Robert Williams, U.S. Negro
leader living in Cuba with his
family in political exile, told
Scott:

“Do you believe that in Monroe,
North Carolina, I could sit down
at a table next to a white girl,
like I do here, and that we could’
study and play together? Do
you believe that? To me, Cuba’s
the only place in the world! I
sure know it!”

Time and time again, Jack
Scott had such opportunities to
learn the truth about Cuba...

E

try are being imported at an
infinitely larger expenditure
of foreign currency.”

>» oF

Calling for “austerity” in
government expenditure; the
industrialists asked for a re-
duction in taxes, the recon-
struction of state enterprises,
longer hours for civil serv-
ants, a consolidation of the
foreign debt and an embargo
on new industries.

The industrialists also de-
manded that the government
create a system of social se-
curity.

In August, 1961, the un-
employed were listed official-
ly at 100,000. In October of
this year the figure had risen
to 500,000 . . . For every job
advertised, a hundred appli-
cants appear.

—URSULA WASSERMAN
(National Guardian)

. 2 ee

| =a

Avrom’s sketch of the lead character in the CBC teleplay “The
Indian”, seen on Sunday, Nov. 25, across Canada. The play
was written by George Ryga, young Alberta poet and starred
Len Birman.

Dec. 7;°1962—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 5

sacs ON