} Ih wisharp contrast with Canada The GDR reduces prices BER! FILS DELISLE Nocratic | The German De- | Republic has granted liper Of its working people tays unin annual _holi- ier tantial wage increases inereagesr no Occupations, extra tions ca Mm lower-paid occupa- ‘those Ta daily premiums -for ‘impress INE on swing shifts, ben a financial arid other ’ ‘or construction workers _ away from home, plus Wonens ee, motions in “ine direct contrast to continu- Wages ation, the fall in real Ship ir Mass economic hard- the leading capitalist state the socialist Ger- *Dpreciab| new measures will ditions sa Mmprove living con- Measures broad scale. - trade Were worked out by UNtries union movement ad q2 Socialist Unity Party thde theecvernment. They in- Thin; ‘a following: the present Workerg of annual holiday for Will be 15 free workin g days Mecreased to 18. Since | What MARK SYDNEY Bal, and vy t2PPened in Por- Where will it lead to? er ‘guage that definitely. The Por- ‘Woting ‘Tewspaper O Seculo, On, Unist leadership of the der’, Comi arty, comments, “isiver NB days will be Nd s tation a4 they will. After the ‘ the ak © Portuguese people Kg toppi © of an army coup Nt ge ve the fascist govern- ~ the Belo Caetano dies Mstituts Tst task will be the te mn Of the Portuguese W Tegimen rv mnment by the ate at form: bly too early to. Sundays are not counted, this means a minimum annual holi- day of three weeks for an ad- ditional one and a half million workers (annual holidays here range up to one month). Workers employed on swing shifts will get a special extra premium of seven marks per day. - Extra Premiums ; Construction workers will get special an, extra premium of nine marks -per day for, every day they have to work on sites away from home, plus free lodg- ing and travel benefits. There will be monthly wage increase ranging from 50 to 100 marks per month for such categories as plant watchmen, chauffeurs, nurses and hospital workers, laundry employees, bank and in- surance employees and so on. Some measures will come into force on July 1 and some on January 1. Banner of Labor Another innovation is a new order, the Banner of Labor, which will be awarded annually in three classes to the country’s outstanding workers. Cash pre- miums accompany the orders will range from: 2,000 to 5,000 marks. Similar awards will also go to the best workers in var- jous industries on special days set aside for honoring thé work- ers in a given industry. These awards will also be accompanied by cash payments ranging from 1,000 to 5,000 marks. Price cuts announced simul- taneously cover women’s cloth- ing and accessories. Most cuts are between 20 and 30%. Thus pantyhose will now cost 30% less. Highpriced elegant wo- men’s suits consisting of blazer style’ jacket, pants and = skirt have been reduced from 392 marks 314. In sharp contrast to these so- cialist measures, the West Ber- lin senate decreed an 8% rent increase for 600,000 tenants in the capitalist enclave inside the GDR territory. At the same time the price of milk and most milk products began a new upward ascent in West Berlin. For workers in the GDR, an extra three da i i , rs ' ys of paid hol making a minimum of three weeks’ vacation for every road, haces and hospital workers, who in Canada have to fight tooth and nail for every penny, are also beneficiaries of the new wage ‘scale in the Se 4! hefty monthly wage increases. In the GDR, the govern- ment, trade union movement and Socialist Unity Pa i the interests of the working people. ve ee ee The Communist Party of Por- tugal has: stated clearly that it is ready “to assume its respon- sibilities ‘at the present political juncture”. There is little doubt that Mr. Cunhal and the Party will be participating in the provisional civilian “government that Genefal Spinola is expected to appoint by the middle or end of this month. Part of Democratic Revolution In a later speech, Mr. Cunhal explained the ‘success of the coup, saying: “The revolt was not a coup by a military clan, but an action that resulted from ‘a vast movement of officers who had adopted open and demo- cratic methods of discussion No NS this will tak : ~ ake ae ae point ie iscussed. All § é ee : the C ist Party of Portugal = dd ae see ®Mocr € opening up _— Alvaro Cunhal-{right), general secretary of the Communist Party of Portugal, waits to address the = “With. all , it tradi * varo Cunhal-{right), 9 h : d : ‘ , its contradictory tg hag lie. for that country huge crowd of 5,000 people that welcomed him home from exile on April 30. A woman leader of the characteristics, unique and orig- inal, the movement of the armed ta, under fascism initj ie New a Measures taken by tet hay ee after coming to ms the freon Uniquely posi- this; pee ce of political ier, ficia} ing press censor- mel op T€cognition of the anlit Panition parties (Com- ang Christia Y, Socialist Party Op heip sn Anti-Fascist Party hatetl2ation «°4 common front the and fo: dissolution of the PID + abel secret police, an lstrat Moval of colonialist ljgidue sah in Angola, Moz- te 6 Ee nigeau; the «Ueal . Te than 1,300 Veqotiegh, Somers in the three * ttn, e elections in a at of tation Struggle thgi'8 the .. CTucial problems Wea, Mie” regime, and a 2 as Of difference be- arg is the the democratic Mop, the tip Position taken to- reaabique oon Struggle: in alt Say, ngola and Gui- eee it : Sup etion tha was precisely | forty t motivated the i yee e Pinola, the new 4 ‘ny | Chieg fad of State, and : Othe, Afri the Portuguese Yn top » 2 had, along wi ‘ » al with touged thar Hay leaders, Tec be a NO military victory Over the libera- Party introduces him. tion movements), the new reé- gime has (although not defi- nitively) rejected the position that independence is the only solution. According to Spinola, what should be arrived at is a federa- tion of the territories with Portugal, with the metropole re- maining responsible for defense, commerce and foreign relations. This is one of the main ques- tions up for discussion, as the democratic opposition has reject- ed this position, calling for full independence. i The liberation movements have also said that they will accept nothing short of jnde- pendence, although an unpro- claimed ceasefire is now in effect. A radio broadcast of the Guinea- Bissau liberation moyement, the PAIGC, to Portuguese soldiers on April 26 declared: “. . - you also realize that no promise or proposition can pring a stop to our struggle if it does not contain the unconditional recognition of cur victory, manifested in the reality of our sovereign republic of Guinea-Bissau and the recog- nition of our independence.” "< Prepared for Discussions However, each of the libera- tion movements — FRELIMO, MPLA, and PAIGC—have said that they are prepared for dis- cussions on independence with the new regime. In Portugal itself, a delega- tion of the democratic move- ment, with representatives from all parts of the country met last week with the new regime. The’ French Communist Party news- aper ?Humanité writes: “And for the first time in 48 years, it can finally be written that an official. delegation of the Com- munist Party of Portugal was present at this national confer- ence (of the democratic move- ment on the Sunday before); for the first time it could be said that (the Communist Party rep- resentatives) were led by Com- munist leaders Dias Lourenco (released after 17 years in prison), Jose Magro, Rogero de Carvalho: and Jose Bernadino The conference of the demo- cratic forces elected a central commission that includes repre- sentatives from the different rrents. after the meeting with the military leaders of the new regime, General Spinola publicly noted. “the construc-ive sup- port”, given by the program drawn up by the conference, which, “corresponds in many of its major policies to that of the military”. - ; Cunhal Welcomed As published in the Toronto Star (May 6, 1974), the Com- munist Party of Portugal “has emerged from the underground with a powerful organization”. The Party’s General Secretary, Alvaro Cunhal, returned to the country after 12 years in exile. He was welcomed’ by the army and a crowd of supporters. Moments after his arrival from Paris, Mr. Cunhal was hoisted to the top of an armored per- sonnel carrier’ by young army ‘officers. Also, in display of unity, the leader of¢the Portu- guese Socialist ‘Party, Mario Soares, came to meet him at the airport with a delegation from that party. As the New York Times com- mented: “No other scene'so dra- matically illustrated the turn- over in Portuguese life that has followed the toppling of the 50- year-old rightwing dictatorship _.. Some saw a parallel to Lenin’s return to the Finland station in Leningrad in 1917 Immediately after his arrival Mr, Cunhal paid a call on General Spinola. forces and the events of the last few days are part of the process of the Portuguese democratic revolution.” : : He. suggested that one need only take a brief look at the program the junta announced to see just how much a part of the democratic movement the coup was. However, Mr. Cunhal warned that fascism’ still has- great strength in Portugal, and the danger of some kind of coun- ter-coup by the ultra-reactionary elements remains, as does the danger that elements . around the junta may try to freeze the development of democratic power. “We must not allow the regime which has come out of the coup to crystallize into a military dictatorship’, he warned. “Merely talking about rewrit- ing the constitution does not solve the problem of political power. “The coup has handed the initiative over to the people, and that initiative must be built on vimmediately”, Mr. Cunhal said. : All progressive: eyes are look- ing forward to the building of that initiative by the people of Portugal. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, MAY 10, 1974—PAGE 7