TIM BUCK VISITS A CZECH SKI RESORT

PRAGUE

WwW HEN a comrade here ask-

= ed me if I would like to
spend the weekend’ at a famous
ski resort, my first inclination was
te decline because, unfortunately,
I can’t ski. On, second thought
I decided that many of you in
Canada would be interested to
know something about the way
_ Czechoslovakian workers spend
their weekends. So I decided to
go. The comrade agreed to call
for me Saturday morning in time
_ to get the morning train, but luck
; ‘oo aqs age beaneae tam ipedearia nd
= automobile.
The place we went to is named
_ Spindleruv. It’s in the Bohemian
- mountains about 85 miles from
“Prague. There is a first class
_ maeadamized highway all the
way. :
_ Spindleruv was a famous winter

playground for the rich before |

the war. The rich of Czechoslo-
vakia went there to meet the rich

ef other coutries more than to
«ski...

Whe names of the hotels indi-

ate the sort of people to whom
they catered. One of the most
“posh” hotels of all is the Winds-
or. There is a Savoy, an Hsplan-
ade, a Grand, a Palace, a King
_ Edward, a Belvedere, as well as
the hotels with distinctive Ger-
- man names. Now they are going
_ to be renamed.

Spindleruv, along with ‘all the
other spas and resorts in Czecho-
slovakia has been taken over by

the state. It is public property,

of the country-wide system
various resorts, rest homes
‘recreational facilities.

- Administration of the country-
wide system is decentralized.
Those in Slovakia are operated
under the general direction of a
Slevak administration body. In
Bohemia, Slovakia, Moravia, a
large number are ‘operated di-
reetly by the hrade unions.

Altogether the trade unions op- —

erate 300 spas, rest homes and

Moravia and about 100 in

Slovakia. Throughout the coun-

hotels at each spa or resort

part of a system of state

wned and operated hotels, open

anybody, at rates which com-

pare favorably indeed with hotel
ati = Britain and France.

comrade arcu te

‘weekend had also taken up with

eoaartaned of his union the

si in literally every corner
Bohemia and Moravia with, a

sidecars ‘or trailers. The great-
est number of weekenders who
converged on the highway from
the multitude of sideroads and
small industrial towns were rid-
ing in trucks belonging to the
factories where they worked.

I remarked that it seemed to be
endangering the efficiency of a
plant to run the risk of its trucks,
or even one of them, being out of
service Monday because of a
breakdown or accident occurred
in taking a group of workers for
a weekend trip.

‘ The answer was quite serious
but quite unperturbed. “It would
be too bad for the people riding
in the truck because if that hap-
pened they might be kilometres
from a railway station or a bus
service. But, from the point of

view of the efficiency of a plant,
how can the effect be any worse

if thes truck breaks down while
earrying people during the week-
end than it would be if it broke
down while carrying materials or
products on Thursday?” The
Czechs are very practical.

When we arrived in Spindleruv,
about 5.80 Saturday evening, I

- got another surprise. The atmos-
phere was
“was still quite light and hundreds

literally festive. It

of skiers were to be seen on each
of the three broad mountainsides
which make a valley of the re-
sorts.

Hundreds of automobiles, trucks
and motorcycles were parked but
not all their passengers had gone
to their rooms or cottages or

_ whatever accommodation they

were staying at. Radios were com-

-peting; men and women from dif-
ferent towns were_meeting each

other (as comrade Glazerova sug-
gested, “for the first time since
last week”) and in every direction
lines of weekenders were climbing
up the various mountain paths —
in two cases full-sized highways
—to the places they intended to

Stay.

The hotel at which Anton and I
were to stay had already been re-

- mamed — the Duklas, after the

place were the Czechoslovakian

army first re-crossed the frontier
into Czechoslovakia in engage-—
“ment with the enemy during the

war.

at supper with about 200 workers,

many showing signs of wear and

tear — I learned that the major-

: ity of them were complete novices
on the pie: other with

— but all in a festive mood. An

Playgrounds for
the workers

orchestra played during the meal.

An hour later the orchestra
struck up again at which most of
the workers cast off their weari-
ness like a garment and danced
until midnight. As I went to bed
I decided that I must find out
more about how this seeming
spontaneous vacationing works.

Sunday morning I walked in
the bright sunshine down to the
administrative office from which
the hotels operated by the trade

unions are directed. Of all the

hotels in the’ Spindleruv resort
the trade union movement now
operates 25: Only 19 of them are
operated in the winter season
however. The other six have no
central heating and are used for
summer vacations only. The 19
hotels accommodate £AG0 guests.
at one time.

Their skiing season now ex-

tends from November until the -

‘end of March and with extremely
rare exceptions every day of that
period has good skiing conditions.

Everything is organized to make
it easy for a worker who has
never tried to ski. He or she can
rent skiis and skiing clothing
cheaply. There is a professional

instructor at each hotel and in-
struction is free. Certain areas —

are reserved for novices and once
every week competitions for no-

vices as well jas for the exper-

ienced skiers are held.

For experienced skiiers there is
a ski lift way up-the Goatsback
mountain 3,500 feet, with a ca-
pacity for 80 passengers. At the
top they can choose whether to
take the jump, for which they

have to be qualified, and the

supervision is strict, take one of
the two winding runs back to the
valley, or take one of the several
eross country trails that have re-
cently been developed from fhe

mountain top.

A new eontintious lift is now
being built to the top of Giant
mountain, the highest of the Bo-

_hemian mountains. It will take
skiers up to approximately 5,000 .

feet, and there will be numerous

new cross country trails as well
‘as two more ski runs directly

down the valley. In 1949 the In-
ternational Student’s Sports Com-
petition was held there.

Each hotel has an_ orchestra
and a director of cultural activi-

- ties. Workers coming must start _

their vacation at the beginning

_ of the week and the hotels operate

on a basis which ensures that,
with occasional excepttions, | all

the guests at any one of them —
start their vacation together and

end it together. The exceptions
are usually when guests staying
one week and guests staying two
weeks want to be at the same
place.

The guests eleeit a enti com-
mittee to cooperate with the direc-

tor for organizing their cultural ©

activities. There is a movie thea-
ter in Spindleruv and the hotels
show movies two or three even-

ings, scweek: Alia “frote the

_ standing,

state theater tour the hotels from
time to time, sometimes cooperat-
ing with the vacationers’ choir
and putting on a full evening of
entertainment. Each hotel hajs
a well stocked library of records
to supplement radio program

Painters, who visit Spindleruv
in considerable numbers, frequent-
ly give talks about their art. Writ-
ers, trade union leaders, scientists,
and members of pariament, also
lecture frequently. .

_ Altogether a vacationer has
quite a number of things,to choose
from — and if none of them satis-
fy, he or she may find pleasure
in skating, or swimming in the
natural warm pools of which there
are several. At the height of the:
season, particularly Christmas, a
band plays outside for skating in
the evenings.

_ By the time I had learned all
this I began to fear that the cost /
of such a winter vacation must be
high. I found that the contrary
is the case.

The hotels at Spindleruv, like
the hundreds of resorts in other
parts of the country, are operated
by the trade unions as part of.
their service to their membership.
Provided a member; is in good
(payment of union dues
is voluntary in Czechoslovakia—
there is no checkoff), the cost of
winter or summer vacation is
nominal; 300 Czech krons,. equiva-

lent to $6 for the entire week.

There are no extras, no tips, no
“side tips.” The only thing that
might entail additional expendi-
ture is the cost to novices of rent-
ing skiis and skiing outfits.

The standard by which the_un-
ion committee in any plant hai
to decide, in the event that more
workers apply for accommodation
in any one week than is available,
is the record of the applicants.
Any workers who has won recog-
nition through some contribution
to the fight for SooMRa gets
preference.

The summer season, which used
to be negligible is now crowded.

‘More and more of the workers are

coming to the moutains for fish-
ing and hikes in the. mountain
air, The summer season lasts from

' early June to the end of Septem-

ber.

I learned that, in addition to the —
hundreds of hotels and resorts op-
erated by the trade union move-
ment, the Communist party and

_ the Democratic Youth League also_
ORSPALS As few resorts.
@

. After juneh Pacer afternoon,
comrade Glazerova suggested that
to show me an example of the
state hotel system, the four of us

should hike around the base of
Giant mountain and stop at one

of the state operated hotels for
afternoon tea,’ One of the group,
Yaroslav, decided he had walked

enough for one day but the rest
: of us accepted the suggestion. :

We were joined. by two other

comrades ‘as we started out and,
after a fairly hefty bit of walking,
we landed in the lobby of the Sa-
voy just as folks -were gathering

for the variety of cold delicacies
that the Czechs pass off as
“afternoon tea.”

One of the comrades who had ~

joined us on the walk knew some
member of the staff. When that

' person. learned that one of our

group was a visitor from Canada
she burst into an excited speech
which I learned was an explana-
tion that the general director of
the state hotel system was there
right now and wouldn’t I like to
be introduced to him. I was glad
to do so of course, only to learn
after awhile that he and his wife
were out skiing. Before we fin-
ished our ‘tea’ they came in and

were brought over to our table..

Who should they turn out to be
but comrade Andre: Mandel and
his wife (who was for several
years dance director for the Slo-
vak section of the IWO in New
York.)

In the short time available be-
fore we had to leave for the drive
back to Prague, Andre told me
a little about the development of
the countryside system of the
state operated hotels and spas in

Czechoslovakia. They offer acco-,
-modation to anybody in Czech-

osovakia at rates which start at
150 krons per day, equivalent to
$3 which includes meals and elab-
orate expensive accommodation.

The state hotels in the mountain
resorts have followed the example

of the hotels operated by the

trade unions and now operate a
much longer season than was the
ease previously. A

Andre told me that the first

time it was decided to experiment
with opening at Spindleruv be-.

fore Christmas, a public an-
nouncement was made that a limi-
ted amount of accommodation

would be opened for the Czecho- |
slovakian holiday of October , 28, |

for three days. The plan was

to open three of the state hotels

for October 28, 29 and 30,

But during the evening of Oc-

tober 27, the people who arrived
by train and bus and automobile
filled those three right to capaci-
ty. People kept on arriving, the

local managers. got Prague by
phone in a virtual panic as to_

what they should do, They were

instructed to open up the other.
hotels to provide at least shelter
for the people and, said he with ©
“we haven’t been

a broad grin,
able to close them again. *

The four of us drove back to

Prague — again in the company

.of every type of self-propelled

conveyance. When Anton and I
were dropped at the place where |
both of us stay, I said, “You're —
drooping, don’t tell me you're
tired?” He looked at me wi
a grin and said in his exact Eng-
lish, “It’s the mountain air, it
makes me yety sleepy. i

‘It did me too, but I was certa
ly glad that I had taken that non-
skiing weekend at Spindleruv.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — APRIL 14, 1950 — PAGE 4

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