Nicaragua: future without landlords?

Nicaraguans may. soon look forward to a future with-
out landlords.

The revolutionary Sandinist government recently an-
nounced that a law is now under discussion in the State
Council that would permit renters to become owners of
their present dwellings, thus ending the idea of housing
Tentals as a ‘‘business.”’

According to the law, people who have paid rent for 20
years would automatically be converted into home-
Owners. Others would continue to make small monthly
payments, similar to mortgage payments, which would

applied toward the eventual purchase of their homes
or apartments. These contracts would be for a maximum
of 20 years, at 3% annual interest.
uxurious mansions, not occupied by their owners,
would be transformed by law into government buildings
and diplomatic embassies. All former proprietors would
be indemnified, provided that they still live in the
country,
This law is just one example of the numerous mea-

MODERN RIDDLES
HAT

Now kipples, W
‘Goes ue, BUT
NEVER Come
DOWN

NOT IN NICARAGUA!

From
Latin America

Cindy Hawes

sures, intended to improve the lives of the Nicaraguan
people, enacted since the Sandinist government came to
power in July 1979.

In the first two years, the government successfully
conducted an ambitious literacy campaign, reducing the
illiteracy rate from more than 50% to 12%. It lowered
unemployment from 40% to 12%, kept inflation at 16%,
and dramatically increased the number of doctors and
health workers, especially in remote areas of the
country.

This was all accomplished despite constant threats of
external aggression and internal destabilization, orches-
trated by the CIA.

But much still remains to be done. The devastating
1972 earthquake and subsequent bombings of cities by
Somoza during the liberation war left thousands of
Nicaraguans homeless. At the moment, there is a short-
age of approximately 300,000 living units in the country.

To help solve the housing problem the Sandinists,
immediately after the triumph of the revolution, first
decreed rent reductions to affordable amounts. Now
they have taken a further step: proposed the law that
would turn renters into owners.

Nicaragua is a country of scarce economic resources.
When Somoza fled the country he robbed nearly the
entire national treasury, leaving behind $3,500,000 and a
foreign debt of $500,000,000. Assistance from foreign
countries (except the U.S. which cut off aid and loans in
1981) has been helpful, but still not enough to meet the
needs of rebuilding the war-ravaged country.

Nevertheless, under these adverse conditions, the
revolutionary government is steadily moving ahead. For
example, on Jan. 22, Minister of Interior Trade Dionisio
Marenco announced that the government had decided to
nationalize the distribution of soap, oil and flour as mea-

Devastating 1972 earthquake destroyed much of the
housing.

sures ‘‘indispensable for the economic defence of the
country.’’ The legislation, which went into effect two
days later, was expected to put an end to the ‘“‘hoarding,
artificial shortages and price speculation’’ practiced by
certain distributors, according to Marenco.

Many people in the U.S., especially the two million
homeless, might rightfully ask, how is it possible for such
a government to provide what many in the U.S. lack —
housing, health care, a secure future?

The Reagan Administration is allotting millions of tax-
payers’ dollars to destabilize this government as it tries
to provide for its people. There is a correlation between
the administration’s activities at home and abroad. As it
destroys the social programs of its own people to pro-
duce more arms, it conducts aggressive campaigns
against countries, like Nicaragua, where people are
fighting to improve their lives under conditions of free-
dom and self-determination.

Cindy Hawes is the Daily World correspondent based in
Mexico.

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On-To-Ottawa Trekkers meet in Toronto

——

PHOTO — NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF CANADA

By ALEX MCLENNAN

Five people who participated in the
1935 ‘‘On-to-Ottawa Trek’’ met in To-
Tonto Jan. 30, to recall that epic march,
the circumstances which gave rise to it,
and how it was carried out. The result
was a three-hour tape recording which
will become a part of Canadian labor his-
tory in the National Archives in Ottawa.

The five are ‘‘old timers’’, veterans of
the “‘dirty thirties’ and Ontario’s his-
toric Trek. Forty-eight years after those
events, Lily Ilomaki (née Himelfarb),
Taimi Davis, Ernie Holwell, Alex
McLennan, and Louise Sandler are all
still actively participating in the labor and
Progressive movement. Louise Sandler
Was the youngest member of the Trek,

_ then being only 15.

_There seems to be a general impres-
Sion that the entire ‘‘On-to-Ottawa
Trek’ had its origin in the forced labor
camps of British Columbia, and that it
ended with the RCMP attack on the labor
camp strikers in Regina, on July 1, 1935.

Contemporary historians have made
little or no reference to the unemployed
of southern Ontario who, less than 10
days after the brutal smashing of the

western arm of the Trek in Regina, were
already on the march to Ottawa. They
were determined to continue the struggle
begun in the slave camps of the west, and
to confront the federal government of
R.B. Bennett with the demands of On-
tario’s jobless as well as those of the
western trekkers. They were determined
that the hopes of the western relief camp
workers would not be frustrated by the
vicious blood-bath carried out by Ben-
nett’s starvation government and the
RCMP on the streets of Regina, that
Dominion Day in 1935.

When the Ontario Federation of Un-
employed first proposed the formation of
a trek to Ottawa by the unemployed of
southern Ontario, the response was im-
mediate and overwhelming. Contingents
of jobless workers left their home com-
munities in Niagara Falls, Windsor, St.
Catharines, Thorold, London, Kitchener
and Guelph. They marched along the
highways and converged on Hamilton,
where the Hamilton contingent, led by
the single, unemployed youth, were
awaiting their arrival. The combined
contingents of 250 marchers set out for
Toronto in two stages, arriving in Oak-
ville on the evening of the first day, then

continuing from Oakville and arriving in
Toronto on the following day.

The discussion of the five participants
recalled events and images long since
forgotten. There was reference to the
press coverage of the trek by the Work-
er, the only existing newspaper of the
working class which, in those days, was
published three times a week. The
Worker kept the folks at home informed
of the daily progress of the trek, as the
450 weary but determined marchers
completed their stint each day on that
exhausting 480-km (300-mile) journey to
the capital.

The discussion recalled how the trek-
kers were welcomed by the citizens
along the way; the attempts of the federal
and provincial authorities to obstruct
their efforts, as well as the anti-working
class actions of Jimmie Simpson, the

““socialist’’ Mayor of Toronto, who ban-
ned the collection of food and money by
the marchers, and arrested those who
ignored his ban.

The long ordeal ended with the trium-
-phant entry of the marchers into Ottawa,
and the welcoming reception and en-
thusiastic support of the citizens of
Ottawa.

The five discussed the economic and
political background of the march, the
organization of te Relief Camp Workers’
Union in B.C., the unsuccessful attempts
of the workers to improve conditions in
the camps, the Kamloops Conference of
the RCWU in March, 1935, and the deci-
sion of the conference to call for a walk-
out on April 4, 1935.

The program of demands of the
RCWU adopted at the conference, called
for work at trade union rates of pay;
coverage of the relief camps by the
Workers’ Compensation Act; removal of
the camps from the control of the
Department of National Defence; recog-
nition of workers’ committees; the right
to vote to be returned to the camp work-
ers.

The principal demand was for the re-
peal of Section 98 of the Criminal Code,
as well as the repeal of Sections 41 and 42
of The Immigration Act. and all anti-
working class legislation.

; The: reminiscences of five of the par-
ticipants in this heroic long march of 450
members of the Canadian working class,
over a period of six weeks, have now
been recorded, as a part of the labor his-
tory of our country.

Fe ay ae ee ee Se Pee ey

PACIFIC TRIBUNE— FEBRUARY 25, 1983—Page 5

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