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( KAMPUCHEA RECOVERS |

January 7 marked the second anniver-
sary of the liberation of Kampuchea
fromthe murderous Khmer Rouge foliow-
ing a four-year Maoist experiment which
cost the lives of three million people.
Slowly, and with ald from its friends,
Kampuchéa is rebullding. incredibly,
the Pol Pot regime which wrought such
suffering and terror to the Kampuchean
people, is still recognized by many
Western states (including Canada) as
Kampuchea’s “government”. Our photo
shows some of the country’s hundreds
of thousands of orphans left by Pol Pot’s
terror squads. It was taken at one of the
first orphanages set up in Phnom Penh

TRIBUNE PHOTO — TOM MORRIS

after the liberation in 1979.

TORONTO — A circular letter from
| New Democrat MPP (Parkdale) Jan
| _Dukszta appealing for support of a
| resolution adopted Dec. 14, purporting
to support the workers of Poland has

| been denounced by the Ontario Com-

| mittee of the Communist Party.

| Among the demands made by a meet-
ing sponsored by Dukszta and the On-

tario Federation of Labor, Dec. 14, were

| the setting up of a Canadian Committee

for Polish Assistance ‘‘a non-partisan
group that would coordinate labor and
public support for the Polish people in
this country.”

The resolution, which Dukszta is seek-
ing support for, also calls on the federal
government to move to the right of its

| current position of non-intervention in

Poland’s intemal affairs by threatening
“the strongest economic and political
response’ to any supposed attempt to
violate Poland’s frontiers or national in-
tegrity.

Ottawa was also urged to ‘‘join West-
em industrial (i.e., capitalisted) nations
in arranging special financial credits for

| the Polish Government to permit it to
weather its present economic difficul-

| ties ...”"

The Tribune reprints in full the text of
the Ontario executive committee’s reply
to the Dukszta letter.

The Ontario Provincial Executive of
the Communist Party of Canada expres-
ses its complete opposition to the con-
tents of your circular letter regarding the
situation in Poland.

We can only conclude that you, and
the others who lend their names and sup-
port to the resolution adopted at the De-
cember 14, 1980 meeting you refer to, are
either totally misinformed about the
situation in Poland, or that you are part
and parcel of the anti-Soviet, anti-
socialist campaign of imperialism to stop
the processes of détente and thus
threaten mankind with a nuclear holo-
caust.

Whether you agree with it or not, Dr.
Dukszta, Poland,is a socialist country in
the process of the further building of its
socialist society. The means of produc-
tion are not owned by private interests as
they are here. They are owned by the

Polish people as a whole. The benefits.’

derived from productivity in Poland do
not end up as profits in the pockets of
private individuals. Instead, the working

people as a whole benefit as production
increases. Perhaps it is this fact that dis-
tresses you.

This is why the question of a shorter
work week cannot be viewed from the
same perspective in Poland as in Canada.

Many Canadian and U.S. economists

agree with the state planners in Poland
that, at the present time, the Polish econ-
omy cannot afford a five-day work week
with the subsequent drop in production.
This is different from the situation in

.Canada where we have a relative over-

production of commodities, where in-
dustry after industry is being closed
down because our working: people are
unable to purchase the commodities they
themselves produce. This has con-
tributed to throwing some million and a
half Canadians onto the streets and into

~ the ever-swelling army of unemployed.

There is no unemployment in socialist
Poland. Every Polish citizen is guaran-
teed old age pensions.and up to 100%
disability benefits. Men are able to retire
at 60, women at 55. Women workers are
guaranteed equal pay for work of equal
value. Every family has access to suit-
able housing at no more than five percent
of income. There is no poverty, no star-
vation in Poland, and no slums. Educa-
tion, health and medical needs are com-
pletely covered by state funds.

All of these benefits, and more, are
rights taken for granted in socialist Po-
land. Can we say the same in Canada?

We are not saying, Dr. Dukszta, that
the working people of Poland have no
grievances, or that everything is perfect
and a “‘bed of roses’’ for them. What we

are saying is that the Polish people
should be allowed to work out their prob-
lems for themselves, and most certainly
without interference from extergal,
anti-socialist forces.

It seems rather ironical that you should
become so suddenly interested in the
trade union rights of workers in another
country. If you are sincerely interested in
trade union rights, we suggest you peat
up for workers in your own country, and
in your own province.

Where has your voice been in defence
of the eleven workers who have been
arbitrarily arrested following the Lumber
and Sawmill Workers’ heroic strike
against Boise Cascade — a multi-million
dollar ‘multi-national company?

What about the hospital service -work-
ers in Ontario who are being forced to hit -
the bricks in a so-called illegal strike be-
cause of the vicious cutbacks in hospital
budgets in this province? Will you speak
up resolutely in the Ontario Legislature
in defence of their rights?

No, Dr. Dukszta, you don’t have to
waste your time and the taxpayers’
money setting up phoney committees
‘to aid the Polish workers’’. What you
should do is direct your enérgies and the
influence of your office to ensure the
democratic and economic rights of On-
tario workers.

The face of a
right-wing killer

A chilling account of
Guatemala’s right-wing death
squads was provided by a re-
porter who spent some time
with one member. Named
“*The White Hand,”’ this group
and others claim 20,000 deaths
and kidnappings since 1970.

Some quotes:

“I want all those leftist
trouble-makers in prison, in
exile, or six feet under. ..’’ Or, -
“We reserve torture for those
suspected of belonging to guer-
rilla movements.”’

This killer, an insurance
salesman, married with three
small children, drives a beat-up
Volkswagen but yearns for a
Camaro. ‘“‘With a car like
that,’ he says, “‘I could get any
girl I want.”

The story reports that these
terror squads are not only
handy for killing opposition
members but ‘‘are often used
to seize lands from peasants on

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JAN. 23, 1981—Page 6

behalf of powerful landlords.
They kidnap the peasant
owner of a small farm and tor-
ture him until he signs over the
land title.”’

The report ends with two
other facts: that the Guatema-
lan government says it does
not support such groups and,
that no member of a killer
squad has ever been arrested.

The gorrillas
clear the gorrillas

Can you imagine a military
tribunal of top Chilean officers
investigating other top military
brass and finding them guilty?
Don’t hold your breath. A Chi-
lean tribunal, set up a year ago
to investigate three officers
charged with taking part in the
murder of Orlando Letelier,
has found them innocent.

The thre gorrillas included
General lfanuel Contreras,
former chief of DINA, Chile’s
secret police. He and the

_| few complaints.

others were named in an inves-
tigation conducted in the U.S.

(where Letelier was murdere-

d), but Chile steadfastly re-
fused requests for their extrad-
ition. And now they are
cleared.

However the man-in-the-
street in Chile seems to have

Letelier and a co-worker
were blown apart in their car

-on a Washington street in 1976.

A U.S. citizen, then living in
Chile, and three Cuban emig-
rees are now in U.S. jails for
théir part in the crime.
.Under questioning they
named Contreras and the
others as the masterminds of
the plot — part of a wave of
killings of opponents of
Pinochet which extended
around the globe.

The obvious problem for the
military tribunal is that the
thread which led to Contreras
would continue on to Pinochet
himself if proceedings were to
continue. And we know it’s not
nice for ‘‘presidents’’ to be ex-
posed as mere butchers.

Gearing up for

. the new president

Six days before the Reagan
crowd takes over, the news has
come out from Washington
that the United States will lift

its arms boycott against El
Salvador. The boycott was
imposed Dec. 5 following the
killings of three U.S. nuns by
right-wing terrorist groups.
which operate with the bles-
sings of the junta.

Reports say that the U.S.
will resume pouring in
weapons and military ‘“‘advis-
ers’’ to prop up a regime which
has lost all popular backing and
exists today solely by military
power and terrorism.

U.S. military planners aren't .
even waiting for the new ad-
ministration to find its way
around the White House. Hav-
ing installed their people in.
office, they are moving straight
ahead. The new Secretary of
State, Alexander Haig indi-
cates what we are in for. A
career general, former com- —
mander of the U.S. forces in
Vietnam, former NATO
commander, former apologist
for Richard Nixon, Haig
epitomizes the Reagan team.