WORLD

_ MOSCOW — Fifty years ago a movement of outstand-
ing Soviet workers in the mastering of new techniques
was named after Alexei Stakhanov, a coal miner who
during one shift exceeded the standard output by more
than 14 times. Innovators in production came forward in
all branches of industry and their initiative was given
every encouragement.

Unlike previous movements to boost production, the
Stakhanovite movement was based on new, first class
machinery and people who knew how to use that ma-
chinery. Its success was the direct result of higher tech-
Nical and cultural standards on the part of the workers
and the mass growth of the socialist attitude to labor.

Recently, the Central Committee of the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union held a conference of
Stakhanovite veterans and present day advanced work-
€rs and innovators. Addressing the meeting, CPSU Gen-
eral Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev paid high tribute to
the production pioneers: ‘‘The indomitable spirit of
Innovation and the traditions of the Stakhanovite trail-
blazers with their determination to use technology with
Maximum results and their daring in breaking up anti-
quated practices and psychological ruts are particularly
Consonant with our times,’’ he said.

The new Soviet goals, long term and short term, will
be set by the 27th Congress of the CPSU, due to begin on
February 25, 1986. But the outline of what will be pro-
Posed in respect to the economy, scientific and tech-
nological progress and social development has been
Clearly indicated. The stress will be on more discipline
and order in every aspect of economic life. The economy
'S to be made more dynamic and more intensive in order
to assure the maximum efficiency of production and the
greater satisfaction of human needs.

According to Gorbachev, there will be a determined
effort during the next 15 years to ensure growth in indus-
trial production equal to the production potential created
under socialism up to 1985. “‘Life itself has set this
Pace,’ he told the innovators meeting. ‘‘It is also
Prompted by the need to raise the standard of living of

the Soviet people anchto'maintain the country’s defence”

at a level that ensures the security of this country and its
allies.” The grand design calls for a qualitative advance

through the acceleration of social and economic prog-
Tess.

Higher productivity, better
quality, savings: CPSU call

From Moscow
Jack Phillips

In line with this perspective, the Party has set its sights
on giving a clear orientation to the new movement of
innovators. It is publicly calling for higher productivity,
better output quality and resource saving. The slogans of
.the day are tempo, quality, thrift and organization.

While the supply of consumer goods has increased
appreciably in recent years, there are some problems in
terms of quality. That is why the Party is calling upon all
workers, collective farmers, scientists, engineers, tech-
nicians and economic executives to launch a drive to
ensure that all domestic products are up to the best world
standards, or above those standards. But in dealing with
this problem, Gorbachev also stressed that quantity is
still important. ‘‘Now, too, we need to produce more
grain, vegetables, meat, coal, oil and consumer goods.”

However, he again warned that the resources of raw
material must be carefully managed. ‘‘we must learn to
use thriftily each tonne of steel, oil, fertilizer; each kilo-
watt of electricity, each cubic meter of timber.”’

A big element in the plans for the future is the full
utilization and extension of socialist democracy. The
Party is listening very carefully to what workers, collec-
tive farmers, specialists and scientists are saying and is
utilizing their experience in formulating policy.

This is a land of eternal optimism, and optimism based
on pride of achievement in the face of unprecedented
problems and difficulties that were surmounted only by
heroic efforts and unprarallelled sacrifices.

The General Secretary summed it up well in his reply

to the discussion: ‘‘Everything depends on the human:

being, in the long run. When we had to do within a short
space of time what other peoples and nations achieved in
the course of hundreds of years, and to resolve the
immense problems of building a socialist society, the

Nicaragua declares
national emergency

Nicaraguan president
Daniel Ortega cited ‘‘a new
and truly extraordinary
situation”’ during a nation-
wide address Oct. 15 in
declaring a state of national
emergency in defence of the
revolution.

He spoke of a continuing
U.S. campaign using ‘‘ev-
ery weapon of the terrorist
arsenal’’ with the final ob-
jective to “destroy the government elected by the
Nicaraguan people’’. Ortega told the nation that
the immoral and illegal U.S. aggression continues
despite all political and diplomatic efforts made by
Nicaragua and the Contadora group to seek a
peaceful solution.

He charged that U.S. troops and warships are on
constant manoeuvre on Nicaragua’s borders, that
Washington has sabotaged all efforts by Nicaragua
to obtain international loans and has imposed a
blockade as well as organize and finance the contra
attacks.

The president then revealled that U.S. ‘‘allies
within our country, its agents who act from within
certain political‘parties, from within the media or
religious institutions are increasing their efforts to
sabotage the military defence of the country and
the national effort in increase production.”’

Ortega urged the people to mobilize all their
strengths to defeat the new aggression. ‘‘The life of
our people and the defence of our sovereignty de-
mand it,’’ he said.

ORTEGA

Soviet people, under the guidance of the Communist
Party, created a powerful industrial base and quickly
developed productive forces. And thanks to that we

"were able to break the fascist war machine turned against

us by imperialism. That was the result of the self-sacri-

ficing labor effort of the Soviet people. That was the

merit of the older generations. That is why the Central

Committee wants everything that was gained through

innovative work in these 50 years not only-to be pre--
served, but to the built upon.

; “So Se
This is the first of several articles leading up to the 27th

Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union next
February.

| Sees

ee

International Focus

Tom Morris

Absolution
in Pakistan

When the fix is in, it’s in.

Gerald Ford’s ascendancy
to the presidency of the U.S. in

4 was obviously gained in
€xchange for pardoning Ni-
xon.

The Argentine military,

forced by public outrage over a
decade of murders, tried
_ Mightily to ram through a par-
don for itself before “giving”
authority to the electorate. In

S case, the military failed

and several high-ranking of-
Cers faced charges.

Now General Zia of Pakis-
tan, who is as guilty as the
Argentine military, says he’ll
€nd army rule by Dec. 31. His
Tegime grabbed power in 1977,
Murdered the elected president
and has ruled the country
under martial law ever since.

‘1a is Reagan’s man in the re-
810n, permitting the CIA to run
tts anti-Afghanistan war from

S territory in exchange for

: Be American military

General Zia, who is also the
Sountry’s president, banned all
Political parties critical of his
Coup and, conveniently, pres-

les over a National Assembly

as tame as a pussycat. Last
week, in preparation for his
‘transfer’ of power to civilian
authority, he managed to get
the members to agree to a bill
which will absolve the military
of the danger of prosecution
for their actions over the past
eight years.
Now that’s convenient.

One born
every minute

Peter Popoff adds a touch of
‘‘ethniticity’’ to the collection
of right-wing evangelist tele-
vision preacher/hucksters. Un-
like Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swag-
gert, Jerry Falwell, Pat
Robertson and the rest, Popoff
doesn’t have the advantage of
an anglo-saxon name, but
that’s no problem for Peter.

He’s turned his name into an
advantage, carving out his
nitch in a very competitive
racket. Popoff’s specialty is —
The Eastern Bloc Captive Na-
tions And The Godless Rus-
sians.

He’s your self-appointed
Savior of the Slavs, your
modern-day Rasputin doing
electronic battle against the
Bolshevik infidels. His minis-
try smuggles miniature bibles

‘behind the Iron Curtain”’ and
carries out other similar evan-
gelical commando operations
for which Popoff solicits big
bucks from his followers.

The latest project is ob-
viously inspired from on high.
Popoff is urging his followers
to write for a printed Soviet
flag, sign it and return it to him.

Aiming for one million of

‘them, Peter will then travel to

the Summit meeting in Geneva
to try and present them to

Followers take more than one
kind of a bath.

Soviet leader Gorbachev. The education
Exactly why Gorbachev *
needs one million post-card of young Brian

size Soviet flags, Popoff fails to
say. But if we total the ‘“‘love
offerings”’ paid for each flag
and multiply that by one mil-
lion, we get some idea of what
the scam is.

‘And what
do you do?’

‘*As First Lady,”’ this nice
person asked Mrs. Daniel
Ortega on the Phil Donohue
show last week, ‘‘do you have
any other ambitions?”

Nicaraguan President Orte-
ga, in New York to address the
UN General Assembly, spent
one hour on nationwide U.S.
television outlining his gov-
ernment’s case, and the ques-
tion to Mrs. Ortega came from
the audience.

“I’m not simply a ‘First
Lady’, she replied in beautiful
English. “‘I’m also a poet and
writer and, as such, am presi-
dent of the Nicaraguan Artists’
Union. I’m also a member of
the National Assembly. In ad-
dition, I am editor of the cul-
tural section of the Sandinista
newspaper Barricada. Oh, al-
so,’ she concluded, ‘‘I’m the
mother of eight children.”’

Brian Mulroney calls Mar-
garet Thatcher’s policy shift on
South African sanctions
‘‘enormous’’. Thatcher de-
scribes it as a~“‘tiny little bit’’.

My dictionary defines
enormous as “‘extraordinary in
size’’. It says tiny means “‘very
small, minute’’. Logic, then,
suggests one of them is lying.

In this case, when you read
the so-called sanctions pack-
age that was produced at the
Commonwealth conference in
the Bahamas, Thatcher is
right.

What did she conceed? She
agreed to ban all new govern-
ment loans to Pretoria and ban
financing of trade missions
there. Mulroney bought this
crock.

Just as the press hails our
PM as a master negotiator,
Thatcher tells them Britain
does not lend money to South
Africa in any case. The other
““concession’’ was that, per-
haps in six months, the UK will
ban Kruggerand imports. But
these account for only $1-mil-
lion of Britain’s annual $22.8-
billion dealings with apartheid.

Brian’s been had again.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, OCTOBER 30, 1985¢9