| This hist

oy
On mw
Marki

e ian forget nothing and no one is
a2: ten,” the words inscribed on
5 rep €notaph in Moscow and

e

tee who gathered at the

: men Church in Vancouver
fl 30th unday to commemorate the
mov, anniversary of the victory

at fascism.

all ney we salute the people of
‘ eo es who gave their lives to
1 Way ponck the Nazi\ armies,”
hotigs Said, “‘but in doing so we
T the living with the dead.”

* Special guest at the meetin
§ Nsored & £5

: by the Canada-USSR
Association

@ainst i was a hero of the war
4 Citize fascism and a Soviet
- n, Aleksander Ivanowich
ety: A captain in the Red
} the 2, S0snowsky was wounded on
‘| me . fnish front but refused a
I tigi Ieal discharge. He _par-
4 ain in the defence of
nae and in the entire
Wou pooitensive to Berlin,
( batt ed again in perhaps the final
ass © of the war — the Soviet
|| Sault onthe Reichstag.

ieee by chairman Eric Waugh ~
Med up the feeling of the 150 _

oric photo shows Red Army soldiers hoisting the Sovist flag

er the Reichstag in Berlin symbolizing the defeat of Nazi Germany.

av 9 the Soviet Union is holding country-wide celebrations

Soci ; Sola end of World War 2 and the victory over fascism. While the

te ist countries are marking the 30th anniversary of the victory over
‘sm, most capitalist countries are ignoring the event.

Victory over fascism
‘marked at city rally

The Soviet visitor described the
hardships of the defense of
Leningrad and the determination
of the Soviet forces to stop Hitler
“before his appetite consumed the
world.”

Another veteran of the war and
also a speaker was Vancouver
Alderman Harry Rankin. “We
have delivered the main blow,”’ he
said, “‘but fascism is not yet
defeated in the world. When we
finish it off in Africa, parts of Asia,
in Chile andin Spain — then we will
be able to celebrate.

“The power of peace will reign
over the power of war only when
profits are gone,” Rankin said.
“Take the profits out of war and
there will be no more war. War is a
tragedy for working people — it is
a blessing for capitalists.”

Final speaker at the afternoon
session was Reverend Phillip
Hewitt who, speaking from his own
pulpit, called on those present to
have ‘‘a remembrance of the past,
but also a dedication to the present
and a hope for the future.”

| FOREST PROBE PROPOSED

Cont'd from pg. 3

urned to public control; and
€r a new form of tenure

| be ret
i) Wheth

ae which the provincial
| pri €rnment would phase out all

Vate holdings of Crown lands,
i mana sPlace them by “Crown

Nagement of forests with
Bain timber being sold at
dan n to the highest bidder; with
€nlarged Forestry Service

@Nnagin
Public & the forests for the

ane a Royal Commission
/Whic}, © Probe into the extent to
foreign multinational cor-

Ns have been able to seize
of public -forest lands
result these licences; and the
for th of such foreign ownership
OB qpreseat and future interests

Iisa’ the last Royal Com-
(er ce there has been a startling
forest | of monopoly control in the

industry, with fewer giant
“Porations controlling more and

PMre of BC's basic industry.

p

| Poratio
( “Ontro}

sh rou gh

Public disclosure of these forest
giants and the effect of monopolies
in the industry should be fully
aired, as well as what measures
are needed to curb the monopolies
and bring them under public
control.

e To what extent have the
proposals of the late Chief Justice
Gordon Sloan for developing
processing and manufacturing

from our primary forest products —

been implemented, thus creating a
wide employment base for the B.C.
economy. A chart in the third
Pearse Report shows that turning
logs into lumber still accounts for
53 per cent of total forest
production; plywood for only seven
per cent and pulp and newspring 40
per cent (mostly from sawmill
residues).

~ “With mass unemployment in
the forest industry staring us in the
face, which is a constantly
recurring problem every time
there is a slight recession, a Royal
Commission should probe into

what have been the bottlenecks,

i i ee

Cuba education program

emphasizes work, study —

By MIKE GIDORA

“We have 518 students who
study, work and live here for up to
15 days at one time. In all of Cuba
there are 280 such schools, each
accommodating 520 students, and
by 1980 we will have over 800 of
these schools. Then, no student will
have to go to school within a city.”’

The speaker, Luis Ramirez, was
young, about 25, and the director of
one of Cuba’s_ educational
showpieces: The Rosa Luxemburg
DESA (‘‘secondary school in the
countryside.”’) We, his audience,
were members of a delegation
from the Young Communist
League of Canada, and were
chatting in his office prior to
touring the recently-constructed
complex.

The school itself was similar to
any of Canada’s most modern —
fully equipped classrooms,
laboratories, industrial shops,
theatre, cafeteria, and athletic
facilities — but with one large
additional factor, a dormitory
which housed the students while
they were in attendance at the
school.

The students, the majority of
them from Havana, some 100 miles
away, would stay for periods of two
weeks, then return to their families
for a weekend; coming back to
school after the visit.

This would go on, as in Canada,

from early September to mid June,

with two-week-long holiday
periods, one each in late autumn
and early spring.

Ramirez explained that the
physical structure of the school,
impressive as it was, was not its
main feature: That, of course, was
the school’s work-study program.

“Tn this school, as in all schools

of this type, the students study four
hours per day and work in some
form of light agriculture, such as
vegetable or fruit farming for four
hours per day.

“In this way the young people
grow up with an appreciation of the
value of labor, and equally as
important, with an appreciation of
life in the countryside.

“This program of work and
study is not unique to schools of
this kind; we have it to some extent
in all of our schools.”” Ramirez
said. ‘‘As you know, in Cuba our
educational system is both varied
and completely state-funded, in-
cluding meals, clothing, books and
transportation.

“Our Children’s Circles (day
care centres) take children from
four months to six years old, and
there they learn basic literary
skills. After that they enter the
primary schools in their own
neighborhoods, until the end of

. sixth grade, and then to one of our
secondary schools. After they
complete secondary school, (grade
10) they have many options — they
can work, continue on to pre-
university, and university or enter
a technical school. But as long as
they continue with their education
they will be state funded.”

At this point Ramirez was asked
if children began working as soon
as they entered school.

“No, the young children do not
work of course, but they are taught
to appreciate labor, and once they
enter secondary school the
students will work four hours each
day as I explained before. This
continues, in a more specialized
manner, until the student leaves
our educational system.” __

Of greatest interest to those of us

on the delegation was the work
aspect of the program. Ramirez
emphasized: ‘‘You cannot divide

this program into two aspects, -

work and study. The two are not
only compatible with each other
but essential to each other. Both
are needed to develop a student
fully.”’

He explained that although the
program had only been in practice
for two years, it had already shown
remarkable _ results. “For
example, we had last year a
promotion (pass) rate of over
99%,’ he said. “This year we
anticipate 100% promotion.”’

“But, more important, the
students are learning to work
collectively to the betterment of
all. Our students are divided, first
into grade levels and then into
brigades of about 30 students each.
Each brigade will work together in
the fields, with no adult super-

vision, and, as well, will be con- _

sidered as one unit academically.”

“Of course, the members of each
brigade will help each other, both
in labor and in their studies, and
together will seek to be the most
effective brigade over all. It is this
collectivity and co-operation ...
that our country will depend upon
for its future.”

By this time we had returned to
the director’s office. Above his
desk was a picture of Fidel that I
had overlooked during our
previous visit. Underneath was a
statement he had made some three
years ago.

“The combination of work and
study is the unique aspect of a
Communist education that no other
ieee will ever be able to mat-
ch:

SEVENTY PER CENT. ACCEPTANCE

Surrey strike settled
on two-year contract

Surrey’s 750 municipal em-
ployees are back at work after a
nine-week strike following a 70 per
cent vote to accept a contract
which will give them the wage
increases they wanted in a one-
year contract, but over a two-year

’ period.

The settlement is front-end
loaded, with an average wage
increase of 27 per cent in two
stages for 1975, with an extra eight
per cent for the lowest-paid
clerical workers. In the second
year, there will be a 6.25 per cent
wage increase.

The basic labor rate will rise to
$5.50 an hour on January 1, 1975,
$5.75 on September 1 and $6.11 on
January 1, 1976. The base rate for
clerical employees will increase to
$650 a month immediately and will
then rise in line with other in-
creases.

In the second year, there will be

and what role have multinational
corporations, whose parent
companies are elsewhere, played
in keeping B.C. as a raw material
source of supply for manufacturing
elsewhere.

e ‘‘The B.C. forest industry was
at the time of the last Royal
Commission heavily dependent on
the U.S. market with its serious
consequences. The need to
diversify our markets and lessen
the dependence on the U.S. market
received the attention of the late
Chief Justice Gordon Sloan. It still

remains one of our major problems

today.”

a cost-of-living allowance
providing five cents an hour for
every one per cent increase in the
cost of living, after the first five
per cent cumulative rise in the
federal consumer price index. The
first payment will be after April 1,
1976.

The settlement also provides for
improvements in paid vacations
and a dental plan with the
municipality paying half the
monthly premium.

The negotiating committee
recommended rejection because
the second-year package is a poor
one and is obviously in line with
what finance minister John Turner
would like to lay down as a
guideline for wage settlements.

The settlement in the long strike-
lockout situation in Greater Vic-
toria is also heavily front-end
loaded for 1975, with a six per cent
increase for 1976. The terminal
rates will be lower than in Surrey,
but the cost-of-living allowance has
no five per cent trigger and it
appears that Victoria municipal
workers will end up with the same
amount of money over the two-
year period.

The Joint Negotiating Com-
mittee representing 5,000 Greater
Vancouver municipal employees
has resumed collective bargaining
and has reportedly been offered
the Surrey package. These

municipal employees have been -

engaged in rotating strikes and
short job actions since February.

their

SURREY
MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES
LOCAL 402

Surrey municipal workers
strike settled after nine
weeks.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, MAY 9, 1975—Page 11

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