SIX IWA OFFICERS TAKE Skyline of Moscow and in foreground the vast sports complex. Round building in centre is the THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER ‘fl RAE AUGUST — SEPTE Photos by Ben Thompson stadium where top Russian hockey teams play. Stadium has seating capacity of 303,000. Six I.W.A. officers were recent guests in a ten- day reciprocal visit to the Soviet Union hosted by the 2,300,000 member Timber, Paper and Woodwork- ers Union of Russia. The I.W.A. delegation included Regional Presi- dent Jack Munro, Regional 1st Vice President Bob Blanchard, Local 1-71 President Ben Thompson, Local 1-85 1st Vice President Mike Kokura; Local 1- 207 Financial Secretary Bob DeLeeuw, and Local 1- 423 President Bill Schumaker. : While the trip was primarily to visit woodworking operations, time was given over to some sight- ‘seeing. Due to the vast size of the country and their limited time, the visitors were restricted as to what they saw. Nevertheless, they were shown sights of interest from Mostovoya — 57 N. latitude — to the balmy city of Sochi on the Black Sea — 43 latitude. The visit commenced with a tour of Moscow, a rapidly growing city of eleven.million people. The visitors were highly impressed with the wide avenues, park-like boulevards and spotless streets. Few cars were noted on the streets but there were plenty of electric trolleys, buses and streetcars. The Moscow underground system was. also_ highly impressive. Although the mobile equipment is old, the system still moves between five and six million passengers per day at speeds up to 80 km per hour. Unlike the dirty subway stations in most other countries, the Moscow subway stations are clean and beautiful. Each station is individually decorated with lovely carvings and tiled pictures. Another added attrac- tion of the subway is the price. One can travel throughout the system for five kopeks — about nine cents. Like most visitors the I.W.A. group took photo- graphs of the many historic buildings including the towers surrounding the Kremlin (Russia‘s parli- ament}, Lenin’s ‘tomb (which they visited), Saint Basils Church (now a museum), Ivan the Great Bell Tower, Church of the Twelve Apostles (the domes or cupolas of many of these buildings are finished in highly polished gold). Another sight that left a lasting impression on the visitors was the huge panoramic display .and painting depicting the Napoleonic-Russian battles. ° of 1812. The technique used in presenting this panoramic Ps. Regional P Kuleshov, Timber Wo clock. Jace IWA delegation with Timber, Paper & Woodworkers Central Committee. history of the battles was art work at its best. The building is circular; the mural is one continuous picture that covers.the entire circular wall. The elevated catwalks on which spectators view these scenes are some twenty feet from the walls. The space between the walls and the catwalk has been landscaped to blend in with the pictures, creating a 3-D effect that gives the viewer the sensation of actually: standing on the battlefields and being participants in the actions depicted. -another of the beautiful buildings that are everywhere in the major cities of Russia. Legend has it that after St. Basils (now a museum) was built the architect’s eyes were removed and his hands cut off so that he could never design another structure as lovely. The absence of highway billboards and advertis- ing was noted by the visitors although there were large paintings on buildings depicting Russian men and women working to make their country more productive. Like all European countries with cen- turies old history, monuments of all types adorn the country. One of the most impressive of these was a huge monument in the shape of tank traps (similar to those used to prevent attacks on beaches) which was placed in the exact position where the Russian armies stopped the German advance on Moscow. Obsolete aircraft and rockets were also mounted and used to commemorate historic events. The first visit to an actual woodworking operation was in the plains north of Moscow and the Volga River. At the site the visitors were given hard hats and rubber boots (because of Spring break-up) and were shown a falling crew felling small trees approximately ten inches in diameter. CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 excursion ship on the Black Sea. Converted yacht ‘Russia’ which was formerly the “Hitler’’ private yacht of Adolph Hiferl. It is now used as an {eee gg « 4 a)