NORMAN NERENBERG
REPORTS FROM WARSAW

ae —BUDAPEST.

FTER leaving Czechoslovakia,
many of us went as the Can-
adian delegation to the Interna-
tional Conference. of Working

Youth in Warsaw. We walked out
of the railway station, (where, by
the way, we were met by a crowd
of cheering Polish youth), and all
around us was destruction. Piles
of rubble where formerly stood
great buildings, empty shells,
here a wall still standing, there
a chimney like a linger pointing
up to the sky. This was our first
picture of Warsaw.

After we'd been in Warsaw 4
little while we realized that the
destruction wasn’t the only char-
acteristic, in fact it wasn’t the
main thing. The outstanding fea-
ture is recomstruction, The tempo
of Warsaw is timed to the theme
of build, build, build. Everywhere
you go you see brigades of young
people, singing as they go off to
erase yet one more scar of the
war. As Acting Canadian Minister
to Poland Kirkwood told me, “The
landscape of Warsaw changes be-
tween breakfast and lunc 5

During’ the course of the con-
ference we made many friends.
We got to know the heroic dele-
gates from democratic Greece,
the representatives of the spirited
youth of Italy, the wonderful
young people from the great So-
viet Union, the young fighter
from Viet Nam who walked for

over a month through the jungle
to attend the conference.

“We went on a tour through
Warsaw and made a pilgrimage
to the Ghetto. This was a very
moving experience, An area which
formerly housed 400,000 Jews 1-
now levelled to the ground.

Here was a testimonial to the

bestiality of the Nazis and an ex-
ample of what will happen if the
mad millionaires of Wall Stree
have their way now. In the ce

ter of what was once the Ghetto,

a beautiful monument has been
erected to the memory of i.
prave martyred Jews who rose
against the Nazis even though
they knew this meant their an-
nihilation.

- As a token of our friendship to
the people of Poland, many
the delegates worked in the
clearing of the ruins in Warsaw.

Warsaw streets were decorated
‘with banners and flowers wel-
coming the delegates. Every-
where we went the people spoke

with pride of their great achieve- —

ments in rebuilding their country
‘under the inspired leadership of
their beloved President Beirut
and his very popular government.

After the conference a special
train pulled out of Warsaw car-
-rying the delegates on a four-day
tour through Poland. I don’t think
Tl ever See the thrill of the
_ first morning, We pulled into
Krakow early, about 7 am., and
through our sleep-fogged eyes we
saw thousands of people waiting
for us, with flags, banners, flow-
ers and brass bands. .
We thought we had seen every-
thing, but that evening when we
arrived in Bytum the reception
was even greater. The streets

were just jammed with people

earrying flaming torches,
e : :
During the conference our Bri-
gade was invited to spend some
time in Hungary as guests of
MINSZ, the Union of the People’s
Youth of Hungary. We accepted
the invitation and in the latter
part of August we went to Hun-
gary. ‘
‘The story is the same we learn-
ed in Czechoslovakia and Poland.
- Despite the great destruction of
the war and 25 years of the rule

‘A better world’s
an birth . . a

_ WILLIAM RUST REPORTS FROM BUCHAREST

—BUCHAREST

URING the last two weeks I have discovered Rumania. To say this is, perhaps, a
confession of ignorance, but, I repeat, I have really discovered a country which, in

the years to come, will surprise Europe and the world by its socialist successes.

Many

people, when they thought of Rumania, pictured to themselves a kind of comic opera
country where decadent kings ruled with gay mistresses, where feudalism held sway over an

oppressed people, where corrup-
tion abounded, political liberties
did not exist, and, democrats
found their way only to prison.

That was the old Rumania of
only a few years ago. Today, the
change is mighty to behold, the
past is dead or at least it is dying,
the people are being reborn and
the democratic people’s republic |
is on firm foundations.

A few months ago we looked
upon Rumania as the most back-
ward of the new people’s demo-
cracies of Eastern Europe,

Its industries were not nation-
alized, the capitalist parties were
still in the government and it had
suffered badly from a prolonged
drought. It even had a king! -

During 1948 all this has chang-
ed, and one feels in the towns and
villages the new spirit that is.
abroad, the enthusiasm of the
people, their confidence in na-
tionalization and the new consti-
tution, their belief in the national’
government and love for its Com-
munist leaders, especially Anna
Pauker. .

& asked Dr. Groza, the prime

minister, how the people regard-

of fascism the country is recov-
ering rapidly and is steadily build-
ing towards socialism.

Budapest, from which this is
written, is a beautiful city. It’s
situated on the Danube (which is

muddy, not blue), and is divided

by the river into two parts, Buda °
and Pest. All around are moun-
tains and crowning one of them
is a memorial to the Red Army
for its liberation of Hungary.
So far we have learned a lot
about the people and particularly
the young people of Europe, We
hope we'll be able to bring back
the message of peace to you and
to the young people of Canada. »
@ Norman Nerenberg is a
member of the Canadian Beaver
Brigade of youth . delegates
which is now visiting Europe.

€d the abdication of King Mich-
ael. It was supported joyfully by
the peasants, he replied, because
his vast estates were a great point
of attraction for them.

“The fruit was ripe for the fall,”
he said. “We showed to the people
that immense riches had been ac-
cumulated by the monarchy and
that the king was, in fact, the
greatest capitalist in the coun-
avon e

Dr. Groza _ spoke colorfully
about what had been achieved.

“As a result of our land
form,” he said, “we are raising
new people as well as crops. ‘

“The workers have taken the
fortresses of the old rulers, their
banks and factories and have

ended exploitation. These rulers.

and their intellectual followers
must now get used to a new cli-
mate,’” : :

Finally, he emphasized his de-
sire for friendship and trade with
Britain.

In the Black Sea port of Con-
stantsa, I asked an old docker,
his face lined with the marks of
toil, to tell me the difference be-
tween today and yesterday.

His answer was simple: “Today
I am a free man.” What more was
there to say? He was a free man
and that was the guarantee for
the future. :

The Dobruja is not a fertile

country, and the village of Basar-_
_abi that I visited was a poor one,

but there also I got the same an-
swer when I spoke to a Tartar
peasant who was threshing grain
in the field, threshing his own
grain, = r

“I am free. I now have my own
land andi nobody exploits me.” .-

When I related this experience
to a British diplomat in Buchar-
est he answered that people have
been instructed to give such an-
swers to foreigners. :

But what man will claim to be

re-

free when he is not? I know the
meaning of these answers be-
cause I saw the satisfaction and
pride on their faces and the sin-
cerity in their eyes.
‘ 5

This is my major impression
of the new Rumania. The people
are free, they are organizing their
lives and planning their future.

This freedom goes hand in hand
with a rising standard of living.
It is possible to be free and yet
to be poor, But in modern society
cne of the aims of freedom must
be the aboiition of poverty. And
before my eyes I saw this being
achieved in the new Rumania,

The people fee] that the future
is certain. It is an excellent feel-
ing which, unfortunately, we do

_not share in Britain,

At the great oil! refineries of
Ploesti I was introduced to the

new director who, until recently,

was a worker at the lathe.
In the same area I met another

‘worker who was directing a new-

ly nationalized textile factory, In
the big boot and shoe factory -of
Dermata, in Cluj, the director is
a former tanner. The workers are
running industry.

I thought of Sir Stafford
Cripps, who says that the work-
ers could not take charge of Brit-
ish industry as they would not

know how to run it. Cripps should

take a trip to Rumania.
@

My second main impression is
the great richness of the country.
True, much of it is still below the
earth and hard work and plan-
ning is needed to extract it, But
wealth in abundance ‘is concen-
trated in Rumania.

In addition to rich agricultural
land there is oil, coal, gold, salt,
natural gases and valuable min-
erals, 4

In the city of Cluj you-will find
that many of the roads are up.
Pipes have been connected to the

Members of the Canadian
delegation march through
the streets of Warsaw
during the International
Conference of Working
Youth leld there in Au-
gusc.

natural gases outside the city and
many of the industrial establish-
ments are now running on the
gases.

Rumania, under socialism, is
destined to become one of the
richest countries in the world
where the freedom and happiness
of the people will give flower to
a great culture.

Everywhere I found a just pride
in what had been achieved, but
there was no boasting and no one
was giddy with success. ;

On the contrary, there was a
sober emphasis on the magnitude
of the tasks,ahead, on the im-
portance of $ei¢-criticism and on
the fact that the class struggle
against the old exploiters and the
kulaks in the village will sharpen
as the fight for socialism devel-
ops,

6

Full credit for these great
achievements must be given to
the Workers Party of Rumania
and the excellent work of its ably-
edited organ, Scantiega (The
Spark). .

The great majority of the peo-
ple of Rumania understand that
it is precisely the leadership of
the party that has placed their
country in its present advantage-
ous position,

I asked a middle-aged peasant
woman in a Transylvanian village
why she had joined the party.

She seemed to think that it was
an unnecessary question, but in
reply she said: “Naturally I join-
ed the party because it is the only
way to get a new life, to organize
ereches and to work with other
women.”

The Workers’ Party is the lead-
ership to which the workers and
peasants look. And one has only
to meet the leaders of the partp
to realize their ability and au-
thority; one gains the immediate
impression that the country is in
firm hands and that its socialist
future is agreed. :

This new Rumania will never

become ‘a satellite of imperialism |

as in the past, its people will nev-
er again be hurled against the
frontiers of the Soviet Union.
They will never go back to the
slavery of the past. They are

marching forward to the social-.

ism of the future.

ny

William Rust, editor of the
London Daily Worker, has just
concluded a tour of Rumania,
Bulgaria and Hungary. His re-
ports from Sofia and Budapest

will be carried in following is- ~

sues,

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 1, 1948—PAGE 4