.
.>

ay,

‘“' We're not seeing ourselv

es as the workers see us...”

J

LABOR SCENE

BY BRUCE MAGNUSON

~

In the USSR and the other
Socialist countries all the means
of production are publicly own-
ed. The people have complete
political and economic control..
Wages, working conditions,

“safety and health at work are

covered by legislation and super-
vised by the trade unions. There
is no possibility of multi-natio-
nal companies*who trade. with
them being able to transfer the
conditions of exploitation of
workers in capitalist countries to

the socialist countries (as they |

do in capitalist and underdevel-
oped countries). The workers,
while controlling their own.de-
velopment, are able to support
the liberation struggles and
working class activity in capital-
ist countries, and contribute
much toward the strengthening
of the progressive ‘forces’ atid
world peace movement. —
Excuse Offered
Worried about the social. con-

sequences of mass unemploy- -

ment and inflation, the bour-
geoisie in advanced capitalist
countries seeks to cover up and
camouflage the crisis in their
economy. One way is to attempt
control of inventories by stag-
gered layoffs in face of relative
over-production, (e.g. the auto
industry). The other much bela-

‘bored excuse offered, is that in-

flation is world-wide and beyond
any country’s ability to control.
This often raises the question:
“Is there inflation in the USSR?”

-The following is an abridged
version of an article pertinent to
this subject matter appearing in
the February, 1975 issue of the
British Labour Monthly, which
we take the liberty to quote:

“With the capitalist world
beset by inflation, what are the
factors in socialist society that
make it possible to avoid infla-
tion? Some Western politicians
claim that inflation in their coun-
tries is caused, above all, by a
growth of state spending. Yet in
the Soviet Union state spending
is also growing year by year.
What is distinct about the Soviet
state budget is that it has no de-
ficit and regularly shows a small
surplus of receipts over expendi-
tures. The Soviet budget is bal-
anced and stable because 90%
of its receipts come from the
state and co-operative sectors of
the economy. Developing accord-
ing to plan, without slumps,
these sectors guarantee the reve-
nue side of the budget.

ls there inflation |
in the Soviet Union?

“Soviet experience shows that
the growth of state spending

_does not lead in itself to infla-

tion. In the past three years the
Soviet national ‘income has in-
creased by 44 billion roubles,
providing the opportunity to in-
crease. spending considerably in
all fields—production, consump-
tion and the further growth in
living standards — the main task
not only of the current five year
economic plan, ending in 1975,
but also of the longer-term
future, ;

“Under capitalism it is the

ordinary family that suffers from

inflation -firstofall: because of
rising consumer prices. Accord-
ing to, the Common Market Com-
mission report, in Italy retail
prices have increased by 18%
and in France, by,15%. Attempts
in. these countries to freeze
prices and to establish adminis-
trative control over them are in-
effective.

“The Soviet Union’s experi-
ence over. many years allows.us
to say with full.confidence that
prices.are controllable if factor-
ies, banks,.trade and transport
belong to society as a whole and
are used in the interest of all its
members. The level of Soviet
retail prices is determined at in-
dustrial and agricultural enter-
prises and depends upon produc-
tion costs. Distribution costs are
low in the USSR. In retail trade
they account for 6.5% of overall
commodity circulation . . . Retail
prices of staple foods, such as

bread, sugar, confectionary, po-

tatoes, vegetables, cereals and
fruit, have remained unchanged
for the past 25 years. As for
meat, milk, butter, sausages and
eggs, their prices have been
stable since 1962. Rents in the
USSR have not undergone any
changes for many decades, al-

though rent is the lowest in the

world, constituting, with heating,
hot water and electricity and
gas, 4-5% of the family income.
The most important thing in
this respect is that the quality
of up-to-date, well-appointed
flats have improved immeasurab-
ly since the 1920's, when the
current rent was introduced.

According to Plan

“In. the USSR prices are not
something spontaneous. They
are fixed by the state centrally
and locally. The price commit-
tees and their local bodies, at na-
tional and republic level, not
only regulate prices but also pre-

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 1975—Page 8

vent violations in this field. The
Soviet trade unions also control
price formation. This is only na;
tural as it is the trade unions’
responsibility to guard the real
wages of 100 million factory and
office workers.

“The real wage means that a
person can obtain goods and
services at unchanging prices; so
that an increase in earnings
means real additions to the fami-
ly budget and a real increase in

the goods and services received, ©

and is not devoured by inflation.

“In the first three years of the
1971-75" five’ year ‘period '31' ‘mil-
lion factory and office workers,

or one in every three people-em-.

ployed in’ thé Soviet economy,
have received substantial wage
increase . . . By the end of.1975

_ more tens of millions of indus-

trial and office workers will have
higher wages. This growth of
monetary incomes is a real in-
crease in wages and a real pos-
sibility to increase living stand-
ards, to enjoy more material and

-spiritual benefits. Hence _infla-

tion does not threaten the Soviet
Union, or the purchasing power
of the rouble, in this respect
either...

“The Soviet economy develops
without crises or slumps, its
main advantage being the plan-
based and proportionate develop-
ment of production and circula-
tion, monetary circulation in-.
cluded. Socialist planning is the
balanced synthesis of the stocks
and materials and labor which
the country has at its disposal,
a real program for every conse-
cutive annual and five year
period . .. The issuing of paper
money is strictly regulated, and
every rouble not only has gold
parity but is also guaranteed by
the entire property of the state.”
Indeed something for Canadian
workers to ponder.

Holiday on May Day?

OTTAWA — The Canadian
Union of Postal Workers issued
their negotiation demands last

- week. A bulletin published by «|

the union’s national office noted

_ that the 22,000 postal workers

have a right to: A better standard
of living, benefits from automa-
tion and full job protection.

They have also demanded four
new designated holidays, includ-
ing a paid holiday on May 1,
“May Day—the Workers’ Day.”

UAW CANADIAN
COUNCIL TO MEET
ONTARIO CABINET

TORONTO — The Canadian
Council of UAW will meet the
Ontario cabinet this week at
Queen’s Park to demand’ action
on behalf of the depressed Cana-
dian automotive industry.

A UAW spokesman in Toronto
said the meeting will be similar
to a lobbying session the union
held on Parliament Hill in Otta-
wa last month.

A large number of union offi-
cials from Windsor will be
among 300 UAW representatives
attending the Queen’s Park
meeting.

CHRYSLER FOREMEN
TO JOIN UNION

WINDSOR, Ont. — Union offi-
cials said last week that a group
of formen, for the first time in
Canadian automotive history,
have been seeking status as
union members.

Jack Bradt, president of the
newly-created Windsor Chrysler
Foremen and Other Personnel
Union, said in an interview the
foremen — who work at the
Chrysler Canada Ltd. plant here
— will apply soon to the Ontario
Labor Relations Board for certi-
fication.

“Our main objective’ is. job
protection and security,” Mr.
Bradt said.

GRAPE SALES
PROTESTED |

MONTREAL — About 200 de-
monstrators protesting the con-
tinued sale of California grapes
by Dominion Stores Ltd. dispers-
ed peacefully last week when

police were called to the food-

‘ OTTAWA = Treasury board president Jean Chretien was t
in effigy on Parliament Hill March 13 by striking federal blue-collof |
workers. Then, to make him doubly aware of their hotline mess¢ a
for a better wage deal they put a second straw-filled dummy to
torch in a cardboard pyre. € ;

chain’s office on Cote des Neiges
Road.

Stephen Roberson, Montreal
director of the United Farm”

Workers grape boycott, said”
Steinberg’s Ltd., Quebec’s. larg- i
est supermarket chain, had |

agreed to sell only grapes pro- | :

duced by growers who used

UFW labor, and the UFW want- |

ed to convince Dominion to do

the same by May, when the |

grape harvest begins.

Many people thought the |
grape boycott ended when grape 4
growers signed contracts with ©

the UFW, he said, but the boy- |
-cott was renewed two years ago |

when the International Brother: ”

hood of Teamsters signed an | "
agreement with most of the”

growers.

—_—_——

UNIONS TO VOTE
ON COMMON FRONT

The union representing 62,000
of Quebec’s 75,000 non-profes-
sional hospital and social service
centre workers will decide by
mid-April whether it will join 4
common front in coming cont
ract negotiations between the

government and_ public service |

employees.
At the close of a week-long
meeting yesterday, the central

council of the Federation des Af |

faires Sociales voted to hold 4 |
double referendum on the issue.

A decision to join the common
front will require a majority vote

in two referendums. The first |

will poll the membership at large
and the second will poll the exe-
cutives of the 400 union locals
in the federation. : -

The FAS is affiliated with the
Confederation of National Trade”
Unions. The other 13,000 work-
ers in the social affairs’ sector”
are members of the Quebec Fe-
deration of Labor. ;

HV

|

bumed |