A typical sanitarium in the Soviet Crimea, one of thousands throughout the Soviet Union. How Lithuanian people are building socialism Trade union leader Jack Phillips Q. Is there much industriali- farmers. The party group meet and his wife Cora spent a month’s zation there? ; once monthly to deal with indus- holiday in the Soviet Union this A: Oh yes. Industrial trial development, technical summer. In an interview reported in —products are now 30 times what- problems and political issues. last week’s Tribune, they described they were in pre-war days. — Q: What is the status of” [ their impressions of the workers’ Exports are 90 percent indus- religious groups within the resort area in the Crimea, and their trial as compared to 90 percent country? brief stay in Moscow and Leningrad. agricultural before the war. A: The Roman Catholic This week they report on their visit to. Under the old capitalist rule church has always been strong in lithuania. industry was made up of small Lithuania and today it has the ; Q: You say the progress made factories, and much hand labor allegiance of a strong minority, in Lithuania in the past 30 years — food and textiles were the Iwas told. has been outstanding. On what traditional industries in the old Mrs. Phillips: We visited a do you base your conclusions? days. You see, before the war Catholic church while a service A: Mainly on what we sawfor the population was only 20 was being held, and noticed the ourselves, but also on the knowl- percent urban; it is now 51 congregation was made up of edge that the country had been percent. Industries were re- middle aged and older persons terribly devastated, with the organized or built anew follow- with a substantial number of loss of over 700,000 people during —_ ing the war. young people. Church weddings the second world war. Now, Q: What mainly do they manu are recognized on the same basis from what we learned, it is a facture? as secular weddings. The very prosperous nation. A: Electric welding Catholics are free to worship and Lithuania is a small country, equipment for one thing, electric perform the rites of the church only 55,000 square kilometres computers, precision metal- and are not harrassed in any pougnly 25,000 Su anes cutting lathes, sulphuric acid, way. nd it was.not until 1967. that it artificial fibres, fero-concrete, eee F . reachéd its pre-war population farm machinery, T.V. sets — oe Bees i ae eae of some 3 million people. The thatis just a partial list. that raat like every other Capital city of Vilnius was under Q: Is Lithuania an exporting hich th USSR y ffi Poland prior to the war, but was__ nation? DEpUnAGe Dee aS returned to Lithuania in 1940. A: Under capitalism she Q. Lithuania is now one of the imported even the simplest nations in the Union of Soviet household articles. Today she cially a secular, non-religious state and that education is based on scientific materialism. The representatives of the Com- Sociali Saas : : : he Hepuplics? __ exports industrial goods to more — unist Party were quite frank in : Yes, but it has a multi- than 70 countries. telling us that they have been National population — 81 percent Q: What about agriculture? 8 y working to improve their methods of conducting scientific materialist education in schools and among adults who are not attending schools. Lithuanian, 8 percent Poles, 8 A: Well, there again percent Russian, and 3 percent production is way up from the others. Education is carried on pre-war figures, three times as in Lithuanian except where high asa matter of fact. there is a concentration of other Q: Their living standards people. Higher education is Lithu- would be higher too then? a Thee bere propsenda anian in most cases, and A: In 1969, for example, they oS within the Soviet Union are being subjected to cultural genocide. From what you saw of religious freedom within Lithuania, what would you say of that particular Russian is obligatory as a_ produced 790 kilograms of milk second language in schools, with per person and 180 kilos of meat a a third language selected by per person. They consumed choice of the student. English is much of this— as an example, 70 the most popular third language, _ kilos of meat per person. 9 we were told. G-opideyou visit with trade “TES eee ce Q: They have a socialist union leaders while you were : SHG eNes my government? Pere? knowledge, ne igious ae in the A: Yes, but the government A: Yes. The trade unions are USSR have the same rights and protection as have followers of the Greek Orthodox, and Roman Catholic churches, and other religious groups. However, in all honesty, one must point out that young people there are educated on the basis of scientific materialism which rejects the concept of the supernatural. This flows from the philosophy of Marxism. ; Q: What is your outstanding impression of Lithuania as a Q: What proportion of the whole? leaders there explained to us very strong in Lithuania. They they propagate socialist ideas in _ have 1,800,000 members—almost a national form, preserving the as many as Canada has with its culture, language, history and population of 20 million! The traditions of the Lithuanian central trade union body is set up people. One party leader told us — with an executive composed of a “this bothers our enemies, chairman, 3 secretaries, and 30 Including some of our enemies committee members. Each in Canada who try to slander secretary handles certain phases Lithuania by claiming their of executive and adminis- culture has been suppressed by trative work. Congresses are the Russians.” held every two years. This party leader said they would be very happy for people | of Lithuanian origin, especially delegations from Canada, to come back to see for themselves munist Party? _ ig an example of how the smaller A: They have about 120,000 republics have truly flourished how Lithuanian culture is members and the Young Com- under socialist power. They've flourishing, and how the munist League has about 250,000. found a greatness that was peoples’ living standards have About 52 percent of the members impossible under the old order. Se eee eee i _ Improved? ** *" OTTAWA TOLD: | ew fisheries treaty a must With talks between federal and Soviet authorities scheduled to begin September 21 in Ottawa on the deep-sea fishing situation, the Tribune publishes an abridged version of a timely editorial on the subject from The Fisherman, of August 21 date: “Last November fisheries minister Jack Davis wrote The Fisherman agreeing in the main with our suggestion that Canada should take the initiative in convening a conference of all countries now fishing the North Pacific, including the Soviet Union, to negotiate a new fisheries treaty, with provision for other countries to join as they acquired distant water fleets. He informed us that he had commended this suggestion to external affairs minister Mitchell Sharp. And what has the government done about it? Nothing. ““Now Davis says he wants to broach the question of joining the present treaty with the Soviet Union. But asking the Soviet Union to join a now outmoded treaty written in the frozen context of U.S. cold war objectives to exclude the Soviet Union is altogether different from asking the Soviet Union to participate in a new treaty conference which takes full account of present day realities. oe “The realities are that the salmon fisheries produced in the streams of Canada and the United States, the conservation of which is purportedly the primary concern of the treaty, are threatened by Japanese and South Korean high seas operations — not by the operations of Soviet fishing fleets which voluntarily abstain from taking salmon. _.“Qver the vigorous protest of Canadian and American salmon fishermen, Japan continues to take salmon on the high seas west of the abstention line set by the treaty where, it originally was believed, it could take fish largely of Asian origin but where, as it turned out, it preys on the Bristol Bay and other runs. Last year and this, evading all protests and promises, South Korea has entered this fishery and there is every indication that its fleets will return next year. “This is the real threat to the salmon fisheries, undermining and threatening to destroy even the limited effectiveness of the present treaty. What South Korea can do today, other countries can do tomorrow, for they are not bound by any treaty to abstain. ‘As far back as 1959, when the UFAWU hosted a four nation conference of fishing organizations in Vancouver, Soviet representatives joined with those of Canada, United States and Japan in calling for a treaty ‘along the lines of the existing tripartite treaty between Canada, the U.S. and Japan to more effectively carry on research work for preservation of the salmon fishery and other valuable resources of the North Pacific Ocean.’ In- more than a decade since, no Canadian government has responded to this call. - “Canadian trollers fishing on the Big Bank and other west coast areas beyond the 12 mile limit have a right to expect the federal government to assert their claims to their traditional grounds. And it is reasonable to suppose that Canada can reach agreement with the Soviet Union to restrict Soviet trawlers’ operation in these waters. ; “The shortcoming of any such agreement Canada may reach with the Soviet Union is that it has no effect on any other fishing nations which may decide to send its fleets to the North Pacific. And British Columbia fishermen should face the fact that in the space of a very few years, as fishing pressure mounts, fleets of countries other than the Soviet Union and Japan will be fishing off our coasts. _.“The only effective way of protecting our salmon, for the benefit of all salmon fishermen of whatever gear, is to outlaw the highseas fishery. “Rishermen are weary of having their needs sacrificed to other ends. A new North Pacific fisheries treaty eventually must be written. Will the Trudeau government continue to wait until such action is forced upon it by development? Or will it match words with action and take the initiative in calling for a new treaty conference based on constructive proposals around which all fishermen can unite?” ' population belong to the Com- A: Well, I believe Lithuania i nemo are workers and collective >. See. LITHUANIA, pg. 122.205. © Snow, White and the Seven Dwarfs ; PACIFIC TRIBUNE--FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11.,1970—PAGES >!