Here's why Cuban people back Castros policies Labor Van- go The Statesman, organ of. the Council, prepared Some wee ks publish- the eouver Labor €@d an article ICFTU, attacking Cuban governm policies. The doubtedly State perts.”’ The following from the July issue of The Dis- patcher, organ. of tional outlines tions workers by the present and its article was. unh- U.S. ex inspired by the department’s “labor eric) articie 15 the Interna- Longshoremens’ Union condi- Cuban lived the. shocking under which and. peasants heel of the It these the Batista while under -U\S.-backed in regime. was revolt against conditions. that. the present government and its social program came The following is a summary since does not permit publication of the full article space Cuba could be an island par- adise. It has a delightful, year round climate. The land is very fertile and there are extensive nickel, iron, chrome, manga- nese and copper deposits. She has good ports, good commun- ications and is well located in relation to large markets in North and South America.. If these advantages had been) wisely used, Cubans could have had one of the highest stand- | key | economy, {with t advanced | to power. ards of living in the world. This country has been a vir- tual colony of the U.S. since the Spanish-American war of 1898. Cubans fought for and won their own independence before the U.S. intervened. For the past 60 years, U.S. private investors have dominated the branches. of. the Cuban This control began he Platt Amendment. to Cuban Constitution under which the Cubans compelled to agree “that the 1901, were the United States may exercise} the right to intervene for the preservation of Cuban inde- pendence (and) the maintain- ance of qa government adequate for the protection of life, pro- perty and individual liberty.” This amendment also forced Cuba to give naval bases to the U.S. The first pendence saw one dictatorship after another in this unfortun- ate land. Except for short periods of, democratic rule, Cuba groaned under dictator-, ship until the-revolution suc- | ceeded in. 1959. When Batista was Over- thrown, U.S. private invest- ments in Cuba amounted to $850 million. Sugar, which ac- counted for nearly two-thirds of the national income, was 40 percent controlled by U.S. cor-| porations. Another 10 to 20 percent was controlled by other foreign investors. Ninety | percent of Cuba‘s' mineral wealth was controlled by! of | | million, 25 years of inde- | property | holders. ; American interests and its oil | refineries were owned entire-} ly by U.S. and, British, com panies. | Its public utilities were 8 percent American-owned; its great cattle. ranches were largely in American hands. This is colonialism, and -its pro- fits were drained out of Cuba by hundreds of millions of dol- lars every year. Cuba has about 450,000: su- gar workers. Their average in- come has been about, $120) a year. An American survey in 1957 estimated that-96 of ev- ery 100 sugar. workers had} never eaten meat. They work- ed an average of four months a year and were unemployed for eight months. With a population of 5% Cuba had- as. much unemployment as_ either France or Italy, with popula- tions of over 40 millions. About one in four was unem- ployed, The average per cap- ita income in Cuba was about $6 a week. Fewer than 8 percent of the holdings. in Cuba accounted for 71 percent of the land. About 200,000 rural | families had no land on which to raise their own vegetables, yet almost ten million acres was. kept idle by private land- Cuba exported sugar. and imported candy. She exported leather and imported. shoes. Replying over the main U.S.-owned ‘interests. Photo above, left, shows of the people’s armed milit to U.S. provoc ations, the people of Cuba and their government have taken industries and are putting them to work serving Cuba’s the American Esso oil refinery. Right is a member ia standing guard over the refinery. | The Scene shows part of the crowd: of five hundred thousand Cubans in Havana July 10 protesting U.S. action, and expressing support for the measures taken by the govern- ment. Placard reads, “Cuba Yes, Yankees No!” This slogan has become the battle cry of. the Cuban people. She exported iron. and impor- ted plows. A _ land that was fertile and could grow ali her own food imported vast quan- tities of food from the U.S., including. rice, a crop she could have. grown herseli. The housing situation. was ineredibly bad. Over half the rural families lived. in shacks and slums without the barest necessities of sanitation. About half of all Cubans paid rents of one-fifth to one-third. of their incomes. Over half had no electricity. Most children never wore shoes and rural | jungles | Castro. suffered.from infestations and disease. Millions had never had any medical care whats ever. One-fourth of the people were illiterate. These were the underlying seeds of. the revolt in Cuba. The army of. Fidel Castro was recruited mainly from those rural wage workers who lit- erally had nothing to lose but their chains. So the younger and more courageous ones took their destinies into their own hends and fled into the of Oriente to join Support for striking British seamen urged “The British seamen’s strike which has spread into Canada merits the whole-hearted support of all sections of the trade union movement,” Bill Kashtan, national labor secretary of the Communist Party, declared in an inter- view with the Pacific Tribune. “These men are on strike against an unsatisfactory agreement. forced on them, against their will, and are de- manding increased take-home pay,” he said. “The Canadian immigration authorities are acting as strike-breakers in this situa- tion, threatening the men with deportation unless they remain on board ship. Some have already been arrested. “The labor movement should come to their assist- ance and give them every pos- sible help to win the strike. Canadian Labor Con- gress ought to intervene with the government and demand | that a stop be made of the use of immigration. authorities | strike-breakers. as This is a good time to use the time honored weapon of international solidarity and come to the aid of the sea« men.” The strike is in protest against a_ settlement which their union officers signed with. the National Maritime Board. The settlement would have tied them to a $7-a-month raise instead of the $11.20 the men demanded. (Brit- ish seamen get less than half the wage rates paid on Canadian ships.) Aug. 14 saw 89 ships tied up in British ports alone. The authorities prefer to consider it an illegal strike and are ar- resting rank-and-file leaders and encouraging scabbing. In spite of this the Dock Workers Union has announc- ed that it .will support the strikers if within 21 days they are not granted a settle- ment. August 26, 196(0—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 2