51st Anniversary

USSR building future

By WILLIAM STEWART
“It’s easy to have confidence
in the future when you see it
being built in one sixth of the
world,” William Kashtan, lead-
er of the Communist Party told
a meeting gathered to honor
the 51st anniversary of the Oc-

tober Revolution last week.

He spoke of the pain, effort
and enthusiasm that went into
the building of that great coun-
try and chided those who were
so obsessed with the inevitable
mistakes that must go along
with the undertaking of such a
momentous task, that they
could not see the main outline.

“One mistake the great Soviet
Union has never made is the
mistake of departing from the
construction of socialism,” Kash-
tan told the cheering audience.
“They eliminated the exploita-
tion of man by man and proved
that working people could build
a new society, a new technical
intelligentsia, drawn from the
ranks of the people, a new cul-
ture, all without the guidance
of exploiters.”

“They ended the oppression of
one nation by another, liberat-
ed the many nations which now
comprise the Soviet Union, from
primitive life in some cases and
helped the rapid development of
their cultures, language and
technology.

“The Soviet Union opened
wide the door for the end of
imperialist domination in the
world and made it easier for
other countries to leave the
bonds of imperialism and under-
take socialist development.

“It bore the main brunt of
the war against fascism #and
after that war helped to bring
into existence a great world sys-
tem of socialist states.

“It is that system of socialist
states, headed by the power and

"When choice, voted

might of the Soviet Union
which is the main bulwark of
world peace today.”

Turning to the recent events
in Czechoslovakia, Kashtan de-
clared that imperialism had
sought to pull one link of the
socialist chain back into its own
orbit. It was thanks to the vigil-
ance of the Soviet Union that
this did not happen.

Soviet leaders have declared,
he said, that they will never
allow one piece of the socialist
world to be taken back by im-
perialism. It is lost to them for
all time.

He appealed for the strength-
ening of the bonds of solidarity
between the Canadian working
class. and the socialist world.
“This is not a matter of helping
the Soviet Union, it is a matter
of great importance for the peo-
ple of this country. Those who
make it a matter of Canadian
patriotism to criticize the
U.S.S.R. should realize that they
do not greatly harm that coun-
try, it has broad shoulders, but
they do irreparable damage to
the Canadian working class in
its fight against Canadian mono-

poly capital.”

There is only one socialism in
the world, Kashtan stated and
all class conscious workers
should solidarize themselves
with that socialism realizing
that whatever weakens it
strengthens world imperialism.
He concluded his address by re-
minding his audience that “it
is the miracle of modern social-
ism which dominates the entire
era in which we live, not its
mistakes and that this was the
greatest weapon that class con-

scious workers had at their dis- .

posal in the ever intensifying
battle to end the rule of capital
in Canada.”

The meeting, which took
place at the Ukrainian Hall in
Toronto, was also addressed by
Alf Stenberg who just returned
from the Soviet Union where he
attended the 50th Anniversary
Congress of the Soviet Young
Communist League, Komsomol.
Stenberg, who is National Youth
Secretary of the Canadian
party, spoke of the great part
the youth and the Komsomol
had played in the building of
socialism, its part in fulfilling
the five year plans, eliminating
illiteracy in the country side, in
the fight against fascism dur-
ing the second world war, in
the reconstruction of the coun-
try from war devastation and
now in the mastering of the
new techniques needed to meet
and advance the great develop-
ments in science and technolo-
gy. He also spoke of the con-
fidence in their future that the
young communists of the Soviet
Union radiated.

The meeting was treated to a
beautiful film on the Ukraine
called Meet The Ukraine, pre-
sented by Leslie Hunt, secreta-
ry of the Canada-U.S.S.R. Asso-
ciation.

Left in U.S.’—Aptheker

Drawing a clear distinction
between the movement to the
right of the ruling class of the

United States, and the move-
ment of the masses of people,
Bettina. Aptheker, a young
Communist student spokesman,
vividly described the complex
outcome of the recent Presiden-
tial election. In a meeting spon-
sored by the Metropolitan To-
ronto Committee of the Com-
munist Party, Miss Aptheker
described the polarization of
American politics as a reflec-

' PACIFIC TRIBUNE—NOVEMBER 29, 1968—Page

Mitt A eric

tion of the total crisis of social
life in the U.S.

In Canada in a compressed
and active speaking. tour, Bet-
tina Aptheker, who rose to pro-
minence in the. student struggle
in Berkeley, California in 1964
and who in the period since
then has become one of the
most articulate spokesmen of
the student movement, as well
as a leader of the CPUSA,
stressed her confidence in the
movement of the American peo-
ple expressed in the sharpening
crisis in general as well as in
the recent election. “When it
was possible to exercise a
choice, the tendency was to vote
to the left,” she stated, back-
ing her assertion with a detailed
description and analysis of
several individual campaigns as
well as a general description of

the emerging forces . seeking.

“radical change outside of the

existing two parties.”
Challenging the propaganda

of the business press which pro-

jected the campaign of George
Wallace as one which sank deep

8

roots among sections of the.

white working class, she never
the less drew attention to the
continuing strength of the ultra
right represented in this in-
stance by Wallace. She indicat-
ed that much Wallace support.
came from people completely
alienated from both the Repub-
lican and Democratic parties,
but without a clear understand-
ing of the essential political pro-
cesses, and the forces at work.

In a thought-provoking and
analytical address Miss Apthe-
ker dealt at length with the de-
veloping coalition of the Left,
its present weaknesses and
strengths, but it was the conta-
gious optimism of her approach
that caught the meeting in the
Ballroom of the King Edward
Sheraton Hotel. She speaks with
a soft voice and a vocabulary
that is of the movement of the
day.

Miss Aptheker’s schedule in
Canada includes several cam-
pus meetings as well as an in-
terview on CBC’s “The Way
It Is” and local television ex-
posure in Montreal.

growing farm crisis |

A special conference, called to
discuss the farm crisis on the
prairies was held in Edmonton
this past week-end, attended by
farm delegates from the Mani-
toba, Saskatchewan and Alberta
Communist Parties. The confer-
ence considered the situation to
be an emergency, in which bad
harvest conditions, combined
with loss of markets, exposed
the serious plight of Canadian
agriculture. Delegates were of
the opinion that the national in-
terests of Canadian farmers are
being sacrificed to the profit-
making aims of big business

circles, who see the possibility.

of making a fast buck out of
subordinating Canadian _ inter-
ests to those of the United
States. This was brought into
glaring relief by the recent “get
tough” talk at NATO, aimed at
the very customers on whom
the western Canadian farmers
are dependent to buy their
wheat. An emergency program
was adopted by the conference,
as follows:

“Toss of markets and a bad
harvest have seriously hurt
prairie wheat. farmers—worsen-
ing the crisis that has plagued
agriculture for over twenty
years. Loss of farm income is
depressing the prairie economy.

“Farm problems and_ rural
poverty worsen, while the big
monopolies get richer, despite
the fact that farmers have in-
creased their productivity more
than any other sector of the
economy.

“The greatest paradox of our
time is a wheat glut on the
prairies, with three-quarters of
the world hungry, and unable to
get it. We produce the world’s
best wheat, but our farmers are
on quota. And, under NATO, we
declare our best wheat custo-
mers to be our main enemies.

“Man can circle the world

 2950V 3
od ee

a ee

with war rockets, but can’t shiP
food a few thousand miles 0
the people who need it. |
“Senior governments have M0
policies for the well-being 0
agriculture. But they find bil:
lions of dollars for armaments:
dividends, interest, and for SU Z
sidies for foreign monopolies: _
. “Yearly military expenditures
of nearly two billion dollars are
far in excess of reasonable 0
fense needs. By cutting them ®
half it would be easy to fine ©
least $300 million in this cris
to finance new markets for pr”
ie wheat. :
“The call for diversification 8
government buck-passing, u? e
backed by sound governmen
policies — goals for agriculture

1
suit
PTT

Next week:

The Crisis in Canadian Agriclh
ture: Speech by William Beechin¢
to the Communist Party Speci?
Farm Conference.

ance!

markets, guaranteed prices and
stability. Instead, farmers are
victims of a do-nothing policy:

“New, progressive policie?
can return prosperity to agricl
ture and the prairies.

“We call for:

“A moratorium on farm
so that no farmer loses
machinery, land or his equity
them, as a result of this ye
conditions.

“A special federal fund es
provide a minimum income of be
least $3,000 yearly to each fat™
er, preserve herds and stoch>:
subsidize interest rates so 1?
don’t rise above 5 percent dut
ing this crisis.

“Government action to
vide a system of state-oW
drying equipment. 2

“Immediate government ag
tion to guarantee an adequate
supply of good seed grain.

“Steps to protect Canadia

debt

his
in
1’S

ned

agriculture from U.S.A. dumP”
ing. é
“Remove the minimum we

strictions for qualifications
dairy and egg subsidies.

“A comprehensive Domin
provincial, all risk, crop insult
ance scheme, which would assis"
in guaranteeing a minimum @
nual income. :

“Federal-provincial actions ——
bring monopoly profiteering un
der control. :

“A radically new program ee
secure new markets for wheal
in light of present-day reality:
The basis for trade expans!®
must be a policy of buying from
those who buy from us, and !
acceptance of local currencie
Socialist countries now purchas®
more than 50 percent of our ex"

jon

to

port wheat—let’s have ne
policies of friendship wit!

them.”

dat |

pro