Te, ae ee a Y epemenent yee ieee: Ml tyne,
cr os

eee ee eee ere
TT ye

a

New Left

: During the 1960s, thousands of
New Leftists’ cameto realize that
Orth American governments and

bourgeois mass media consistently

lied about Cuba and the war in

Vietnam. Yet most of them never

Went on to explore the possibility

that successive U.S. administra-

Hons and the mass media were also

s lying about the USSR.

When capitalist-controlled
Media accused the Soviets of ‘‘con-
Verging”’ with capitalism, practic-
Ing “imperialism”? in Eastern
Europe, “selling out” Third World
‘Movements for national libera-
lions, persecuting Jews and

dents, developing a ‘‘privileg-
€d elite,’ etc., most ‘‘New
Leftists” vocally and publicly
agreed. It is not surprising that
Many of them also uncritically ac-
cepted the Maoist line that the
mmunist Party of the Soviet
nion was ‘‘returning to
Capitalism” and practicing ‘‘social
imperialism’? , ut S

Albert J. Szymanski, a former
Pro-Maoist New Leftist, now a
Prominent Marxist sociologist in
the U.S., subjects the ‘‘New Left”’
— Maoist version of the USSR toa
detailed critical analysis in his
book, Is the Red Flag Flying? He

Concludes, much to his own sur-
Ptise, that the USSR is indeed a ge-

Nuine socialist country; that
Socialist planning frees Soviet
workers from exploitation and
Crises of capitalism; that Soviet
trade unions are democratically
Controlled, and possess significant
Power; that Soviet state policy is

IS THE RED FLAG FLYING? The
Political Economy of the-Soviet Union.
By ‘Albert Szymanski. London, 1979,
Zed Press.

formulated democratically; that
the main aims of Soviet military
policy are to defend socialism and
to assist Third World movements
for national liberation and
socialism; and that the USSR is
well on the way to achieving com-
munisim.

Szymanski’s conclusions are
significant because he is perhaps
the foremost contemporary Marx-
ist sociologist in the U.S. His
books, The Capitalist State and the
Politics of Class (Boston: Win-
throp, 1978), and Sociology: Class,

Consciousness, and Contradic- .

tions, co-authored with Ted
George Goertzel (Toronto: D. Van
Nostrand, 1979), are widely used in
U.S. and Canadian universities.
Since he consciously bases his con-
clusions about the USSR on
evidence from prominent U.S.
‘“‘Sovietologists”, his sources can-
not be accused of pro-Soviet bias.

Szymanski is not entirely un-
critical of the USSR. He argues
that the Soviet government made
errors in its policy toward the Peo-
ple’s Republic of China during the
1930s, 1950s and 1960s, and that
Soviet relations with eastern
Europe have, at times, been
‘*hegemonic.’’ He describes scien-
tific and technological workers in
the USSR as a ‘‘petit bourgeoisie’,
and claims that they may impede

‘ Dubcek

look at the USSR

progress toward communism by
attempting to preserve their ‘‘elite’’
status.

Apart from problems involved
in defining scientific and
technological workers as petit
bourgeois, Szymanski’s argument
ignores the tendency in developed
socialist societies, for the distinc-
tion between manual and mental
labor to disappear as. the goal of
communism is approached. There
is ample evidence that this tendency
currently exists in the USSR, and is
becoming increasingly important.

Szymanski concludes that the
‘Sreforms’”:~ in
Czechoslovakia, which culminated
in the Warsaw Pact intervention of
1968, were an attempt to reduce the
power of-the Czech working class,
and were perceived as such by
many Czech and Slovak workers.
His analysis of the Hungarian

« events of 1956 is less perceptive,

and could have benefited from
Herbert Aptheker’s analysis in The
Truth About Hungary (N.Y.:

_ Mainstream, 1957).
In spite of its problems, Is the

Red Flag Flying? contains a wealth
of useful information about the
current political-economy of the
USSR. It should be especially
useful for clearing up misconcep-
tions about the USSR held by many
North Americans. Hopefully, it
will cure the residual anti-Soviet
myopia in a few of the thousands of
ex-New Leftists who are now quiet-
ly approaching middle age.
—C.'Misson

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_ APRIL 25 — Celebrate the 7th An-

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tion at the Masonic Hall, 1795—1st
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Cultural program, food,
refreshments, with Portuguese
flair. Adm. $5. All welcome.

APRIL 26 — Take your mum out to
brunch. Pancake breakfast, 10
4.m.-2 p.m. 3310 Cardinal Dr., Bur-

_ Raby. Phone 526-5226.
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Will present an evening of Ukrainian
Music, song and dances celebrating
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Campbell Ave., Van. Adm. $4.

APRIL 30 — See War Without
Winners. Hear Carmela Allevato,
B.C. Peace Council president, 8
P.m., Kwatlen College, Rm. 424,

—140 St., Surrey. Sponsored
by Fraser Valley YCL.

MAY 2 — First Annual Ridge
Meadows MAY DAY Bash.
21972 Cliff Place, Maple Ridge
(Chris and Jim‘s). Dinner, 4:30 on.

Proceeds to Tribune.

MAY 2 — Spring Party with cos-
tumes, 7:30 p.m. Oddfellows Hall,
720 Gravely St., Vancouver. Do-
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folk group, Andienos.

_MAY 2 — May Day Banquet &

Dance. Supper at 6:30 p.m. Dance
from 8 on. Russian People’s Home,
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POnsored by FRC. Everyone

- Welcome. Good time guaranteed.

MAY 3 — May Day Concert &
Meeting, 2 p.m. at Templeton
School, 727 Templeton Dr., Van.
€ynote speakers: Jim Kinnaird,
C. Federation of Labor; Jack
Phillips, Communist Party and NDP
Spokesperson. Donation proceeds
to Central America solidarity. Day
Care will be provided.

MAY 3 — Van. East.May Day Sup-

~ per. Come early, after the May Day

meeting, to the Ukrainian Hall, 805
E. Pender St., Vancouver.

MAY 7 — Canadian-Cuban Friend-
ship Association meeting with spe-
cial guest from Cuba, 8 p.m. Fisher-

. man’s Hall, boardroom, 138 E. Cor-

dova St., Van.

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ROOF REPAIRS — Reasonable.
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277-1364 or 277-3362.

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Phone 433-1145. A progressive firm
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PROF. PAINT & PAPER. 6 yrs.
exp. reas. 734-7385, 732-3132. Any
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LEGAL SERVICES

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CONNIE FOGAL, lawyer, 401 - 207
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V6B 1H7. 687-0588,

‘HALLS FOR RENT
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ELECTRICAL, plumbing, appli-
ance repairs. Don Berg. 255-7287.

co
GRAMMA PUBLICATIONS.
Complete printing services.
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Special rates for the progressive
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WEBSTERS CORNERS HALL —

, Available for banquets, meetings,

etc. For rates: Ozzie, 325-4171 or

685-5836.

UKRAINIAN CANADIAN CUL-
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Ph. 254-3436.

Tribune premieres
Oscar-nominee film

Vancouver audiences will have their first opportunity to see the
powerful documentary film The Day After Trinity Sunday, May 17
at 2 p.m. at Vancouver East Cinema, 7th and Commercial.

The premiere showing is sponsored by the Tribune and proceeds
will go to the Tribune financial drive.

Directed by Jon Else from a screenplay by Else and David and
Janet Peoples, the film was nominated for an Academy award. A

Soviet film took the top award.

The film focuses on J. Robert.Oppenheimer, the famed Ameri-
can physicist who headed the Manhattan Project — the develop-
ment of the world’s first atomic bomb — but was reviled and ulti-
mately destroyed by the U.S. establishment in 1954 because he op-
posed the development of the hydrogen bomb and was the most dis-
tinguished among scores of scientists who sought controls on the
frightening new weapons that their research had helped to create.

The film reveals for the first time archival footage showing Op-
penheimer and his colleagues assembling the first bomb and captur-
ed Japanese footage from Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

There will be one showing only and advance tickets, available on-
ly from the Tribune office and Co-op Books, 353 W. Pender, are

THE DAY

strongly recommended.

PHILIPPE HALSMAN

TRINITY

J.Robert Oppenheimer

A film by Jon Else
Watten by David Peoples,

Sunday, May 17 — 2 p.m.
Vancouver East Cinema (7th and Commercial)
All tickets $3.25

Advance tickets available at Tribune office,
People’s Co-op Books, 353 W. Pender

-& the Atomic Bomb

Janet Peoples & Jon Else

Original Music by Martin Bresnick
A Cinema Ventures Release

MAY DAY CONCERT-MEETING

Sunday, May 3 at 2 p.m.
Templeton School, 727 Templeton Dr. Vancouver

Keynote speakers:
JIM KINNAIRD
B.C. Federation of Labor
JACK PHILLIPS
Communist Party
NDP spokesperson
Donation proceeds to Central America solidarity
Child care provided

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PACIFIC TRIBUNE—APRIL 17, 1981—Page 11