SPruey ed wasn’t in China
long enough to more than
glimpse the changes that_are
taking’ place,’ Caron continu-
ed» “But I did’ see enough to
convince me that. the confi-
dent; hard-working Chinese
people are creating a better
life for themselves and for fu-

| ture generations.

These photos from China show (top) a miniature car
turned out by the passenger car repair works of the
Shanghai Public Communications Company, and (bottom)

Chinese Communist. Party. and government leaders meet-.

ing members of the presidium at the opening session of
_ the national front rank workers’ conference. In foreground

Liu Shao-chi shakes hands: with Ku Wen-hsia, a deft-

fingered embroidery artist from Kiangsu province.

“The - 700, 000 péople: who

participated in the October 1
= | anniversary parade. in Peking
| illustrated these gains; the hun-

dreds of floats depicted their
advance in industry and agri-

\ culture — and in culture. It

was a stunningly beautiful par-

applied in a mass way.”

Caron went to China as a
member of a three-man delega-
tion from the Communist Par-
ty of Canada invited to attend
the 10th birthday celebrations
of People’s China. While there
he visited’ Peking, Shanghai,
Wuhan and other paris of Ho-
nan Province. -

“Our delegation also had an
opportunity to see the memor-
ial to Dr. Bethune in Shih
chia - Chuang, and lay a
wreath,” said Caron. (Dr.
Bethune, famed Montreal sur-
geon,.fought against the Fran-
‘co fascists in Spain, later died
in China from blood poisoning
while serving with the Libera-
tion forces).

While in Shanghai, Caron in-

spected a shipyard employing

ade, a demonstration of culture |”

|a small service charge.

\Vancouver man watched
China's great leap ahead

“I saw China’s ‘great leap forward’ with my own eyes,” says Charles Caron of
North. Vancouver, who has just returned from a five-week tour of Central China,

during which he attended the celebration of the 10th anniversary of
People’s Republic in Peking last month.

the Chinese

$0,000 workers and operating
at capacity.

“Prior to Liberation ~ this
centre,” he said. ‘“‘Today it has
three dry docks of 22,000 tons
capacity, and seven slipways.
They were- building 5,000 and
13,000-ton: freighters for coast-
al trade; also 9,000-ton passen-
ger ships; and in a part of the
plant workers were building
giant cranes. Everything was
really humming — I ecouldn’t
help’ but contrast it with the
stagnation at Burrard Dry’
Dock in- North Vancouver.”

an electrical plant he also vis-
ited in Shanghai, Caron was
struck by the high percentage
of young workers, including
many girls. %

“T also discovered that wher-
ever a plant is located; it also
becomes a rounded-out com-
munity cenire,” he said: “Ap-
arimenis are built nearby for
the workers. They are reni-
free; the worker merely pays
And
along with the apartments, up
go stores, a school, a hospital,
theatres and playground — all
the facilities required by the
community.”

In Honan Province Caron
visited a large commune and
heard a fascinating story.

“In 1942 a drought in this
area caused a famine and 400.-

000 people died. In 1959 there

shipyard was mainly a repair

Both in the shipyard. and at;

was an even more extreme
drought — 100 days with not
a drop of-rain. But this timé
the people were in a commune,
When famine threatened, they
met and discussed what meas-
ures could be taken. The re-
‘sult: everyone wént to work
on a planned irrigation pros
gram, famine was averted and
a good crop harvested. So, in
life, these commune members
‘have learned the value of a
collective approach to prob«
lems.”

Caron and the other Cana-
dian delegates flew from Tor-
onto to London, from there di-
rectly to Moscow, and by jet
TU 104 from Moscow to Pe-

king.
“We had stopovers in Mos-
cow,” said Caron, “and I had

an’ opportunity to see some-
thing of the city and the vast
construction program going on
there.

“At the All-Union Agricul-
tural Exhibition I had no time
to even try and cover every-
thing; but I did visit the im-
pressive science building and
see exact replicas of sputniks
and luniks. ~

“T also took time out to wan-
der around Moscow on foot,
sée and meet people, and get
a glimpse of what life is like
in a socialist country. From
what I was able to observe, the
life of Soviet citizens is very
good indeed.”

‘No worries about future in USSR’

“There is no fear in the eyes j way to Berlin. We stopped at | found that while the latter has

of people in socialist coun-
tries,” said Bob Towle. “The
people look happy: unemploy-
ment does not exist and they
have no worries about their
futyre. The more they pro-
duce, the more they réceive
and life gets better and better.” .

‘Towle, veteran socialist
from Burnaby, recently spent
three months touring’ Europe
by car with his wife, Ada, and
son Calvain, 14.

‘He began his tour in Seot-
land and England (‘the _ first
time I’d been. back since the
First World War, when I serv-
ed with the 107th Pioneer
Corps”) and hired a. Hillman
ear and driver to take across
the Channel.

Landing at Ostend: after ‘sail-
ing from Dover; the Towles
_drove to Brussels, then headed
for Berlin. oak

“An interesting incident *oc- |
curred in East Germany,” said
Towle, “while we were on our

'@ village cafe, and after en-
joying a good meal I tried to
pay in ‘West German marks,
which the éashier refused to
accept. So we had to settle
the bill’ with cigarettes.
“Later we

East and Wesf Berlin, and

been made a ‘western’ show-
case’ rents are nearly five
times as high‘ asin’ East Ber-
lin. We’ also- discovered that
West Berlin is fine for window
shopping, but food, shoes

explored both | and: other things are cheaper-
tin East Berlin. There is no un-

Lenin: Stal Manor in Red Square:

employment there.”

The Towles crossed into the
Soviet Union at Brest, on the
Bug River, where they were
met by an interpreter from
Moscow: During their stay in
the USSR $11.25 per day’ per*
person covered the cost of he-
tel accommodation, meals and
services of the

| guide.

“We went where we wished,

¢ BAN. whatever we. desired | 10°

see,” said Bob Towle. “in
Moscow. we stayed at the Pe-
king Hotel, where we had ‘a
luxurious suite, with wall-to-

wall- carpets,:, Chinese silk
drapes. on.the picture-windews,
two. teléphones, bath and

shower, comfortable beds —

=|and- meals so enormous that

we could never finish them.”

The: Towles visited the huge
construction sites, shopped at
the GUM. department _Store,
sampled . Soviet ice cream: —
“something out of this werld:’

'—and spent hours just wan—

-}worried - people,”

interpreter- |

dering around Moscow.

“We saw and met happy, un-
said Towle
(simply. “A nation of no speed-
up and no _ stress. Workers
whose work-week is heing
shorténed and who know that
-@ happy future under a social-
ist system is theirs by right.”

Returning through Poland,
the Towles stopped in Warsaw.
“Although every building was
hit and a great part of the city
was destroyed during the Sec-
ond World War, few~-sears of
war remain today,” sai@ Bob
Towle. “Food is plentiful, but
finding accommodation _ still
presents a problem.”

After another short stop in
Berlin,-a trip to
and a tour thorugh the Ruhr,
the Towles drove back to Ost-
end and took ship for England,
where they sailed from: Liver-
[pool ‘to’ Montreal.
+) ‘"Fhree months. we'll never
forget,” said Towle.

November 20, 1959°-PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 3

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