650 Hiroshimas in Indochina By NORMAN BORODIN In an article in a recent issue of the U.S. Magazine Nation, Gab- riel Kolko, professor of history at Toronto’s York University, writes that between 1965 and 1971 the Americans have drop- ped approximately 13 million tons of high explosives over Indochina. Over half of this ton- nage (53%) was exploded there during the last three years. He stresses that 13 million tons of high explosives are equivalent to 650 atomic bombs of the type used to destroy Hiro- shima in 1945. In 1971 alone the equivalent of 85 A-bombs of the same type were rained down on Indochina, killing, burning and maiming thousands of civilians in all of the three countries, but mostly, of course, in the Democratic Re- public of Vietnam (DRV) and South Vietnam. At a recent press conference in Hanoi of the Commission for the Investigation of American War Crimes in Vietnam, an of- . ficial of the commission con- firmed the fact that the U.S. air force and navy are constantly escalating the barbaric bombing and shelling of the territory of North Vietnam — its cities, in- cluding Hanoi and Haiphong, villages, industrial enterprises, schools, hospitals, dams. and dykes of 20 provinces. _ Of course, the U.S. authorities predictably are trying their hardest to deny that their pilots were bombing civilian targets and especially the dykes and dams of the DRV which, when destroyed from the air, unleash tremendous reservoirs of water that flood thousands of acres of land, killing all human_ beings and farm animals and destroy- ing rice crops. This sentences thousands of civilians — men, women and children — _ to hunger. Sauce for the goose One day a group of women boarded a bus in Copenhagen and gave the conductor 80 ore each instead of one crown (100 ore). The conductor demanded full fare and when the women refused to pay, he called the police. - At the station they were fined and again paid only 80% of the fine. . The women turned out to be “Redstockings” — militants of the Danish movement. for wo- men’s equality — and that was the method they had chosen to protest against the fact that women are paid 20% less than men for the same kind of work. The Americans were especial- ly adamant but unconvincing in their denials about the destruc- tion of dams and dykes in the DRV because their latest savage bombings in Vietnam coincided by accident with the flash floods that were touched off by tor- rential rains in the Black Hills of South Dakota. After the rains burst an earthen dam at Canyon Lake at least 300 persons were left dead and 500 were missing, victims of walls of water that swept through Rapid City and the surrounding area. “In a hurricane, if people evacuate they don’t get hurt. Here they had no warning,” said - : a Red Cross official from Atlan- ta. Senator George McGovern, who fiew to the disaster area from the capital, called the scene ‘incredible destruction and de- solation ...it goes beyond what anyone can comprehend.” - The terrible American trage- dy in South Dakota was either an accident or the result of criminal negligence on the part of the authorities responsible for the security of the Canyon Lake Dam. But the bombings of the dams and dykes of the DRV are deliberate crimes of the U.S. military who plan the floods and the casualties beforehand, as well as the deliberate destruc- tion of the rice crops. The Vietnamese peasants also had no warning of the oncom- ing man-made catastrophe. Those who were not drowned had to cope with the additional tor- rents of napalm and high ex- plosive bombs directed at them by laser rays. No one believes the U.S. “de- nials” about the bombing of the dams of the DRV. The credibil- ity gap has grown even wider (if that is possible) since the re- cent “demotion” of General John D. Lavelle, the former com- mander of the U.S. Seventh Air Force, for his so-called ‘“un- authorized” air strikes against civilian centres in North Viet- nam over a three-month period that began in early January of this year, a period during which the Pentagon energetically de- nied these same air strikes. The patriots of Vietnam who are courageously continuing their struggle agairist the US. invaders and their Saigon pup- pet sidekicks have reiterated their demand that the U.S. re- turn to the negotiation table in Paris to achieve a peaceful poli- tical solution of the Vietnam war. Regretably, the U.S. continues to stubbornly sabotage the Paris peace talks, hoping against hope for a military victory they will never achieve. Wages go up, prices go down MOSCOW The Soviet Union is successfully imple- menting the main task of the current five-year plan (1971- 1975): to secure a considerable tise in the living standard and cultural level of the people. During the year which has passed 16,000,000 people have received increments to pensions. Three million railwaymen, min- ers, and rural machine opera- tors have been given wage in- creases. Already in 1972, the pay rates of Siberian industrial and office workers have gone up, the shop prices remaining unchanged. The prices of some articles, TV sets, motorcycles and chem- icals for household use among them, have gone down. Econo- mists believe that it will bring a saving of 1,400 million roubles a year. The stability of prices in the Soviet Union is guaranteed by the government and recorded in the law on the five-year plan. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, JUNE 30, 1972—PAGE 6 Record since 1924 anadian-Soviet relations A Canadian delegation headed by Mr. Alastair Scott, Chief Cou » Mi d Resources, was in the Sov é Ce ene in the field of power engineering. The delegation i ki for cooperation i Canadian working group P he Canadians in Volgograd, in front of the memoria study tour of the country. The photo shows t heroes of the Stalingrad battle. It was 30 years ago, in June 1942, that Canada and the Soviet Union established diplomatic re- lations in the midst of the com- mon struggle against Hitler Ger- many. Actually, as early at 1924 the Canadian government recognized the Soviet Union juridically and an Official Soviet agency was opened in Montreal which, while fulfilling commercial and con- sular functions, also acted as a diplomatic representative of the USSR there until 1927. ‘Some mutually advantageous trade began to develop. In 1936 the Soviet Union was visited by the Canadian minister of com- merce, whose meetings with Soviet foreign trade officials re- sulted in the removal of the bar- riers to the expansion of trade between the two countries. The joint struggle of the Soviet and Canadian peoples against fascism helped to deve- lop military cooperation and mutual assistance. Both coun- tries exchanged embassies. A Soviet embassy opened in Ot- tawa, and a Soviet consulate in Halifax. The Canadian embassy was first opened in Kuibyshev and then it moved to Moscow. Prime Minister W. L. Mackenzie King in a telegram to the pre- mier of the USSR expressed the hope that the exchange of diplo- matic representatives would go a long way towards the further development of cordial mutual understanding and close coope- ration between the two coun- tries. Convoys of Canadian ships delivered supplies to the Soviet people who were bearing the brunt of the struggle against fascism. Canada’s military help to the Soviet Union was effected in the first years of the war by special agreements concluded between the USSR and the allied countries, and later by the Feb- ruary 1], 1944 agreement on military deliveries by Canada to the Soviet Union. The successes of the Soviet . Army on the Soviet-German front were widely acclaimed in Canada. Canadian towns estab- | lished ties with the liberated é in Canada and existed © towns of the Soviet Union, e.g. Toronto and Stalingrad, Regina and- Kursk, Saskatoon and Rom- ny, Port Arthur and Fort Wil- liam and Poltava. It is gratify- ing to note the resumption of ties between “twin” cities—in 1971 Vancouver and Odessa agreed to establish mutual: ex- changes. Relations between Canada and Soviet Union are free of any territorial, economic or any other inter-state contradictions. The two countries have no dis- putes or questions which cannot be solved in the mutual interest. Nor are there any problems which would push the USSR and Canada away from each other or into a confrontation. On the con- trary, our two countries are fac- ing many problems concerned with the development of ter- ritories that are very similar. In 1956 a Canadian-Soviet trade agreement was concluded in Moscow, each of the partners most- favored nation treatment in trade. The years that followed saw the expansion of relations to ever new spheres: from a temporary agreement on some aspects of scientific and tech- nical exchanges to the conclu- Some facts The Soviet Union reports a high level of agricultural pro- duction for the second year in a row. Livestock production in- creased 3% but was offset by decreases in crop productio (except for cotton). Both meat and egg produc- tion reached new peaks in 1971. Meat production, over 13 mil- lion tons on a slaughter weight basis, was 800,000 tons above 1970’s_ production. It also slightly exceeded the 1971 Agri- cultural Plan calling for 12.9 million tons. Nearly 45 billion eggs were Produced, topping both 1970's 40 billion and the 1971 goal of 41.5 billion. Grain production, though less than 1970’s 187 million tons, was still the second largest in Soviet history—181 million tons. (The ‘USSR “is*the «world’s -lead~ =~... . sd @ nselor for Energy of the Minis’ ! iet Union this spring for a session of the mixed 2907 which accorded | ee i made @ bf sion in 1966 of the agreemet! air links, and establishing passenger and cargo se i These ties were grealy panded in 1971 when inté ernment agreements Wel? iW cluded on cooperation ©" og application of scientifi indi technical achievements 1% fs’ try and on cooperation I) ig ae as well as a general acai ment on exchanges. a8 beneficial cooperation is fo ed by the understanding, | lated in two communiql Mini ing the visit of Prime Trudeau in the USSR 1971 and of Premier A Z gin in Canada in OctoD® jal Two mixed commissio™ | tpi been establishhed — ei: fy application of scientil’ int technical achievements ent dustry and the other on are exchanges. They have xed met in session and WOP™ concrete programs — contacts and ties 1) jit) fields. In 1972, the COM 4 uf commission on trade Be sot : Cooperation between ¢ ae Union and Canada. ha ant the stage of establish™ itt is now characterized ‘ ue rst?! measure of mutual uP ing. on farming Hh ing wheat producer.) abl) Milk production sla pot ‘ the same, 83 million | le s dow: Je 92 million tons. vegett to Hi duction dropped slight fell million tons. All thes€ of the 1971 targets. i The improvement f ms product output in at | 1971 is attributed to sneer creased production or including higher prices Payot purchases from 4 above at and bonuses for sales as well as wl quality forage. In addition, larg plies on farms from th! and 1970 crops raisé stock inventories 4 livestock products: : poultry numbers ive the third success “°F ari caw eee