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“Perestroika” and “glasnost” are revolu-
tionary processes that are shaking up the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, a lead-
ing B.C. Communist says.

But the changes that will restructure the
USSR “will also change the political condi-
tions under which we fight for socialism in
this country,” provincial labour secretary
Fred Wilson asserted to an audience July 9.

Wilson, recently returned from a visit to
the Soviet Union, told a crowd of 100 peo-
ple at the Centre for Socialist Education
that perestroika is nothing less “than the
economic, political, social and cultural
renewal of all aspects of Soviet life.”

‘nos with trade unionists, cultural
= "political leaders and journalists
convinced Wilson and other Canadian

~ Communists on the tour that the restructur-

i called perestroika in Russian is
ae not undermining, the effective-
ness of the countrys guiding philosophy,
Marxism-Leninism. — eae

Wilson said talks with leading Soviet citi-
zens found a common acknowledgement
that certain tenets of Leninism were vio-
lated by past practices that avoided self-
criticism and promoted an “everything is
rosy” method of reporting on develop-
ments.

But Soviet Communist Party leader
Mikhail Gorbachev has said that without
criticism and self-criticism, socialism can
not progress. Soviet citizens appear to have
taken their leader at his word, and the
debate engendered by the new process “is
taking place at Communist Party conven-
tions, union meetings, 1n the media and in
kitchens,” said Wilson.

Much of the credit for the massive move
towards change is given to Gorbachev, the
relatively young, energetic leader who two
years ago made headlines with his exhorta-
tions for sweeping changes and a new open-
ness to the 27th Congress of the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union. -

But, Wilson pointed out, the beginnings

of perestroika and glasnost — the latter

being the “openness” that has facilitated a
new age of public criticism — predate
Gorbachev’s leadership and are found both
in Yuri Andropov’s brief tenure and even
during the last years of the Brezhnev period.

There is also public resistance to the pro-
posed changes. “If you’re thinking of an
organized resistance, you're mistaken,” said
Wilson.

Instead, critics of glasnost process have
flourished along with public debates rang-
ing from the Stalin period, heritage and
nationalism, and environmental issues, he
related.

Critics see the recent past as a period of
“administrative socialism where the central
government attempted to manage the
economy according to political policy with-
out due account of the socialist market, and
economic forces and economic incentive,”
Wilson said.

__ Established policies such as “wage level-
ing,” where there is little difference in
income among Soviet workers and which
was at one time held to be putting the coun-
try on the road to communism, are being
replaced.

Targeted for change also is the pricing
system that sees items such as meat sold at
Prices well below value while clothing is sold
at steep prices, Wilson reported.

“So the economic basis of perestroika is
to readjust the rela- .
tionship of the for-
ces of production
and the relations of
production and make
it possible for the
productive forces to
go ahead and accel-
erate,” he said.

Wilson - reported
that Soviet leaders
have set four major we
economic measures WILSON
to implement perestroika, including:

e The “intensification of the economy,”
which replaces the former “extensive”
economy by concentrating on increasing
the quality and quantity of production at
enterprises rather than simply creating new
factories and enterprises.

© A new law on enterprise management,
which Wilson called “the most fundamental
change over the last 50 years.” Under it the
classic vision of centralized control of inter-
locking industries gives way to much greater
self-management on the part of enterprises,
The productive goals of individual factories
will be determined less by central planning
and more by “social needs, government
orders, consumer demand and orders from
other enterprises,” Wilson related. That
process facilitates the election of managers
and of joint labour-management industrial
councils controlled mainly by workers,

© The licencing of individual and co-op
enterprises. While some have seen this as a
move towards capitalism, the new law stipu-
lates that the small business be a secondary
occupation. “It is by no means the creation
of a mass bourgeoisie,” Wilson cautioned.

@ A new law by which enterprises can
enter join foreign capital in joint ventures.

Stressing that “there has always been
democracy in the USSR,” Wilson said: “In
new conditions, democracy means more
than just social justice.

“Tt means going over to the Leninist idea
of self-management,” said Wilson. In Gor-
bachev’s words, perestroika ensures that
“the individual is the goal, means and cen-
tral character of our entire policy.”

The Soviet leader has called perestroika
revolutionary, but does not mean it replaces
the original revolution and the socialist sys-
tem it ushered in, Wilson said.

Instead, it is a renunciation of past errors
“alien to socialism,” and an “accelerated
movement of society and a break in gradual
development,” Wilson said.

For 25 years, relations between the
Communist Party of China and most other
Communist parties in the world — incl-
uding Canada’s — were soured to the
point of acrimony and non-communication.

The reasons were the nationalism and
ultra-leftism that characterized Chinese
politics under the rule of Mao Zedong. That
period, from the mid-Fifties until Mao’s
death in 1976, is now characterized as a
“catastrophe” by China’s current leaders.

Key policy changes
and a vigorous pro-
gram of industrial
and agricultural
modernization have
reopened the doors
of communication.
And, while major
i_policy differences be-
tween the Canadian
‘ and Chinese parties

remain, there are
RUSH grounds for renewed
friendly relations, two leading British
Columbia communists have reported.

B.C. Communist Party general secretary
Maurice Rush and provincial labour secre-
tary Fred Wilson told an audience at the
Centre for Socialist Education July 12 that
China’s economic and social reforms are
based on the desire to construct a socialist
society.

The two were in China along with CPC
general secretary Bill Kashtan and other
party central committee members at the
invitation of the Chinese party. The Cana-
dian delegation travelled around the coun-
try meeting with high-ranking members of
the Chinese party’s political bureau as well
as managers and workers in factories and
farms. ;

After several hours of exhaustive talks on
foreign policy, Rush reported that the Can-
adian Communists realized: “While there
are some points of agreement between us
and them, particularly on the issue of peace,
there remain fundamental differences be-
tween the Communist Party of China and
the Cees

China still opposes Vietnam’s military
and political actions over its neighbour,
Kampuchea. and makes as a condition for
renewed relations with the Soviet Union
cancellation of support for the southeast
Asian nation.

Towards the USSR China remains cool,
leaving it up to the Soviets to initiate talks
on foreign policy, co-operation between the
two countries and border policies.

China still insists that the USSR end its
support for the government of Afghanistan
and withdraw its troops from the country.
China itself is still allied with several reac-
tionary regimes, including those of Saudi
Arabia, Pakistan and the United States, he
noted.

“China will not sign a strategic treaty
with any power. They take no class position
on international politics ... They approach

all international questions from the point of
view of what is best for China, not what is
the best position for the international work-
ing class movement,” Rush said.

But on the peace question, China has
made a major breakthrough, Rush noted.

“Under Mao, nuclear war was seen as
inevitable and not such a bad thing. (Chi-
na’s new leaders) say that was a mistaken
position and that the fight for peace is the
most important issue facing humanity
today.”

China supports the creation of nuclear-
weapons free zones, opposes the militariza-
tion of outer space, is setting up peace
committees throughout the country and
wants Canadian peace activists to visit, said
Rush.

Negatively, China still views the threat to
peace as emanating from the “two super-

powers” and does not take aclass position

on the nuclear war danger, he said.

Domestically, China remains a poor
country, but one which through various
initiatives is increasing industrial output
and bettering the lives of its one billion
citizens, Wilson reported.

Noting that China’s leaders view Mao’s
“great leap forward” as a “catastrophe,”
Wilson said the current drive towards
decentralization of authority, individual
initiatives and industrial reform has seen
China’s gross national product increase by
an impressive nine per cent yearly.

China faces formidable obstacles: 25 per
cent of its population is illiterate or semi-
literate; 100 million people still lack ade-
quate food and shelter, Wilson said.

Such conditions have forced the Chinese
government to set an extremely long-range
plan targeting the year 2050. Even by that
time, China hopes to have at best a
“medium-developed” country.

In place of Mao’s mistakes, China has
implemented a major six-point reorganiza-
tion program that includes:

© Reform in the countryside, including
the disbanding of the unwieldy “people’s
communes” and their replacement by town
councils. The reforms allow the sale of pro-
duce surplus to that community’s needs,
and released 60 million people from agricul-
tural production for industrial work.

© Enterprise reform in the cities, similar
to that practiced in the Soviet Union under
Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms. The pro-
gram includes enterprise self-sufficiency and
the ability to produce goods according to
consumer demand.

e A reduction in the role of centralized
planning, a process started before that in the
Soviet Union and “intently studied by other
socialist countries.”

@ The creation of banks ana a banking
system.

@ Wage reform, including ending the
practice of setting wages according to the
performance of an enterprise. A special tax
on bonuses now provides an incentive to

see SOCIALISM page 9

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JULY 22, 1987 ¢ 3

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