How Czechs celebrated

By MEL DOIG

The morning of Nov. 6 dawn-
ed clean and sunny for the 10
a.m. unveiling of the Lenin
statue in October Revolution
Square.

Although Nov. 6 and 7 were
both officially work days in
Czechoslovakia, here at the
World Marxist Review we had
holidays on both (we worked
the Saturday!). But on that
beautiful morning in this square
near the journal there must
have been 5,000 people at least
present for the unveiling cere-
mony. Lenin’s statue is placed
so that it faces towards Leni-
nova, the broad avenue that
leads from October Revolution
Square all the way out to the
airport, and off which Thaku-
rova leads to our journal.

I am told that apart from the
statue of Lenin outside the
Central Committee building this
is the first one of him in the
streets of Prague, on a very
busy square.

Following the unveiling cere-
mony, Jean and I had lunch at
the Bart’s (U.S. rep. and _ his
wife). After that, the four of us
walked the .short distance to
O.R. square to take a streetcar
down to the Old Town Square
— the very heart of Prague,
with its famous Old Town Hall
and Clock, Tyn Cathedral and
the John Hus monument. This
spot is a beloved one for all
Czechoslovakians as it is, I am
sure, for all of our people who
have vyisited: it and learned
about it.

Waiting for the tram we saw
people marching by on the side-
walk two and three. and four
abreast, in a seemingly endless

Mel Doig, former editor of
the Canadian Tribune, is at
present in Prague, as Cana-
dian representative on the
editorial staff of the World
Marxist Review.

Here he describes the celeb-
ration in the Czechoslovak
capital of the 55th anniver-
sary of the workers’ revolu-
tion in Russia and the 50th
anniversary of the establish-
ment of the Soviet Union.

column coming from the direc-
tion of Lermontova. Bart at once
remarked that they must have
been on their way to.the Old
Town Square for the 3 p.m.
ceremony there to, mark the
55th anniversary of the Great
October Socialist Revolution
and the 50th anniversary of the
founding of the USSR.

In the two years he’s been
here Bart had never seen any-
thing like this. Young people,
young workers and_ students,
young married couples with
their children, older workers,
men and women all marching
together for the three miles or
more to celebrate such events.

We joined them for at least
a good mile-and-a-half of the
distance. For it wasn’t very long
before our streetcar and all
other vehicular traffic had to
stop. Marching column after
marching column was converg-
ing on the city’s centre. Thous-
ands and tens of thousands of
people, soldiers, People’s Mili-
tia, workers, citizens of every
walk of life!

Representatives of parties on
the journal had received invita-
tions. We took our places in the

‘May Day 1972 in Prague.
PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1972—-PAGE 10

stands, erected to face from the
Old Town Hall towards the Tyn
Cathedral side of the Old Town
Square.

Bart and his wife Connie kept
on exclaiming that this was
something new, excitingly and
profoundly new, in Prague dur-
ing recent years. We watched
from the stands as the four- and
eight-abreast columns swung
into the square, bands playing,
banners flying, slogan posters
on high! It was a glorious revolu-
tionary spectacle! They kept
coming until you _ couldn't
Squeeze another body into ‘the
vast square.

I’ve enclosed the front pages
of Rude Pravo and Prace (the
trade unions’ paper) with their
photos to give you some idea of
this tremendous celebration here
of the Great October Socialist
Revolution, and of the solidarity
of Czechoslovakian workers and
people with: the Soviet Union
and its 50th anniversary.

I didn’t find any estimation in
the newspapers of how many
were there; but my own estima-
tion was in the neighborhood of
150,000 or more.

Flags of the Czechoslovakian
Socialist Republic and of the
Soviet Union, the red flag, slog-
ans and banners of © factory
plants, university faculties and
different areas of the city, all
were raised in the square only
to be lowered as, with the Old
Town Hall Clock striking three,
the ceremonies began.

The Communist Party of
Czechoslovakia does not pretend
that all problems have. been
solved, that all vestiges of revi-
sionism have disappeared. But
that tremendous work has been
done to mobilize the workers
and all the people here in active
support .of the decisions of the
14th Congress of the Party, and
in solidarity with the Soviet
Union in the first place, with the
socialist countries and all the
anti-imperialist forces, this
mighty demonstration of Nov. 6
in Prague’s Old Town Square
made resoundingly clear.
Czechoslovakia is marching now
on the highroad of socialist de-
velopment, with the Party and
the working class in the van-
guard.

Care for seniors

BRATISLAVA — Some new
concepts for accommodating
senior citizens now being acted
upon in socialist Slovakia are
likely to interest concerned per-
sons in other countries.

One of the solutions to hous-
ing people over 65 (whose num-
bers have trebled in Slovakia
since 1900) is to construct an
appropriate number of apart-
ments, specifically for their use,
in new housing developments.

The apartments will be situ-
ated on the first to third floors
of the houses, and, in housing
estates which are farther re-
moved from busy crossroads,
sports grounds, factories, and
with stops of municipal trans-
portation and shops nearby.

The concept envisions a new
system of building old-age pen-
sioners’ homes in which the old
people will be differently accom-
modated according to their state
of health. The first type of these
homes’ will comprise small
apartments for one or two per-
sons, with common auxiliary
facilities; the second type com-
prises independent units and
the third will be institutions for
old people requiring continuous
care.

A Victory Message and Pledge of
5 ‘Friendships

from the Canadian People
to the US. SAK.

We have marched with you under allied banners,
That we might fzcely till our soil for bread,

And slake our thirsts at the same natural fountains:
For to that end we counted up our dead.

Have not our streams - - St. Lawrence and the Volga - -
Attested in these years their sisterhood?

Have not our seas -- the Atlantic and the Caspian - -
Savoured the salt and iron of our blood?

And we woild march with you in peace tomorrow,
To an horizon starred with ‘steady goals,

Where granaries await our mortal hungers,

And the deep-quenching wells invite our souls.

&. J. Pratt

SS

In 1946 one of Canada’s leading poets, E. J. Pratt penne

d_ this

testimony to Canadian-Soviet friendship.

SOVIET PANORAMA

By BERT WHYTE |

To reach the Museum of Geo-
logy of Moscow State University
you have to take an elevator
and ascend to the 27th floor.

“Actually ours is not a muse-
um put a unique institute of
geology,” says Professor B. Sa-
velyeyv, the director. ““‘We speci-
alize in two fields: research and
education. Our staff of 70 record
in their files everything connect-
ed with our planet’s life. They
study the earth crust, magma-
tism, geotectonics, natural re-
sources, the sea, ice continents,
atmosphere and outer space.

“If you are interested in the
sea go down to the 26th floor
and you will meet some exotic
representatives of its population.
Comparatively recently a frozen
crab-eating seal was found, at
an altitude of 600 feet above
sea level, on an Arctic ice-cover-
ed mainland plateau (the Schir-
macher Oasis). Scientists claim
that it is more than 2,000 years
old. How did the animal climb
so high?”

The -museum occupies eight
upper floors of the university
and has 24 halls. The visitors’
book has entries made by out-
standing scientists from France,
Canada, the United States, Po-
land, Rumania, Hungary and
many other countries.

Will Homo Futurus develop a
bigger head than ours? Every
now and again Soviet newspap-
ers tackle this question, though
anthropologists say there is no
direct relationship between brain
weight and intellect.

The average adult male’s
brain weighs 1,375 grammes, but
Ivan Turgenev’s was 2,102.
English scientists J. B. S. Hal-
dane believed that in years to
come men will have larger
heads, reach maturity at the

age of 40, and live to the a8°
of 200.

Incidental intelligence: an ele
phant’s brain weighs 4 i!
grammes, a whale’s 2,800. A
other animals
brains than humans.

* * a

Directly opposite the world:
famous Tretyakov Art Gallery
Moscow there is situated ;
secondary art school whi¢
selects gifted child artists from
all over the country and pf
pares them to enter art college

The youngest students are 1
and 12 years of age. Tuition “a
free. Children of some 20 9#
tionalities are currently study”
ing art, and their teachers a
clude many well-known Sovié
artists.

The youngsters live next
in a boarding house and nat
draw stipends of 16 to 20 rou
les a month, They produce le
school newspaper called “Litt
Sparks.”

door

A quarter of all the doctors aD
the world — 699,000 — Wl
in the USSR. The Soviet stall
was the first in history to tach”
the job of providing every cit
zen with free medical service
Today the country boasts 40;
polyclinics, 26,000 hospitals an
more than 3,000 sanatoriu™
and rest homes.

A second international pallet
competition will take place i
Moscow next June (the first W@
held in 1969). ae

Prima ballerina Maya Plise™
skaya, a member of the organi2
ing committee, said that oe),
prize, “Grand Prix” of the Be
shoi Theatre, will be awatd®
to the best performer. Age lim

‘is 28.

have _ lightef