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TORONTO —‘‘The Soviet Union has
set itself two aims: By the year 2000 to
double the production potential of the
country and, by the year 2000, if the
world’s people can force it on the United
States, to eliminate nuclear war for all
time,’ Communist Party of Canada
General Secretary William Kashtan told
a report-back meeting here March 19.

Kashtan, who led a three person frat-
ernal delegation to the recent 27th Con-
gress of the Communist Party of the
Soviet Union, told his audience the con-
gress, which gathered 5,000 delegates
representing the CPSU’s 19 million
members, “‘set itself new tasks reflected
the new conditions the CPSU is entering
into, both internally and externally in
terms of the world-wide struggle for
peace.”

Democracy in Action

He emphasized the democratic char-
acter of the decision-making process of
the congress itself and the pre-congress
period by reporting that more than six
million amendments and proposals were
received on the party’s new draft. pro-
gram in the country-wide debate pre-
ceding the meeting. ‘*What capitalist par-
ties can have that kind of debate?’’,
Kashtan asked.

‘‘And what was outstanding to me,
and to other delegates, was the critical

approach of this congress, a constructive ~

criticism aimed at overcoming mistakes,
to learn from them and improve the
work,”” Kashtan said.

“The report delivered by CPSU Gen-
eral Secretary Gorbachev,’’ Kashtan
continued, ‘‘covers a wide field of Soviet
and international topics. It was very rich,
very penetrating.

“It dealt with today’s contemporary
world, outlining the main tendencies and
contradictions: the contradiction be-
tween socialism and imperialism, the
sharpening contradictions between labor
and capital within the growing general
crisis of capitalism, growing  inter-
imperialist contradictions and rivalries,
the contradictions between imperialism
and developing states and world’s
environmental problems, and the need
for international cooperation toward sol-
vling them.

“This was the background on which
the CPSU congress dealt with two basic
questions — one, measures to deal with
the kinds of economic policies that need
to be advanced. The other, is the struggle
for peace and the defeat of the policy of
confrontation persued by the U.S. ad-
ministration and its NATO allies,”
Kashtan said.

27th CPSU CONGRESS GOALS

By year 2000:
double production,
eliminate N-war

“This congress drew a conclusion, so
to speak, to the first stage of extensive
industrialization which started with the
five year plans, and set the stage for the
second industrialization process based
on the use of the scientific and tech-
nological revolution to accelerate eco-
nomic growth on a massive scale, and to
achieve a new quality of growth,”
Kashtan said. ‘

He reported that in the 1970s, there
was a slowdown in the level of economic
growth, of levels of standards, a failure to
meet all targets set, and a lag in the mate-
rial base of science and education.

The congress, he noted, dealt with
both objective and subjective factors in
this respect. Objective factors included a
shortage of labor due to World War
Two, of being surrounded by hostile
forces of many borders necessitating util-
ization of forces for defence at the ex-
pense of civilian production, of imperial-
ism’s campaign to wear down socialism,
and a level of labor productivity less than
what is required.

“The subjective factors, which com-
rade Gorbachev emphasized, were the
failure to produce a timely political
assessment of the changed economic
situation, the failure to convert the econ-
omy to intensive methods of develop-
ment and active use of the scientific and
technological revolution in the economy
and the tendency toward inertia, con-
servatism, stagnation and bureucracy,”’
Kashtan reported.

‘*What this congress confronted were
the tasks of accelerated economic
growth,”’ he continued, ‘‘acceleration, in
order to turn around the unfavorable
tendencies that had developed in the
economy over the past 10 years.

‘**The congress estimated the task now
is to use the existing industrial plant, to

modernize it, to reconstruct it on the ~

basis of the scientific and technological
revolution as the essential thrust: to
achieve this accelerated economic
growth.

A Fantastic Target

‘What they placed as a target, a fan-
tastic target, before themselves and be-
fore the country, is to nearly double the
income of the Soviet people in the next
15 years and double the production po-
tential of the country in the same period.

‘‘That is: in the next 15 years, to dou-
ble what they’ve achieved from 1917 to
1985! It’s a tremendous aim,’’ Kashtan
said.

‘*If they achieve these aims, it will
consolidate the positions of world social-
ism; it will help raise to a higher level the
cooperation with the fraternal countries;
it will expand the capacity of the Soviet
Union for economic ties with the de-
veloping and developed countries. Not
least, it will strengthen the defence
capacity of socialism,’’ he emphasized.
“The 27th Congress unanimously
adopted this target. Compare these goals
with those of any capitalist state, with
Wilson’s budget which calls for cuts in
living standards, mass poverty and un-
employment. We see capitalism going in
one direction, socialism going in anoth-
er,’ he said.

‘Tn concluding this section of the re-
port, comrade Gorbachev told the con-
gress and the people: ‘What we ac-
complish is what we are going to have
and how we are going to live,”’’ Kashtan
told his listeners.

Safeguarding Peace

‘The report and discussions drew at-
tention to the growing threat to the very
existence of humankind. It said that the
character of present-day weapons leaves

no country with any hope of sal
guarding itself by military and techni
means, that there is no security ford
country without security for all col
tries, that a nuclear war cannot be wi
and must not be fought,’’ Kashtan
ported. ;

“This is the basis for the Sov
Unién’s proposal for the total elimi
tion of all nuclear weapons, chemi
warfare and space-based weapons byl
year 2000. To butress this proposal,
USSR is continuing its unilatef
moratorium on nuclear testing untill
U.S. government conducts its next!
clear test.

‘‘T think one can say there is a row
understanding today that we don’t hil®
‘equal responsibility’ between the uss
and U.S. for the present world sitv#
tion,’ Kashtan continued. ‘‘There is?
growing understanding that source off
problem facing the world in terms ¢
peace or war is U.S. imperialism.

He drew attention to the fact that tt
CPSU congress noted that the respot*
to Soviet peace proposals by the Reag®
administration has been negative a
that Washington and its NATO allies
bent on persuing their drive to achitl
military superiority over the USSR.

Summit Tasks

The congress, he noted, stated hol
ever that world war is not inevitable, the
world war can be averted and humanki ci
saved from catastrophe, that this js tH
historical mission of socialism. Kashtl!
reported that the Soviet Union empl
sizes that the next Summit meeting ml
get down to concrete cases. =|

‘The USSR has proposed two qu
tions around which understanding col”
be reached: cessation of nuclear es
and abolition of U.S. and Sov
medium-range missiles in Europe. It |
mains to be seen whether PresjdeMn
Reagan will respond to these pit!
posals.””

“The Soviet peace offensive, theft
fore, has a two-fold approach — appel,
to governments and an appeal directiyll
the world’s peoples,’’ Kashtan said, #
quoted Gorbachev’s remark on this mi?)
ter that ‘‘Peace must be fought for.” |

“One can say,’’ Kashtan conclud@|

‘that the 27th Congress was acongress!
hope and confidence. It was an histo
landmark for peoples of the USSR ®
well as for the peoples of the world.!
will reveal more fully than ever befo™
the potential of socialism and make it”
more attractive force for the workili|
people of the world. Not least, uid
have a significant effect in strengthen
the cause of peace, social progress ‘|
socialism.”

5,000 delegates, representing 19 million members attend CPSU 27th Congress.

8 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MARCH 26, 1986