3 This wee kilted ladie, Jimmy McBride, won the hearts of

these Soviet armymen, members of the Soviet Army en-
nble now making an eight-week tour of Britain, when he
ced to them during a stroll along London’s Whitehall.

ontinued from page 2

ton and declares: “The en-
domestic and foreign poli-
of the Soviet state shows
‘our system is a genuinely
ocratic, genuinely people’s
em.. : fs
he supreme aim and daily
itrol of the Soviet state is
} utmost advancement of the
g standards of the popula-
, ensuring peaceful exist-
e for its people.”

points out that the fact

t it was the party itself that
sed the question of the Sta-
cult and “the impermis-
€. errors committed by
in” is proof of its “deter-
hation to: overcome the con-

CPSU REPLIES ©

sequences of the cult of the
individual and prevent the re-
currence of such errors in the
future.”

The resolution then goes on
to deal with various comments
by the Chinese, French, U.S.,
and Italian Communist parties,
dealing in particular with the
Togliatti interview.

It concludes with an appeal
tg all party organisations to
continue the work conducted
in recent years by the central
committee, in ensuring the
strictest observations of the
principle of collective leader-
ship and the restoration of the
principles of Soviet socialist
democracy...

stated here.

Altogether between 500 and
600 people were arrested in
Poznan. Some were merely
people who unwittingly broke
the curfew imposed on the

- city and where that has been

established they have been re-
leased.

A few have no documents
and refuse to say who they. are
and where they come from.
Some are from outside Poznan.
Among them are people from
various parts of the country
who say they were visiting
Poznan for the fair.

Of those investigated so far,
a few are students, a few
workers from the Zispo loco-
motive plant. , Others. are
young workers from small
plants and transit employees.

Thirty-one of Poznan’s 200
streetcars were smashed in
the rioting, and about $365,000
worth of clothing, jewellery
and other goods were stolen
from stores broken ‘into, ac-
cording to a report issued by
the Poznan People’s Council.

Not the demonstrating
workers but young hooligans
and criminals released when
they smashed open the -local
prison~are said to have been
responsible. From a brewery
distributing centre 14,000 bott-
les of beer were either smash-
ed or drunk,

Certainly it now seems de-
finite that gangs of young
men did a good deal of the
fighting and rioting. I have
been told that most of those
arrested are under 20 years
of age.

A newspaperman who inter-
viewed several of them in jail,
said that those he saw were
“Just bits of kids.”

There has been no official
estimate today to what extent,
if at all, these young hooligans
were organised by political
agents of foreign powers, who
planned the riots as an anti-
government demonstration
while the international fair
was in progress.

To ensure that there will be
no violaion of socialist legal
rights, security forces are
meticulously collecting facts
before making any statements.

More is. now known about
where the rioters obtained
their arms.

Some were taken from the
local polytechnic and other
high schools where both arms
and ammunition are kept by

GRIEVANCES AIRED
Public probe
of Polish riots

By GORDON CRUICKSHANK

students receiving military
training. ‘
Others were seized from

militia men who, being pro-
hibited using their arms in
the first hours of the disturb-
ance, were thereby disarmed
by the rioters.

Most of the deaths resulted
from the night fighting when
the military began to clean
up the machine-gun nests the
rioters had set up on roofs
Meanwhile, in the plants and
workshops mass meetings of
industrial workers are being
held to discuss the events. I
attended one in a large motor-
transport depot.

It was attended by several
hundred workers — drivers,
mechanics and clerks. It was
a quiet meeting with little dis-
cussion. Various workers re-
lated how on the morning of
the demonstration young hoo-
ligans armed with knives and
clubs had come into the depot
and with threats driven them
out.

A resolution was passed con-
demning those responsible for
support to the United Workers’
party andj the government.

Nevertheless, one cannot
say there was great enthus-
iasm. Women workers in the
big Goplana candy plant
were similarly reserved in
their statements when I
talked to them.

One woman, a trade union
representative, said: “We were
entitled to demonstrate, but
there should not have been
shooting.” When I asked her
who she thought started the
shooting: “The government
says the hooligans and provoc-
ateurs did. But the people say
the security men did.”

These women in the Goplana
plant had themselves struck
work at noon on the day of the
riots but they say they did so
only to go home and look after
their children when they
heard what was happening -in
the town.

When I questioned one wo- *

man as to what in her opinion
the demonstration was all
about, she replied: “I don’t
know, but I’ve heard they were
calling ‘We want bread,’”
When I pressed her to give
a more direct opinion, she
and other women made it
clear that they supported
that slogan, “It is pleasant
to work here, but we want
more money. We must have
more money to feed our-
selves. and our children.”
Referring to the speech

July 13, 1956 —PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 3

WARSAW

An inquiry, to be held in public and. at which everyone with evidence to give will
be heard, will soon open in Poznan, scene of the recent Polish riots, it is authoritativly

made by Prime Minister Jo-
seph Cyrankiewicz, one wo-
man said: “He is a good man
and he said good things, but
we want more money.”

In all this it is difficult to
find evidence of the leading
role of the local organisations
of either the trade unions or
the United Workers party.

But it should not} be thought
that — as some wishful think-
ing foreigners here would have
it — that Poland is a powder
keg ready to blow up. The es-
sential attitude of the Polish
workers was put to me this
way:

“We are not interested in
capitalism and not all of us
interested in socialism. What
we want is a better standard
of living.”

Within the limits of possi-
bility the government has pro-
mised them that. ;

The clearest statement I
have received of the demands
of the Zispo workers — around
which the demonstration took
place — is:

@ Income tax which had
been illegally levied should be
repaid to the- workers retro-
active to 1949,

In’ negotiation with the de-
legation of Zispo workers that
went to Warsaw, the govern-
ment had agreed — before the
demonstration — that the tax
had been illegally levied and
that the workers should be re-
paid from July 1, 1953.

@ The internal structure of
wages should be changed so
that more should be paid as a

-basic wage and less as bonus

earnings.

There should be better co-
operation between other fac-
tories supplying Zispo with
material and: parts, so that
there should be less slack time.

The workers wanted this
higher basic wage as a-gua-
rantee against reduced earn-
ings when work was short.

The responsible government
ministry agreed to inquire in-
to and do something about all
these demands, although ob-
viously time would have been
needed to deal with them.

Throughout Poland workers
continued to discuss. the
events. Many have passed pro-
test resolutions and some have
elected delegations to go to
Poznan to talk to the workers
there and convey to them their
reasons for the protest.

Others have refrained from
passing resolutions until they
have more information.

er