'® Recessary to dispel the Pabout so-called “free” Pons under capitalism,

Stroy the canard which WSistently being spread the effect that the trade

in the USSR and the

“Ocialist countries are not

ig 3 Year the USSR adopted if Md’ most advanced legis- §5°Verning the fundamen- its of labor. The new law » “l€ Soviet approach to 8 «productivity in a !Where the working peo-

™ their own masters and -

ePloitation has been

[§ @Pidly doing away with » Manual work without © Unemployment, as is . In capitalist countries Ss Canada. ice and technology is rpon as the main way | ce labor productivity @ ‘ighten work duties. No a tf Speed-up or exploita- i. labor, with increased More unemployed and st ‘e Poverty, which is the _ Used in capitalist so- io followng the basic Pted last year, there has Published a Statute of of the Factory, Plant and i pede Union Committee. 0 Maye Statute enlarges the 4 ie by the primary trade i 8anizations, which com- Mm ° foundation of all ‘fade unions. From now 4 Will fulfill their role mc ively as a school of _ ent and government for Of Soviet working

4 Soviet trade unions af- ® "ore than 90 million ty 2 this number approx- 4 million workers, en- ‘} technological _ person- Mig; tPloyees are involved . St emulation. a ae statute on the a the factory trade fiien® adopted 13 years ty», Changes have since ik, An economic reform : tt Carried out, which has @. ater powers to enter- Biac at the same time to iso, union committees. A F fit of the new statute me +2 good many dis- 7s.

et

sf present, the participa- jy *Ctory and office work- { eduction management gr Y legislatively provid- A the ' & Clause is included ny the administration must iis ~ N€cessary conditions Pi

Mra 2de union committee Oetas in the elaboration Nou . related to new ent and to the social de- j Of the collective. “io rt On all affairs of ma- Of Race for the opera- will €nterprise or insti- ith be decided upon lg. the participation of Ne, WNion. These affairs hy © distribution of the My tcentives fund, the Ne aly of new projects, Ming Ccation of the prem-

‘he Hnjcctory, plant and local Mo ne COmmittee has the ; the West progress reports N, of cutives of enter- thts Cés or other estab- Md, the fulfillment of ecON program, the

“tation of the obliga-

Donbas miners getting ready to go on shift.

tions assumed under the collec- tive agreement, and measures related to the improvement of labor conditions and welfare and cultural services for the personnel. The appointment of people to the executive posts at the enterprise or institution is to be made by the administra- tion with due account to the opinion of the trade union or- ganization.

e The new statute devotes particular attention to measures concerning protection of wo- men’s health and the improve- ment of their working and liv- ing conditions. :

e Young workers are not for- gotten either. Now the trade union committees, jointly with the administration and repre- sentatives of the Komsomol or- ganizations will consider sepa- rately questions related to the management of their work, the distribution of accommodation and questions relating to sport and other mass activities.

e Disputes between workers and the management are taken up by a labor disputes commis- sion consisting of an equal num- ber of representatives of the management and_ the trade union.

If no agreement between the two sides is reached in the com- mission or if the interested party does .not accept its deci- sion, the matter is turned over

‘within a 10-day period for con-

sideration by the trade union committee. The latter’s decision is binding on the management and can only be appealed through a court of law.

A worker who does not ac- cept either the ruling of the trade union or the management can refer‘his case to the procu- rator whose duty is to adjudi- cate the dispute. For example, should the court rule that a worker had been unlawfully discharged, the management has to pay him compensation for involuntary idleness. (B.M.)

CANADIAN LABOR IN 1919

At the time of the 1917 Revo- lution in Russia and after, the Canadian workers not only in- stinctively felt sympathy for the revolutionary workers in Europe but in their trade unions in the main understood the world his- toric process that opened with the victory of the workers of Russia. Tim Buck tells the story in his book “Canada and the Russian Revolution,” in which he quotes as typical the follow- ing resolution adopted unani- mously by the 1919 convention of the Alberta Federation of Labor:

WHEREAS: The war between opposed imperialist interests has ceased; the suddenness of its collapse being due to the social revolution which, starting in Russia, gradually found its way into Austria-Hungary and Ger- many. Those who were expect- ing at any moment to be called upon to don the khaki and face the ghastly horors of twentieth century wholesale _ slaughter, owe a deep debt of gratitude to those splendid Russian revolu- tionists. Millions of soldiers on the battle fronts of Europe owe their lives to the glorious vic- tory of the Russian working people. Are we prepared to re- pay that debt by extending to Russia the hand of fellowship in such a manner.as will frus- trate the nefarious designs of the organized international capi- talists? Throughout the long years of this brutal blood-fest it has been unceasingly proclaim- ed, from press, pulpit, and plat- form, that “we must crush Ger- man despotism and make the world safe for democracy.” Mil- lions of men heard that slogan and believed it and today are rotting beneath the battlefields of France and Flanders. Have those men been betrayed? If not, why are those who are chiefly responsible for the overthrow of the German Junker ruling class being vilified by our government- controlled press? Why are the governments of the Allied na- tions supporting counter-revolu- tionary armies in Russia? Why do our government’s spokesmen mouth much about self-determi-

nation while using every means at its disposal to undermine and handicap the Soviet Administra-

‘tion in Russia? The working

class is bewildered by these con- ‘tradictions. While workers are inclined instinctively to support ‘the social revolution which is developing so mightily, never- theless they tend to hesitate after, reading the poisonous pro- paganda of the Allied govern- ments, This unceasing campaign of calumny can have but one purpose; namely, to win work- ing-class support for the deci- sion of the capitalist class to

- throttle the socialist republic of

Russia and Germany. Hesitation on our part would be fatal!

The aspirations of organized labor as embodied in the pre- amble to the Alberta Federation of Labor Constitution; namely “the social ownership and con- trol of the means of production, transportation, and . distribu- tion,” are now taking material shape under the Soviet Adminis- tration. We are challenged: eith- er to renounce our principles, or to take such action as will save them from becoming meaning- less phrases. Therefore be it

RESOLVED, that this conven- tion-of the Alberta Federation of Labor places itself on record as being in full accord and sym- pathy with the aims and pur- poses of the Russian and Ger- man socialist revolutions, and be it further :

RESOLVED, that this conven- tion gives the incoming execu- tive officers full power to call a province - wide general strike should the Allied powers persist in their attempt to overthrow the Soviet administration in Russia or Germany or in any country in which a Soviet form of government is or may be es- tablished and be it further

RESOLVED, that this resolu- tion be forwarded to the West- ern Labor Conference, to be held in Calgary, for endorsation and co-operation in the carrying it into effect, and be it further

RESOLVED, that copies of this resolution be sent to all Central Labor bodies through- cut Canada.

Que

ec unionist sees

SSR

Our r has already report- Pegler of Quebec labor delegates to the world meeting on social security in Moscow, but the interview by APN repre- sentative Maya Toidze with Jacques Desmarais adds to them and merits publication.)

“It’s my first visit to the Soviet Union. Like every other North American who gets an invitation to come to Moscow I was very pleased to accept the invitation and I can say I was all eyes and ears from the first moment I stepped out of the plane,” said the young Cana- dian, Jacques Desmarais, who came to the Soviet Union as a representative of the Confeder- ation of National Trade Unions of Quebec to take part in the 7th international social security conference held in Moscow at the end of September. —

The conference discussed questions of vital importance to the workers of the world: pen- sions and sickness benefits, la- bour protection and health facil- ities, improvement of working conditions and the role of the trade unions in the struggle to perfect the system of social maintenance and insurance.

- maintenance

“That the conference was held is, I think, a significant fact in itself,” stated Desmarais, “and it proves the necessity for such meetings, and exchange of opinions.”

At the end of the conference the delegates toured the coun- try, inspected the Soviet Union’s Black Sea resorts, visited a num- ber of enterprises and institu- tions and talked to trade union representatives. At the Mosk- vichka clothing factory they studied the activities of the trade union committee and the work conducted at the factory to improve the working and living conditions of the workers. The factory has its own kinder- garten and nursery where mothers leave their children for the day—or if they desire for the whole week, and take them home for the weekend. Parents pay either nothing or a very small sum for the children S in these institu- Moskvichka factory sanatoria and holi- day homes, the trade union dis- tributes accommodations among the workers, for which they pay either nothing or 25% of the cost, the remainder being paid

tions. The has several

from the state social insurance

fund which is in the hands of .

the trade union.

“There is one thing most people never heard of in my country, that you have such a social security system,” said Desmarais. “That is partly be- cause of the fact that informa- tion media, like papers, TV, ra- dio, are controlled by people in power and they always give a dark picture of what is happen-

ing around here and a nice pic-

=2

#

JACQUES DESMARAIS

ture of what is happening in their world.” ~

The organization of free medi- cal facilities and scale of hous- ing construction in the USSR greatly impressed the Canadian delegate. Describing his impres- sions of the sanatoria in Sochi where the conference delegates spent several days, he said:

“They are great, very comfort- able, you’ve got everything you need there. In this respect you are much more advanced than we are. We've got a lot of things in our country, very good medi- cal experts, nurses, but they are not organized on such a scale.”

At the end of the talk Jacques Desmarais said he was sorry to leave Moscow.’

“Before coming here Moscow was an abstraction. I knew it was cold here like in my coun; try, but I didn’t know, for in- stance, that Moscow had seven million inhabitants. By the way, you don’t feel it in Moscow. For instance, in New York, Lon- don or Paris, cities just as big as Moscow, the streets are al- ways crowded and you can hardly move. But in Moscow it is fun, simply fun, to walk through the streets.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1971 — PAGE 7