Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 30, 1968, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press tuesday july 30, 1968 East Europe faces crisis by Neal Atcherson London special owns Eastern Europe stands in crisis and it is a crisis even More profound and urgent than the historic months of the 1956 hungarian uprising. Then the contradictions Between nationalism and the direct domination of the soviet Union Between the police terror of stalinism and the sheer necessity for Normal government in the soviet Union and its Allied states crudely exploded. Today the new czech leaders have again put in question the very Structure of world communism. But it is not Only in Czechoslovakia that new forces Are at work which at once convulse Koda color 3.62 8 exp. Film developed 12 exp. 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Cray auctioneer to Valuator horsing around with John Lepage opened by mistake applies More to Mouths than to letters. A neurotic builds air castles. A psychotic lives in them. A psychoanalyst collects the rent. Yes the fish was too Small to bother with so i got a couple of Guys to help me throw it Back in the Lake. At the paddock restaurant family Tifi Tarrant your Young try never too mall tar the Stafl to make a fuss Over. Winnipeg s favorite informal restaurant 1140 Portage Avenue now Minjir Mainino the fantastic Don Brown Sticks n1 strings Trio the political scene and Strain against the traditional relationship with Moscow. All East european countries in varying measure Are involved. A Long drama has already begun for which Hungary in 1956 was Only a disastrous rehearsal. In the lands of the Warsaw pact there is vivid diversity Poland for Long the most open and tolerant is retreating into a repressive period where nationalism denotes stricter discipline rather than greater Freedom. Romania is Only now beginning to modify the ferocity of a police state although its political and economic disregard of any interests save its own has been obvious for years. East Germany no longer a miserable soviet combines soaring Industrial Prosperity with a Bone headed stalinism in politics and culture. Hungary steers a weird but skilful course balancing much personal Liberty against supple but firm party control. Czechoslovakia Darling of the communists of the West is out to show that full Liberty Prosperity and communism can be one coherent slogan. Inflexible Laws that is the Many coloured surface of things. Under Neath certain inflexible Laws of development Are common to All Only the response varies and these internal Laws of develop ment come inevitably into conflict with the time worn Structure of the soviet the Laws Are economic Laws. Once there was Coal and steel communism vast armies of unskilled workers fulfilled norms built steel Mills dammed Rivers. Production was All. There was Gigantic reckless invest ment. The part was the general staff. Sweat not skill got things done. Loyalty not originality was prize. In Eastern Europe where communism arrived with the red army rather than the revolution govern ment had an extra motive for repression. Now comes electronics consuming Export Industry communism. The skilled Man the Engineer the Technocrat is the hero. Efficiency and profit supersede production figures As the aim. The party is the Board of directors. Talented men with ambition pile into the party not because they care much about the dialectic but because it is the escalator to managerial Success. Resigned to a communist system encouraged by growing Toler Ance Public opinion begins to play an authentic part. A mechanism begins to oper ate. Nobody has understood this better than the polish philosopher l e s z e k Kola Kowski now disgraced and oppressed in his own country. He pointed out the connection Between a new Market Economy and Politi Cal Liberty. The True eco Nomy cannot work unless there is a full and free system of truthful information not just statistics but general assessments. Sabotages efficiency propaganda no longer encourages it sabotages efficiency an Able Man must now take responsibility for his acts and he can do that Only if he is not afraid of punishment for saying unpopular things. Promotion must go by ability not by party loyalty and this Means that the party must take a decision it can stay in total command with management unions and All other organs merely its transmission this Winnipeg to fort Frances Atikokan fort William port Arthur one Way White fares it i weekly service for Turner inform ahm. Compact yer motorized in travel agent or in Lauenger Salei office. Foreign news exclusive Means that the party will rapidly be diluted by a mass of energetic opportunists who know Little about marxism and care less. Or it can let the unions and the rest operate independently accepting the principle of conflict within a socialist society is accepted the party would then become an informal guiding Force like a Church a slovak philosopher told me where membership is purely a personal matter and Noth ing to do with one s these internal Laws have external consequences How Ever. Not Only does for example Poland become tired of Selling ships to Russia at prices which Are sometimes Good and some times bad but usually irrational but Czechoslovakia grows tired of paying sums for geological surveys which Are really a sort of Advance on soviet Oil which will not be delivered until 1970. With All its members at different states of economic Reform the bloc drifts apart each state defending its interests. Politically party struggles Over the necessity for a More open society affect the relationship with the neigh Bors and the soviet Union for both sides these Are private conflicts losers Start appealing for soviet Rescue. This is a pretty threadbare version of proletarian International strategically there Are now two groupings. The so called Northern tier of the soviet Union Poland and East Germany is the Core of opposition to the czechs. In Poland Hopes raised in 1956 have faded. The Gomulka government set about normalizing state and eco Nomy but suffered p failure of nerve in the Early 1960s at the Prospect of the Politi Cal upsurge which Broad economic reforms would bring. Stagnation was Fol lower by discontent Policay repression the March student explosion and now by a party Power struggle led by men who try to blame the failure on insufficient National loyalty an obvious red herring. Poland is bound to East German a relationship now almost More important than the Bond with the soviet Union. East Germany and Poland share Over whelming preoccupation with the West German but East Ger Many exception to Many rules is carrying through the conversion to a techno logical Market Economy with spectacular Success without being obliged to make political concessions. The party is now full of intelligent planners and managers who piously toe the party line and get on with the Job. Only at the top remains the old Ulbricht team committed to the outward appearances of stalinism. While first class consumer goods Are sold to the West press radio and television remain totally propagandist. The Southern tier less Well defined comprises Romania Hungary at moments Bulgaria and now in effect Czechoslovakia All Are states no longer accept ing the need for strict Solidarity against West Ger Many. With Romania is openly Prague ally in the crisis while the hungarians in Public warn ing put the brakes on comrades avoid the mis takes which led to open counter revolution in private strongly sympathize and try to restrain Moscow. Still police state Romania with Rich natural resources has built up a self sufficient Indus trial Structure too but rationalization has not yet gone far. National Independence of the soviet Union has been achieved signalled by diplomatic relations with West Germany but on an old fashioned patriotic basis. Internally the trappings of the police state Are Only now begin Ning to loosen. Up to recently it was much easier to discuss politics with an East German casual acquaintance than with a romanian. In b u 1 g a r i a change is still in embryo. Hungary like Romania is not bound to the soviet Union by fear of West Germany. Soviet troops still remain there but a thorough going new econ Omic Model has been put into operation and the Kadar regime though maintaining control by imaginative and sometimes byzantine pre pared to permit the greater press and personal Freedom which will make it War a. Compromises abound but the Effort to make communism both comfortable and patriotically acceptable is bearing some fruit. And Czechoslovakia Here the gospel according to Kolakowski has been carried out. A new econ Sik with or. Novotny s dictatorship. And the dictatorship fell. The democracy which alone can make a modern Economy work has been established. If there is one supreme lesson from the czech crisis it is this. International communism needs a new diplomacy. While soviet re lations with the West Are flexible controlled and skill Ful a dispute Between Par ties leads straight towards a breakdown into menace invective and sometimes the use of Force. Why is this Why can High soviet diplomats like ambassador Tsarapkin in Bonn and ambassador a Ras Simov in Berlin conduct a sustained arid secret Effort towards West Germany which gradually coaxes her to recognize the status quo and always retains the soviet initiative while Dis agreement with fraternal parties Yugoslavia Hun Gary China czechoslovak into dangerous showdown once things were simpler. When the soviet Union was the Only communist state the other parties willingly accepted the identification of soviet and communist Aims expressed in the com intern. Now there is no comintern and Many communist states. Kolakowski s Laws Are a dialectic of political and economic development which has created new problems among the East europeans and the soviet Union but which cannot be halted. Yet there is no machinery not even a language in which this Normal process can be discussed. The soviet Union behaves As if the historical situation of 40 years ago survived. Fails to distinguish the world communist movement understands this. At the Budapest meeting in february the British Dele Gates were among those who begged that this november great Congress in Moscow should discuss Unity against the not ideological Unity which could Lead Only to unnecessary quarrels and further splits. Like Ameri Ca the soviet Union still fails to distinguish the strategic Challenge from the political. This Means that Czechoslovakia though Loyal to the Warsaw pact is treated As an enemy. Until Moscow understands Kolakowski s Laws and recognizes that communist parties As Well As capitalist states must from now on be handled by diplomatic conventions the world communist movement will be threatened by permanent disruption and Europe will be threatened armed conflict. Hitler termed stupendous Corne Brook fld. Up Premier Joseph Smallwood under fire from local members of the Royal Canadian legion and others for saying Adolf hit Ler was a stupendous figure is sticking by his guns. Or. Smallwood said Here on the weekend it was just silly and childish not to recognize Hitler As a stupendous figure when his name will be spoken of even with horror for centuries to come. I repeat my statement that Hitler was a great figure and i say that history will so describe him. History already described Napoleon As a great figure though in Many ways his career As an aggressor resembles Hitler the provincial Branch of the legion charged the Premier s initial statement july 23 at a government dinner was irresponsible and demanded a fur ther explanation. The Premier made the Origi Nal remark at a dinner in St. John s for american artist and author Rockwell Kent a Lenin peace prize Holder. Or. Small Wood said he could state openly that he considered Lenin one of the greatest human beings of the Century since i won t be running in another he then tried to apply the description also to Hitler but ran into a chorus of no from banquet guests. Gladiolus society sets Field Day the Winnipeg Gladiolus society is to hold a Field Day at 2 . Aug. 11 at Aubin nurseries Carman Man. Politics hamper czech economist Prague special tons although it was the deplorable state of the czech Economy which necessitated a server poli tical shakeup figures just released show that Czecho Slovakia s bold economic Reform has been severely hampered by recent Politi Cal developments. Prof. O t a s i k s Long planned new economic Model was introduced Jan. 1 of this year just four Days before Antonin Novotny was toppled As party chief and Alexander Dubcek started the process of drastic Liberal Reform. As a result of subsequent developments says a half yearly report from the state statistical Bureau the economic re form has not yet been Able to play a More effective role in solution of economic n in Plain language this Means that the fundamental imbalance of the old soviet style centralized command Economy has not been essentially altered in the past six m on t h a despite at tempts at decentralization of responsibility. Important features of the first half year include an All round Industrial growth rate surprisingly lower than at any period in the preceding three years. Failure to meet the growing demand for greater volume and wider Range of consumer goods. An increased structural imbalance in foreign Trad ing. A further growing in vestment in superfluous construction projects. Leading czech economists explain that the drop in growth rate an average 4.2 per cent across the Indus trial sector compared with the same period of 1967 was induced by a concentration on increasing Quality rather than Quantity of goods produced. Also said one of prof. Sik s leading specialists on Short term economic analysis when experimenting with new systems of control and management it is inevitable that the growth rate should be slowed wage Levels up average wage Levels have risen by 10.3 per cent while Cost of living has gone up according to p u b 1 i s h e d statistics by a Mere half per cent though the czech s housewife has d i f f e r e n t views. This Means that a vastly increased purchasing Power exists not yet absorbed by an attractive Range of High Grade Consu Mer goods and consumer durables As in Yugoslavia. Although this should create a Strong inflationary pres sure on the Market the continued existence of con trolled retail prices has prevented this. Instead the volume of private savings has boomed considerably and the average czech family is using its new funds for projects such As automobiles Sav ing for new apartments still in acutely Short sup ply and foreign travel which is technically if not legally free. At the heart of Czechoslovakia s balance of payments problem which looks no brighter than it did six months ago is a chronic inability to reduce their huge Active Trade balance with the soviet Union and other c o m e c o n trading partners. A conservative estimate puts the czechs cumulative Active Trade balance including Long term credits to be paid off beginning 1971 at some thing in the Region of two billion dollars. Attempts to reduce this figure which is not Only non convertible but non transferable within the com econ area up in a 14 per cent increase of imports from other socialist countries. Exports to non communist hard currency areas were boosted by eleven per cent but were still insufficient to finance much in the Way of critically needed improved imports. This is an Issue which can Only be and then Only fractionally but by obtaining a considerable Long term h a r d. Currency credits for Purchase of Western patents and Indus trial processes. Over All the foreign trading pattern was none too encouraging since imports soared by 13.7 per cent while exports to All areas Rose Only 3.3 per cent. Perhaps most depressing of All and hitting at the Root of most social problems and discontent in the nation was the performance in Home construction. Despite enormously r is ing invest ments in the construction Industry Domestic housing remained the poor relation housing units were completed in six months fewer than the same period last year. The morals to be drawn from the first Complete report under the new economic system Are that economic problems along with other essential factors such As drafting of a new electoral Law and a fresh constitutional Law have been shelved until the Politi Cal scene has been settled. Cars available to be driven to Vancouver apply Jim Rumpel Dominion lid. We 2-8441 carry and Graham ave. Simpsons Sears Polo Park Lyes examined Contact lenses fitted Elliot Koblin. Optometrist 5-7011, ext. 288 used office furniture Sale desks chairs filing cabinets tables address graph Seeley card wheels stools Mardex cab., storage cab., of fice safes bookcases steel lockers typewriters Cheque writers adding machines. 276 hah Street your Money earns on term deposits for one and two years rates for longer terms on request guaranty Trust company or Canada federally incorporated and supervised. Capital and Reserve deposits in excess of 430 Portage ave. 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