SOVIET UNION GRANTS GENEROUS AID TO ALGERIA
Ben Bella's trip to Moscow proved to be a highly. successful venture. As the featured guest at the May Day celebration, he captured headlines all over the world as this action was studied for what it might portend about relations between imperialism and. the workers states, and in the conflict between Moscow and Peking.
Khrushchev, of course, sought. to wring every possible advantage out of the trip. His warm greeting to Ben Bella as "comrade" was . noted everywhere as was the hospitality extended to representatives of a country that may well prove to be the Cuba of Africa,
The gifts that were presented to the Algerian delegation will be hailed by revolutionary-minded workers everywhere as a heartening token of the growing economic strength of the Soviet Union-and its capacity to present an effective challenge to imperialism in the field of Foreign aid to freedomseeking. peoples.
There was room for satisfaction over the event in Peking, too. For even though Ben Bella felt it advisable to respond to. Khrush~ chev with statements indicating approval of certain Soviet moves and policies such as the test-ban treaty and "peaceful coexistence" which have been called in question by Peking, it was clear that this had much to do with Khrushchev's exceptional efforts to outbid the Chinese for leadership in Africa and elsewhere in the colonial world, ;
The material aid granted by the Soviet Union included a longterm loan of 625 million dinars [$127. 6 million] in addition to a previous similar loan of $100 million, This will finance construc~ tion of a metallurgical plant having a capacity of 300,000 to 350,000 tons of rolled metal. The Soviet Union is to furnish all the teohnical assistance to put the plant into operation,
As a gift, the Soviet Union will build an oil and gas institute and send hundreds of technicians, A special school will be set up in connection with this. In addition, a textile school will be set up by the Soviet Union capable of training 500 students a year, 50 of them being promoted to the class of engineers,
Two study centers are to be set up capable of training 500 persons to serve as instructors in technical subjects in industry and agriculture. Up to 150 Algerians will be similarly trained in . the Soviet Union, The Soviet Union will also grant 65 scholarships for advanoed schools in the Soviet Union, .
The Soviet Government also gave Algeria two "Ilyuchin 18" planes, and 250 tractors in addition to 250 already delivered,
On top of this the Algerian government was given a 19,000-ton
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tanker. This is to be delivered in 1965,
' A group of Soviet specialists will be sent shortly to help Algeria organize industrial enterprises abandoned by the French colons and subsequently taken over by the government, In addition to Soviet doctors already working in Algeria, 300 more will be sent.
In the joint communiqué issued by Ben Bella and Khrushchev May 6 which listed the Soviet gifts, agreement was reached on many points, Some of the notable ones included Soviet recognition of the importance of the agrarian reform carried out in Algeria. The insti-~ tution of "self-management" was listed as one of the significant achievements of the Algerian Revolution, Defend China and Cuba
Two points in the joint communiqué deserve special attention, One demanded admission of China to the United Nations, "The Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria and the Soviet Union," said the statement, “hold that the legitimate rights of the Peoplets ‘Republic of China in the organization of the United Nations must be recognized,. They express their qupport for the demands of the PRC concerning the island of Taiwan." |
The other was in defense of Cuba. ‘Khrushchev and Ben Bella joined- in declaring that “they resolutely support the heroic people of Cuba who have taken the road of socialist construction and. who are defending their liberty and their national independence. They condemn all imperialist attempts to violate the sovereignty of the Republic of Cuba, They stand.in favor of the normalization of the situation in the region of the Caribbean on the basis. of the sup- ‘pression of the economic blockade and of all the means of pressure on the Republic of Cuba, for halting all the aggressive acts and | subversive activity against Cuba, for banning pirate raids on the territory of Cuba and violations of her air space and territorial waters, the evacuation of the Naval Base of Guantdnamo and the return of this Cuban territory to the Republic of Cuba, They start from the fact that all pecples, all states, big or little, including the Republic of Cuba, have the right to dispose of their own fate and to choose the way of development which seems best to them,
“The .president of the RADP, Ahmed Ben Bella, has taken note of the declaration of the head of the Soviet government, N,.S,.Khrushchev, according to which the threats against Cuba, the. repeated violations of her sovereignty, the raids in Cuba's air space,-could have catastrophic consequences, above all for those who follow the policy of. provocations and aggression against Cuba,"
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CUBA ON THE EVE OF MAY DAY |
By Edward Duncan
. Cuba, on the eve of May Day 1964 faced three vital problems, These were being debated among the leaders, Most militants were well aware of them, The masses, without fully grasping their import, sensed the issues, The solutions to these three problems will to a large degree determine the future of the Revolution, Threat of a New Attack by American Imperialism
Fidel set the key in a notable speech at the commemoration of the third anniversary of the counterrevolutionary landing at Playa Girédn, Since then, a speech by President Dorticés and the govern~ ment note to the Secretary General of the. United Nations have shown that the temporary but grave defeat suffered in Brazil by the anticapitalist and anti-imperialist forces has been interpreted in Cuba as meaning that the screws will be tightened on the first socialist country in Latin America.
The threat against Cuba is developing on a number of levels: multiplying provocations (overflights on Cuban territory, nocturnal raids, etc.); the Venezuelan government, a stooge . of American imperialism, 1s seeking to get the next session of the Organization of American States. to condemn Cuba as an “aggressor” and to adopt the principle of "collective sanctions against Cuba," including. military sanctions; counterrevolutionary raids are being prepared from several bases in Central America,
In the event of direct aggression, of invasion, by American. imperialism or its Latin-American stooges, the Soviet government will be compelled to intervene. There is no doubt about that in Havana, oo .
But precisely because of this, it is felt, such an invasion is not probable. It would signify the beginning of a world war, As against this perspective, Fidel and his companions are seeking to prepare the. people for acts. of sabotage, partial and masked aggres~ sions, prolonged undermining activities. To face this tactic, they believe they can rely essentially only on their own forces, that is, those of the Cuban and Latin-American. revolutions,
The Cuban masses are ready to accept new sacrifices to defend their socialist revolution, They are ready to defend “with intelligence and courage" their position as vanguard of the revolution in the very “backyard” of Yankee imperialism, And they say with utmost resolution that Cuba will prove to be no holiday parade for the counterrevolution, even though supported by the world's greatest military power. As at Playa Girdn, the aggressor will pay dearly for any attempt to attack the acquisitions of the Revolution, whatever the means utilized to achieve this objective, -
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Towards Economic "Take Off"
The economic situation has considerably improved since 1962 when it reached bottom after the setbacks provoked by the imperialist blockade, Supplies are satisfactory in most of the country. In Havana things are better than elsewhere, and the countryside is better off than the average~size towns. Some products like adible fats are still lacking. The standard of living of the agricultural workers and the poor peasants has risen considerably in comparison to the period before the Revolution. Industry is developing in a spectacular way, with a rate. of growth of ten per cent, if the sugar industry is left out of account,
Agriculture remains a weak sector, partly because of the social achievements of the Revolution, the rise in income for the agricultural workers not having been accompanied by an equivalent increase in agricultural production, Bureaucratism and organizational errors have slowed down recovery. <A big reform of agriculture is under way, which together with mechanization, should make it possible for Cuban agriculture to become profitable by 1965 and to make possible. by the following year the phase of economic "take off," of rapid accumula-~ tion and growth of the national income, The Elimination of "Sectarianism"
For several years, the old Stalinists (old Khrushchevists . would be more correct, because the Blas Rocas follow Khrushchev as servilely today as they used to follow Stalin) were able to gain an increasing place in the leadership of the ORI [Organizaciones Revolucionarios Integradas --~ Integrated Revolutionary Organizations, the embryonic party] and even the state, After the sensational speech by Fidel Castro against Anibal Escalante, the _ engines were reversed. Since then, the construction of the PURS [Partido Unido de la Revolucién Socialista] has slowly proceeded, with progressive cutting away of the bureaucratic growth,
If the latter is in- full retreat in the party and the state, and if it is the target of more and more salutary attacks in the economy, it remains very strong in the field of ideology. This is a source of dissatisfaction among the youth, among students, intel- ‘lectuals and young cadres. Similar feelings among the union cadres are transmitted to the workers,
_ A decisive turn in this area under the initiative of the “Fidelista team is widely awaited. It would mark a new qualitative leap forward in the Revolution. .
In any case, the Cuban Revolution is continuing to surge forward, and it is this extraordinary movement of the masses that blocks ‘any definitive consolidation of the power of the bureaucrats, To express this in democratic organs of power, on the local level and on the job, will remain the central task for quite a while, It is.
to. be expected that Fidel and his. friends will display more and _ more awareness of this as the solution of practical economic prob lems requires wide mobilization of the masses,