By TOM MORRIS

TOGLIATTI, USSR — It seem right that a city only
25 years old should be a city of young people.

With its sparkling new buildings, extensive green
belts, wide streets and the sprawling Volga (VAZ) Auto
Works, Togliatti is a model of planning and efficiency.
And its citizens’ average age is 29 years.

From the moment we stepped off the two-hour flight
from Moscow this fact was constantly evident. VAZ
officials Valery Timonin and Valeri Bikov were a wealth
of information and enthusiasm. They knew almost every
detail of their city, of VAZ and of the rich history of their
region. :

They of course knew that the Lada automobile which
rolls off the line at the rate of one every 22 seconds isa hit
in Canada as it is in 84 other countries which import it.

Impressive Complex

When the Soviet Government decided in 1966 to build
a major passenger automobile complex, Togliatti re-
ceived the nod over 40 other centres due to its proximity
to raw materials, electrical power and access via the
Volga river to all regions.

In 1967 work began on the plant and, by 1970, the first
Lada rolled off the line. The one millionth car was
produced in 1973 and by 1974 the plant reached its design
output of 660,000 cars per year or 2,230 cars per day.
(General Motors, Oshawa, for example, produces 1,792
passenger cars per day),

Of the eight models produced, including the nifty 4x4
Niva, 35 per cent are exported. I spent a few hair-raising
seconds hanging on as a driver took one through its paces
on the 2.5 km test track before it was okayed and tagged
for shipment to Denmark.

Those are some VAZ Statistics, there are others: the
complex has 170 kilometres of assembly lines, comprises
five interrelated shops with 24,000 units of production
machinery.

Five hundred air conditioners keep the climate con-
stant year round and VAZ’s computer centre, one of the
largest in the USSR, keeps the entire complex running
smoothly.

Its canteen feeds an entire shift (40,000) within 15
minutes allowing the rest of the lunch hour to be spent at
will. Conference and recreation halls, games rooms, lib-

‘raries and films are handy, or the worker can simply
relax, chat and have a smoke.

The VAZ plant runs two 8'4 hour shifts daily for its

100,000 workers, 44 per cent of whom are women. The
work week is five days.

The People Count
But the main thing, Valeri Bikov explained, isn’t as-
sembly lines, punch presses or computers. ‘‘The main

thing is people.”

_In the plant the workers make the decisions. They
discuss every aspect of the work — production plans,
organization, working conditions, management, skill
upgrading and education, social life as well as day-to-day
problems.

“The operational life of VAZ is the sum total of the
workers’ opinions,” Timonin told me. This was borne.
out later during a chat with trade union spokespersons
during a break.

“Everyone can speak up at production meetings,”’
one young man stressed. ‘‘Then teams of collectives
control the decisions. Work brigades, each with its own
elected leadership, keep a continual check on decisions
and tackle new problems as they arise.’’

And grievances? ‘‘There is a time, every day, open to
everyone to raise a grievance or problem,” the union
representative explained. ‘‘Each question is considered
and then passed along to the appropriate group for im-
mediate solution.”” Each week the trade union represen-
tatives, Communist Party leadership (14,700 members at
VAZ) and management meet, go over plans and prob-
lems and then “get on with the job’’.

‘Privileged Class’

“The job’’, for people who control their own lives
entirely, means many things. The unions are involved in
just about everything. We dropped in to a spanking new
“‘prevention’’ hospital which receives 1,000 workers per
day offering every imaginable service against work-re-
lated stress.

It’s union-operated and a worker can receive various
forms of care from ‘‘drop-in’’ to 24-day treatment paying
one-eleventh of the actual cost for 24 days ($20). The
complex treats heart, lung, stomach and nervous disor-

Home of the Lada a new,
modern,

yout

One new car rolls off the line each 22
seconds destined for the Soviet con-
sumer and those in 85 foreign coun-
tries. The plant’s 100,000 workers not
only work there, but run the
operation.

ders. It has a huge dance hall, cinemas, swimming pools
and other sports facilities.

hful c

There’s much more to Togliatti, a fast-growing city of f
600,000 settled in stunning natural surroundings on the

VOLGA
AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATED
WORKS

ity

Togliatti’s spanking new buildings,
green belts, broad streets make this
new city one of the most popular in
the USSR. It’s also a city of youth with
an average age of 29 years.

Another VAZ-run facility is a huge sports complex in
which 1,700 workers train daily. It has seven different
sports halls, a large ice rink and is the home of the
popular Torpedoes hockey team. The main arena seats
5,000 and the complex can incorporate 17,000 people
daily at peak. There is a staff of 200 and 85 coaches on
duty.

And a young city has legions of children. Eighty-four
kindergartens and day care centres function at a cost to

the parents of $18 a month per child. Here the kids get

four meals daily plus full medical and dental care and a
rich cultural grounding. It’s great to be a kid in the USSR

and the young people are fondly called ‘‘the new
privileged class’’.

banks of the mighty Volga. People are active — 646
sports clubs cover a range of activities from sky diving to
sailing, from auto racing (of course) to skiing. :

It boasts a polytechnical institute, several technical
schools, teachers’ college, music college and even a
navigational school. Lovely beaches and pine forests are

within five minutes by car or bus.
* * *

I guess the entire visit to ‘‘auto city’’ came together |

one evening when we enjoyed the hospitality of a young —
family. Both are autoworkers at VAZ. We talked of the
future, of our work and our troubles. We toasted one
another and world peace. We found we had everything in
common.

a

They are torturing people...’

ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada — A letter, written in
November and smuggled out of a prison on the island
tells of the horrors of U.S. occupation. While some of
the points raised in the letter written by a member of
the New Jewel Movement have subsequently been
revealed, it gives additional details on the plight both
of prisoners and the population at large.

Fraternal greetings: oe

I want to inform you of the terrible situation in our
country and the illegality of the U.S. invasion which is
a gross violation of international law. see e

The invading troops carried out indiscriminate
bombings, many people have died. It has arrested

rested John Vertour, leader of the Grenadian Trade
Union Council and Chester Humphrey, vice-
president of the Technical and Allied Workers Union.
They are paving the way to smash the trade union
movement. 7

The invaders are now an occupying army. They are
camped in every major village, in schools and com-
munity centres. They conduct house-to-house
searches terrorizing citizens who oppose the
invasion.

The U.S. has arrested officers of the People’s Rev-
olutionary Government and of the New Jewel Move-
ment and keeps them under the most harsh condi-
tions. It was only after Red Cross intervention that
our lives became bearable. :

e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JANUARY 18, 1984

A letter from Grenada’s jails

hundreds who opposed the invasion. They have ar- .

seit

While holding us, the occupiers have launched a
most vicious and unbelievable hysterical campaign.
They are preparing the ground for a kangaroo trial in
an atmosphere of hostility.

They have prevented lawyers from visiting us and —
refuse us the right to defence counsel of our own
choosing. zZ

U.S. and Barbadian troops have been torturing per-
sons to sign false statements. Lt.-Col. Ewart Layne
was tortured for 14 hours on Nov. 16 by Barbadian
police and forced to sign a prepared statement. Major
Chris Stroud was tortured on Nov. 15 by Barbadians
and forced to sign a statement of lies, as were Captain
Lester Redhead, Lt. Iman Abdullah, Glen Moses and —
Allister George.

Since the invasion Grenada’s adult education pro-
gram has been abolished and they plan to do the same 7
with our state trade body. They are using criminals to
paint hate slogans on walls condemning the detainees.

I ask you to make these crimes known so that an ;
international campaign may be launched. I also ask :
that international human rights groups be informed of _
these atrocities.
I would also like to say that, despite all, the com-

4
4

rades are in good spirits because we know the truth _
will emerge even though it may take one, two or three _
years.

Greetings to all comrades and friends. I ask that all :
be done to stop the U.S. plan to ‘‘Chileanize’”’ Gre- —
nada. All the best. : :