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Approved For Release 2004/02/19 : CIA-RDP83-00415R006800050005-6 Swedish Workers’ Delegation in oscow We Saw the Creative Labor Of the Soviet People (Press conference at the Editorial Office of the newspaper “Trud”) MEETING was held at the editorial office of the newspaper Trad on September 18 between the representa- tives of the Soviet press and the delega- tion of Swedish forge shop workers in Moscow. The Swedish guests, who ar- rived on the invitation of the Central Committee of the Automobile and Tractor Workers’ Union, have been in the Soviet Union since September 6. ‘The joint statement issued by the delegates, which was made public at the press conference, reads in part as fol- lows: “The visits paid to Leningrad, Mos- cow, Stalingrad, and Kislovodsk made a tremendous impression upon the dele- gation of forgeshop workers from Stockholm. The fact that the delegation, which consists. of three Communists and three Social Democrats, was given the opportunity to visit the USSR re- futes the invention that the USSR for- bids foreigners to acquaint themselves with its internal life. We did not find the so-called iron curtain. On the con- trary, we were told: "Look and see, con- verse with the workers and talk frecly. Here you can do so. We will show you everything you want to sec.’ All our wishes were gratified, and we were shown those branches of industry which the delegation wanted to sce. “We saw Stalingrad, and not a single member of the delegation will forget it. We saw photographs of what the tractor plant was like before the war and what it looked like before restora- tion. We saw what it looks like today. From ruins and ashes there arose a mod- ern factory, equipped with the latest achievemens in technology. Peacetime output for the Sovict people is. pro- duced there. We saw new palaces aris- ing from the ruins — dwelling houses for workers, new city blocks with parks and boulevards, the like of which is not to be found in our beautiful Stockholm. “We saw how the Soviet people are OCTOBER 13, 1950 enthusiastically participating in peaceful rehabilitation work. We became ac- quainted with the plans of peaceful restoration and saw how these plans are being put into life. But we saw Soviet people not only at their work, we saw them resting and gathering renewed strength for their new glorious deeds. “We saw the health resort of Kislo- vodsk, where only the palaces of princes and their like were situated prior to the Revolution. Many new sanatoriums have been built here during the years of So- viet rule. Two new medical institutions have just been completed where work- ers are resting and undergoing treat- ment. “Our general opinion is that the So- viet people are doing everything to pre- serve and defend peace, not because they are afraid of war, but because they love peace and know that of all roads this road is the quickest to the goal — the freedom and happiness of man- kind.” Addressing the press conference, the leader of the Swedish delegation, Oskar Borggren, emphasized that the Swedish bourgeois press circulates deliberate slanders about the Soviet Union. “As far as we are concerned,” said Borggren, “we will tell the Swedish people the truth about your country. We clearly see the difference between the world of labor and the world of capital. We see that the Soviet Union is developing peaceful construction and is constantly marching forward. We realize perfectly well that the Soviet Union is the fortress of the international working class. By defending peace the Soviet people are defending not only their own interests but those of the whole of mankind.” A member of the delegation, Bertil Yuhansson, spoke about the impres- sions of the delegates regarding the work of Soviet trade-unions. “The trade-unions,” said Yuhansson, “play an outstanding role in the life of the So- viet people. Not a single decision is taken without the participation of the trade-unions. They help in every way the growth of production and, conse- quently, the improvement in the living standard of the workers. Tremendous attention is paid to the growing gencra- tion. The State and trade-unions spend unprecedentedly large sums on sanator- iums and rest homes. We sincerely hope that in the future too the Soviet Union will be able to enjoy peace and develop construction for the good of the people.” Hjalmar Yansson, member of the delegation, said that his impression was that the Soviet enterprises have the best machines and very good, skilled work- ers, “At all the factories we visited,” said Yansson, “the workers work joy- fully and with great enthusiasm. It can be seen that their work gives them great satisfaction.” The delegates point- ed out that the situation was different in Sweden. The capitalists are literally sapping the lives of the working people. Waldemar Getberg spoke about the new, socialist attitude to work inherent in the Soviet worker. “What I have seen in the Soviet Union,” said Get- berg, “surpassed all my expectations. All the conditions have been created in your country for the all-round development of citizens. The Soviet Union educates excellent people in all fields of life.” Replying to questions of the repre- sentatives of the press, the delegates told how signatures to the Stockholm Appeal are being collected in their country. The delegates stressed that the trade-unions, headed by Social Demo- crats, received instructions from the leadership of the Social-Democratic Party to boycott the Stockholm Appeal. Nevertheless, ever larger numbers of workers are joining the defenders of peace. Three hundred thousand signa- tures to the Stockholm Appeal had been collected at the time the delegates left Sweden. 605 Approved For Release 2004/02/19 : CIA-RDP83-00415R006800050005-6