Salient. Official Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 41 No. 21. August 28 1978

A Soviet Satellite

A Soviet Satellite

Today Czechoslovakia is firmly tied to the Soviet Union. It is totally dependent on the Soviet Union for its oil supplies. When the Soviet Union arbitrarily raised the price of oil to Czechoslovakia following the OPEC rise, Czechoslovakia had to completely alter its five year plan for expanding industrial production.

Through Comecon the Soviet Union exploits Czechoslovakia along with its other East European dependencies. It uses its dominant position to dictate prices to its Comecon "partners". In one case, Hungary, export prices to the Soviet Union went up 15% in 1974 while in the same year prices of Soviet imports jumped 52%

East European workers are drafted to work on Soviet industrial projects while two-thirds of Comecon investments are made in the Soviet Union. As a result the Soviet Union has grown economically while Eastern Europe has declined. In 1960 the Soviet Union had 69.5% of total Comecon industrial production. In 1970 it had 76%.