WORLD OUTLOO
_ PERSPE CTIVE MONDIALE ©
A ae “Un service de presse Ver ck eae
Vole D5 Nos TL March 17, 1967
APPEAL FOR STUDENT ANTIWAR DEMONSTRATIONS INTERNATIONALLY APRIL 8-15
[Preparations are underway from coast to coast in the United States for what looks like will be a very impressive "Spring Mobilization" April 15 against Johnson's policy of continuing the war in Vietnam. The key slogan for the activists in the movement is immediate withdrawal of the U.S. troops from Vietnam.
[On the campuses, as part of the antiwar effort, the Student Mobilization Committee has set aside April 8-15 as "Vietnam Week." To give maximum impact to the campus protest rallies and actions scheduled for that week, the committee is appealing for iner ee assistance. The following is the full text of the call sent out by the committee
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We, as American citizens, condemn our government ' s role in Vietnam. We condemn its support of puppet regimes in Saigon, the massive troop and arms intervention, the daily bombing attacks on the people of North and South Vietnam. We condemn our govern-
New York, N. Y. 10010. Pe
ment's. cauiiescence in the torture ‘of ‘prisoners. We condemn the use of chemical warfare and thé’ napalm, phosphorus, and “lazy-dog" bombs, which together with other: innovations in weaponry mark American~<intervention in Vietnan. .
The United States government is conducting a criminal war against the Vietnamese people, which is every bit as horrible as the French operations in Algeria, and the Nazi atrocities in World War II. This war against the Vietnamese people is being carried out in violation of the Geneva Accords, the United Nations Charter, our nation's own Constitution, and all standards of humanity.
Periodically, our government has issued declarations of peaceful intent, and has stated its willingness to hold “unconditional" discussions. But these hypocritical declarations are almost always followed by new escalation of the war. Thus far, our government has been unwilling to put an end to this horrible war by getting out of Vietnam and letting the Vietnamese people determine their own destiny.
The overwhelming majority of mankind, from Melbourne to Moscow, from Manila to Montevideo, have justly condemned the war in Vietnam. And never in our nation's history has a war been so unpopular among our own people.
The peace movement in our country continues to grow as thousands upon thousands of our people come to learn the truth about the war. We realize that, of all the world's peoples, it is ourselves who have the primary responsibility and burden to bring a halt to the war. Towards this purpose, we are calling for a nationwide student week of protest, April 8-15, culminating in massive demonstrations in New York and San Francisco ° on April 15. This will be the largest expression of antiwar sentiment among students ~ ever held in our nation's history. :
We issue this statement to call upon the peoples of the world to join with us during Vietnam Week in an international demonstration against U.S. aggression in Viet-: nam. We ask the students of the world to join us April 8-15 in making our protest an =». international student protest against the war. We ask this expression in the name of ~ international brotherhood and peace, in the name of humanity.
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[The committee asks those interested to write or cable about their plans. The address is: Student Mobilization Committee, 29 Park Row, Fifth Floor, New York, N.Y. 10038.]
LIKE THE FOURTH OF JULY OR LIKE A FLOWERING ROSE?
The New York Times published an article on the front page of its January 19 issue which began as follows:
"SAIGON, South Vietnam, Thursday, Jan. 19 -- United States Air Force B-52 bombers dropped tons of incendiary bombs yesterday on War Zone D, a Vietcong sanctuary, in an attempt to burn away dense foliage hiding suspected enemy camps and infiltration routes.
"Ten waves of the big bombers dropped magnesium incendiary bombs in radarcontrolled parallel patterns over a 28-square-mile patch of the thickly forested area 40 miles northeast of Saigon.
"tTt looked just like the Fourth of July,' said an American military spokesman who watched the air strikes from a helicopter near the target area."
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While not exactly a plagiarism, this poetic reaction of the unidentified American military spokesman does echo in the most striking way a simile used by another military figure who gained fame in the Italian imperialist invasion of Ethiopia in the thirties:
"I still remember the effect I produced on a small group of Galla tribesmen massed around a man in black clothes. I dropped an aerial torpedo right in the center, and the group opened up like a flowering rose. It was most entertaining."
Those memorable sentences appeared in a self-glorifying account written by one of the Italian fascist dictator'ssons, the swaggering Vittorio Mussolini.
U.S...GENERAL FINDS IRON TRIANGLE A DEPRESSING EXPERIENCE
Recently the American press was filled with reports about the success of a drive mounted by the U.S. armed forces in Vietnam to obliterate a stronghold of the National Liberation Front designated by the Saigon forces as the "Iron Triangle." The operation was held to mark a promising beginning in reducing a number of areas by force of American weaponry, strategy and fighting capacity. It appears, however , that the actual results do not measure up to-the publicity. Thig is the opinion . of no one less than Brig. Gen. S.L.A. Marshall, a military affairs analyst.
. Writing from Bien Hoa, Vietnam, ina column that appeared in the March 5 Japan Times, the general describes the .Iron Triangle as "a messy maze of low ground cut up by canals, dikes and paddy banks, with some bamboo thickets and tangled jungle patches."
'. “When. the Army decided shortly before the New Year that the Iron Triangle.-had to be. obliterated, there were great expectations," he continues. "The attack. would.be made in unexampled numbers , following a deceptive feint. The enemy would be bagged and .their burrows. blown to Kingdom Come. That piece of real estate could be forgotten."
"How. aid it actually work out? "A ‘relatively few enemy were either snared or killed. The tunnel systems were not destroyed but only damaged for a time.
"Flying a reconnaissance over the Triangle a few days before the whistle blew, I saw mainly an unbroken green and slightly repellant countryside which appeared wholly devoid of life. The panorama is now scarred-from end to end, not only by bomb craters running in crisscross patterns but also by ribbons of turned red.soil 300 meters wide where great earth movers and fleets of bulldozers did their work. At dead center of the triangle is. the symbol . of what-.was done --.a clearing of turned-up earth large as two city blocks and.cut in the shape of an engineer's castle.
"Still it remains true that not one B52 crater and none of this bustle and bang over the surface hit deep enough to damage even slightly any one of the tunnel systems, | according to the engineers who explored the tunnels." -
The general's account of what the engineers found indicates with what energy and determination the Vietnamese freedom fighters are defending their country against the colossally powerful imperialist invader:
"They found it impossible to destroy them, despite our scientific knowhow, our plenitude of. explosives, stores of chemicals and experience in coping with other earthworks dug by: the enemies of late years. The best that could be done was to interrupt them here and there by blowing them up or ‘y saturating them with chemicals that might last a little while longer.
"Tt is not simply that the tunnels are too far below the surface, averaging between 12 and 20 feet. But rather nowhere do they maintain a straight line for more than 20 or 25 feet; it is always zig-zag, the purpose being to thwart any weapon or, chemical aimed to neutralize more than.a local section. Baffle doors and vents are numerous. The effect is to limit the area of destructiveness...
"There are no props nor shorings of any kind, only earth walls. “Because of the vents and baffle doors, chemical smoke projected into one entrance will emerge maybe 300 yards or so farther along. The air is more stale than foul; the engineers went through the whole system without losing a man. But they could not destroy it. Furthermore, the evidence shows that before our combat troops had completed withdrawing from the Triangle, the Viet Cong were moving back in. It is supposed to be an indispensable link in their North-to-South supply route."
‘In view of this experience Brig. Gen. Marshall writes pessimistically about future possibilities. And in passing he. testifies, perhaps unwittingly, to the defensive nature of the struggle being waged by the Vietnamese.
"Whether going at such a target is worth the energy expended remains a good ques-— tion. The surface works of the Triangle were notably lacking in tenable, formidable fighting positions. Almost without exception the bunkers were built for protection only.
"The deserted brigade camp from which I write bespeaks only that the U.S. command intends to fight it out on this line. It is a bright day. Columns of Huey helicopters, looking like so many dragon flies, are overhead, bound on a short hop to the Triangle. The squads aboard will soon be nibbling at War Zone D again. It may be worth doing. It might not."
"RECTIFICATION CAMPAIGN": CURBS "CULTURAL REVOLUTION --
By Joseph Hansen
[Continued ” from last issue.]-
The cultural revolution begat? it will. ‘be ‘recalled, with an attack on the intellectuals, the closing of the schools and the mobilization of téns of millions of Red ~ Guards at public expense. These were thrown: at party and government institutions under the slogan of seizing power. The main targets were thus the cadres in the Chinese Communist party who had not lined up to the satisfaction of Mao Tse-tung in his factional struggle with other old-1ine leaders such as Liu Shao- chi and. Teng Hsia6-ping. oom
Behind ‘the Red Guards stood the army headed by ‘Lin Piao; and at a certain point the army ‘openly intervened in the struggle as we noted earlier. Even as it intervened, signal bells were sounded, indicating that-a further turn’Was in the offing -- a "rectifieation-campaign." -This campaign, now underway, is directed in behalf: of the main target in the previous’ stage of the "cultural revolution" -- the party cadres -- and against the forces raised up by Mao under the slogan of seizing power. We documented the steps in this from-the dispatches sent out officially by the Hsinhua News Agency itself.
The most important single document, the one that most clearly lays down the line for.the new stage, is the editorial already cited which appeared in Red Flag, "Cadres Must Be Treated Correctly." The arguments advanced by Red Flag will undoubtedly constitute the main themes for much of the propaganda in the effort to again achieve stabilization. They are worth noting.
First of all, we learn that among those who responded to the call to seize power, "a misconception has emerged." The misconception is "that all those in authority are not good and unreliable and should therefore be overthrown en masse." Surprising as it may seem in view of all that was said about the virtue of making a revolution within a revolution, sweeping out the four olds and sweeping in the four news, "This viewpoint is completely wrong. It is contrary to Marxism-Leninism, Mao Tse-tung's thought, and is not justified by the facts."
A clear distinction must be made between "the handful" who took the capitalist road and those who did not. It is necessary to "relentlessly overthrow" the former but to "firmly support the people in authority belonging to the proletariat." To act otherwise is wrong. In fact, "It is an anarchist trend of thought to refuse to make a class analysis of the people in authority, and instead to suspect, negate, exclude and overthrow them all indiscriminately." In other words, cadres who are critical of Mao, or designated as critical, are to be relentlessly overthrown, but those who pass inspection are to be firmly supported. Mao's appeals to the masses to intervene have suddenly become hedged with a considerable restriction!
A rather surprising argument is advanced. The masses had been told that the "monsters and demons" wanting to take the capitalist road had wormed their way into positions of authority years ago, even as far back as the thirties. Now it-is suddenly recalled that "the proletarian revolutionary line represented by Chairman Mao has been in the dominant position and the majority of the cadres and members of the Chinese Communist party and the Chinese Communist Youth League have been carrying out this line."
It follows quite logically, of course, that "The view of overthrowing cadres indiscriminately negates the basic facts of the past 17 years and fails to acknowledge the great achievements made in those years." This was forgotten when Mao was issuing his appeals, it seems.
Aside from the famous "small handful," the cadres fall into two categories, "the good and comparatively good." There is more to come about the cadres, but the editors of Red Flag first take up the composition of the new organs of power that have been projected in a "three-way alliance." "This provisional 'three-way alliance' organ of power is formed by leading members of the revolutionary mass organisations that truly represent the masses, representatives of the Chinese People's Liberation Army units stationed locally and revolutionary leading cadres." This body operates on the level of provinces and cities "where power must be seized."
Further specifications .are given:
"In the factories, mines and enterprises where power must be seized, a provisional organ of power by the 'three-way alliance' must also be established, incorporating revolutionary cadres (leading cadres, ordinary cadres and technical personnel » workers'
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representatives (veteran workers and young workers) and representatives of the militia."
"In party and government organs where power must be seized, the principle of a combination. of revolutionary leading cadres, revolutionary middle-ranking.cadres and revolutionary masses must be carried out."
To be noted in “this, aside from the role of the army at the top level, is the play given to the cadres -- the category previously under heavy attack. In view of this it is readily understandable why the editors state that "it is imperative, at the present, to lay stress on solving. the problem of the correct treatment of revolutionary cadres."
A. brilliant perspective is opened for them. "Those leading cadres who follow the proletarian revolutionary line that Chairman Mao represénts...may and can become the leading force in the struggle to seize power from the handful of party people in authority taking the capitalist road." They can, in fact, even "act as the core of the leadership..." :
. Further compelling arguments are advanced: "The revolutionary leading cadres are. more mature politically. They. have .greater organisational skill. They are more experi-enced. in, struggle. They have the ability to exercise power and administer ‘work for the state of the proletariat." What bureaucrat could ask for a better presentation of his case against, the immature, unskilled, inexperienced, blundering Red Guards who ‘were called on to overthrow them?
Shouldn't. the "cultural revolution" then’ be: dropped? Not at all! Let these. -capa— ble bureaucrats. lead. it. And that is what is proposed: "Experience shows that with these revolutionary leading cadres. in the core of. leadership and integrated. ‘with the revolutionary masses, it.will.be possible to carry out the struggle to seize power more smoothly, put their power . into effect more quickly, grasp both revolution and production. effectively, and take action: in.accordance with the party's policy."
- How. wrong, then, ‘to rely on the initiative of the masses! Or as the editors of Red Flag argue: "On. the contrary, if. the revolutionary leading cadres are excluded, no powerful core of leadership can be formed, the révolutionary masses and revolutionary mass organizations cannot be joined together. into well organised and disciplined revolutionary. battalions, with centralised leadership and unified command. Instead, there will be. "no leader in a, herd of dragons.'" The opposing monsters and demons would of course , rejoice at that. : .
Besides the quality. of the cadres. in the Communist party and the Communist Youth League, as described in this favorable way, there is the quantity of>them to consider. "Large numbers of cadres in the party and government organisations are good and they want to make revolution. The proletarian revolutionaries among them. are the main force in the seizure of. power in their own departments."
Thus we reach the foreordained conclusion. Full confidence must be placed in them! "They know best whether the power. in their own departments should be seized...it ~ ‘is necessary to rely on them...The revolutionary masses and revolutionary mass organi- | sations from other departments should trust them, support them and give them the neces-— sary assistance instead of excluding them..." ;
The editorial finally gets around, as was to be’ expected, to the "neyolutionary | rebels" who had been led by the proclamations issued in Mao's name to believe that the masses should take the initiative and seize power away from the bureaucrats: "In some localities,.a few persons proposed that 'all persons who can be classified as "leading" cadres should step aside.' This view is devoid of class analysis. It counterposes the masses to all cadres. It does not direct its spearhead against the handful of persons in authority taking the capitalist road [bureaucrats opposed or held. to be opposed to the Mao faction] but against the great number of cadres [the bureaucracy as a whole]. It therefore runs counter to the basic spirit of the sixteen-point decision of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist party concerning’ the great proletarian cultural revolution, to the general orientation of the struggle and to’ Mao Tse= -tung's thought. To do things in this way would objectively be to help the class enemy."
A clear warning is issued: "Those comrades who committed such mistakes without thinking should. immediately correct then. It would be very dangerous for them to persist obstinately in their own view."
This editorial was, of course, at once hailéd. Throughout the vast country, the switch was made instantly by key groups. Thus on February 24, the day following publication of the piece, Hsinhua reported "widespread acclaim" from Shanghai, Tsingtao, Heil-
ungkiang, Shansi and Kweichow where the Maoists had "successfully seized power."
“With this send-off, the "rectification campaign" was soon in high gear. A wall bulletin posted by the "revolutionary students" of the Iu Hsun Corps in Shanghai was ~ reprinted in its entirety by the People's Daily February 26 together with an article from a Shanghai paper hailing the bulletin. Hsinhua had it translated and. in its own daily bulletin of the same date.
The article posted by the Maoist students poses some “new problems" that have arisen and issues a call fora "