The journal The Week rose to the occasion by devoting its whole December 29 issue to the Vietnam war, opening with an editorial entitled "George Brown the Liar." Referring to the Harrison Salisbury reports, it said: "Never has there been a clearer expression of this Government's subordination to the American Administration. Every unit of the Labour movement should demand that» George Brown apologise for this deception." ;
In face of this mounting campaign of criticism, the Labour Government has been hard pressed to maintain its credibility even to its most loyal supporters.
Such was the pressure that George Brown has sought to divert it by launching his own “peace offensive." Late on Friday December 41 there was an announcement from the Foreign Office that a call had been made for the U.S., North Vietnam and South Vietnam to get together for: talks to end the conflict.
However this very obvious decoy has not even got off the ground. It. was so obviously an attempt both to cover up Brown's blunder and the lies of the U.S. administration, that it has brought nothing but scorn from all quarters. Even Shinwell the chairman. of the Parliamentary Labour party, who is normally a loyal Wilson man said in a radio interview on January 1 that George Brown's "peace offensive" was an empty gesture.
There is no doubt that the campaign against the U.S. aggression in Vietnam and the Wilson government's complicity will be powerfully stimulated by the recent events, both here and in Vietnam. The Vietnam Solidarity Campaign has called a demonstration and meeting for January 14. This time they will march to the Foreign Office, seeking Brown and the rest of the Wilson government as their target.
PUBLISHER OF "LA SINISTRA" EXPELLED FROM ITALIAN COMMUNIST PARTY
Rome
Giulio Savelli, of the Samona e Savelli Publishing House which puts out: La Sinistra [see World Outlook December 2, 1966] has been expelled from the Italian Communist party [PCI]. The decision was taken by the Control Commission of the Rome federation of the PCI last November 40.
The measure was the final step in a series of moves aimed at pressuring and browbeating Savelli into giving up the newly launched magazine. Other actions were aimed at him in various party bodies, all of which shook the prestige of the Rome PCI leadership.