BI-WEEKLY PROPAGANDA GUIDANCE
Document Type:
Collection:
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
CIA-RDP78-03061A000400060005-8
Release Decision:
RIPPUB
Original Classification:
S
Document Page Count:
104
Document Creation Date:
November 17, 2016
Document Release Date:
August 12, 2000
Sequence Number:
5
Case Number:
Publication Date:
April 24, 1967
Content Type:
PERRPT
File:
Attachment | Size |
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CIA-RDP78-03061A000400060005-8.pdf | 6.92 MB |
Body:
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Sign~icant Dates
[ASTERISK DENOTES ANNIVERSARIES. All others are CURRENT EVENTS]
JUN
16-17* East German workers and youths demonstrate and riot, quelled by Soviet troops.
(Commemorated annually in West Germany as German Day of Unity.) 1953.
17* Hungarian government announces trial and execution of Imre Nagy, Premier
during Hungarian revolt who had been seized in violation of promise of safe-
duct. 1958.
22* Germany Invades the Soviet Union. 1941.
25* North Korean army crosses 38th parallel, invading South Korea, 1950.
28-29* Demonstration by Poznan workers against wage abuses turns into riot; Polish
government crushes riot, killing 44, wounding hundreds, though later moves
to correct abuses. 1956.
28 Opening of International Union of Architects (UTA) Congress, Prague, followed
by International Meeting of Women Architects, Bratislava. (UIA is basically
professional, not a front, but meeting in Havana in 1963 exploited by
Communists.)
JUL
'1* Dominion of Canada established, uniting provinces under federal government,
1867. CENTENARY.
6-9 World Conference on Vietnam, Stockholm. (Communist fronts involved include
World Peace Council and International Organization of Journalists; non-
Communist World Conference of World Peace Through Law also participating.)
9-14 World Conference of World Peace Through Law. Conference in Geneva.
21* Armistice ends Vietnamese war between French and Viet Minh forces. 1954.
23 'Soviet Navy bay.
23* Geneva Agreements guaranteeing independence and neutrality of Laos signed
by 14 nations. 1962. FIFTH ANNIVERSARY.
28 (to August 5) First conference of Latin American Solidarity Organization
(LASO: Communist front g roW i ng out of Tr i -Cont'i nenta l Conference, Havana,
January 1966).
AUG
1* Warsaw Uprising begins; later crushed by Germans while Red Army refuses and
blocks assistance. 1944.
2-9 World Confederation of Organizations of the Teaching Profession, 16th Assembly,
Vancouver, Canada. (Non-Communist.)
6* US drops atomb bomb on Hiroshima. 1945.
8* Soviet Union declares war on Japan. 1945.
14* Japan surrenders to Allies. 1945.
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(Significant Dates)
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i" edia Lines 25X1C10b
24 April 1967
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"Dr. Zhivago" Soviets Seek To Bar Films
in India
Press Comment, 17 April
1967, carried an item from the 5 April
New Delhi PATRIOT, somewhat misleading-
ly headlined: "No 'Advice' by the Soviet
Union on 'Dr. Zhivago."' The story re-
lates that the Indian Minister for Infor-
mation had stated in Parliament that the
Soviet Embassy had "given no advice" to
the Indian government on the exhibition
of the film "Dr. Zhivago," but "had
drawn Gas the Minister put it 'our atten-
tion to the fact that the exhibition of
the film would be embarrassing to the
Soviet Union."' After due consideration,
the Indian government had decided "to
pass the picture with such cuts as
were considered necessary, keeping in
view the susceptibilities of a friendly
country." In the case of another movie,
"From Russia with Love," the title was
changed to "From 007 with Love," and
all references to the USSR were deleted;
the Soviet Embassy had represented to
the Indian government that the film
"did not project the real character of
the Soviet people."
It seems likely that similar pro-
tests will be made by Soviet diplomats
when "Dr. Zhivago" comes to other
countries; in many cases, where there is
no parliament, the public may have
difficulty learning that censorship has
been sought. Where possible, we should
try to publicize Soviet efforts to limit
distribution of such films. Their efforts
can be compared with Nazi efforts to dis-
courage the showing of "All Quiet on the
Western Front"; the story of Pasternak's
later years and the Soviet prohibition
of his acceptance of a Nobel Prize can
be recalled; and the sensitivity of the
Soviets on "Zhivago" can be tied in with
their 50th Anniversary celebrations:
evidently this is one major reason for
Soviet displeasure at the circulation of
this film. Where some friction takes
place and the film is cut, protests can
25X1C10b
be aired in the press about the
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(Briefly Noted)
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Whatever its conclusions, the
matter needs to be put into perspec-
tive. The Americans' bombing policy
is based on two apparently contrary,
yet complementary, principles. In
certain special zones or in areas
where full-scale operations are being
waged against the enemy the bombing is
devastating and relentless. But in
areas which contain civilians, the
most elaborate ground rules are in
force to try to stop them being hurt.
In such areas, the approval of the
local province chief is required be-
fore any air strike can be made. This
frequently results in delays which
allow the enemy to escape. British
television viewers who are conditioned
to regard the air war in Vietnam as
an unrelieved exercise in American
brutality could profitably observe
this curious partnership between
American pilots and Vietnamese
officials.
In the actual conduct of the air
strikes, the target is pin-pointed in
advance by forward air controllers,
who reconnoitre the area for hours in
slow-flying aircraft, often at great
personal risk. A common technique
is to drop smoke flares on the precise
Vietcong stronghold. If there is a
possibility of hitting civilians the
whole thing is usually called off.
In the Delta area certain sections of
the waterways have been pronounced
"friendly areas". Even if the Viet-
cong sneak in and fire a few volleys
the river patrol boats must not fire
back, for fear of hitting the "friend-
ly civilians." The B-52 bombers,
which are used only in full-scale open
fighting, are electronically controll-
ed and have a remarkable degree of
bomb-aiming accuracy. It is claimed
that in all their operations they
have killed only one civilian. The
picture is reasonably clear. Perhaps
never before has a belligerent wield-
ed such a preponderance of power with
so much restraint.
The full article was reprinted
in the 14 March issue of Press Comment.
"REVISION-ism" New Edition Planned
for Great Soviet
Encyclopedia
The Central Committee
of the CPSU has just ordered a complete-
ly revised edition of THE GREAT SOVIET
ENCYCLOPEDIA, which one Western journal
has sarcastically called "the reposi-
tory of ultimate truth" - as far as
Soviet citizens are concerned. In
recent years the present (1957) edition
has been overtaken by such events as
the fall of Khrushchev, and the break with
Mao Tse-tung, both of which persons
are described most favorably; also by
the rise of Brezhnev, only named in a
supplement, and of Kosygin, who is
given nodding recognition as a "notable
statesman and minister of consumer
goods." The 1957 edition dismisses
Charles de Gaulle as "a monarchist and
clerical "who openly calls for the
establishment of a Fascist dictator-
ship and for starting war against the
Soviet Union and other socialist
countries". As the new edition is not
scheduled to appear until 1974, there
will undoubtedly be many revisions of
draft articles meanwhile. (If one can
judge by the Soviet history of the past
twenty years, Brezhnev may by that
time become an unperson again, or at
best receive minimal mention as a
"former high Party official".)
(Question - with tongue in cheek:
Why don't the Communist produce major
reference works as loose-leaf books?)
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211 April 1967 BrIefly Noted 0000"
Classic Use British Publication
of Juxta- Notes Another Chi corn
position Economic Failure
With two eye-catching
split headlines: "China buys scrap..."
-- "... and scraps paper," the 8 April,
issue of the London ECONOMIST carries
two short paragraphs. The former
paragraph is a brief report on Pe%jiq'Va
recent purchase of scrap metal in
Britain, since it cannot buy it fro1n
the United States or the USSR. Th@
latter one states:
"The China Couna . & for the
Promotion of International TrcEd6
in Peking has put out the fol=
Lowing special notice to its
readers: 11China'8 sooia1iat
revolution has entered a new
stage with the emergence in
1966 of our country's historically
unprecedented, great proletarian
revolution. As a reault of the
deepening development of the
revolutionary struggle, the
bimonthly magazine CHINA'S
FOREIGN TRADE cannot meet the
demands of the present situation
and the decision has been made
to cease publication as of 1967. '"
The use of short paragraphs with
juxtaposed information is a. timeproven
device for getting across a. propa-
ganda message with a minimt .m of edi-
torial additions to lead the reader
to make his own conclusions. The
current situation in Commur.ist China
provides a treasure house full of ex-
amples which can be adapted. for this.
Americans Do Civilian Casualties
Note Deliber- in the Vietnam War
ateZy Bomb
Civilians The U. S. bombing
policy is under con-
stant and antagonistic scrutiny
despite the fact that few readers
and apparently fewer writers under-
stand the restrictions under which
U.S. pilots operate. The follow-
ing excerpt from the 11 March 1967
issu,o of the respected British
magazine, THE ECONOMIST, may help
to clarify the situation and possibly
prove useful for replay or background
info njation the next time one of
these tragically inevitable errors
Qccup;
THE ECONOMIST March 11, 1967
Fron, Our Special Correspondent In
Saigon
Above all, the Delta illus-
trates the limitations -- though
not necessarily the inefficacy --
of the Americans' bombing policy,
which is again under severe criti-
cisn. because of the bloody episode
at the village of Lang Vei, where
about 100 villagers were accidentally
killed by American jets. There are
many features about this affair
which are odd, to say the least.
One possibility -- though it is no
more than that -- is that the Ameri-
cans really meant to bomb a village
on, the Ho Chi Minh trail inside
Laos,, the border of which runs very
close to Lang Vei, For the moment,
American officials merely talk in
general terms about navigational
error; and a board of inquiry has
been set up.
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DO YOUR AUDIENCES KNOW THAT THERE'S A WAR ON?
And if they do, do they know what it's all about? Or
*
are their opinions determined by Communist propagandists?
*
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25)1 C10b
*
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*
"How Strong is the NLF?"
(Reprint from the Reporter) *
*
*
*
"The Faceless Viet Cong"
(Reprint from Foreign Affairs) *
*
*
*
One American's View of the Vietnam Crisis
*
*
*
*
"New Crisis in Vietnam: What if the United States
Gets
*
Out?" (Reprint from U.S. News and World Report)
*
*
*
*
"The Legality of U.S. Participation in the Defense of
*
Vietnam (Department of State Bulletin) *
*
*
*
"An American Tragedy" (Reprint from Encounter)
*
*
*
*
Jay Mellin, Terror in Vietnam (book)
*
*
*
*
Vietnam: The War Newsbook (illustrated book)
*
*
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*
Send your order today.
*
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SITUATION: A meeting took place in Moscow on 16 February 1966 to
discuss a book, 1941, 22 June by Dr. A.M. Nekrich. The discussion,
sponsored by the Institute for Marxism-Leninism and participated in by
130 military and civilian historians, focused on Stalin. and Stalinism,
and at times went well beyond the scope of the book; reports of this
meeting have leaked out to the Free World in recent months. With the
exception of one apologist who was hooted from the scene, those speaking
up expressed views strongly condemning not only Stalin's prewar and
wartime leadership but also the very system of Stalinism; these views
were vigorously supported by the audience. In a brief debating match,
one historian carried his point that Stalin was a criminal. Some of the
speakers indicted Stalin's collaborators and could well have been think-
ing about some of the contemporary leaders of the USSR.
The discussion also touched on a wide range of other smoldering
issues. For example, several complained about the suppression of his-
torical data in the USSR and the consequent need of Soviet historians
to refer to foreign sources when dealing with Stalin's era. The murders
of military leaders in the purges of the 1930's were poignantly drama-
tized by the historian Yakir, the son of one of Stalin's victims. The
bitter experiences in the Kolyma forced labor camp, in the gold fields
of the far northeastern region of the USSR, were recalled and a
former inmate used these as his credentials to speak.
Stalin's foreign policies also came
in
for
criticism. Historians
asserted that Stalin facilitated the rise
of
the
Fascists by weakening
the Social Democrats. Stalin was scored
for
his
share in depriving the
Poles of their freedom and for betraying
the
Spanish Republic and the
Communists of all countries.
All of the speakers but one praised the book as good, timely, honest,
and useful. To the surprise of some, Nekrich's book was approved by
the Historical Section of the Great Fatherland War of the Institute of
Marxism-Leninism. However, the Committee on Publication Matters dis-
approved of the book. (Somehow, 11,000 copies of the book have been
printed and distributed, but further distribution has been halted.)
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Q~ p e r T
(1116 Cont.)
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The lone apologist for Stalin, Professor G.A. Deborin, tried to
suggest that a critic was echoing the line of "the enemy camp" and said:
"'It is necessary to determine, Comrade Snegov, to which camp you belongl"
Snegov replied that he was from Kolyma camp, one of Stalin's slave labor
camps. When Deborin said all this would have to be checked, the whole
audience became indignant, and he was not permitted to speak further.
(Incidentally, a 20-page booklet produced by us in 1965 --- "'Moscow
Interprets World War Two: How the Soviets Falsify History" --
examines one of Deborin's :publicat.ions in detail., using it for a
case study in the Soviet distortion of history. Copies are avail-
able in English and Spanish.)
Despite Stalin's unpopularity with historians, the regime has
pushed a limited rehabilitation of his memory over the last year. This
may be in part a reaction to the 16 February 1966 meeting; although in
mid-March 1966 a collective let-,er protested a rumored impending rehabil-
itation, Moscow City party leader N.G. Yegory-chev on 30 March 1966
denounced the "recent fashion of seeking out elements of Stalinism as a
scarecrow to frighten the public, especially the intelligentsia." The
rehabilitation seems to be supported most heavily by military lead-
ers whose articles, speeches, and memoirs (especially at the last
anniversary of the October Revolution and at the various battle anni-
versaries) have assigned Stalin once more a leading role as a military
leader; the military appear to have resented Khrushchev's denigration of
Stalin and exaggeration of his own accomplishments. The whole issue of
Stalinism is of course an especially sen.si~..ive subject this year,, during
the! 50th anniversary celebrations. it should. be remembered that, despite
Khrushchev's speeches in party gatherings and various publications by
liberal writers and poets, there never has been a full, open, public
discussion on Stalinism within the USSR. The regime has always, even
under Khrushchev, handled the subject of Stalin's policies with some
restraint -- a wise decision from the regime's standpoint, since Stalinism
cannot be completely repudiated without repudiating also the regime,
shaped in its essential features by Stalin,
Comments on the basic material are in order. ,:'here seems to be no
reasonable doubt about the authenticity of the report. Also, it has
been accepted and spread by several publications, some of which can
hardly be suspected of U.S. influence. The record of the meeting repro-
duced in POSSEV (from which the attached material is translated), was
also described in LA SINISTRA, a. journal published in Rome (some of the
staff members are Trotskyites) and by LE NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR in Paris.
DER SPIEGEL, the West German TIME, has published long excerpts in its
20 March 1967 issue. In addition, Moscow correspondent Henry Shapiro
referred to the meeting in his dispatch on the anniversary of Stalin's
death in March 1967.
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(1116 Cont.)
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1117 AF,NE,EUR. AFRO-ASIAN WRITERS ARE VICTIMS
OF SINO-SOVIET STRUGGLE
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SITUATION: The Chinese boycotted the "splittist" Afro-Asian Writers
Conference, held in Beirua 25-30 March,as they did the AAPSO meeting in
25X1C10b
25X1C10b
was in effect split last year into Soviet- and Chicom-oriented groups,
each holding meetings through the summer and fall. An "emergency meeting"
of writers in support of Vietnam, held in Peking in June-July 1966, resolv-
ed to hold the Third Afro-Asian Writers Conference in Peking in 1967 but
mentioned no date; in turn, a Soviet-sponsored meeting in Baku in September
selected Beirut as the site for the AAWB conference in early 1967. (See
A Soviet-sponsored "extra-
ordinary meeting" in Cairo in June had decided to move AAWB headquarters 25X1 C 1 Ob
"teeoraril It from Colombo to Cairo.
Before the Beirut Conference, Peking announced that preparatory work
for the third writers conference "is being satisfactorily carried out";
after the Conference Peking claimed that firm support has been pledged
in statements issued by writers unions and "nationalist parties" in
many Asian and African countries. The 21 March statement further declar-
ed that the Afro-Asian writers movement, "after kicking out the Soviet
revisionists who sneaked into the ranks of the Afro-Asian people," will
develop with greater vigor and vitality.
Peking: Cairo-based AAWB Led by Alien, Imperialist-Connected Forces
Peking assailed the Beirut meeting with the same sort of abuse it showered
on the Soviet=-controlled AAPSO meeting in Nicosia. It added to all the
well-known charges relating to Soviet control ("engineered by the Soviet
revisionist leading clique") that the AAWB meeting was "in the pay of the
United Nations" -- apparently because of the Cairo-based AAWB's endeavors
to obtain financial support from UNESCO--and questioned whether the Soviets
are indeed an-Afro-Asian nation. Peking also continues to publicize state-
ments by various Asian and African "organizations" and individuals favor-
ing Peking as the site of AAPSO and AAWB conferences. The intemperate
Chinese behavior contrasted at the Conference with a paucity of direct
attacks on them (even these were rather restrained) and the diplomatic
gimmickry of electing a Chinese representative to the executive committee
in absentia.
The Chinese insist that the legitimate AAWB headquarters
is still in Colombo and that it has its executive secretariat in Peking.
Chinese Tactics. Repeating a pattern established at Nicosia, the
Chinese sent no official delegation, but Chinese representatives camouflaged
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(1117 Cont.)
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as journalists were present; and the local NCNA office distributed handbills
(in Arabic, English and French) -- according to a Soviet version, in 7 lan-
guages -- alleging that the Conference was unlawful. TASS commented that
the Chinese tactics observe the following rule: "Do not attend forums at
which it is quite obvious that the Chinese representatives will constitute
an insignificant minority; declare these conferences and meetings 'unlaw-
ful'... and seek to obstruct any movement aimed at rallying the progressive
forces in Asia and Africa."
The Writer's Role: Anti-II,erialist Activist. Although seventy
.countries" were expected to attend the meeting, about fifty were re-
presented. Speakers stressed the role of the writer in the national
liberation movements and in the fight against imperialism. S. Azinov, the
head of the Soviet delegation, maintained that Soviet literature makes a
contribution to better mutual understanding of the Afro-Asian peoples. He
made proposals concerning the publication, of an AAWB magazine, exchange of
information on the publication of books, and assistance for writers "who
live in difficult-conditions." He claimed that book;, by writers of some
40 Afro-Asian countries have been printed in the Soviet Union in 54
languages in over 100 million copies since the Tashkent Afro-Asian Writers
Conference in 1958. A declaration stated that the AAWBB will. make Afro-
Asian literature a vanguard of the champions of independence, national
sovereignty, and happiness of the peoples; and. that imperialism. attacks
the culture and literature of the Afro-Asian peoples and spends tremendous
sums of monty to bribe the Afro-Asian intelligentsia. The Soviets hailed
Yevtushenko's presence at the Conference as.a great success. The Chinese
singled him out for special attacks: The "beatnik poet" showed his devotion
to the "late chieftain of U.S. imperialism, President Kennedy" by laying a
wreath at his tomb and he was generally characterized either as the tool
or the exponent of Soviet revisionism, (NCNA: "Yevtushenko presented him-
self in the ugliest possible light....; he suffered from a hangover" the latter apparently a true charge according to other reports.)
Committees drafted documents to sum up the results of "this represen-
tative forum of progressive writers" (TASS). The Beirut press, in partic-
ular, treated the conference as a political one rather than as a meeting
of representative Afro-Asian writers.
Resolutions: Vietnam Most Important Issue. The conference concluded
by unanimously passing resolutions on Vietnam, imperialism and Israel. The
resolution on Vietnam denounced the "aggressive war of the U.S. against
Vietnam" and the "barbarous air raids," and expressed solidarity with the
"heroic" people of Vietnam and full support for the four points advanced by
the DRV and the five points of the NFLSV.
Another resolution condemned British, Portuguese, French and American
imperialism ("the most, insidious and cruel form. of imperialism" [TASS])
in Africa and Asia. The resolution concerning Israel refers -CO it as a
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base for imperialism and neo-colonialism ("imperialism's obedient instru-
ment for aggression against the Arab states") and calls on the progressive
writers to resist the "big cultural plot concocted by the Zionist movement."
Following the Nicosia example, a special resolution conveyed greetings
to the Soviet peoples on the occasion of the "golden anniversary of their
great revolution"; it noted the international significance of the October
Revolution, its influence on the revolutionary and liberation movements
and the social progress of the peoples; and it pointed to the Revolution's
role in "opening up new horizons for the intellectual progress of mankind,
which had been blocked for the peoples by the monopoly of imperialist
culture".
Organization-Structure. The Conference adopted an AAWB charter. The
executive committee was increased to twenty-seven members (including the
CPR),* with Africa as a whole having 15 and Black Africa 11 members. Ten
countries make up the permanent bureau." Yusuf-as-Sibai (UAR) was elected
secretary-general (he holds the same position in AAPSO as well) and Nursi
Said ad-Dim (UAR) deputy secretary general. No decision was made regard-
ing the next Conference to be held in three years; India's offer to hold
it in New Delhi was considered.
Reports that several participants (Syria, Senegal, Angola and Pales-
tine) had threatened to walk out were officially denied by the Secretariat.
The Senegalese delegation did, however, protest that the conference should
not be solely Arab-Asian. The conference ended a day early to enable the
conferees to visit Syria's frontlines adjacent to Israel's borders. 25X1C10 b
* Cameroon, Ceylon, Ghana, India, Japan,CPR, Indonesia, Sudan, UAR,
Angola, Guinea, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Algeria, Nigeria, Viet-
nam, Korea, Lebanon, South Africa, Turkey, Mongolia, Dahomey, Morocco,
Senegal, Syria and the USSR.
India, Japan, Senegal, Portuguese Colonies, Lebanon, Mongolia, South
Arica, Sudan, the UAR and the USSR.
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(1117 Cont.)
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24 April 1967
1118 EUR,FE. REACTION TO CONTINUING COLLECTIONS IN EAST
25X1 C 10b EUROPE OF "AID" FOR VIETNAM
SITUATION: On 13 March,a "Week of Solidarity With the Struggle of
the Vietnamese People" and "collections for the Vietnam aid fund" were
launphed,as Moscow's "Radio Peace and Progress" told its Asian audiences
on that day. "The Soviet people will take an active part in this," the
radio asserted, because"the cohesion of all the forces in support of
heroic Vietnam is now very necessary." Earlier in March Moscow radio
had announced that the Soviet Red Cross Society was shipping more supplies
to North Vietnam "purchased with money donated by various public organiza-
tions and individuals." This aid being sent to North Vietnam, the radio
noted, includes foodstuffs, clothing, consumer goods, ambulances, medicines,
and "many other" items.
In an interview with the magazine SOVIET RUSSIA North Vietnamese
Ambassador in Moscow Nguyen Tho Chan declared, according to the Soviet
news agency TASS on 15 March, that "the support of the Soviet Union and
other socialist countries adds to the combat potential of all the Viet-
namese people." On the same day Moscow radio quoted a statement in RED
STAR that "at the request of the permanent mission of the NFLSV, the
Soviet Red Cross is effecting the transportation of aid being sent to
Vietnam by public organizations of foreign countries,"
What has this meant to the "man in the street" in the USSR and,
more to the point, in the East European countries? Workers, already
suffering from low wages and scarce consumer goods, have been forced to
contribute sorely needed money from their pay envelopes. Inadequate
medical facilities in East Europe, further strained by a large-scale flu
epidemic this winter, have had to be utilized for blood collections and
have been shortchanged on their requests for medical supplies and equip-
ment diverted to Vietnam. Overcrowded training and educational installa-
tions have been forced to take in thousands of Vietnamese poorly equipped
by their own background to take advantage of the schooling in East
Europe.
Evidence of reaction in the Satellite countries is included in the
attached unclassified paper. Hinted at in this paper, but purposely not
spelled out in detail, is what this Moscow-directed campaign means else-
where: despite propaganda, East Europeans send aid grudgingly,
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(1118 Cont.)
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an attitude which has implications for. quantity and quality of the aid.
Furthermore, the Chicoms (at least according to the Soviets--
and the accusation sounds plausible) stop a good percentage of it from
reaching the Vietnamese. It is doubtful that material or financial
contributions collected in Eastern Europe are fully passed on to V:Letnam
in the form of supplies; to the various regimes, the collections are
mainly a way of mobilizing opinion against "imperialism", rather than
aiding Hanoi. All this should serve as a good lesson for the countries
of the Third World who might be considering the acceptance of aid from
Communist countries in the future. Meanwhile, third world nationals
studying in Communist countries are being squeezed out of their small
allowances to make "donations" to the aid collections, and while the
Communists softpedal the subject of their own people becoming "volun-
teers" to fight at the side of the North Vietnamese they hint at the
possibility of this being a good idea for the "oppressed people of
Asia, Africa, and Latin America."
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2
011]8 Cont
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"Vietnam Has Kremlin on Ropes," WASHINGTON DAILY NEWS, 22 March 1967
( page 1, PRESS COMMENT, 23 March)
"Red Schism Puts Squeeze on Hanoi," CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR,
16 March 1967 (page 4, PRESS COMMENT, 16 March) f
"East Europe Fears Wider War," WASHINGTON POST, 2 April .1967 f
(page 33, PRESS COMMENT, 4 April) < /~^
"Food Said To Be Running Out in North Vietnam," LONDON TIMES,
9 March 1967 (page 35, PRESS COMMENT, 16 March)
"A Soviet-Chinese Accord on Aid to Hanoi Reported," N.Y. TIMES,
12 April 1967 (page 1, PRESS COMMENT, 12 April)
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3
w N ! T
(1118)
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1119. THIRD COUNTRY ASSISTANCE FOR SOUTH VIETNAM
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SITUATION: (UNCLASSIFIED) In July, 1961., the Government of South
Vietnam formally asked the Free World for material and technical assis-
tance to help her fight the non-military sector of the Vietnam war.
Within two years more than 30 countries in the Free World had come to
the aid of this small Asian nation with over $50,000,000 in economic,
technical, medical and social assistance. As far as it has gone this
Free World assistance has been heartening. Equipment and personnel have
poured into South Vietnam from Africa, Latin America, Europe, and the
Near and Far East -- Iranian petroleum and Argentinian wheat have been
unloaded in the Saigon estuary alongside a 3,000-ton hospital ship sup-
plied by West Germany At Tan Son Hut, pharmaceuticals airlifted from
Spain, Guatemala and Israel are off-loaded as a Canadian orthopedist
arrives to teach at Cho Ray Hospital in Saigon and a group of Vietna-
mese students emplaneli for Tunis on scholarship grants from the Tunisian
Government. (End UNCLASSIFIED) 25X1 C 1 Ob
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(1119 Cont.
)
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(11:''L9 . )
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1120 AF,FE,NE,EUR. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF
THE INDIAN ELECTIONS: The Demand
for a Chan e
25X1C10b
SITUATION: The dust is still settling after India's fourth general
elections, 15-21 February 1967, when some 175 million voters administered
a stunning rebuff to the Indian National Congress (Congress Party).
Congress maintains its rule at the national level, but only by an unex-
pectedly slim margin.
In the first nationwide elections since the death of Prime Minister
Jawaharla7,y Nehru in May 1964, the Congress Party, which he organized and
led, was stripped of the commanding parliamentary majority it had enjoyed
since India achieved independence in 1947. It suffered substantial
reverses on both the national and state levels, reflecting the recent
growth of popular dissatisfaction with twenty years of unbroken Congress
rule.
Over half of the Indian electorate of 247 million (75% of whom are
illiterate, mostly rural and poor) in the world's largest parliamentary
democracy apparently went to the polls and voted their frustration over
drought, food shortages, soaring prices, low wages, serious unemployment,
unfulfilled expectations...
No clear right or left trend in Indian politics emerged during the
elections; no concerted policy mandate is implicit in the results. They
are viewed more as a strong protest against the seeming inability of the
(Congress Party) government to solve India's many crucial problems
rather than as a vote for any particular alternative or ideology The
elections highlighted the most serious weakness of the Indian political
system -- the lack of a strong nationwide opposition party which can serve
25X1 C10b as a viable alternative to Congress 25X1 C10b
Perhaps the most definite pattern emerging from the elections is
what appears to be the wholesale repudiation of established or ingrown
political leadership -- primarily of the Congress, but also of opposition
parties -- by an electorate which had had enough of party panjandrums who
put political and personal interests above the national welfare, (About
one third of the 52 central government and state ministers lost their
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(1120 Cont.)
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seats, many of them prominent party stalwarts.)
Eight national and eleven regional. parties competed for the 521
seats in the Lok Sabha ( the lower house of parliament;` enlarged from
the 494 seats contested in the 1962 elections), and the 3,563 seats in
the Legislative Assemblies of 16 states and 8 territories.
Results of Lok Sabha Elections
Returns for the Lok Sabha gives Congress control. of only 280 seats,
or about 55 percent of the members, as compared to over 70 percent in the
previous three elections. The Congress popular vote slid from about 45
percent in the last elections to about 39 percent this year.
Opposition parties with left, right and. communal. biases all gained at
the expense of Congress, although no single party has enough support to
act officially, or in fact, as a national dppositior...* The opposition,
although numerically strengthened, is still splintered and divided along
ideological lines. The major right-wing opposition parties - the con-
servative free-enterprise Swatantra winning, 44 seats. and the Hindu
nationalist Jan Sangh winning 35 - made the biggest gains, but each has
less than ten percent of the Lok Sabha seats, and sc. far each shows little
willingness to cooperate at the national level.
The two rival Communist Parties, the pro-Moscow CPI/R and the pro-
Peking CPI/L (See BPG #183, item #981, 3:L January 19?66: "Effects of
Sino-Soviet Rivalry on Communist Parties of' India"), improved somewhat
on their previous limited representation, but fell behind the right-
wing forces, with 24 seats for the CPI/R and 19 for the CPI/L. (Leaders
of the two parties have stated they will nct cooperate with each other
in parliamentary matters: in fact, the CPI/L seems more interested in
ruining the CPI7R than in opposing the Congress platform; each faction
accuses the other of causing the failure of "democratic forces" by
dividing the votes of the opposition, Soviet comment on the elections
reveals concern over the strengthening of the righting parties, alleged-
ly 'backed by Indian and foreign capital, and presses its line calling
for unity of leftist and "democratic" forces in the face of strong re-
actionary and imperialist pressures).
The Samyukta Socialists (SSP), which developed. an unsavory reputation
for violence, won 23 seats. The moderate Praja Socialist Party (PSP) won
only 13, a gain of one seat. The Tamil-nationalist Dravida Munnetra
Kazhagam (DMK) won 25 seats, all from Madras. Other minor parties and
independents won about 60.
Results of State Elections
The Nehru era provided a deceptive facade that in many ways obscured
the complexity of India - a facade which the state elections in particular
*Recognition as an official opposition party requires winning at least 52
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dented if not shattered.
In the 16 State elections, where the opposition parties tended to
concentrate their resources and the electorate vote was highly subjective,
Congress suffered humiliating setbacks, It failed to win a majority in
half the contests, and its majorities decreased in the rest. Here again,
losses were not primarily at the hands of any one party or political
grouping. In several states issues of a peculiarly "Indian" nature -
having their roots in religion, language and community - served as ready
magnets for those disaffected from Congress, Rightists, nationalists,
regionalists and leftists rode the anti-Congress bandwagon and benefited
to varying degrees.
In Madras, the DMK won a majority of seats in the assembly. In
Kerala, a CPI/L-led coalition practically wiped out the badly split
Congress party. In Orissa, a coalition of the Swatantra Party and the
Jana Congress (dissident Congressmen) gained a majority. The capital
district of Delhi was carried by the Jan Sangh, although Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi scored a personal victory in Uttar Pradesh which greatly
strengthened her position within the Congress.
In West Bengal, the Bangla Congress ( dissident Congressmen) joined
an improbable alliance of 13 parties, ranging from Gandhians to pro-
Chinese communists, unseated the hitherto entrenched Congress Party lead-
ers, and formed a government headed by a dissident Congress leader but
heavily dependent on the support of the far left, particularly the CPI/L,
the largest party in the coalition.
In Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Punjabi Suba, Congress won
only a plurality, 'but hoped to attract enough independents to form
governments.
Aftermath of Elections
Some Congress Party members in two State assemblies (Haryana and
Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state) have changed sides since the
elections, bringing down two Congress governments and leaving the party
with legislative majorities in only seven of the 17 States, in mid-April.
(Rajasthan, where anti-Congress demonstrations occurred, was placed under
Presidential rule on 13 March). The loss of Uttar Pradesh, once the major
stronghold of Congress political power, was a jolting setback for the party.
Non-Congress governments now control not only the two southernmost states
but also those spanning the entire width of northern India and including
some of the most heavily populated and productive areas of the nation.
The future stability of at least three more Congress state governments
could be threatened by factionalism and personality clashes.
Several of the non-Congress state governments are -inherently unstable.
Only the communist-dominated regime in Kerala, the regionalist government
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(1120 Cont.)
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in Madras, and the conservative Swatantra-led coalition in Orissa have
fair prospects of some continuity.
For the first time, the government in New Delhi must deal with a
group of state governments controlled by opposition parties (some of them
violently anti-Congress), with widely differing programs, attitudes, and
sources of support, and for the most part, very little experience in
governing.
Mrs. Gandhi, again a compromise choice of Congress leaders, begins her
second tour as Prime Minister, with Morarji Desai, her only rival for party
leadership, as deputy. Her new =_9-member cabinet contains a number of new
and pragmatic younger men, although the major portfolios of home, defense,
external affairs and planning remain in the old hands.
Congress leaders have now been thrown off balance by a sudden agreement
among the seven,najor opposition parties on candidates for the Presidency
and Vice-Presidency. In the pas-;, these two offices have been mostly
symbolic but the loss of the two positions would be another serious blow
to Congress prestige and could threaten the stability of the central govern-
ment.
(See unclassified attachments for more details of election statistics,
descriptions of opposition parties and leaders, etc.)
The period of adjustment in the critical area of state-central govern-
ment relations is likely to be unstable, volatile and at times even violent.
A great deal of skill, patience and understanding on all sides will be re-
quired to achieve the political maturity which can create unity from diver-
sity. 25X1 C10b
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(1120 Cont.)
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ample of modern democratic government at work to bring economic and social
improvement to its people. The upheavals, political and economic, in
Indonesia and Ghana are good to cite as examples of the ruinous policies
of communist leadership which subvert independent nations in order to
accomplish a communist takeover of the government. The united fronts and
politically-expedient alliances in several of the Indian States should be
commented upon in discussing communist machinations, of both left and
right, during and after the elections including the position of the.
Soviets and Chicoms. (Additional details for commentary can be found in
the unclassified attachments.)
Sympathetic duscussion of the economic and social problems facing
India should be firmly underscored with a call upon Congress and opposition
leadership to end internal party bickering and divisive maneuvering. The
opposition should be reminded, whenever appropriate, of the responsibilities
that go with its newly acquired power: in the past the programs of the
opposition parties were basically negative and anti-Congress. All media
should exert every effort to convince the opposition parties of the mutual
necessity for sound cooperation among themselves and between them and
Congress; that the opposition must outgrow their "opposition mindedness"
and use their positions to contribute to constructive solutions rather than
to agitate and destroy.
The democratic processes which are employed to bring about social and
political changes, such as those that resulted from the Indian elections,
can and should be contrasted with the "cultural revolution" in Communist
China--the unbridled violence th e Red Guards exerted when they
arbitrarily took power in their own hands, and the ensuing economic, social
and administrative damage wreaked upon Communist China.
References
Bi-Weekly Propaganda Guidances: "India Faces Elections," #205, Item 1083,
5 December 1966.
"Effects of Sino-Soviet Rivalry on Communist
Parties of India," #1.83, Item 981,
31 January 1966.
"India: Famine and Communist Demagoguery,"
#182, Item 978, 17 January 1966,
A History of Sino-Indian Relations: Hostile Co-Existence by John Rowland,
D. Van Nostrand Company, Ind., 1967)
India and the Future of Asia by Patwant Singh, (Alfred A. Knopf, 1966)
Bloc Survey, 16 March 1967, "Moscow Sees Growing Polarization of Indian
Political Forces."
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(1120 Cont.)
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Problems of Communism, January-February 1967, "Soviet Theory and Indian
Reality," by Stephen Clarkson.
Asian Analyst, March 1967, "India's Elections in Retrospect."
Asian Analyst, January 1967, "Indian Communists' Election Dilemna."
New Times, No. 10, March 8, 1967,
"The Indian Elections," by N. Pastukhov.
Indian Communist Party Gains in the 1967 Elections, 2'7 March 1967.
World Marxist Review, February 1.967, "India on the Eve of Elections," by
S.A. Dange, Chairman, Communist Party of India.
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24 April 1967
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r r w w. j-
(1121 Cont.)
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3
66&4* - (1121 Conte )
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(1121 Cont . )
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(1121 Conto)
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(L121 )
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13 January 1967
War Historians Condemn Stalin
16 February 1966 Meeting of the Historical Section of the
Great Fatherland War/VOV/ of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism (IML)
Under the Central Committee of the CPSU
From Moscow we receive the following record of the discussion on the
book by A.M. Nekrich on the historical analysis of the German-Soviet war.
The material is particularly interesting in connection with the social
struggle against the attempts for re-Stalinization which cropped up at the
23rd Congress of the CPSU and which has been continuing up to now.
Bulletin board notice: Discussion of the book 1941, .22 June by
A.M. Nekrich. There were 130 persons present. The Presidium: Major
General Ye. A. Boltin, V.S, Tel'pukhovskiy, Professor G.A. Deborin, and
Doctor of the Institute of Sciences A.M. Nekrich.
Deborin: "The VOV of the IML approves the book. The opinion of the
IML differs with the opinion of the Committee on Publication Matters,
which disapproves of the book. Of course, the conclusions are right
but there are a number of contradictions. The chief question is the
reason for our misfortunes in the early period of the war (Deborin con-
siders that Nekrich gives an erroneous setting in the chapter "Warnings
Which Were Neglected". It was not only Stalin who was to blame.
Marshal Golikov misinformed him on much). The 14 June 1941 statement
by TASS was a diplomatic maneuver to check the German reaction. In
evaluating Stalin one must not bank on Khrushchev, who frequently is
not objective (for example, maintianing that Stalin was afraid of war;
it is more proper to say that Stalin relied too much on the agreement).
"About the factual inaccuracies. The 45's (Note: 45-millimeter guns)
were useless against the German tanks and therefore the Government took
them out of production (voices from the audience: "That is not right!
Taking them out of production was a crime! We met the German tanks
with our fists! At the beginning of the war there wasn't any kind of
anti-tank artillery!") Furthermore, from the book by Nekrich it can be
understood that Stalin, Voroshilov, Blyukher and others knew about the
innocence of Tukhachevskiy, Yakir and others but nevertheless condemned
them (voices in the room: "Of course they knew!"). It is not to be
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1 luont.)
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doubted that Voroshilov and Budenn:Ly, who were present at the trial,
possessed honor and conscience..." (Indignation is displayed all over
the room. Voices are heard: "What kind of honor and conscience do they
possess? They are cowards and scum!").
In the general hubbub Deborin leaves the tribune.
Anfilov (General Staff): "The book is a good one. First of all,
about the honor of Voroshilov and Budenniy. They don't have and never
had it. Much material, which is preserved in our archives, as yet, un-
fortunately, is not subject to publication... (Voices: "There are
enough secrets! Say what there is!"),.., compels a decidedly negative
conclusion about their activity. Here is a small episode. In the middle
of 1937, at a highly representative meeting, Stalin said: 'Well, we
arrived with Comrade Voroshilov in Tsaritsyn in 1918 and within a week
unmasked all the enemies of the people.' He said this about many officers
of the (former) SKVO [North Caucasian Military District] staff and front
honestly serving the Soviet power (voices: "Arid all of them were drowned
in a barge without a court trial!"). And Stalin further said: ' And here
you can't even unmask your own neighbors.'
"Voroshilov supported Stalin in every way; he called for informing
against all of his comrades and fellow-workers. My heart bleeds when I
see him standing on the mausoleum during parades..
"Now, about the beginning of the war. If our forces had been brought
to a state of military preparedness, which entirely depended on Stalin, we
would not have suffered such a destructive blow in the early period of the
war; and, in general, the war would not have been so prolonged, difficult
and bloody.
"Of course, it is necessary to take into account the degree of
responsibility of our foremost military leaders. In their speeches and.
memoirs Gulikov and Kuznetsov [ ] appear as heros.... But are they
indeed? Gulikov gave Stalin a war communique which contained the whole
'Barbarossa' Plan, but he wrote that this was a provocation calculated to
make us clash with the Germans. Kuznetsov writes that, after having
received information from the Military-Naval Attache Vorontsov in Berlin
on the date of the German attack, he immediately gave all of this informa-
tion to Stalin. But how did he present it? You should, see his presentation!
.It is written there that the information - 'is a provocation and was
sent through intelligence channels.' The Okrug military advisers turned
to Stalin with the request to disarm and dismantle fortifications along
the old border even though they knew very well. that there was a smell of
powder...
"All of this happened. But nevertheless, Stalin was the key figure,
He.cannot be whitewashed. He was the chief perpetrator of this tragedy.
Recently, I spoke with Marshal Zhukov. He said that Golikov actually
placed himself under the command of Stalin. Be :reported nothing to
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(Cont.)
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the Nachshtab [Chief of Staff] (Zhukov( or the Narkom [People's
Commissar] (Timoshenko). They knew nothing about the date of the
assult. I didn't get a chance to speak with Timoshenko; he doesn't
let a fellow in..."
Zastavenko (IML) approves of the book: "The people around Stalin
did not help him to evaluate the situation. On 5 June, Kalinin made a
speech at the Military-Political Academy: 'The Germans are preparing
to attack us, and we are expecting this. The sooner the better. We'll
ring their necks...' (Voices in the room: "The old twaddler!") This
was the evaluation of the Politburo. It underestimated the strength of
Germany. Stalin is not alone to blame for what happened... (There is
a hubbub in the room),"
Dashichev (General Staff): "Every historian who has taken up the
investigation of the war ought to study not only the end but also the
beginning of the war. This is the significance of the book by Nekrich.
Deborin is wrong when he speaks about the 'forty-fives': at the beginning
of the war this gun pierced any German tank. Then the production of
the other guns (82 millimeters) was not as yet ironed out. The army
was left without antitank artillery and missiles.
"The worst thing there is, is the absence of Soviet source references.
For example, in order to write about the report on the Soviet attache
(that the war would begin on 22 June), one has to refer to the book by
the English historian Erickson. When will all the sources be finally
opened and accessible? Berezhkov mentions the meeting of the German
Ambassador Schulenburg with Dekonozov where Schulenburg gave the in-
formation that Hitler would attack the Soviet Union on 22 June. He
cried and asked that the Armed Forces of the USSR be brought into a state
of readiness - perhaps Hitler would become frightened. But they didn't
believe him...
"About the goings-on hovering over our military leaders: the forgery
was prepared by the Gestapo, but the idea stemmed from Stalin. He tossed
it to the Fascist leaders through General Skovlin, Our misfortune is
that these documents also are not accessible. Golikov committed a crime
not only by composing information pleasing to Stalin. He overloaded all
of our best agent cadres abroad (A. shout: "And Sorge also!") and was
one of the initiators of the repression in relation to the intelligence
cadres of the USSR. There is no use referring to him?
"Are the reasons of the tragedy of 22 June 1941 fully disclosed?
Stalin bears the chief responsibility for it. He established in the
country a situation of terrorism... The greatest crime of Stalin is
the usurpation of power and the destruction of our best military and
Party cadres. All of our leaders, although they knew about the inter-
national situation, did not have the courage to come forth with measures
for the defense of the country. Their frightful guilt lies before the
Party and the people because they didn't come forth. There are still
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people who even now say: 'Bad things must not be said about Stalin.'
But you know that Stalin had the audacity to lead the country by himself".
And his guilt is enormous. This has to be discussed, so that such a
thing does not happen again!
"It is necessary to pinpoint more accurately the positions of
Churchill, Schulenburg, Raeder and Halder (the last two expressed
opposition to war with the USSR in Hitler's staff). By no means were
they guided by love for our country. Hitler greatly influenced the
decisions of the military. During one of these meetings Hitler said:
'The Red Army is leaderless. Eighty percent of its commanding cadres
has been destroyed. It has been weakened as never before. This is
the basic factor of my decision. We have to carry on war while the
cadres have not been replenished.'
"Every historian must have the courage to speak the truth."
Roshchin (Institute of Marxism-Leninism): ".,.Who is to blame? This
is the most real question. The book is a good one. There is the opinion:
it is necessary to speak only about the victories and play down the defeats...
Without saying anything about the injury to h:Ls'orical science, such an
approach causes enormous harm to our Government. It is necessary to inves-
tigate and know the reasons for our defeats in order to avoi>[ errors in the
future. Stalin is the chief culprit for the defeats in 1941. I do not
agree with Deborin on the question about the reports of TASS, This is not
a diplomatic maneuver, but a crime. It morally disarmed the people. Stalin
and the people around him did everything to tear down the preparation of
the Soviet people for war. When Kuznetsov informed Malenkov on carrying
out some defensive naval measures -- and this happened on 17 June 19+.1 --
Malenkov laughed at him and said: 'You want to operate as though there
will be war tomorrow.' Zhdanov, who was present, reacted seriously, but
the matter did not go any further. Malenkov called off everything.
"The blame can also not be taken, away from the military leaders.
The military do not have the right to be surprised by the enemy."
Mel'nikov ( Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences USSR):
"...The book is a good one. Several, words about Hess. Deborin is
guided by old information. Now, this question has been set aside long
ago. According to Deborin's speech it can be understood that the book
by Nekrich overestimates the sinister role of Stalin. This is not true.
It even underestimates. Let us touch on a question which even up to
now cannot be touched, that is, it has been labeled 'taboo' -- about the
November discussions of Molotov and Hitler in Berlin. Let us examine
the situation. The "Barbarossa' plan was being completed. A redistri-
bution of the German armies began on the Soviet-German frontier.
Hitler's diplomats increased their activities in the Balkans and in
Finland. In order to hide these preparations from the Soviet Government,
Hitler proposed a meeting at a higher level. Moltov went to Berlin as
the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars. Hitler presented to
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him a plan for dividing the world, but only in general outlines.
Molotov specifically demanded the Straits, Bulgaria, Rumania and
Finland. Hitler did not want to get involved in details since he
was afraid that the information would leak through to the future allies.
In reply to the demands of Molotov he proposed that the USSR sign a
tri-partite pact. Molotov left for Moscow on 25 December 1940. Stalin
agreed to an anti-Cominternist pact, but he didn't come to any agreement
on the payment. This shows his face and principles...." (There is
indignation in the room). "We have no right to skirt the problem of
Stalin."
Vasilenko (IML): He evaluates the book positively. "The appre-
hension of Deborin is that the excessive emphasis laid on Stalin in the
book is illegal. This stems from the essence of the book. According
to all objective information, we could have repulsed the Germans, but
Stalin blocked everything. Later, in order to justify his disgraceful
failure, he promoted the theory of the better preparation of the aggressor
for war. This is not only a mendacious theory, but a dangerous one. The
aggressor, convinced of it [the theory], can mount an assault and plunge
the world into a catastrophe.
"On 5 May 1941, Stalin spoke at the Academy imeni Frunze and said
that we were not prepared for war at the moment. He dampened and dis-
armed not only his own ardour, but also that of others and even of the
army commanders."
Kulish: "...The discussion has gone far beyond the contents of the
book and is not so much about it as about the problem of Stalin. The
appraisal of the book is a good one. We were present at the birth of
the new conception of the reasons for the defeats at the beginning of
the war, states Deborin, 'not only and so much Stalin...' This is a
regurgitation of the personality cult. Whether Stalin is guilty or not
very guilty -- it is nevertheless a personality-cult raising of the
question. Again, he is alone! The question has to be studied more
deeply. Why did the situation develop thus? How did our Government,
headed by Stalin manage the country? How did it defend our people from
danger? Did it correspond with the existing situation? No! It didn't
correspond!
"It is necessary to investigate the reasons which established Stalin,
a man who went beyond the bounds of his position, who was not restrained
by the Party and the Government.
There is still another irregularity: in all of our literature the
annexation of the Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia is evaluated as
a factor for improving the defense of the country. However, this is not
so. We know by force of obvious reasons that the buffer area worsened
the defensive ability of the border. Therefore in evaluating the annex-
ation of the Western oblasts it is better to speak of the liberation and
international role of the Red Army.
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Raskat (IML): "...They say that Nekrich did not write about the
development of industry ( he enumerates facts), of agriculture (enumer-
ates), and the cultural revolution ( there is rumbling and exclamations
in the room: "Well, they're going to write a six-volume work and it will
contain everything! Speak about the main thing - who is guilty!?"). Of
course, Stalin is guilty! (There is laughter in the room).
Gnedich: "...The book is a good. one." He didn't want to speak,
but the discussion forced him to mount the tribune. "For two years
I submitted information to Stalin and Molotov? It passed through my
hands. Golikov, of course, is the m.isinformer, but this isn't the
matter. The 'authentic' part of the information usually was thus or
otherwise reflected in our press. But Stalin usually paid attention
to that which was stamped 'doubtful'. He knew everything but. taking
measures was his policy. Golikov is responsible for the repression of
the GRU cadres, but Golikov is not to blame for not taking defense
measures. It was asserted in our literature that Stalin became the
head of our Government on 5 May 1941 in order to prepare the country for
defense. But we don't have any information to confirm this opinion.
Stalin didn't even raise a finger in the matter of strengthening the
defensive ability of the USSR. We have grounds to assume that Stalin
did not become the head of the government in order to prepare the country
for defense, but in order to come to an agreement with Hitler."
Slezkin: "...The book is timely. It is a good one. A former front-
line soldier, I categorically speak on the erroneous statement of Deborin
on the )+5-millimeter guns. Stalin created deeds which can be called
completely criminal. A vicious circle created the situation of the
personality cult, provocation and repression. Everyone strove to please
only his chief, submitting only that information which pleased the latter
or which ran down information that was not pleasing. They strove not to
state their own thoughts. All of this led to immeasurable misfortunes
for the country. Everyone is to blame, but the blame varies. One man is
to blame in that he did not decide to say what he thought; another in that
he worked against his his own views. The further and higher you go the
greater is the responsibility, And whatever the level the refusal of
truth in the name of personal welfare is a crime, and the higher the level
the greater the crime.
"Stalin is the chief culprit. The 1939 Pact, perhaps, was necessary,
but relying on it was foolish. But to discontinue the struggle with
Fascism on the basis of it - and this was being done on the instructions
of Stalin - was a, crime."
Yakir (Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences USSR): "...The
book is a very good one. Some people have touched on the matter of
Tukhachevskiy, Yakir and other comrades. I consider the discussions on.
Fascist provocations and on the "Red. paper-case"' with the documents pre-
served in it to be unnecessary and even harmful. They stray from the
facts. There was no "Red paper-case" in the case. It does not appear in
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the matters of this hasty trial. All of the accused were acknowledged
guilty on the basis of the oral statements of Stalin in the Military
Council of 1-4+ June 1937 and on the direct statement of the [his] desire
to rid himself of them. Some of the earlier speakers, in mentioning
Stalin, said 'Comrade Stalin.' This is not right! He is not a comrade to
anyone, much less to us! (Exclamations: "Right!" There is approval in
the room. The word "comrade" is left out in further speeches.)
"Stalin delayed the development of our army and killed many prominent
designers, including men in our jet propulsion engineering: Tikhomirov,
Langemak (the originator of the "katyusha"), Kurchevskiy, and Bakauri.
It is necessary to investigate the question of prison camps. To inves-
tigate it from the economic point of view. There was a war going on,
but millions of healthy people who were former specialists in all fields
of the economic and military life of the country were imprisoned in the
camps. Furthermore, considerable forces were needed to guard them. All
of this made a heavy load for the country."
Telegin: "...The book is a good one. But the author is not critical
of the foreign sources, particularly of the memoirs. They contain little
that is true... (Exclamations: "And what about our memoirs!")... Yes,
there are many lies in them (laughter in the room). It must be remembered
that in the memoirs there is a touch of Khrushchevism(there is a rumble
in the room. Exclamations: "Of what?!" The speaker under the continous
rumbling in the entire room gives several examples and then leaves)."
Tel'pukhovskiy: "...The events have to be illuminated objectively.
Almost all of the Government statesmen didn't evaluate Hitler. However,
after the fall of France, all of the criteria were re-examined. There
were many of them to be re-examined. Stalin calculated that if Hitler
did not break his neck, then he would become tied up in the West. When
France fell, the Western statesmen carried out a re-evaluation, Stalin
didn't.
"It seems that, when the war began, Stalin still made attempts to
prevent the conflict. Otherwise it is difficult to explain three different
directives of the Chief Command of the RKKA [Workers' and Peasants' Red
Army] on the first day of war.
"Stalin is the chief culprit, but also all of the rest in their own
measure. Render to Caesar what is Caesar's."
Petrovskiy (Historical Archives Institute): "...It must be remember-
ed that Fascism arose in Lenin's time. There was the seizure of Italy by
Mussolini, the "Kapp Putsch" and so forth. Lenin indicated Fascism to be
the chief enemy. Stalin ignored the instructions of Lenin and stated that
the chief enemy was the Social Democratic Party. His theory was broadly
disseminated and it divided the working class of the whole world. This
made it possible for the Fasicsts to come into power. Stalin is a criminal..."
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Boltin: "Comrade Petrovskiy! In this room and on. that tribune
it is necessary to choose expressions! Are you a Communist?"
Petrovskiy: "Yes!"
Boltin: "I have not heard it said anywhere in the directives of
the resolutions of our Party, which are obligatory for both of us, that
Stalin is a criminal."
Petrovskiy: "The 22nd Congress of the Party directed the removal of
Stalin from the mausoleum for crimes before the Party. It means that he
is a criminal."
"Stalin can not be whitewashed... It means whitewashing any dictator
of the type of Mao Tse-tung. To say to them - 'act as you wish, you will
nevertheless be justified...."'
Snegov: "...The book by Nekrich is honest and useful. When on the
eve of battle there is unpreparedness in the regiment, the locks lie
separately from the rifles, the breeches separately from the guns and the
intelligence officers and sentries are asleep; the regiment suffers a
defeat. On the orders of the superior commander.) the commander of such a
regiment is executed. And there would be no one to object to this. Stalin
was in the position of such a commander, only the regiment was the whole
country. Stalin should have been shot, but instead an attempt is made to
justify him.
"Why is the book of Nekrich, in which Stalin is entangled, granted
a quick discussion and even a condemnation but a book of the known
falsifier of history I. Petrov, in which Stalin is credited with good
deeds which he never did, has to wait to be discussed for so many
years?
"Why did Deborin make the attempt to whitewash Stalin?
"When Hitler prepared to attack Poland, Stalin helped him. He executed
all of the Polish Communists in the USSR and declared the Polish Communist
Party outlawed. Why do they call the fourth :partition of Poland the
Liberation Campaign? How can one be a Communist and speak softly of Stalin?
About the Stalin who betrayed and sold out the Communists, who shot almost
all of the delegates of the 17th Congress and almost all of the members of
the Central Committee elected by that Congress, and who betrayed the
Spanish Republic and the Communists of all countries!"
Deborin (in conclusion): "...I have not developed any new doctrine
and I have not tried to defend or whitewash Stalin. It is necessary to
examine profoundly all aspects of the personality cult. It is this that
I wanted to say. Perhaps I was not quite understood.
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"One of the speakers said that Golikov knew that erroneous stories
were being told, and recently he himself openly acknowledged this. He
feared submitting other information. This is even greater than the crime...
"In regard to the speech of Snegov. We have often heard what Snegov
told us about Poland, and so forth. Except that it came to us from a
camp inimical to us. This is the way, for example, Professor Yakobson
from the FRG and other people similar to him spoke.
"It is necessary to determine, Comrade Snegov, to which camp you
belong!"
Snegov: "I am from the Kolyma camp!"
Deborin: "It is necessary to check all of this!" (The room is roused
with indignation. There are exclamations: "Again the old stuff! Give
him telephone numbers!" Deborin is not given a chance to speak).
Nekrich: "...I thank you for your comments. Deborin assuredly does
not hold those viewpoints which are ascribed to him. But in the dust of
polemics what is there that doesn't happen!
"The chief guilt for the difficult situation and for the whole tragedy
of the first year falls totally on Stalin. But, in general, information
contrary to the truth must not be given to the chief. Stalinism begins
with us little people. Stalin wanted to outfox Hitler, but he outfoxed
himself. And the thing ended in a catastrophe. He knew better than any-
one else about the killing of the command cadres of the army and the weak-
ness of our Armed Forces (he quotes the speech of the Chief of the Main
Political Administration of the Army, Yepishev, at the conference of
historians in December 1962). There are omissions in the book, and they
will be corrected."
Snegov: "...I thought that I was participating in a scientific dis-
cussion. But Deborin, instead of producing scientific proof, gave argu-
ments in the style of 1937. But he will not frighten us! We won't let
ourselves be frightened! This is not the past, and the past will not
return!" (Applause).
Boltin (conclusion): "...The meeting produced much new and interesting
[information] on the problem as a whole. The speeches given by Comrades
Petrovskiy and Snegov were very emotional. One can agree with much that
has been said, but not with everything.
"The attempt to take away the independence of and to partition the
Polish Government cannot be ascribed to our country. This is the viewpoint
of bourgeois historians and White emigrants. It was primarily we who defend-
ed the independence of Poland.
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"Some comrades called the criticism of the personality cult
Khrushchevism. This is basically incorrect. The decisions of the 20th
and the 22nd congresses on the personality cult is not Khrushchevism,
but it is something vitally necessary for each honest Communist.
"It is necessary to explain much, to determine many "whys", and to
investigate the causes for the unpreparedness for war.."
The author thanks all those who are present. (The meeting lasted
from 1015 until 16+5, with an hour for a break.)
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April 1967
East European ."Aid" to North Vietnam
When grumbling about enforced collections of money, blood, and other
items for North Vietnam is reported in the press of East Germany, the
most servile of the Soviet Union's satellite states in East Europe,
there can be no question but that people throughout East Europe are be-
coming increasingly disillusioned with the policies of their Communist
governments.
An American newspaper correspondent, Fred Sparks, who recently
visited the Soviet Union, has written that even in the USSR there is a
growing split among the Kremlin leadership on the subject of aid to
North Vietnam. In an article published in the March 22, 1967, WASHINGTON
DAILY NEWS Mr. Sparks noted that the Soviet government and party bosses,
Kosygin and Brezhnev, are caught in the middle on this split and as a
result are sending only a dribble of hardware to Hanoi while at the same
time making thundering speeches critical of the United States. He con-
tinued:
"These warlike proclamations, winked at in sophisticated Mos-
cow, are primarily directed at the rest of the Communist world
where Soviet prestige is low. The East European press, for example,
much freer than Moscow's, has slyly made it clear that the Russians
are standing by, hands and tongues tied, while a small Communist
country is getting pounded by an 'imperialist."'
In an apparent effort to stir up flagging interest in the Soviet
Union and in the East European satellite countries in the subject of aid
for Vietnam, on March 13 Moscow announced that a "Week of Solidarity
With the Struggle of the Vietnamese People" was being opened and that it
would coincide with collections for the "Vietnam aid fund." Moscow
Radio declared the same day that "the Soviet people will take an active
part in this" because "the cohesion of all the forces in support of
heroic Vietnam is now very necessary." During the same period, Moscow
media reported that the Soviet Red Cross Society, which had also been
charged with "effecting the transportation of aid being sent to Vietnam
by public organizations of foreign countries," was shipping foodstuffs,
clothing, consumer goods, ambulances, medicines, blood plasma, and "many
other" items "purchased with money donated by various public organiza-
tions and individuals."
How the people of the Soviet Union were reacting to this latest
drive was not reported in the controlled Communist press. A few months
ago, however, a European returning from Soviet Central Asia reported
that he had attended meetings in Karaganda where workers had shouted at
Communist Party speakers: "Sit down and shut up! You give your own
earnings to Vietnam. We Russians have no business there." This is only
one instance of indications reaching the Free World that a growing
number of working people in the Soviet Union are coming to realize that
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they are being forced to work extra hours and contribute money from
their already small wages not for the betterment of their own homeland
but in order to give "aid" to Communists abroad.
While one can surmise from Soviet reports that individuals were not
happy with the demands being placed on them for "donations" (no doubt
many of the young "Pioneers who collect scrap iron and use money from it
to send aid to Vietnam," as a Moscow broadcast in Serbo-Croatian reported
on December 17, 1966, or of the "well-known writers, artists, and
scientists who have been 'donating' their royalties to send various
supplies needed by North Vietnam," as a Moscow broadcast to Africa reported
on January 12, 1967, have their own ideas about how the money could be
spent for better purposes closer to home -- or at; any rate, would prefer
to make the decision themselves), there are'definite reports of discontent
ih ,East European media.
Fast Germ~
For the past several months there have been a number of items in
the East German press which reveal unprecedented criticism of the Com-
munist regime for its policies in regard to Vietnam. A good example
appeared in an article in the November 17, 1966 issue of the Leipzig
student publication UNIVERSITAETSZEITUNG, which reported on a meeting
held by the university's Communist Party committee at which the regional
party secretary was forced to admit:
"The false view exists that material support of the, Vietnamese
people's struggle for liberation wi.ll~simp1 prolong this conflict
and this war. But he who is really serious about preventing an
expansion of this conflict, about destroying the concept of American
imperialism, he must, from conviction and with his whole heart,
give every support to the liberation struggle of the Vietnamese
people. Only in this way will an expansion of this conflict be
prevented, and only in this way will we meet our international
obligations."
Similarly, in the January 1.967 issue of the East Berlin NATIONALE
DEMOKRAT there was this reader's question: "In what way does our soli-
darity with the struggle of the Vietnamese people not mean prolonging the
war in Vietnam?" The answer was as unconvincing -?- and as indicative of
a widespread popular doubt --? as the statement carried in the UNIVERSI-
TAETSZEITUNG six weeks previously. As January wore on, the West German
INFORMATIONSBUERO WEST began noticing a number of protests against the
North Vietnam "donation" drive. On 24 January it reported:
"Protests by the Soviet Zone population are becoming more
vociferous against SED (Socialist Unity Party of Germany)-orga-
nized donation drives for North Vietnam. Numerous citizens are
refusing to make donations and purchase so-called solidarity stamps
2 Cont.)
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requested by the SED and other organizations, by saying that this
will only prolong the war in Vietnam unnecessarily.
"For instance, the SED paper LAUSITZER RUNDSCHAU reported
arguments by employees of the Vetschau Power Plant concerning the
purchase of solidarity stamps for 'Vietnam. An article published by
the organ of the SED Bezirk Dresden Administration, SAECHSISCHE
ZEITUNG, indicates that arguments were also raised against the North
Vietnam donation drive at the VEB (People-Owned) Fortschritt Enter-
prise in Neustadt. In a long article, the paper explained that
passivity and indifference will not help end the war. Only active
help will strengthen North Vietnam's defensive power and will force
the United States to respect the Geneva Agreement and thereby bring
about a solution of the conflict. Replying to a question by a
farmer, the East Berlin paper BAUERN-ECHO emphatically defended the
Vietnam donation drive and declared that the purpose of such dona-
tions was to bring U.S. aggression there to a timely end.
"Despite these requests, a number of citizens still reject the
Vietnam donations. This was also reported by Young Pioneers who
were sent to make house-to-house collections for North Vietnam.
Students also refused to donate blood or money for Vietnam. For
instance, according to an article published in BZ AM ABEND (Berlin),
two engineering students declared: Not a penny for Vietnam; after
all, we don't want to prolong the war! The SED paper FREIE ERDE
reports that actors at the Friedrich-Wolf Theater in Neustrelitz
also rejected donations for North Vietnam."
In objecting to actions prolonging the war, East German citizens are
turning an old radical German protest against their regime. When war-
weary soldiers saw fresh troops marching to the front in 1918, they
called them "kriegsverl,engerer" - "war prolongers".
On 22 March the Vietnam Committee Attached to the Afro-Asian
Solidarity Committee in East Germany announced, according to the East
Berlin news agency ADN, that a balance sheet of the recent International
Solidarity Week showed that "since the summer of 1965 the people of East
Germany had donated a total of about 27.7 million marks for the support
of the freedom struggle of the Vietnamese people." (In the other East
European countries overall figures on the amount of aid are for the most
part lacking -- leading to the suspicion that they have been too small
for the exact amount to be revealed.)
One of the main complaints against the enforced drives to give
aid to North Vietnam, judging by newspaper reports, concerns blood dona-
tions. The February 1967 issue of the military monthly ARMEE RUNDSCHAU
reported on the progress of this drive as well as the campaign to encourage
East German servicemen to contribute part of their pay, and noted in this
regard that a 22-year-old private, Heinz Pufahl, had expressed a "general
dislike for all types of collections" and many other soldiers had demand-
ed to know "`what is actually being done with our donations?"
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3 (Cont.)
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In the past East Germany has been one of the principal suppliers of
blood for North Vietnam. The effectiveness of the Communist regime's
enforced collection campaign can be judged, perhaps, by a report trans-
mitted on January 12, 1967, by the East German news agency ADN: "Some
100,000 East German citizens donated blood for Vietnam last year, the
Secretary of the Vietnam Committee told ADN today. A total of 15,000
blood plasma units were sent to Vietnam. Further shipments will follow
in 1967." The previous month, however, the North Vietnamese Ambassador
in East Berlin had declared that "over 50,000 people from all sections
of the population of East Germany have given their blood to alleviate the
sufferings of our wounded men, women, and children; during a Solidarity
Week your Interflug airlines flew 10,000 units of dry blood plasma donated
by East German citizens to Hanoi." There is a, strange disparity in these
statistics. Adding to this the report in the January 1967 issue of
Berlin's DEUTSCHE FINANZWIRTSCHAFT that "because of objective and sub-
jective difficulties our blood donor institutions up to now have never
fulfilled their performance plan in a single year" and a number of
references in the East German press to an epidemic of contagious
hepatitis, one can easily see that the blood collection drive has had
its problems.
East Germany has, however, found one way to solve some of its domestic
troubles in meeting Moscow-set quotas for aid for Vietnam. On January 10,
1967, ADN reported that the East German Customs Office had handed the
Viet Cong representative in East Berlin a "solidarity gift of 100,000
:marks." During the Christmas gift mailing season East Germany had imposed
stringent regulations on packages being sent from West Germans to their
relatives in East Germany, warning that if these regulations were not met
the gifts would be seized and the contents sent -to Vietnam. The Customs
Office had apparently used the West German packages to finance its
"donation."
Czechoslovakia
The attitude of Czechoslovak youth toward the demands being placed on
them to aid the Vietnamese was perhaps most graphically illustrated last
year during the observance of the 30th anniversary of "Czechoslovak
Volunteers to Spain." On several occasions, as reported in the local press,
military leaders complained of the apathy of today's youth in contrast to
the situation during the Spanish Civil War. In comparison with those days,
according to one Government spokesman, "today there is no interest, let
alone fervor, among young people for the war in Vietnam.." The Deputy
Minister of Defense was quoted in the Prague press as accusing the young
generation of becoming blind pacifists which, he charged, "is carrying
peaceful coexistence too far!"
Further in this regard, speculation about sending "volunteers" to
Vietnam has become an occasion for a considerable number of jokes in
Czechoslovakia. Some youth are reported to be asking "on which side
would we fight?" while others pose the more serious question of "why
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4 (Cont.)
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support the yellow peril?" It is perhaps significant that the subject
of "volunteers" is no longer publicized on the home front but, for the
sake of appearances abroad, is occasionally resurrected in propaganda
intended for foreign audiences. A Radio Prague broadcast in English
beamed to Africa on March 18, 1967, for example, had this to say:
"Today's weapons are incomparably more destructive than any
weapons in the world's history. A nuclear war would destroy the
whole world... Czechoslovakia is well aware of the danger that the
war in Vietnam constitutes and is not only giving the fighting
people of that country material and moral aid but is willing to
send volunteers if asked by the people of the DRV. The people of
Czechoslovakia are not indifferent to the struggle waged by the
oppressed nations of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. On the
other hand, the fate of the Vietnamese people is the cause of the
people of all continents, no matter how distant they are from this
small Asian country."
Was this a veiled hint that perhaps "volunteers" should come from
the other "oppressed nations of Africa, Asia, and Latin America"? A
fortnight earlier, in the March 3, 1967, issue of BRATISLAVA PRAVDA,
the following brief news item gave this interesting picture of what
Czechoslovak soldiers have "pledged" to do instead of "volunteering"
to go to Vietnam themselves:
"Czechoslovak military personnel assigned to road maintenance
units have pledged to completely equip one North Vietnamese company
with the necessary basic infantry weapons, antichemical protection
devices, and medical supplies. So far they have collected 108,000
korunas and blood donations from over 2,000 soldiers assigned to
road maintenance units."
Collections of money to purchase medical supplies and individual
"donations" of blood by civilians have been reported periodically in
recent months by the Czechoslovak radio and press. On December 17, 1966,
for example, the news agency CTK announced:
"The Central Council of Cooperatives has given various goods,
mainly tools, worth 500,000 korunas. The same amount has been given
to the fund by the regional Union of Consumer Cooperatives of the
Central Slovakian region. A high average -- 23 korunas per worker --
has been obtained in the Jihlava and Trebis districts. The collec'
tion was expected to end at the beginning of the year, but it will
not be closed; the Vietnam account will not be closed at a time
when the American aggressors are escalating their barbarous air
raids on the territory of the DRV."
Czechoslovak media does not, of course, give any details on the
conditions under which these "donations" were extracted nor does it
give any report on the reaction which followed the announcement that the
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5 (Cont.)
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collection campaign -- often enforced by deductions from payrolls in
advance -- would not be closed at the end of 1966. One can easily
surmise, however, the reaction which must have greeted the announcement
on 20 March (see section on "Training" below) that 2,100 Vietnamese
apprentices would be straining already overcrowded Czechoslovak facilities
"for the next three to five years."
Poland
Mindful of the Poznan workers' riots of 1956 and the widespread
reaction against measures to suppress Catholic Church celebrations of the
country's Millenium a year ago, the Polish Government apparently is not
pushing the Moscow directed campaign to collect money, blood, and other
items from workers and peasants throughout Poland to send to Vietnam.
Last April, there were signs in the Poznan area that definite opposition
to the aid campaign was growing to serious proportions, and this might
well explain the paucity of references in Polish media during the past
year to the collections.
Prior to last April contributions to the Vietnam aid. fund at the
large Cegielski Works were taken from collective funds, with only a
very few individual donations added to them. At this point the workers
became increasingly irritated. with new compulsory collections of 100
zlotys and more each which were imposed on them, and as a result their
attendance at city-wide meetings was excused since local Communist Party
leaders feared they would be unable to control the workers' reaction to
an obviously unpopular campaign.
This February, however, there were a few reports on Warsaw Radio
which showed that students were now being pressed to lead the campa-ign.
On February 15, for example, the radio announced that "a total of
8,000 zlotys has been collected by students and 'ecturers of the Second
Warsaw Teachers Conference to aid fighting Vietnam." The previous week
the radio carried another report which showed how youth had been organ-
ized to run the campaign which the Government had apparently decided
could no longer be imposed on workers' groups. On February 11 it announ-
ced:
"A total of 30'T cases of medicines, dressing material, and
surgical instruments have been collected in Pomerania for fighting
Vietnam. Taking part in the collection were Union of Socialist
Youth Circles, committees of the National Unity Front, school social
organizations, and youth teams in enterprises from all of Bydogoszcz
Voivodship."
There was another indication the same month of popular dissatisfaction
with the Polsih Government's policies. In addition to youth groups another
organization which Communist regimes usually exploit for such campaigns
is the Church. In Poland, some aid-for-Vietnam-campaign responsibilities
have been assigned to Protestant groups, as witnessed by a report dis-
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6 (Con.t > )
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seminated by the Polish News Agency on the 18 February meeting of the
North Vietnamese Ambassador to Poland with the Superintendent of the
Reformed Evangelical Church and the Bishop of the Augsburg Evangelical
Church in Poland. It stated:
"During the meeting the Ambassador was told of the charity work
carried on by the Polish Ecumenical Council and churches affiliated
to it on behalf of the victims of bombings in the DRV and of the
assistance of the World Council of Churches in Geneva, which has
transferred 20,000 U.S. dollars to the Polish Ecumenical Council for
aid to Vietnam."
Significantly, the Polish News Agency did not mention how much --
or how little -- money the Church had been able to raise from the people
of Poland themselves.
Hungary
Indications that the Hungarian people have been disillusioned with
demands for contributions to Vietnam date back to at least late 1965.
Jena Fock, a Deputy Premier and Member of the Political Committee of
the Hungarian Communist Party, felt constrained to make the following
claim, obviously in an attempt to refute rumors to the contrary, in a
speech at a chemical factory reported by the Hungarian News Agency on
November 29, 1965:
"Anybody is mistaken who assumes that in the question of
assistance the Hungarian working people are in disagreement with
the Government. The Hungarian workers are urging the leaders --
and this is common knowledge here at home -- that we should send
even more aid to Vietnam..."
Other officials have made statements lamely attributing Hungary's
small amount of aid to its limited capabilities, rather than to popular
disinterest among youth and workers. On November 1, 1965, for example,
Hungarian Youth League Secretary Lajos Mehes declared that "we are proud
of the fact that, according to its ability, Hungary is helping the fight-
ing people of Vietnam both morally and materially."
By the end of 1966, however, the Communist Party had hit upon a
scheme for organizing aid collections for Vietnam without interfering
too much with Hungary's own needs at home: it "encouraged" people to
work overtime or on Sunday and to "donate" their earnings to the campaign
to send school and hospital equipment to Vietnam. On December 24, for
example, the Budapest Radio reported:
"As proof of the Hungarian people's readiness to help and their
sentiments of solidarity, in a year 30 million forints have been
collected to aid the people of Vietnam. Following the initiative of
students of Budapest Lorand Eotvos University and young workers of
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7 (Cont.)
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the Cespel iron and metal works, young people gave up part of their
free time and put in overtime or worked Sunday shifts in order to
donate their extra earnings to Vietnam aid, schemes. Some 21.5
million forints were paid into the Communist Youth League solidarity
account, from which 10.5 million forints were drawn out last summer
and converted into gifts taken by a youth delegation to Hanoi. This
month 9 million forints were collected through the National Peace
Council's 'One School and One Hospital for Vietnam' drive, and
2 million forints were contributed to the medical aid fund,"
Rumania
Judging by the amount of references to "aid" for Vietnam in the
Ritnanian press and on the radio, very little is being done. The
Bucharest radio on March 19, 1967, carried a report on a statement by
North Vietnamese Ambassador Hoang Tu at a meeting the previous day at
the Students House of Culture. He reportedly said in conclusion: "We
express our sincere gratitude to the Rumanian Party, Government, and
fraternal people for the valuable political, moral, and material support
and aid given." The Ambassador did not, however, give any statistics.
One indication of how the people have greeted these continuing demands
to "donate" to such causes, and in particular the disillusionment of the
professional people in Rumania who have been forced to give their time,
was printed in the July 27, 1966, issue of the Bucharest newspaper MUNCA.
Doctor Magdalena Ungureanu was quoted as stating that she did not mind the
extra demands placed on her to coordinate health prevention campaigns in
her own district, but:
"I do not consider it reasonable that the physician is obliged
to mobilize the citizens, ask people to attend lectures, or recruit
blood donors."
Bulgaria
A lack of interest in the "aid" campaigns is also shown by Bulgarian
media, where the few scattered references to it are invariably prefaced
by remarks concerning the limited resources Bulgaria has for -this, The
February 15, 1967, issue of Sofia's RABOTNICHESKO DELO, denouncing in
vivid terms the "barbaric" air raids of the "imperialists" on the
Vietnamese, quickly added, however, that "despite_the difficulties which
they encounter in assisting the heroic Vietnamese people, their friends
will not abandon them." One can only guess what those "difficulties" are.
In a similar vein, a spo.esman of the Foreign Ministry in Sofia was
quoted by the Bulgarian News Agency on March 16, 1.967, as stating:
"The Bulgarian people must resolutely condemn this new and
dangerous expansion of U.S. aggression and in the future will
continue, according to their possibilities, to render moral, political,
and material assistance to the fraternal Vietnamese people."
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8 (Cont.)
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Albania
No popular dissatisfaction has been reported from Albania -- for
apparently the Albanians are too poor to send any individual aid to
North Vietnam themselves. As a matter of fact, while the other East
European countries were announcing the collection of blood and money to
be sent abroad, the Tirana Radio on January 26, 1967, reported that the
crew of the Adem Reka drydock in Durres port had just received a ship-
ment of gifts from the Third Company of the 4llth military unit of the
Chinese People's Liberation Army.
And even if the poor Albanians did have anything to send they might
find it difficult to do so because of the lack of shipping facilities;
it is doubtful that the Russians would carry it on their ships because
of Albania's support of the Chinese in the Moscow-Peking rift.
Apparently Albanian "aid" to North Vietnam is limited to vocal expres-
sions of comradeship, as evidenced in this Tirana Radio report of a press
conference statement at the North Vietnamese Embassy on December 16, 1966:
"The DRV ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary spoke about
the assistance which the Albanian people have given and continue to
give to the Vietnamese people in their just struggle. He said that
the Albanian people are always following the struggle of the Viet-
namese people with the feelings of comrade in arms. The Albanian
people are very happy about the successes achieved by the Vietnamese
people and are greatly shocked by the crimes committed by the American
imperialists against the Vietnamese people in the North as well as in
the South. On this occasion, the DRV ambassador, on behalf of the
Vietnamese people, expressed his gratitude for this assistance."
Training
On March 20 the Prague radio carried this news item: "For 2,100
Vietnamese families the name of Czechoslovakia will now have a special
meaning because members of their families will spend the next three to
five years in Czechoslovakia. The first group of about 500 apprentices
will arrive in Czechoslovakia at the beginning of July. In addition to
the 2,100 apprentices who will be trained in Czechoslovakia, an additional
20,000 Vietnamese have already left or will leave for other countries of
the Socialist camp for similar training. The entire program is understand-
ably directed toward the postwar reconstruction of Vietnam."
For all of the East European countries this means just one more added
burden being imposed on them to support the already unpopular war in Viet-
nam. Furthermore, it will add a very serious strain on local school
facilities. The Soviet Government paper IZVESTIA on January 17 devoted
a major article to the problems of education in the USSR, in particular
the shortage of school accomodations. On March 22 Moscow Radio noted that
"during the past year alone 500 Vietnamese were graduated from Soviet high-
er educational establishments and became doctors, agronomists, teachers,
and engineers," and on February 13 it had reported that there were now 3,000
Vietnamese studying in the USSR.
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9 (Cont.)
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What will be the reaction when the additional thousands of Vietnamese
which Radio Prague mentioned have to be accomodated? One indication is
given in the February 12 issue of Budapest's MAGYARORSZAG which had these
remarks, among others, to make about the caliber and cost of foreign
students in Hungary:
"This school year the largest number of students coming to our
homeland is from Vietnam, 30 more than last year... It has been found.
that secondary instruction in the developing countries is very different
from Hungarian training. The length of preparatory study courses de-
pends on the quality of the secondary schools of the home country and
on the linguistic abilities of the student... Students who qualify and
are selected are invited by our homeland, which provides the money
for their studies. On the other hand, scholarship students from
Socialist countries study on the basis of exchange agreements and their
own homeland supports them..."
Undoubtedly each East European country will have to pay the cost for
educating the Vietnamese "scholarship" students, whose previous scholastic
training is apparently regarded as insufficient by them?
Volunteers
In a report from the United Nations headquarters published in the
2 April 1967 WASHINGTON POST, Robert Estabrook notes that East Europeans
are expressing their fears in private, in contrast to their public state-
ments, that the effect of continued conflict in Vietnam may be to damage
their countries' independence from the Soviet Union. Mr. Estabrook contin-
ued:
"Already Communist-bloc countries are feeling a variety of
pressures from Moscow indirectly attributable to the wa.r. Some repre-
sentatives here are worried lest Soviet involvement in North Vietnam
increase and a demand be made on them for 'volunteer.'"
It seems unlikely, however, that the Soviet Union will chance the
blow to its international prestige by making another vain bid to stir up
enthusiasm in the East European satellites for "volunteers" to go fight
the "imperialists" in Vietnam. Earlier attempts to do this failed. The
few young men who did sign up did so., it later became apparent, in the
hope that they would be captured in Vietnam and thus escape to the Free
World.
Note in the section on Czechoslovakia above that this country says it
is "willing to send volunteers if asked" by North Vietnam; Prague radio's
listeners in Africa can infer, however, that Czechoslovakia hopes it will
not be asked and that it would be a better idea for people in the Third
World to "volunteer" instead. This suspicion is borne out by the fact
that the subject of "volunteers" for Vietnam is not publicized inside
Communist countries today; it is apparently :;nly for export. On 7 February
1967 the Uruguayan Communist Party paper EL POPULAR printed an interview
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1.0 (Cont.)
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with Vadim Nekrasov, the assistant director of the Soviet Communist Party
paper PRAVDA who remarked in passing, but with no further details:
"Our promise to send volunteers to North Vietnam, should it be
requested, still stands. Thousands of our youth are ready to go as
volunteers to fight shoulder to shoulder with their Vietnamese brothers."
Not only are the Communists merely paying lip service for foreign
audiences to the "volunteer" offer, but they are also putting the squeeze
on foreign students in their countries to "contribute" from their scanty
allowances to the monetary aid collections. A dispatch by. the Czechoslovak
News Agency on 26 January 1967, for example, reported that "a gift of money
to aid the struggle of the people of Vietnam was handed over to the
National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam bureau in Prague today
by a three-member delegation representing the Union of Syrian Students
studying in Prague." A somewhat similar "bite" was being taken out of the
earnings of foreign artists, as became apparent when the East German news
agency ADN reported on 29 December 1966 that the East German Artists Agency
was holding a "solidarity drive" for Vietnam which had collected over
8,000 marks from more than 400 artists from Britain, France, Italy, Greece,
Cuba, Brazil, Japan, and other countries.
Aid Material
Finally, as if all the problems enumerated above were not enough, the
quality and quantity of aid goods being sent from East Europe to North
Vietnam pose a very large question. Can the Vietnamese really count on
reliable aid continuing?
Some East European countries are reported to be sending as "aid" goods
which they cannot sell on the open market to the non-Communist world.
Others are using material which is produced "above plan" or by tired work-
ers on overtime shifts -- in other words, that which is left over after
the domestic needs of the East European countries are met. What this
means in terms of foodstuffs packaged in substandard metal containers and
subjected to the heats and pressures of the long trip to Vietnam can only
be guessed.
In a lighter vein, the problems faced -- and one wonders how success-
fully solved -- by workers in fashioning aid supplies to meet the special
requirements of the Vietnamese were highlighted by Willi Zahlbaum, secre-
tary of the East German Vietnam Committee, in the February 1967 ARMEE
RUNDSCHAU:
"I must mention the 'One Thousand Bicycles for Vietnam' drive,
which required specially constructed bicycles to meet the relatively
small size of the Vietnamese as well as the geographic conditions of
the country. We try very hard to support our Vietnamese comrades in
maintaining their civilian production."
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But however much the Communist Party officials in East Europe try to
solve the problems at home of collecting and producing aid for Vietnam, the
much more serious problem of getting the material to the Vietnamese in its
original condition -- good, bad, or indifferent -- and amount has been com-
plicated by the recent moves of the Chinese Communists to interfere with
all supplies coming through China from the Soviet Union.
The LONDON TIMES correspondent in Japan reported on 8 March 1967 that
there was an "almost total disruption of communications and intense short-
ages of food and fuel" in North Vietnam. He continued:
"Specifically, it is said that there is a dire shortage of rice
and no certainty that a million tons needed from. China will be forth-
coming.. .Aid from Communist countries, it is stated with a shrug, can
give little respite in this disaster. These statements are, of course,
unexampled in that they come from Communist representatives sympathetic
to Hanoi."
More details of this problem appeared eight days later in a report by
the CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR correspondent in Saigon who did give a
number of examples -- which the Communist sources cited by the London
correspondent were seemingly unwilling to do -- of how the ideological
dispute between Peking and Moscow was putting a "squeeze" on Hanoi. The-
MONITOR correspondent also noted:
"When the Soviets recently charged China with slowing and even
stealing aid goods being transshipped to Vie-;nam, Hanoi Radio blamed.
the misunderstanding on fabricated stories by Western news agencies.
'China has wholeheartedly helped transport to Vietnam adequately and
according to schedule the aid goods from the Soviet Union,' the
broadcast said."
Of course Hanoi might have been only attempting to play both ends against
the middle in this case by seeming to side with Peking, which it knows has
not been sending sufficient aid of its own, and at the same time subtly
calling to Moscow's attention its feeling that the Soviets and. East Europeans
have not only decreased their aid but have also sent stocks of obsolescent
material under the apparent pretext that the North Vietnamese are incapable
of using better goods and equipment.
Moscow has charged in a number of newspaper articles and in broadcasts
for both the Soviet and foreign audiences that the Chinese Communists are
interfering in the aid being sent to Vietnam. A broadcast in Mandarin on
5 February, for example, charged that the Chinese with "arbitrary hindrance"
and "deliberate destruction" of aid supplies. Two weeks later, the Prague
daily RUDE PRAVO published a report of a statement by Soviet expert
N. Federov, who had recently returned from North Vietnam. One can easily
imagine what the readers of the Czechoslovak Communist Party organ thought
about the continuing demands being placed on them. to supply aid when they
saw this in the article: they
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12 (Cont.)
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"Sometimes it happens that this or that equipment does get to
North Vietnam but cannot be put into operation. Why? Because
somewhere in China the curious Red Guards dismantled the equipment
and then forgot to return some important component. It is clear that
such 'curiosity' must be paid for by the Vietnamese people themselves.
Moreover, the transport of Soviet shipments for Vietnam over Chinese
territory is delayed several weeks.. .My Soviet colleagues and Viet-
namese comrades also know of some cases where the latest types of
Soviet combat equipment, such as supersonic fighter aircraft, were
replaced by Chinese officials with used, obsolete models from the
Chinese Army."
If, as one is led to believe by the question noted in the section on
Czechoslovakia above and by an article in the November 1966 issue of
DER NATIONALE DEMOKRAT of East Berlin, there is a fear of a better armed
Communist China among East Europeans -- the paper noted that "in several
party meetings the fear has been expressed for months of the so-called
yellow peril... emanating from China's possession of the atomic bomb and
the adventurist policy propagated by the Chinese leaders" -- then it
seems highly likely that the East Europeans will be more and more reluc-
tant to respond to future demands to supply aid for Vietnam which may be
seized by the Chinese on the way.
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Miscellaneous from newspaper stories:
Vietnamese and Free World experts are engaged in a growing effort to
restore agricultural production so that the country may once again
become one of Asia's major rice exporters. Last year, 1.5 million acres
(600,000 hectares) of crops were treated for insects and plant diseases.
And 78,000 acres (31,000 hectares) were brought under cultivation.
More than 30 nations have assisted South Vietnam to make great strides
in education - even in the midst of war. In 1966, 4,600 new school
classrooms were built, 4,000 new teachers were trained and 8 million
textbooks were distributed.
In 1966 public health was given a boost by Free World nations and
volunteer medical teams from several countries helped administer over
12 million immunizations against contagious diseases. These teams also
treated more than 500,000 Vietnamese for various illnesses.
By the end of 1966, 27,000 South Vietnamese had been specially trained in
"pacification" or "revolutionary development" techniques. Organized in
59-man teeams, they are being sent back to their native provinces to
restore order and to help bring back normal life in the hamlets. More
of these teams are being trained in 1967.
The first Australian medical team arrived from Melbourne's Alfred Hospi-
tal in early 1966. It was headed by Dr. Ian Ferguson whose team took
on abnormally large case loads of both civilian and military-caused
casualties. The Australians were operating morning and afternoon to
handle the 200 or more surgical cases assigned them every month and
within six months the post-operative incidence of infection was remark-
ably low; also greatly reduced was the length of time required for
patient recovery. In addition to giving lectures at Saigon's teaching
hospital, Cho Ray, the Australians gave on-the-job demonstrations and
instructions, and treated many cases peculiar to the tropics such as
tuberculosis.
Australia was one of the first nations to respond to the need for
medical services in Vietnam. Staff members from the Royal Melbourne
Hospital and from St. Vincent's Hospital, also in Melbourne, were the
first to answer the Government of Australia's call for volunteers in
October 1964. Other volunteer medical teams and individuals have gone
to South Vietnam from around the world including the Rupublic of China,
Italy, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, and the
Netherlands.
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CPYRGHT CPYRGHT
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WESTERN REFUGEES
CARRY MERCY
TO.UI.ETNAM REFUGEES;.,,
? "We already have acquired the af-
ection of the Vietnamese ... because
ve are the only ones who go out to work
It the remote districts...."
? "A sick mother with a dying child
. and three other feverish children
mpresscd me the most, For, the dying
hill I could do nothing because I did
of have the proper medicine."
A recent morning found Fenelon and
livers bouncing northwest from this
rovincial capital in a station wagon.
round them the countryside was un-
der strict V.C. control. Under them,
uried in the rutted road, was the possi-
bility of V.C. mines.
But, most important, ahead of them
lay the district towit;of Son Tinh with a
small dispensary and .r-'waiting line of
patients ranging from shrieking infants.
to wrinkled oldsters.
Olivera nodded as Fenelon explained:
"Everything around here on both sides
of the'road belongs to the.V.C., but this
is the only way to get to the dispensary,
and the people will be expecting us."
It appears that the V.C. tolerates medi-
cal teams-and for a practical reason :
Often the V.C. infiltrates its own sick
and wounded into the dispensary lines.
Iso, the V.C. knows that the I.R.C.
Balers regularly treat V.C. prisoners in
Vietnam camps.
The day PARADE: accompanied Fene-
on and Olivera to Son d'inh, the run was
ade without incident, and, sure
nough, the one-story frame dispensary
as jammed with outpatients - men,
vonien, boys, girls, babies, old crones.
There are plenty of:-problems:.
Not only the war produces a plethora
f patients. The long-neglect of old all
ents also contributes. In addition,
Vietnamese aides must be watched -
ome use the same hypodermic on arm
fter arm without sterilization. Hygiene
s ,bit and miss-cure a man's skin di-
rushed in, hit in abdomen and hand by
shrapnel. Fenclon patched him up anq
sent him to the larger provincial hospital:
Perhaps this comment from one of the
ex-refugee doctors best explains not only
the situation, but. the devotion of the
mcdicnl team:
"The V.C. prisoners are very 111, and
after you give them care, their eyes, full
of fear and hatred, change to an expres-
sion of affection and gratitude.... The
other day one of the prisoners was practi-
cally rotten with disease.... We cured
him. You should have seen the look of
gratitude ... for he was suffering hor-
ribly. .
"1 think taking care of the prisoners is
terribly important as they don't know
anything about us except what their
Communist leaders tell them...."
And so it goes with these Western
refugees so devoted to helping Eastern
refugees. Fenclon and Olivera both
university graduates in earlier days in
their homelands-are in for at least an
18-month hitch.
After that, they can settle down at
last. Their families are wvaiting. Marie-
Ange Fenclon and her two children are
counting the days in Brooklyn, N.Y.,
while Filomena Sanchez Guarde de
Olivera and her child do the 'same in
Miami, Fla.-and the war goes on.
parade *.Mar. f3, 1967
TEXT AND'PHOTOS BY JAMES H. PICKERELL
QUANG NGAI, VIETNAM
r. Ernst Fenclon, 30, a stocky
Haitian, and Antonio Olivera,
34, a tall, slender male nurse
from Cuba, know through bit-
ter experience the loneliness and for-
lorn plight of the refugee.
It was not long ago that both escaped
from danger and oppression in their
Latin American homelands. But they
were scarcely settled in the United States
when the plight of the refugee caught up
with them again--in reverse.
They volunteered for Vietnam service
with the International Rescue Commit-
tee's medical team. This is a crew of 14
doctors and nurses, more than half ex-
refugees, who bring,mercy and medicine
under great difficulty to refugees and
villagers in rural Vietnam.
That they often are under the guns of
the Viet Cong is only one problem as the
I.R.C. team cares for.long lines of ilI-
clad and barefoot patients, many with
war wounds including napalm burns.
Comments from Olivera and Dr.
Fenelon and the others suggest the tough
conditions in which they carry" on-
danger, shortages, remoteness, ignorance
and neglect. Some examples:
? "We go to sleep every night with.
the music of the shooting of the Viet
Cong in the woods not far from the en
campment."
Approved For Release 20
ease, and he 11 go out and catch it anew.
And, there's lots of superstition.
en Fenelon turned away from a
other and newborn baby
. an bid
,
Oman sneaked in and burned incense
nder the mother's breasts. It's an an-
ient Chinese custom believed to bring
mother's milk faster and richer.
Direct war emergencies arise. A South
orean soldier on guard at Son Tinh was
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PROJECt
CONCERN SAIGON POST* March 24 67
CPYRGHT
CPYRGHT
Dt. James W. Turpin, founder The Mobile V- dl me a1'
of .Project Concero,> and Dr. team was tatahlished to read b from America Chiet Medical
Godfrey G;pp, apprehensive, those 111301 Australian tDitecior Dr. Jamee'rurpiti, Area
o Mr. Chet Lightbizer-
surgeon and physician, who were travel, and those too dicta
walk to the hospital. Some tw ty Secretary Mrs Virginia L4ghthi-
respo ~sible for starting project
Concern's medical outpost at five hamlets were serviced zer, and aurae Miss Dor is
3Y Ropertson.
Dampao ~ tbrre years ago, will vehicles, with two requi Big
return during the latter part of helicopter service, being i . c- Project Concern in a non-
M arch to celebrate Projectcessable by car. prof It internatioittal medical
Concern's Third Aoniversary in The average daily vil ale relief organization incorporated
S-utb Vietnam, visit serves eighty Montague s, under the laws of California
. The mobile team consists f a without political, .re1igiour, or
])ampao hospital was just a doctor, nurse, hospital an a governmental affiliation. A peo-
dream in Febru. ry 1964, Today village medical assistant. D Is pie-to-people medical angle-
it is a busy medical facility and medicine prescript s tance program created
serving some 40,000 Montag- dispensed are .written d for r e f u g e e s, it has
cards and Vietnamese living in spoken to the Koho's u four out-patient, clinics in
bamlets surrouodieg.tbe boa. their native language. No cl a,. Hong Kong, and a clinic in
pital, which is 30 miles gee are made for tither drug a Tijuana, Mexico, It was founded
southwest of Dalet in the Cen- services to the ttibesptople. is November rg6i by Dr. and
tea! Highlands. Over 100.000 Io thirteen (13) villages t d Mrs J ames W. Turpin to Coro-
nado, Californiae
Vietnamese patients, who have are Village Modlcal clinics r
received medical care, however, Abe tribcopeople with a trl d
don't coLsidrr it a dream. medical assistant on duty
Dr. Godfrey Gapp beaded up provide b'si c first aid, dip ae
the advance atad(cal team indiugs, and treat the majorit f
March of 1964 from Project; illnesses. Just recently a prog
Concern's H.)ng Kong clinics.1 bas been started to per it
In the first team were Miss Bet-' individuals and organization
tha Savchr z, American Nurse ;? America and throuRhnut t
Mr. Frank Hooper, Canadian world to sponsor a Village M -
Laboratory Tec.bniciaep and Miss dical Assistant and its villag
SAIGON POST
Hazel Hunt an American volun- Todaymost villages are sponsor
tier, 2113 Dr. Turpin. at a cost of fifty dollars
7 , C
26 September 1966
T ac medical team immediately month, which pays the Sala
brg3n a training program for of the Medical Assistant and tb tillage ana be spital medical necessary medictnea.
ssistaots in April 1964, and Project,
its first class with ten ject Con:ern Vietnam be so international team of volun
rodents from the surrounding tests. From Hong Kong tw
havib the additional r
amlets and villages.' doctors : Dr Lam Ling Tak an
caching was done through Dr Hui Wing Hong; from Caoad ^
tiioos forktbe tie a ts
rnent of a hospi
nterpretets in, Vietnamese aed a laboratory technician - MI lors oho, and English' were also Frank Hooper and nurse Mis --- - - - of Tokyo
operated by J a
doctors and equippe
iven daily. Tne first training Pat Cooper; from Eigland is scheduled I arrive in rogram was for six months. A d in I n i s t r a t f v e. assistant Viet
panese medical mat
Three months of instruction and Rims Barbara Martin and bead
financed by privat
bree months of practical exper-bursa Miss J,ine Gledhill] and 11jinese people living in short of facilities. medical b
---
ence working in the hospital cis of the Zen A
will be the second - contributions. At pre
group of are participating in
tad with the village medical dOt tots from the Zen - A - for funds. team. The curriculum
Kyrkai to be sent to Victoaw, The same soutceaai
.eluded courses in anatomy. and hyaiology, preventive medicine,
fltThe first group vas sent to eJ that under the -it
miss of the village medical
' Quoc Island and Banwe- the dev Ip cent vi
th not at-.c.. end of ry6g for Nam Fir endahip, thei
ssistant, and a introduction to he hospital. he
rnc rnuntli with greab success. tiun has been assistin
After graduation the students
`C group gave tuedical care Telecasting Compan
itber became a Village Medical
and distributed dru[,s to the realization of a tbree
popu!.n on in both areas. curnentary film for the
r a Hospital Medical Assistant. The E
hose returning to their Assistant.
vrthcowing team will of introducing Vietna
villabe iaNltj:3 four doctors who also Japanese people.
ould be trained to diagnose
nd treat about go% of the
llnisses to which the Kohn and
ietnamese in the Central High-
ands are most susceptible Co.
CIA-RDP78-03061 A000400060005-8
-- Kyoka
the drive
sodisclos-
ogram for
Japan-Viet
r Associa-
g the Fuji
y in the
??]iour do-
purpose
m
to the
eapoasibif
aab t ie)ah
tal to b
p a n e s
d with Ja
erial to b
e Japanes
s
ent, fuern
CPYRGHT
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s
~1Z E coItes "
Rid fo Vietnam
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, March 8 (AP)- Prime
Minister Keith J. Holy oake announced Wednesday that New
Zealand's aid to South Vietnam will be more than doubled.
New Zealand's present military force, totaling .15o men in
an artillery battery, will be raised to 36o by the Addition of
one Infantry company with supporting elements, he said.
The additional contribution will be drawn largely from the
New Zealand battalion stationed in Malaysia as part of the
commonwealth strategic reserve, plus some troops from New
Zealand.
Holyoake also announced a decision to send a z6-man joint
services medical team to be based at Bong Son, is Binh Dinh
province. .
The team, he said, will replice a U.S. military medical team,
which is due to be withdrawn from the area about June.
Holyoake said s
^We hope by theme complementary steps to hasten the day
when peace returns to South Vietnam and to relieve the suffering
its people have-so tong endured.
ewe have an obligation to help the people of South Vietnam
resist the imposiaion on them by force of arms a system of go-
vernment they have shown no wish to accept. We also have an
obligation; in all humanity, to sustain the victims of aggression.
-This is a further indication of the New Zealand govern-
ment's determination to fulfill both theme obligations.
ewe could not escape the conclusion that in the light of New
Zealand's obligations under .the Manila Treaty.
Thal Troops
Ready Soon
-.CPYRGHT
a!c . 10
Thai deputy Prime Minister.
Praphae Charusathien Tnureday
was reported as saying that
final selection of 'Thailand's
2.2g5-man battalion to South
Vietnam- would .be made on
March 2o.
Naz'rly 30,000 young Thais
bavc volunteered for service
with Thailand's expeditionary;
forces to Vietnam and the best
elements will be picked from;
among' them to compose the
2,295-man contingent.
In a statement published
Thursday in the local press.
Praphae, who is c,acurrently
defense min ster, Bald special
training to the contingent would
,begin very soon.
. He did not may when the men
will depart for South Vietnam
to, fight. alongside the allies
again-[ the Cnmmuniae..-
SAI N POST * March--Y
CPYRGHT
CPYRGHT
SAIGON, March t6 (VP).- Early this week, the Go-
verrmeot of the Republic of China airlifted one thousand
Leghorn and New Hampshire chicken eggs to Saigon to
help improve the quatity of poultry raised in Vietnam,
according to Mr. C.H. Liu, Chief of the Chinese, Agricul-
tural and Technical Mission to Vietnam. .
The eggs have been sent for incubation and the
chickens will later be distributed to farmers In the
three model villages established by the Chinese mission
in Hue, Bien Hoa, and An Giang.
This is the first dispatch of improved quality
chicken eggs. A total of 3iooo eggs were pledged by
the Chinese Government dutiog the third session of the
Sinn-Vietnamese Ecoaomie Coopuatien Conference held
in Taipei.
THE SAIGON POST*
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SAGON _I POST March Chine Helps Improve
Y.N. Poultry Breeding
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TIME
2 September 1966
The Boy-State
been started for 600 families. One hos-,
pital and 17 health centers have been
built to combat, among'other ills, the
cholera and plague that endanger the
area. In all, some 200 projects are com-
pleted or under way, and. the govern-
ment estimates that the youths, with a
budget of 10 million piastres ($84,-
700), have generated 30 million pias-
tres ($254,200) worth of construction.
Cots & Cottages. The district head-
quarters, a stately home usually occu-
pied exclusively by the district chief,
has been converted into a campground
for the new cadres, looks like an unsu-
pervised fraternity house with its clut-
ter of cots and guitars. The new district
chief, Mai Nhu Manh, a. graduate of the
National Institute of Administration,
boasts only a corner bed with a mos-
quito net. Says a young colleague, Law
Graduate Doan Thanh Liem: "The only
thing that is important to us is a change
in mentality, a sense of community."
Only one American, a 24-year-old
named Charles Sweet, is advising the
youths, and he was not allowed into the
district for three months.
In an address dedicating the district's
first student-built housing, a row of cot-
tages freshly painted Dutch yellow with
blue and green shutters, Ky said: "I
can only hope to renew the govern-
ment as your cadres have renewed this
hamlet." Moreover, he has given the
young reformers the go-ahead to take
over two adjoining districts, which with'
District 8 will comprise a boy-state of
600,000 inhabitants. The ultimate com-
pliment is that Viet Cong infiltration to
and from the capital through District 8,
thanks to a growing flow of informa-
tion on Communist activities by its in-
habitants, has been virtually wiped out. '
Neither bullets nor ballots wt pro-
duce the ultimate ictorv in Viet Nam.
What is needed is an effort by the Viet-
namese themselves to rebuild their so-
ciety in towns and villages. Last week
Premier Ky paid tribute to a unique
example of Vietnamese self-help. It took
root. a year ago, when a dozen youth
leaders petitioned him to let them take
over an entire province and demon-
strate what they could offer in leader-
ship. Ky would not go that far, but to
their surprise handed them complete
administrative control of Saigon's Dis-
trict 8-a squalid, 3-sq.-mi. slum packed
with 30,000 war refugees.
Replacing district officials, the youths
marshaled 1,000 student friends, em-
barked on an ambitious improvement
scheme. Nguyen Tan Phuoc, 19, a high
CPYRGHT
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PRESS RELEASE
External Aid Office, Canada April 1967
Canadian Government
August 2, 1966
The Honorable Paul Martin, Secretary of State for External Affairs,
announced today that 165,000 Saigon schoolchildren will be immunized
'
s
against poliomyelitis this fall with oral vaccine supplied under Canada
External Aid program,
The immunization has been undertaken by the Vietnamese Ministry of
Health as a pilot project in a planned campaign to protgct all Vietnamese
children from six months to 12 years against a disease which ranks with
tuberculosis and malaria as a serious health problem ir}southeast Asia.
(In Canada, following intensive vaccination programs, the disease
has been virtually eradicated. Complete eradication of the disease in
Canada is considered by medical authorities to be a reasonable goal.)
Mr. Martin's announcement marked the latest development in Canada's
program of medical aid to Vietnam, to which more than a million dollars
has been allocated this year. Last month, Canada shipped the first of
ten pre-packaged emergency hospital units for integration into South
Vietnam's provincial hospitals system and work was begun on a tuberculosis
clinic at Quang Ngai.
Mr. Martin said that while the Canadian program of assistance in
Vietnam has grown considerably in the past three years, "one cannot
minimise the difficulties of mounting quickly a large and effective pro-
gram in the circumstances which now-prevail in that country."
Since 1953, Canada has allocated almost $6 million to development
assistance in Vietnam. A total of 339 students has been brought to Canada
and 183 of them, the largest trainee group from any country, are now
studying in academic and technical training institutes, working mainly in
the French language.
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Free World Assistance to Viet-Nam
as of January 6. 1967
Free World Assistance Program
Thirty nations have assisted Viet-Nam under the Free World Assis-
tance Program. Several others have offered help. The contributions of
six other countries and of the UN are listed at the end. of this paper.
A detailed listing by geographic area follows:
FAR EAST
Austrialia
Australia is providing a wide and substantial range of aid to Viet-
Nam under the Colombo Plan and by direct bilateral assistance.
Military aid consists of:
1. Approximately 4,500 combat troops: including a brigade and sup
2. 100 combat advisors (primarily specialists in jungle warfare).
3. A 73-man air force unit at Vung Tau with six Australian Caribou
planes which fly daily logistical transport missions in support of Viet-
namese military forces.
Prime Minister Holt has announced an increase in Australian combat
forces to about 6,300 men will take place early in 1967 consisting of
900 army service men, a squadron of 8 Canberra bombers and a guided
missile.destroyer.
Economic and technical assistance has totalled nearly $10 million
in the past two years including:
1. Three surgical teams, totalling 37 personnel, in 3 provincial
hospitals. These teams, in addition to performing major operations, have
established a blood bank and are giving lessons in nursing.
2. A group of civil engineers working on water supply and road
construction projects.
3. Three experts in dairy-and crop practices and radio techniques.
1+.. Training of 130 Vietnamese in Australia.
5. In goods and materials: 1,250,000 textbooks in Vietnamese for
rural schools; 3,300 tons of corrugated roofing for Vietnamese military
(Cont.)
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dependents' housing; 6 large community windmills; 15,750 sets of hand
tools; 400 radio sets and 2,400 loud-speakers, 16,000 blankets and 14,000
cases of condensed milk.
6. A 55 kilowatt broadcasting station at Ban Me Tout.
Republic of China
The Republic of China has provided:
1. An 80-man agricultural team.
2. An 18-man military psychological warfare teaan.
3. A 12-man electrical power mission under the leadership of Taipower..
4. A 10-man surgical team.
China has also provided training for more than 200 Vietnamese in
Taiwan. In the way of goods and materials, they have provided 26 alumi-
num prefabricated warehouses, agricultural, tools, seeds and fertilizers,
500,000 copies of mathematics textbooks and an electrical power substation.
Japan
Japan has provided over $55 million worth of economic assistance to
Viet-Nam, chiefly through reparations. Japan has sent two. medical teams,
considerable amounts of medical goods (4,544 cases ), 20,000 transistor
radios and 25 ambulances. It has provided. technical personnel and funds
for the construction of a large power dam across the Da Nhim River and
electrical transmission line and agreed to participate in the construc-
tion of a bridge over the Mekong River near Vinh Longs
Korea
Korea has sent approximately 45,000 troops including:
1. 2 Combat divisions
2. A 130-man Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH).
3. 10 Military instructors in Korean karate for training Vietnamese
military in hand-to-hand combat.
4. A 2,200-man Task Force Unit composed of the following elements:,
1 Army engineer battalion
1 Headquarters group
1 Army Transportation company
1 Marine Corps Engineer company
1 Infantry battalion
1 LST and 2 LSM's
1 Composite support unit (communications, medical supplies, etc.)
Korean military medical personnel are providing some medical care to
the local population in areas where ROK troops are stationed. In addition,
7 civilian medical teams totalling 118 doctors, nurses and support pers.
sonnel are working in provincial health programs.
2 (Cont.)
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One million kip ($4,167) for flood relief in February, 1965.
Malaysia
Since 1962, Malaysia has trained about 2,000 Vietnamese military
and police officers. Groups of 30-60 are regularly sent for about.a
month's training in counterinsurgency with Malaysian Police Special Con-
stabulary. Malaysia has previously provided substantial amounts of
counterinsurgency materials, primarily military and police transport
such as armored vehicles.
New Zealand has sent a 6-howitzer artillery battery of approximately
125 men. It also has provided a 25-man army engineer detachment.
In non-military aid, New Zealand has sent an 8-man surgical team
,
and a professor in English language for the University of Saigon. They
are presently training 62 Vietnamese in New Zealand and have provided
-b7,500 ($21,000) for equipment for a technical high school. They are
.also assisting by providing approximately $600,000 for a science build-
ing at the University of Saigon.
The Philippine Government has sent a 2,000-man military engineerin
g
unit with security support personnel, a station hospital
and rural health
,
and civic action teams.
In non-military aid, approximately 60 Philippine civic action per-
sonnel including military and civilian medical teams have been working
in Viet-Nam for several years.
Thailand
The Thai Government announced on January 3 that it will send a
1,000-man mixed battalion to Viet-Nam. A 200-man Thai naval group mann-
ing an LST and PGM patrol craft arrived in Viet-Nam in December. A
35-man air force contingent has been flying operational transport mis--
sions for the Vietnamese forces. The Thais have also been providing
jet training for Vietnamese pilots in Thailand.
In non-military aid, the Thai have provided rice for refugees and
cement and zinc roofing materials. At the Manila Conference,. the
Thai offered the Vietnamese a $20 million rice credit. The Thai have
recently announced they will send a medical unit to Viet-Nam.
3 (Cont.)
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MIDDLE EAST
Greece
Greece has contributed $15,000 worth of-medical supplies.
Iran
Iran has contributed 1,000 tons of petroleum products to Viet--Nam
and has despatched a 20-man. medical team to Viet-Nam.
Turkel
Turkey has provided medicines and also offered to provide a sub-
stantial amount of cement.
EUROPE
Austria
Austria has offered to supply medical supplies, blankets, tents,
through the Austrian Red Cross.
Belgium
Belgium has provided medicines and an ambulance and has given
scholarships for 9 Vietnamese to study in Belgium.
Denmark
Denmark has provided medical supplies and offered to train Vietna-
mese nurses in Denmark.
Germany
Personnel in Viet-Nan:
Seven Germans, a director and six instructors, are teaching at the
new Vietnamese-German Technical High School at Thu Duc near Saigon. At
Hue University there are five Germans: three physicians in the Medical
'School, a professor of music, a professor of German language, and one
expert in forestry is working at the Department of Rural Affairs, Saigon.
A 3,000-ton hospital ship, the "Helgoland" with 8 doctors, 30 other
medical personnel and 145 beds is on duty in Viet-Nam.
Vietnamese in Germany: Forty have gone, Germany has agreed to
accept 30 more primarily for training as future instructors in the
technical high school. A considerable number have previously been trained.
The Germans have provided the following credits: 1) DM 15 million
4 (Cont.)
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5 (Cont.)
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($3.75 million) for import of German products such as machine tools,
fertilizer, etc. The piastre funds generated go to the National Office
of Agricultural Credit to aid farmers, particularly with loans; 2) a
credit of DM 50 million ($12.5 million) for development of the major
industrial complex at.An Hoan-Nong son; 3) a credit for DM 20 million
($5 million) for construction of.an abattoir at Saigon-Cholon, and three
coastal vessels; 4) a credit of DM 500,000 ($125,000) for equipment at
the Vietnamese-German Technical High. School at Thu Due.
In April 1966, the Germans announced a gift of DM 17.5 million
($4.4 million) worth of pharmaceuticals, the first shipments of which
have arrived. Also in the medical field, they have provided two mobile
dental clinics and 30 ambulances for the Ministry of Health.
On June 29, the Cabinet voted DM 25 million (us $6.25 million) for
new aid to Viet-Nam including: 1) sending 25 experts to establish a
refugee center; 2) building a home for wayward youths; 3) expansion of
8 social centers and construction of a ninth; 4) establishment of a
training center for social workers, and 5) the gift of 100 buses and
a maintenance and repair facility in Saigon.
The Italians have provided a 10-man surgical team and have offered
science scholarships to 10 Vietnamese to study in Italy.
Luxembourg
Luxembourg has provided plasma and blood transfusion equipment.
The Netherlands
The Dutch have undertaken to build 5 tuberculosis centers in Saigon;.
sites for 3 have been selected. In August, the Netherlands
announced a contribution of $355,000 for a 4-year UN project in social
welfare, part of the $1 million they have earmarked for UN projects in
Viet-Nam.. In 1964, the Dutch gave antibiotics and 4 scholarships for
Vietnamese. They previously provided a dredge.
Spain
Spain has provided 800 pounds of medicines, medical equipment and
blankets and has sent a 12-man medical team to Viet-Nam.
The United Kingdom has provided six civilians for the British
Advisory Mission and a Professor of English at Hue University. Twenty
one Vietnamese are receiving training in the United Kingdom. A pediatric
team of four British doctors and six nurses went to Viet-Nam in August,
1966.
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In 1963-64 the United Kingdom provided the following goods and
materials: Laboratory equipment for Saigon University; a typesetting
machine for the Government Printing Office; a cobalt deep-ray therapy unit
for the National Cancer Institute; various equipment for the Faculties
of Medicine, Science and Pharmacy at Saigon University, the Meteoro-
logical Service and the Agricultural School at Saigon, and Atomic Research
Establishment at Dalat and the Faculty of Education at Hue. In 1965-66,
British economic aid totalled X81,000 ($226,800) for roadbuilding equip-
ment, diesel fishing boat engines, and portable anesthetic machines.
LATIN AMERICA
Argentina
Argentina has sent 5,000 tons of wheat flour.
Brazil
Brazil has sent a substantial quantity of medical supplies which
was carried to Viet-Nam by a Brazilian Air Force plane and has also pro-
vided coffee.
Dominican Republic
Cement has been offered by the Dominican Republic for use in Viet-Nam.,
Ecuador
Ecuador has sent medical supplies to viet-Nam.
Guatemala
Guatemala has sent 15,000 doses of typhoid-paratyphoid serum for
use in Viet-Nam.
Honduras
Honduras is contributing drugs and. dry goods for refugees in Viet-Nam.
Uruguu
Uruguay has contributed $21,500 for relief supplies and medicines
for Viet-Nam.
Venezuela has provided 500 tons of rice for refugee relief, and two
civilian doctors are working in Viet-Nam.
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A contribution of $50,000 has been made by Liberia for the purchase
of hospital equipment and other medical supplies for Viet-Nam.
Tunisia
Recently Tunisia has made available a number of scholarship for
Vietnamese.
Almost $6 million of development assistance to Viet-Nam has been
provided by Canada.
1. Personnel in Viet-Nam:. A. Canadian Supervisor has been at
Quang Ngai supervising construction of a small TB Clinic which the
Canadians are funding. The Canadians. have sent two doctors and four
nurses to staff the clinic. A professor of orthopedics is working at
Cho Ray Hospital, Saigon, and there is a Canadian teacher at the Uni-
versity of Hue.
2: Vietnamese in Canada: 379 Colombo Plan trainees and 462 trainees
under all programs, including those sponsored by other agencies. and third
countries (as well as Colombo Plan), have been trained in Canada. There
are currently 228 Colombo Plan trainees in Canada.
.3. Since 1958, Canada has provided $850,000 worth of food aid for
Viet-Nam. Funds generated by sales are used for capital construction
projects in Viet-Nam.
4'. A new science building for the medical faculty at the University
of Hue is being built costing about $333,000, drawn from counterpart
funds generated by sales of food supplied by Canada. Construction has
passed the half-way mark, with completion expected this year.
The Canadians have also agreed to construct an auditorium for the
Faculty of Sciences at Hue University which will cost about $125,000.
Canada is increasing its aid to South Viet-Nam and has allocated
$1 million for medical assistance this fiscal year including providing
ten 200-bed emergency hospital units. The first two units have arrived
and have been installed at Phan Tiet and at Phu Tho near Saigon. A
Canadian doctor and technicians visited Viet-Nam in the fall to inspect
potential sites. Canada has sent over half a million doses of polio
vaccine for Vietnamese school children, and another 150,000 doses are
being prepared for shipment to Viet-Nam.
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Six other nations whose help does not fall under the Free World
Assistance Program have provided valuable assistance to Viet-Nam 1h
economic and humanitarian fields.
France
Since 1956, France has contributed about $111 million in assistance
to South Viet-Nam.
France has nearly 500 persons servl.ng in South Viet-Nam. Among
them are 65 experts under France's program of economic and technical
assistance, including 32 physicians, professors and other medical person-
nel. Under its cultural programs, 471 professors (350 French and 121
Vietnamese) are teaching at 9 French teaching institutions, and 30
French professors are at Vietnamese institutions. France provided in
1.965 for Vietnamese to study in France, 55 fellowships for technical
training, and 85 academic fellowships.
France has provided low-interest credits of iflO million francs
(20 million dollars) for financing imports of French equipment for
Vietnamese industry, a grant of 500,000 francs ($100,000) for equipment
for L'Ecole Nationale d'Ingenieurs des Arts Industriels.
.In 1960 France extended a low-interest credit of. 70 million francs
($12 million) to aid construction of the major coal and chemical complex
at An Hoa-Nong Son south of Da Nang which is well underway. It also
provided a low-interest, five-year credit of 60 million francs ($12
million) for construction of Viet-Nam's largest cement-producing complex
with plants at Hatien and Thu I)uc. In 1964, France provided a 930,000
frsnc($186,000) grant for the installation of a training
center for
electrical technicians, and in 1965 a gift of 1.25 million francs ($250,00O)
for teaching equipment, primarily in. the medical field.
Ireland
.The Irish people have contributed 4,1,000 ($2,800) for Vietnamese
flood victims through their Red Cross.
Israel
Israel made a gift of pharmaceutical supplies for flood victims.
Norway
Norway sent a contribution through the International Red Cross for
flood victims in February 1965,
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Pakistan
Pakistan made a financial contribution for assistance to flood vic-
tims and donated clothing for them.
Switzerland
The Swiss have provided microscopes for the University of Saigon.
The Swiss Red Cross has sent an 11-man medical team through the Inter-
national Committee of the Red Cross to work in a provincial hospital in
The United Nations and its specialized agencies are also making
significant contributions to the social and economic development of Viet-
Nam. Under the UN Development Program at least 37 technical assistance
programs are being implemented this year and more are being planned for
1967 and 1968. These programs range across such varied fields as maternal
and child health, soil survey, labor administration, educational plan-
ning, telecommunications and postal services. Among the participating
agencies are ILO, FAO, UNESCO, WHO, ICAO, ITU, IAEA, UPU, and the Depart-
ment of Economic and Social Affairs of the UN. In addition, UNICEF is
lending financial support to a number of programs in the health and
child care fields.
Several major projects financed by the Special Fund of the.UN
Development Program are about to get under way. A National Technical
Center (total international contribution approximately $1.5 million),
with UNESCO as the executing agency, has been approved by the Governing
Council of the UNDP and is now becoming operational. Near-agreement has-
been reached on a Fisheries Institute including exploratory and experi-
mental fishing in the waters of the South China Sea, to be executed by
FAO, and on a Social Welfare Training Center to be executed by-the Bureau
of Social Affairs of the UN. ECAFE is also pressing ahead with projects
of benefit to all the nations in the Mekong Basin, and has undertaken
surveys of irrigation, hydro-electric facilities, and bridge construction
projects in Viet-Nam.
9
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Results of Legislative Assembly Elections - 1967
w
MYSORE
4-7 CO
STATES o a)
E-i Cl)
w
ca
o
CJ
-P
z
U2
ca
H
w
U
H
C.)
w
co
P.
w
U~
CQ
H
w
Z
~?~
-P
-P P
O cti
rd
H
ANDHRA PRADESH 287
165
29
3
10
9
1
2
68
ASSAM 126
73
2
7
5
4
9
25
BIHAR 318
128
3
26
24
4
18
68
1.
46
GUJARAT 168
93
64
1
3
2
5
HARYANA 81
48
3
12
2
.16
KERALA 133
9
19
52
19
28
6
MADHYA PRADESH 296
167
7
78
l
9
10
4
20
MADRAS 234
49
20
2
11
4
2
138
7
MAHARASHTRA 270
202
4
10
1
8
4
5
19
16
216
126
16
4
:2
20
6
2
40
ORISSA 140
30
49
7
1
21
2
26
3
PUNJAB 104
48
9
5
3
1
3
26
9
RAJASTHAN 184
89
49
22
1
8
15
UTTAR PRADESH 425
198
12
97
14
1
11.
44'
9
37
WEST BENGAL 280
127
1
1
16
43
7
7
13
65
J. & K. 75
60
3
8
2
HIMACHAL PRADESH 60
33
7
2
13
GOA DIU, DAMAN 30
MANIPUR 30
PONDICHERRY 30
TRIPURA. 30
27
1
2
T 0 T A L : 3,517
1,672
256
267
121
127
106
175
24
273
393
RESULTS OF LOK SABHA ELECTIONS - 1962 and 1967
Party
1962
1967
Congress
361
282
CPI/R
24
CPI/L
29
19
Swat antra
22
44
Jan Sangh
14
35
Praja Socialists (PSP)
12
13
Semyukta Socialists (SSP)
6
23
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)
25
Independents & Other Parties
43
52
Undecided
494
`521
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CPYRGHT
CPYRGHT CPYRGHT
[NEW TIMES-Moscow-No. 10e March 8, 19671
r~DIA e her ourt general
election on February 15-21. Eight
national and eleven regional parties
eothpeted for the 52t seats In the Lok
Sabha (House of the People) and the
3,503 seats in the Legislative Assemblies
of 16 states and 8 territories. There
were no elections in Nagaland state
and In two Union Territories.
The final results are not yet known
at this writing, but the general picture
is clear enough. The !radian National
Congress party has again won a major-
ity and will form the new government.
Bpt it is a greatly reduced majority: It
has 278 seats in the new Lok Sabha,
compared with 361 in the last one.
Its losses were still greater in the
state elections. It was defeated . in
Kerala, Madras, West Bengal, Orissa,
and Bihar, where the new governments
will be. formed by opposition parties.
In three . other states, Uttar. Pradesh,
Punjab and Rajasthan, it might be able
to form a government In co-operation
with other parties and independents.:
This is the worst defeat the Congress
has suffered in the twenty years since
Independence. And not only because It
lost so many seats, but also because
some of its prominent leaders were un-
seated. The list Includes the party's
President, Mr. Kamaraj, the Chief
Ministers of Punjab, Bihar, Madras and
West Bengal, and ten Ministers of the
central government. Among the latter
are Choudhuri (Finance), Subratnanidm
(Food and Agriculture), S. K. Patil
(Railways), Manubhai Shah (Com-
merce). More than 50 Congressmen who
held ministerial posts in the various
stater were defeated too. All the
defea.ed Ministers have tendered their
resignations.
A map of India will be found on the
back cover of this issue.
The kthan
~Rec~i6~s
The Lok Sabha is meeting in Delh
on March 13 to approve the budget
after which It will be dissolved an
Mrs. Gandhi's government will resign
The National Congress Parliaments
Party is meeting on March 12 to elec
a leader, who will form the new gov,
ernment. A new President of the
Republic is also to be elected.
These elections were a serious tes
for all parties. India has had to conten
with many difficulties In recent years
There were border clashes. whit
weighed heavily on the nationa
finances and increased political tension
The reactionary forces have been more
active, and ever since the .death o
Nehru in 1964 there has been more
confusion within the Copgress. Still
another factor is the sharpening diva
sion in the democratic mass move-
ment.
Living standards, never high, have
been further depressed by rising price
and taxes. The position has been ag-
gravated by chronic food shortages, and
actual famine In some areas. As a
result, the economic position has de-
teriorated sharply; India's external debt
now stands at about 50,000 million
rupees.
The election returns show how the
people reacted to this and to the policy
of the government party.
I wtttaelsed the three previous
parliament4ty elections and, frankly
speaking, I did not expect the National
Congress to lose so much or its prestige
and authority, built up particularly In
the struggle for Independence.
However, the election figures are
contradictory. Some prominent Right-
wing Congressmen, among them S. K.
Patti and Atulya Ghosh, were defeated,
but so were prominent Left-wingers.
Krishna Menon (who withdrew from
the Congress shortly before the elec-
tions) and K. D. Malaviya. True, the
Indian press emphasizes that the Right.
Ists made a special effort to prevent
their re-election.
The results show a marked accretion
of strength for Rightist parties both In
the Lok Sabha and in several states, The
Swatantra, which speaks for Big
Business and the big landowners, in-
creased Its Lok Sabha representation
from 18 to 43, and the chauvinist Jan
Sangh from 14 to 35. They will probably
try to form anti-Congress governments
In Orissa and Bihar in alliance with
other reactionary groups. The Congress
sustained a heavy defeat also in
Madras, where Dravida Munnetra
Kazhagam, a South-Indian nationalistic
party, will apparently form a one-party
government.
The Rightists adroitly exploited the
widespread discontent over economic
difficulties, religious and communal
prejudices, linguistic, territorial and
other issues, and in some areas also
separatist trends. The Right-wing parties
were financed by Indian and foreign
capital and supported by some U.S.
agencies. The Bombay weekly Blitz says
these agencies used part of the rupee
revenue from the supply of PL 480
American wheat to finance obliging
candidates. The Indian Express
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Washington correspondent says .the
U.S. wanted to see Swatanlra strong
,enough In be reckoned with.
It would he wrong, nevertheless, In
.believe that these were the only factors
ighich enabled the, Rightists to strength-
en Ihcit position in the Lok Sabha and
the state assemblies. There were other
factors, first of all the failure of the
Congress government to carry out its
programme of raising living standards,
effectively checking the growth of
prices, taxes and unemployment and
solving India's formidable food problem.
The contradictory results of the
elections can be seen also in the fact
that many leading reactionary candi-
dates suffered de{cat. Mention might be
made of Swatantra President, N. G.
Ranga, and one,o[ the more rabid anti-
Communists, Acharja Krlpaianl, who
stood as an "independent."
The Left democratic forces made
certain progress. The Communists in-
creased their Lok Sabha representation
from 29 to .10 (the Communist Parly~
21 seats, and the parallel Communist
Party I(j). The United Socialist Party,
founded in 1964,, won 23 scats. The
Uniled Left Front, which included the
CPI and the parallel Party, won a spec-
tacular victory In Kerala, gaining 116
out or the 133 scats in the Legislative
Assembly. In West Bengal the contest
was won by the United Left Front, ithe
People's United Left Front and the Po-
polar Socialist Party which after the
elections agreed to form a coalition
government.
There is every evidence that the Left
could have gained much more were it
not for differences and division In Its
tanks, including the Communist move-
ment. It will he recalled that three
years ago, In 1964, the Communist Party
split nod a parallel party was formed:
With the exception of Kerala, It refused
to join with the Communist Party In a-
united Left bloc. More, In some
constituencies West Bengal, for
Instance) It fought the Communist
candidates, The Indian press says that
this disoriented democraliaminded
voters; worsened the position of Left
candidates and played into the hands
of reaction. Wherever the Left forces
united, they scored impressive
victories.
The new Congress government will
evidently have to rerknn with the
lessons of the elections in shaping its
policy. The election setbacks, the Hind-
ustan Times says, do not mean that the
Congress has entirely ,lost the confid-
ence of the people, but they are sure to
shake up the party.
That is true, for though the Congress,
still commands a majority in the Lok
Sabha, the election results have in
many ways created n new political
situation to "lndia.
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NEWSWEEK
March 13', 1967
After the Fall-Who Will Lead?
hough the echoes of its election crash suggested a moderation of factional ex-
T were still reverberating from Madras tremism which boded well for the future
to Uttar Pradesh, the time came last of a genuine democratic opposition in
week for India's once-proud Congress India. Jan Sangh spokesmen turned their
Party to gather up the fragments. Pain- attention from the controversial slaughter
fully, it began pulling itself together for of cows toward the critical housing short-
what may well be the bitterest task that age, and the pro-Peking Communists,
can befall a badly battered political par- noted one American observer, "seem
ty: continuing to govern the populace pathetically eager to get rid of their
that has rebuffed it.
The trouble was that India's voters,
though clearly seized with a massive
urge to "throw the rascals, out," had not
been able to agree at all on whom to put
in the rascals' place. In Kerala, the elec-
torate turned to the Communists. But in
neighboring Madras, a group of Tamil
regionalists called the Dravidian Progres-
sive Federation (D.M.K.) carried the
day. And in Orissa, the nod went to a co-
alition of maharajas centered around the
conservative Swatantra Party. And so, for
want of any real nationwide alternative,
Congress crept back into power in Pare
liament, chastened but still top dog.
Its majority in the Lok Sabha (the
lower house of Parliament), once a tow-
ering 221, was lopped down to a mere
35. But another statistic was far more
telling: while Congress was reduced to
278 seats, the second largest party,
Swatantra, boasted a mere 44. Indeed,
India's Parliament, except for the Con-
gress Party, is still a tangle of factions.
The Communists come in two flavors-
pro-Moscow and pro-Peking. There are
two types of socialists, r-fled Praja and
Sarnyukta. There are two splinters of
the right wing: the business-oriented
Swatantra and the populist, fervently
Hindu Jan Sangh. And there seemed
little chance that on the national level
all these factions could cooperate-ex-
cept on negative propositions.
Strange Embraces: In the state gov-
ernments, however, things were differ-
ent. In the balloting in sixteen of India's
states, Congress lost its majority in no
fewer than eight legislatures. And in
these states, wherever a single anti-Con-
gress party did not win outright control,
elaborate coalitions were hatched to
keep Congress out at almost any cost.
This produced some strange and seem-
ingly unholy alliances; in Rajasthan, the
Communists joined hands with Jan Sangh
and Swatantra while in Uttar Pradesh,
Jan Sangh teamed up with the Sam-
yukta socialists. Startling as some of
these embraces were, however, they
pro-Chinese tag.
of less interest than the question which
obsesses New Delhi: could Indira Gan-
dhi hold on to her job? As Prime Minister
during a year marked by food shortages
and repeated outbreaks of mass violence,
Mrs. Gandhi's record has been no better
than indifferent, and such a pilot would
normally be dropped after steering her
party onto such a damaging electoral
reef. Bqt it will not be easy to displace
her from the helm. While other Congress
leaders-including some of her main de-
tractors such as party president Kumara-
swami Kamaraj-were routed at the
polls, Indira Gandhi scored a resounding
victory in her home constituency.
Cassandra: Mrs. Gandhi's potential ri-
vals for the Prime Ministership, more-
over, have handicaps of their own. For-
mer Finance Minister Morarji Desai, a
tough 71-year-old ascetic who twice be-
fore has sought the top job in vain, has
never concealed his contempt for Mrs.
Gandhi's administration. "Present leader-
ship has failed," he told NEWSWEEK last
week. "If it continues along the present
lines, it will be a disaster both to the par-
ty and the country." But his self-appoint-
ed role as Congress's Cassandra since
1963 and his distinct lack of humility
have never endeared Desai to the party.
Perhaps the best man for the job
would be the strong and skillful Home
Minister, Y.B. Chavan, whom Nehru
brought into the Cabinet in 1963 when
V.K. Krishna Menon was forced out dur-
ing the Chinese border debacle. But at
53-which is young by Congress Party
standards-Chavan is generally conceded
to be Mrs. Gandhi's logical successor
whenever she departs, and he is suffi-
ciently astute not to jeopardize that sta-
tus by overeagerness. "I shall support
Indira Gandhi," he has announced re-
peatedly in recent weeks. By the same
token, Mrs. Gandhi would probably
throw her support to him if that ap-
peared the only way to head off a vic-
tory for Desai.
Just a Reprieve: Most likely, how-
ever, when the Congress Party's parlia-
mentary representatives meet this week-
end tp decide upon their leadership,
Mrs. Gandhi will again be chosen. But
this will be a reprieve rather than a final
verdict. For the first time since she be-
came Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi
stands alone: most of the old Congress
kingmakers are gone, and many of her
younger advisers were also swept away
in the electoral debacle. Urgent deci-
sions have been long postponed, and
now, many Indian pundits believe, Mrs.
Gandhi must either prove her capacity
for leadership or else face the prospect
of being ousted from office within a year.
End of an Epoch
Inevitably, the dramatic changes in
India's political spectrum have inspired
considerable gloomy punditry. There has
been talk of looming political stalemate
in the world's largest democracy and
even the nervous suggestion that India's
cen'ral government may have been dan-
gerously weakened in its authority. But
from New Delhi last week, NER'SWEEK
correspondent Edicarrl Behr, who served
with the British Army in India in World
War II and has revisited the country
nearly every year since, filed the follow-
ing rather different interpretation of the
setback suffered by the Congress Party:
Jawaharlal Nehru died in May 1964,
but was buried politically only last week
when the Congress Party he had or-
ganized and led suffered shattering
losses in India's fourth general election.
Congress's disaster was a triumph for
neither right nor left; it was quite simply,
a nationwide rejection of the monolithic
party that has held power since India
became independent twenty years ago.
By rights, the defeat should have
come years earlier. But this is a land of
political life after death: leaders are
revered long after they have fallen and
their policies are preserved as a token of
pious respect. Even here, however,
memories pale as generations pass. The
rout of the Congress Party had many
causes, but not the least of them was
that almost half of India's 250 million
voters were babes in arms when Gandhi
was killed in 1947. "The Congress image,
with its constant references to the strug-
gles of long ago, its emphasis on home-
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spun clothes; its' pious blend of quietism
and socialism, just isn't relevant to India
any more," reflected at distinguished
Indian political observer nList week.
Indira Gandhi, elected to the Prime
Ministership last year largely because
she is Nehru's daughter and strikingly
resembles him, has had more than her
share of bad luck, including two dis-
astrous crop failures within a year. Put
the Congress leadership, as a whole,
richly deserved its fate. Long before
Nehru 's death, Congress had begun a
steady downward slide. "Somewhere
along the line," admits one prominent
party official, "we lost our idealism, our
purity and our sense of dedication."
'A11 Thieves': In recent years, the rule
of the Congress Party has come to be de-
rided as "government of the politician,
by the politician, for the politician." At
its best, the effectiveness of Congress
leaders was that of manipulators rather
than statesmen. With some notable ex-
ceptions, the party's bosses-especially
in the state governments-became tar-
nished with corruption. "If you can point
to one single honest minister in this
state," challe11 e(I the Rani of Gwalior in
her election campaign, "I'll take back ev-
erything I have said." And always the
crowd roared back "Sabh chor hairs!"
("They're all thieves!")
Before this election, many Congress
politicians treated their constituents as
little more than automatic voting de-
vices. Party treasurer Atulva Ghosh
(who, significantly, was defeated this
tame) used to visit his Bengal district
once every five years-to register as a
candidate. While food shortages became
increasingly grave and prices increasing-
ly inflated, Congress politicians bickered
endlessly over which state should have
the next steel mill.
Finally last month, India's electorate dency. India's constitution grants the
showed that it had bad enough. And President considerable powers, particle-
though 75 per cent of Indian voters are larly in adjudicating differences between
still illiterate, they displayed surprising the federal government and states.
sophistication at the polls. Their thrash. These powers have rarely been used so
ing of the Congress Party was adminis- far, but now that Congress has fallen
tered on a remarkably selective basis; from omnipotence, the President's role
by and large, they selected for political will assume a completely new dimension,
oblivion the candidates most worthy of it. and the choice of the new President next
"What happened in India," marveled May will be as crucial as the recen'
one Latin American diplomat, "is an ex- selection. The present incumbent, philos-
ample to Latin America and to the world, opher Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, who,
It is proof that democracy can exist in a at 78, is ailing and almost blind, will step
poor and developing nation." down. His successor will almost certainly
Salutary as it may be in the long run, be a forceful independent figure-not, as
the toppling of Congress creates a host of
new problems for India. Up to now,
for example, any disputes between the
states and central government were set-
tled by Congress Party bosses, because
Congress ruled both (except for the
Communists' brief domination of Kerala),
Now, with opposition parties in a domi- J he country a taste of "good govern-
nant or blocking position in several state ment," and, for the most part, they have
capitals, the relations between New Del-
hi and the states will become quite dif-
ferent politically. "For the first time," one
constitutional expert says, "federal de-
mocracy in India will be put to the test."
There ate those who worry that these
strains may lead to secession by some
states. But the election has infused India'
with a new vitality, and almost all citi-
zens of influence-the aristocrats, the in-
dustrialists, the leaders of the armed
forces, the responsible public servants--
consider a split unthinkable. Even the
avowedly separatist D.M.K. movement,
which unexpectedly captured the Ma-
dras state government, shelved its seces-
sionist plank as soon as it. saw the pros-
pect of exercising power.
Crucial Choice: One important force,
for unity will, most likely, be the Presi-
was once feared, an old Congress war-
horse put out to pasture.
All things considered, the election re-
sults offer considerable cause for opti-
mism about India's future. The parties
that have wrested state control away
from Congress are committed to giving
already abandoned their more extremist
rallying cries. And Congress itself is un-
der clear notice from the voters to mend
its ways or suffer a more catastrophic
reverse next time.
Paradoxically, the setback may actual-
ly strengthen Indira Gandhi's hand. If
she remains in office, she may well be
able to press urgent and unpopular meas-
ures through Parliament more easily than
before, since she need no longer bow to
the whims of the discredited party pan-
jandrums who Put political and Personal
interests above the national welfare. And
if she is replaced, her two likeliest sue-
cessors-Morarji Desai and Y.B. Chavan
-are both forceful men eager to prove
that though Congress has lost one battle,
it is quite capable of regrouping for the
next one.
2
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India on the eve or elections
S. A. DANCE [Chairman, Communist Party of India] CPYRGHT
INDIA'S RULING CLASS politicians are
very fond of telling the world that India is
the largest democracy in the world. They will
not agree to qualify it and say that it is the
largest bourgeois democracy.
And due to realism or perhaps scorn, they
will also not call it socialist democracy, de-
spite the fact that for the last fifteen years
they have been claiming to build "socialism"
in Indiat
No, it is just democracy-and the largest
one. They advertise this particularly when in
America.
India touched the figure of 500 million
population last year.
Thus, it is the second largest population in
the world, China's being the first.
The most outstanding fact that makes it a
democracy is that India is governed by a Par-
liament, which is elected every five years on
the basis of adult franchise. Since indepen-
dence came in 1947 and the Constitution of
the Republic of the Indian Union was adopt-
ed on January 26, 1950 we have had three
general elections-first, in 1952, second in
1957 and third in 1962. And the fourth is
coming in February 1967.
We are a democracy in this sense. More-
over, the Constitution guarantees to every
citizen not only to vote and elect a Parlia-
ment and Government. It also guarantees cer-
tain fundamental democratic rights and lays
down directive principles to guide state poli-
cy. The rights and principles by themselves
are no doubt good, if properly implemented.
For example, it was because these rights came
to be established in 1950 that the Commu-
nist Party, trade union and other organiza-
tions which had been declared illegal and sup-
pressed in 1948 were legalized and thousands
of our people were released from prison.
But within the framework of this very Con-
stitution and the Fundamental Rights, a new
law called the Preventive Detention Act was
passed in 1952 under which once again many
political workers continued to be imprisoned.
And since 1962 and the India-China con-
flict, the country has been under a state of
Emergency, by which, though the Parliament
sits and deliberates as before, all the Funda-
mental Rights, which were claimed to be the
basic ingredients of this largest democracy,
have been suspended, without any remedy
befa- th. Supreme E;e"rt of the land:
in view 91 !his M&MIS at smer-84140y NU&-U4&-
Defense of India Rules, the necessity for
which vanished long ago, thousands have been
sent to jail for the mere expression of politi-
cal opinions or for conducting strikes or other
struggles for the defense of people's rights
and living.
In short, we have a Parliament and we
have elections to the Parliament despite the
state of Emergency. You may say that elec-
tions are free, as far as they can be in a bour-
geois democracy, where the power of the
purse, the press and the policy is in the hands
of the ruling bourgeoisie and its landlord
allies. You may form any political party and
nominate candidates. And if your candidate
gets the highest vote as against his other
rivals, he is declared elected. The vote is cast
by the name of each candidate and his sym-
bol which is given to him for identification by
illiterate voters. The vote is not for the Party
as is the case in some countries. Nor is there
proportional representation in the voting
system.
Out of a population of 500 million people,
240 million are registered voters in this year.
In the 1962 elections they numbered 216 mil-
lion. Thus one can see that the number of re-
gistered voters in India is fifty million more
than the total population of America, and ten
million more than the population of the USSR.
The vastness of this number itself would show
how difficult it is for a party not In power
and without the vast resources of the bour-
geoisie to mobilize the people for the vote.
We have direct elections to the Parliament
of the whole country. But the country is di-
vided into 17 States roughly on linguistic and
historical basis. Then there are 9 territorial
areas under the Union Government.
The 17 State Assemblies also are elected
on the same day by the same voter in the
same booth but with a separate ballot box.
The following table shows the number of vot-
ers, seats and booths in the coming elections.
Registered voters (million) 240 216
Parliament-seats 521 497
State- Assemblies-seats 3,563 3,405
Polling Stations-Number 270,000 250,000
Each booth serves 1,000 voters and it would
require at least five cadres for a party to man
one hnnth. Thus if n arts/ warn to rn>Fnat all
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the seats, it would have to put into the field ever getting the majority of the votes of the
on the polling day at least one million organ- total poll in all the three elections. Of the
izers, which is beyond the capacity of any total votes cast in the three elections, the
democratic opposition party in the present Congress Party Cot
conditions.
In the existing Parliament (as of January 45.02 per cent votes in 1951-52
20, 19(35) there are 504 members. The ruling 47.78 Per cent votes in 1957
Congress Party holds 365 seats and all the 45.06 per cent votes in 19(32.
opposition pnrtics and individuals make tip
the remaining 133 (in which three were va- And yet with such a minority of the popu-
cant). The ruling party has an overwhelm- lar vote, the Congress Party secured the over-
ing majority over all the opposition parties whelming majority of the seats, both in the
together. Parliament and in the States. Only once in
In this opposition total, the Communist Kerala, the Congress Party was defeated by
Party of India (before the split) held 30 seats the Communist Party which, got three more
out of 133. Even then we were given the seats than all the other parties combined and
first role in the opposition as no other single formed the first Communist Ministry in India,
party by itself had as many seats as ours. which remained in power for two years and
After the split in the Party, we retained four months. But that result was an unex-
78 members of Parliament, and they num- pected one for all, and was not repeated in
bered 12. The three other parties of impor- the next two elections in Kerala.
tance are the Saingukta Socialist Party with The major reason why the Congress Party
16 Members of Parliament, Jan Sangh with wins the majority of seats an a minority of
113 members and the Swatantra Party with 16. votes is that the block of the majority votes
There are 13 other parties with about 30 is divided between several parties, who not
1VIPs but since they did not get five per cent only oppose the Congress Party but oppose
of the votes cast, they are not acknowledged each other also. In the 1962 elections, for ex-
as all-India parties for the purpose of listing ample, on the basis of 45.06; per cent of the
In the Parliament. Such parties worth noting popular vote for the Parliament, the Congress
are, for example, the Republican Party, the Party obtained 73.2 per cent of the seats.
Revolutionary Socialist Party, the Moslem With the growing discontent of the masses
League, the Hindu Mahasabha. Some parties against the policies of the Congress Party
like the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DIM) and the consequent mass struggles, fought
are limited to certain states and areas only, J with heavy sacrifice In the last two years and
though they have a sizable following. The particularly in this year since the crisis of
next election battles are going to be fought devaluation, a large number of political par-
around the platforms of these parties and ties of the democratic opposition have come
their fronts or combinations, on an all-India to recognize the need for a left democratic
and local scales. 1 front to oppose the Congress Party in day-to-
The Congress Party remains the most for- day struggles as well as in elections.
midable force in power. It is being opposed Not that such proposals were not there in
mainly by two forces-one representing the 1952, 1957 or 1962. Our Party has all along
progressive democratic masses of the toiling proposed to all the parties of the democratic
people drawn from the working-class, the left opposition that unless they united on the
peasantry, the middle classes, as also from basis of a minimum program aimed against
sections of the national bourgeoisie opposed the capitalist-landlord policies of the Govern-
to monopoly capital, and the other represent- ment, the country will not attain complete
'ing Right reaction. There are intermediary economic independence, the masses will not
groups who hover between the two on the reap the benefit of the growing wealth of the
basis of group interests and not purely on nation and the nation as a whole will be sub-
programs and policies. ject to neo-colonialist pressures despite the
The elections this time will show some new general line of non-alignment followed by the
features and new combinations and upsets in ruling party. But many of the parties of the
almost all parties, including the ruling Con- left democratic opposition, adopting the pos-
gress Party and the opposition parties of the tures of "anti-communism," well-known as
democratic Left and the reactionary Right, the postures of the Right wing of the Social
Democratic leadership in Europe, fought our
IL Party more than the Congress or the parties
of Right reaction. Some had the theory of
The Indian electoral system is based on "equi-distance" between communism and
the majority vote and not on proportional re- communalism. Some opposed the very idea
presentation. The majority-vote system has of democratic or united front on the alleged
had the peculiar result that the Congress ground of guarding the so-called "purity of
Party in India has been in power without their own principles and program." Some
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2
A,P j9%A eF.QrhP69"AW9NiWes gRJDR7,8yPtNEn 4i 09AWQQ0Ad8
but keep the trade unions separate or dis- some monopolists declare their goal as "so-
united. Some would have common action and cialism," it is no wonder that almost every
common trade union work but would not have party of the left democratic opposition de-
a common political front. clares socialism to be its goal also. But very
Some opposed us on the ground that we, few of them have ever defined socialism in
as Communists, did not believe in parliamen- terms of the working class or in terms of
tary democracy though we agreed to partici- Marxism-Leninism,
pate in Parliamentary elections and in bring- In the left democratic opposition in India
ing about changes in the state power and na- we have now two Communist Parties, name-
tional economy through parliamentary demo- ly, the Communist Party of India and the
cratic methods as long as the bourgeoisie Communist Party (Marxist) as the other party
allowed us to do so. We declared this in the calls itself for election purposes. In day-to-
Constitution and platform of the Party espe- day propaganda, however, the other party
cially in the Amritsar Party Congress of 1958. uses our name to confuse the people. We
But neither the gentlemen of the bourgeoisie, have in India the Revolutionary Socialist
who suppressed the masses and us with all Party (RSP), the Revolutionary Communist
the violence at their command, nor the com- Party of India (RCPI), the Bolshevik Party,
rades and friends of the democratic left who the Forward Bloc (Marxist), the Samgukta So-
.were themselves victims of that violence and cialist Party (SSP), the Praja Socialist Party
who with us shared common blows and com- (pSP), the Peasants and Workers Party, the
mon prisons, would agree to believe in our Lal Kishan Party, the Janata Parishad, and so
statements. The Congress Party as a whole on. Some of them function on a local state
took pains to foster this anti-communism, level. Some are of an all-India character. And
though some of its leaders may not have fully all of them have socialism as their goal, some
relished such a crusade. l of them arguing it in terms of Marxism as
Some of the left democratic parties accused 'they understand it.
us of not being "patriotic" and hence not The three parties of the left democratic op-
trustworthy in the matter of defense of the position who today provide the main forces
country. Even when we took up the position and the main Initiative for forming the bloc
of national defense against the Chinese inva- of left democratic candidates to fight the Con-
sion in 1962 and called it a "manifestation of gress Party are-one, the Communist Party
their narrow nationalistic and chauvinist am- of India; two-the Communist Party (Marx-
bitions," some of these parties attacked us, ist); and three, the Samgukta Socialist Party
taking advantage of the equivocal positions (SSP).
taken by some party leaders, who later on These three parties mainly rely on the re-
split the Party and formed a rival one. But volutionary working class, on the town intel-
now this question has been cleared up so far ligentsia and on sections of the working peas-
as our Party is concerned, removing one of antry. But unfortunately, all the three have
the hurdles in the formation of a united de- no united platform or approach though some
mocratic front. sort of minimum program has been agreed to
The growing political and economic crisis by all.
leading to common struggles in which our The SSP, led by Dr. Lohia, S. M. Joshi,
Party stood shoulder to shoulder with the Madhu Limaye, George Fernandez and others,
suffering masses and led them has helped to while allying with the parties of the Left, is
weaken the anti-Communist hysteria, for the also entering into alliance or understanding
time being at least. Our two big demonstra- with such parties of the Right reaction as the
tions before the Parliament in Delhi wherein Jan Sangh and Swatantra Party. They say
we mobilized under our banner nearly a quar. that the main need of the hour is removal of
ter of a million people from all over the coun- the Congress Party from power, no matter
try, once on the 13th of September, 1963, and with whose help. A minimum program for
again on the 1st of September, 1966, facilita- the election should be a single-line program-
ted preparing the ground for the formation Defeat the Congress.
of joint fronts or electoral adjustments among What will you do and how will you run the
the left democratic forces, as also in bring- country if you defeat it in conjunction with
ing about more united common mass actions the Jan Sangh or the Swatantra is no ques-
in the trade union and other fields. tion for them. Leave it to history, they say.
One of the peculiarities of the Indian situ- As for the Communist Party (Marxist),
ation is that while the masses are greatly at- while their leadership in Kerala has arrived
tracted by socialism, due to the successes of at a democratic front with us and the SSP,
the socialist camp in eradicating poverty, un- RSP and others, their leadership in West
employment and backwardness and espousing Bengal and other states, has decided to fight
the cause of world revolution and national our Party as the main enemy and if in the
liberation, none of the parties in India that process they help the Congress Party they
swear by socialism has clearly defined what have no scruples in doing so. In fact, they
it means by socialism. When even the ruling welcome it and facilitate it. They also try to
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split t trade unions and of her mass or- ters, W9, etc are i ; tm our main an
t;anizations. major leaders, including sitting members of
They proceed from the reasoning that un- Parliament and Assemblies.
diluted Right reaction in power at one end And by this splitting tactic, they are work-
of the pole helps to broaden the base of the ing up a position to do a lot of harm to our
revolution and enables the masses at the Party candidates.
other end to understand its need better. Hence In this, the CPM people are also helped by
the victory of utter reaction, whether from certain leading Congressmen of the Rightist
inside the Congress or outside, need not wor- variety and many Rightist groups in the coun-
r.?, file democratic forces. Secondly, the elimi- try and some ultra-left elements. One reason
nation of all groups and parties except their for this is that the Right reactionaries inside
own, which, they consider, is the only "truly and outside the Congress consider our Party
revolutionary and pure Communist Party," as a serious danger to their power, because
bringing about a situation in which they and of our strength in the working class and be-
reaction alone will confront each other, is the cause of our sober and realistic approach to
only road to the success of the revolution, the problems of the country and the need for
They consider our Party the main "revision. the Democratic Front. Hence they consider
ist" impediment in the revolution and hence it us a greater potential menace. And the other
must be liquidated first. Hence unity with us reason is that our Party is not prepared to
on any question is ruled out. enter into opportunist compromises for a tem-
In Kerala, however, the leadership of EMS porary gr':._which ultimately may land us in
Namboodiripad, while serving the largest the camp of counter-revolution or facilitate
number of seats for itself, has agreed to be its advance.
in a united front with us along with others, The discontent against the Congress re-
because the greatest possibility of defeating gime is being utilized by parties of the Right
the Congress and forming a Government of and also by such agencies as the American
the democratic coalition exists there and in CIA, whose agents are very active in India
the coalition the Communist Party (Marxist) these days. The crisis of the capitalist sys-
there will have a majority. The whole prob- tem, the system that the Congress Party has
gem of Kerala has its own peculiarities and been building in the country, has inevitably
exceptions. And hence the CPM there has affected its own organization also. The Con-
chosen its own line, despite their general gress Party as the political party of the na-
agreement with the main approach of their tional bourgeoisie is now undergoing splits
Party Center in West Bengal. In its own leadership. The various sections
The traditional stronghold of Communist and factions of the bourgeois-landlord class-
vote in all the three previous elections has as, in their wolfish cut-throat competition to
been the states of Kerala, Andhra and West seize the resources and the wealth of the
Bengal. Hence the split in the Party has af- country and to exploit: the labor of the work-
fected these three states most and has there- ing people, are trying to seize the Govern-
by strengthened the Congress Party in those mental machine for their own factional and
very states where it faced the challenge from sectional interests, without bothering about
the left democratic forces most. the interests of their class as a whole inside
Due to certain historical reasons, when the the country or the menace of the imperial-
Party suffered a split in 1964, the majority of ists and their neo-colonial maneuvers from
the cadres in Kerala and West Bengal went outside. Except for the dissident Congress in
with the rival party. Hence they retained the West Bengal, the splitting sections are gene-
opposition leadership in the states in their rally on the extreme Right and are backed by
hands, which they now want to use to destroy Rightists in the Congress. These forces are
our Party. But in Kerala, as already stated, making; alliances with the Jan Sangh and
some realism has helped to establish a unit- Swatantra parties. Together, they hope to
ed front, though it has been otherwise in capture the State legislature in the three
other states. states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and
Our Party has all along refused to put UP Gujerat.
rival candidates against the CPM, in the in- The economic and political crisis of the
terests of defeating the Congress and build- bourgeoisie and the capitalist system in India
ing a united front. is being used by the feudal princes who,
But the CPM leadership is putting up its though deprived of their State power, con-
candidates in all the major areas in the whole tinued to retain their economic assets in land
country against our Party and refuses to come and capital and certain of their personal priv-
to an overall understanding to defeat the ileges and pensions. This helped them also
Congress. Wipe out the Communist Party of to retain their hold over the people in the
India wherever possible, even at the cost of areas where they orice had their princely
letting the reactionaries win-is their slogan. states.
Hence in Bengal, even in their strongholds, Another peculiarity of the situation is that
they refused to put up candidates against the well-known monopoly houses who formerly
most reactionary Congress leaders and Minis- were content with financing the Congress
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Party and wielding influence from behind,
have now split among themselves and some
of them are standing for election against the
Congress, which also has its own monopolists
and princes in its fold and on its list of can-
didates.
The forces of extreme reaction have forced
a split on the ruling Congress Party, in order
to make it come out wholly on their aide and
give up whatever of non-alignment or anti-
colonialism and independent development is
left in its policies. The forces of the Right
are consolidating at a faster pace than before.
At such a time, the democratic opposition
should have united faster and better. But they
have not done so. That is the most serious
lag in the situation which, if not overcome,
may lead to a situation detrimental to the in-
dependence of the country and the well-being
of the people. Some say that if this is the
situation, would it not be wise for the left
democratic parties to unite with those ele-
ments in the Congress who are definitely op-
posed to Right reaction who favor the mono-
polies and the neo-colonialists? Such an al-
liance with the Congress organization and
leadership, as it is, would be quite out of
place, as was decided by the Vijayawada Con-
gress of our Party. There are hardly any crys-
tallized Left forces in the leadership of the
Congress, whether at top or lower levels. The
Rightists in it have become powerful. But
what remains of the centrist or "left" in its
leadership is in confusion. This was very
vividly seen when Krishna Menon, ex-Defense
Minister and close friend of Nehru, was
thrown out of his constituency by the Right-
ist pro-American group of S. K. Patil and
others and had to resign from the Congress.
The Left Democratic Opposition Parties have
declared their support for Mr. Krishna
Menon. They have also made an electoral
front with that section of the Congress which
split away from the Rightist group in West
Bengal and formed the Bangla Congress.
A general alliance with the Congress Party
by the Left Democratic Opposition with the
idea of saving it from the Rightist reaction
would simply repel the masses and strength-
en the hand of the reactionaries whom we
wish to fight. The left Democratic Opposition
forces must try to fight and defeat the Con-
gress Party and in that process help the pro-
gressive elements therein to expel the reac-
tionaries or form a new organization.
How is it that the Congress Party, which
headed the anti-imperialist liberation move-
ment and which ruled the country, under the
leadership of the late Jawaharlal Nehru, faces
the prospect of being defeated in three states
by the forces of reaction, while elsewhere it
will be severely weakened, though it may
succeed in retaining its majority with depre-
ciated strength in the Parliament and else-
where? How is it that in two states the Left
Democratic Alliance also may displace it from
power?
It has happened because the Congress, as
the party of the national bourgeoisie, after
attaining state power, pursued the path of
capitalist development, betrayed its promises
to the people, failed to develop the economy
even as a fully developed capitalist economy
and has been succumbing gradually to the in-
fluence of U.S. imperialism, while retaining
its economic links with the socialist camp
and its verbal loyalty to phrases of socialism
and democracy. The present crisis in the Con-
gress Party and in the country is the inevit-
able accompaniment of the growth of mono-
poly capitalism. That is why even after at-
taining independence and taking power as the
leading party of the anti-imperialist struggle,
the Congress never secured a majority of the
popular vote in the three countrywide general
elections. Nor will it do so in this election.
Hence, the Election Manifesto of our Party
describes the situation in the following words:
"All objective conditions for the overthrow
of the hated Congress.rule and for carrying
forward the national democratic revolution
to completion are now maturing as never
before."
But the greatest lag in the situation is the
absence of a unified organized revolutionary
leadership having a hold on the masses and
capable of leading, boldly and yet soberly, the
unprecedented mass movements, that are
sweeping over the country. Our Manifesto
says:
"The pre-election year of 1966 has wit-
nessed the largest number of political strikes
and bandhs. In defense of their wages, their
:' ,;its and their living standards, the working
people all over the country in their tens of
millions have pone into massive political and
economic actions. Middle class employees
have been drawn into mass actions in ever
greater numbers and in varied forms. One
remarkable feature of the present-day mass
upheaval is the country's student upsurge be-
fore which the barriers of so-called discipline
have collapsed. The heroic student commu-
nity has faced the fury of the Congress and
the bullets of its police during the just strug-
gle for much-needed but long-denied acade-
mic amenities so that the boys and girls can
get proper education, secure gainful employ-
ment and grow up as worthy citizens of our
republic.
"In rural India, the vast peasant masses,
land-starved and stricken, are in a restless
mood and in many places they too have moved
"People's rightful protests and movements
are, however, met with wanton police firings
and orgies of violence. Even the army is call-
ed out to put down legitimate popular pro-
tests. Leaders and workers of mass move-
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even members of Parliament and state as- der the five-year plans to build themselves
semUlies are spared persecution and humilia- up, as well as their 'bourgeois-landlord circles,
tion at the hands of the police ..." into thriving capricious millionaires. Every
What is the record of the Congress regime Ministry is disorganized and disrupted by in-
in the most vital matters of national life? As ternal rivalries, by graft and corruption. The
the Manifesto says:
"The record of Congress regime since the
last general election five years ago has been
one of dismal failures almost in eucry sphere
of our national life. Our agriculture, espe-
cially food production, is stagnant, notwith-
standing heavy financial outlays. Famine and
near-famine conditions, largely the creation
of man, stalk the land. Even at this moment,
starvation deaths are taking place in Bihar
and in UP and in other parts of the country
and the government refuses even to declare
them as famine areas. It is the greatest in-
dictment that after 19 years of uninterrupted
power, the Congress has failed to ensure even
the minimum food requirements for the mas-
ses, who are either starving or live on the
borderline of starvation.
"Under Congress rule the plunder of India's
wealth by imperialist exploiters continues.
Foreign private investments in our economy,
which are a source of this loot, today amount
to nearly Rs. 900 crores and every year tens
of crores of rupees are siphoned off from this
country by British and American monopolies.
leadership of the Congress Party and the gov-
ernment has lost its prestige and it has no
moral stature at all. The awe and terror in
which the state machine seeks to hold the
people is gradually ceasing to frighten them.
All these years the Congress rulers have been
pampering the reactionary monopolies. They
are now making pirodigious concessions to
American Imperialists. This line of appease-
ment and surrender has been lately climaxed
by the blackest national betrayal since inde-
pendence-DEVALUATION .
"American imperialists are today out to
exploit the hunger of our people in order to
cripple and sabotage our economy in crucial
sectors. They are out to destroy our indepen-
dence and humiliate our country.
"In soite of India's friendly relations and
economic cooperation with the Soviet Union
and other socialist countries, which are un-
doubtedly very beneficial to our nation, the
Congress rulers restrict the scone of this co-
operation under pressure of Indian and for-
eign monopolists and rely heavily on im-
perialist 'aid' even at the cost of national self-
respect and paramount national Interests!_
the biggest debtor among the newly-free
countries; its external debts, mostly to the
USA, stand around Rs. 5.000 crores, Involv-
ing annual repayment liabilities in principal
and interest of over Rs. 100 crores .. .
"The Congress regime is unable to keep
the industry running. Transport is in chaos
and fatal accidents on the railways go on in-
creasing.
"The rate of growth in our national income
has fallen and the rate of increase in per capi-
ta income has declined still further. The rupee
has drastically lost value due to runaway,
sky-rocketting prices. People are groaning
tinder crushing tax burdens. Rising prices, as
well as taxes on the common man, are of
course the inevitable result of Congress gov-
ernment policies to fatten the millionaires
and feed the greedy bureaucratic state ma-
chine. Plunder of the toiling people goes side
by side with colossal but unchecked adminis-
trative waste.
"The Congress regime is now a hotbed of
corruption. The source of this rampant cor-
ruption and graft is the unholy link-up be-
tween the Congress Ministers and Congress
leaders with the Birlas and other big business
families as well as the corrupt top bureau-
cracy that thrives on bribery .. .
"The ruling Congress party is ridden with
factions and power groups, each jockeying
for position for self-aggrandizement. Their
Indo-Pakistan conflict, the U.S. imperialists
have been holding up supplies of machinery,
raw materials and food, which they had pro-
mised so far. Instead of utilizing the crisis to
carry out independent and self-reliant deve-
lopment and swift agrarian reforms, whose
failures have been the cause of the food and
raw material crisis, the Government of the
Congress Party began to further vacillate in
its postures of non-alignment. It has failed
to condemn the American aggression in Viet-
nam and lend firm support to the Vietnamese
people. It has failed to give recognition to the
German Democratic Republic for fear of
West German and U.S, displeasure,
Even then, during the food and industrial
crisis, it appealed to the Soviet Union for
aid, which was promptly given. The dispatch
of 200,000 tons of grain as a free gift to the
people of the drought-ridden areas came as
a surprise and shock to the vilifiers of the
Soviet Union, and within hours the Americans
rushed to announce their "aid" which they
had been so far holding back.
But being tied to the apron strings of mon-
opoly capital, the Congress regime is unable
to utilize all the goodwill that India draws
from people all over the world to forge a de-
mocratic path of development, free from im-
perialist, monopolist and landlord influences.
Hence the need to defeat the Congress Party
in the coming elections.
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not oni f 1. 1'
y or c> in use but also for the army.
The medium and small-scale industrialists
FOR SAVING THE NATION AND SERVING will get all the help they need without wait-
THE MASSES: PROGRAM OF IMMEDIATE ing at the doors of the bureaucrats or losing
MEASURES the cream of their gains to the overriding
monopolists.
Life has shown that the Congress party Reasonable compensation will be paid on
cannnot be trusted with power any more. In the merits of each case. The Communist Party
its hands, even the existing gains of our peo- wants to make it clear that it does not think
ple's struggles are not safe. What the nation that all Industries and trade can or should be
desperately needs is far-reaching, radical nationalized at the present stage of develop-
changes in our present economic and political ment.
structure. 3. Nationalization of banks
With this objective in view, the Commu- The entire financial capital, accumulated in
nist Party of India places before the people a the banks and now used according to the will
positive program, implementation of which of the millionaires for their private gain, must
will save the country from the present crisis, be brought under the most effective state con-
stimulate production in industry and agricul- trol and planning. For this purpose, all banks
ture, ensure at, least minimum needs of liv- must be nationalized.
ing, strengthen and extend democracy and 4. Close speculative markets and exchanges
avert the danger of India falling a helpless The speculative markets and exchanges,
victim to American neo-colonialism. whether in shares, bullion or commodities,
1. End foreign exploitation are the worst disturbers of the economy and
The Communist Party of India stands for will be eliminated.
the total elimination of foreign monopolies 5. Resources for development
from our national economy in order to sec- Resources for national development must
ure economic independence. All industrial be raised through such means as nationaliza-
concerns, financial and business enterprises tion of banks, earnings from nationalized for-
owned by foreign monopolies-oil, tea plan- eign trade state-tradin b m
>e, Y oplng up the
tations, jute mills, etc.-will be nationalized. accumulated wealth of the monopolists and
It demands an immediate ban on remit- former princes, by stopping the payment of
tance of profits, dividends, royalties, etc., and compensation to the big landlords and cancel.
repatriation of foreign capital and moratorium lation of privy purses by unearthing black
on all debt repayments. money, by more efficient running of the
The Communist Party of India stands at state-owned industries, by drastically reduc-
present for taking over by the state all export- ing wasteful top-heavy administrative expen-
import trade. Along with this, in order ra- diture and by further improving trade and
pidly to reduce our dependence on the world other economic relations with the socialist
imperialist market and to save the country countries.
from imperialist exploitation through non- 6. Tax relief for the people
equivalent exchange, progressive planned - The Communist Party stands for overhaul-
diversion of our foreign trade towards the ing the entire present tax-structure which
socialist states and Afro-Asian countries Is fleeces the poor, hits and harasses the middle
necessary. It is also necessary to see that all sections and allows the wealthy all avenues
trade is conducted as far as possible on a of escape and evasion. The Communist Party
rupee basis. demands that land revenue should be abol-
The Communit Party of India stands also fished and replaced by a steeply graded tax
for organizing and rapidly developing the on agricultural Incomes, with exemption for
movement for self-reliance and import sub- all uneconomic holdings.
stitution, enlisting the full cooperation of our 7. Democratize and reorganize the public
scientists, technicians, intelligentsia and the sector.
trade unions, and for compulsory employment The Communist Party of India stands for
and utilization of Indian know-how by Indian a comprehensive program of rapid industrial
industry. development in which the public sector must
2. Curb monopolies
Effective measures to curb the monopolists
and to break up in particular the 75 monopoly
houses exposed in the Monopolies Commis-
sion Report are necessary.
With that end in view,' some sections of
private industry and capital must be taken
over by the state immediately.
C_nal-mining, non-ferrous metals like cop-
:.c and zinc, and electricity must also be in
the hands of the state, as also the manufac-
ture of cars and trucks since they are needed
have the commanding positions and the capi-
tal-goods industries pride of place. The public
sector must be democratized and the ICS and
IAS officials, who carry with them their ob-
solete rules and often sabotaging practices,
must be replaced by suitable technical per-
sonnel. Production and pricing policies will
be radically changed, enlisting the coopera-
tion of the trade unions so that the public
sector becomes an effective weapon for curb-
ing and fighting monopoly.
The Communist Party demands that the
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sta AP sector be rape y cxpan a and ccome 11,% rp us lan e r i
the dominant sector of our economy in all ing on holdings should be distributed among
branches. agricultural laborers and poor peasants. The
8. Management and trade unions burden of onerous rents and survivals of the
A conference of all the trade unions, unit- feudal past will be done away with.
wise and inu