OFFERS EAST EUROPEAN. COUNTRIES BAITED HOOK
President Johnson's proposal'May 3 to liberalize trade with Eastern Europe should be a reminder’ ‘that the imperialist rulers in Washington apply their foreign policy not only with bellicoseness. and bluntness but can promote it with tactical finesse in certain : ae areas.
The president will request Congress to pass legislation giving him discretionary authority to extend most-favored-nation benefits to the Communist bloc, drastically reducing the tariffs on their exports to the‘ United States. At present only Yugoslavia and Poland . have that status. “Bulgaria, Hungary ,_ Czechoslovakia and Rumania would be eligible to join them. © ~
The ending of discriminatory tariff barriers: would be a first step in removing existing blocks to trade relations between the ~~. United States and these Communist countries. It could''be followed‘ by elimination of the legal obstacles ‘to extension of normal commer cial credits and revision of U. 8. strategic controls on exports.
This move aims to araw the, workers states of Eastern Europe closer to the American orbit. Johnson is indicating: to them that the Vietnamese war need’ not ‘be an insuperable block to improved economic and diplomatic relations with Washington. He is also holding out the prospect of- ‘simitar ‘favorable treatment to Moscow if the Soviet leaders. are looking for a payoff for their restraint in opposing U.S. armed intervention ‘in Southeast Asia.
The Fiat Automobile Company announced on the same day that it had signed an agreement to build a factory in the Soviet Union with a daily capacity of 2,000 vehicles at a total investment exceeding $500,000,000. This is viewed as the beginning of a more general accord on technical and ‘scientific collaboration in the | automotive field.
This huge slicé ‘of economic and technical assistance has the blessing of Italy's partners in NATO. The project is also likely to have indirect U.S. help in the form of some machine tools for the plant. According to the May 5 New York Times, the State Department and Department of Commerce gave assurances to the Fiat officials that there would be no difficulty over export licences for such equipment.
This represents a major change in the export policy of Washington toward the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Hitherto the United States has not permitted the sale of machine tools to such countries.
The administration does not expect Congress to act on the measure at this session. These minor concessions are being held out as bait in the hope of making the ‘Soviet bloc governments, plédged to the pursuit of “peaceful coexistence" with imperialism; ‘somewhat
more compliant with Washington's.wishes and.to discourage them from serious resistance to its aggressions against China and the colonial revolutions. The proposed benefits can be revoked at any time by the president. s 20 ow Lo ne -
- AUSTRIAN SOCIAL DEMOCRATS GO INTO OPPOSITION
Vienna
....lwenty-oné -years of coalition between the OVP [Oesterreichische Volkspartei -- Austrian People's party]. andthe Social Democrats — have come to an end; arter suffering a defeat in the March 6 elections, the. Austrian Social Democracy was pushed into an opposition role by the. yeactionary wing of the. OVE. ,
Nevertheless, ata special congress, “the leadership: ‘attempted a final maneuver that would leave open the possibility, despite everything, of continuing to participate in a coalition government. Although most of the rank-and-file spokesmen came out against participation in the government, the congress énded up by adopting a resolution 499 to 2 stating that the Austrian Socialist party was ready to join in a coalition with the OVP, but on three conditions: a guarantee must be given. that the government would be maintained at least eighteen months; the jurisdiction of the ministries offered to the Socialists must remain as it was before March 6, which would mean that the OVP would not have exclusive power over the administration ‘and the army and that the Socialists would retain the upper hand in the nationalized sector; the. budget must assure sufficient funds and be allotted without discrimination among all the departments (meaning that the nationalized sector must not be strangled by lack of funds).
_ The People's party ‘refused to accept these proposals. The — Socialist party leadership thereupon decided by a vote of 30 to 10, with 10 abstentions, to go. into opposition. Kreisky, the former : minister of foreign affairs, favored unconditional participation; Pittermann, the chairman of the party, adopted a hesitant position; © Hindels and all the trade-union representatives were for going into ~ opposition.
The establishment of a pure People's party regime was accon-. panied by a big “purge" of the central administration of the state and nationalized enterprises in order to oust the Social Democrats — from the top posts.
_ At the same time the bourgeoisie opened up an offensive against the nationalized sector as a whole, beginning the’. return a of the nationalized enterprises to private ownership. hd
-The reformist leaders want to. ‘limit their "struggle" against this reactionary offensive’ merely to parliament. But’ this will not fail to sharpen differences within the Social Democracy.
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HUMANISTS 5 TRBASE NOTE
Horst Faas, Associated Press's Pulitzer Prize-winning photog= rapher, who is credited with having taken some of the most sickening and heart- ~rending pictures of the slaughter in Vietnam, was quoted in an article-in the March issue of Popular Photography as expressing the following philosophy about his "bread and butter" occupation of photographing wars: agen 4 "War, Like anything else one photographs, is human and war is more. “human than anything else. A good war photo shows human beings. in a. situation that is described as war.
ny think the best war photos I have taken have always been | made when a battle was actually taking place -- when people were confused and scared and courageous and stupid and showed all these things. -When you look at people right at the very moment of truth, everything is quite human. You take a picture at this moment .with all the mistakes in it, with everything that might be confusing to the reader and that's the right combat Photo. Mo,
“PERSPECTIVE noua |
We have occasionally received inquiries about the French
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