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PENTAGON STEPS UP WAR PROPAGANDA AGAINST. CHINA
. The series of hearings on the war held before various commit~ tees” in Washington during the past month has made much plainer the . fundamental objective of Johnson" S policy in Asia. =
It is certainly. ‘not ‘to export freedom, democracy and selfdetermination to Vietnam, as its propagandists advertise. . ‘On the contrary, it seeks to break the national liberation . struggle in the south and so frighten and weaken Hanoi that. its leaders will’ stop assisting the ‘National - Liberation Front and pressure. it to capitulate. a -
-These dovetail into its larger | aim to hem in: Communist. ‘China. For this purpose official spokesmen have been depicting. Peking as an aggressive, expansionist, imperialistic tiger, getting ready, like Hitler's Germany, to. spring upon its nearest neighbors and spread its dominion | as fast and as far as it can throughout Asia.
Cueing the chorus in this scare campaign is Defense Secretary McNamara who told the Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy March 7 that China would be capable within two or three years of launching a’ nuclear. attack on countries within 70C miles of its borders. China, he added: ominously, would be able to make. a nuclear attack on the United: States in ten years. .
He ignored the facts that the U.S. is the only power that has ever dropped nuclear bombs on crowded cities and that the Chinese leaders have often stated they would never be the first to use nuclear weapons.
McNamara also said he was "disturbed" over the power this | growing arsenal had given China to support the "aggressive statements of her leaders." He failed to explain, however, just how either the bombing of north Vietnam or the crushing of the revolution in-the. south would immobilize or eliminate the alleged menace of China's nuclear expansion. _
His reticence does not at all mean that this crucial matter is not up for consideration. Indeed, the issue of how to deal with China is provoking furious debate not only in public sessions but behind the scenes of official Washington. -
In the seventeen years since the victory of the revolution. in 1949 the United States has undeviatingly pursued the same policy of containment toward the People's Republic of China that it did toward the USSR from the stabilization of the Soviet Republic in 1920 to its recognition ‘in 1933. Washington not only refuses to recognize | Peking but’ is now bent on tightening its-encirclement around her by every possible means.
Washington's present policy is to stop short .of. _provocative steps which would bring China into: defensive armed conflict, as in
Korea. However, such developments as the revolution in south Vietnam, the Sino-Soviet split, the growth of China's nuclear capability, and the reinforcement of American military installations in Southeast Asia have now brought forward two further questions for discussion and decision. Is containment and isolation adequate to serve the aims of U.S. imperialism's global strategy?: And, are not the circumstances propitious for all-out war with China now to obliterate its nuclear potential and remove its challenge for generations?
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee scheduled hearings on China following its sessions on Vietnam precisely because many of its members are so alarmed;:even frightened, about the intentions of the White House and Pentagon in regard to China. They know better than. anyone outside the innermost governing and military circles that . influential people are pressing for a preventive nuclear war with China and that this proposal has not been completely and conclusively rejected by Johnson.
The slant of the testimony given by McNamara : and Rusk indicates that this option remains open. More than that, it may serve to prepare the way for such an eventuality if or when the administration should decide to embark on that deadly path. :
' Rusk was Assistant Secretary of State during the Korean war and his obdurate anti-Chinese stand is well known. "Secretary of 7 Defense McNamara has seemed obsessed recently with worry over Red vhina," the syndicated columnist Drew Pearson reported from Washing-~ ton March 10, "It appears to overshadow all his decisions in the Pentagon and his discussions with Congress."
The Senate has authorized the added appropriations the president requested for the extended war in Southeast Asia with only.a few dissenting votes. But this vote did not show the extent of the opposition to his course nor the deep distrust of his ulterior aims among the dissident congressmen.
Pearson told of a private meeting hela by critical Democratic senators to discuss what tactics to follow on Senator Morse's resolution to rescind the 1964 Bay of Tonkin Resolution which Johnson has been interpreting as a blank check for escalating the war.
The senators present grew very emotional over the dangers of war. McCarthy of Minnesota declared that "we've got a wild man in the White House, and we're going to have to treat him as such." (McCarthy was considered as a possible candidate for vice-president before Johnson chose his fellow senator from Minnesota, Hubert Humphrey. )
Senator Gore of Tennessee described the president as a "desperate man who is likely to get us into war with China, and we havegot to prevent it. We all like the President, but we've. Bot to stop him. .
. What are ordinary citizens to think --- and do -- when senators who have been warm supporters of Johnson sound like keepers in an
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insane asylum confronted -with the need to put a strait jacket on the head of the institution who has suddenly ‘gone berserk! a
“These fears are not confined to one side of Congress. The oldest Republican in. the Senate, Aiken of Vermont, has likewise expressed his private view that the president was headed for nuclear war with . China.
‘This terrible possibility lurking behind. the current military moves is all the more serious because it appears to. be gaining ground among Johnson ' s closest advisers,
It lends the utmost urgency to the key slogans’ of the antiwar movement in the United States: Bring the troops home and stop the war now! - oo .
BOLIVIAN CROWD GREETS BARRIENTOS WITH ROCKS
La Paz
After resigning as co-president of the Military Junta, General René Barrientos Ortufo took a trip abroad. As was inevitable, he visited the United States and Panama where he received precise instructions. on how to conduct himself, as well as a "brain washing."
He stayed away for two months. During his absence he was pro-: claimed a candidate for. the presidency in the coming July 3 elections by the so-called Frente de la Revolucién Boliviana {FRB] made up of » tke MPC, PRA, PIR and the PSD.* He returned to Bolivia Friday, March a.
The Military Junta utilized the occasion to stage a demonstration in force. They sent a delegation of thirty persons to Lima to greet the general, a nonstop Lloyd Aereo Boliviano plane landing the party at the La Paz airport at 3 p.m. The entire cabinet, headed by President Alfredo Ovando Candia, welcomed him home. A’ squadron of military planes did stunts and the army and police set up controls on the roads and at the airport.
Wearing a bullet- proof vest, General ‘Ovando Candia met Barrientos and took him in the bullet-proof presidential automobile to the center of town.
The night before, the entire city had been covered with placards and the walls had been painted with slogans favoring Barrientos. Cards with Barrientos' picture had beer given to the shops to put in their windows and other cards had been strung on the electric lines. The city had a festive air, a natural extension of the political circus..
*Movimiento Popular Cristiano, Partido Revolucionario Auténtico, Partido de la Izquierda Revolucionaria, Partido Social Demécrata.
Finally, they: had sent dozens of trucks to bring in peasants, and they tried to attract miners into joining in’ by offering them expenses of 170,000 bolivianos [12,000 bolivianos = $1] for two days. (For a day of exhausting. labor in the mines, a worker is paid 9,000 bolivianos. 5) A few peasarits and some viffraft from several mines came in.
Nothing happened until the cortege reached the city. But from the Villa Victoria bridge onward, hostility was displayed against Barrientos and those accompanying him -- the leadership of the FRB, including Anaya (PIR), Guevara (PRA), Bozo (MPC), Siles' Salinas (PSD candidate for the vice-presidency). Crowds of spectators lined the streets. As the cortege proceeded it was met with insults, pebbles, and in somé places even tear-gas grenades. Barrientos was greeted with cries of "assassin," "murderer," "fascist," "“starver" CLhambreador], "agent of Yankee imperialism," etc., etc.
At the Pérez Velasco Plaza, three tear-gas grenades were thrown. Barrientos, who had got..out of the bullet-proof car to proceed in an open automobile, turned back to the bullet-proof behicle in a hurry. The chauffeur stepped on the gas, knocking over arches set up for the celebration. Bombs were. thrown in the. Prado, a Place where followers of Barrientos customarily gather.
The building next. to. ‘the headquarters. of the COB COenbrar Obrera Boliviana] and the Mine Workers Federation [Federacién de Mineros], the doors of which have been padlocked with heavy chains by the Military. Junta, was taken by the FRB as a headquarters and meeting place. From the, splendidly decorated balconies of this building, the leadership of the FRB and Barrientos nervously watched the incidents in the street, where more grenades were thrown and insults were shouted at Barrientos. They were able to speak after the police intervened with arms, wounding Velarde a university student leader.
A. number. ‘of orators preceded Barrientos. When he began, the — clamor again broke out. Barrientos stammered and prudently withdrew from the forefront of the balcony. The speeches. were brief and the | meeting was cut short.. 7 -
A counter demonstration began as a protest over the wounding of Velarde. This ended with a crowd throwing rocks at the headquart~ ers of the Partido Social Demécrata which are opposite the university.
Despite the multiplication of commissions aimed at attracting peasant interest, the peasants did not mobilize. Small groups of bureaucrats marched with peasant banners. Agents of the DIC [Direccién de Investigacién Criminal] at Catavi, Siglo XX, Huanuni and some bureaucrats adhering to the PRA stood in as miners. All public employees were ordered to show up at the reception for Barrientos under threat of being fired if they did not. Army personnel out of uniform were also ordered to show up. The groups belonging to the FRB were prodigal with money. o
But with all this, only about 35800 persons cured ¢ out. The’
hostile crowds were several times larger. The welcome organized for Barrientos, it can be concluded, was°a failure. It revealed his lack of popularity, the resistance among the people to him. The FRB, made up of insignificant groups, is incapable of mobilizing the masses.
“By way of contrast, ‘the activity of the POR [Partido Obrero Revolucionario] attracted ‘attention. Barrientos' return gave the POR an opportunity to engage in action and demonstrate its capacities shortly after uniting.
During the night before the reception, squads engaged in painting slogans on walls. At the march and the meeting, numerous groups of members of the POR distributed small leaflets with sentences like: "Barrientos; Ovando, Murderers. Long live the United POR"; “Against Military Fascism. Long Live the United POR"; and so on.
Throughout practically the entire parade for Barrientos, POR publicity was to be seen everywhere, some of it being thrown through car windows into the faces of the officers guarding Barrientos.
Groups of workers formed around the demonstrating members of the POR, and they improvised lightning demonstrations that went right up to the leaders of the FRB, shouting: "Down with the Military Junta, Murderers, Assassins." They. would then disperse in the crowd.
University students belonging to the POR displayed a globe. with a triangular sign that read: "Military Murderers -- Long Live the POR."
Members of. the POR were in. the forefront of the incidents that interrupted the Barrientista orators in the Prado. The bourgeois press has maintained silence about the POR's action, or has attributed it instead to the MNR [Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario] and the extremists in general.
‘The MNR and -the ‘PCB [Partido Comunista Boliviana] also distributed leaflets, but only on a small scale. The leaflets of the united POR dominated the scene. :
Barrientos in the end dia not ‘dare - accept the presidential candidacy. offered by the FRB, saying that he would study the Bolivian situation.and decide later. -.. oS 7
LA PAZ POLITICAL POLICE FIRE AT TROTSKYISTS
La Paz
At 3 a.m. March 4, as two squads of members of the Partido Obrero Revolucionario [Revolutionary Workers party] were pasting up leaflets in the factory area of the city near the railway station,. some twenty carloads. of agents of the DIC [Direccion de Investigacion Criminal], Bolivia's political police, pulled up and began firing” 3 their: rifles.
p42
-- Gabriel Guzman, a railway worker and member of the Central Committee of. ‘the POR, was the: target of several shots before being arrested. — oo
“The other Trotekyists, numbering about twenty- five, escaped the police. contingent and went to other areas to continue their work. They saved : all their leaflets, from falling into the hands of the cops.
Other squads that. “went out the same night. ran into scuffles but without major damage.
'. MELITARY JUNTA SMASHES -BOLIVIAN WORKERS' RADIO STATION |
| La Paz
On February - 28, agents of the DIC {Direccién de Investigacion Criminal], Bolivia's political police, smashed up the broadcasting equipment of Radio Continental, the station belonging to the Building Trades Federation (Federacién de Trabajadores Fabriles] of La Paz, located in the Vino. Tinto area.
‘According to the March issue of the underground newspaper, El Fabril, the vandalistic action was discussed and decided on at. the February 22 meeting of the cabinet set up by the Military Junta. Minister of Labor Col. Samuel Gallardo Lozado was opposed, and the proposal gave rise to a sharp dispute. .
During the events of last May, Radio Continental was silenced by mortar fire. Patiently and with considerable self-sacrifice, the building-trades workers repaired the station and were - getting ready to resume broadcasting.
By again smashing up the equipment, the military government aimed.at preventing.a workers' station from competing on the air and breaking the monopoly on ‘publicity held by the junta.
The building-trades workers reacted violently against the government and are demanding replacement of the destroyed equipment, stating that they are mobilizing and declaring a "state of emergency" until their demand is granted. The other sectors of thé labor movement have expressed solidarity, condemning the fascist methods of the military.
MEETING OF THE MNR BOMBED
La Paz
ot “Under protection of. Bolivia’ s political police. a.fascist group belonging: to the Movimiento, Popular. Cristiano, the party set up by.the Military Junta, threw bombs at a house where ninety-two. members of. the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario were meeting. The home: belongs to one of the leaders of the MNR, Dr. Guillermo Jauregui. Guachalla... No one was arrested, but the house was badly damaged. The incident
typifies the methods employed by the military dictatorship against political opponents.
LEADERS. OF BOLIVIAN MINE WORKERS HELD PRISONER ..
La Paz. =
Sinforoso Cabrera of the Partido Obrero Revolucionario and Pastor Alcocer of the Partido de la Izquierda Revolucionaria Nacional, both. of. them leaders of the Mine Workers Federation, were arrested some time ago for presiding at a workers meeting at the Kami mine. Two university leaders, Armando Velasco and Eduardo. Belmonte, whowere visiting the mines in connection with a campus-mine agréenent , were also arrested.
Alcocer and Cabrera, viho was held in the Alto Madidi concentration camp until recently, were brought to La Paz. The COB [Central Obrera Boliviana} and the Mine Workers Federation secured a writ of » habeas corpus which they served on the head of the DIC ([Direccién de. Investigacion Criminal] to secure the release of the two defendants.
To get. around this legal: move, the prosecution charged the two. with criminal attempts against the security of the state. Thus they — were sent to the San Pedro prison where another mine workers' leader, the Trotskyist Isaac Camacho, is being held under the same charge.
A national campaign has been launchea to win the release of these revolutionary leaders. Already it has met with wide response among the masses.
WHY DON'T THEY EAT WORDS?
_ Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is chagrined over the reports in other countries that India faces famine. She told the. Associated Press [in a dispatch printed March 13]: "There was a time when famine meant people falling down and dying like flies. If this is the meaning, then we don't have famine. If it means that there will be a period of considerable hardship, there is one now, and it is likely to worsen inva couple of months."
A notorious queen of France once ‘quipped, when told that the people had no bread, "Why don't they eat cake?" The final rejoinder to her humor came in a guillotine.
The Indian ruler is even more cynical. "Famine? They've got the wrong definition." -
But the hunger demonstrations now going on in ‘India indicate a mounting impatience with the indifference of the rulers. ‘There's a good reason -~ the example of China ‘which showed that orie way ‘to get a full rice bowl is to carry out a thoroughgoing revolution. °
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THE NEW DRAFT’ PROGRAM OF THE AMERICAN CP
By George Novack
The Communist party U.S.A: made public a new