r

SILATIE CONTINUES FIGHT;

Cat Students ProtestCurbs on Student Gov't;Administration Pounces

by Jim Petras(As reported in the December YOUNG SOCIALIST, the Uni-

versity of California is in a turmoil following a set of directivesbt/ President Kerr which virtually abolished representative stu-dent government at the University and placed severe restrictionson the functioning of student organizations. The anti-fraternityparty. Slate, along with several other organizations and indivi-duals, has been fighting these directives.)

BERKELEY—As the YS goes to®press Slate is in the midst of ageneral student election, the Kerrdirectives being the central issue.The fraternity types and the so-called independents do not offeropposition to the administration."Togetherness" is their motto.Slate is the only group which hasa program for a student govern-ment.

The Administration has prepar-ed itself in order to defeat Slate.The main support for Slate in thestudent body is among the grad-uate students. The Chancellorarbitrarily removed the graduatestudents as voting members. ThusSlate is operating under a greathandicap in this election.

MOVES TO IGNOREEarlier, the Slate representative

to the Executive Committee of theAssociated Students made a mo-tion: to ignore the directives ofthe University President until stu-dents could decide the powers ofstudent government. But the ma-jority of the Executive Commit-tee, dominated by the fraternitycoalition, prevailed and the mo-tion was defeated.

Protests denouncing the Kerr

Canadian StudentsSeek Immediate End'To tfuclear Testing

by Paul SchwartzTORONTO—The main assem-

bly hall of the University of Tor-onto was packed with 500 of its12,000 students. They, came tohear the plea of leading facultymembers for support of theiranti-H-bomb petition.

The petition, to be signed bythe students and sent to the Can-adian Tory Prime Minister JohnDiefenbaker, calls for an "immedi-ate and permanent end to thetesting and production of nuc-lear weapons" and "for measuresto prevent the spread of suchweapons to countries that do nothave them."

Many students who thought thepetition was not strong enough inits wording and who wanted fur-ther action enthusiastically ap-plauded Professor K. McNaugirtwhen he emphasized that the pe-tition was only a "minimum de-mand." Other faculty memberssupported this view.

WITHDRAW U.S. TROOPSToronto supporters of the

YOUNG SOCIALIST distributed aleaflet urging the faculty tostrengthen the petition by de-manding of the Canadian govern-ment that it 1) -cut the militaryexpenditures; 2) demand the re-moval of U.S. troops from Can-adian soil; 3) withdraw Canadiantroops from other lands.

The leaflet urged the studentsto support the petition, but tosupplement it by organizing a pro-test motorcade to North Bay,where the Canadian governmentis now building Canadafs firstmissile base.

Petitioning: of this nature hasspread to several other Canadianuniversities, among them McGill,McMaster, and the University ofVancouver.

directives continued from othercampuses of the University—San-ta Barbara, Sacramento State,and Riverside, where studentspicketed an administration build-ing.

At UCLA, students are organiz-ing a student political party sim-ilar to Slate, which tentativelycalls itself Platform.

The Bureaucrats, meanwhile,were also "doing things." Ontheir way to the Santa Barbaracampus—Slate was visiting diff-erent campuses to determine theclimate of opinion—State peoplewere slandered by a high ad-ministration official, who went sofar as to say that Slate was outto "destroy the University." This'bureaucrat then made hints atmysterious powers . . . that Slatehad "outside support."

Such is the Method of the Ed-ucator.

KERR UNDER PRESSUREUnder the impact of the initial

furor over the directives and thecontinual pressures of the studentsled by Slate and the Student CivilLiberties Union, His ExcellencyPresident Kerr withdrew one sec-tion of the directives: that sec-tion banning recognized studentgroups on campus from takingstands on "off-campus" issues.The most important part of theKerr directives, however, remains.The Chancellor still has directcontrol over Student Governmentand ultimate veto power over stu-dent affairs. Student GovernmentPresident Dave Armor, a memberof Slate, pointed out: "One of themost crucial restrictions was theprohibition of student govern-ments in taking stands on off-campus issues and this provisionhais not been ajffwtad by themodification."

Slate is particularly affected byKerr's directive as it has, sinceits inception, waged campaigns on"outside issues" of interests suchas the referendum last springagainst segregation in Berkeleyhousing-. This referendum wassponsored by United Socialist Ac-tion, and supported by the YoungSocialist Alliance.

All the official "liberal" groups,such as the Democratic Party andthe NAACP, opposed the proposi-tion, causing- its defeat. Slate'ssupport of the socialist-sponsoredproposition incurred the wrathof President Kerr, who j-ave Slatea fight for ite very life.

For the first time since the loy-alty oath struggle [in 1950] thefaculty at.Cal has taken a stand:the Academic Freedom Committeeof the Faculty Senate has takena very critical view of the nowinfamous Kerr Directives.

CONTINUES STRUGGLEBut the Slate people continue

to strive for their goals. Anothertrip to Southern California camp-uses is planned. They plan toutilize their growing membershipfor carrying the political issuesto the Cal students.

Aryay Lenske, Slate chairman,puts it this way: "We will con-tinue to fight against any denialof student rights despite the de-sire of the Administration to endpolitical action on the campus."

Exclusive: Inferview with Isaac Deutscher-p. 4

YOUNG SOCIALISTTen Cents Voice of America's Future

Vol. 3, No. 4 January, 1960

ack ArnoldPete Seeger sings to New York rally supporting- First Amendment defendants

AS TRIAL LOOMS:

Pete Seeger Faces Jail for Viewsby Jack Arnold

Pete Seeger, the popular singerof folk music, was summoned inAugust of 1955 to appear beforethe House Un-American ActivitiesCommittee as it sat in session, inNew York. Appearing along withhim were about 30 actors and ac-tors' agents. The committee's pur-pose as stated by chairman Fran-cis Walters was "to expose theCommunist conspiracy in the en-tertainment field."

In the interview held by this re-porter with Pete Seeger, Mr. Seeg-er remarked that according toSherlock Holmes "nothing is evera coincidence. It certainly was nocoincidence that just at the time

a hot fight was raging in the TVactors union the Committee de-cided to hold hearings in NewYork. Walters tends to show up ata time when he thinks he can dothe most damage."

Mr. Seeger goes on trial inJanuary to face contempt of Con-gress charges arising out of hisFirst Amendment resistance tothe inquisitorial probing of theUn-American Activities Commit-tee.

Mr. Seeger is one of the 30 FirstAmendment contempt cases be-ing aided by the newly organizedCommittee of First AmendmentDefendants. Contributions for thework of this committee should be

New Student Party at San DiegoFights Fraternity Domination

SAN DIEGO, Calif.— The In-dependent - Liberal Party of SanDiego State College is essentiallya protest movement. It began lastMay as the Independent Organi-zation. The student governmentat iSan Diego State College isdominated by members of Greek-letter social fraternities and sor-orities ("Greeks"), primarily be-cause few other student bodymembers have any interest in stu-dent government.

It was felt by the leaders ofthe Independent Organizationthat Independents ("non-Greeks")should also become politically con-scious, adopt platforms, supportcandidates, and so on. After anunsuccessful election campaign atthe end of May, the independentswere reorganized under the nameIndependent Party, a group con-cerned with welding the Independ-dents on campus into a cohesivepolitical unit and giving themtheir full share of political power.The "Greeks" number 1500 out ofa student body of 10.000, yet they

control most of the student gov-ernment.

Primary in the IndependentParty's program was also a desirefor reform. This was particularlydirected toward the campus book-store. The bookstore is operated bya faculty-student board, the Az-tec Shops Board. This board ispresumably elective, but its facul-ty members were last elected in1933. Mr. Richard Thomas, whoholds the mysterious office ofGraduate Manager, is an ex of-ficio non-voting member of thisboard. Despite his non-voting sta-tus, he is secretary and treasurerof the board and, according! toreports from those who have at-tended board meetings, conducts90 per cent of the board's businesssingle-handedly.

The bookstore's monopolisticposition on campus guarantees itan annual business of $400,000and an annual net profit of $99,-000. Prices at the bookstore, ac-cording to the most reliable fig-

< Continued on Page 2)

sent to the committee at Post Of-fice box 564, Radio City Station,New York 15, N.Y.

Q. — Why did you invoke theFirst Amendment rather thanthe Fifth?

A.—I told Congressman SchererI had nothing against the peoplewho used the Fifth Amendment. Imyself just chose not to.

Q.—In other words, you wereobjecting to the nature of thequestions the committee wasasking?

A.—Yes, the use of the First isa broader attack on the commit-tee. The committee's antics aredamaging Americans. They haveblackened our country's reputa-tion in the eyes of people aroundthe world.

Q.—I understand that you en-gaged in an interchange of wordswith the committee when youappeared. Can you tell me a lit-tle about that?

A.—Actually I w&s r a t h e rstraightforward. What I said wasthat I've never done anythingconspiratorial, supported anythingconspiratorial, or sung any songsthat were conspiratorial. Becausesome of my opinions may be dif-ferent from yours is no reason forme to be thought of as any less ofan American.

Q.—Pete, I remember theWeavers group had several re-cordings on the market that werehits. Then they just seemed todrop out of sight and very littlewas heard of them for someyears. Can you tell me what thereasons for that were?

A.—Many performers don't liketo talk about blacklists becausethey feel it hurts business—but Idon't have any objection to talk-ing about blacklists. Most peopledon't have any idea how manyhave been blacklisted. We (theWeavers) sold two million copiesof "Good Night Irene" and thenin July 1950 our TV contract wascancelled and we couldn't get any

(Contraued on Pa.s?e 4 ) .

Page 2 YOUNG SOCIALIST January, i960

Out!THANKS, SCOT!"

Dear Editors:Helen and I wish to congratu-

late you on the YS lor November1959. The material and the make-up are both good.

Scott Mearing

DOESN'T CAREFOR NROTC

.Dear Editors:Following is the text of a letter

which I submitted to the Profes-sor of Navnl Science here recent-ly:

My Naval Science instructortold me this mornini? that I didnot care for my Naval Science•classes and my appointment asMidshipman, TJSNR. This is true.In this statement I will expandand explain my reasons for. "notcaring for" my appointment.

Gradually, and since I havebeen in college, I have become lessund less appreciative of my ap-pointment as a Midshipman. Thefirst lessening of my spirit prob-a'bly came during my Freslimanyear. This was riot a dislike forthe appointment, however, and letit be noted that until recently I.have had every intention, of be-coming a Marine officer. Duringuny Freshman yea)' I began tothink that perhaps I would not bea career officer: I was not filledwith a desire to be a platoon lead-

er in the Marine Corps, and I in-i tended to apply for pilot training.

I must blame these ideas on anunconscious dissatisfaction withthe miltary way of life.

Throughout my Sophomore yearthese ideas continued, and I hopedthat when I became an officer I

I would be placed in some position| that would not directly connectI me with the front lines of war, I

remembered that I had had past| experience in communications and| thought that perhaps communi-| cation officer would be a good po-! sition for me.

This summer and fall has beena great period of personal enlight-

| ment During the last fewi months I have read or reread andj seriously studied the great reli-

gions and the works of the greatreligious and political thinkers.. . . I have investigated and con-sidered many social viewpoints—Utopian, Marxist, socialist, anar-chist, democratic—and have givenmuch thought to each. I haveconsidered the problem of what Iam. what my purpose is on earth,and what my final goal should beand I have decided that my finalgoal is in conflict with the pur-poses of the NROTC, or of anymilitary force. . . . I do believethat the United States is using apolicy of arms buildup and foreignaggression which is leading us to-wards a terrible war or an equallyunbearable police state. I believethat it is my duty as a human be-ing to protest this policy. I 'believethat a military state such as wehave and are intensifying repre-sents a definite infringement onhuman dignity; human beings be-come nothing as compared withthe all-importance of the state.

T have objected recently to the

removal by the armed forces ofhuman rights; I now find it nec-essary to object officially to ourpolicy. of militarism and removalof human rights and our drifttoward the police state. My dutyhas become one, like Thorcau, ofcivil disobedience. For these rea-sons I submit my withdrawal fromNROTC.

Thomas Otis 1'riee, Jr.Corvallis, Ores'on

SWARTIIMORE PROTESTS

Dear Editors:I read with interest a recent

issue of your newspaper in whichit was stated that Swarthmorehad refused to allow YOUNG SO-CIALIST representatives to visitthe campus. I would like to clar-

| ify the position of the college. Itis not an anti-socialist stand, butr a t h e r an all-inclusive ruleagainst having outside commer-cial firms solicit business 011campus in any mariner. As younoted in your article, Swarthmoreis a liberal institution of highacademic standing. As .such, thereis, of course, a strong socialisticsentiment present in the studentbody.

I'eter S. WalchSwarthmore, Penna.

In other cases where sales ofthe YOUNG SOCIALIST havebeen forbidden on a campus aspart of a ban on "commercialliterature." for example, at the

Young Socialist •Martha Curti, Editor

Nora Roberts, Associate-EditorSherry Finer, Business Manager

Editorial Board: Bert Deck, George Payne, Tim Won!forth,.Shane Mage, James Lambrecht, Martha Curti, Allen Taplin.

Corresponding Editors: Philadelphia-—Kenneth Stephens; Detroit—Evelyn Sell; Chicago—John Worth; Minneapolis—Tom Leonard;Denver—Leonard Hodgett; Los Angeles—Peter Allan; Berkeley—JinnPetras; San Francisco—Bob Mattingly; Seattle—John Severn; New-York—Daniel Freeman: Baltimore—A. Robert Kaufman; Milwaukee—Myrtle C. Kastner; Boston—Pete Came jo; Maine—John R. Paton;Alabama—Fred Fry; San Diego—BUI H. Couture; Canada—Cliff Cot-ton; Britain—Janet Downs; Germany—Wolfgang Kaiser.

Roving Correspondent: Richard Dellaan. Field Representative:James Robertson.

SUBSCRIPTION PRICE :$1.00 a year, $.50 for six months. Bundle rates: S7.00 (orfirst 100 copies. $s 00 lor each additional 100. The YOUI?G SOCIALIST Is publishedmonthly. P.O. Box 471. Cooper sta., .N.Y. ;), N.Y. Phone EN 2-3722. Opinions expressesin signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of the YOUNG SOCIALIST,which are expressed in editorial statements.

Vol. 3, No. 4 (25) January, 1960

The Biggest FixThe year just completed might well be called "The Year

of the Big Fix." Not that any new hoaxes were devised to gypthe American population, but one revelation after anotherof fraud and corruption in nearly every field has jolted theaverage Person-in-the-Street into utter cynicism. He now as-sumes that anything and everything is a fix. Even the repu-table publication "Consumers Reports" has found it neces-sary to reassure its devoted readership that its evaluationsare based on nothing- but Untainted Research in the interestof the consumer.

For several years now Congressional expose committeesi,. . , _ , , , , . . , , have concentrated their efforts on corruption in the laborUniversity of Colorado (Bould-1 movement. This has gotten to be pntty tame after a while;er). American Civil Liberties so now they have taken up the cudgel to expose the world-Union chapters have taken the \g TV scandals. Idols have been smashed; careersposition that a ban on disMbu- wrecked; illusions dispelled. Other committees reveal thattion of commercial literature the public has been robbed of $750 million yearly by the drugshould not be used as an excuseto prevent distribution of religi-ous or political literature.—Ed.

MIDDLE-EAST ANALYSIS:

Fuby Fred Mazclis

(This article is- based on a !talk given by the author to the \ Zionist Organization at

the City College of New York.)Since the founding of Israel 11 |

j/e;u's> ago, the country has beenplagued by the animosity of theneighboring A r a b governmentsand the overwhelming majority ofthe Arab peoples. The greatesttask confronting the Israeli peo-pje in the next decade, one whichmust be accomplished b e f o r egrowth can be assured, is the es-tablishment of friendship and un-derstanding with the Arab masses.

The Arab-Israeli dispute is verycomplex, enveloped as it is in thecold war and the colonial revolu-tion in the Middle East. The Arabmasses are in the midst of over-throwing feudal monarchies, deca-dent regimes subservient to theW e s t e r n imperialist countries.The people of the Middle East to-day see their poverty as a resultof foreign domination, collusionbetween the West and reactionary

elements in their own countries.This is most obviously true atpresent of the regimes in Iran andJordan.

IMPERIALIST STATION

. In the attitude of Israel towardsthe Arab revolution we can finda clue to eventual Arab-Israelipeace. The present Israeli govern-ment chooses to turn its back onthe colonial revolution and to sidewith the colonialists. The Arabpeople, with justification, see Is-rael as a supporter of their ene-mies, as a base in the Middle Eastfor imperialism. Witness the voteof Israel.in the U.N. on the Alger-ian issue and the attack by Israelon Egypt in conjunction withBritain and Prance in the Suezcrisis.

It is important that Israel seethe difference between the Arabpeoples and their past and pres-ent leaders. This understanding ofthe trends and changes takingplace in the Middle East requiresa socialist analysis of the situa-tion. The only progressive path

companies. In New York City, recent discoveries show thatthousands of families have had to fork out money to pay forthe butcher's thumb, or for adulterated gas in their cars.

No layer of government, no pillar of respectability is freefrom the implication of corruption. Not at all a freak, not atall accidental, corruption is a part of the very fabric of thesociety. It has existed, it will continue to exist, as long as ourpresent economic system exists: a system in which not a wheelis turned, not a machine runs, not a house is built, not a

open to Israel, in the Middle East play produced or a book published, unless there is profit in it.

The biggest fix of all is beyond the scope of the govern-: ins Place there, not on the side of i mental committees. It will never be revealed by them—those who maneuver to keep | though most of their members are aware of it; in fact, thou-

sands and millions of dollars are spent yearly to keep knowl-edge of this fix from leaking out. For when this biggest fixof all is known to the American people, they will not allowthe capitalist system, the system which to have life must rob,

conflict is to line up on the sideof the revolutionary changes tak-

i feudal regimes in power.j Notwithstanding Nasser's! itary dictatorship, it was the aspi-i rations of the Egyptian people |! which were at stake in the Suez j must cheat, must lie, to stand for one minute.| crisis. By invading Egypt at that jtime, Israel showed itself to be anenemy of the Arab people. Israelshould have denounced the Anglo-French invasion instead of join-

; ing it; and offered its assistancej to the Arabs over the head of Nas-i ser. This would have put Nasser in! a difficult position. Followingi such a policy, Israel would soonI have found> Arab people.

support among the

SOCIALIST CLUB LISTWe print the fotloivinfi club list us an aid for those, in-

terested in organized socialist activity:BALTIMORE: Socialist Study Group. A . Myrtle K a s t n e r ?!)51 N Frederick Aye.,

.Robert Kaufman, 3730 Reistertown Rd, i Apt. i.LA 3-3703. ; MONTREAL: McGill Universi ty Socialist

BSRKELEY-OAKLAND: E. V Debs Club,.Young (Socialist Alliance. 2431 DwigutWay. Berkeley.

BOSTON: Young Socialist Alliance, 1318Commonwealth Ave., Apt. 7. Boston,Mass.

CHICAGO: YOUIIR Socialist Alliance,iHirsch 438 St. James PI.

DENVER: Young Socialist Club. Box 724.DETROIT: Young Socialisl Committee.

692 W. Forest.EAST LANSING: Young Socialist Cluij .

Michigan State University.WBW HAVF's': George Orwell Forum,

Yale University.IOWA: Socialist Discussion Club. State

Univ. of Iowa. Iowa City.LOS ANGELES: Young 'socialist, Box3813, Terminal Annex. L.A. 54.MADISON, Wis.: Wisconsin Socialist

Club, Landau. 1026 Clymer Pi.MILWAUKEE: Yo'intf Socialist Club,

Society, McGill student union. 690Sherbrooke St., W. Social DemocraticClub, Sir George Wil l iams College.1435 Drumond.

• NEW YORK CITY: Young Socialise Al-I liaace. 45 E. 7 St.: OBEBLIN, Ohio: Oberlin Socialist Club,

Obej-lin College.PHILADELPHIA: Young Socialist Club,Phelps, Apt. 4b. 3506 Pow-elton Are.PORTLAND, Ore.: Focus, Reed College.SAM FRANCISCO: Young Socialist Al-

liance, 19G-A Connecticut, St., SanFrancisco.

TWIN CITIES: Young Socialist Alliance,c /o Leonard, 517 Ridgewood, Minnea-polis FE 6-4423.

TORONTO: Young Socialist Alliance. 81Queen St. W.

TROY. Maine: John R. Paton. Troy, Me,YELLOW SPRINGS. Ohio: Socialise Dis-cussion Club. AnUocli College

it is not enough for Israel to in-sist that it should not be attackedon its borders or that it harbors110 aggressive intentions. It mustmake sure that its Arab enemies,those reactionary feudal a n dbourgeois elements whose inter-ests are opposed to those of theIsraeli and the Arab peoples willbe unable to justify fanatic hos-tility to Israel. It must proclaimthe bonds of common interestsbetween Arabs and Israelis. Thiscan be done only by a socialist

j Israel, an Israel which, if need be,j is ready to sacrifice the financiali aid of wealthy Zionists in Londoni and New York.I This idea leads to the connect-| ing links between the .Arab-Israeliconflict and the Israeli economy.

j For the economy will have to lookelsewhere if Israel antagonizes and

j estranges world Zionism. In thei absence of much foreign capital,I Israel will then find it even moreI necessary to consider plannedI enonomy and nationalized indus-j try to the effort to built up the' country.

Who gets the real "payola?" Charles Van Doren? AllanFreed? No; the real payola goes to the owners of corporations,in the form of dividends, Diners Club tax loopholes, mid-winter cruises, hunting expeditions, private planes, and allthe rest, at company expense. The real payola goes to thosewho perform no necessary function in society. Those who dothe work, those without whose muscles, hands, and brainsnot one penny of profit could be made, get platitudes, lies,empty promises. It need not always be this way. As soon asthe working class and its allies realize how necessary theyare and how useless the capitalist is, things will change. Debsput it this way in a speech to workers in the IWW in 1905:"You make the automobile, he rides in it. If it were not foryou, he would walk; and if it were not for him, you wouldride."

(Continued from Page 1)ures obtainable, are retail or high-

of a boycott lasting one week. Al-though bookstore business was

er. Students are completely re- j cut to almost nothing during onemoved from the bookstore's oper- j of its peak seasons, the adminis-ation. They sit as a minority of i tration refused even to considertwo on the board, but their transi- ! the questions and requests puttory presence there seems to have j forward by the students.no effect. Students in generalcannot help determine pricingpolicy, what is done with the pro-fits, or anything else—the boai'd

The present school semesteropened with a struggle for on-campus status for the Indeperi-

does not even employ them in th<5 j dent Party. Failing this becausebookstore but rather hires outsidehelp.

BOYCOTT BOOKSTOREDuring the latter part of May

of the flimsiest and most non-sensical reasons imaginable andafter suffering another electiondebacle, the Independent Partyincorporated with another group

_*•

the Independent Party orgianized \o become the Independent-Lib-a student protest movement j ftral Party, which did gain on-against the bookstore in the form '• campus status.

YOUNG SOCIALIST Page 3

BRUTES IN BLUE:

In Cop Brutality Waveby Henry Maddox

DETROIT — Socialists h a v epointed out that the capitalistsseek to divide the working classby pitting one race against an-other, one nationality against an-other, skilled against unskilled,unemployed a g a i n s t employed.Now we have the attempt to di-vide through setting one genera-tion against another — parentsagainst their children, a d u 1 t yagainst youth. In the midst of astruggle to break down discrimi-nation, the powers that be aretrying to provoke the Negro com-munity against its own childrenthrough a scare campaign overjuvenile delinquency.

Within a period of eight weeksthis fall, four major incidents ofpolice brutality against teen-age"delinquents" occurred in the De-troit area.

The most violent attack tookplace September 10 in what hasbecome known as "The MagnoliaStreet Case" in which, as the De-troit Free Press reports. "A 16year old boy . . . was kicked andbeaten by at least four patrol-men Thursday night after he wasa prisoner in the Vernon stationgarage." This particular incidentwas not unusual in the daily rou-tine of the Detroit police stations,but this time such a matter wasspotlighted because two Free Press••eporters chanced to be eye wit-nesses to the following scene:

"The patrolmen left the I po-lice I car and yanked Steel I the16 year-old Negro I from it by theneck. Another patrolman racedup. 'Is this him?' he shouted. Thenhe threw a fist into Steel's face.A second patrolman pushed thatassailant aside and sunk his fistinto Steel's stomach. Steel fell tothe garage floor moaning'. Whenthe law officers noticed the re-porters one of the cops shouted,'Lower that door:' But aii wore

; too busy slugging' Steel, now proneon the floor. They dragged him to

, the side and the onlookers couldI see only patrolmen kicking; andslugging him."

i Steel and five other Negroyouths were arrested while sitting

i in a parked car in front of the| boys' homes. The police had beencruising around looking for tracesof a gang fight which occurredearlier. Seeing these young Ne-groes sitting peacefully in a car,the police demanded identifica-tion and forced the boys out ofthe car for a personal search.There was a scuffle and duringthe melee the police were hit by abaseball bat and a kitchen chair.

; A crowd gathered to protest thepolicemen's actions and rein-forcements were called to dispersethe onlookers and to help bringthe boys to the station where thebeating of Steel took place.

COPS 'GET TOUGHER'

Because of the eye witness scoopof the two Free Press reporters,the police department head wasforced to conduct an investigationinto the charges of police brutal-ity. The major daily newspapersattempted to divert attentionfrom the police department crim-inals by launching an attack oncrime among Negroes and by de-manding a "get tough" policy to-ward teen-age delinquents.

PROTEST SPREADS

Included among the groupswhich suported the, boys and pro-tested the whitewash of the pa-trolmen involved in the beatingwere Ford-Local 600, the Ameri-can Civil Liberties Union, which

| furnished legal counsel, two pre-j ciitct organizations of the Demo-i cratic Party, the NAACP, and theUrban League. The Rebels, teen-age YOUNG SOCIALIST support-ers, circulated petitions protestingpolice brutality in this case and

New Yorkers view display of implements of police brutality to discourage prospective juvenile de-linquents. Authorities barred YS photographer from photographing electric chair.

received a good response to them.In addition to the "Magnolia

Street Case" the following inci-dents were reported:

On Sept. 29 a 14-year-old Negroboy was arrested for allegedlycursing at women on the street.An eye witness account of hisarrest stated that the boy was"smacked a few times" by the ar-resting officers. While he was be-ing questioned at the police sta-tion, his mother and a group ofrelatives "burst into the policestation, crying for the boy's re-lease . . . They shoved past pa-trolman Jess Elledge and JohnGodwin, who had made the arrest,and stormed, into the rooms wherethe boy was toeing questioned. Po-lice had to call in eight officers infour squad cars to restore order."The mother now faces charges forher actions.

On Oct. 3 a 15-year-old Negrogirl was shot in the chin when shestabbed a man she thought wasattempting to rape her. Whileshe was being treated it the hos-pital she was arrested by police-

| women because it turned out her| victim was a vice squad officer.

His story was that he thoughtshe was a prostitute evading -ar-rest by another vice squad officer.

VICTIM FACES SENTENCE

The girl describes how she de-fended herself when a strangeman suddenly approached herwhile she was walking on thestreet, grabbed her, and tore ather clothes, making her fall to

i the sidewalk. She stated she car-ried a pocketknife while walkingthrough this particular neighbor-hood through fear of just suchan incident. Instead of beingcomplimented on her quick de-

fense of her maidenly virtue shewas faced with prosecution fordefending herself against a plain-clothes cop.

In most cases a real trial hasproven that the original arrest andcharges were completely unwar-ranted; but punishment doesn'twait for trials and juries andlegal procedures. Punishment ismeted out on the spot and excusedby the police department with thewords "Gentlemen cops don't solvecrimes."

The cops use direct action indealing- with teen-agers, strikingworkers and minority groups. Itis time that these victims usedirect action in resisting attackson themselves and their civilrights . . . direct action in theform of mass protest meetings,.self-defense measures and lawsuits against the brutes in blue.

THE POLITICS OF SENILITY—PART III

The Ogre oj the Leninist Vanguard Party(This is the. third in a series of articles devoted to a revol-

utionary socialist critique of modern reformist social thought.)

by Tim Wohlforth

Conservatives, liberals, r i g h t -wing socialists, and Stalinists allshare one thing in common. Theyall agree that the present bureau-cratic social system in the USSRis the natural outcome of Lenin-ism and Lenin's methods of partyorganization. Where the Stalinists

.differ from the others is that they,,'Ut a plus where the friends oftile State Department put aminus.

Let us look a little deeper into-the question of the party. We willdiscover that the vanguard partythat Lenin built and defended isquite a different creature fromthat which now lords it over theUSSR and the Eastern Europeancountries.

What is a vanguard party? Is itthe raising of a handful of "chos-en messiahs" above the mass torule as benevolent despots? Theword "vanguard" originally refer-red to the first troops of a columnof soldiers. It does not mean"standing above," but r a t h e r"standing in front of."

This literal meaning is close tothe real meaning the term had forLenin, Trotsky, and the earlyleaders of the Bolshevik party.They conceived of their organisa-tion not as something separate

from and raised above the work-ing class, but rather as the or-ganization of the most advancedsections of the class itself. As suchit was to have many human linkswith all levels of the working iclass and could be successful only !

I if it responded to (Trotsky used toj talk of carrying on a dialogueI with) the working class.

LENIN'S DEMOCRACYLenin's party was oraanized un-

der democratic centralism. He be-lieved that if a party, seriousabout its politics, is to be effective

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it must make its decisions demo-cratically and once these decisionsare made all should participate incarrying them out. Otherwise theparty would not be able to func-tion and a small minority wouldbe able to prevent the will of themajority from being effected—avery undemocratic result.

What alternative methods oforganization have the critics ofdemocratic centralism been ableto develop? In the last article inthis s e r i e s -(November YS» weanalyzed the right-wing socialistconcept of an "all-inclusive party"showing that it was anything butall-inclusive and not very demo-cratic to boot. It might be wellto compare briefly the internallife in a typical right-wing so-cialist party and that of a van-guard party. In a vanguardparty prior to every conven-tion a period of discussion isopened. MajOi resolutions of boththe majority and any minoritytendency are presented at leastthree months before the conven-tion.

Following intensive discussionboth orally and in the discussionbulletin, convention delegates areelected on the basis of proportion-al representation. At the conven-tion itself the questions are againdebated and voted upon. Once de-cided upon, both majority andminority are expected to partici-

pate in implementing them.Now let's look at a social-dem-

ocratic party, such as the SP-SDFin this country. There is no regu-lar procedure requiring the publi-cation of documents and their dis-cussion at specified times. Usuallyresolutions are put out at the last

I minute and receive little attention.Discussion bulletins are published,but generally there is little chance

; to discuss a question prior to theconvention as the majority doesnot bother to present its ideas ina worked out form to be discussed.

Elections are held with only avague idea of the issues that will

! be presented to the convention.! During the convention, resolutionsi play a minor role and most of thei time is taken up by dignitariesI and their speeches. However, evenj if resolutions were passed it would| matter little, for the new nationalleadership does not feel itself ob-ligated to carry them out.

YPSL's CIRCUSThe last convention of the

Young People's Socialist Leaguewas a supreme example of this

j type of shenanigans. After much- fruitless discussion over rathermeaningless resolutions, none ofwhich presented any worked outpolitical program, the conventionfinally reached a decision to:table all resolutions before it.

Having dispensed with the sideshow, YPSL went on to the main

business of the convention—a per-sonal brawl to get some seatson the incoming national com-mittee (which, by the way, wouldalso decide nothing). Such meth-ods of organization do .not pro-duce a "broad decentralized"party, but rather an undemocratic,uncontrolled centralism foreignto a vanguard party. There is

' nothing binding the incoming! leadership and it then makes allI the decisions for the organization.

The capitalist parties are ofcourse much worse—not even go-ing through the forms of demo-cratic discussion of program. The

! Stalinist parties are worse still,adhering to the name of Lenin-ism only to deny it real demo-cratic content.

The three-ring-circus school oforganization of the social demo-cracy and the unchallengable bu-reaucracy of the Communist par-ties is indicative not only of a lackof respect by the leadership forthe ranks of these organizations,but of a complete disdain for po-litical issues. That these organiza-tions relegate politics to such alow position shows that they d»not picture themselves as con-scious participants in the strug-gle to establish socialism in Amer-ica and in the world.

(Next month: "Rally 'Ro«?rithe Flag. Boys.")

Page 4 YOUNG SOCIALIST January, I960

Deutscher Sees New Trend in Russiaan interview

ISAAC DEUTSCHER

(Following is an interview with Isaac Deutscher conducted by Jim Lambrecht, YOUNG SO-CIALIST editorial board member, and Pete Came jo and Bob Sheffield of the Boston Young So-cialist Alliance. Mr. Deutscher is the author of "Russia: What Next?," "Stalin, a Political Biogra-phy," and "The Prophet Armed" and "The Prophet Unarmed," the first two in a trilogy on LeonTrotsky. He spent the month of November doing research in the Trotsky Archives at Harvard Uni-versity, where this interview was conducted.)

Q. Mr. Deutscher, why do youwrite a biography of Leon Trot-sky? What significance do hislife and ideas have for the pre-sent?

A.: Both Stalinism and Trot-skyism are, in my view, toeingtranscended by history, but eachin a different way. Of Stalin—there remains only the materialachievements of the Stalin era inthe Soviet Union. Stalin's ideaswill not have value for the future.For that matter, even many ofhis actions have been repudiatedby his epigones and successors.The historic development is tran-scending Trotsky in a differentway . . . many of his ideas mustbe restudied and thought upon.His revolutionary perspective hasbeen confirmed, although the re-volutionary process is developingJn forms different from those heforesaw. In restudying Trotsky'sMeas in the light of subsequentexperience, we must use Marxistmethods of analysis, no dogma-tism, but rather a search forunderstandingi through a study ofreality.

Q.: Your research has madeyon familiar with many present-day Soviet periodicals. Since"de-Stalinization" in Russia,liave you noted any discussionof questions dealing with theearly history of the CommunistParty of the Soviet Union(CPSU)?

A.: Yes . . . there is now anintense interest in these ques-tions, particularly among Russianstudents. The slogan of "Back toJuenin" issued by the 20th Con-gress of the CPSU contributed tothis, as well as the recent pub-lication in the USSR of Lenin'sfinal writings, including his "Tes-tament," and his "Notes on Na-tionalities." They have also re-published the long banned recordsof early CPSU Congresses of 1917-1923. In effect they have uncover-ed the "Atlantis"—the lost con-tinent—of Russian CommunistParty history arousing very greatinterest.CHANGED ANTI-TROTSKYISM

All this has caused a renewalof the old anti-Trotskyist cam-paign on the part of the rulinggroup. The Khrushchevite versionsof party history repeat many ofthe earliest anti-Trotskyist argu-ments—arguments used duringthe Stalin-Trotsky disputes of the1920"s, but not the charges of thelater Stalinist campaign (theMoscow trials of the 1930's4.—thecharges of treason, "fascism," andso on. In comparison to that, thenew anti-Trotsky campaign hasbeen unwinding in reverse—ithas been much less vicious. I-think that the official historiansand propagandists will have to re-treat even further.

Q.: Your books on the SovietUnion have attracted world-wideattention. What does the Rus-sian, press say of them?

A.: The Stalinists have labelledme as "Trotskyist" and "revision-ist" and "Trotskyists" have de-nounced me as "apologist for Sta-linism." A writer in the last issueof the Soviet publication Prob-lems of the History of the SovietCommunist Party refers to me as"the most dangerous revisionistand the most active Trotskyist inthe West."

Q.: Do you then consider your-self a Marxist?

A.: What a question to ask ofme! Yes, definitely . . . and nota revisionist of Marxism. On thecontrary, I believe that dialecticalmaterialism—the worldview ofMarxism—has been confirmedrepeatedly by history, by the ad-vance of modern science. And Ido not believe that the capitalisteconomic system can be made todisappear through gradual re-forms and thus give way to so-cialism. In this I differ frommany Eastern European "revi-sionists" (disillusioned ex-Stali-nists ) . On the other hand, theKhrushchevite campaign against"revisionism" is ambiguous andhypocritical. Didn't Khrushchevhimself find much to rewrite inthe Stalinist record—at the 20thCongress?

MARXISM DISPROVED?Q.: Many critics of Marxism

say that the rise of a bureau-cracy in Russia disproves somebasic concepts of Marxism, forinstance the "withering away of

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the state." Would you commenton that?

A.: I don't think the rise ofbureaucracy has disproved anybasic tenets of Marxism. It canbe understood only by means ofMarxist analysis. Stalinism wasan aberration from Marxism . , .but not an accidental one. It wasMarxism refracted through theprism of Russian backwardness.Now that prism is vanishing!; andMarxism, enriched by giganticpractical experience, can and willre-emerge.

We should not forget that evenin the Stalin era the Soviet mass-es were 'brought up largely in atradition of Marxist socialism,however distorted and debasedthat tradition had become. More-over, what has toeen "indoctrin-i<mg" the Soviet masses withMarxism is primarily the socialstructure within which they havelived—this has been much moreimportant than any formalizedand official "propaganda." TheRussian workers of today mayhave a less crystalized idea ofMarxism than had their forebear-ers in 1905 and 1917 or Westernrevolutionary workers. But theytake for granted planned economyand public ownership of themeans of production—the thingsthat old socialist propagandistshad to drum into people.

The Soviet worker of todaythinks in a Marxist way, even ifhe isn't aware of it: and this kindof Marxism existing in the mindsand social instincts of many mil-lions and rooted in the socialstructure is historically more im-portant than the Marxism of theclassical text books; and this kindof socialist mass-consciousness

' will increasingly show itself ini pressure against bureaucracy,

whatever the forms of that pres-sure; and it will eventually posethe problem of the ''witheringaway of the state" in a new con-

; text.,} ' Q . r In what way do you think

> political democratization will oc-cur in the Soviet Union? By re-form or political revolution?

A.: I do not believe that therehas been enough empirical data to

; justify any rigid or even clear-cutprognostication. The past six yearssince Stalin's death have seen a

great deal of reform in Russia.There is not yet, it is true, social-ist democratization. But these re-forms set the stage for it.

GROWING PRESSUREWhat caused the reforms? There

has been growing popular pres-sure against the supremacy of abureaucracy; behind that pres-sure there is the rise in the pro-ductive power of the Soviet in-dustry, the growth of a new work-ing class, mass education, etc. Thereactions of the ruling group tothese pressures have been of areformist character—there havebeen many concessions. If theregime becomes rigid, it ceases togrant concessions to popular pres-sure, then political revolution mayfollow. But that is the only situa-tion that would make it possible.However, popular unrest leadingto political revolution rarely oc-curs in an expanding societywhere productive power, popularwell being! and mass education areconstantly rising as they are inthe Soviet Union.

Q.." What is meant by the"democratization" of Soviet so-ciety? Do you think there willbe a return to the political re-gime of the pre-Stalin era?

A.: No. The workers councils ofthe early years of the revolutionwere in fact a dictatorship of theproletariat. The workers revolu-tion had won for them a veryprecarious position in one of themost backward European" coun-tries, surrounded by highly in-dustrialized capitalist countrieshostile to them. The Russianbourgeoisie was wholly disfran-chised, while the vote of a peasantcounted for less that the vote ofa worker. Lenin called thesemeasures "exceptional." T h eworkers were forced to rule in thisway because of their numericalweakness; but then they, in theirturn, were virtually disfranchisedby the party machine.

Now Russia is no longer isolatedand her own industrial strengthhas increased greatly. Social an-tagonism between industrial cityand farming countryside is beingreduced. The working1 class is oneof the largest in the world: itforms a near majority of the So-viet population. In another fewyears it will form the absolutemajority.

I believe a truer "socialist de-mocracy" will be possible, a de-mocracy in which all elements ofsociety will participate equally.This should be a form of democ-racy superior to that of the work-ers councils of the 1920's, andeven of 1917-1920.

Q.: What books are you plan-ning for the future?

A.: I am completing "The Pro-phet Outcast," the final volumeof my trilogy on Trotsky. Much ofit had already been written, buta study of new material compelledme to change my outline and re-write. The biographical form doesnot permit- an explicit statementof one's political assumptions—after the Trotsky biography I planto write a work analyzing in broad

outline the development of revolu-tion, socialism and labor move-ments in the last 150 years. WhenI finish that, I shall return to mybiography of Lenin.

Q.: To what extent have youbeen involved personally in thehistoric events described in yourbooks?

A.: I have been a Marxist sincethe age of 18-19 when I becamea member of the Polish Commu-nist Party. In 1932—at 25-—I wasexpelled for "anti-Stalinism." Fora number of years after that Iwas under Trotsky's very stronginfluence. Producing a three-volume biography of Trotsky isperhaps a way of gratefuly ac-knowledging this great influence.However, neither I nor the rest ofthe Polish section of the Left Op-position were in agreement withTrotsky's decision to proclaim anew Fourth International. I feelthat our view has been confirm-ed. A "workers international" thathas been unable to influence theclass struggle in any importantcountry over a period as signi-cant and revolutionary in char-acter as the past quarter of a cen-tury has been a failure, by Trot-sky's own standards and by anyother standards.

At no time did I consider my-self quite an "orthodox Trotsky-ist." "To be a Marxist is quiteenough," as Ryazanov, the oldMarxian scholar and Trotsky'sfriend used to say.

(Next month the YOUNG SO-CIALIST will feature a reviewof "The Prophet Unarmed"" byJames Robertson.)

Pete Seeger - . .(Continued from Page 1)

more TV jobs. Our contract withDecca Records, which was signedin May, 1950, was cancelled in1953.

Today, almost ten years later,people take Weavers records todisc jockeys and the disc jockeystell them as far as they know thedirective not to play them is stillin effect.

I find myself in an unusuallyfortunate position in that I don'twork in any one place or haveany one boss. If it were up to theadministrations of colleges Iwouldn't have any jobs. It is usu-ally the students who ask me tocome.

Q.—Can you give us an idea| of the defense strategy in theattempt to subpoena Congress-man Walters to appear as a wit-ness at your contempt trial?

A.—Walters couldn't be locatedfor a full week. After one week ofphone calls and telegrams mylawyers succeeded in locating him.He then said he was very busyand couldn't make it until Janu-ary. Walters claims he was in-vestigating a conspiracy. I claimI haven't done anything of thatnature. We want to put him onthe stand to tell us what he thinksI've done that's conspiratorial.

Dr. Annette T. RubinsteinI960

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