| 50 e knew

aay re
liv,

Kiesinger Nazi record
basis of legal action

fe eenda chief Joseph

is S gave Kurt George Kie-
ie Ae West German Chan-
Bex? Personal letter of recom-
ation as a good Nazi, docu-
oe evidence submitted in
isan by a spokesman
Tatic forces shows.

Ee morratic Action for
Ma the new coalition of
q a and socialist forces
of a contesting in
ded te om elections, has de-
an e legal action against
a a Kiesinger, it was re-
rank @ press conference in
th Urt-on-Main,
2 ganization — known by
i. in German as ADF—
S. : petorious violation of
bal tution of the German
x Republic (West Ger-
The Rey. Heinrich Erner, ADF
sce Made public docu-
oe the Nazi past of
oe ellor, giving the lie to
: 7 Statements that he
ant in 4 minor scientific as-
€ Nazi foreign min-

Th ‘
“ocuments show that he
brog Bee ible for the radio
Sts of the Goebbels min-

d ani
ests, 8S slated for higher

e
en fpccuments are authentic,
a me old Nazi archives
Worlg va during the Second
Vat, and now deposited
Berlin, eo Moscow and
PS ady €y show that Kiesin-
long. quan’’_t© to high posi-
Was ae pus the Hitler regime
Was a yy, Ccidental. His sponsor
Itler confidante, Dr..Ger-

(Gtotm. 1 Cdenhofer, former SA.

ui nT OOP) chief and now
% thi 8 contractor in Stuttgart.
Maintaje ey these two Nazis have
“i, €d close personal friend-
The
ising cements give the lie to
Ss a declaration
re lothing about the
bhelg mation issued by the
: Bunistry containing the
Twrminate the Jewish
; 0 of the 13 copies is-
€ ministry were in
ands: one for broad-
€ other for the ar-
€ documents prove

| Kiesin
e pla a knew every detail

In regard to this documentary
information, the spokesman con-
cludes that the West German
government is ruled by a per-
jurer.

Photostatic copies of the 20:

new documents were shown on
the German Democratic Repub-
lic TV. Underlined was a person-
al letter in Goebbels’ handwrit-
ing recommending Kiesinger for
higher positions. It said that he
was “good politically, personally
and professionally.”

Sponsors of the press confer-
ence, a group of leading profes-
sors, religious figures, Commun-
ists and Social Democrats, made
it clear that the purpose of their
action was not to engage in
personalities during the election
campaign, but to expose the
rightist course of the Bonn gov-
ernment, its alliance with the
neo-Nazis, and aid in the mobil-
ization of a powerful front of
all democratic forces to stop the
dangerous revival of Nazism in
West Germany. :

They further stated that they :

are forced to take this action at
this time, since the Bonn govern-
ment has seen fit to defy public
opinion and grant the neo-Nazis
the right to enter the 1969 elec-
tions as a legal party. The ADF,
leading the united struggle to
stop neo-Nazis reaffirmed its
position that the National Demo-
cratic Party (NDP) is the direct
successor of the National Social-
ist party of Hitler. Therefore,
support for them falls directly
under the jurisdiction of Article
139 of the Constitution and must
be dissolved as illegal. The re-
fusal of Kiesinger and the gov-
ernment he heads to do this,
represents a violation of the con-
stitution to the detriment of the
people, peace and security, ac-
cording to the ADF.

Therefore, the ADF feels it its
duty and responsibility to take
the initiative to expose the role
of Kiesinger as a top former Nazi
and to resort to legal procedure
against all violators of the con-
stitution. It will therefore seek
Kiesinger’s impeachment.

The official support of the

government for the neo-Nazis
was the subject of powerful pro-
test actions of masses of people
in the major cities of West Ger-
many recently.

Speakers denounced the top
officials of the Bonn government
as a Nazi Fifth Column that has
taken power and is directing its
rightist course against all demo-
cratic forces. The demand was
strong “to stop them before it
is too late.”

Nd suppression —appeal

: 1
Motoce

Ali y

N the government of
a 4 Immediately release
‘- as come from William
or ae National leader of the
Ali a. Party of Canada.
a Is the General Sec-
On ang ee Party of Libera-
Ocialism. He has been

oes held without bail

a judi arge of “re-constitut-
ation» Clally dissolved organi-

raeaahtan's letter says: “‘We
ration that the Party of
Y co and Socialism is a
4 nstituted party which
hut existence since 1968.
_~*n is the General Secre-

x

tary who suffered repression
and exile during colonial days,
arrestedé Is it a prelude to de-
claring the Party of Liberation
and Socialism illegal?

“your action, to say the least,
is highly undemocratic and im-
pinges on the lawful and demo-
cratic rights of all Moroccans.
Such a repressive action can
only be the prelude to repres-
sion against the democratic, na-
tional and social rights of the
Moroccan people.” :

Mr. Kashtan added that his
party is appealing to democratic
organizations throughout our
country urging them to act like-

wise.

ee *
Se Se Sa

Giri’s India triumph
hampers rightest push

By MADHAVAN ATCHUTHAN

The triumph of Varahagiri
Venkata Giri—the “indepen-
dent” candidate—in India’s pre-
sidential elections, trouncing the
“official” candidate of the Con-

. gress Party, Sanjiva Reddy, has

marked a turning point and is
expected to lead to a new Fre
alignment of social and _ politi-
cal forces in this country.

Giri; 75, a veteran of the coun-
try’s freedom movement and
one of the builders of the All-
India Trade Union Congress,
was until recently the Vice-
President and the Acting Presi-
dent. Despite the efforts of the
Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira
Gandhi, to evolve a national
consensus around a presiden-
tial candidate (and the obvious
choice would have been Giri),
the rightist leaders of the Con-
gress Party nominated Sanjiva
Reddy, a fellow right-winger,
by a snap decision in the party’s
Parliamentary Board.

°

'The rightist leaders were

planning something big in no-

minating Reddy for the presi- ~

dency and a grand alliance with
the ultra right was in the offing,
to stage a putsch and oust the
Prime Minister. A rightist coa-
lition ‘ government completely
subservient to the foreign and
Indian monopolies was to be
installed after Sanjiva Reddy
was put in- the Rashtrapati
Bhavan—the presidential palace.
The foul smell of the rightist
plot soon alerted all democratic
sections as an “independent”
candidate became a rallying
point for all patriotic forces.

e

Opinion snowballed inside the
Congress Party itself to demand
“freedom of vote’ as per one’s
own “conscience”—that is, 10
defy the party whip to vote for
the “official” nominee. A tete-
a-tete between the Congress
Party president Nijalingappa,
and leaders of the ultra righ-
ist Swatantra and Jan Sangh
parties, to ensure the success of
Sanjiva Reddy, raised a storm
of protest inside the Congress
Party.

Two of the senior colleagues
of the Prime Minister, Jagjiwan
Ram, the Food Minister and
F. A. Ahmed, the Industry Min-
ister, denounced the Congress
President’s political dialogue
with the arch-rightists and the
conspiracy to stage a rightist
coup, subverting the programs
and policies of the Congress
Party.

The Prime Minister, Mrs.
Gandhi, herself later supported
the move for “freedom of vote”
for the Congress Party legisla-
tors and since then, the cold
war between the Prime Minis-

ter and the party bosses -has -

reached a new high. The right-
ist leaders controlling ‘the party
machine thereupon tried to
wield the Big Stick of party
discipline and the Congress Pre-
sident demanded “explanation”
from the Prime Minister, her two
Cabinet colleagues and presi-

dents of some of the State.

branches for refusing to work
for the success of the “official”
candidate.
e

‘The party bosses also sus-
pended one of the rebel mem-
bers of Parliament, Arjun Aro-
ra. The threat of disciplinary

pte

Me ke wae

The jubilation of the working
people at the success of Giri in
the presidential contest was
most marked. Over a hundred
thousand working men and wo-
men marched to the president-
elect’s residence to hail his vic-
tory. Tens of thousands of tele-
grams have poured in to felici-
tate him. In West Bengal, the
State Government formed by
the United Front of left and de-
mocratic parties declared a holi-
day on August 25 to celebrate
Giri’s victory. Demonstrations
and rallies have been held in
various parts of India.

The alignment of forces
which rallied in support of V. V.
Giri provide a pointer. Apart
from the progressive left and
democratic parties, the legisla-
tors belonging to the scheduled
castes and tribes—the socially
oppressed and most downtrod-
den—rallied in favor of V. V.

Giri. Jagjivan Ram, the Food

action, however, boomeranged
and in the actual vote in the
presidential election, it was
found that a majority of Con-
gress legislators had voted
against Sanjiva Reddy and for
V. V. Giri.

. (India’s President is elected
by an electoral college consist-
ing of members of the two hous-
es of Parliament and the State
legislative assemblies, by a sys-
tem of single transferable vote.
According to the population of
the States the.value of the vote
of each legislator is deter-
mined).

Vv. V. Giri secured the first
preference votes of 359 mem-
bers of Parliament as against
Reddy’s 268) and of 1910 State
legislators (as against 1503 for
Reddy). Eleven of the seventeen
States had given a majority to
V. V. Giri.

Apart from the arithmetic of
voting, what is significant is

_ the alignment of forces on the

national plane in respect of the
two candidates. It became a
popular fight against the mono-
polies ard vested interests re-
presented by the ultra right lob-
by and the rightists inside the
Congress Party and assumed
the character of a_ national
struggle against the monopolies.

This aspect of the presiden-
tial elections was stressed in a
message sent by S. A. Dange,
M.P., Communist Party Chair-
man and General Secretary of
the All-India Trade Union Con-
gress, to V. V. Giri: “You have
the honor to have become the
instrument of history to defeat
the most reactionary wing of
the monopoly capital in this
country, though it may be said
that: in the ranks of your sup-

_porters also, there are not a few

who belonged to the bourgeosie.
=

“Your success is a step for-

ward in the democratic develop-

ment of our country and we

from the trade union movement -

should be proud that fhere is a
President of the Republic who
once was an active trade union-
ist and has not ceased to cham-
pion its cause even now,” Mr.
Dange added.

Minister, had a big role in mo-
bilizing these votes. The na-
tional minorities, fully con-

scious of the havoc of commu--

nal riots which the ultra right
will unleash if they come to
power, also rallied in support of
Giri. The nationalization of 14
major banks in July represent-
ed a new shift in policy and
Giri’s victory has taken the
anti-monopoly struggle of the
democratic masses a further
step forward.

Of significance in* this con-
text is the success of the gene-
ral strike of over two hundred

.thousand jute mill workers in

West Bengal. These workers
have never in the past been able
to wage a successful strike and
all their struggles were ruth-

lessly suppressed by the cartel |

of British and Indian monopo-
lies controlling this industry. In
the week-long general strike in
early August, which was called
by all the trade union centres
jointly, the State Government
of the United Front gave the
workers their full support and
the attitude of the Central
(federal) government was also
sympathetic. As a result, the
workers could get a substantial
interim wage increase of Rs. 30
per month over a minimum
wage of Rs. 142 per month.
Further wage rises are to be
negotiated.
e

Commenting on the presiden-
tial elections, the Communist
Party organ, New Age has ob-
served: “This is no time for
resting on one’s days. The fight
is going to be sharper and in-
tense and the leadership lies in
consolidating the unity which
has come about over the presi-
dential election and in conceiv-
ing every future step wisely and
correctly.”

The New Age stressed that

“in this context, the follow up-

measures after bank national-
ization assumes supreme urgen-
cy. Only by such steps, political
and economic can the masses
further be moved into action
and the Right Reaction still
more isolated. That is how the
progressive forces must seize
the key link in the fast-moving
chain of events. How we all
unitedly fulfill the urgent task
of today will determine what
the tomorrow is going to be
like?’

- PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPTEMBER 12, 1969-—-PAGE 9

a

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