| SPRY
than NGFIELD, Mass.—More

J of typ °2tS after the murder

at Sing .and Ethel Rosenberg
| other lag June, 1953, an-
| Clear their Bee ceing made to

| Michaey It is _being led by

the tw ae Robert Meeropol,
7 ee ‘ons of the Rosenbergs.
Michae) mediate impetus for
1 bubicst and Robert was the
Plupiosie last year of The
sling Conspiracy, a “best

i, 00k about the trial by-

i

+ &O T. Nizer and Doubl
m 2 ubleday
Mauthorige his publisher, for

ents use of their par-
Wee seath-house letters. Two
*aingt G0 they also filed suit
Publishers aWcett Publications,

tion, Of the paperback edi-

“We :
Ree eo some time we
0 do this” i
a is’, said

..We
bility ae a strong responsi-
d Robert, Ben parents”, added
}  Rocent, 1 We feel they are
NOt to if 1S impossible for us
Point» “K about it at this

;

th
| Water ane that the recent
Charges of revelations — with
high-level criminal

zer, The brothers have.

conspirations and of cover-up
and perjury in the name of na-
tional security — have lent new
public credence to the fact that
the Rosenbergs were -the vic-
tims of a U.S. government
frame-up to feed anti-Commun-
ist hysteria during the cold war.

“We hope that people will
understand that what we are
doing is part of a larger pro-
cess,” said Robert. “For the
past 20 years one of the corner-
stones of U.S. policy has been
the false domestic security ar-
gument. We feel that there is a
crucial linkage here between
Watergate and their trial.”

They say that the violations
of due process and civil rights
by the Watergate “plumbers”
and others in the name of na-
tional security had its genesis
in the cold war and in the pro-
secution of their parents,

“We want to show that they
are innocent,” said Robert, “not
just that there are questions.”

The two Meeropols have been
travelling throughout the United
States trying to gain support
and financial assistance for
their legal venture. They recent-
ly visited Toronto, meeting with
Americans now living in the
city.

Sing Sing death row, 1953.

BERLIN LETTER

By FILS DELISLE

For the foreign observer in
democratic Berlin this has been
a routine week—that is to say,
one filled with political develop-
ments, good news on the social-
ist economic front, bad news
from the economies of the capi-
talist countries, and the disson-
ances and advances typical of
the unfolding trend to coexist-
ence as seen on the dividing line
between East and West.

On economic front, the Leipzig
Spring Fair concluded with the
transaction of substantial busi-
ness deals between more than 60
capitalist and socialist countries
which _ participated. Following
the Fair, the interest of leading
capitalist concerns in business
with the socialist world was
again demonstrated when a
group of 24 leading Japanese
bankers: and industrialists came

‘to Berlin to promote trade be-

tween the GDR and Japan.

The Japanese delegation in-
cluded officials of Nippon Steel,
the Bank of Tokyo, Mitsubishi
and similar concerns. Nippon
Steel director, Inayama, in con-
ferences with GDR officials, de-
clared he and his colleagues
highly estimated the good rela-
tions developing between the
two countries. He said Japan was
very much interested in trade
with the GDR and put forward
proposals, approved by Tokyo,
for expanding economic, techni-
cal and_ scientific cooperation
with the GDR. The German hosts
assured the Japanese delegation
they were equally interested in
such cooperation.

to normalize relations between
the FRG and GDR moved forw-
ard another step. In Frankfurt-
am-Main an agreement was
reached between representatives
of West and East German sports
organizations to develop and re-

On the political front, efforts -

GDR today shows progress

Karin Janz, double gold medal
winner at the Munich Olympics.

gulate sports contacts between
both countries. The political
element was very much present
in negotiations, though the issue
was sports. In the days when it
refused to recognize the GDR,
Bonn flatly prohibited all sports
contacts and games between ath-
letes of the FRG and GDR. When
such games ‘were nevertheless
organized eventuaily in FRG un-
der pressure of public opinion,
they were generally broken up
by police. When West German
authorities finally did permit
some competitions on FRG ter-
ritory, police invariably tore
down GDR flags and prevented
the playing of the GDR national
anthem,

At the last Olympic Games in
Munich such West German po-
lice intervention was ruled out
by the Olympic Committee and
West Germans got to know the
GDR flag and national anthem
very well indeed, since GDR ath-
letes won more medals than any
other country relative to popula-
tion and came third in overall
point scores.

The new sports agreement
bars the previous discrimination
against the GDR. It is a mutual
undertaking signed between
sports representatives from two
sovereign independent countries,

for detente

and calls for the working. out of
annual programs of sports com-
petitions and games. Inevitably,
the West German media seized
upon one point in the Bonn-
Democratic Berlin agreement to
draw the false political conclu-
sion that the GDR now suppos-

edly accepts West Berlin as an

appendage of the FRG. In actual
fact, the agreement on sports
exchanges clearly states that the
FRG sports organization (DSB)
can represent West Berlin sports
organizations in dealings with
the GDR in conformity with the

’ Four Power Agreement on West

Berlin. Since this Four Power
Agreement declares unequivocal-

‘ly that West Berlin is not part

of the FRG, the sports agreement
is in no way a concession to
those in the FRG who want to
expand their presence in West
Berlin.

Just as GDR’s interests are at
the moment handled in Canada
by Czechoslovakia, without the

-GDR becoming part’ of Czecho-

slovakia, so the Four Power
Treaty on West Berlin allows
Bonn to represent West Berlin
interests. abroad, where West
Berlin desires it, without West
Berlin in any way becoming a
part of the FRG.

On the home front, special
electoral commissions have been
set up in all cities and towns in
the GDR, and on a national level,
to prepare municipal and local
elections on May 19. A high pro-
portion of candidates being no-
minated are made up of young
people and women.

On the diplomatic front a team
of U.S. experts has been in Ber-
lin looking for a suitable U.S.
embassy site here. Indications
are than an exchange of diplo-
matic representatives between
Washington and the GDR may
take place by autumn of this
year.

Politic
Political

(
Eth i
eu, vel Gnd Julius Rosenberg in

strife seen in China’s army shuttle

ats at. VASILYEV
Be es” been reported,
Gat reshup@dership has re-
iret Out pee commanders in
ig Cts. This eleven, military dis-
Dreceg Sure in its own right
Shift, uted for various ear-
Chie Coble’ M the command of
ae . Liberation Army of
nqveetns S time the reshuffle
; arent Persons occupying im-
hy Posts Not only in. the
Not = 80 in the Party
Teh «imple Reshuffle
[ oe chief of the
Che >. Vepartment of
3 Ding 6 e’s Liberation Army of*
)

wD Ade >

den, 2 ONe
; gyeities, ot Mao Tse-tung’s five
tan ander te €en appointed the
boo, distr; the Shenyang mili-
oct s st in the north-east
Hg nder aia. The former
igglien, oF this district, Chen
AP acl Ure Member of the Po-
: in gites, 5 Of the CPC Central
Fog Pe eee transferred
Vaca of the © istrict where the
n ™Mmander has been

| tig, Sing,
f De whee “September
} | a, te a0’s “successor”,

|| gt ou inister Lin Piao, and
nie sta Military ] : qui
oh tae, Chi T y eaders quit
mys Members €ng-kui and Wu
of the j = the Political
Shas C Central Com-

e
Secong (<7 appointed first

ee i Mmissars in’ that

Nem io Of th byu, the com-
Shee Of the porns district,
®N tra olitical Bureau,

“Nsferred to Canton,

and Ting Sheng, member of the
CPC Central Committee, from
Canton to Nanking. The same
pattern was followed in reshuf-
fles in other districts too. It
turns out that none of the gen-
erals was removed, they were
simply reshuffled. But in fact this
is not a simple reshuffle. The act
was connected with the general
correlation of forces in the Chi-
nese leadership, with political
struggle inside the country.
“The Rifle Breeds Power”
Though more than two years
have passed since the “Septem-
ber crisis,” the Maoists, to all
appearances, have not succeed-
ed in persuading functionaries
and the population to unreserv-
edly believe their version of the
“Tin Piao case.” It is known that
in the course of the “cultural
revolution” the former Defence
Minister was ensuring the ful-
filment of Mao Tse-tung’s . 1n-
structions on “the revolution in
the sphere of superstructure,
that is, on doing away with Party
organisations, constitutional or-
gans of power, the Young Com-
munist League, trade unions an
intellectuals’ unions. These ac-

tions were conducted under

Mao’s slogan: “The rifle breeds
power’. Then, on the instruc-
tions of the “great helmsman,’
Lin Piao was implanting a syS-
tem of military control in the
country and was setting up new
Party organs on the Maoist ideo-

logical and organizational basis.
But with power in his hands, Lin
Piao became difficult to be. con-
trolled. ;

Until recently the concentra-
tion of local power in the hands
of army commanders seemed to
have well suited Mao Tse-tung.
However, after the “Lin Piao
case” the system, under which
the commanders and political
commissars Of districts also oc-

~cupied posts of the first secre-
taries of the Party committees
and chairmen of revolutionary
committees in China‘s largest
provinces, became _ increasingly
more of a headache for Mao Tse-
tung, since it promoted some sort
ef independence of commanders
and gave rise to separatist
trends. :
Disunity in Leadership

But the main thing is that, far

from becoming a basis for unit-
ing the Chinese people, Mao's
course in home and foreign poli-
cies has failed to unite the lead-
ership which continues wrang-
‘jing over the questions of the
country’s development. This
struggle has inveigled the high
military command. Two groups
are fighting for the influence in
‘the army: an “extremist” one
which came to power as a result
of the “cultural revolution” and
a group of “pragmatists”’, advo-
cating more flexible methods of
implementing Mao’s “ideas.”

It is worthwhile recalling also

that during the “cultural revolu-
tion” not only individual regi-
ments but whole garrisons came
out in support of Party organisa-
tions and against Mao, as was
the case in the summer of 1967
in Wuhan. Just on the eve of
the “September crisis,” touring
some Chinese districts, Mao Tse-
tung said: ‘The Army should be
united. It needs reorganizing.”

Today also, trying to consoli-
date his policy for many years
in advance, whipping up an at-
mosphere of “‘beseiged fortress”
in the country, and making ef-
forts to turn China into a,nu-
clear-missile’ super-power cap-
able of dictating its terms in the
international arena, he assigns
the army a part of the main lever
of power.

The reshuffle of commanders
and a slight slackening of their
influence on the political life in
the country do not change the
nature of the present military

and bureaucratic regime in:

China. The statements on the
enhancement of the role of the
Party remain mere words. It is
not the Party and it is not even
the Central Committee, but Mao
Tse-tung and a small group of
persons from his entourage that
decide the fundamental problems
of the-country. It is not acci-
dental that the most important
socio-political and. economic
problems were not raised at the
Tenth Congress of the CPC. In

his report Chou En-lai:said that
Mao Tse-tung himself had “work-
ed out” for the Party “the main
course and policy for the entire
historical stage of socialism and
had determined the specific poli-

cy and political directions for |

concrete work.”

Carrying out the reshuffle of
commanders, Mao Tse-tung ex-
pects to make them more depen-
dent upon his will and: more
obedient. He needs this all the
more at present when the ques-
tions of “intensifying class strug-
gle” to continue the cause of the
“cultural revolution”, and of
fighting against the attempts of
its “revision” are put on the
agenda. The “criticism of Con-
fucius”, and the action of -stu-
dents and school children against
“a comeback” to the “revision-
ist”? methods and forms of train-
ing are developing precisely in
this direction. In accordance with
the “cultural revolution” should
a certain “objective law”, discov-
ered by Mao, the upheavals of
be repeated in China “every sev-
en or eight years.”

The reshuffle of commanders
has shown once again the un-
stable situation in-the country
and the continuing internal po-
litical struggle in China. It does
not alter the essence of the dic-
tatorship of the Maoist group-
ing and is only meant to make
its mainstay, the army, more con-
trollable.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 1974—PAGE 5