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lic, leaving a red, bloody trail behind them,” writes Stern ma- gazine.’ “With iron rods and truncheons they beat up every- one at their meetings who hap- pens to be of a different opin- ion. These rowdy squads wear

‘the same helmets as the police,

the same buckled belts as in the Third Reich, and their style is similar to that of the storm troopers of the Weimar days.” Their aggregate strength, says

Stern,.is already upwards of.a .

thousand.

The country is still astir over the bloody outrages perpetrated by these “orderlies” in Frankfort on Main at the end of July. De- scribing the scene, Stern quoted one of the “orderlies” as saying:

“It’s a pity we've no machine guns.” oe

The passivity of the police was by no means accidental. It was indicative of the official at- titude to the neo-nazi outrages.

On August 10 von Thadden’s crew planned to hold election rallies in Duesseldorf and Frank- fort. In Frankfort the anti-fas- cists were able to foil the scheme in advance. In Duesseldorf the gathering did take place, under the protection of a huge police force. But nearly ten thousand people came out to demonstrate against the latter-day Hitlerites.

The anti-fascist _demonstra- tions in the two cities showed

‘that resistance to the activiza-

tion of the neo-nazis is mount- ing.

The current election campaign is also significant in another way: it shows that there are forces in West Germany who want change, who are looking for new paths. Historical exper!-

ence and common sense tell .

them that the course the Federal Republic has hitherto followed has no future. They realize that it is just as feasible a thing for the G.F.R. as for any other coun- try to break with the traditions of anti-communism, to develop normal relations with the Soviet Union and the other socialist states.

Of interest in this context are certain statements by the G.F.R. President, Gustav Heinemann. In a recent interview he told a Spiegel magazine correspondent he would not sign any bill or other document giving the Bun- deswehr or the Federal govern-

The workers of the Mannesmann works in Du " metal workers’ strike, demanding higher wages an

isburg-Huckingen, West Germany, have joined the d the right to a greater say in the running of the

CHANCELLOR KIESINGER

GFR elections: New Forces

ment the right to decide on the employment of nuclear weapons.

I remember the talks I had with people-from different walks of life in the Federal Republic.

The people I talked to in Lue- beck were eager, and not only out of politeness, to find points of contact, between the G.F.R. and the Soviet Union. You know, they would say, a Soviet ship called here the other day. Good thing imports of Soviet timber and coal are growing. We're handling upwards of a hundred thousand tons of Soviet cargoes annually. But the figure could be much greater, surely. ..

“It is time we resumed our ties. That would be in keeping with tradition and the needs of today,” the city’s Burgomaster, Herr Max Wartemann, told me.

That idea kept cropping up in the conversations I had with municipal and public leaders in other cities.

Addressing last. month’s Su- preme Soviet session, U.S.S.R. Foreign Minister Andrei Gromy- ko said:

“A turn in our relations is pos- sible, and we want it, if the G.F.R. follows the path of peace. This means that plans of revenge for the last war would have to make place for the realization that the future of the G.F.R. with its substantial economic and technical resources lies in peace- ful co-operation with all states, including the Soviet Union...”

I can recall no other G.F.R. election campaign attended by such a broad discussion of the state of West German-Soviet re- lations. Indeed, the idea of nor- malizing relations with the so- cialist countries appears to have won such currency among the general public that the political quarters too are forced to give it serious consideration.

A rather definite stand is taken by the Free Democratic Party. Its program urges renunciation of the Hallstein doctrine with its sole representation claim, and says that the German Democra- tic Republic should participate as an equal partner in the pro- posed all-European conference and that both Germanys should seek admission to the United Na- tions. These propositions, Sie- gel magazine points out, are

_ “oriented on the realities.

The FDP leaders’ visit to Mos-

cow has had a strong impact and provoked a lively discussion in West Germany. However, pretty loud in this discussion is the voice of those who cling fast to the principle that what is good for the Soviet Union is bad for the G.F.R.

For one. thing, there is the hackneyed contention that talks with the Soviets are possible only from positions of strength.

For another, the reactionary circles obviously intend to con- tinue with their subversion against the socialist countries as part of their ‘Eastern policy.”

Lastly, certain quarters are trying to make improvement of relations conditional on all kinds of concessions. Rainer. Barzel, for instance, says G.F.R.-Soviet relations will be normalized only when the German Democratic Republic "opens: its state fron- tier.’ This is another attempt to dictate terms and interfere in the internal affairs of other states.

€

A key problem in the election is the failure of the Social Demo- cratic Party to fight for definite alternative policies. They are talking a great deal about “an active policy of peace’’“and “de- tente,” but they take care to avoid saying anything concrete as to how they propose to carry out the program. On the con- trary, it contains a point which at once puts the party leaders’ peaceable assurances in a dubi- ous light: ‘We shall continue to strengthen the North Atlantic alliance. This is one of the prin- ciples of our peace policy.”

A genuine alternative to the present policies of the Bonn rul- ers is offered by the German Communist Party. In the months since its establishment in Sep- tember last year its membership has grown to 22,000.

The Party stresses that the working people of the GF.R. need a government that would take vigorous action against neo-fascism and the swing to the Right. It supports the Buda- pest appeal of the Warsaw Treaty states urging the convoc- ation of an all Europe confer- enc on European security. It calls for the recognition of the German Democratic Republic.

The German Communist Party has entered the pre-election struggle within the framework of the Action for Democratic Progress, a broad electoral alli- ance uniting the democratic and socialist forces of West Ger- many. It seeks to co-operate with all those forces in the in- terests of European security, de- mocracy and .social progress. Such co-operation is supported by many rank-and-file Social De- mocrats, local trade union func tionaries, and members of stu- dent associations and peace or- ganizations.

(The above materials are ex- cerpted from articles by A. Gri- goryants and A. Efremov in the Soviet weekly—New Times.)

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPTEMBER 19, 1969—PAGE 9