ULI Ltd |

the lively, witty, cutting, slashing piece of political satire that is currently ___ being staged in New York and “| “idly being read as a book in United States, Canada and Britain.

IW es a play! And what a cast! All the notables pererent U.S. history are here assembled. €re is Ken O’Dunc, He sees a

ol mk Frontier beyond her seas. : eel 0’erflow her shores and burst her banks, i Hi Rene extend till East does meet with West, me Ando est until the West does touch the East

Th er this hot and plagued earth descend

She P ox Americana, a sweet haze, :, elt'ring all the world in its deep shade.

\) « ben there are his two brothers, Robert and Teddy— fa *iS to the throne.

os j e ‘ ‘ "i fre is, of course, MacBird, of whom ’tis said,

of He has it erous,” ui

a fat, yet hungry look. Such men are dan-

ana Lady MacBird.

“Toy itches three. Whom the playwright describes See The Ist Witch is dressed as a student h Nesro ator, beatnik stereotype. The 2nd Witch is A Mu . with the impeccable grooming and attire of D Oeaaon Speaks salesman. The 3rd Witch is an ae a Wearing a worker’s cap and overalls.” | butting we all are in MacBird, the lively, witty, Writer Slashing, political satire of California’s young pacomara Garson.

eee Sacred to her. She attacks all hypocrisy, day's ce animes all that is pretentious in | iatespeare is well borrowed here, but have no framewo ox it is just that. The author, using the imitate T of Macbeth, has done more than just

Ih ; far the witches chant as they hail MacBird:

T a bosses shall be booted in the bin, gs unkinged. We have a world to win!

| A ; See MacBird, strutting on the stage, the typical Taggart, out to get the biggest job of them

all, ee he pontificates when he gets the vice-presi- “ nomination:

ce nt to thank you all. j es you all conferred in choosing me. Tome if you know just what this means |

View a: boy who nearly dropped from school? President of these United States! Wh’ are an inspiration to all boys 5 oely toil, and sometimes feel despair, l There ue that in the White House—or quite near— ok Wells a man who had to work like them, It “hela the struggles, knew the ups and downs.

8 a boy a faith in this, our land.

Its a play ... It's living history ... It's a work of art...

MacBird

Back on the ranch Lady MacBird begins to plot. She is: as ambitious as her sister in literature, Lady Macbeth. She says:

How often in the past have I arranged

To have the right connections come your way, Myself performing all the devious acts

So you receive the bounty graciously.

How artfully you’ve learned to look away While I prepare the props and set the stage. Then enter thou, declaiming loftily, Forgetting the deceit that makes for art.

Then the visit to the ranch and the obvious de- nouement. O’Dunc is dead:

The nation weeps as one. All work is stopped The men desert the plants. The schools are shut. The housewife leaves her pots; the food is burnt. The cars and private buses quit their. routes.

All private cares forgotten, strangers stop

And ask each other questions on the street.

But there are those that feel that “there’s some- thing rotten in the State of Texas,” notably Robert and Teddy.

They go to Lord Stevenson, the Egg of Head. They

ask him to speak out. But the Egg has other thoughts:

To see, or not to see? That is the question.

Whether ’tis wiser as a statesman to ignore

The gross deception of. outrageous liars,

Or to speak out against a reign of evil

And by so doing, end there for all time

The chance and hope to work within for change.

To work within the framework, there’s the rub.

For who would bear the whips and scorns from boors, :

The oppressor’s wrongs, the proud man’s contumely,

The insolence of office and the spurns

My patient merit of this braggart takes—

But for the fear of something worse than death.

In speaking out one loses influence. :

The chance for change by pleas and prayers is gone.

The chance to modify the devil’s deeds

As critic from within is still my hope.

To quit the club! Be outside looking in!

This outsideness, this unfamiliar land

From which few travellers ever get back in—

It puzzles mind, it paralyzes will,

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Then fly to others that we know not of.

Security makes cowards of us all.

I fear to break; I’ll work within for change.

But MacBird gets worried and calls on the Ear! of Warren to “investigate.” He says to Warren:

That’s why I’d like a full investigation,

Conducted by a man by such repute

That we may put an end to all these doubts. ’ That man is you.

And Warren replies:

Oh, cursed spite That ever I was born to set things right.

=

GO Mas

([-E-\ 7 ff

AG Nie eet

MacBird is not satisfied:

I don’t believe you understand the job I wouldn’t say you’re asked to set things right I think you get the point.

And Warren does:

Oh, whine and pout, That ever I was born to bury doubt.

MacBird has a dream, he says:

We have an opportunity to move

Not only toward the rich society

But upwards toward the Smooth Society ... I see a garden blooming undisturbed

Where all the buds are even in their rows. An ordered garden, sweet with unity,

That is my dream; my Smooth Society.

Then there is the witches’ prophecy:

Be bloody, bold and resolute, MacBird;

All cautious counsel scorn, for be it known,

No man with beating heart of human blood

Shall ever harm MacBird or touch his throne... « Be iron-fisted, proud, and take no care

Who chafes or frets or where conspirers are. MacBird shall never, never be undone

Till burning wood doth come to Washington.

How does this work out? Suffice it to say that the author’s got a twist that is clever and sardonic.

This is a play for reading aloud. It is a play for reading and rereading. It’s an original work of art as well as a copy of a greater one. As Robert Burns so aptly wrote:

“Oh, wad some power the giftie gie us To see oursel’s as others see us.”

To read. MacBird is to live history, to feel again the resurgence of that spirit of America which was the Spirit of ’76, the spirit that freed the slaves, the spirit that fought against war and fascism.

If your bookstore hasn’t got MacBird in stock ask them to get it immediately. (P.C.)

(MACBIRD. By Barbara Garson. $1 per copy. Gras- sy Knoll Press, Inc. Box 2272, Grand Central Station, New York, N.Y. 10017.)

THE VIETNAM PROFITEERS. By Victor Perlo. New Outlook Publishers. 55 cents.

ROFIT from war is, of course, part and parcel of world history. As a matter of fact,

remove the profit motive and the very basis for war is gone.

This pamphlet comes to grip with today’s profiteering in the Vietnam war.

Perlo has filled it with facts. They glaringly demonstrate what the U.S. monopolists are getting out of their adventurist policies in the east.

“Already,” says Parlo, “the Far East is a major area of U.S. corporate investments. Between 1950 and 1965 such investments

multiplied 644 times, from $309 million to more than $2 billion. By contrast, U.S. corporate in- vestments in Latin America and the Middle East increased ‘only’ 2-2% times.” :

He points out: “Mr. Johnson has even surpassed former Pre- sident Eisenhower in the extent to which the White House has become Open House for the top tycoons. The Business Council, that congregation of the indus- trial-financial elite which con- stitutes ‘by far the most influen- tial’ behind-the-scenes power block in the United States has more than recovered from its nominal downgrading by the late President Kennedy.”

On the role of the banks

Perlo points out: “An important stage in the economic coloniza- tion of South Vietnam was reached jn 1966 when the two largest U.S. banks opened branches there.”

“Nowadays,” he adds, “pri- vate foreign investments are buttressed by huge government- al and inter-governmental cre- dits for transport, power and other infrastructure, installa- tions.” ;

“The South Vietnamese gov- ernment,” adds Perlo, “offers to U.S. investors 3-5 year tax ex- emptions, half the cost of a pre- investment survey, freedom to transfer capital and profits, a guarantee against nationaliza- tion for 15 years.” It’s no won-

der then that some of the big- gest profits are made here.

On this Perlo points out, “The industries most involved in Viet- nam show two-year profit in- creases of 56 - 176 percent, from two to six times the average gains for all corporations.”

It is from these and many more facts that the author con- cludes that the fangs of Ameri- can imperialism have: to be

* pulled by the American people.

He offers a series of propos- -als for reducing the. power and, in some cases, thé profits of a number of giant corporations.

This pamphlet is a well docu- mented addition to the growing body of literature exposing the U.S. actions in Vietnam. (P.C.)

January 13, 1967—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 7