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10p NEW AGE PAPER OF THE COMMUNIST WORKERS' MOVEMENT No. 3 Mid-April to Mid-May 1978. BIDW LEBANON: PALESTIN- IANS FIGHT BACK NEW AGE holds to the strate- gic theory of the "three worlds" This scientific theory ser- ves not only to understand the world but to change it. The countries of the Third World (Asia, Africa and Latin America) are the main force in opposing imperialism, parti- cularly the two superpowers which oppress and threaten all other countries in the world. The Third World's struggle supports the struggle of the working class in Britain aga- inst the monopoly capitalist class and against the super- power, including the USSR which pursues its imperialist policy under the guise of being pro- gressive and "socialist". The people of Palestine, Lebanon and other Arab countr- ies form an important contingent of the Third World. Their ex- perience teaches us that the oppressed nations and classes can adapt their struggle to take account of even the most difficult conditions and de- feat all enemies, no matter how violent and deceptive their tactics. For more than three weeks now there has been a bitter and very complicated war fought out in the southern part of Leba- non. This is the result of Is- raeli aggression against Lebanon, a sovereign country. This kind of flagrant aggres- sion is condemned by world pub- lic opinion, just as it was when the Russians invaded Czechoslovakia ten years ago. In reply to this attack the Lebanese people are fighting in their own defence. Israels attack is also the most impor- tant part in a plan to exter- minate the Palestinian revo- lution (see NEW AGE no. 1), and the Palestinians are the leading force in resisting Is- rael. TARGET OF IMPERIALISM Lebanon contains several different Moslem and Chris- tian communities. The French, who used to control the count- ry between the two wars, prac- tised a policy of divide and rule. Since the last war, other imperialists have tried to do the same. Lebanon used to be something of a bridghead for western im- perialist economic penetration of the Middle East; it has quite a wealthy bourgeoisie, which may be tempted to capi- tulate to imperialism. For this reason, when the USA was planning a great of- fensive to gobble up the Middle East two decades ago, it chose Lebanon as a target for an open invasion by US marines in the summer of 1958. CONTINUED PAGE 5 Editorial In the January issue of the magazine, "The Leveller" a witness for the prosec- ution at a recent trial was named. That might not seem unusual, but the name of this witness was being kept secret by the court, who seemed to think revealing his name would somehow en- danger "national security"; now the Attorney General is planning a contempt of court case against" The Leveller" magazine and five individ- uals who work on it, which could result in the latter being jailed. It all started when two journalists, Crispin Aubrey and Duncan Campbell, were interviewing John Berry, who'd been working on Sig- nals Intelligence (SIGINT) in the army. The Special Branch had been spying on them, and arrested all three, seizing a tape recording they had made of the inter- view, which was later prod- uced as evidence against them. They were charged under the Official Secrets Act. COLONEL B The prosecution prod- uced a certain Colonel B as a witness against ABC. He said that the information on the tape was prejudicial to "national security" and stated, "I don't think there should be any discussion of SIGINT. The whole subject is classified." "The Leveller" published Colonel B's true name and are now being prosecuted for doing so. It seems unlikely that the Attorney General (in other words, the Govern- ment) is really concerned CONTINUED PAGE 2 CONTENTS Leyland Page 2. Claridges Page 2. Letters Page 3. CWM-RCLB Public Meeting Page 4. A Difference At MacDonalds? Page 4. The World Scene Page 5. Birch Sinks Lower Page 7. Hospitals in Socialist China Page 8. On Sunday, 9th March, another fire-bombing took place. Latest attack was on the offices of the pap- er, "Socialist Challenge." Fascists are undoubtedly responsible.

2 EDITORIAL Continued from Page 1. about the Russians getting hold of this name, sinee if a small magazine like"The Leveller" could easily dis- cover it, it is unlikely that Soviet intelligence would be ignorant of it. What concerns the Government is that thousands of working and progressive people might find out too much about the ruling class' state machine, and the way it is being pre- pared for use against them. This it cannot tolerate; the whole system of state rep- ression has to be kept as secret as possible if any illusions about democracy under the capitalist system are to be maintained, Other- wise, more and more people might turn away from the search for reforms within the system to the fight to overthrow the whole system. Though we disagree with much that" The Leveller" says (for example, the way some of its writers deny the need for a revolutionary party), it does have many positive features; also, "The Leveller" prosecution is part of a wider attack on hard-won dem- ocratic rights in Britain; thirdly, the Official Secrets Act is used to keep ruling class secrets away from the working class and is one lim- itation among many on freedom of speech. For these reasons, "The Leveller" and its staff should be supported, in their trial as well as in their call for the scrapping of the Official Secrets Act. Interview with a Leyland Wor- ker at Longbridge, Birmingham, Q: Leyland workers are blamed by the press, politicians, and management for British Leyland cars not being competititive on the world market and so for the company losing money. What do you think? Leyland Worker: Well, for a start the machinery at Leyland is either old or inefficient. This is because British Ley- land has preferred to invest its capital abroad, such as in British Leyland South Africa, where they can make huge prof- its out of 'slave labour'. lake my job. The grinding ma- chine I work on is 50 or 60 years old. It's forever bre- aking down. So I have to wait around for the maintenance man. British Leyland is trying to save mo- ney on this: it doesn't employ enough maintenance reineers and even says it'll have to cut the workforce to be more efficient! The old grinding machines are in such a state that each.com- ponent they produce is a dif- ferent size! So we have to check each plece. WHY PAUL FOOT SHOULD BE A SOCIALIST-THE CASE AGAINST THE SOCIALIST WORKERS' PARTY When the Socialist Workers' Party was launched, it published a book by Paul Foot- "Why You Should Be A Socialist" This book showed many of the faults of the SWP very well. Now CWM has published a book which not only refutes most of what Paul Foot says, but indicates the way forward from the errors of SWP. "New Age" will publish a review in its next issue, but we can recommend it to our readers, particularly those who have had some contact with SWP. WHY PAUL FOOT SHOULD BE A SOCIALIST can be obtained from: OCTOBER BOOKS, 4B, TEMPLE COURT, LIVERPOOL 2. (Price: £1.20, plus 20p for postage and packing) Also available from: NEW ERA BOOKS, 203, SEVEN SISTERS RD, LONDON. N4. (Contact NEW ERA for wholesale terms) There is some new machinery, but there are no servicemen to keep a check on them so they keep breaking down too. How can Leyland management hop to have better production and better quality cars if it runs production like this? Q: What do you think of the bonus schemes? LW: Management says they're going to make us workers happy by offering us a bonus. Really, though, they want more work out of fewer workers - so they'll cut the workforce if the scheme succeeds. Eut with machines forever bre- aking down and us having to check every piece produced, it means, at least on my job, it's impossible to earn any bonus at all. STRIKE AT CLARIDGES! The kitchen staff at Lon- don's "top" hotel, Claridges, walked out on strike on April 10th. Placards were raised in Mayfair reading, "No more up- stairs, Downstairs" and "We are not slaves!" 50 chefs are on strike as well as 100 others from various parts of the hotel. The immediate cause of the strike was the sacking of trainee chef Richard Elvidge for attempting to organize a trade union branch (of the General and Municipal Workers Union-GMWU). These workers- who are practically at the bottom of the central Lon- don wage scale-are also dem- anding a pay rise and a five- day week. Catering workers (manyof whom are national minorityor migrant workers) are among the most oppressed and ex- ploited workers in Britain taday-with appaling rates of pay, bad conditions and long hours. They are usually un- organized and management is able to play on the language problems of migrant workers to keep them divided, and ignorant of their rights and in constant fear of deport- ation. Thus, the recent str- uggles of workers in the catering industry that have been occuring one after the other (Metropole Hotel, Garners' Steak Houses, etc) acquire a special importance for all British workers, and they must be militantly supported. These struggles have THE BUDGET The Budget was, as we predicted, a give-away budget. It is obviously part of the build up to a General Elec- tion, though not a great deal tion. Not many people will be taken in by Labour's "gen- erosity; "so much has been taken off the working class and the working people over the last few years that what has been given back is just chicken feed in comparison. SPILLERS Spillers, who have stop- ped bread production recent- ly, employed 29,097 workers for an average of £55 a week. In 1977, Spillers'chairman, William Michael Vernon got £35,350, plus income from shares, which must have brought his income to round about the £1000 a week level. also exposed the ugly fea- tures of the opportunist trade union misleaders who will willingly betray the catering workers at the drop of a hat! All this shows the importance of working towards a national Fight Back organization of rank-and-file catering wor- kers of all nationalities in Britain, and more impor- tantly, a revolutionary par- ty of the working class based on Marxism-Leninism- Mao Tse Tung Thought. This party will be able draw together the thousands of struggles of various sec- tions of the working class into one mighty struggle of the entire British working class for the overthrow of the capitalist system and for the building of socialism. VICTORY TO THE CATERING WORKERS! BUILD THE MARXIST-LENINIST PARTY OF THE WORKING CLASS! NUS At its Easter conference, the National Union of Students reintroduced its "No Platform For Fascists" policy, desig- ned to stop people like the National Front organizing and recruiting in colleges. This is a very good policy. To allow these people to spread their fascist and racist views is to encour- age more racist attacks on black people, more bombings of leftist and black comm- unity bookshops, more parcel bombs. The policy change was won against the opposition of the Tory students and members of the revisionist "Communist" Party of Great Britain. It seems that, for the sake of Tory votes in the NUS elections and CPGB "respectability" nationally (part of "The British Road To Socialism" no doubt!), the revisionists are quite prepared to reject everything they used to stand for wher they did deserve the title of "Communists"! Socialist Worker Headquarters gutted by Nazi National Front attack.

LETTERS to the EDITOR Dear Comrade, I'd like to take issue with the reader who contributed the "Star Wars" review. It's true that the film shows "small fry" rebels taking on and destroy- ing the "ultimate weapon" of an inter-planatary empire, but it's going a bit far to draw parallels with the pre- sent world situation. Of course, it can be seen that way, but isn't it true that most bourgeois "heroes and villains" films show heroes who stand against heavy odds (generally powerful enemies) and win out? "High Noon", "The Magnificent Seven", "The Dirty Dozen", and the James Bond films are all examples of this. It would be difficult, after all, to make heroes out of powerful people who overcome weak enemies! Another point is that bourgeois films like this glorify a few indivi- duals and do not show the role of the masses of the people; nor are the indivi- duals portrayed good ex- amples of the workingpeople. They represent bourgeois ideals not ideals the capitalist class today lives up to, of course, but bour- geois ideals all the same! (For example the ideal of the 'self-made man') As to the fact that U.S. film corporations re- fused to back it in the first place, there are hun- dreds of films they've re- fused to spend money on, but this has nearly always been because they were not regarded as profitable. Since, stripped of its special effects, there's not much to 'Star Wars', it's not surprising they initially decided against backing it. Although the film kept my attention through- out, and the effects really were something, I was con- The Force is with him. scious of many reactionary features. At the beginning, for example, Luke lives with his aunt and uncle; his uncle is the breadwinner while his aunt stays in and does the housework. Princess Leia, the heroine, proves tough and resourceful, but the final battle is left to the men. Her heroism is a concession to the advances women have won, andcertain- ly not ahead of its time. 'The Force' is a mystical thing which gives Luke the necessary strength to win through. It seems that the bourgeoisie has so little confidence in ordinary human beings as heroes that more and more it has to add something superhuman to them! (The 'Force' here on television, we've had the Bionic Man and Woman with machinery providing their power!) Building a real people's culture as an alternative to capitalist culture is something which can only be started on while the capitalist class has state power and controls the purse-strings of society; until there is a really attractive working class alternative, the cultural products of capitalism will draw many people. While this situation continues, CWM and other Marxist-Leninists should attempt to put work- ing people on their guard against the reactionary essence of capitalist cult- ure, and not be seduced by the attractive forms it often assumes. Although it only meets once a year, all its dec- isions are only taken after months of consult- ations and discussions outside the Congress at all levels of society. Without such mass democ- racy it wouldn't function by just meeting once a year! DEMOCRACY IN CHINA Dear Editor: "Though I found your report on the National People's Congress of China very interesting, one or two things puzzle me. How often does their Congress meet and also is it a decision-making body or does it simply carry out the orders of the Communist Party. Fraternally Reader: Stoke Newin- gton. Ed: The N.P.C. is con- stitutionally the highest decision making organisa- tion in the Chinese state. Its members are elected every five years and it generally meets at least once a year. However, in the past, the Congress has not met as often as the present Constitution in China has laid down. A great deal of disruption was caused by certain past members of the Chinese Communist Party, known in China as the 'Gang-of-Four' who interfered in the Congress's democratic process for their own wends. However, the recently appointed Chairman of the C.P., Chairman Hua has undertaken to strengthen the functioning of the National People's Cong- ress. The N.P.C.'s members are drawn from all levels of Chinese society, represen- ting workers in industry, on the communes, soldiers officials, the minority nationalities and other people both inside and outside the Communist Party. 3 BIDWELL BACKS "WHITE" BRITAIN Syd Bidwell is a man of many parts - but the parts don't fit together any more. He is the Labour Member of Parliament for the London constituency of Southall with its large immigrant community. He has long posed as a left-winger and 'friend' of Black people in Britain. A member of the Tribune group, admirer of the revisionist Communist Party of Great Britain, and associated with Trotskyist organisations, he is a man of the broadest left. But now his broadness has become an obscenity and he is revealed as a disguised, disgusting pig who betrays all to wallow in pursuit of personal ambition. He was prominently on the Select Committee on Race Rela- tions and Immigration whose report recently caused a furore among Black people and well- disposed whites. The report has only succeeded in vindicating Enoch Powell's rantings and Margaret Thatcher's sickly- sweet racism. The report has seriously undermined the security of Black people in Britain, threatened their family unity, culture, language and religion, and opened the door to establishing Pass Laws on the South African model. Bidwell is a fraud and his performance has demonstrated very forcefully how the social demo- cracy of the Labour Party conn- ives at racism and encourages racists. Bidwell is an agent of British imperialism, as is his party. A while back he showed his true-blue colours when he support- ed Indira Gandhi's state of emerg- ency which was aimed at suppress- ing the Indian masses. But Bidwell is on a losing wicket. Black people in this country are fighting back and are winning growing working-class support. The peoples of the Third World are taking their destiny into their own hands and no longer need or heed bad advice from 'socialist' quacks. They have bid farewell to the Bidwells of the world and making their own history. OVER 6MILLION JOBLESS IN EEC About 6.26 million peo- ple were out of work in the nine Common Market countries in February, according to provisional statistics iss- ued in Brussels. The figure for the same month last year was 5.77 million. Particularly hard-hit are women, youth and immig- rant workers. A similar situation exists throughout the capit- alist world, with the high- est percentage of people un- employed in Canada. In Britain, the Camb- ridge Economic Review has estimated that there will be 5million unemployed by 1990.

4 A DIFFERENCE AT MACDONALDS? The adverts say, "There's a difference at MacDonald's you'll enjoy." Well, their hamburgers might make a cha- nge for the better from Wimpeyburgers, but they are still a firm that mass prod- uces a limited range of food which is sold by poorly paid staff in order to make the company huge profits-just what Wimpey's have been doing for years. And people won't enjoy the "difference at MacDonald's" much when every major street in every major town has its own Mac- Donald's restaurant. This situation could well come about in Britain, since the company intends to expand here. MacDonald's is among the fastest growing monopolies in the USA. It has overtaken all its competitors to become the most profitable "fast foods" chain in the world. In the USA, MacDonald's com- mands 20% of the market, ag- ainst its nearest rival's 8% and it is still opening stores at the rate of 400 a year. HAMBURGER CENTRAL The company's headquar- ters is "Hamburger Central," Chicago, where it has a com- puter which keeps track of sales and stocks throughout the world. It also has a "Hamburger University" where it trains managers. The firm is very anti- union. It takes advantage of high youth unemployment to take on young people for poor wages. Workers have to "qualify" for wage-rises- they don't get them on the basis of seniority. Their performance is reviewed every threemonths, and if for some reason it is thought to be not good enough ("You have a bad attitude towards the job-you don't smile en- ough"), they don't get a rise. Now MacDonald's is ex- panding into foreign markets too. It operates in 24 count- ries besides the USA, and has well over 500 restaur- ants in them. It plans to open another 150 this year, including some in Britain. This is part of the reason for its current advertising campaign here. The international expan- sion of MacDonald's and sim- ilar companies might seem menacing, but, on the other hand, it makes more clear the common interest of the workers of all lands in org- anizing to smash, by social ist revolution, the system of exploitation of which MacDonald's is part. PUBLIC MEETING OF CWM AND RCLB Speakers from the Communist Workers Move- ment and the Revolutionary Communist League of Britain on the struggle to unite the Marxist-Leninist movement. 2-5 P.M., Saturday, April 29th at the Public Hall, Old Town Hall, Haverstock Hill, London N.W.3. (Near Belsize Park Tube Station) A ZANU speaker will also talk on the Zimbabwe Liberation Struggle. POLISH REVISIONIST- A GUEST OF THE LABOUR PARTY. Edward Babiuch a leader of the revisionist "Polish United Workers Party" that exercises brutal dictator- ship over the Polish Work- ing class and people was recently a "fraternal" guest in London of Ron Hayward General Secretary of the Labour Party. Babuich also hobnobbed with Michael Foot, David Owen, leaders of the revisionist "Communist" Party and the TUC. These actions of Foot and Hayward show what sort of social fascist dictatorships these "left" labourites would like to impose on the British working class. In Poland the genuine Marxist-Lennists organised in the Communist Party of Poland led by Comrade Mijal work under ground and face brutal re- pression. Soviet troops are in Military occupation of Poland. RELF Robert Relf, the racist who advertised his house "For Sale To An English Family" (meaning to a white family) has sold it to a Sikh. His neighbours wanted nothing to do with him, and when a Jubilee street party was organized, he was the only person in the road who was not invited. He thought he would upset his neighbours by selling to a Sikh, but no-one seems bothered. BAD AIR A survey of air pollut- ion in London at the end of last year revealed that the levels of ozone and sulphur dioxide in the air over the city are poisonous. The World Health Organ- ization (WHO) has recommend- ed certain levels of air pollution as"acceptable" upper limits, beyond which certain gases produced by industry become dangerous to the people who have to breathethem. For ozone, the "safe" level is 10 parts ozone to 100 million parts of air, but levels above London were 21 parts per 100 million. Sulphur dioxide levels were 16 times the"safe"level. The tests were carried out by the Greater London Council, the Medical Re- search Council, the Atomic Energy Research Establish- ment and the Department of Industry. Obviously, poison in the air concerns all the people of London, but part- icularly working class people, who live in the areas of greatest industrial pollution. Why then, has there been hardly any pub- licity about this survey's findings? The answer is that if many people realized how their health was being aff- "JUST GOING OUT TO PLAY, MUM..." ected by air pollution, they would pressurise local and national government to con- trol pollution levels more strictly. That would cost businesses more money and government bodies have no intention of leaning very heavily on them to fork out more cash to protest Lon- doners' health. It is clear that business and government put profits before people's health. This is a very different situation to that which is found in big cities in soc- ialist China. In places like Peking and Shanghai, indus- try is steadily growing year by year, yet pollution of all kinds is being reduced, with some of the waste prod- ucts even being put to good use. This only happens bec- ause in China the working class has power, and indus- try exists to serve the needs of the Chinese people, not for the benefit of a few parasites. JAWS In Britain, dentists are paid on the basis of a fee for each item of work they do. Many dentists do a good job of looking after their patients' teeth but others only think about totting up as many fees as possible for extractions and fillings. They do not think about prevention and the qual- ity of their work which has led to lower standards of care. The emphasis in dental health work is on treatment rather than prevention. In 1975, £191.5 million was spent on dental treatment in England and Wales but less than £2 million on prevention. 力更生 Taching, an oilfield in China. There is little pollution there, and crops grow all around the oil wells. (Papercut)

5 THE WORLD SCENE LEBANON Continued from Page 1. But apart from a handful of traitors, the Lebanese nation as a whole united to resist this attack. SOVIET AMBITIONS Now Lebanon has once again become the focal point of con- flict in the area. The reason for this is not the same as it was in 1958. Now it is because the Palestinian revolution has become the ma- jor issue in the Middle East and one of the key issues in world politics. Soviet social-imperialism is now the rising imperialist su- perpower with ambitions to do- minate the peoples of the Mid- dle East and the rest of the world. Pinning its hopes on the ru- ling national bourgeoisie in Arab countries where there is a strong state-controlled sec- tor in the economy, and decep- tively pretending to support the sincere desire of the Arab people for socialism, the Rus- sians managed from the late '50s onwards to build up a very powerful influence. SIDON LEBANON SYRIA ISRAELI- TYRE OCCUPIED LEBANON OCCUPIED PALESTINE (ISRAEL) HAIFA ISRAEL OCCUPIED SYRIA FIGHT FOR LIBERATION Collaborating with the United States, the USSR has maintained a no-peace no-war situation in the Middle East and has been making a vast profit in selling to the Arabs arms which they needed to defend themselves against Is- rael which is armed to the teeth by the USA. Recently they have suffer- ed setbacks with the rejection of Soviet diplomacy by Egypt and other Arab countries. Meanwhile, the Palestinian revolution has been develop- ing in strength. The Palestinians, led by their Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) are a thorn in the flesh of the two superpowers. They have militantly been holding to the road of self- reliance, and have nothing to gain from the no-peace no- war situation which keeps them deprived of their land while enabling Israel to immobilise the other Arab states and con- centrate on fighting the Palestinians. COMPLEX CONDITIONS The approach of American imperialism has been and still is to crush the Palestinians and wipe them out as a politi- cal force. In 1970 the Jordanian gover- nment, with US support, car- ried out its notorious "Black September" massacre of Pales- tinians. After that, the Palestinian forces had to use Lebanon as an external base for military operations aimed at liberating their country. The Soviet Union uses dif- ferent tactics from the Ameri- cans. Rather than exterminating the Palestinians, the USSR would like to enslave them, and turn the PLO into a tool of its own great-power inter- ests. Thus the Palestinians are fighting under very complex conditions. The Russians would like to see them beaten down to a point where the PLO has no choice but to give itself up heart and soul and seek Soviet protection. They are quite happy when the Palestinians are subjec- ted to aggression, as is hap- pening in Lebanon at the mo- ment. CIVIL WAR The handful of Lebanese reactionaries, who are quite powerful financially, are still available to serve in suppressing the Palestinians. They are the same people who served US imperialism a long time ago, such as the leadership of the National Liberal Party headed by Camille Chamoun and the Phal- angists led by Pierre Gemayel. During the recent Lebanese civil war, which was at its height two years ago, Israel infiltrated the southern part of Lebanon. Those Lebanese forces which favoured national independence and supported the Palestinians were held at bay by Syrian troops armed by the Soviet Union while Lebanese right- wingers, supported by Israel were able to massacre many Palestinians, notably in the Tell-el-Zaatar district of Bei- rut (meanwhile Czechoslovakia, under Soviet orders, was sel- ling arms to both sides). FURTHER EXPANSION But all this completely fail- ed to wipe out the Palestinians or to dampen their revolution- ary enthusiasm. So Israel has pursued its expansionist policy still fur- ther through a large-scale ag- gressive operation against Lebanon. Israel's plan was to surround and wipe out the main forces of the Palestinians in a light- ning operation. This has failed Not only have the Palestin- ians been able to regroup their forces in an orderly way fur- ther to the north, but they have been fighting back with appropriate guerilla methods. Israel's hold even over that part of Lebanon which it oc- cupies is insecure. In these circumstances, Is- rael is committing itself to a large-scale war in order to re- alise its strategic objective Young Palestinians train to fight the Zionists. which is, as Chief-of-Staff General Gur recently put it, to "create a situation such that it would finally result in an agreement in the frame- work of which the activities of the PLO would be control- led throughout Lebanon." RIGHT-WING MAFIA One important purpose of the Israeli invasion is to pump up the Lebanese right- wing and use them against the Palestinians. For at least two years mini- warlords had been operating in southern Lebanon using Is- raeli arms and logistic sup- port. But they only had very limited success. Now these thugs are able to operate on a larger scale. A so-called "south Lebanese army" has been set up, led by Saad Haddad, and an attempt is being made to terrorise the Shiite villagers of the south, who support the Palestinians. They are being confined to barbed wire-surrounded stra- tegic hamlets, a method used by imperialist aggressors in other wars, like the Americans in Indochina and the Soviet- Cuban forces in Angola. NEW SOLIDARITY Israel would like to give the impression that Lebanon is being punished for the sins of the Palestinians, and to build up anti-Palestinian feeling there. But Israel has supported the atrocities committed by the Lebanese right-wing mafia, and has carried out indiscriminate terror-bombardment against Tyre, and has apparently de- vastated about 80% of the vil- lages south of the River Litani. This has meant in practice that many Lebanese are now more sympathetic than ever towards the Palestinians, since they have had a taste of what it is like to be driven out of their homes and subjected to constant harrassment. RESISTANCE FORCES One problem is that the Le- banese state is extremely weak owing to the effects of the Civil War. The Palestinians accept the authority of the Lebanese state over Lebanon, but in order to overcome the immedi- ate danger of Israeli aggres- sion they have constituted a special resistance force in conjunction with patriotic Lebanese. Yasser Arafat, leader of the PLO, has been appointed commander of these joint Le- banese-Palestinian forces. This is recognition of the fact that the Palestinians

6 are the main force protecting ARAB STRENGTH Lebanese independence. GROWING OPPOSITION It seems clear that the attack on Lebanon was plan- ned a long time ago. However, because the Israeli govern- ment is now seen to have re- jected the peace initiative of Egyptian President Sadat, it is now more isolated than ever before in the face of world public opinion. Moreover, this expansionist policy has provoked increas- ing disillusionment and resis- tance among the Jews of Israel. For a long time the Zionist state had been able to mani- pulate public opinion within Israel, but there are signs that this is no longer working. Many soldiers in the Israeli army are sick with what is obviously an unjust war. U.N. ROLE A further complication is provided by the United Nations forces it was brought in under the terms of Security Council resolution no. 425, composed by the USA, which is extremely vague. This calls for preventing armed elements from entering Lebanon. But of course the Israeli aggressors are al- ready there. Apart from (1) the PLO and (2) the Israeli army, which are the main contenders, the different military forces in the Lebanon include (3) the UN force made up of several different national contingents, the most important being French (4) the patriotic Lebanese forces which are fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with the Palestinians (5) the Lebanese army under the control of President Sarkis (6) the Arab force, introduced during the recent civil war, which is mainly made up of Syrians and effectively under Syrian con- trol (7) various right-wing militias, mainly composed of Lebanese Christians, which are prepared to sell out to Israel. Israel is apparently aiming at a triple division of Leba- nese territory: (a) the bor- der area between Lebanon and Israel, to be controlled jointly by Israel and the right-wing Lebanese militias (b) north of this area and to the south of the River Litani under international control (c) to the north of the Litani under Syrian control. Obviously this would mean that there would be no place left for the Palestinians. The PLO have accepted the presence of UN forces, but do not accept the Israeli inter- pretation of the UN presence, i.e. exclusion of the Pales- tinians. The PLO sticks up for the point of principle that they have a right to fight the Israeli troops, since the UN force is nowhere near strong enough to do this. Syria is preparing to resume negotiations for a "settle- ment" of the Arab-Israeli "dis- pute" under the patronage of the two superpowers, is not at all anxious to be drawn into a conflict with Israel, and has been using the "Arab force" to prevent Palestinian rein- forcements from entering the area. Other Arab governments such as Iraq often express very pro-Palestinian sentiments but have in practice been very half-hearted in their support for the Palestinian cause. But the tendency to compro- mise in the face of aggression is not the main tendency. Thus Syria has acted to prevent the main forces of the Lebanese right-wing from launching an attack from the north against the rear area of the Palestinian-Lebanese patriotic forces north of the Litani River. The Arab people are an op- pressed nation with a bitter hatred of imperialism, and are part of the Third World. Because of this immensely strong popular tide, the governments of Third-World countries would be swept away if they did not take a fairly resolute anti-imperialist stand. NEW STAGE OF REVOLUTION The different Arab govern- ments have various strong and weak points in their foreign policy. Under the influence of the great popular movement of the Third World, they should be capable of surmoun- ting their differences and taking a fairly correct anti- imperialist line. It is becoming more and more clear that the militant struggle of the Palestinians which at the moment is inter- linked with the Lebanese people's fight to defend their independence is a frontline engagement in the struggle by the Arab people and the Third World as a whole against im- perialism and particularly the two superpowers. Victory in this conflict will take the international revolutionary movement to a higher stage. BRITISH WORKERS SUPPORT PALESTINIAN PEOPLE Workers at the Prestcold engineering factory in Hill- ington, Glasgow, have sent a petition to the AUEW Exec- utive demanding action over the Zionist aggression agains st the peoples of Palestine and Lebanon. It reads, "We protest at the Is- raeli invasion of Lebanon, which follows a year of raids and bombings of Pales- tinians and Lebanese (unrep- orted in the Tory press). We call upon the EC to support the just struggle of the Palestinians for the re- turn of their homeland. We ask the EC to oppose the Zionist aggressors by campaigning for blacking of all Zionist transport and goods, and the raising of a fund for medical aid for victims of Israeli aggress- ion." The engineers have al- ready sent the proceeds of a collection for medical aid. NO SURRENDER IN MIZORAM The Indian government has broken off talks with the guerrillas of the Mizo National Front who have been waging peoples war for 12years for the independence of their homeland. This was because the guerillas had correctly refused to lay down their arms whil st talks took place. Lebanese demonstrate in Beirut in solidarity with the Palestinians during the fighting in Jordan in 1970 SOVIET SOCIAL-IMPERIALISM MOVES IN ON IRELAND The government of the Irish Republic is giving "serious consideration" to a "generous offer" by the Sov- iet Union to build a zinc smelter worth more than £100 million. This smelter would process ore from the 85 mill- ion tonne lead-zinc ore body at Navan, naar Dublin. The social-imperialists would be repaid in guaranteed low- price refined zinc. The ques- tion being considered by the Fianna Fail government is merely what proportion of the total output of refined zinc should be handed over to the Kremlin bosses. This deal shows the com- prador or "gombeen" nature of the Irisn capitalist class; they will willingly sell their country not only to British imperialism but also to any other imperial- ism if it will help them stay in power. It also shows that the Soviet Union is no socialist country, but an imperialist power that exports capital in or- der to reap super-profits. FRANCE Aftermath of French elections UNIFIED M-L PARTY SOON IN FRANCE In the recent National Assembly elections in France, the coalition of openly right wing parties held onto power, resisting the challenges of the phoney "left" coalition of social-democrats and "Communist Party of France revisionists. The French Marxist-Leninist parties, the Marxist-Leninist Comm- unist Party of France (PC MLF) and the Revolutionary Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of France (PCRMLF) stood together in the elec- tions under the name "Work- er and Peasant Union for Proletarian Democracy." Un- like all the bourgeois par- ties of "left" and right, they participated without illusions in bourgeois dem- ocracy, not primarily to gain votes but to help pro- pel the class struggle for- ward and as part of the struggle to unite the French Marxist-Leninists. Whilst all the other parties ignored work among the immigrant workers who could not vote, the Marxist- Leninists intensified their activities amongst them dur- Continued over.

7 Continued from Page 6. ing this period. Great successes were won in the election campaign, and the Workerand Peasant Union is to continue. The newspaper L'Human- ité Rouge on March 17th car- ried an article and speech by its political director Jacques Jurquet and high- lights of a speech by Max Cluzot, a leading comrade of PCRMLF. They stressed the necessity of uniting to build a single Marxist-Leninist party. Comrade Jurquet pointed out, "The progress made in the unification process... is being watchedin France with great hopes, confidence and enthusiasm."He pointed out that the founding of the Party had been regarded as an urgent task since 1963. "The present endeavour to develop a current of the masses against capitalism and revisionism, as initiated by the PCRMLF and PCMLF has al- ready achieved positive res- ults." "The progress in the uni- fication of Marxist-Leninists in the past month or so was more decisive than that in the past 2 years." Comrade Cluzot pointed out, "Both the demands of the class struggle and the posit- ive balance-sheet of our com- mon work call for the unific- ation of Marxist-Leninists, and...we will do everything possible so that this year will not pass without the realisation of unification of our 2 parties." MARXIST-LENINISTS UNITE! *** Birch sinks lower The CWM was founded by ex-members of an organisation called the "Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist)" which is led by Reg Birch, member of the AUEW executive and the TUC General Council. Since our organisation was founded, we have seen Birch and the clique around him sink further and further in- to the swamp of revisionism (revisionists are people who revise away the revolutionary essence of Marxism-Leninism, scientific socialism). Now Birch has joined the camp of the Soviet social-imperialists andtheir agents. Since the early 1970's, Marxist-Leninists around the world have recognised the fact that capitalism has been restored in the Soviet Union, and it has become an imper- ialist superpower, which is socialist only in words. That is why the communists of China, Albania, and the gen- uine Marxist-Leninists of all countries attack Soviet social-imperialism. Precisely because some people (though they grow fewer every day) are taken in by the "social- ist" words the Soviet Union uses to cover up its imper- ialist character (as shown most recently in its inter- ference in the Horn of Africa) it is important for Marxist- Leninists to show that the Soviet Union is no friend, but a social-imperialist enemy of the peoples of the world. But Birch has consistent- ly refused to refer to Soviet social-imperialism; he has just spoken about "Soviet imp- erialism. Recently, he has even done that less and less. These days, he generally just mentions the Soviet Union, not even calling it imperial- ist. There are clear signs that he is trying, in his own little way, to reverse the correct verdict of the international communist TRAVAILLEURS FRANCAIS IMMIGRES UNIS French M-L poster- French and immigrant workers united. ZIMBABWE SOLIDARITY The Central Committee of the Communist League of West Germany (KBW) issued an appeal on March 24th supporting the armed struggle in Zimbabwe, and denouncing the seizure of funds collected for ZANU in West Germany. A collection eaucrats, NATO generals and under the leadership of Int- ernational Imperialism march in a new crusade to destroy Russia and quite incident- was being organized with a view to gathering in enough money by May Day to fully equip a ZANU motorized div- ision. The state seized 105, 000 marks deposited in the Central account in Mannheim. The statement stressed the determination of the KBW to reach its target for May Day, and to recover the seiz- ed funds. "OUR TIMES" It has been decided to discontinue the story "Our Times," which has come in for quite a bit of criticism. It has been said that, "It's messageis unclear, the char- acters are cardboard." It is "out of character with the rest of the paper." These points are valid. ing sentence of the article says, "Because of the diff- erent system of society, the unions' functions are ent- irely different to ours." Reg Birch, Chairman of the CPB(M-L), talking with Chang Chun- chiao, one of the Gang of Four. This was on his last visit to Peking, before Chairman Mao died. On his return, he told some members of CPB(M-L) that China's foreign policy was revisionist, and that the CPB(M-L) should not change its policy, since there would soon be changes in China. Could it be that he knew some- thing about the plans of the Gang of Four to seize power? Could it be that Birch was something to do with the "illicit foreign relations" the Gang of Four were accused of maintaining and was involved in wider conspiracies in the international communist movement? movement on the Soviet Union ally, all Europe." and its agents. Our organization supports In several recent articles the Three Worlds Theory of in the CPB(M-L) paper, "The Mao Tse-Tung, yet we don't Worker", the Birch clique have support these things-it's attacked those who uphold the just more of Birch's non- Three Worlds Theory and acc- used them of calling for a war against the Soviet Union (A complete lie, since all the supporters of this theory have done is to point out that there is a growing dan- ger of war-which Lenin said was inevitable while imper- ialism existed-and that the world's peoples better get ready for it). In an editor- ial of March 23rd, Birch (the article is unsigned, but is in his peculiar style) wrote, sense. But that's not really the point. If "International Imperialism" is to march in a"new crusade" against Russia, what is the Soviet Union? Does this mean it is not part of "International Imperial- ism?" "Now, giving up the str- uggle to survive and becom- ing slaves to their exploit- ers, abandoning national sov- ereignty, workers are asked (I.E. by the supporters of the Three Worlds Theory, among others-Editor's note) to accept Common Market bur- This is undoubtedly the conclusion Birch is moving towards. This is confirmed by an article called "The USSR as we saw it", which app- eared in the March issue of the AUEN journal, written by J.G. Russell and Birch. The whole tone of the article is approving; there is no criticism at all of the Soviet Union, not even the mild criticisms which members of the older-style revision- ist "Communist Party of Great Britain sometimes allow themselves. The most reveal- Birch recognizes that Brit- ish society is capitalist, so if Soviet society is a "different system," then doesn't Birch mean it isn't capitalist? Birch never really broke with the revisionism of the CPGB, of which he was long a member; he and those around him are degenerating fast, as revisionists will. His latest pronouncements on the Soviet Union are just further evidence of this, and he is bound to get worse. Honest revolutionaries should put no trust in him, should oppose his revisionist line, and, if they are in the CPB (M-L), they should leave it and turn to a genuine Marx- ist-Leninist organization, for the Birch party is so much under the control of Birch and his close assoc- iates that they will not succeed in changing any- thing from within, as ex- CPB(M-L) members in CWM know from bitter experience.

8 BEING ILL IN CHINA Criticising the National Health Service is not very difficult. Even some of its 'experts' agree that it is an unmanageable bureacracy, overstaffed with administrators and understaffed with doctors and overworked nurses. Most families have a personal tale to tell about the N.H.S. - some of them tragic, Yet the working class which finances the health system out of its wages is made to feel grateful for even this ailing service, with programmes on the radio and T.V. describing the plight of many families in other capitalist countries without health system at all. The faults and failings of the N.H.S. are in fact mer- ely symptoms of a bigger ill ness in our society - the social relations which the capitalist system generates. It is not easy to say how socialism would change the N.H.S. exactly - this will be decided after discussions at all levels - in the com- munities and by patients as well as doctors, nurses and other health workers. However, while visiting the People's Republic of China recently along with a small group of academics, I was taken ill with acute append- icitus. It was a real eye- opener to experience at first hand how different things can be under soci- alism. After an emergency opera- tion, I was very surprised to be told that the surge- ons had found a large stone in the appendix which they felt must have caused chron- pain for some years. I had suffered pain in the abdomen for a number of years but had never been given tests and my General Practit- ioner had diagnosed chron- ic constipation! I have never been troubled with such pains since. I have always dreaded the thought of an operat- ion but as I was wheeled into the theatre I felt relaxed and among friends even though I couldn't speak a word of Chinese and the doctors and nurses only spoke a little Eng- lish. This was because just a few days before I had visited a small hospital serving the Two Bridges Commune just outside Pek- ing and seen excellent facilities. We were told that this commune had four dentists, 22 doctors seven surgeons and 17 bar- efoot doctors. (These are more highly trained than nurses but not as qualif- ied as doctors and gener- ally deal with minor ail- ments) QUESTIONS I was not sedated; all my questions were answe- red and I received clear information as how the surgeons proposed to deal with my condition. I was surprised that the operation was carried out under local anaesth- etic, but I was told this was to reduce the feeling of being 'poorly' after the operation which accompanies full anaesth- etics. In fact I was wa- lking about a little, just 18 hours after the oper- ation. (It made me wonder whether the Western prac- tice of using full anaes- thetic was for the doctors' convenience rather than the patients?) Each day in the hosp- ital began early as in most hospitals, with an orderly washing down the walls of my room to counteract the thick dust of Peking which even managed to penetrate the mosquito screens on the windows. While breakfast was brought up in steamers from the kitchen (not very successful in keeping food warm) the nurses and doct- ors piled out on to the sunny terrace for 15 min- utes of 'keep-fit' to music before coming back to start the day at about 7:30 a.m. HISTORY No-one insisted I woke before breakfast was served and I was left to decide when and how I bathed. My surgeon Dr. Chow visited me at least twice a day, and when dressings needed changing or stitch- es removed he did them himself, often serving me orange juice and whatever. He never attempted to pass dirty or menial jobs on to the nurses, if he could do them him- self. Dr. Chow's day seemed to finish about 8p.m. before he returned to his wife and small boys. But this seemed to be from choice as he would often visit just to chat about politics and literature or to relate some of the his- tory of the hospital before going off duty. The Capital Hospital in Peking had been built at the turn of the century for foreign diplomats and businessmen. Most of the Chinese people were denied medical treatment then, and though they built the hospital (a very beautiful building with yellow glaz- ed tiled roof, in the traditional style), they were not allowed to use it. Only after Liberation in 1949 was the hospital thrown open to the people. Every Chinese has the right to walk into any hospital and ask to see a doctor. However, Liberation did not set everything in the hospital right at once. Many of the doctors still lauded themselves over the patients - especially poor people and medical students from poor families. After the Cultural Revol- ution began in 1966 the social relations between, doctors nurses and pat- ients really improved. Even the lowliest orderly in the hospital had the right to criticise the highest consultant... Such a system would prob- ably terrify many of our N.H.S. consultants, but from what I saw in the Capital Hospital it prod- uced real teamwork and seemed to bring all the staff together. Dr. Chow said he had taken part in the Cultural Revolution as a young medical stud- ent and that some of the more progressive sen- ior doctors had also supported this new way. In the end, every one except for a very few reactionaries were won over. (Next month; how I found out that the Chinese slogan 'To Serve the People' is no clichè). Z.A. This new paper, NEW AGE, is a paper of and for the working people of Britain. We hope you will write for us: your views on our society, on the world situation, your own experiences. We want articles, information, letters, and particularly comments and criticisms. Please send all contributions to: NEW AGE October Books 4b Temple Court Liverpool 2. NEW AGE is published by the COMMUNIST WORKERS' MOVEMENT (C.W.M.), which has been formed with the intention of uniting working people and revolutionaries, and uniting with other Marxist- Leninist organisations, in order to build a revolutionary Party of the working class. We aim to apply Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought to concrete conditions here. Our Programme, a general expression of our views, is available from the above address at 15p post paid. Copies of NEW AGE 20p post paid. Reductions for bulk orders and discount for shops. please write for details. I NEVER KNEW THE FEUDAL SYSTEM EXISTED UNTIL I CAME TO CLARIDGES - so proclaimed the poster held by this picketing worker at the hotel recently. (See page 2) SUBSCRIBE TO NEW AGE £2 A YEAR Post Pd