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BERLIN: © @:oRO

By MAX REICH
Tribune Staff Correspondent

BERLIN
HE. West German govern:

ment crisis is full of dang- .

: ers, said Max Reimann,
chairman of the German Com-
munist Party (outlawed in West
Germany), at a press conference
in Berlin. The danger is that re-
placement of the Erhard govern-
ment will result in a shift to the
right. The new government
would emasculate democratic
institutions, break internal op-
position and prepare the way
for an autocratic government
based on the army. '

The proposed change of the
constitution is aimed toward
this end. The amended consti-
tution will permit the govern-
ment “in an-emergency” to ab-
rogate all democratic rights and
to establish: itself as a military
dictatorship. In its external poli-
cies it would become “more ac-
tive,” force a “solution” of the
German problem by “absorbing”
the German Democratic Repub-
lic. West Germany has _ the
means to create border inci-
dents, start a chain of actions
that must call forth chain reac-
tions and quick escalation into
disaster. :

From Oct. 17-22. the Bonn
army and government carried
out war games, called ‘“Fallex
66” (Case X). Under the assump-
tion that the constitution had
already been changed, military
dictatorship was practiced in a
secret dugout: A communique
from the dugout reads: “Bonn
was destroyed by nuclear bombs
but the East German population
is liberated.” “Emergency laws”
passed in the dugout dealt with
the property of “liberated” East
Germany, which was handed
over to its “rightful owners,”
the dispossessed monopolists
and feudal landowners.

The government crisis goes
much deeper than the difficulty
of balancing the state budget
for “1967. On the surface the Er-
hard government broke up be-
cause the coalition partner, the
Free Democrats (FDP), rejected
an increase in taxation to cover
the deficit. Electioneering had
started for two provincial elec-

tions. The FDP had been losing
votes and refrained from an un-
popular measure. But the FDP
had also asked Erhard a more
vital question: The money the
state will raise, what kind of
policy is it to finance?

It is misleading to ‘speak of
an “Erhard” crisis; that Erhard
has been replaced because he is
giving weak leadership. It is not

’ the inability of the man Erhard,

but the political concept of his
entire party that is responsible
for the crisis.

The essence of the crisis is,
Union (CDU), the senior gov-
ernment party, has failed to ad-’
just to a changed European and
world situation. It refused to
recognize the fact that the Ger-
man Democratic Republic has
become strong, that the reality
of its existence is beyond doubt,
and that no kind of manoeuver-
ing or pressure or blackmail will
make it disappear.

The Bonn correspondent of
the New York Times recognized
this situation. He wrote on Oct.
26: “A growing number of West
Germans in and out of govern-
ment are willing to recognize
that reunification is an impossi-
bility at this point in history.
They are starting to demand that
the real problems of divided
Germany be faced squarely.”

“Reunification” in the West
German dictionary means elimi-
nation of the GDR and its ab-
sorption into West Germany.”
To face the problem squarely “‘is
to recognize the existence of the
GDR, and talks and negotiations
between the West and the East
German state on government
level’

Bonn’s political concept, not
Erhard, is to blame for the dead-
end policy of. all three parties
represented in parliament. Any
new chancellor who will con-
tinue the same dead-end policies
will face a continuation of the
same crisis.

The greatest and very real
danger in the crisis is the way-
out decisive CDU leaders want
to take, which finds expression
in the call for a “strong ran’: a
shift to the right.

This shift is to happen in two

Welt der Arbeit (Cologne)

Germar worker, looking at a box representing West Germany's
‘economic miracle: “Empty so soon?” :

. steps. First, an interim govern-

ment to prepare the ground, to
be followed by the “strong man”
government, possibly under
Strauss.

The political thinking of this
trend is as follows: If in spite
of all-out efforts (and prophe-
cies) we cannot make the GDR
collapse, if we cannot push her
out of existence, we must mus-
ter all our strength and overrun
her militarily (not an entirely
new idea, either).

Crazy? Yes. But not crazier
than the belief of the Kaiser in
1914 and Hitler in 1939 that they
could defeat the whole world.

The people who advocate this
line engineered the government
crisis and are the loudest shout-

- ers of ‘Erhard must go”, namely

to make way for the strong man.
These people are also vehement-
ly opposed to balancing the
budget by reducing the over-
blown military expenditures, an
important cause of the economic
upset. The military burdens for
an over-ambitious program have
become too heavy’ for the West
German economy. ~ “a

What is the way out? Max
Reimann says: New elections.
Parliament no longer reflects the
the mood of the people. A new
parliament, a new government
and a new policy is needed to
come out of the crisis.

Brenner, chief of the Metal
Workers Union, largest in West
Germany, has also called for
elections.

What is the position of the
parties?

It is the West German tragedy
that there is no real opposition
in parliament.-There is an extra-
parliamentary opposition, a num-
ber of unions, including their
leadership, students, intellectu-
als, clergymen, certain newspa-
pers. and periodicals. This very

_ active section, with millions of
supporters, has no organization-°

al form and no voice in parlia-
ment. The parliamentary Social
Democratic Party does not re-
flect its thinking.

The Social. Democratic Party,
on all major issues, supported
the policies that drove the Er-
hard government into bankrupt-
cy. Neither before the crisis nor
since, has it come out with any
definite constructive proposal.

Willi Brandt, the party’s nom-
inal leader, has some realistic
tendencies and somewhat differs
from the other leaders. Herbert
Wehner, the party’s strong man,
and Helmut Schmidt, its parlia-
mentary spokesman, oppose any
liberal move that would differen-
tiate the SPD from the CDU
party, led by Erhard.

Wehner persuaded his party
to participate in the anti-demo-

cratic “Fallex 66” exercises and

Schmidt recently censured the

Danger of a shift to right
in Bonn government crisis

government for not spending
enough on military research.
Both are firm supporters of the
emergency laws and a strategic
nuclear role for West Germany.

The Free Democratic Party
was the junior partner in the
Erhard government. It is not a
homogenous party. Among its
50 deputies in parliament, there
are nationalists and also liberal
democrats.

The CDU and its Bavarian

branch CSU (party of Strauss)
is the backbone of reaction,

which needs to be broken 10

release the democratic elementS

in all parties.

Only a combination of extra-

parliamentary activity — which

has developed favorably — it —

which ties are established be
tween the unions and the intelli-
gentsia and the liberal elements

in parliament, can prevent thé —

dangerous threatening shift t?

the right. An election now would —

help to put this liberalization
process into motion.

i ae

around the world :

HUNGARY has introduced a draft resolution in the United”
Nations to make the use of chemical and bacteriological weapon>
for destroying human beings and the means of their existence a%&
international crime . . . Thirteen men were jailed in Lisbon last week
for terms ranging from 14 months to-1214, years. for. affiliation '0.
the Portuguese Communist Party. ; ota

* x. *

THE U.S. COURT OF APPEALS last week heard oral arguu
ment in the case involving a tax and fine amounting to $326,000 a
assessed against the Communist Party by the U.S. tax department. |
This is the first instance in American history that a tax has been :
imposed on a political party. The ruling of the court is now bei0B
awaited. The matter has been in litigation for 12 years... A® ©
increase of up to 38 percent in rents and a further rise in taxes
faces Swedish citizens as a result of a recommendation of SwedenS
state rents advisory council that the government raise rents % —
700,000 : privately-owned houses built with state loans.

* * * ;

DOLORES IBARRURI (La Pasionaria), famous leader of thé 4
Communist Party of Spain, said last week that the so-called “pro
letarian cultural revolution” in China is not a revolution and still |
less proletarian. In an article in Pravda she characterized recent mM
events in China as “an outburst of nihilism and petty-bourgeO}S |
impotence in the face of natural difficulties that arise in the cours® |
of building socialism.” . . . A Soviet astronomer has appealed 19 |
scientists in other countries to join the Soviet Union in designins
a system to receive signals from intelligent beings in space.

* * *

BERMUDA is in real danger of becoming a second Rhodesia |
with a white minority having a political majority in Parliament, 4
constitutional conference held in Bermuda last week was warne@:
A representative of the Progressive People’s Party at the confer
ence said “we shall oppose any constitutional change which 10° —
creases the power of the present oligarchic, undemocratic and T&
cially-biased House of Assembly.” :

* * *

SPEAKING about guidelines, it has been estimated that div!’
dend payments for Canadian stockholders will be at an al! time
high in 1966. The previous all-time high was in 1965, and before
that the record was 1964. In fact for the last eight years dividen
payments have set records. This year dividend payments will b®
on an average of 12 percent above those paid in 1965 and 27 pel
cent above dividends paid in 1964. The owners of Canada receive?
$1,24,823,407 for the first. 11 months of 1966, which should b@ |
enough to pay the mortgage on the homestéad and keep the kids —
in porrage.

* * * :

MORE THAN 1,000 students at the Barcelona University held —

a peaceful protest rally in the law faculty building to demand les4
recognition for their breakaway “Democratic Syndicate” and a ae
lifting of sanctions against 68 lecturers suspended because of stU=
dent demonstrations last March and April . . . Italian Socialists a
and Social-Democrats have united their two separate parties int@ |
One at a convention in Rome. Pietro Nenni has been elected presi- _f
dent of the united party.

November 25, 1966—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page ®