MOSCOW (APN) — Peking has announced the
establishment of a Special Procurator’s Office and a
Special Court to consider the case of the groupings of
Lin Biao and Jiang Qing which were defeated in the
power struggle with Mao’s present heirs.

In the extremely complicated and intricate inter-
nal political situation in China, at the surface of
which the open confrontation between the factions
of Deng Xiaoping and Hua Guofeng is ever more
conspicuous, the powerful forces of Great-Han
chauvinism are interested in separating by this trial
the name of their leader, Mao Tse Tung from his en-
tourage during the outrages of the ‘“‘Big Leap’’ and
the ‘Cultural Revolution.”’

China’s present-day leaders are trying to create
the impression that Mao was not involved in the
crimes of the Four. But whether Mao’s heirs want it,
or not, the whole ideological and political system of
Maoism will be put before the bar of history and the
Chinese people.

Whether the trial of the 10 former key party lead-
ers, statesmen and military leaders of Maoist China
will be open or closed, the very preparations for it
have shown a crisis of Maoist ideology and policy.

The Chinese leaders are now attempting to
“‘whitewash’’ Maoism from the bloodshed, misery,
lack of rights which it brought to the Chinese people,
and to preserve Mao’s course of the militarization of
the country, preparations for war and to preserve the
line of undermining détente and stepping up world
tensions.

China’s ‘Gang of four’ to stand trial

This manoeuvring is helped by the fact that Mao-
ism does not represent an integral, consistent teach-
ing, but is an eclectic amalgam of controversial th-
eses which are used to attain a definite political goal
— the transformation of China into a militarist
superpower in Asia.

Small-scale, superficial ‘‘de-Maoization’” by the
removal of some of Mao’s portraits or denunciation
of some of his extreme doctrimes cannot exert much
effect on hundreds of millions of Chinese subjected
for decades to the cult of Mao’s personality. In addi-
tion, tens of millions in China now in office in the
administrative and Party apparatus and in municipal
bodies are there not because of their organizational
abilities, professional knowledge or political experi-
ence, but due to their adaptation to the cult of Mao
and their loyalty to ‘‘Mao Tse Tung thought.”’

This gives rise to sharp contradictions in modern
Chinese society, to a struggle around Mao’s heritage
which has taken the shape of the campaign against
the ‘‘Gang of Four’’ and Lin Biao. This struggle is
being aggravated by the fact that for about a decade
the ‘‘Gang of Four’’ had a monopoly on the inter-
pretation of Mao Tse Tung’s ideas and was a mouth-
piece for his slogans.

Now the faction of Mao’s heirs, headed by Deng,
is trying to be the oracle and interpreter of the ‘‘spirit
of Mao Tse Tung’s leadership’’. Hua Guofeng and his
adherents in the state, military and party apparatus
who gained power in the course of the ‘‘Cultural

Revolution’’ are facing the risk of being totally.
ousted from all posts. 3
This power struggle in the Chinese leadership 15
being waged against a background of growing pov-
erty and lack of rights for the masses; against the

;, background of the discontent of 20 million jobless.

the problems of democracy, of observing constitu-
tional rights of citizens, of the family and the birth
rate, of young people, etc., are becoming ever more -
acute. :
Maoism has led Chinese society to a crisis of the
economic, social and cultural institutions. Serious
errors in planning and capital construction have been
made by the new Chinese leaders who logically con-
tinue the blunders of Mao himself. The Chinese

-people are again. being given promises while real

resources are being directed, as under Mao, for
military purposes and preparations for war.

At the same time, the experience of the first de-
cade of the People’s Republic of China, when the.
country took the path of building socialism, has left @
deep mark in the life and consciousness of Chinese
working people. :

Some facts reaching the outside world show that
socialist ideals are not yet uprooted in China.

These ideals are the safeguard that a true national
revival of China is still possible and that its socialist
development can be secured.

The trial of the ‘‘Gang of Four’’ and other Maoists
will again highlight the ideological and political
bankruptcy of Maoism.

“| No Canadian trade
with Argentina!

TORONTO — “No service to the junta” was the message 200 _~
Torontonians shouted outside the Royal York hotel here Oct.7
as Canadian businessmen inside listened to Argentina's —
economic minister extol the virtues of investing in his country.
The demonstrators, organized by the No Candu for Argentina
Committee and the Emergency Committee for Argentine Politi- ©
cal Prisoners and Refugees, pointed to the repressive nature of ~
the military regime, its drastic, anti-labor economic policies and
demanded Canada stop sales of Candu nuclear reactors to the |
junta.
The marchers told the press that political parties arebanned,
trade union rights removed and that some 15,000 personshave
- “disappeared” for opposing the regime. They asked for pres-
sure to release political prisoners in that country andto restore. .
basic democratic rights:as a basis for Canada-Argentina.ze-

|

TRIBUNE PHOTO — TOM MORRIS

| Arms drive road to bankruptcy

Marxism-Leninism in Today’s World

~ A reader writes: ‘‘The demand- of the exploitation at the point of production.

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4 Communist Party and others for an end

to the arms race sounds reasonable but
what about the workers who depend on
jobs in the armament industry, not to
speak of the communities that depend on
such industries for business and other
reasons?”

* * *

This is a question which troubles a lot
of people who think that making parts for
the U.S. armament industries is good for
Canadian manufacturing, Canadian bus-
iness, and makes jobs. However, this
raises companion questions. Do we have
to make armaments and other products
for a militarized economy in order to
create jobs? Is this the way to full em-
ployment, prosperity and rising living
standards? |

We take the position that neither war
nor preparations for war can create na-
tional prosperity, let alone prosperity for
working people. Rather, they create only
the illusion of prosperity. And, behind
such illusion lurks the spectre of national
bankruptcy. For, as the military
economy grows, so does the civilian
economy go into décline. Further, as the
militarization of the economy grows, so
grow inflation and unemployment. ~

; = rie scat Soe

When we speak of the militarization of

the economy, we take into account not
only arms, planes, bombs, missiles, nu-
clear submarines and so on. We are
speaking also of the pre-empting of
scientific and technical expertise,
developmental and capital resources for
various military projects and hardware,
including updating and renewal. In addi-

‘tion, account must be taken of trans-

portation, fuel in billions of tons, mainte-
nance of vehicles and armory, feeding,
clothing, housing, and war exercises to
keep a modem army combat ready. And
this is not to speak of the huge army of
non-combatant personnel which far out-
number armed personnel. All of this robs
the civilian economy of needed capital
and expertise:

What has to be grasped is that for
every dollar spent in the military
economy a dollar is taken out of produc-
tion for use by society. And every person
absorbed for military production and for
staffing the military machine is a person
taken out of productive labor at the dis-
posal of society as a whole. Military pro-
duction does not become part of the pro-
duction and consumption process con-
tributing tothe standard of living and the

strengthening of the country’s economic

base.
4 * * od

Military aircraft, tanks and vehicles,
naval vessels, bombs, guns and missiles
live a life apart, to be discarded quickly
as obsolete or destroyed in war. Arma-
ments do not fill any human need. In the
mean-time capital assets in the form of
public transport, railway systems, water
and drainage systems, highways, parks

and playgrounds, hospitals, schools and .

daycare centres, ecological systems and
factories, and other capital assets -de-
teriorate as they are used without renew-
al, improvement or extension. In fact,
many such capital expenditures are cut
back, as well as needed social services —
all of which are important assets attesting
to the well-being of society. ©

* * * .

Ever since the end of World War Two,
the U.S. defence department has been
the biggest single user of capital and
technology in the United States. This has
placed serious restrictions on resources
available for civilian use in that country.
As a result the productivity growth rate
dropped to 2.1% for the years 1965-70
and to 1.8% for the years 1970-75. This is
the lowest ever for the U.S., and lower
than any other industrialized country.
This means that production costs could
no longer be offset to the same degree by

And in industry after industry, the con-
sequent cost increase (which includes
the going interest rate on invested cap!-
tal) was passed along to the consumer in
the form of higher prices. As this ‘‘pass
along”’ accelerates throughout the whole
marketing apparatus prices soar, fueling
the inflationary process.

We have used the U.S. example be-
cause it stands at the heart.of the world
capitalist system, as well as at the heart
of the predatory system of world im-
perialism. Consequently, as goes the
U.S. economy so goes the Canadian
economy for it is tied to the United States
through that country’s financial and
economic domination over Canada’s
economy. And, as we have seen and ex-
perienced, the military economy in the
U.S. dominates and is impoverishing the
civilian economy of that country. And,

“like it or no, it is dragging Canada along

the same road.
* * *

Canada is also linked to the United
States through NATO and NORAD,
with the U.S. military calling the shots.
Which means that our civilian economy
also is being subordinated to the military
economy, aggravated by the U.S. over-
spill of inflation, recession and un-

‘employment into Canada.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCT. 17, 1980—Page 4