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1. Wall Street gives nothing- away

By MILTON HOWARD

5 feo MARSHALL Plan is not
a gift. The U.S. is not giving
anything to anybody for nothing.
For every dollar, the state de-
partment and Wall Street expect
to get something back in re
turn, If they don’t get it, they’ll
shut off the “relief” in a min-
ute, hunger or no hunger.

President Truman’s message
to Congress outlining the $17,-
000,000,000 scheme gives the

“strings which all must accept—
or else. Some of the conditions
are couched in double-talk. But
they're all there, unmistakably,
as the relief countries will find
aut if they haven’t already.

1—Every country getting “re-
lief”? must pledge not to “go
Communist.” In state depart-
ment - Wall Street terms this
means that they must not even
have the Roosevelt-type of mild
New Deal reform, not to speak
of real Communist movements
seeking the national ownership
of the industries. ‘

2—Each country must set up
a fund in its own currency
equal to whatever relief it re-
ceives, This fund will be spent
as the U.S. dictates through the
Marshall Plan _agent in that
nation. :

3.—If the country has assets
outside of its boundaries, wheth-
er they be bonds, gold, dollars,
er, some experts say, even col-
onies, then these assets may
have to be sold to the USS. to
help pay off for the “relief.
Thus, Wall Street financial in-
terests will be able to use the
“relief? pressure to force the
sale of assets in the hands of

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their competitors at prices dic-
tated by Wall Street. This es-
ecially applies to British and
French assets in U.S.

4.—For all food relief handed
out, Truman’s plan calls for the
granting to the US. of vitally
needed war materials in short
supply such as atomic uranium,
metals, etc.

5.—Each “relief” country. must

reduce its tariff barriers to per-_

mit the dumping of American

goods inside that country. This.

hits the “sterling bloc” countries
under Britain’s domination.
Both England and her domin-
ions must abolish or reduce the
tariffs protecting their home
markets. i

6.—Each “relief” country must
sign an agreement with the U.S.
agreeing to permit the Marshall
Plan agent to examine all inter-
nal economic affairs of that

country, and to propose which.
commodities shall be given
priority in home manufacture

and in trade with any of the
other sixteen “relief” nations.

Under this provision American
industry will be able to curb the
advance of industries competing
with it or with its dollar-domin-
ated industries in the German
Ruhr, The idea is to make all
the “relief” countries dependent
upon German industry by sacri-
ficing the building up of their
own. This applies to raw mat-
erials and grains as well. In
France, for example, the pro-
Marshall Plan groups have ag-
reed to a decline in French
wheat growing to permit the
sale of American wheat. The
same with French films.

7.—Each “relief” country must
open its doors to private Am-

erican finance with all private
investments. to be guaranteed by

the , American government
against loss through nationaliza-
tion, taxation, etc.

8—Each “relief” country must
agree that the U.S. can reduce
ioans or grants at any time that
or halt all relief shipments,
the state department in Washing-
ton sees fit to do so for po-
litical reasons.

Thus, in its official form, the
Marshall Plan is admitedly a
plan to benefit not its “relief”

clients but to permit the eco-

nomic and financial penetration
of Europe by U.S. big business,
to revive the German Ruhr as
the industrial - political - military
base of Wall Street in Europe.
It is a plan to dictate the eco-
nomic life of each nation. Thus,
it is a plan to override the in-
dependence of each nation. It
imposes upon nations  condi-
tions and strings which the peo-
ple of U.S. would never submit
to from anyone else.

2. Europe must take US orders

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By JOSEPH STAROBIN

E next time anybody tells

you that “Marshall Plan” aid
will be going to western Europe
“swith no strings attached,” don’t
laugh it off. It’s a joke, but
a very grim one.

The truth is, that President

Truman’s program, as present-
ed to Congress and - explained

“in a thick, mimeographed docu-

ment by the state department,
simply snarls up the peoples. of

‘Burope in the very plainest kind

of strings.

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First of all, the entire idea

of a project among equals,
where the 16-nations form a

. body that works out a plan and

then administers it, has disap-
peared. The key idea in . Tru-
man’s proposal is that each of
these nations will sign separ-
ate, bilateral agreements with
the U.S. ‘

Secondly, the so-called Plan
is not a plan at all in the
sense of a four-year project
with specific goals and specific
commitments from this country.
The allocations of money and
materials will be made on a
year. to year basis. And the
American administrator can de-
termine “in case of changed cir-
cumstances” whether a nation
should be “disqualified” from
receiving further “aid.”

Both aspects are vital. No na-
tion can really plan on a year
to year basis. And which gov-
ernment that starts getting aid
is going to defy the American
administrator, and thus face dis-
qualification? The power to shut
oz aid is actually the power to
determine the whole content of
political life.

There are eight conditions,

. which any nation must comply

with. Some are general, such as
increasing production, stabilizing
its currency, making efficient

use of the ad given, and so
forth.

But some of these conditions
are dynamite: they could blast
open the economics of other
countries to penetration and con-
trol by U.S. big business. For
example, each country is com-
mitted to reducing trade bar-
riers. This sounds reasonable.
But many countries may wish
to judge for themselves- how,
to. what extent, and when to re-
duce such barriers.

Or take the provision that
other countries must sell cer-
tain materials to the U.S. for
stock-piling here as a “result
of deficiencies or potential de-
ficiencies in our natural re-
sources.” ane

That opens the prospect of
buying up uranium’ from the
Belgian Congo, or tin from Bri-
tish Malaya, or anything we
consider ourselves to be in short
supply. It is not buy these goods:
but to make economic “diktat”
for other nations.

Likewise there’s the proposal
that other countries shall set
aside currency equivalent to the
value of commodities given by
the United States, a sum which
“shall. be held or used only for
such purposes as may be agreed
to between such a country and
the government of the United
States.” On the face of it, this,

too, sounds reasonable. Actually,
it builds up currency ‘pools in
each country which the United
States can dispose of as it pleas-
es—a, terrific weapon to influ-
ence the economic and monetary
policies of other lands.

The same can be said for the
provision that private American
investors will be guaranteed con-
vertibility of profits from their
investments into dollars, This ig

a green light to private invest-
ment, but also much more.

Suppose an American com-
pany is making exorbitant pro-
fits; or suppose another coun-
try wants to nationalize an in-
dustry in which U.S. big busi-
ness has invested. That coun-
try’s bargaining power and sov-
ereign authority disappears
when the U.S. guarantees that
no matter what—the private in-
vestor will be paid in dollars,

Finally, there’s the eighth con-
dition—that any country apply-
ing for aid must furnish
“promptly, upon request of the
United States, any relevant in-
formation” about its economic
affairs. That’s more than a
loophole—it’s a barn-door wide
for penetrating and controlling

‘ the sovereign business of other

peoples.

This is the “key to the Mar-
shal! Plan: it’s rigged to give
control—open and invisible — to
the American: administrators,
control for the purpose of ad-
vancing financial and economic
domination by U.S. big business
over countries which are to be
revived—yes—but only as de-
pendents of Wall Street itself.

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