~ tere h:

8e Fens
Briere! crisis

ee a

Aggression at the crossroads

SS

Israel—sliding down t

aN FRANCISCO — In Janu-
pons to the prestigious
ae daily Maariv, the
ie ee
ce n to ‘leave Israel
a Teason for the requests
am Permits is undoubtedly

: ‘to the protracted mili-
¥ Situation that began in

T, but not solely.

“Wr. the past five months,

§ Conditions in the countr
have deteriated drastically and
: a been alarming signals
standard angers not only to the
racic of living of the mass of
rights but to their democratic
_ and civil liberties as well.
trou . olatile situation has been
wn ee sharp focus as a
elections the Dec. 31 national
a and the parliamentary
Vering that followed.

RIGHT Wing
B .
Peet the recent’ struggle
bie ae those who run Israel
Bovernn, composition of the new
ne oe a related directly
elie ay Ss military and
;. :
eta December elections the

intreasene LIKUD electoral bloc
Seats in a Strength by seven

he Knesset (parlia-

ment). The group is made up: of
the Herut, Liberals, Free Cen-
ter, State List and the Greater
Israel Movements, parties and

' coalitions made up of rightwing

. AKSOUD, an editor of the pres
CLOVIS MA an t the second week of March. He spoke

Nahar, was on the West

both in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Makso
for three months representing the

peace in the Middle
lands are returne
safeguarded.

religious groups and those favor-
ing territorial expansion.

With the results of the voting
in, the country was faced with
two alternatives: maintaining

tigious Lebanese daily An

ud is touring the U.S.

Arab League. His message is that
East could be at hand but only if occupied Arab
d and the rights of the Palestinians are

Letter from London:

; Britain's Com:
sts have spoken Be the
of capitalism” in
day the several decades. To-
home, “nickens are comin
ae Toost, :
doubts reins person in Britain
isis, & at there is an economic
Ward y x-Prime Minister Ed-
the wo fath's government cut
Over e week to three days.
Dloyeg 1° Million are unem:
faster in yeaa Prices have risen
ng Trelan ‘ British Isles (includ-
Part of ae in any other

Blivcey idustries have been
“apital; © rot, whilst British
tng we Invests abroad. Join-
Meant th, ©mmon Market has
bs se loss of food subsidies,
€ration. in food prices,
pee ance - of - payments
Other basi Cutbacks in steel and
Sic industries.

PO
UTICA CRISIS

Nite .
changes “128 with _ these
Velonaa’ Political crisis has de-
Vious signs of this

le . a

trade etalon militancy of the
Strikes ‘ee More and longer
in genase Stowth of the Left
i al and rising member-

Tu

8
STisig = S. The basis of this

Brito i the fact that for
Viable ¢, “apitalism is no longer a
of Ennio system. The end
burden ae aS meant a heavier
Meh. home to keep profits
loo
Palitcy gat some aspects of ‘the
Wilson © unions. When Harold
trieg ae last in power, he
Relation ‘troduce an Industrial
W i. Ct to reduce union
demon Mereases. Nationwide
thwarts ations and strikes
€d him

“ Inig 3
71, Heath pushed through

a similar Act, based on US trade -

union laws. Massive opposition
has made the Act inoperable.
Given government wage policies,
every major strike becomes a
political strike — a confrontation
between Government and work-
ers.
Thus, the recent, successful
miners’ strike precipitated a
general election. :
The ‘“work-in” by Scottish
shipbuilders was the first of
numerous actions which demon-
strated that working people
could occupy and could run
factories. It introduced the prin-
ciple of a right to work.

NEW PROGRAM

New sections have become

involved in strike action; civil
servants, teachers, hospital
workers, students.
e The Labor Party. The Unique
feature of-the LP is that a large
number of unions are affiliated to
it and they, not individual per-
sons, constitute the bulk of the
LP membership. As the unions
have moved left, LP Conference
policy has moved left. But Labor
Government policy is deter-
mined only by the Labor mem-
bers of Parliament, who are
predominantly right wing, hop-
ing to manage capitalism better
than the Tories. :

The crisis of the LP arises
from this split. The control of the
LP by the right (Harold Wilson,
James Callaghan, Roy J enkins) is
beginning to slip. In 1973, the LP
conference adopted a “Program
for Britain” that recognized the
need for a “fundamental and
irreversible shift in the balance
of power and wealth in favor of
the working people.” The road to
the defeat of reformism in the
Labor party has opened up.

e Repression. A number of steps
have been taken to strengthen

the ruling class. Special armed

police squads and riot squads
have been created. Northern

7 | e = @ eo. °®
Capitalism in crisis’

LONDON —

Ireland is‘a police state ‘and: a
testing ground for police’and
army action in Britain as a whole.

A series of immigration acts
has given the police the power to
seal off blocks for house to house
searches and has strengthened
the fascist party and racists like
Enoch Powell. The rights of
defendants on trial have been

_ eurtailed.

Ancient laws, some dating
back to the 15th century, have
been unearthed and used against
strikers and demonstrators. The
rule of Parliament can be by-
passed by the Government and
also by the institutions of the
Common Market. The media are
firmly in the control of the
Establishment and of a handful
of millionaires. Of course, organl-
zations are involved in action
against all this. The Trades
Union Congress demands a Bill
of Rights for Northern Ireland
and opposes racism.

Black and Indian workers are
involved, along with other organ-
izations, in fighting racism and
discrimination in all its forms.
The National Council for Civil
Liberties has wide support. The
National Union of Journalists is
becoming more outspoken. But
victories have not been won on
the ‘same scale as in the indus-
trial struggle.

What will Wilson's new Labor
Government do in this situation?
The miner’s have definitely won
their fight for a living wage. But
behind them is a long line of
other militant unions with pay
demands. Will he sell out their
interests in favor of the financial
interests of the City and of big
business, or will he carry
through the radical policy that
any Labor Party members want?
How will he cope with inflation
and unemployment?

In Britain, the order of the day
is not speculative questigns. »

ti tion.
It 1s acti WARTIN RABSTEIN

Dayan or a “Government of
National Unity” (or “National
Emergency Government”). ~

Victory for the latter proposal
would have seriously periled the
Geneva peace agreement by
bringing into the government
elements opposed to any. terri-
torial concessions to neighboring
Arab states. i

In Israel, as has been in
European countries in the past,

‘the construction of a national

unity government, would, in.and
of itself, mean a swing to the
right and an undermining of
representative government. The
urge toward more authoritarian
government has increased in the
country since the war. The calls

-for curtailing civil liberties have

arisen from military circles and
H. Rosenblum, editor of the
newspaper Yediot Ahronot re-
cently called for the establish-
ment of the equivalent of a
military dictatorship.

MOOT?

While Dayan and Meir have at
times publicly favored returning
portions of the Golan Heights
area to Syria which were seized
in the 1967 and 1973 wars, the
LIKUD groups oppose relin-
quishing any of the fruits of
aggression.

With the government of Syria
demanding a return of all its

occupied territory as a condition”

for peace negotiations, the differ-
ence might seem moot.
However, it takes on greater
significance when it is. realized
that elements of the LIKUD
openly favor further expansion
of Israeli territory. :

Although the LIKUD remains

a minority party and was not
taken into the new government,
it has obviously made significant
strides in pushing the country to
the right and strengthening the
hawkish sections of the Align-
ment.

This is the meaning of Dayan’s
dramatic refusal to join the new
government, despite pleas from

Ms. Meir. Battling for power in .

the Alignment, Dayan and Infor-
mation Minister Shimon Peres
had an “eleventh hour” change of
heart and came ‘into the new
Cabinet

On Feb. 8, while the jockeying
for the new government was
being carried out, Ms. Meir
declared, “the Golan Heights are
an inseparable part of the State
of Israel.”

On March 7, Peres told a
group of visiting U.S. journalists
that Israel would never allow the
creation.of a Palestinian state on
its southern border, meaning no
Palestinian state could be estab-
lished at all.

DANGER

Having roled out the two
absolute prerequisites for a set-
tlement with Syria — return of
occupied Golan and recognition
‘of the rights of the Palestinians
— the new regime took power to
the accompaniment of Ms. Meir’s.
tears of joy.

Right now, however, the
greatest threat to the stability
and staying power of the new
Meir-Dayan regime may come
not from its external relations
but from internal developments.

The October war resulted in
the death for one out of every
494 citizens and cost over $7 bil-
ion. Estimates are that produc-
tion curtailments during the war
resulted in losses of $480 million.

The Israeli economy was in a
serious state before the war, it is
now a calamity.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 1974—PAGE 5

he chasm?

- the Labor Alignment of Meir and

Meat, which cost $3.50 a
kilogram (2.2 lbs.) before the
war, shot up to $5 to $7 in-its
aftermath. The prices of bread,
butter and milk have gove up
from 30 to 70%. The cost of
drinking water went up $20;
electricity from 30 to 40%.

BELT TIGHTENING

~ The cost of rent in the country
plagued with a chronic housing
shortage has risen 150% since
October.

The Israeli Finance Ministry
estimates that the standard of
living in the country will drop
6% this year.

Increasingly the cost of the
Meir-Dayan military and foreign
activities are being borne by the

-Israeli working people.

Yediot Achronot has observed
that “according to the new (gov-
ernment) budget, the further
freezing up of wages is expected,
as also the reduction of real
incomes by 15%, the growth of
direct and indirect taxes, the
further reduction of expendi-
tures on economic development,
public education, medical ser-
vices, social security and of
various cash grants.”

Working people will have to
“tighten their belts still more,”
said the paper.

As in the past, the Meir-Dayan
government in looking to the
U.S. for. aid in alleviating some of
the nation’s economic hardships.

The U.S. Congress is expected
to soon appropriate $300 million
in aid for Tel Aviv, in addition to
the special $2.6 billion granted
during the war.

However, the bulk of these .

funds willbe in the form of

“military aid; guns, bombs and

tanks which cannot be eaten or
lived in.

CROSSROADS

One result of the current crisis
has been a wave of dramatic and
unprecedented labor strikes. __

In the December elections, the
Communist party of Israel
(RAKAH) received 20% more
votes than it did in 1969 and
increased its representation in
the Knesset from three to four.
Since that time the party has
fought consistently against the
LIKUD proposal for a govern-
ment of national unity. :

On Feb. 11, in the midst of the
negotiations for a new govern-
ment, the Communist party
Political Bureau, spoke of the
“obliteration of the political and
social differences” between the
Alignment and LIKUD.

“The state of Israel is standing
on the crossroads: either it
moves along the road which
leads to the success of the
Geneva conference and the
establishment of just and stable
peace, or slides down to the
chasm of a new war, hunger for
the masses, liquidation of demo-
cratic freedoms and the ascen-
sion of the forces of fascism.

“On the alignment, as the

central political body determin- —

ing government policy, lies the
decisive responsibility for the
choice of road, to be taken by
Israel.

“The new government will
serve the true interests of Israel
if it works for establishing just
and durable peace by implement-
ing the Security Council Resolu-
tions 242 and 338, which require
withdrawal from occupied terri-
tories, guaranteeing the sov-
erign existence and territorial
integrity of the State of Israel
and of all states in our region and
respecting the national rights of
the Palestine Arab people.”