oe pin 2 (cay Ruilcoall B WS Nee we FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 1966 VOL. 27, NO. 4 Is Wilson preparing sellout of Rhodesia? Early this week there were ‘some disturbing signs that Brit-° ish Prime Minister Harold Wilson was succumbing to reactionary pressures at home andpreparing some kind of compromise on the Rhodesian crisis, Over the weekend Wilson held- secret talks on Rhodesia with Tory leader Edward Heath, Lib- eral leader Jo Grimond and Com- ‘monwealth secretary Arthur Bottomley. Also present was Sir, Hugh Beadle, Chief Justice of Rhodesia, who is recognized by both the illegal Smith regime and, the British government, At the meeting, Beadle is understood to have impressed the three party leaders with the HAROLD WILSON, who approves the use of force against the majority (in Vietnam) but disapproves its use against the minority (in Rhodesic) . view that sanctions would prob- ably take longer than expected ‘to have an effect on Smith’s racist regime, The British Communist Party issued a statement immediately after the Big Three meeting in ‘which it charged: “It seems clear that this visit (by Beadle—Ed.) was planned to prepare the way for some kind of negotiation with the illegal Smith regime. This was taking place despite Wilson’s solemn declaration six weeks ago that the British govern- ‘ment would have nothing to do with the Smith clique, He is quoted in Hansard (Dec, 10, 1965) as saying: : « .. . we cannot negotiate with ‘hese men, who cannot be trusted The party statement charged Wilson with being more anxious to please the white minority rulers than the overwhelming majority of Rhodesia’s people, thus flouting the will of progres- sive mankind, The party declared its firm - opposition to this betrayal by Wilson. It Was tot only a matter of ending the illegal Unilateral Declaration of Independence, but of putting an end to all forms of white minority rule. The statement called for com- plete and effective sanctions, joint military action with independent ‘African states, majority rule based on a democratic constitu- tion, and no negotiations or deal- ings of any kind with the Smith regime. Fruits of Tashkent India and Pakistan have agreed to disengage their troops by Jan- uary 30, withdrawing 1,000 yards from their present positions in the plains, it was announced this week, Under a timetable agreed to by Indian and Pakistani army chiefs recently in New Delhi, both sides will dismantle all defences in occupied territory by February 20 and complete the withdrawal of troops by February 25, as provided by the Tashkent Declar- ation. United Nations military obser- vers will help to carry out the agreement, In the hills, the two sides will keep their present positions, eX- cept where they are too close, In such cases, local commanders are to agree on the extent of withdrawals. The agreement also provides for further meetings between the Indian Chief of Army Staff and the Pakistani Chief, to resolve any points of dispute, Commander-in-- In her first speech as Indian Prime Minister early this week, Mrs. Indira Gandhi said that India proposed to take full ad- vantage of the new climate of peace with Pakistan brought about by the Tashkent Declaration, The Declaration could not bring about the normalization of rela- tions between the two countries overnight, she told a group of Moslems celebrating the end of Ramadan, the Moslem month of fasting. But it was a steptoward bring- _ ing about peaceful relations be- tween the two countries, This step would enable them to take more steps in that direction, Earlier, Mrs, Gandhi, 48, was sworn in as her country’s first woman Premier. Fifteen other cabinet ministers were also sworn in at the same time. Mrs. Gandhi has pledged the new government will continue along’ the path of neutrality and non- alignment, first set out by her father, Pandit Nehru and contin- ued by her predecessor, Lal Bah- adur Shastri. tana Ten a or BJ shifts gears o intensity dirty war The budget presented to the US. Congress this week can spell only one thing — war. While avoiding an actual declaration of war, it is obvious the ad- ministration of LBJ and hawk McNamara is gearing up the economy of the world’s most powerful capitalist state to place it on a complete war footing to try to crush the people of Of the record $112.8 billion budget, more than half ($58.3 billion) will be spent for war. This includes a special allotment of $12.3 billion for the dirty war in Vietnam. Vietnam. The budget revelations followed upon the heels of more escala- tions even while the U.S, con- tinues to push its largely dis- credited “ peace offensive.” These latest escalations include: And LBJ has ominously stated __ on more than one occasion that if more is necessary, he will not hesitate to demand more from the American people—even if his so-called Great Society suffers as a result, According to press reports the bulk of the newest Vietnam ap- propriation is to be spent on new weapons, including huge new quantities of ground-to-air and ground-to-ground missiles, in- dicating a wider, greatly stepped up war. A GLIMPSE OF THE U.S.’ DIRTY WAR:A 10-year-old boy carries his wounded sis- ter while a member of Saigon’s puppet forces looks callously on. Canadians‘are being asked to help provide badly needed aid to the suffering people of Vietnam and initial response has been truly heartwarming. (See Pages Two and Five.) ® U.S, authorization to combat troops to cross the border and enter Cambodian territory in the search for Vietnamese libera- tion forces, @ Regular bombing of parts of Laos, ® Sending of another 12,000 U.S, troops into Vietnam, All the latest escalations have taken place since the much her- alded peace drive was launched on December 20. The bombing of Laotian territory has never been admitted by U.S. officials but the puppet chief of state in Saigon made the embarrassing disclos- are last weekend, Indicative of U.S. desires for peace in Vietnam was the news that exactly one minute after the truce observing the lunar new year ended, American B52 bomb- ers were in the air and dropping bombs and napalm on the people of South Vietnam, U.S. bombings of North Viet- nam have been curtailed for roughly a month and strong pres= sures are being brought to bear on the Johnson administration to cease these criminal, illegal acts permanently, Included among those urging such a course are Senator William Fullbright, chairman of the Senate foreign relations com- mittee, Mike Mansfield, Demo- cratic leader in the Senate, and | Lieut.-Gen, James M, Gavin, a former leader of U.S, military forces in World War II and Korea, However, other strong (per- haps stronger) elements are de- manding a bombing resumption and further stepping up of the war, If the budget is any criteri- on, the escalators will rise again soon, Good response to Vietnam aid appeal Initial appeals for aid to the people of Vietnam have brought | a prompt, warm response from Vancouverites and others liv- ing on the Lower Mainland, On Wednesday, minutes before we went to press, aman walked into the PT office and laid a $100 pill on the counter, “I want to help the people of Vietnam,” our caller said simply. His name wasn’t im- portant, he told us, He wanted to do something for the Viet- Inamese people and knew if-he left the money with us, we’d see to it the money would get to where it was destined, This brought the total con- tributions since the drive was launched (only last Sunday) to $2,522. In next week’s PT we hopeto be able to publish particulars of the setting up of an Aid to Vietnam Committee, their headquarters, etc, Inthe mean- time, we will be only too happy to continue receiving all dona- tions until the necessary machinery is established.