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KRUPPS BACK IN THE ARM

¥ GEORGE STRITZKOWSKY

Tipps of Essen, strengthened
Cially by the 350 million
: Ks booster they received last
fat from the Bonn Government
a the big banking houses,
Ant to regain their old posi-
fo Of chief arms manufacturer
~ the German imperialists.
a the concern’s manage-
re, Sent a letter to the Bun-
Tiny 48 defence committee. An
“testing excerpt reads:
Jieith this letter we would
)*€ to inform you about our
supply program.
bably not everyone is aware
at Krupps are active in mani-

tones field, work that we in-
‘},"d to intensify in the future.
oo therefore, very inter-
in receiving supply devel-
et and research commis-
(Fea from the Bundeswehr
®deral Army).”

Under the heading “Supplies

~ from”

By ALAN WINNINGTON

Ww, BONN
| ee €st Germany’s rulers have
of ty right to regard the fruits

With deep satisfaction.
«thanks to the help of their
raeonents,” the Social Demo-
oe the crisis of the Christian
oC Party has been over-
ee working-class move-
or is in confusion; the Social
1 ©crats are losing votes.
for ely two years, in exchange
oa eir Ministerial salaries, the
fp 2! Democrats have helped
i the Emergency Laws,
Me heavy taxation on con-
about freeze wages a peak
es
ang file, pair among the ran
me is said that crisis in Ger-
Wine always benefits the Right
ate 8. Events since the coalition
van”. being described as “an
anche to the Right.”
Universal consumer tax —
nae percent — has been im-
in, © Prices and rents are soar-
te and even the old age pen-
€rs’ pittance is under attack.
© Federal Bank reports that
Uctivity rose this year by
Percent hourly, while at the
cent. time wages rose 2.7 per-
Up. 2nd profits by 28.8 percent.
hee Ployment and job appre-
‘Sion are growing.
25 competition is driving some
1,000 peasant farmers off the
to each year. It is now normal
bigneea of the “catastrophe in
a, education.”
Socerest of all was that the
ae Democrats, elected to
ere” against the emergency pow-
Vor Teneged and voted in fa-
toe This was a shattering blow
- working-class movement.
Backed also by the Social De-
Scratic vote, arms spending
tise officially by $715 million
year, and by 3 percent
till 1973.

Dr
as

the Grand Coalition in Bonn ~

that $715 million is

and Work done for the Bundes-
wehr’the appendix to this let-
ter, dated July 22nd 1968, points
to the fact that Krupps are al-

ready delivering small sub-
marines, torpedo barrels and
other war material. Krupps’

spokesman Director Graf Zedt-
witz pointed out that the de-
fence committee had already
toured the concern a number of
times and that such visits were
no longer “anything special.”

The management’s letter to
the Bundestag defense commit-
tee ran parallel to the Bonn
Government’s efforts to get the
three Western Powers to drop
the decision they had imposed
on Krupp in 1953 and so
violate the Potsdam Agree-
ment. The three Western allies
had ordered Krupp to sell his
mines and steel-works in order
to prevent thus the rebirth of
the Krupps arms concern. Bonn’s
official “reason” as to why the
charge had not been executed
was that it referred only to the
principal and had become irre-
levant upon the death of Alfred

Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach.
The British Foreign Office dealt
with Bonn’s pertinent request
and, in early August, announced
through one of its spokesmen
that the three Western Powers’
1953 order for Krupps to be de-
cartellized had been rescinded
in agreement with the United
States and France.

Krupps returned to their old
tradition of making weapons af-
ter banker Herman J. Abs from
the Deutsche Bank became
chairman of the board of direc-
tors of the newly established
Friedrich Krupp GmbH. While
Krupps of Essen were being re-
organized, the new firm was set
up and became the controlling
establishment of the entire em-
pire. Abs also placed new men
on the board — all of them
staunch supporters of his arma-
ment policy.

So true to tradition, guns,
heavies and probably tanks, too,
will be coming off Krupps’ flow-
lines again in the future. In con-
trast to post World War I and
II days they no longer need to

ho benefits —
rand Coalition ?

only part of the scene. Building
of militarily valuable roads will
be at the cost of the Ministry
of | Communications, rockets
come under the Ministry of Re-
search: the provincial Parlia-
ments will provide military
equipment for the police, while
the Ministry for Interior Affairs
will attend to military equip-
ment for border guards.

Experts estimate that the
Bonn armaments bill, which is
“officially” some $4,760 million,
is in fact about $8,330 million.
The nazis, too, were very expert
at hiding such awkward mat-
ters.

With the Social Democrats
losing votes to the neo-nazi NPD
Messrs. Strauss and Kiesinger
feel that everything is once more
in the bag. After next year’s
elections they will have even
more freedom of action, with an
extra “opposition” (or coali-
tion) party in the Bundestag.

Dr. Kiesinger now evidently
feels free to say quite openly
what was formerly implicit: that
the European status quo must be
changed and that recognition of
the present Polish border on the
Oder-Neisse line would be “‘ca-
pitulation.” :

A few days ago I met a high
official of the Metal Workers’
Union in a Duesseldorf pub. He
was a member of the Social
Democratic Party and willing to
talk frankly so long as I would
avoid mentioning his name.

‘TJ have a feeling that we are
going to pay a ghastly price for
treachery of our leaders,” he
said. “It’s like watching the
whole thing happen again.

“Ajl the trade unions favor
banning the NPD but it won't
be banned. Why should Strauss
and company ban it when it’s
taking votes from us? And as
for my lot (the Social Demo-
crats), they are scared of los-
ing votes to the NPD, but they

are still more scared of denounc-
ing it.

“The neo-nazis are creeping
in everywhere. You can be quite
sure they will get 40 to 50 seats
in the next Bundestag.”

In that case, I asked, wouldn’t
the Christian Democrats rather
have a coalition with the NPD?

“Not at once, maybe. They
will go on using the Social De-
mocrats until we have commit-
ted political suicide. And then
no doubt they would be ready
to join forces with the NPD, and
then. . . . Well, we'd be dead—
maybe literally.”

“But what can we do? Keep
our fingers crossed. I can only
hope that the people at the top
will see the dangers and change
their policies. But I’m afraid it’s
really too late.”

This is the kind of official, and
not the worst by any means,
who blocks the way to militant
action by a rank and file which
has repeatedly shown readiness
to fight.

The danger in West Germany
stems from the fact that denazi-
fication was not carried out as
it was in the German Democra-
tic Republic, and, -especially,
that the same industrial and
financial groups which helped
Hitler to power are once more
dominating the Bonn Establish-
ment.

And they have more power
than ever. Each of the three I.G.
Farben successor companies is
bigger than the whole I.G. Far-
ben concern before the war.

Ninety or so multi-millionaire
families are undisputed rulers
of West Germany, and their un-
disputed spokesman is Herr
Franz Josef Strauss, Finance
Minister. He is smooth, intel-
ligent, powerful and ruthless.

Under his careful nurturing,
the two main branches of West
German foreign policy are being

_ developed. One is the creation

fear competition in heavies
manufacture since Krupps have
swallowed up their old compe-
titor, the Bochumer Verein fuer
Gusstahlproduktion. They bought
up this plant in 1965 and so se-
cured the heavy guns monopoly
for themselves.

Krupps’ tanks production has
commenced under very favor-
able conditions. They own 99.5
per cent of the Atlas-MaK Ma-
schinenbau GmbH in Kiel-Fried-
richsort, the plant that designed
NATO’s standard Leopard tank
(even though its production
went to the Flick consolidated
group). But Krupps’ designers
at Kiel-Friedrichsort have al-
ready completed the blue-prints
of a greatly improved version
of the Leopard tank which will
compete keenly with the M 70,
the tank that has been scheduled
for West German-American co-
production with a view to hav-
ing it replace the old Leopard.
If Krupps’ modern version does
succeed, the firm will be driving
a roaring trade in years to come.

Krupps are old hands in the
arms trade. Their numerous affi-

S TRADE

liated companies and controlling
interests are profiting from gov-
ernment contracts in many fields.
Krupp’s Rheinhausen works are
making reflector aerials for the
NATO radar system and are re-
pairing floating docks for the
West German navy. The Verei-
nigte Flugtechnische Werke Gm-
bH (VFW) of Bremen, where
Krupps are chief partner, have
been enlisted in the Luftwaffe’s
Starfighter and Transall pro-
grams, and are also making heli-
cranes for the West German air
force. Another of Krupps’ plants,
the Atlas Werke in Bremen, are
making torpedo catchers, and
the MaK Maschinenbaum GmbH
are manufacturing diesel engines
for the navy and salvage tanks
for the army. The Krupp broth-
ers Bertold and Harald von Boh-
len und Halbach control the
Wasag-Chemie AG in Essen
which makes explosives, and
the Nitrochemie GmbH in
Aschau-on-Inn is one of West
Germany’s missile fuel produ-
cers.
Panorama

Women,

}

young and old, uphold militarist traditions at an old

% “
$

soldiers’ meeting in Bavaria recently.

of a new version of the prewar
fascist Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis,
based on the most reactionary
powers available in the world.

In pursuance of this, Chan-
cellor Kiesinger’s first European
visit as Head of Staté was to
Spain and Portugal. At the same
time Foreign Minister Brandt
was hobnobbing with the rulers
of Chile, Argentine, Uruguay
and Brazil.

One aim of this “new phase
in foreign policy” is to set West
Germany at the head of the
“nuclear have-nots” in a strug-
gle to wreck the nuclear non-
proliferation agreement and
keep the way open for West
Germany to possess and manu-
facture nuclear weapons.

But the darling dream of Herr
Strauss is European union —
West Germany's new “Mein
Kampf.” It is to be a great
Europe, powerful enough to
challenge the U.S. and Soviet
Union, and naturally dominated
by West Germany’s military
and industr‘al power.

This is not said. Indeed, in a
recent interview with the Rhein-
ische Post, Herr Strauss em-
phasized that it was the historic
task of France to take the lead.

West Germany, Herr Strauss
said, would only create sus-
picion if it appeared to be striv-
ing for the dominant role.

Such European union would
include the East European So-
cialist countries. Thus the prime
need to “soften” them and isol-
ate the German Democratic
Republic from its neighbours,

Poland and Czechoslovakia.

More tears were shed in Bonn
than in any other capital when
the Warsaw Pact powers inter-
vened in Czechoslovakia. Bonn
at any rate saw this action as a
serious set-back in its plans for
“softening” (this is the word
they use) East Europe.

But it is not only because the
G.D.R. blocks its path to great
ambitions that Bonn regards the
Socialist German State with
such venom.

It is also true that West Ger-
many has entered a period of
depression precisely at a time
when the G.D.R. is recording
enormous success with its new
economic policy of combined
planning and de-centralization.

Large numbers of West Ger-
mans are realising that the real
German “economic miracle’ is
in the G.D.R. This is an ideolo-
gical setback of major propor-
tions for the plotters in Bonn.

_ The West has lost its one-time

attraction for the East Germans
and the postwar generation in
the G.D.R. has no desire to
change the borders of other
States, or to die in a nuclear
war for the benefit of Flick-
Quandt, I. G. Farben, Messer-
schmitt and Belkow.

In West Germany, too, there

are powerful democratic forces
willing to strive for basic
changes in Bonn. They could be
greatly helped if more people in
the West realized how swiftly

- the militarists on the Rhine are

advancing toward their targets.

—(Morning Star)

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