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Two new posters from China depict the joy of children with the new life being built.
Left, mother and child greeting Chairman Mao Tse-tung. Right, children rejoicing over
the rich harvest.

Banned in France book
tells of brutal torture

THE ‘GANGRENE:  pub-

‘lished by Lyle Stuart, New

York can be ordered at
People’s Co-Op Bookstore, 307
W. Pender, Vancouver.

Reports from Paris recently
Say that it will now be “prac-
tically impossible” for Presi-
dent de Gaulle to carry
through his “peace plan” for
Algeria. The reason given is
the action of the Algerian pro-
Visional government in ex-
€cuting two French prisoners
for crimes against the Al-
§erian people.

The crass hyprocisy of all
this will come home to any-
One who reads the The Gang-
rene.

This small book of 96 pages
contains the sworn statements
of six young Algerian students
in Paris( describing the inhu-
Man tortures ‘to which they
were subjected by the French
Security police.

It was first published by
Jerome Lindon in Paris on
June 16, 1959. Within two
days 30,000 copies were sold.
Then the French government
Suppressed the book, and con-
fiscated every copy on which
the police could lay their
hands. No effort has been made
by the authorities to disprove
the charges which it contains.

The book has new been re-

published in the United Statesjon Safeguards which is sup-

in English translation by Lyle
Stuart of New York.

It is.a terrifying account of
police brutality. It is not easy
to read, but it needs to be read
by all men and women of
good will. It cannot but arouse
the fiercest indignation in the
breast of every decent human
being.

The book makes very clear
that cruel tortures inflicted
upon these young Algerians}
was not the result of some
isolated acts of brutality. In his
publisher’s preface Jerome Lin-
don cites the explicit instruc-
tions for torture given to
French soldiers serving in Al-
geria.

The tortured victims give an
insight into the police mind as
they recount the boastful state- |
ments made to them. In these
statements. can be seen the
face of facism.

One of them says to Moussa

| Khebaili:

“The priests, the lawyers,
the Communists —  they’re
what ruined us... That’s it,
Jaugh. I know, I’m only a copy
and you’re an_ intellectual.
That was all right yesterday;
but today, I’m the one who’s
giving orders. The reign of
the cops is starting.”

An inspector showed his
contempt for the Commission

posed to prevent police torture
in France.

“We don’t give a damn,” he
declared. ‘‘When there’s a com-
plaint against us, the boss gives
us a promotion.”

Another inspector added:
“Tell them (the Commission)
to come to us they'll be hung
on the spit like everyone else.”

The Gangrene _is a book
which sternly reminds us all
that we have an international
responsibility to raise our
voices yet more firmly for an
end to’ the terrible Algerian
war. It also calls us to a
greater vigilance against police
brutality in our own country.

As Lyle Stuart, its courag-
eous American publisher, de-
clares:

“Corruption corrupts ail.
One cannot be ‘neutral’ in a
community where brutality
and torture are official acts,
conducted with official sanc-
tion. The citizen who voices no
protest—whatever the reasons
for his silence—is as guilty as
the torturer.” (N.C.)

WASHINGTON — Mental
illness in the U.S. costs, both
directly and indirectly, in ex-
cess of $3,000,000,000 a year,
according to the Menninger
quarterly. Direct costs include
more than $1,700,000,000 a
year in mental hospitals.

MOSCOW — Work is well,
advanced on a new television |
tower which will soar 1,660|
feet above the city’s skyline in}
the southwest suburb of Che-|
remushky.

|

Moscow’s new “‘Lime Grove’’ |
will be housed in a circular; |
seven-storey block of studios
and offices incorporated in the
200 ft. base of the steel and

ferro-concrete needle.

Three elevators will take
sightseers on the 15-minute
journey to the top viewing
platform 1,280 feet up—half
as high again as the Eiffel
Tower.

Beneath the viewing nisi
forms will be a_ three-storey
restaurant with — weather
permitting — one of the best
views in the world.

Experts assured me that the
gentle, 12 ft. sway in high
winds won’t affect appetites.
Diners will hardly notice it,
they say.

The new television centre
will at first broadcast on three
channels instead of the present
two. Two wil] be black and
white and the third colour.

Mr. Kuzakov, head of the
Television» Board, estimates
that with 70 centres and relay
stations covering all the capi-
tals of the Soviet Republics
and most big cities, the view-
ing public now totals some 70
million.

With output of television
sets due to be doubled this
year, the number of viewers
is increasing at the rate of
some 15,000 a day.

Opinions about programmes
differ, but most people agree
television is. not yet making
full use of its opportunities
and that many programs
are dull and monotonous.

Interviews and discussions,
even when those ‘taking part
have a tale to tell — Polar
pilots or ex-partisans, for ex-
ample—are often killed by a
too formal approach.

The quality of entertainers
is invariably high—but tech-
nique and tempo of presenta-
tion is at times funereal.

Despite its vast and growing
audience, television seems a
sort of cinderella, outside the
main stream of drama and
entertainment.

No Soviet playwright has
yet written television plays
and no newspaper or magazine
has a television critic, al-|
though film, theatre and book

critics are a must.

SOVIET TELEVISION
REVIEWED BY WRITER

In other respects Soviet
television scores. It regularly
relays entire --performances
from: the Bolshoi,

Viewers can count ‘on seeing
visiting artists, be it a British
company _presenting “Hamlet”
or an Austrian ice ballet.

All big sporting events are
screened — football, ‘wrestling,
weightlifting, tennis; fencing
—without any protest about
reduced gates from organisers,

Educational programs are
also extremely well done,
They include popular science
talks, English lessons, a series
on the history of the cinema
and the “television university.”

It is adult television, which
makes no bones about its de«
sire to educate viewers and
improve their taste, to act as
a stimulus rather than a
soporific.

There are advertisements—
but only during a clearly
defined 15 minutes or so in
the evening and confined toe
plain statements of fact—the
opening of a new bookshop or
cinema, for instance.

Occasional shorts show the
latest goods in the shops—the
last one I remember described
new ‘washing machines an
vacuum cleaners.

DENNIS OGDEN,
Br. Daily Worker.

BERNSTEIN
‘CLARIFIED’

Many people would like te
know the story behind the
unprecedented action of the
U.S. Consul General in Van-
couver issuing a letter sup-
posedly “correcting”  state-
ments made by Leonard
Bernstein which were report
ed in the Vancouver press.

According to the press in-
terview with the conductor
of the New York Philharmon-
ic Orchestra, he is reported to
have said some strong things
about the U.S. barring of the
Peking Opera Company.

Reporiers quoted Bernstein
as saying that “no country

should bar the cultural ach-
jievements of another,’ and
that an invitation to the
Company to tour the US.
“would help melt the cold

War

The Consul General’s letter
said it aimed to “clarify”
these statements. Many peo-
ple are wondering why the
U.S.. Censul-General shouid
have made the “clarification”
and not Leonard
himself? 1

Bernstein

August 26, 1960—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 8