The policy of aggression and
annexation conducted by the
Zionist ruling circles of Israel
and their sabotage of the UN
Security Council Resolution of
November 22, 1967, place a
heavy burden on the country’s
working people. Intensified mili-
tarization causes the systema-
ac rise in prices of prime ne-
cessities, a sharp increase in
direct and indirect taxes, and
makes the communal and other
services ever more expensive.

The following abridged ver-
sion of an article by S. Asta-
khov in the Soviet publication,
Economic Gazett, offers some
seldom seen facts. :

Military expenditures gobble
up today, according to The New
York Times, 27% of Israel’s na-
tional income. As is reported by
the Israeli press, $4 million are
spent daily on “defense,”

__~ More U.S. Arms

s growth is specially mark-
ed in the purchase of arms
abroad. They have increased
from $160 million in 1966 to
$800 million in 1970. More than
$2,000 million were spent in
1971 and 1972 on acquiring
arms and munitions abroad.
During the recent talks in
Washington, one of the main
topics of which was the ques-
tion of further U.S. military and
economic aid to Tel Aviv, Pre-
mier Golda Meir requested $565
million in the form of additional

__ “assistance” and credits for

site

&

Israel. This request, aS was re-
ported by the Western press,

_ was met.

In the coming 1973/74 fiscal
year the expenditures on arma-
ments and the upkeep of the
army will rise by 22% as
against the current year, ac-
cording to data of Israel’s Fin-
ance Ministry. :

These expenditures intensify
inflation and reduce the Israeli
pound’s purchasing power. For
instance, the devaluation of the
pound in 1971 has led to a 20-
30% rise in prices.

Cost of Living

The official statistical year
book that was published recent-
ly in Israel shows that last year
living costs in the country have
risen by another 12%. Accord-
ing to the admission made by
Histadrut’s General Secretary
Ben-Aharon, more than _ two-
thirds of the 760,000 Israeli
working people “are compelled
to wage a struggle for their sub-
sistence.”

It is especially hard for fami-
lies with many children. The
4nformation published by the
Ministry of Social Welfare of
Israel shows that about a quar-
ter of the Jewish children be-
low 14 in the country suffer
from constant malnutrition (as
for the Arab children living in
Israel, official statistics in gene-
ral prefer to keep: silent) .

The industrialists’ profits are
steadily increasing. In the first

two years after the start of the
June aggression alone they
amounted .to 2,300 million Is-
raeli pounds.

Israeli reality has disillusion-
ed many of the immigrants
Three hundred thousand of them
have left the Promised Land.
Many of the immigrants who
have come to Israel in the last
five or six years are looking for
the slightest chance to leave the
country.

Strike Movement

Mass strikes, demonstrations

and meetings have become a°

common feature of Israeli life.
The curve of working class ac-
tion is steadily rising. Thus,
there were 169 strikes in 1971 as
against 114 in 1969. In 1972 the
strike movement continued to
grow.

Fearing the intensification of
the wave of working class ac-
tion, the Israeli government,
with the support of the reaction-
ary leadership of Histadrut, got
through the Knesset in May
1972 a law that prohibits to all
intents and purposes any
strikes.

However, neither these thre-
ats nor the law itself, which
envisages severe punishment for
its violation, could break down
the workers’ determination to
continue their struggle. Last
November workers of civil avia-
tion held a strike. Television
broadcasts were stopped, and
the work of the telephone and

teletype network was disturbed
due to a strike. In December
3,000 workers of the taxation
administration demanding a pay
rise went on a one-day strike.

Social Problems

The first day of 1973 was
marked by many factories and
state Offices not functioning for
two hours. This was followed
by a 24-hour strike of 30,000
workers, engineering and tech-
nical personnel, as also office
employees, of public utility fac-
tories and offices. The teachers

and professors of Jerusalem did

not work for two weeks. De-
spite the persuasion and _ threats
of the trade union bosses, the
dockers of the seaports were on
strike for a long time, demand-
ing the improvement of work-
ing conditions and higher pay,
and a tenacious strike struggle
has been waged by the medical
and service personnel of 22 hos-
pitals of Israel, as also the ser-
vice. staff of the EIl-Al Airlines.
Thus, workers and office em-
ployees express their protests
against the continuous rise in
prices, the reduction in real
wages.

The hard material conditions
of life, the squalid living condi-
tions (Now about a million peo-
ple live in slums and dilapidated
houses) give rise to despair. An-
nually about 10,000 young men
and women are compelled to
leave high school because they
have no chance of continuing

their schooling. In the majority
of cases these young men en-
hance the gangs of bandits and
thieves, and the girls — the
army of prostitutes. According
to the newspaper Jerusalem
Post, now more than 5,000 Is-
raeli girls below 16 are com-
pelled to take up prostitution so
as not to starve to death. If the
country’s population be borne in
mind, Israel has set a record in
this respect .in comparison with
other capitalist states.

Today’s social conflicts in Is-
rael confirm the simple truth
that this country in no way dif-
fers, despite the claim of the
Zionist propagandists, from oth-
er capitalist countries with all
the inherent class contradic-

_ tions, vices and sores, which are

aggravated in the Promised
Land by the all-absorbing mili-
tarization.

The militant call of the coun-
try’s Communists “Not with im-
perialism against the Arab peo-
ples, but with the Arab peoples
against imperialism!” is becom-
ing the banner of the struggle
of Israel’s true patriots. They
are raising their voices ever
more loudly against the great-
power aspirations of the Israeli.
Zionists, are coming out ever
more resolutely for the full im-
plementation of the UN Secur-
ity Council resolution of Nov-
ember 22, 1967, seeing in it the
way out of the impasse into
which the ruling clique has led
the country.

inamese

There were a few very old
French drills.

Back in 1961 Uncle Ho visited
this plant and in a short speech
to the workers he stressed three
points: jncrease production;
treat your machines properly;
study technique and become
masters of labor.

A signboard caught my eye. It
announced that the plant would
be recruiting workers this spring
and spelt out the qualifications:
ages 17 to 26, education at least
Grade 7, in good health, satis-

_ factory social background.

___ This plant escaped unscathed
_ during the December bombing
_ faids: the closest hit was some
300 yards away.

* ak *

We left Haiphong and headed
south. Our bellies were full, for
dinner had featured spring rolls,
chicken soup, a vegetable dish
and seafood (prawns and
shrimp), Not to mention that
strong-smelling fish sauce, mam,
which, like limburger cheese, is
an acquired taste. I like it.

The road ran through flat-
lands, between paddy fields. Lit-
tle boys and girls sat idly on
their water buffaloes. Growing
alongside the road were young
pine trees, orange and coconut
trees, grapefruit trees. Twice we
crossed rivers by ferry: at each
landing there were many little
stands dealing in “black mar-
ket” goods — cigarettes, candy,
foods. These private entrepre-
meurs are usually old women
with filed or lacqured teeth,
chewing betel. The government
does not bother them — indeed,
they fulf] a certain need. Their

cigarettes sel] above ‘he state”

price, but a poor man can buy
one Or two if he can’t afford a
pack; or pay a penny for a few
puffs on a water-pipe. And

people

what use would these old wo-
men be in fields or factories?

Thatched Roofs

On the rivers, girls and men
were unloading bamboo and
reeds for making thatched roofs
— it had taken them. several
weeks to row down ‘from the
highlands. Boatmen use _ their
educated feet to handle .the
oars. “Our feet are toughened
up in childhood,” said Dinh, my
interpreter. ‘Actually, Vietna-
mese don’t like to wear shoes
and remove them at every op-
portunity.”

Thai Binh is an agricultural
province. I'll leave that story
until later and proceed to Nam
Ha province and the DRV’s third
largest city, Nam Dinh. This tex-
tile centre has a population of
120,000 and great revolutionary
traditions. Ding Quang Minh,
vice-director of the textile fac-
tory, gave us a briefing before
we toured what remained of the
premises after intensive bomb-
ings in 1972.

The first Communist. Party
cell was organized in the plant
in 1930. In 1945 the textile work-
ers took power in their own
hands, but a year later the
French returned. When the colo-
nialists were forced to flee in
1945 they took all the plant ma
chinery with them. :

Nixon Bombing

In 1965 the Americans bomb-
ed the factory: workers moved
the machinery into small plants
in the countryside and stayed
there until 1968. During the Nix-
on bombing in 1972 some 70%
of the factory buildings and
houses were hit, but only about
12% of the machinery was des-
troyed. Still, some important
machines were wrecked, seven
workers were killed in the plant

embark on reconstruction

and 12 killed outside. Also, 20
workers were killed in an eva-
cuated plant in the countryside.
Today half of the machinery has
been replaced and full restora-
tion is planned by the end of
the year, with 2,000 weaving
machines and better living con-
ditions.

“We have 8,000 workers and
operate on a thrce-shift system,”
said the vice-director. “About
80% of our personnel are wo-
men. The average age is 37, ra-
ther high, because when the
plant ; was bombed and we re-
duced staff we naturally kept
the more experienced workers.”

Nam Dinh Hard Hit

We walked through the plant.

Many buildings were nothing

tz

but shells, steel skeletons. In all,
close to 200 bombs had scored
hits. In some sections, however,
work continued as usual.

The whole city of Nam Dinh
took a heavy pounding. The rail-
way Station was reduced to rub-
ble and two nearby streets ob-
literated. The Catholic Church
was attacked three times and
gutted, though the walls still
stand. One priest was killed, an-
other injured. The Chinese sec-
tion of town was bombed (some
1,000 Chinese have lived in Nam
Dinh for hundreds of years). A
bakery and noodle factory were
destroyed. Ancient pagodas and
many ol@ historic buildings were
blown to pits. A working class
district, far from any conceiv-

- able military target, was abso-

lutely flattened. .

The city fought back, down-
ed several aircraft and the tex-
tile workers captured a pilot.
During the war a total of 127
U.S. aircraft bit the dust in Nam
Ha province.

* * .*

Premier Pham Vam Dong out-
lined the road to be followed in
an anniversary speech:

“We are not afraid of the
consequences of the recent war
of destruction. We are fully able
to move forward and build so-
cialism, and within a relatively
short period of history, build a
modern industry, a modern agri-
culture, and an advanced cul-
ture, science and technology.”.

U.S. bombing of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was directed at its industrial capacity. Many

plants in the large cities were destroyed. Many buildings

were nothing but shells, steel skeletons.
PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 1973—-PAGE 7