Anti-Communism hurts
fight against racism

The following is an excerpt
from an ‘article entitled The
Meaning of San Rafael, written
by Henry. Winston, national
chairman of the Communist
Party of the USA, and published
in the June issue of Political
Affairs:

There is a revealing continu-
ity in motive and timing behind
the frameup of Angela Davis
and the assassination of Mal-
colm X and Martin Luther King.

Malcolm X was murdered by
the racist establishment—using
a police agent to penetrate his
personal bodyguard — at the
very moment he was turning
away from separatism, against
capitalism, and toward united
mass struggle.

Dr. King was gunned down

when he began to identify im-
perialism as the source of rac-
ism, poverty and war, and was
translating this deeper under-
Standing into an opposition of
racist oppression at home, and
the related imperialist aggres-
sion in Vietnam. He was link-
ing these developments with
the black workers’ struggle to
organize, and was pressing for
the unity of workers of all
colors as the essential force for
meaningful change and libera-
tion.
. When Angela Davis affirmed
her membership in the Com-
munist Party, her UCLA teach-
ing post was taken away from
her. When the brilliant young
black professor continued to
intensify her social and political
activity outside the classroom,
the plot to murder her in the
gas chamber was initiated. The
racist ruling class could not
tolerate the meaning, the inspir-
ation, to the nation’s exploited
and oppressed of Angela’s mem-
bership in the Party based on
the liberating principles of
Marxism-Leninism. Angela Davis
was right when she said, “They
have taken my job. Now they
want to take my life.” By de-
dicating herself not only to ex-
plaining the world but to
changing it, Angela Davis won
the love of millions — and the
hatred of the ruling class.

Today, the need to build a
mass movement to free Angela
Davis, Bobby Seale, Ericka Hug-
gins, the Berrigan Brothers and
Arnold Johnson — Catholic and:
Communist peace leaders, the
Soledad Brothers, Ruchell Ma-
gee and all political prisoners is
a vital starting point for spend-
ing the formation of a great,
popular movement to turn back
the forces aiming to push the
country into fascism.

“Part of the Solution” — or

“Part of the Problem”?

It is within this context that
many of those involved in the
liberation struggle have ex-
pressed their concern with Eld-
ridge Cleaver’s attack on An-
gela Davis and the Communist
Party.

Of equal concern is the fact
that some leading figures in the
Black Panther Party have broken
organizationally with Cleaver
but have not yet made the
break with his philosophy,
which does such harm to the
Black Panther and to the fight
for black liberation and against
poverty and war.

Some leading Black Panthers
are now jeopardizing -the fight
against racism'and the defense
of political prisoners by com-
bining their public attacks on
Cleaver with the invention of
“new” arguments and guises
for anti-Communism.

Ironically, those in the move-

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, JULY 16, 1971—PAGE 4

ment who promote anti-Com-

munism are picking up the tra-
ditional weapon of their racist
imperialist oppressors. And
when anti-Communism is en-
couraged by individuals who
consider themselves militant
fighters against imperialism, it
becomes an even more disrup-
tive weapon than when directly
wielded by the ruling class and
its mass media. No one can
fight racism with anti-Commun-
ism. To fight racism, one must
oppose and expose anti-Com-
munism. There is no other way
to liberation — in this country
or any part of the world.

That the influence of Cleav-
er’s anti-Communist, anti-Soviet
ideology extends to many lead-
ing figures in the Black Panther
Party, as well as others on the
Left, is particularly evident in

-much of the current discussion

about the meaning of the San
Rafael incident.

Too much of this discussion
reflects Cleaver’s views—which
unfortunately are “part of the
problem” rather than “part of
the solution.” Cleaver—echoed
by some others — insists that
the movement must “focus” on
San Rafael as an examplary
“act of revolutionary violence.”
“Only through actions,” he|as-
serts, “can we take our freedom
and liberation.”

Under cover of such “super--

revolutionary” rhetoric, Cleaver
in fact calls for the abandonment
of struggle in the courts and
the development of mass. de-

fense movements. He becomes -

an advocate of capitulation —
of hopeless surrender to the
government and the courts that
are trampling upon the rights
and lives of the political prison-
ers and of all the people.

Elitist, adventurist, anarchist
tactics — individual terrorist
actions of “revolutionary” sui-
cide — cannot free political pri-
soners or advance the cause of
liberation. Such tactics, or any
form of accommodation to them
— no matter who advances
them — regrettably mesh with
government provocations aimed
at disorganizing the mass move-
ment, which is the only basis
for freeing political prisoners
and achieving liberation.

Jewish music
from the USSR

The Melodiya record catalogue
provides a good selection of
Jewish and Yiddish music from
the USSR.

A recent release is of Jewish
folk songs sung by Shmuil Riv-
kin, who lives at Kobrin, near
Brest, in Byelorussia.

Another is of Jewish folk
songs and poetry sung and re-
cited by Ethel Kovenskaya.

Kovenskaya became an actress
at the age of 15 and is now in
the company of the Moscow
Soviet Theatre, where she plays
such parts as Desdemona and
Cordelia.

Her repertoire includes tradi-
tional songs, songs written or
arranged by Lev Kogan, and
songs sung in the ghettos dur-
ing the Second World War.

Other Jewish records on the
Melodiya label include poems by
Aaron Vergelis and folk songs
from a recently published col-
lection sung by Mikhail Alexan-
drovich, Emil Horowitz and
Klementina Shermel.

“On Bangla Desh” is the title
of the following statement by
Communist Party of India, pub-
lished in the June 1971 issue of
the International Bulletin of the
CP of India:

The National Council of the
Communist Party of India se-
verely condemns the wanton
massacre of unarmed people of
Bangla Desh, the destruction of
its factories, towns and villages
on a scale unheard of before by
the -ruling military junta of
Pakistan. It is trying to destroy
the whole society of the entire
territory, formerly known as
East Pakistan, for the fault of
demanding and fighting for
autonomy, democracy and secu-
larism, The military junta of
Pakistan, ruling the country
with martial law continuously
for over 12 years and represent-
ing only the reactionary vested
interests living in West Paki-
stan, is committing genocide on
the people of Bangla Desh on
an unprecedented scale in order
to enslave them under its mighty
military machine. The National
Council calls upon all the gov-
ernments of the world to con-
demn this genocide and adopt
effective measures to compel
Yahya Khan to stop this car-
nage.

@

The National Council greets
the heroic people of Bangla Desh
for the glorious resistance they
are putting up against the mod-
ern military machine of the dic-
tator Yahya Khan. It congratu-
lates the Awami League, Na-
tional Awami Party and Com-
munist Party of Bangla Desh
who are leading the people in
this struggle. It pays its hom-
age to the lakhs (hundreds of
thousands. Ed.) of martyrs who
have laid down their lives in the
struggle for freedom, democ-
racy and secularism. It extends
its fraternal greetings to the
government of independent Peo-
ple’s Republic of Bangla Desh
born in great heroism and sac-
rifice and in the middle of a
blood bath for which the sole
responsibility belongs to its
ruling reactionary clique deny-
ing to the people even elemen-
tary civil liberties and secular
statehood. :

The -National Council de-
mands that the Government of
India must forthwith recognize
the government of independent
Bangla Desh set up by elected
representatives enjoying the
support of the overwhelming
majority of the people of the
country, and pledged to democ-
racy and secularism. It calls
upon the government and the
people of India to send all help
including arms aid to the gov-
ernment and the people of Bang-
la Desh, in order to save them
from slavery and extermination.
It must be recalled that the peo-
ple in this land has a history of
the most advanced democratic
movement whose record of revo-
lutionary struggles, mass actions
and agrarian movement from
the days of British rule and af-
ter independence and _ India’s
partition is the most glorious in
this subcontinent. It is a peo-
ple with the richest revolution-
ary traditions in the region
from the Himalayas to the In-
dian Ocean and Bay of Bengal.

The National Council draws
the attention of the whole world
to the fact that the Awami Lea-
gue, National Awami Party,

Communist Party of Bangla

Desh and other democratic par-
ties and organizations in that
country never wanted secession
from Pakistan. They always
wanted the replacement of mili-
tary dictatorship by a demo-
cratic and secular state and
autonomy. The Awami League
of East Pakistan obtained al-
most a unanimous mandate of
the electorate when the dictator
Yahya Khan was forced by
popular struggles to declare a
general election with adult suf-
frage.

But Yahya Khan wanted a
prior assurance from the Awami
League that it must renounce
the demand for autonomy and
secularism as a condition prece-
dent for the convocation of the
elected National Assembly in
which the Awami League was
in absolute majority. In protest
all sections of the people includ-
ing even those in the adminis-
tration joined in a continuous 5-
day general strike and in the
most mammoth peaceful dem-
onstrations, Having thus failed
to coerce the Awami League
and others to submission and
being completely isolated, the
military dictator resorted to a
clever stratagem. Under the
cover of negotiation for peace-
ful settlement, he simultaneous-
ly mobilized his. armed.. forces
who took up positions in stra-
tegic places and even began to
strike at the unarmed people
most violently. On March 25, as
soon as reinforcement from West
Pakistan was complete, he sud-
denly broke off negotiations and
his army began the most hid-
eous blood bath in history; lakhs
of people and their houses per-
ished and are still perishing
under the blow.

It was only then that the
hitherto completely peaceful
movement of the people took
up whatever arms they had at
their disposal and declared the
independence of Bangla Desh.
The independent government of
the People’s Republic of Bangla
Desh came into existence in the
midst of this armed struggle, to
which all the people excluding a
handful of communal reaction-
aties owe their allegiance. The
National Council appeals to all
the governments of the world
to recognize this government
and give it all possible assis-
tance in the interest of peace,
freedom and humanity.

We draw to the attention of
all the peoples of the world that
the people of East Pakistan
(now renamed Bangla Desh)
constitute the majority of the
people of the whole of Pakistan
and the Awami League consti-
tutes the majority of the elect-
ed “National Assembly’. It won
167 seats out of 169 allocated

to Bangla Desh in the S7y
National Assembly. ‘er

clique refused to trams’ igh
to such an Assembly,
there is no sense in @ gh
people of Bangla De + ot)
movement a secession. fo
is Yahya Khan who hi pent |
them to declare inde ‘00
because they wanted # of |
for a people constilll pp
majority of the peor a
stan, but obtaining 4 icd ft
gre share, i.e., one-thit di
total allocations for at By
ment in three fiver nu
and not more than ! ‘i
central services. JUS © jagiiy
ony, West Pakist@? ais! .

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East Pakistan and 1S | igi

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ie
tt
manding an end to mal
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upon all party units Ht
and supporters
powerful mass M0,
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the recognition 0
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izations and othet fat # ih
democratic parties > tio!
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government of BanB Ht)
also for all kinds 5 jel iy
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must also be organ gfe? |
lakhs of refugees ili
inguin’. =: 1 aly,
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und
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tic forces of Wes pang
come to the aid 0

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; t "dl
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oppression of @ mil! rhe

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ary vested inte att
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ing in Bangla Desh
inhuman torture © ying
and he, with
is alone
declaration of !
the people of B
people of Bangla Fi
ing for a just oe

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