ULI Ltd |

the lively, witty, cutting, slashing piece
of political satire that is currently
___ being staged in New York and
“| “idly being read as a book in United
States, Canada and Britain.

IW es a play! And what a cast! All the notables
pererent U.S. history are here assembled.
€re is Ken O’Dunc, He sees a

ol mk Frontier beyond her seas.
: eel 0’erflow her shores and burst her banks,
i Hi Rene extend till East does meet with West,
me Ando est until the West does touch the East

Th er this hot and plagued earth descend

She P ox Americana, a sweet haze,
:, elt'ring all the world in its deep shade.

\)
« ben there are his two brothers, Robert and Teddy—
fa *iS to the throne.

os j e ‘ ‘
"i fre is, of course, MacBird, of whom ’tis said,

of He has
it erous,”
ui

a fat, yet hungry look. Such men are dan-

ana Lady MacBird.

“Toy itches three. Whom the playwright describes
See The Ist Witch is dressed as a student
h Nesro ator, beatnik stereotype. The 2nd Witch is
A Mu . with the impeccable grooming and attire of
D Oeaaon Speaks salesman. The 3rd Witch is an
ae a Wearing a worker’s cap and overalls.” |
butting we all are in MacBird, the lively, witty,
Writer Slashing, political satire of California’s young
pacomara Garson.

eee Sacred to her. She attacks all hypocrisy,
day's ce animes all that is pretentious in
| iatespeare is well borrowed here, but have no
framewo ox it is just that. The author, using the
imitate T of Macbeth, has done more than just

Ih ;
far the witches chant as they hail MacBird:

T
a bosses shall be booted in the bin,
gs unkinged. We have a world to win!

| A ;
See MacBird, strutting on the stage, the typical
Taggart, out to get the biggest job of them

all,
ee he pontificates when he gets the vice-presi-
“ nomination:

ce nt to thank you all.
j es you all conferred in choosing me.
Tome if you know just what this means
|

View a: boy who nearly dropped from school?
President of these United States!
Wh’ are an inspiration to all boys
5 oely toil, and sometimes feel despair,
l There ue that in the White House—or quite near—
ok Wells a man who had to work like them,
It “hela the struggles, knew the ups and downs.

8 a boy a faith in this, our land.

Its a play ... It's living history ... It's a work of art...

MacBird

Back on the ranch Lady MacBird begins to plot.
She is: as ambitious as her sister in literature, Lady
Macbeth. She says:

How often in the past have I arranged

To have the right connections come your way,
Myself performing all the devious acts

So you receive the bounty graciously.

How artfully you’ve learned to look away
While I prepare the props and set the stage.
Then enter thou, declaiming loftily,
Forgetting the deceit that makes for art.

Then the visit to the ranch and the obvious de-
nouement. O’Dunc is dead:

The nation weeps as one. All work is stopped
The men desert the plants. The schools are shut.
The housewife leaves her pots; the food is burnt.
The cars and private buses quit their. routes.

All private cares forgotten, strangers stop

And ask each other questions on the street.

But there are those that feel that “there’s some-
thing rotten in the State of Texas,” notably Robert
and Teddy.

They go to Lord Stevenson, the Egg of Head. They

ask him to speak out. But the Egg has other thoughts:

To see, or not to see? That is the question.

Whether ’tis wiser as a statesman to ignore

The gross deception of. outrageous liars,

Or to speak out against a reign of evil

And by so doing, end there for all time

The chance and hope to work within for change.

To work within the framework, there’s the rub.

For who would bear the whips and scorns from
boors, :

The oppressor’s wrongs, the proud man’s contumely,

The insolence of office and the spurns

My patient merit of this braggart takes—

But for the fear of something worse than death.

In speaking out one loses influence. :

The chance for change by pleas and prayers is gone.

The chance to modify the devil’s deeds

As critic from within is still my hope.

To quit the club! Be outside looking in!

This outsideness, this unfamiliar land

From which few travellers ever get back in—

It puzzles mind, it paralyzes will,

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Then fly to others that we know not of.

Security makes cowards of us all.

I fear to break; I’ll work within for change.

But MacBird gets worried and calls on the Ear! of
Warren to “investigate.”
He says to Warren:

That’s why I’d like a full investigation,

Conducted by a man by such repute

That we may put an end to all these doubts.
’ That man is you.

And Warren replies:

Oh, cursed spite
That ever I was born to set things right.

=

GO Mas

([-E-\ 7
ff

AG
Nie eet

MacBird is not satisfied:

I don’t believe you understand the job
I wouldn’t say you’re asked to set things right
I think you get the point.

And Warren does:

Oh, whine and pout,
That ever I was born to bury doubt.

MacBird has a dream, he says:

We have an opportunity to move

Not only toward the rich society

But upwards toward the Smooth Society ...
I see a garden blooming undisturbed

Where all the buds are even in their rows.
An ordered garden, sweet with unity,

That is my dream; my Smooth Society.

Then there is the witches’ prophecy:

Be bloody, bold and resolute, MacBird;

All cautious counsel scorn, for be it known,

No man with beating heart of human blood

Shall ever harm MacBird or touch his throne... «
Be iron-fisted, proud, and take no care

Who chafes or frets or where conspirers are.
MacBird shall never, never be undone

Till burning wood doth come to Washington.

How does this work out? Suffice it to say that the
author’s got a twist that is clever and sardonic.

This is a play for reading aloud. It is a play for
reading and rereading. It’s an original work of art
as well as a copy of a greater one. As Robert Burns
so aptly wrote:

“Oh, wad some power the giftie gie us
To see oursel’s as others see us.”

To read. MacBird is to live history, to feel again
the resurgence of that spirit of America which was
the Spirit of ’76, the spirit that freed the slaves, the
spirit that fought against war and fascism.

If your bookstore hasn’t got MacBird in stock ask
them to get it immediately. (P.C.)

(MACBIRD. By Barbara Garson. $1 per copy. Gras-
sy Knoll Press, Inc. Box 2272, Grand Central Station,
New York, N.Y. 10017.)

THE VIETNAM PROFITEERS.
By Victor Perlo. New Outlook
Publishers. 55 cents.

ROFIT from war is, of course,
part and parcel of world
history. As a matter of fact,

remove the profit motive and
the very basis for war is gone.

This pamphlet comes to grip
with today’s profiteering in the
Vietnam war.

Perlo has filled it with facts.
They glaringly demonstrate what
the U.S. monopolists are getting
out of their adventurist policies
in the east.

“Already,” says Parlo, “the
Far East is a major area of U.S.
corporate investments. Between
1950 and 1965 such investments

multiplied 644 times, from $309
million to more than $2 billion.
By contrast, U.S. corporate in-
vestments in Latin America and
the Middle East increased ‘only’
2-2% times.” :

He points out: “Mr. Johnson
has even surpassed former Pre-
sident Eisenhower in the extent
to which the White House has
become Open House for the top
tycoons. The Business Council,
that congregation of the indus-
trial-financial elite which con-
stitutes ‘by far the most influen-
tial’ behind-the-scenes power
block in the United States has
more than recovered from its
nominal downgrading by the late
President Kennedy.”

On the role of the banks

Perlo points out: “An important
stage in the economic coloniza-
tion of South Vietnam was
reached jn 1966 when the two
largest U.S. banks opened
branches there.”

“Nowadays,” he adds, “pri-
vate foreign investments are
buttressed by huge government-
al and inter-governmental cre-
dits for transport, power and
other infrastructure, installa-
tions.” ;

“The South Vietnamese gov-
ernment,” adds Perlo, “offers to
U.S. investors 3-5 year tax ex-
emptions, half the cost of a pre-
investment survey, freedom to
transfer capital and profits, a
guarantee against nationaliza-
tion for 15 years.” It’s no won-

der then that some of the big-
gest profits are made here.

On this Perlo points out, “The
industries most involved in Viet-
nam show two-year profit in-
creases of 56 - 176 percent, from
two to six times the average
gains for all corporations.”

It is from these and many
more facts that the author con-
cludes that the fangs of Ameri-
can imperialism have: to be

* pulled by the American people.

He offers a series of propos-
-als for reducing the. power and,
in some cases, thé profits of a
number of giant corporations.

This pamphlet is a well docu-
mented addition to the growing
body of literature exposing the
U.S. actions in Vietnam. (P.C.)

January 13, 1967—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 7