oO

a

Asam

orp + 2S

Wike cust

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)

afaiws

Siaiiasit can te

par