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NEWSPAPER OF THE LSE STUDENTS' UNION
No. 137
JANUARY 2tst, 1975
BRITISH LIBRARY OF POLfflCAL & ECOHOMIC SaENCE
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1 8J1)N 1990
FREE
Students wait as
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/ "' -/
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standards start to fall
DESPITE Raif Dahrendorf's pledge that there would be no reduction^in academic standards, James Mitchell, the Academic Affairs officer of the SU, claims these are now taking place.
In a letter to the Chief Librarian, D. A. Clarke, Mr Mitchell registers "in the strongest terms, my disgust concerning the new arrangements re acquisition of books from reserve stock which came into effect on Monday, January 20th, 1975."
The new arrangements end the issue of books from the reserve stocks "on demand."
The new arrangements are that "issue vouchers are to be 'posted' in a box provided which will be emptied at regular intervals." Thus vouchers posted between 10 a.m. to noon will be able to collect their books by 1 p.m.; from noon to 2 p.m. by 3 p.m. ; from 2-4 p.m. by 5 p.m.; from 4-6 p.m. by 6.45 p.m., and after 6 p.m. by 11 a.m. on the following day. This will result in a minimum wait of three-quarters of an hour, a more normal waiting time of two hours, and a maximum wait of 16 hours compared with the old
INSIDE	
NEW FELICITY -	3
UNION - - -	4
VP SAUCE ¦ -	5
CHILE • ¦ -	6
REVIEWS - -	10
demand time of 20 minutes upwards.
It is this increased waiting time that Mr Mitchell claims is a deterioration in academic standards. In reply, and in interview, Mr Clarke states that the action that the Library Committee agreed to, was the least harmful it could take, given the difficulties facing the Library. These difficulties flow from the projected loss of £250,000 for 1974-75, that Ralf Dahrendorf announced at the same Union meeting of November 21st, at which he made his pledge of no reduction in academic standards.
Whilst there is doubt about this, and the next two years' financial position, a moratorium has been in force on the filling of staff vacancies, as well as a request for general economies.
The Library, like all other sections of the School, has been given a budget inside which it must spend, and in order to meet the various requirements demanded of it, has'not filled 12 staff vacancies out of its total complement of 75.
This 16% undermanning, Mr Clarke claims, has to result in a reduction in Library service somewhere, and it was felt that the reserve stock retrieval system could be attacked without it permanently damaging the Library.
The only other reductions open to him were to have reduced the hours of service in the Teaching Library, the Shaw Library or the Main Librai'y,
possibly in the case of the latter, by Saturday closing. Even worse, and of permanently damaging effect, would have been to stop buying certain books and magazines, that in a few years' time would be unavailable.
As it is, other sections of the Libraries' work are being deliberately ignored; for instance, the non-cataloguing of new books, which is being allowed to build up, and the buying of some Library materials which is being postponed. The only way students can help, Mr Clarke admitted, was by filling in the request vouchers neatly and putting books back accurately on the shelves in the reading room, when they had finished with them. Other than that, students would just have to wait until the financial position improved.
He welcomed Mr Mitchell's suggestion that they should meet to discuss the problem with the hope that frequent meetings will ensue. Such meetings are likely to become a regular event in Mr Michell's diary, with the confirmation of discussions amongst academic staff of the likelihood of the maximum size of classes rising from 12 to 16. As one class teacher said to me, "they'll then become small public meetings."
All this does not alter the fact that applications to study at the LSE are slightly up, despite a national fall in such things to Universities. It is partly on this trend, that the current cuts philosophy is based and, if the LSE is swimming against the tide, the , proper authorities should recognise this and exempt the LSE from any major economies.
P.T.
How the LSE avoids
its duty
THE long, hard battle to obtain some kind of nursery creche facitities at L.S.E. won a small victory on Monday, January 13th with the opening of one at the Centre for Environmental Studies, Chandos Place. Four places have been obtained for the children of L.S.E. students. The number of places is likely to be increased to 10 or 12 by the end of the year. Needless to say, the four places have already been snapped up and stiff competition for the other places is inevitable.
However, the C.E.S. can only be regarded as a stop-gap measure. There has been a running battle be t w e e n the Union and the School over the issue of a creche for years. The most recent skirmish took place at the end of last term—a meeting between Mr Pike, the Financial Secretary, and the Executive member for Welfare, Crispin O'Brien. In the meeting, lasting two hours, Mr Pike reasserted the School's position: It did not feel itself responsible for the plight of students with children, "I'm not totally heartless," but the School has other priorities.
The likelihood of there being space for a creche within the present buildings is virtually nil, Mr Pike said. What about
after the Strand House move ? Well, Mr Pike could not guarantee space then. Surely Mr Pike recognised the extent of the problem, even of his own administration staff. The Union has always maintained that a creche should provide places for the children of the Administratioei staff (perhaps even some at the C.E.S. creche). Well, thei'e's just no demand, said Mr Pike. We wouldn't dare to suggest that the circular issued by Mr Pike to the Administration staff, explaining the Union's proposaJs about possible subsidies and costs was inaccurate, but it's net surprising no-one was very keen.
However, the fight continues and the number of casualties mounts. A student from India had to arrange for her child to be sent back to India, because she could not find a nursery she could afford. The School's attitude seems to be shared by the authorities at King's College, who refused even to consider the idea of a joint creche with the L.S.E.
in the annual accounts of the School 1973-74, there was an excess of income over expend.!* ture of £83,683. Perhaps where there is a will, there is a way.
T.Q.

BICAVKR. Jan. 21st, 1975—t'age Two
China —a staff-student debate
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DEAR SIR,—How refreshing at last to see a reasoned, non-hysterical article on Zionism in the pages of a socialist student paper. What a pity that these opinions could only be voiced as a result of the pressure of feeling arising from an article of such unpalatable racist views as Brodsky's.
But we can only hope that you keep open your columns for a few more months, affording a forum for debate on this sadly distorted subject that will enable participants to probe beyond the usual caricatures that pass for constructive views. The reply by Messrs. Hoffman, Polak and Shenker emphasised the major truth about the class nature of the Jewish people and of Zionism, which is rarely mentioned yet crucially relevant to the argument.
It was the oppressive nature of the Christian societies that forced the Jews into the narrow range of occupations that characterised their economic life—the "bourgeois" nature of Jewish society must be linked directly to the conditions that produced them. Zionism—apart from the Herzlian strain that was relatively ineffective in terms of actual achievement—was an attempt to REVERSE the narrow occupational basis of the Jewish people and to re-establish the Jewish nation as a normal people with a firm productive base—as a foundation for a socialist society.
Israel, probably more than any other country in the world, has shown in its formative years—and even more amazingly, in the years preceding statehood, an attempt to evolve a set of democratic socialist institutions and, in simple human terms, to reduce the gap between man and man. The tragedy is that the counter-pressures which Zionism produced have, acting on Israel, resulted in a decline in the socialist element of Israeli society; but no-one, especially a socialist, can judge any society at face value, without reference to the factors that have produced it; so it is with modern Israeli society—don't look merely at the defects; look with sympathetic eyes at the background, and then work to erase the faults.
The irony of the situation lies in the fact that in so-called progressive circles, the word Zionism is equated, sn&eringly, with the worst excesses of capitalist reaction; this is a sad and unjustified situation, and one which we can only try and change. It is a terrible state of affairs where Jewish or Israeli socialists, who have in the past played—and could still play—a major part in the struggle for a better world, are ostracised by the progressive community and, confused and alienated, are forced to retreat into defensive shells:
Please, please, keep your paper open to give all of "us" a chance to put our views. Zionism is no monster but a human response to an inhuman situation. It contains bad and reactionary elements, as do all movements, but it is not inherently evil; if only for once we can all take our masks off and, instead of sloganising from the safety of our respective theories^ discuss the situation in human terms, then even Brodsky's article will have served a useful purpose.
Shalom,
STEVE ISRAEL.
Imbecile ?
The following letter indicates the result of the LSE's Admissions Policy since the heady days of "student revolt".
DEAR SIR,—I read, with great concern, the letter by PAUL COCKERELL in SENNET, 8th January, concerning the Colt's advertisement.
I found this advertisement vei-y amusing. People I have spoken to, male and female, of various colleges have all found it amusing — none objected to it! But then I do not know many active socialists.
If Colt's wish to advertise multi-coloured rubbers, then let them. If you do not like it, do not read it. (I react this way to the leftist propaganda BEAVER publishes). I am happy to know of their product. Would you prefer I did not know about multicoloured rubbers ?
I wish to enjoy reading SENNET and BEAVER, at present there appears to be only science and politics (mainly left) — how dreary. Let's have some tit and bum features you mention, Paul. Let's have a ^SENNET and a BEAVER everyone will enjoy reading.
Yours sincerely,
PAUL J. CROWLEY. International Hall,
Brunswick Square. (Political ncin-activist, LSE).
P.S.: You made a boob (If you'll pardon my sexist vocabulary), Penae not Penises.
P.P.S.: Is this letter not left enough to be printed ?
Ed—We await a photo of your tits and bum, Paul.
DEAR SIR, — Since you have contributors who can write, and sub-editors who can caption, such remarks as "China solved her food problem with a Socialist revolution", you may even have readers who may believe it.
Consider for a start one or two of the facts of the matter. China has in recent years been importing large quantities of grain from such capitalist countries as Australia and Canada. The USSR not only had a Socialist revolution, but actually killed millions of people in creating what was thought to be a genuinely Socialist agriculture. Thirty years after those events they continue to be dependent on outside supplies. Fidel Castro created a Socialist agriculture in Cuba, and was a few .years
ago still striving so hard to produce as much as had earlier been produced that he resorted to the grotesquerie of shifting the date of New Year in a vain attempt to fill the quota that had been decided.
Even more important, consider what might be called the logic of thig weird utterance. What is it to "solve one's food problem"? Is it merely that stomachs are being filled, or is it the presence of a great variety and types of food from which people may choose. What connects a social revolution with either of these things? Food is produced by farmers possessing the skill, the equipment, the desire, and appropriate land; and it has been efficiently produced under a great variety of social arrangements, capitalist, socialist, co-operative, and so on. The notion of any fixed relation between some sort of
"system" and quantity of production does not begin to have much plausibility.
I write because one of the main points of a university education is to raise standards of understanding beyond this kind of sloppy discourse; and because whilst "Beaver" often has interesting things to say about the LSE and the student world, it has little of interest to say about the complicated politics of remote places. In recent years "Beaver" has been devoting inordinate space to propaganda treatments of fashionable problems. These articles mostly consist of long strings of muddled sentiments of the type I have discussed. They read as if they were printouts from some dim witted computer in Ulan Bator or Magnetogorsk.
Yours faithfully,
K. R. Minogue
REPLY:
KR MINOGUE asks what it is to "solve one's food problem". In the Chinese case, the main food problem was recurring famine. The great famine of 1928 is the best remembered, as shown by the following e.xtract from Jan MyrdaFs "Report from a Chinese Village'' (Picador, 1975). Fu Hai-tsao is speaking:
"We came to Yenan from Hengshan when I was five. That was during the great famine of 1928. We had been thrown out. My father brought the family with him here. Father - stai-ved to death the next year. We went begging in 1929. We had nothing to eat. Father went to Chaochuan to gather firewood and beg food, but he didn't get any. He was carrying elm leaves and firewood when he fell by the roadside. We waited for him all night. In the morning, when he hadn't come. Mother said: "Now let's go and see what's happened to him." • Then Mother and Uncle and I walked along the road towards Chaochuan. I was the one who saw him first. He was lying on his face and was dead. The elm leaves were for us to eat. He wasn't ill; he had just starved to death. Mother says that he used to be big and strong and had been a good worker, thoughtful and kind to the family and openhanded if anyone was ill. That is my earliest memory: of always being hungry, and of Father lying there dead in the road."
It is widely held by experts on the world's food problems (and the main food problem, surprising though it may seem to KR Minogue, is the increasing famine in Africa and India) that China's achievement since the beginning of the Revolution has been remarkable. While it is true to say that non-socialist countries such as Taiwan and iMexico have had certain successes with their food programmes, and while KR Minogue's strictures on the experiences of the Soviet Union and Cuba are not wholly without justification, the examples of such countries in no way invalidate the photocaption: "China solved her food problem with a Socialist revolution." KR Minogue takes this to mean (a) there was a. Socialist revolution in China and (b) therefore all China's food problems were once and for all solved, then his reading of the caption is erroneous, and his understanding of the Chinese Revolution is apparently so small that even "Beaver's" "long strings of muddled sentiments" might increase it. Even Mr Minogue, however, will accept that there has been a Revolution in China. Whether he accepts that it continues or not, I cannot tell.
Secondly, I hope Mr Minogue will accept that as food problems go, famine is a much more important one than the "problem" (sic) of diversity of choice. (I hope he doesn't believe that the marginal utility of food to a staiTing Indian peasant is a function of what he is prepared to pay for it.) In that case, it is fair enough to say that "China solved her food problem". It is unreasonable to expect photocaptions to carry an analysis of the political, economic and philosophical assumptions underlying the basic text. It is impossible to deduce from the offending caption any notion of a fixed relation between some sort of "system" and quantity of production.
However, if KR Minogue would like to learn a little about what is said to have happened in Revolutionary China, here are further extracts from Jaa Myrdal's book of interviews with Chinese peasants Tung Yang-Chen is speaking:
"Then we discussed the formation of a labour group for mutual help. I joined. We were all of us agreed. It wasn't a farmers' co-operative, but each one kept his land. We got bigger harvests than before. The problem, of course, was whose land should be tilled first. We decided to take turns. But; that did not always work.	i
"Then we began discussing a farmers' co-operative. | Most agreed to turn the labour group for mutual help ? into a farmers' co-operative; but I thought that as ' I had both animals and land, I ought to be able toj manage on my own, and that if I was in want of i labour, I could perfectly well hire people.	j
i
"Then, little by little, people came to me and I talked to me. . They said: 'Your father had his headi cut off by the KMT (Kuomintang) and you were I taken by the KMT and you were made to carrj'! sacks of flour for Hu Tsung-nan's army and were: put into their army. When you were a child, you; said that you wanted to take vengeance because of your father, but now you want to employ people and become an exploiter yourself. What's the meaning of this?' ... in the end I did see that it was probably best for me to join the farmers' co-operative ....
"My income increased too, once I did join . . .
"Then they began discussing the formation ot a higher agricultural co-operative. To begin with I was not at all convinced ... In the co-operative we had still had a certain return for our land; but in these discussions it was being said that each should be paid in accordance with the work he did ... in the end I did apply for membership . . . My income in the East Shines Red Higher Agricultural Co-operative was 200 jin (1 jin equals 1 lb. 1J oz.) of corn more than it had been in the first farmers" co-operative. That was a big income. . . .
"In 1958 there was a new thing. People were talking then about a people's commune ..."
KR Minogue asks what connects a social revolution with the filling of stomachs. If he has read the above brief extracts, then he might have some vague idea about how the People's Republic of China has managed to achieve far greater self-sufficiency than, say, India or Bangladesh, and how the famine problem has been overcome. I am not going to predict that there will never be famines in China in the future. It is not too hard to predict, however, and I am only echoing the urgent warnings of experts on the problem, that the growing famines in India and Africa will go on getting worse.
Instead of using pedantic criticism of the wording of a photocaption (hardly the most important part of "Beaver'!) to argue against "Beaver" including articles on anywhere outside the LSE, KR Minogue would do better to note that, as the LSE is an international School dealing with international problems, it is right for "Beaver" to publicise international problems. It is not up to KR Minogue to decide for us what is and what is not "inordinate" space to devote to so-called "propagandist treatments of fashionable problems. '
S.S.
BEAVER. Jan. 21st, 1975—Page Three
Serious ?
1 Felicity is dead- . hut a star is born *
JANUARY is a gloomy month, CAPRICORN being in its sun-arousal. For you born under the sign of this elite month continue to be proud of your birth sign — as steady determination will result in your heart's desire. You are self-reliant and dependable but initially a little frightening. Many trade tinions leaders born under this sign. USSR announces BREZN-HEV's sudden departure to Siberia on a secret mission. The BROAD LEFT, an organisation conceived in, haste and maintained in need will find this an uncomfortable month.
It will be a relief to move into the esoteric time of AQUARIUS. Unfortunately the age has already dawned and is now very much on the wane. Aquarians are slimly built and have piercing eyes that seem to know your innermost thoughts. They are ever so good at starting things off, like Jesus for example. You can usually find Aquarians in little sheds in the middle of the woods. They are thinking and it is best not to disturb them. KOSYGIN announces that his comrade is thinking in a hut in the Pripet Marshes. This is the month for individualists.
TONY BROWN sells hot dogs at the Director's reception.
PISCEANS, born February/ March, now come iiito their own. ALASTAIR COE discovers that he is colour-blind and doesn't know whether he is coming or going. BREZNHEV comes back to Moscow in a triumphal funeral procession. EDWARD HEATH shows his vascillating birth sign by declaring himself President of the Common Market with IRA backing. Pisceans are soft, sensuous and sexy and cry a lot at films.
It is rumoured that JOHN CARR was bom under the sign of ARIES. He certainly looks like one. Arians have short necks and strong little legs, they are always on the go and love power. KOSYGIN announces that SIR ALEC DOUGLAS HOME will fill BREZNHEV's place. PRESIDENT FORD is replaced by PRINCE GENERAL MOTORS. This will be a very good month for getting on.
By some strange coincidence the organisation INTERNATIONAL SOCIALISTS and KEN MULLER were conceived under this sign. GEMINIANS are argumentative and very opinionated, they like doing two things at one time. KOSYGIN
announces that SIR ALEC DOUGLAS HOME has been a cardboard cut-out for ten years.
In June we move into the moonlike sign of CANCER. Cancerians are quiet and powerful, once they have you they will never let go. PAUL COCKERELL manifests the typical look of someone born under this domestic-loving sign, you will soon notice that quiet air of assumed sexual arrogance. If you are born under the sign of LEO have nothing to do with him, you don't get on.
In August, the sun sign, Leo, rules the world. Leos are fun-loving swingers and hate being criticised — SIR ALEC DOUGLAS HOME declares himself to be made of Scottish corrugated cardboard. You can find Leos anywhere except in boring places — Emma and Cheryl leave the LSE and take a job in Copenhagen. Famous people born under this sign are too numerous, Castro, Henry VIII, Hitler and JOYCE PILLAY.
VIRGOANS are born end of August until end of September. They are basically very shy people and need reassurance as to their sexuality. Two interesting individuals are born under this sign CHRIS HOYLAND and CHRIS WELLS, enoug'h said
Now we enter October, the revolutionary month. Depression, economic crises, strikes, even students occupy buildings that don't really belong to them. LIBRAS are a lovely lot, they wear velvet and like stroking Persian cats, they also like being stroked themselves. The USSR celebrates October revolution with invasion of West Germany. USA occupies France as compensation. DAHRENDORF is asked to take
up an important position elsewhere — it is rumoured that it is a hut in the Pripet Marshes. PRINCE PHILLIP and LORD SNOWDON seek quiet divorces and the "DAILY MAIL" finds out. ELIZABETH TAYLOR will have back trouble and JAMES MITCHELL something catching.
November ^ let us think of the SCORPIOS amongst us, sexy and Machiavelian. They usually have brown eyes and sharp tongues. Where to find them? In the bar. ANTHROPOLOGY DEPARTMENT is closed down and a new course on the EEC is started. As we move on to the end of November into December this is yet another time for Britain to rejoice in the joys of a new crisis. What is left of the population emigrate to the Isle of Man. The LSE International Socialists hold a congratulatory meeting at Buckingham Palace before being eliminated by the Masonic Youth from Glasgow. The Communist Party emigrate to Bulgaria. TIM JONES becomes a liberal vicar, JOHN BLUN-DELL a minor clerical worker in the Post Office and PETE TIMMINS is shot for producing subversive literature. The USSR slides into the sea and no-one notices. USA destroys the Pacific Ocean and lots of dolphins. RALF DAHRENDORF complains strongly in a letter to the LSE Board of Governors. It is decided not to have a new students' conference in 1976 as there will not be any new students. Money saved donated to the LSE Students' Union to pay off grand overdraft remaining! from that erratic Virgoan rule of CHRIS HOYLAND, M.P. (Military Police).
To Felicity. Dear Peter Pan. my Guinness "shirt" Is in fact a sweatshirt. It is dirty because it is difficult to wash. For example, washing-machines tend to shrink it. Hand washing is ineffective.
Perhaps you. with your great experience, could advise how I can cope with this problem. Any suggestions will be most welcome.
Yours fraternally,
Nick lof the CP)
-j ? ?
Dear beautiful Nick of the CP
I was charmed and delighted to receive your letter regarding your cleanliness problem. Bathing does help, you do this by obtaining a bathroom which has running hot and cold water, I would recommend the use of an abrasive soap. As to your shirt problem, I would suggest the soaking method. Immerse ;t' in a bucket filled with luke-warni water and a strong detergent for twelve hours and then wash :t thoroughly, pull it back into the shape it had in 1969 and roll it up in a towel. Do not hang it up but dry flat. Regarding your request for any suggestions, I have many I would like to make to you but am prevented from doing so by maidenly modestly.
Yours ever so fraternally,
Wendy
"I WANT TO BE A JOURNALIST . . .
THE "Beaver" office received a strange contribution for the paper this week. It began 'Inspired by Felicity's apparent failure to find anything remotely interesting to say or do, I have decided to present "Beaver" readers with an extract from my own little collection of gossip". The piece, entitled Timothy s Diary went on in tine style of a day to day diary, ceasing in the middle of the week — presumably because the writer could think of no more drivel to drool. It was full of stunning revelations . . . "Later that day I went to Florries Bar and found a very heated argument going on between Chris Hoyland, Colin Robinson, and Howard Feather. Chris, I gathered was a Communist, Colin an International Marxist, and Howard an International Socialist. They were discussing Russia and Howard seemed to be winning." Now the "Beaver" staff are asking the question — jiist what IS going on? Will the future editorship nf the "Daily Express" be an LSE man? WiU the writer of this article please forget it if we promise to?
. . . WHEN I GROW UP !"
THIS "BEAVER" was produced by Peter Timmins, Gill Hibbert and Steve Savage, with help from Maggie Urry, Julian Brutus, and all sub-contractors. It is only 12 pages instead of the normal 16, because of the state of the economy.
ALL opinions in the paper are those of the writers.
MEETINGS every Tuesday at 1 p.m. make the paper work. All welcome.
(g) London School of Economics and Political Science Students' Union, 1975.
FORTHCOMING CONCERTS
Saturday, Feb 8th : ISOTOPE plus A. J. Webber* 80p Saturday, Feb. 16th : SPLINTER plus Nicol & Marsh* BOp.
Saturday, March 1st: PETE ATKIN plus Juliet Lawson SOp.
Saturday, March 8th : MIKE HERON'S REPUTATION plus Richard Digance.
DISCO & BAR at all Concerts. Tickets from Union Shop. 'Promoted in conjunction with Revolver Records.
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ef:AVF,R. Jan. 21st, 1975—Page Four
Anthros' SSC
Some students feel that one shouldn't study, say, a tribe ot Indians in Brazil, and ignore their extermination by the Brazilian regime. The Indians are being killed, and all anthropologists seem to care about is their kinship structure. The: department's line on this view is that such matters can be discussed in the Anthropology Society, and that as the department is not ideologically biased (compared to the French Marxist school, perhaps?) the staff could not be expected to examine papers dealing with political questions. Whether or not the empiricist English school of anthropology is ideologically biased is a very general question and unlikely to be adequately discussed at SSC meetings. Suffice it to say that no general agreement was reached on the issue.
NUS University Special Conference
alternative prospectus for sixth-formers. This is to give social and academic information, and highlight the courses, welfare provisions, teaching methods, assessment, the role of Student Unions, (including the role of the NUS), and the general standards of life in those institutions. Also to examine the possibility of college and university C.O.s producing their own prospectus.
The motion on Postgraduates noted the fact that the demonstrating/teaching rates of pay represent only a small proportion of postgraduates' income and that many are in fact used as a cheap form of labour. There are specific problems relating to postgraduates, but the strengthening of postgraduates at a local level in the Students' Unions is essential as an effective means of organising postgraduates on all the issues of concern to them. However this policy is not the exclusive problem of universities but the Emergency Motion, relating to postgraduates and the AUT (Ass. of University Teachers), demanding that any agreement between the NUS and the NUS should recognise the legitimate interest of ASTMS in postgraduates' affairs, and the major negotiations on behalf of postgraduates should consider the implementation of the NUS/ ASTMS agreement.
THE Anthropology Department held its first SSC meeting of this term on January 9th, so that certain proposals of change which had been mooted within the staff might be discussed with the students.
There is a certain urgency in the affair, because some of the changes, if approved, will have to pass through the bureaucracies of LSE and Senate House in order to become realities. There was a staff meeting on January 15th at which the proposals were presumably further debated.
In the past it had been felt that 1st year anthropology
The conference began with debates on dociunents on British perspectives presented by the majority (Militant) and the minority (Clause Four). The minority document called for support for the social contract which Militant attacked as, toeing nothing but a means of cutting the workers' share of the gross national product. Clause Four saw it as being "perhaps" a policy that was "somehow" a step towards socialism "some time" in the future. It was clear that there is a sharp disagreement within Clause Pour on this point, especially since the C.P., who are the prime movers within the Broad Left, don't support it (in words, at least). However, the fact that the Militant was opposed to the minority document guaranteed that Clause Four would put forward a united face on the issue. The minority document was passed by one vote.
After that, every resolution proposed by the JVUlitant was passed, successfully overthrowing all of the decisions contained within the minority document. The bold socialist case argued by the Militant won over some of the initial Clause Four supporters!
A disgraceful incident occurred at the end of the conference. The conference still had to decide a tx)licy on Northern Ireland. The Clause Pour wanted the one embodied in the minority document to remain: they want the troops to remain in Northern Ireland to stop ta "sectarian bloodbath". This was totally opposed by the Militant who demand the immediate withdrawal of troops and that the Labour Movement institutes a Trade Union Defence Force to protect the working class from sectarian attacks. At the same time they point out that only the working class united in the struggle for socialism can end the social sources of sectarianism once and for all—slum housing, low wages, unemployment etc.
In order to stop the Militant resolution being debated, the Clause 4, led by Ian Davidson (ex chairman
students had been overworked because they had four course units to cover. One of these, the outside option, was dropped at the beginning of this academic year, following representations made by the students. This year's intake, therefore, have to cover only three course units. It is interesting to note that this change had originally been opposed by the staff because of the effect it might have on other departments."
So the position as it stands is that the course unit structure has been changed from 4-3-4 to 3-3-4. One of the proposals made on January 9th was to
of N.O.L.S.). resorted to every dirty trick in the book in order to waste time such as by calling irrelevant points of order. This forced the chairman. Brent Kennedy, to announce that the vote on Ireland would have to be taken without any discussion. This was a most unfortunate state of affairs, but it was made absolutely necessary. The organisations of the Labour Movement are usually free from the childish antics that occur at N.U.S. and union meetings. Let us hope that N.O.L.S. will be free from them in the future.
Finally, and very importantly, conference decided that N.O.L.S. should campaign in an independent manner for its socialist programme to be accepted by the student movement.
The results of the conference will be a nasty blow to the C.P., who have expressed how much they wanted to suck N.O.L.S. into the
change it to 3-4-4 (in time for next year, if possible). This would be done by cutting the time allotted to lectures on kinship (a proposal that met with little opposition) and increasing that allotted to economics and politics. The latter subjects could be given separate exams and could become two course units instead of the present one unit. The student representatives intimated that they wouldn't be too happy about this, as it would significantly increase the workload in the second year. When invited to think how lucky they would be to get two course units ^for almost the same amount of work as they now do for one unit, the students pointed out that LSE was exam-oriented, and that two exams meant twice as much work.
B.L. They, and the N.U.S. Executive, were well "represented" at the conference. John Carr, President of U.L.U., late of L.S.E., and an expert at organisational manoeuvres against Militant, as his disgraceful record in the Labour Club illustrates, was among those present.
A number of conclusions arise out of this conference:—
(1)	The complete political redundancy of many "activists" in the Broad Left. It is an N.U.S. vote-getting machine pure and simple. Everything is subordinated to an appearance of unity at its lowest, most unprincipled, common denominator. Political arguments are, in many cases, subordinated to organisational manoeuvres.
(2)	The way that N.O.L.S. policy is the only answer to the problems facing students. N.O.L.S. can only grow in influence as the crisis of British capitalism intensifies, highlighting the sheer utopianism of the Broad Left's demand of a living grant on the basis of capitalism.
(3)	The necessity for all students to join their Labour Clubs and the Labour Party. Only by working in the mass organisations of the working class can socialist ideas be raised to the forefront of these organisations.
(4)	The fact that the resolutions proposed by Broad Left supporters are to the right of resolutions proposed by rank-and-file members of the Labour Movement at various conferences up and down the country.
BILL SHEPPARD & CHRISTINE HARVEY,
L.S.E. Delegates and Militant Supporters
The other thing was the proposal to abolish the 1st year course in physical anthropology. This includes the study of genetics, evolutionary patterns in general, behavioural genetics, primate evolution and the social organisation of primates. If it is closed down, it will mean that the study of anthropology at the LSE will begin with the neolithic revolution; and several representatives opposed the change. The lectures have to be given by an outside lecturer, but the staff -.denied that the proposed cut-was caused by the present drive for economy, though it would contribute to the economy drive. It w^as a change they had been considering for some time.
The perennial complaint about the department's separation from reality was raised.
THIS is the first time that the University Specialist Conference has been a policy-making body, with responsibility for mandating the elected National Committee to deal with problems directly relating to the university sector of NUS.
It is unfortunate that the conference and the NC seemed to suffer a sectoral identity problem. Accepting that it is very difficult to decide what are the problems relating to the university sector, there is no excuse for the number of motions before the conference which were either ones which did not get prioritised for NUS Conference at Margate, or were of such a general nature that they were not directly related to the problems of Universities.
Of the 24 motions before conference two motions and one Emergency Motion gave direct mandates to the NC. The first of these, the motion on University Entrants, instructed the NC to obtain information and liaise with the National Union of School Students to produce an
The final motion was in the form of recommendations from i the NC on its role in relation to the NUS executive and the C.O.s. Their main problem in the last' year has been quite simply that they were unsure of their function, whether it was that of "watchdog" over the Executive on university matters or as an initiator in the problems concerning universities. This to some extent has been alleviated by the recommendations of the committee and by the mandates (though limited) that they have ^ received. The University Specialist Conference in the next year has the chance to justify its existence as a positive force concerned with universities rather than the only reason for having a University sector conference being that alt the NUS sectors have their own Specialist Conferences.

AcnoA/!
I' He WALKS OFf INTO THE SOMSET.
NOLS Report
THE National Organisation of Labour Students held its 4th national conference in Hull on the 3rd-6th January, 1975. NOLS is the student wing of the Labour Party. Since its inception it has had the programme of the "Militant" and the LPYS, calling for the nationalisation of the 250 monopolies under workers' control and management. Until 1973 it hadn't, however, an E.C. which agreed with that policy. After last year's Militant victory the misnamed Clause Four group was formed and this now constitutes the Labour Party wing within the Broad Left. At the start of the conference, which was attended by around 150 delegates from all over Britain, there was a very even balance between supporters of Clause 4 and the Militant.
RBSsspen
3B3KrKSa
BEAVER.-Jan 21st, 1975—Page Five
Palestine: neither Brodsky nor Israel
DN NOVEMBER 5th, 1956, I was dumped with kit bag and Sten gun into Port Said as part of the Great British Disaster called Suez. Like any semi-literate working class unemployable kid in the forces at that time I was all for having a go at the "Wogs" lor pinching ''our" canal, and cheering on brave little Israel for taking on the big bullies of the Arab powers. Years later I find myself, socialist and on the other side, believing that it is only a matter of time before the destruction of an independent Israeli nation-state. If politics is the art of the possible a compromise of some sort may emerge, but forces v^ithin both camps have reached such a state of alienation that I can see no way out, except conflict. Perhaps more enlightened and less pessimistic people tan.
This article is not essentially a reply to the gentlemen who wrote the reply to Brodsky, but it is mainly to inform my many Jewish friends at LSE why I am not politically on the side of their homeland, why in other words I have changed from being a war-whooping serviceman 100 per cent behind the Israeli State to become a dull school porter, who with the only property I have, my vote, would raise my hand in support of the Palestinians.
To begin with I never thought much about the rights and wrongs of the Israeli State, which of course logically should immediately destroy my support of it. Why was I supporting something about which I knew nothing? I was in fact accepting the climate of opinion in which I was surrounded, so as the issue of Israel's survival became more acute and information and knowledge, as opposed to propaganda and ignorance, became more available I was gradually forced to look at the problem and eventually make a decision about it, which is
not something I had done before, for previously I had only reacted, honestly enough, but wrongly.
I think the essential point I am trying to make is this. Since the "Yom Kippur" war the Israeli State has come under fierce scrutiny and the reasons for its existence, its emergence, its geography are now being questioned in the market place of world opinion in a manner which hitherto it had not. In other words the voice of the protagonists on the other side is now being heard, and is gaining more and more support for its side.
I am conscious that by not supporting the Israeli Nation-State I may be called anti-Jew, but this is a risk I must take, for I cannot, like the headmaster in the film called "IF" walk in between two warring factions asking for reasonableness and decency, and all those other virtues. It is too late for that. One must take sides. And anyway, those who have seen the film know what happened to that, particular headmaster.
It was discussing, the problem over Christmas vacation with an elderly lady who was committed to Israel that made me realise the essential moral weakness of Israel's cause. What impressed me most was the horror she and her generation felt after the liberation of Europe and the discovery of the concentration camps. She threw herself and her friends into a torrent of work, and organised and lobbied for the setting up of a separate Israeli State, and the United Nations vote of 1948 was, for her. a great personal joy. I think if I had been with her at the time I would have done the same.
But nothing in history is static. All is flux and change. The horrors of one generation become the history of the next, as for instance the horrors of the 1914-18 war have become a sickly sweet musical
for this generation. (I am not suggesting here that a musical should be made of the Arab-Israel war; one can leave that kind of crassness to the Americans and John Wayne and his Green Berets.) What I am saying is that the guilt Europe felt cannot go on being unloaded on to another innocent people. The United Nations has no God given right to expel an innocent people from its homeland and give that land away to another innocent people, just to salve the conscience of Europe. Even "in terms of real-politic, horse trading it is an impossible solution; for the Arabs will never give up their dream of returning to their land, and whereas thirty years ago there was nothing they could successfully do about it, today they can. Historically a Palestinian State is inevitable; for the Arab States can go on losing many wars, but the Israeli State can only lose one.
I want here to establish that I am not jumping for joy at the possible demise of the Israeli State, I abhor and detest anything that smacks of anti-semitism or racialism of any kind, as. some of my colleagues on the staff know to their cost. T am trying to say, perhaps inadequately, perhaps wrongly, that I support the claim of all Palestinians to return to their homeland and that I recognise that this is not possible while an independent Israeli Nation-State exists. I feel that what I have done is honest and not written to order, by anyone, as I felt the rubbish Brodsky wrote was, but those of us who were brought up on Orwell know too well how a totalitarian state can order their scribes to produce whatever "History" or "Truth" is politically convenient. Brosky's article belongs to the nearest dustbin, as perhaps does mine, but I hope for different reasons.
PAUL BOSCHER
The MoDs are coming, the MoDs are coming
"If I had known, I would have been a locksmith." Einstein.
THE Ministry of Defence spends approximately £2 million a year on research in British Universities on about 600 projects: the US Department of Defense spends approximately 662,000 dollars on some 65-projects; British Universities also do extremely well out of the NATO Science Programme. The subjects covered range from aerodynamics, computers to all forms of biology, biochemistry and genetics. Most of the research, whilst fundamental in nature, is clearly relevant to the demands of advanced weapon technology.
In October, 1973, the CND paper "Sanity" published information about MoD sponsored scientific work in the Universities. The immediate response was of concern, surprise and often indignation that their college labs and research students were being used for
destructive military work. Since then there has been growing concern about the exact role of the military in Britain in the 1970's in view of the fact that there has been a stealthy but unmistakable abandonment of the "deterrent" justification of nuclear weapons and an acceptance of American strategic doctrines of a commitment to the use of nuclear weapons as a first strike.
In the context of this, military involvement in universities takes on a new aspect, not' only in the morality of working on weapons technology, but also the academic dangers of doing secret work.
Zoe Fairbairns, Editor of "Sanity", has written a pamphlet called "Study War No More", which can be bought for 20p from CND, 14 Grays Inn Road, London, WCl. This gives specific details of projects, and suggestions of how more in-
Three years' training to become a
CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT
is one of the best general introductions to business.
You don't need to be an Accounting Student.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THIS CAREER. ARRANGE FOR A PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW WITH ONE OF THE MAJOR INTERNATIONAL FIRMS ;
Arthur Andersen & Co.
on
Tuesday, 28l-h January, 1975
Call Careers Advisory Service now for an appointment, or Brian Hardy on 01-606 8080.
formation can be obtained. It also, gives a summary of the extent and nature of military involvement, with details of the three funding bodies.
For example, did you know that the Ministry of Defence sponsors lectureships ? They say "to substantially improve the scope and level of discussion of defence subjects among informed public opinion", and although the appointments would be made by the university itself, "as it may be from time to time desirable for the occupants of these posts, in pursuing their researches, to have close contact with the MoD, the Ministry is normally given the opportunity to express any comments they may wish to offer when applications have been received".
It thus seems likely that political consideration would be high, since it is difficult , to imagine a confirmed pacifist teaching Strategic studies to the Ministry's satisfaction, or a Marxist the Economics of Defence. One pat on the back for LSE was that we turned down a Defence Lectureship in 1968. because of the threat of political interference in an Academic department. The less squeamish include Kings College, London, in their Faculty of Law (G. D. Kinley) and in the Dept of War (Barrie Paskins).
The list of universities involved is quite staggering and not complete, because although the MoD insist that only a small proportion of the work done is secret many academics feel that they ought not to disclose the fact that they are doing military work. Others can't hide the fact, like Southampton University, which gets 25 per cent pf its research funds from military sources, is linked with RAF Farnborough, and has an MoD lectureship in the Politics Dept.
The political aspects of this are particularly frightening, by agreeing to work in co-operation with the armed forces, national and international, the universities have - stated their political allegiance. In the question of academic freedom, this means that academics should be free to follow their paths of research and furthermore publish the findings of that research. It is therefore completely unacceptable for the MoD to place restrictions on the publication of research, in fact "secret research" becomes a contradiction in terms.
The other disturbing question of academic freedom, is that no society is going to make unlimited funds available for research in areas not useful to society. One can only sympathise with the doctor, who, convinced that he is doing life-giving work, is at the behest of an organisation whose function is to kill people.
The military are. using money to buy support and personnel
among university populations. They are spreading their propaganda under the guise of academic courses, and using university facilities to train their officers, sometimes changing the nature of the university in the process. Today the recruiting slogan is "three years as an army officer can equal three years at university"; tomorrow you might not be able to tell the difference.
If you could offer any information about this please get in touch with CND or the Union Office (S102).
Further reading:
"Sanity": bi-monthly CND publication (£1 yearly subscription).
"The Military - Intellectual Establishment" by Alan Lenton, c/o SU Leeds University.
"Academic Freedom" by Antony Arblaster (Penguin 50p).
"Low ^ Intensity Operations" by Frank Kitson (Faber £3).
"The Military Industrial Complex. Sidney Lens (Nelson 85p).
Progressive research
L.S.E. is keeping up its reputation as a progressive research establishment. Mr John Cen-nard, Lecturer in Industrial Relations, is being given £15,811 over three years by the S.S.R.C. in order to analyse the financial effects of strike hctivity on workers who are on strike or laid off "through industrial stoppages". The latter presumably refers to strikes, though they may not be the only source of industrial stoppages over the next three years.
The analysis will develop study already undertaken by Mr Cennard which was financed by the Departr}ient of Employment. This study resulted in informa-
tion which, if now established as generally true, would help unions, employers and government to develop policies towards strikers.
Mr Cennard has studied the role of strikers' private resources, the attitudes of financial institutions and public utilities towards strikers, the role of supplementary benefits, the role of strikers' optimism. This work will be developed in various ways, including the study of ongoing or recently finished strikes using questionnaires, union and company records.
Further information from: John Cennard 405 7686 Ext. 652.
BKAVI R. .Ian. Mst. 1973—Page Six
MY name is Francisco, I come from Santiago, Chife. I have a wife, whose name is Rosa and four children, aged between two and eight. < am a teacher and before the coup taught in a secondary school in Santiago. The movement PATRIA Y LIBERTAD FATHERHOOD AND LIBERTY (an extreme right-wing fascist group) were building up their organisation during 1972 and 1973. They recruited young kids, aged between 15 and 20, from schools, a bit like the Hitler Youth Movement in the 1930s to work for them. The kids were from the middle and upper classes and were instructed by the national party that "the leftists would ruin Chile for them and their children." They were given guns and ammunition and felt very strong and important.
On the 29th July, 1973 I was walking down-one of the main streets in Santiago to the corner of Ahumada Street, where the Presidential Palace is. when I saw a young man fall, I looked up and saw that there was a kid with a gun on top of one of the buildings. There were many people in the streets at that time, eight in the morning, everyone was going to work. I saw tanks coming from both sides and no-one knew what was happening. Pushed in the crowd I moved up nearer to the Palace. The tanks came at us and fired, we all threw ourselves down on the ground, after the tanks passed we stood up and shouted "Allende the workers are with you." This happened several times but we still shouted. Many workers and students were shot, the official figures were ridiculously low. The fascists had about twenty tanks and machine guns mounted on jeeps. At about 11 a.m. the Loyali.st Troops came out and pushed the fascists back. We remained for some time in fi'ont of the Palace shouting and calling for Allende and General Carlos Prats. This "false coup" is called TANCAZO in Chile because it was led by the tank regiment of the army with the help of Patria y libertad. Strangely enough vre were not over-worried by the TANCAZO, we felt assured that the loyalist troops would fight for us.
Strong movement


This exclusive interview reveah
JUNTA TORTJ
were playing outside the house and our neighbours used to abuse us when we went past. Meanwhile the movement of the right was becoming very strong all over Chile, they had the power to use the people politically and economically. For some time many goods had been completely unobtainable from the shops, like sugar, cooking oil, and flour. You could get things on the black market which was controlled by the fascists but at a price the \yorkers couldn't afford.
Unnecessary
After that time when I was at the school I chanced to go into one of the other teacher's rooms for some coffee and I saw him handing out guns to the kids from the fascist movement. I knew the movement was particularly strong at that school and also that many teachers agreed with them. Although it was not generally known at the school that I belonged to an organisation of the Left, I was singled out for much personal attack and abuse and the kids threatened to occupy the school if I did not leave. So in August 1973 I left, while my wife continued to work in a clerical position to support us. We suffered much harassment from the movement "Patria y libertad", so did all the others known to be loyal to Allende. Stones were thrown at the children when they
On the 11th September, 1973, the day of the coup, we heard news of massive troop movements on the radio and also Allende spoke telling us to remain calm and not to cause unnecessary bloodshed. Allende broadcast about five times, twice he was interrupted, he said he was going to talk to the military. Everyone kept calm and remained at home or in their places of work. We all contacted our Parties to receive our orders and I tried to reach the centre of Santiago but couldn't. Helicopters were flying overhead every four minutes, bombing the Palace and the surrounding area, some bombs missed their target and blew up many streets of houses. I thought it was like the Third World War, the noise was shattering. In the evening we heard that Allende was dead and that there was a 36-hour curfew. We stayed at home and came out after the 36 hours. We were surprised to see that suddenly the shops were full of goods at low prices, even meat was on sale everywhere. On the 13th September I tried to visit some comrades in a community housing development to see if they were O.K. I could not go into the area because it was completely sealed off by the military troops. When I looked over their shoulders I could see lying in the first street a line of bodies, about forty, and many houses were burnt to the ground. The troops shouted at me to get going so I returned home. Then followed a sort of time of limbo, we had no contact with friends or relatives, the telephones were in the hands of the Junta. We didn't know what had happened to our comrades, we were completely isolated. Then began the searching of houses by the military, they stole anything of value they could find, they burnt books and records. At that time you could be taken to prison for having a poster of Allende, or a badge. Many of my friends were taken and were never seen again. Many people who were taken were not active politically just loyal to Allende. It was a terrible period, we couldn't stay at home and had to keep on dodging around staying at friend's houses, my wife and I had to stay apart. We had no family life, the children were with relatives. My wife was able to continue working and as well as supporting her family helped to buy food for our friends, whose husbands and fathers had disappeared.
Friend's house
I completely lost trad if tim two days and nights. I trie, to a about Rosa and the childrer I w killed. One day or night t/o pe( and took me up some stair. We me take off all my clothes b.t the^ sense about five people in he ro typing. They stai'ted kicl<L'i; me : with a sip of water. I \va grat( first drink for some time. After\ were tranquillisers because? the
To begin with they did ot ask of belonging to an anti-sodi grouj they were obviously tryingo get charge. Of course I deniedhat I shouted "You are a crimina— yo that I didn't know why I hd beei no intention of saying that was a then changed their line amaccus weapons, they asked me to ive th the Popular Unity Party V3 had this plan Z was invented byhe Jui taking over the Governmetand d( said that left-wing extremiis in t plan to infiltrate the arma force; Whilst accusing me of ther thinj all over my naked body, paticulai to deny everything, fortunatly for fatal to admit even the sli|itest 1 then step up their brutalitjto gai They told me that if I din't ad bring my wife here and iipe he them but I didn't say anjiLig.
SIfoc
In April, 1974 I walked with my wife to her office and then started off' to go to the dentist, I arranged to meet her for lunch so that we could go and see the children. I met a comrade in the street who asked me urgently to go to another friend's house to warn him that he was going to be arrested. I walked there as quickly as possible but it was too late. The comrade's wife was under house-arrest and her husband taken by the military intelligence. There were about five of them in the room and they immediately, as I walked in, told me I was under arrest. They were in very expensive civilian clothes and all spoke with what you would call upper-class accents. They blindfolded me and forced my hands behind my back and put handcuff's on. I remember clearly it was mid-day and it was the last time for some weeks before I had the blindfold taken oft'. They took me in a station wagon and drove around for some time, amusing themselves by kicking me. I was taken to a private house I don't know where in Santiago and they took away all my personal belongings. I was taken, still blindfolded to the basement of this house and tied up to a chair my arms behind me. I could sense that there were a lot of people in the room, I could hear some groaning. There seemed to be a lot of guards in the basement as well. We were not allowed to talk and we were not given any food or vi'ater. One of the guards told me that "new arrivals had no right to eat"'. We were not allowed to sleep. If you fell asleep on the chair, which in itself was a difficult thing to do in that position, you were knocked on the head by a rifle butt.
The military intelligeii then They put a plastic bag ct your seems that you are practally a you are given the chancfof one bag is replaced. They diithis n more accusations. I said tt they were confused. They tiecne to £ attached electrical wirinjo my my genitals and my hand They jeered at me "Are you go? to ta we will use the electricity I said over me. They told me tt I wou their charges, they saidthat t information out of crimir.3 and was just the beginning.
They were right it wiust the electric shocks to me until half p I was shuddering all over,! lost S' long I had been in that Dm. T^ basement and tied me bax)n to s water. My mind was to'iy blan they began again, the sar treatn etc. I hear other prisonersi the rc I knew that they were be: tortur raped. I was left in thatoom fo time, I suppose because iy want the others.
Friedly
Eventually once again was b; given food for the first ts. New the time and taken out, t!*e were did manage sometimes tohisper i to hear a friendly voiceA lot c drugs, it was obvious beise afte upstairs, they would haliinate a they took away a very yot; girl an she came back she was abst half-
BCAVKR. Jan. 'Ust, 19T5—Page Seven
5als how the
her they forced us to sound of her screams, had a comarade ..."
sing so-called patriotic songs to hide the We sang things like "Lili Marlene" and "I
ick Ktime, I think it was more or less triedo avoid thinking and just thought Iran,(was sure that I was going to be it tuipeople untied me from the chair tairiWe went into a room and made !S bixihey left my blindfold on. I could in ft room and I could hear someone ;kingiie and forced some pills down me wasyateful for the water, it was the le. -ierwards I realised that the pills ise afte unreal way I felt.
lid naask me questions they accused me ocialfoup, they said I was a delinquent, ing tiset me on a trumped up criminal lied Ut I was a delinquent. They then linal-you must say that." I told them I hadbeen brought there and that I had at I IS a criminal when I wasn't. They aiidnused me of possessing dangerous to g; them the names of the people in whiiad participated in Plan Z. In fact by fe Junta as the raison d'etre for them lentid declaring "a state of war". They ?mislin the Popular Unity Party had a medtrces to encourage them to revolt, theihings they continually kicked me pattiilarly in the genitals. I continued mate for me I knew already that it was sliest little thing because they would ilityigain more and more information.
did admit anything that they would d rt her in front of me. I believed ythit -
Siiocating
enly voices
Another day they took me upstairs again and put me with a comrade. I had never seen him before but they tried to force me to say that we knew each other and that we had had political meetings together and had taken part in the conspiracy against the airforce. They tortured both of us,, we didn't admit anything. When they put us back into the basement they told us to think very carefully because there was plenty of time to extract the information they wanted from us and that they didn't give up. This treatment continued for 30 days with variations of the torture. One method was to stage a mock-shooting of a prisoner. They did it to me several times, they put a gun to the side of your head and pull the trigger, you hear the click and you think you are dead and fall to the floor. When they did it to me I thought that if I could stand up I wasn't dead.
Identification card
enceien tried the plastic bag treatment, oveyour face and take it off when it cticiT a second away from suffocating, ice (one quick breath and the plastic did is many times to me. After that thithey were mistaken, and that they ed nto a table with my legs apart and ng tmy mouth, the .soles of my feet, nds.rhey hit me with large sticks and join{B talk now ?" they said, "otherwise ty". :said nothing and they threw water thatiwouldn't gain anything by denying dd iiat they were expert at getting inakand what I had experienced so far
/as jsithe beginning. They administered til lialf passed out, I just couldn't speafc, ?r. O.ost sense of time, I don't know how' : roc. Then they took me back to the acknto a chair. I was given a drink of otalliblank, I couldn't think. Next day ameieatment, electrical shocks, beating, rs iiihe room this time, by their screams ieinjurtured, I could hear a woman being at tem for more than a day the second thgwanted me to hear the suffering of
I was at this private house of torture for 30 days and I never admitted anything. For no apparent reason they decided to move me, perhaps they had caught tired of torturing me. Before moving me, I was forced to sign a piece of paper which stated that I had never had to suffer physical hardship and no harm was done to me. I signed it and received my identification card but not my watch and other personal belongings. I asked for my money which had been in my wallet when 1 was arrested, they thought this was a great joke and said that my money "was a personal contribution to the reconstruction of the country."
I left the house in a very poor physical condition and was very ill indeed, they took me to an army camp where there were about fifty other prisoners. It was there that I had the blindfold off for the first time, I couldn't see for three days and then gradually my sight came back. This camp was used as a recuperation centre —we were fattened up like turkeys. Of course you can't eat when you haven't had food for many days, but the guards forced the food down us and very often we would vomit afterwards. There were no doctors there although they were desperately needed. I was there at the "fattening centre" for 15 days and then I was taken to a jail, I was told that I was being kept a prisoner for security reasons but with no proved charges against me. My wife, who had been frantic with worry about me, was allowed to come and see me. When she first saw me she flung her arms around me and we embraced for about ten minutes while we whispered to each other about what had been happening. She told me that she had been everywhere to look for me, even to the morgue where she had sorted through piles of bodies. She said that when she went to the police-station that they told her she was worrying about nothing and that I had probably run oft' with another woman. She said that an unknown person had rung her and told her where I was and she had come immediately.
I remained in this jail until September when I was released ; before they let me go, the military intelligence told me that I must never disclose any information about what had happened to me or what I had seen. They told me I would be followed everywhere I went and they would kill me or re-arrest me if necessary.
Isolated
¦in Iiras back in the basement and I was time.New prisoners were brought in all thettwere quite a few women there. We ;o ¦viiisper to each other, it was a comfort e. .ilot of prisoners wore given strong lecause after coming back from the room dlucinate and talk for hours. One night ouif firl and raped and tortured her, when almost half-dead. While they were raping
You ask me how I felt when I was released. Really I felt very sad because suddenly I had to face the harsh reality of what was happening to our country. I felt very isolated and very lonely, I missed my comrades in the jail. I didn't want to see or talk to anyone except the immediate family. It was very insecure knowing that anytime I could be arrested again, I worried that if this happened that I wouldn't be able to stand up to the torture. When in jail I felt safe, nothing worse could happen to me, I wasn't frightened of dying. When released I constantly thought of my comrades, hundreds of them, being tortured and denigrated. I was particularly worried about the fate of the women being treated like animals by beasts. I began,to doubt whether we were human if such atrocities were allowed to happen.
I am still findfiig it very difficult to adjust to being free, now and then I even' call my wife "companero", which means male comrade, this is what we called each other in prison.
I am glad that all the family is together and away from Chile but I feel I should be there helping my comrades. Where we went wasn't important, Rumania, Sweden, Britain, they're all the same to us really. I haven't been long in Britain so I can't say anything about what it is like here. I hope to get a job soon when my English is better.
One thing is clear. Due to the treatment the people have gone through at the hands of the military they have lost their fear of death. With this strengthening of belief the mass of the working people in Chile have learnt how to overcome those who rule with violence and hatred.
	
	
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Free the Chilean Sailors
ON August 5th, 1973, more than one hundred Chilean sailors were arrested on charges of conspiracy to mutiny. Their crime was to have spoken out and attempted to warn the Popular Unity Government about the plottings of their Admirals to bring down the government. The Officers of the Navy, traditionally the most reactionary sector of the armed forces, immediately Imprisoned these sailors, and the\ were heavily tortured, in order to ensure cohesion of the armed forces around the coup.
These sailors, who were loyal to the constitutional government of Salvador Allende, therefore rank among the first victims of the Chilean fascists. The workers of Chile recognised this fact and mounted a large solidarity campaign all over the country, each person taking part giving half a day's wages to help support the
sailors" families and pay for their defence.
It is now sixteen months since the coup, and the Chilean Junta is in a more isolated and vulnerable position than at any other time in its brief and bloody history. Today there are himdreds of Chilean sailors undergoing secret trials and tortures. Ten have already been condemned to death, and may even have been executed.
Britain has particular importance in the campaign to free the sailors as the Chilean Navy has strong historical links with this country, which is also the main supplier of Naval equipment to Chile.
An international campaign of solidarity in the case of four Air Force officers, condemned to death in June, and more recently in the case of Carmen Castillo, has proved effective in the saving of lives.
We must now try to save the lives of these sailors by—
?	Pressing for the sending of International observers to the trials,
and by,
*	Writing demanding the sailors' release to:
Generals Secretary of the United Nations;
James Callaghan at the Foreign Office;
Chilean Embassy, 12 Devonshire St., W1.
SUPPORT THE PICKET CALLED TO DRAW ATTENTION TO THE PLIGHT OF THE SAILORS
PICKET THURSDAY, JANUARY 30th, 1975 outside CHILEAN EMBASSY
(underground Gt. Portland Street)
from 12 to 2 p.m.
LSE Chile support week of action
MONDAY, JAN. 27th :
1.00 : Old Theatre.
FILM: "Venceremos Solidarity." Documentary about the Popular Unity Government and the coup.
7.00 : Old Theatre.
PUBLIC MEETING : "The Future Role of Resistance in the Armed Forces."
Speakers : Carmen Castillo, a Chilean docker, Mickey Fenn (NASD), and Mike Gatehouse (Secretary of the National Solidarity Campaign).
TUESDAY, JAN. 28th :
LOO : Old Theatre.
FILM about Victor Jara. the Chilean folk singer, who was murdered in the stadium during the first days of the September Coup : and The World in Action film about Chile. "The Reckoning."
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 29th ;
1.00 : Old Theatre.
Latin-American Film.
THURSDAY, JAN. 301h :
7.00 : Concourse Area.
Chilean Group, Disco, Wine and Food.
FRIDAY, JAN. 31st :
7.00 : Three Tuns Bar. Chilean Di.sco.
Money to be raised for the Chile Human Rights Committee, the Chile Solidarity Campaign and the L.S.E. Chile Support Committee.
Our main concern at the moment is to raise funds to help re'ease the imprisoned Chilean sailors and their families.
Please attend the events organised during the last week in January and give generously in the fund-raising activities.
LSE CHILE SUPPORT COMMITTEE
(Affiliated to the Chile Solidarity Campaign).

BE-WER, Jan. 21st, 1975—Page Eight
need tall,well built, long haired,
with crew cuts
It s some time since we stopped recruiting graduates by eye. About a hundred years, in fact.
Nowadays the Chartered Accountant is a businessman not a totter-upper. He's a financial consultant, not a bookkeeper.
The Chartered Accountant has to be these things because the world of industry and commerce expects-and gets-a whole new rang e of services. He or she has to be very bright, and many-talented. So that's what we look at.	^
We shall be here soon, to interview graduates who want to be accountancy students with a large international firm. Ask at your UAB for details, or write direct to:
Richard Shervington, Price Waterhouse & Co., 3 Frederick's Place, Old Jewry, London EC2R8DB.
United Kingdom
BEAVER. Jan. aist, 1975—Page Nine
China: puzzled?
A reply to John Carneson's
questions ("Beaver", 26th Nov.,
•74).
(1)	Organisation of production.
China is one country which has successfully maintained an effective balance between industry and agriculture and between heavy and light industry. By planning for the proportionate development of all these sectors she has progressively developed a heavy industrial base, has raised the level of food production to roughly twice that of the rise in population and has produced for town and country dwellers alike a wide range of cheap, durable and varied consumer goods.
The most advanced - large plants — steel, petrochemical, machine building etc. — play an important part but so do medium and small factories producing among other things, steel, cement, fertilisers, farm implements, mostly for and adapted to local use. Medium and small factories thus utilise available raw materials and ease the burden on 'the infrastructure and on the State budget.
Ninety per cent of the State budget, which provides support for socialist construction, expanding social services and foreign aid, is derived from industry.
(2)	Party and People. The mass movement generated by the Cultural Revolution struck at those in the Party apparatus whose policy was weakening the advance towards socialism and whose method of work was to make decisions behind closed doors without consulting the people. A main slogan proclaimed, and also sung, during the Cultural Revolution ran: "The core leading our cause forward is the Chinese Communist Party; the fundamental theory guiding our thoughts is Marxism-Leninism".
The tenth Party Congress (August 1973) re-emphasised the importance of supervision of Party members by the masses of workers and peasants and reaffirmed the principle that "the Party com-, mands the gun and not the gun the Party. Chapter three, article seven of the Party Constitution states: "State organs, the People's Liberation Amv and militia . . . must all accept the centralised leadership of the Party."
(3)	The Coinmunes. The communes are the outcome to date of progressive stages, each more socialist than the last, from land reform through co-operatives to what is the most advanced form of rural organisation in the world today. They also represent an important step in socialist development of the rural sector and are one wing of the worker-peasant alliance which Marx and Lenin deemed to be fundamental to socialist advance. The communes operate on the basis of extensive democracy and having a large measure of autonomy within the central plan. This Is in contradistinction to the collective farms in the Soviet Union which are run by managers and technicians appointed from above.
As the unit of local government the communes run industry, social services, the militia, and commerce as well as agriculture: thus progressively closing the gap between town and country which Marx saw as essential to the eventual establishment of a communist society.
(4)	Foreign Policy. China's foreign policy is founded on a Marxist analysis of world contradictions and proletarian internationalism and not on sentimental wishful thinking. The Chinese repeatedly stated (and the Vietnamese as many times acknowledged) that she would provide aid to Vietnam up to the limit of her possibilities, not excluding the pro^ vision of troops should the Vietnamese request them.
The Chinese saw the Chilean situation as arising from a mistaken policy of following the revisionist course dictated by the one superpower and thereby playing into the hands of the counter-revolutionary policy of the other superpower.
Anti-Sovietism. The Chinese regard the Soviet Union as a country where a ruling clique — call it state capitalism if you will — has departed from a socialist policy both in domestic and foreign affau's. Both superpowers, in the Chinese view, are contending for spheres of influence and control and seek to use the Third World countries in these manoeuv-rings.
China's role in the United Nations, as a third world country herself, has had a remarkable, catalytic effect in enabling the third world to stand up and assert its power in the teeth of US and Soviet arrogance and aggression — e.g. the Law of the Sea Conference, UNCTAD etc.
Politics in Command. The
Chinese principle of putting politics in command is in direct line with Lenin's criticism of Trotsky and Bukharin. He said; "Politics must take precedence over economics. To affirm otherwise is to forget the ABC of Marxism". (Vol. 32, p. 83). The mass line "from the masses, to the masses" is a vital component of Marxism-Leninism without which the dictatorship of the proletariat will inevitably degenerate into a rule by apparat-chiki. It was Marx who stated: "Of all the means of production the greatest productive force is the revolutionary class itself." (Poverty of Philosophy). This is what the Chinese have in mind when they call on the people to "Grasp revolution and promote production" and not to put "production" before "revolution".
A member of the ANGLO-CHINESE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE.
Zimbabwe not Rhodesia
THE situation in Zimbabwe has again begun to hit the headlines since the abortive attempt to legitimise the Smith rebels by the last Conservative Government. This attempt was soundly rejected by the African peoples in Zimbabwe. Curiously enough, the glove-hand treatment, verging on sympathy for the Smith rebels in Salisbury, even by the most liberal sections of the British press, contrasts badly with the almost inimical treatment by the same of the African freedom fighters in Zimbabwe.
More importantly, the essential message of the 1972 Pearce Commission verdict on African opinion seems to have been cast aside in the new rush to influence the ultimate solution to the so-called "constitutional problem" in Rhodesia.
At the time the Pearce exercise was taking place, the African leaders were in prison. The Pearce verdict can only vindicate their claim to be the true representatives of the Zimbabwe people.
At that time the African people, with their leaders locked away in jail, made their wishes clear. They demanded immediate Black government and rejected any accommodation or the sharing of power with the White supremacist settler community there. They made it absolutely clear that they accepted the leadership of the imprisoned leaders and rejected that of the paid, so called (in Smith's terms), "traditional chiefs".
Open and active expression of the African desire for freedom was followed by arrests, detentions, intimidation and cold blooded shootings by Smith's militia. Brutalities against unarmed Africans continue today. But despite all this, what the majority of Africans desire in Zimbabwe is more than clear. They want immediate freedom from their white oppressors.
The determination of the African freedom fighters and their leaders to obtain freedom and national independence, for a country that is (superfluous to say!) legitimate^' theirs, must be applauded. Sup-
port for their uncompromising stance must be given.
But the situation in Zimbabwe must not be assessed out of context from its history, as it often invariably is in the press. The African struggle in Zimbabwe is unique in its own way, and a basic understanding of this leads to a greater understanding of the attitude of the freedom fighters in Zimbabwe. The Black people never in the first place consented to foreign domination during the hey-day of colonialism in Africa.
The constitutional problem of Rhodesia belongs to the peoples of Zimbabwe, not to Wilson and Callaghan.
The present generation of African people remembers the protracted guerilla war of resistance waged against the colonial settlers (led by Cecil Rhodes) between 1893-7. The present generation concedes the battle was lost, but not the war. It was a national uprising and its leaders were later hanged in Salisbury.
The colonial settlers were only able to maintain their domination over the African people by sheer brute force. This white power basis has been maintained up to the very present. African peoples have always been and are still, regarded as the primary enemy of white interests. Hence the African peoples' perpetual oppression to maintain those interests.
Britain's role has always been defined by this perpetual struggle between the African and settler commimities in the country. After the first war of resistance, Britain stepped in to stop the wanton brutalisation of Africans by the White settlers. After granting self-government in 1923, Britain's role in the Constitutional arrangement was to seek to protect the few rights the Africans still had from further seizure and confiscation by the White settlers. These rulers, who always found Britain's position a thorn in their flesh, wanted Britain to "get off their backs".
This they finally achieved with the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) in 1965. Britain
mumbled, but did nothing, and totally refused to use force to suppress the Smith rebellion against • the Crown. Instead what we have ' witnessed between 1965 and 1974 are a number of attempts aimed at legalising the Smith regime.
A more sickening attitude today to the Zimbabwe issue, is the at-tempt to shift the blame for the . lack of a solution to problems arising from Smith's assumption of UDI, from the Smith rebels themselves, on to the African leaders. This attitude comes out in all commentary on the situation not only in Rhodesian media but also in the British media. To the African people in Zimbabwe fighting oppression and seeking freedom they have been consistently denied for the last 80 years, this is an injustice and can be described as callous at the least.
There are two outstanding and-distinct situations in Rhodesia which must not be confused. TWS»r., British Government first sought to destroy Ian Smith's rebellion, a position that they have compromised, to one where they are now prepared to legitimise UDI in return for an increase in the voting numbers, education and job rights of the African people. On the other hand the African position is verj' clear. They want their freedom and their national independence.
Britain refused to use force on their behalf to oust UDI. The African people have taken up arms and are waging a legitimate war for national independence. They are trying to destroy Smith and all that his colonial predecessors have stood for — namely the oppression of blacks. It is therefore not a question of detente or accommodation with the fanatical white supremacists in Zimbabwe. It is a question fundamentally of freedom for the people of Zimbabwe.
To that end they cannot conceivably be any compromise. To compensate and supplement her shortcomings towards the people of Zimbabwe, Britain must, as of necessity, support actively, both militarily and politically, the peoples of Zimbabwe.
Gaston's fate!
IT is with sadness that one hears of the fate of Gaston Gnome, following his purge from the "Beaver" Office.
It all happened when T. Venables, that erstwhile dishwasher, arrested Gaston for vicious slanders against the working class. Since then Gaston has last been heard of as having been interred in a concentration camp adjacent to the Main Refectory. His son, who prefers to remain anonymous at this critical stage, is battling for the release of his father. So far he has received a letter which was smuggled out of the camp disguised as a hard-boiled egg (8p, price rising to lOp shortly). In it he was told of the psychiatric treatment his father was receiving because of the social disease of "disliking L.S.E .food".
Apparently, he was stood on his head in a vat of L.S.E. chili con carne (i.e. old mince plus chili powder) which has resulted in him losing the use of his third leg. The bravery of Gaston can only be admired since after this loss he still did not recant.. Thereafter he was continuousl.v whipped with cold spaghetti on the soles of his remaining two feet. A doctor has vouched that these tortures are the
most hideous invention of man since the fall of Adam.
After these foul tortures he was referred to that notorious hard-labour camp known as the "Stalag Seventeen of L.S.E." nicknamed COLDISHES. The "Son of Gaston Gnome" has wi'itten to Alexander Isayevich Solzhenitsyn for help. The latter replied, "Tell daddy to wash his feet in Siberian Salt, and then it won't hurt so much." Leonid Brezhnev refused to comment. He said, and I quote, "No Comment, Tovarich."
Gaston's son Has not been deterred by this, however. He has threatened to continue the brave work his father started. Already he is to be seen quietly circulating a "samizdat-like" sheet propounding the second coming of Christ and an end to foul food in the L.S.E. His disguises are many and it seems people are beginning to refute his existence. Popper has been called in to make the refutation conclusive. This only means that Popper is in the pay of that dreaded organisation," Catering Intolerable Associates", otherwise known as the C.I.A.
We call upon all freedom-loving peoples of the world to unite in their condemnation of the treatment of Gaston Gnome. We call upon you to organise petitions to the U.N., the World Court of justice, the European Commission on Treatment of Gastronomes, and the Hackney Public Library. We must save Gaston. Gaston must be saved,


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BEAVER. Jan. 21st. 19:3—IMgc Ten
Kentucky Ham
WILLIAM BURROUGHS SNR. is already a major force on the literary scene. This has not keemed to affect Burroughs Jnr., who is going to be even bigj^er than his father for his own generation.
"Kentucky Ham" is his second book and follows on from his first, "Speed". In the latter, he recounts his exploits as an addict in the wild and exciting slums of New York. The new book takes up his return to his wealthy home, his bust, detention and cure. All this implies that future books by young Burroughs may not be about drugs; but he is unlikely to lose the following he has built up by epitomising the disenchanted youth of today who have sought in drugs the solace that a natura41y uncomplicated world would have given.
"Speed", understandably written under extreme circumstances, was too far-out for a lot of people to read at the first attempt. But Ilrfntucky Ham has shown a mellowing of
by William Burroughs Jnr Picador 60p
Burroughs" racy style and reads exactly like someone recounting, their exploits to you and you alone. It's brilliant stuff. For those v.'ho have never tried hard drugs this will be an education : an entertaining education.
Throughout the book mention is made of the repressive tactics of the police and penal institutions, especially their intolerance of criminals whose crime they cannot comprehend. Their frightened impatience seems even more extreme to the reader because Burroughs man-,ages to explain very clearly what it is that makes a junkie a junkie.
Part of Burroughs's success at holding your attention is due to the fact that the guy has done some really amazing things (apart from taking all manner of drugs). In th^ new book he visits his father in Morocco, works as a fisherman in the cold wastes of Alaska and survives the programme of "rehabilitation" that the government has devised for drug offenders.
I can't wait for his next book.
J.B.
Voices of Africa, More Voices of Africa
Ed. B. Nolen, Fontana 40p
THESE two volumes, slim as they are, are the best collection,? of African literature in Britain. The Americans have dozens of definitive books on African literature, but none have been imported to this country and with these volumes Fontana have cornered the market.
Considering the importance of these two books, it is a pity that they were put into easily-aged soft covers and have such obviously commercial photographs on the cover. If the true worth of the contents had been recognised these volumes would have i)een bound in gilt leather.
These books cover not only the range of African literature forms but also the range of African moods and philosophies. All of which is clarified by the superb editing of Barbara Nolen who has divided the books into easily understandable sections (African Personality, People of the City, etc.). Almost every well-known African writer is included; but those
whose work is not totally African in content or intent do not appear.
All the attributes of Africans are represented : a commitment to the Noble Savage ideal, an affinity with animals, the importance attached to a woman's fertility, loyalty to the continent and competitiveness with the white man etc. All these have been taken for granted. These collections, however, add new dimensions. Women's Liberation, the class between tribal institutions and modern ideas, clashes with the w'hite race and much, much more.
Although some of the short stories, parables and poems are cameos of their genre, there are some writings that I could not bear to read again. Understandably, as English is only a second language to a few Africans, some of the writing is rough and raw, crude and crushing. But then, these are African attributes too. The very bad inclusions are more than compensated by the very good ones which are, after all, representatives of the most dynamic ethnic literature in the world today.	J.B.
How to remain afloat in four uneasy lessons
TO try and review Professor Gell-ner's book, "Legitimation of Belief in a short paragraph would be to do his work an injustice. Yet the thesis presented is simplicity itself. Basically it argues that those philo-sophical/epistemelogical theories denying the function of "mind" in cognitive processes, i.e., monistic theories, allows for greater cognitive effectiveness since it dispenses with the real problems raised by pluralism.
Pluralism assumes that ". . . the world is many and not one," by arguing that differences between people indicate a multiplicity of cognitive styles. It derogates unifying principles or ideas. Prom this standpoint Professor Gellner then erects a unique monistic edifice that will enable public accountability within a framework of sociology. As he so aptly puts it, "In simpler words, serious thought cannot dispense with sociology."
¦yet if the book presents a forceful criticism of English empiricism, it is weak in dealing with behaviourism. Most of Gellner's arguments against behaviourism are drawn from the works of Noam Chomsky. While accepting these criticisms he somehow feels reluctant to be convinced by the argument of innate structures which Chomsky so desperately tries to substantiate. It is precisely the piDblem of structures that presents Gellner with his biggest headache.
Gellner argues that, "Genuine explanation . . . means subsumption under a structure (or) schema made up of neutral, impersonal elements."' "Without wishing to invoke too much empiricism as the basis upon which such neutrality could be built, and without wishing to invoke too much of an historical element (which, incidentally, is another hallmark of pluralism), Gellner falls back on public accoimta-bility. Yet he has to admit that aspects of the schema are empirical; empirical because the "sovereignty" of verifiability, of explanations, shifts inwards, to man.
Jt is precisely the contention. of behaviourism that this occurs even though it tends to local public accountability within the environment, i.e., as a result of the in-variance of objects and their natures (within limits, of course). To thus extricate himself from this problem between public accountability, personal sovereignty, and crude innatism, Gellner places all his philosophic eggs in the basket of structured but effective knowledge from which we can derive explanations.
Upon what, then, is our know-^ ledge to be based? Gellner proposes what amounts to six of monism and half-a-dozen of pluralism. Pour bits of flotsam can come to our rescue in a sea of chaos. The
much-dreaded empiricism is followed by mechanism (remember Newton?) which demands "... impersonal structured explanations." To temper the insidious influences of the absolutism that derives from empiricism and mechanism, we have to give them a cultural base. Relativism is thus critically accepted.
Finally we have truncated evolutionism. Basically it is an evolutionism which concerns itself with . the specific development of the industrial civilisation to which we are ineluctably wedded . . — i.e., a sociology of the "West.
: ( We thus have a pointille, a picture painted with numerous small spots of two or three pure colours. "Whether the picture they produce is more pleasing, in a cognitive sense, to the individual whose life could(?) wilK?), possibly be(?) governed toy them, will no doubt be the subject of many debates.
For, as Gellner so aptly ends his thesis, "These are the four usable planks of our raft. If there are any others, they have entirely escaped rny. attention." Let us hope, for Gellner's sake, that the daemims of Descarte, like the Loch Ness monster of history, do not upset this most delicate raft.
A book to be recommended as compulsory reading.
A. OPPEL.
A book of nonsense
Merryn Peake-Picador 50p
WHAT an apt title for this slim volume ! Mervyn Peake, ot Titus Groan fame, wrote most of these super poems while he was in the army during the Seconci Worici War. He is also responsible for the line (drawings which accompany his verses, anci his wi(dow, Maeve Gilmore, wrote the introtduction. The book contains two epics, "The Dwarf of Battersea" and "The Adventures of Fodtfruit" as well as many shorter poems. My favourite "O Love I O Death I 0 Ecstasy !" begins :
"0 Love ! O Death I O Ecstasy !
0 rhubarb burning by the sea !
O day of nought—O night of doubt Beneath the moon's marmorial snout Ah pity, pity me !"
Another good one, "Aunts and Uncles," describes a series of amazing metamorphoses to which his relations were subject. For instance :
"When Uncle Jake Became a snake He never found it out ;
And so as no-one mentions it One sees him still about."
A delightful collection. Too much. Nice One, etc. Well worth 50p.	M.U.
British MPs-A self-portrait
ANOTHER contribution from Anthony King to enhance our wealth of political knowledge; but hardly worth the price I'm afraid. Anthony King, Professor of Government at Essex University, took a number of M.P.s to dinner, at the expense of Granada Television, and recorded their discussions. This book was the result of twenty hours of conversation. A self-portrait, in which M.P.s talk freely about their work, especially as regards their relations with their constituencies, their fellow M.P.s and their party whips. "Very interesting too, if one has never touched on the subject, but anyone who has taken Brit. Con. 'O' level can say as much as these M.P.s can.
Anthony King admits that "this portrait of Parliamentary life" is by no means complete. He's right, and considering the length of the book, it's hardly surprising. No-one could do justice to this subject in 120 pages. Even in the areas it covers something seems to be lacking. Perhaps a more lively, even humorous style would make it a little more exciting. Are M.P.s really as boring as this ? I get the impression that if the wine had flowed a little more freely at these dinners a few amusing anecdotes might have been elicited. As it ig. Professor King found it necessary to add (laughter) after any jokes. On page 30 (raucous laughter) follows the word "brothels."
On the whole unless you are a cousin of Anthony King and you want to help him out, you would be wasting £5.95 if you bought this slim, cheaply produced (by Macmillan), uninformative (unless you've never read anything but Beano), boring book. And what's tnore, the revolting shade of green which enraps this book makes me vomit.	M.U.
Hey, Timmins...
HEY, TIMMINS, do we have to review this book man ? Just because Pan have started a "Classics" series and sent us four of the Conrad books in the series, doesn't mean we have to review any of them.
Listen Timmins, everybody has ready Lord Jim. This new edition is obviously aimed at school kids. Anybody who has not read it as part of an 'A' Level course is in a tiny minority; it's the kind of book the nation's educators like to compel the nation's youth to read. It's got danger and disgrace, bravery and male chauvinism, loyalty and stupidity, etc., etc. It's also got some good descriptions of life and outlook around 1900, a few pretty but pathetic philosophical comments and a few meaningless asides on human nature. All wrapped up in flowery, fancy language.
The secondhand narrative form of this book is one of the worst in literary history. But everybody knows that . . . Hey, Timmins, how long did you say this review had to be ?	J.B.
REG Journal's second issue
THE Radical Economics Group" are publishing the second number of their Journal. The first issue was sold out, and they're only printing half as many this
time (as it's hoped to produce a third issue this year as well), so if you want to get a copy, get one quick. There are both general and theoretical articles, on a number of topics. S.S.
BEAVER, .tan, aist, 1975—Page Eleven
Ragtime man
THE popularity of the recent film "The Sting" starring Robert Redford has been responsible, to a great extent, for a revival of interest in "rai^ and "stomp". Particularly, of course, tlie use of an adaptation of "The Entertainer", composed by Joplin in 1902, as the theme music for "The S:;ng', has brought this tuneful composer to the attention of a new generation of young people. As a result, the revival has to some extent developed into a self-generating process.
Amongst those who through research have recently rediscovered the great merits of composers and performers of the calibre of Joplin and Ferdinand Morton are Rudi Blesh and Alan Lomax, whose books, respectively, are, "They All Played Ragtime", (Oak Pubhcations, 1966) and "Mister Jelly Roll", (Cassell & Co.) ax"e a wealth of information. The splendid three record series of Joplin's Piano Rags played by Joshua Rifkin, has made most of Joplin's best Rags available to the enthusiast in convenient form for a modest sum, and has done a great deal, generally, to rekindle enthusiasm for Ragtime music. A word about Joplin's background might be of interest.
Scott Joplin was born in Texarkana, Texas, on 24th November, 1868. By his early teens he had taught himself to play the piano to a sufficiently high standard to enable him to earn a living in Chicago, a highly competitive market for pianists at that time. In 1896 he moved to Sedalia, Missouri, and there, at the age of twenty-eight, he received his first formal musical education. Three years later, having acquired the technical means of expression, he offered his first collection of "Original Rags" to a St. Louis publisher. This commendable collection did not receive the reception Joplin and the publisher had hoped for, and, as a result, the publisher declined to accept later in 1899 "Maple Leaf Rag", Joplin's latest composition. However, a musical instrument dealer in Sedalia, named Joseph Stark, agreed to publish "Maple Leaf".
It was a turning point for both of them, for it became a huge success. Stark expanded his business and moved to St. Louis. Joptin moved to St. Louis soon afterwards, and enjoyed a substantial income from the royalties of "Maple Leaf". He turned his full attention to composing, and in 1902 the celebrated "Entertainer" was published. In 1906, in conjunction with Stark, a folk Ballet was produced, based on "Rag Time Dance". It was a commercial failure which also marked the beginning of a decline in health from which Joplin never recovered. Although he continued to publish popular piano Rags during the following years, the same success eluded his two attempts to compose Operas in 1902 and 1911. The 1911 composition was performed in 1915 at Joplin's expense, and was a complete failure. Shaken by this disaster, and having suffered poor health for more than a decade, he died in 1917, at the early age of forty-nine.
R. WILLIAM MARING (P.G.)
King John
RSC
Aldwych
IF you feel like complaining about the entrails this play leaves lying about, don't complain to the Bard. He's responsible for about 30 to 40 per cent of the words, little of the plot and none of the re'working from "other sources" by John Barton. But then the RSC seem to be fed up with Willy's classics and are indulging their fancies.
I
I will explain. King John is a "very uneven piece of work" and too tempting to leave alone. This gives the RSC elbow room to interpret and be damned. That's why KJ is like a pot pourrie of all the favourite English monarch themes; death, the suffering of the Earth of England, the strain of kingship, the disturbance of war, and the madness versus reality.
It's all rather "B" movie Shakespeare — tries hard but will never succeed. Some of the rhymes are unbelievably crude as it sails along to its, eventually, becalmed ending. But before that, there have been some wonderful moments. Constance
Constance (Shelia Allen)
(Sheila Allen), goes beautifully beserk when she finds out her son has been captured by the English. Phillip the Bastard (Ian McKellen), is a glorioug adventurer of integrity, class acting filling out the character to its proper weight.
The King of France (Clement McCallin), despite needing a new set- of teeth, is osten-taciously regal. Hubert (David Suchet), carries his heart of gold beneath his threatening visage so well that King John (Emrys James), has to resort to a remarkable vocal range in order that he is not engulfed by his own servant. There is no depth of power in the Monarch's part, and that is
the crux of the play's degeneration.
How can we take John's revolutionary stance of defiance against the Pope seriously, especially when its representative looks like Yul Brynner in drag ? How can the second coronation of KJ be of any importance, especially when it is the standard RSC coronation for the use of, as in this play and Richard II ? How can we take Death as a horror, especially when he wanders about looking and speaking like an embarrassed miscreant mincing angel?
How can we get Travesties staged in its place ?
PT
Apeman
Primates by Fred Wiseman. Collegiate Theatre
PRIMATES is a film cum documentary. It takes you into the Yerkes laboratory in America and divulges the methods and manner in which experiments are conducted upon chimpanzees, orang-otangs and gorillas. The chilling aspect of the film is that you see yourself as a fly on the wall observing what goes on. The film thus admirably succeeds in giving the viewer a feeling of anonymity. In many ways it explodes the myth of the importance of these researches. For instance, to find out when man ev^ved into an erect-walking species, two primates are studded with electrodes to examine the effect of electrical discharge on muscular activity. Then there are experiments on the effect of zero gravity. Equipment for these experiments give them an aura of scientific importance. However, after the film one is left with the nagging question whether the researchers have not been overwhelmed by "equipment sophistication" to the extent that every response they monitor has to be given some meaning to give their own lives meaning.
A film well worth seeing if only to be able to tell your tutor that you've seen it all.
A. Oppel
Sonnet to the uncomplicated Pablo Neruda
I'll tell you a secret.
"Who am I ?"
Thus, aloud.
You'll ask: "Who are you ?"
I want to know who you are ;
Ho'W much you earn ;
In what shop you work;
In what mine
What chemist.
A great duty I have.
That is to know,
To' knou' everything;
To know day and night
What your name is.
That is my profession.
To know one life
Is not enough;
To know all the lives
Is unnecessary.
Listen!
We must uproot the gut; We must scrape off well: Since the weft of texture. With its colours,	'
Hides the warp,
I scrape off the colours, I search, to the finish.
For the depth of texture. Thus I find The unity of Man.
In bread I search
For what's beyond the form:
Bread appeals to me; I bite it;
And then
I see the corn.
The early fields of corn.
The spring's green form.
The veins, the water;
Thus, beyond the bread,
I see the earth,
The unity of earth,
water and Man.
Thus I taste everything.
Searching for you
In everything.
I walk; I swim ; I sail —
Till I find you.
Then I ask:
"What's your name,
The street, the number ?"
So that you receive
My letters;
So that I tell you:
Who I am; how much I earn ;
Where I live;
My father, what he's like.
You see how simjde I am.
How simple you are.
In the matter There is no complication ; I work with you;
You live.
You go and come back.
From one direction to another.
It's a simple matter:
You are life;
Transparent you are,
Like water;
And so am I.
That is my duty :
To be transparent.
Every day I educate myself;
Everj' day I comb my hair;
Just as you think,
I think;
And I walk
Just as you walk;
I eat as you also eat.
In my arms is' my love;
In your arms, your lover. And then
When this is proven.
When we are equal,
I write.
I write about your life and mine. About your love and mine; And about your anxieties.
And then.
There we differ:
For I, with my hand on your shoulder,
As old friends,
I tell you in your ears :
Do not feel pain ;
The day has arrived.
Come,
Come with me,
Come,
And all the rest with you,
Who are like you,
All the uncomplicated.
Come,
Do not suffer.
Come with me ;
For even if you don't
Know it, I know it:
I know where we are going;
This is the word :
Do not feel the pain.
For we shall overcome.
We, the uncomplicated.
Shall overcome;
Even if you don't believe it,
Shall overcome.
Tr.—R. Shaikh Al Ard
(Lecturer, Polytechnic of Central London)
BCAVKR, Jan. 21st. 19T5—Page Twelve
£11.25
The price on
your head
THE Students' Union has cut £897 from its grant claim to the School after stringent reappraisals of its needs. The cuts were made during two Finance Committee and one Executive Committee meetings, and approved by the Annual Budget Meeting of Thursday, January 16, and represent a considerable restructuring of the figures that appeared in the last "Beaver".
Central Administration expenditure has risen from £16,260 to £16,430; Welfare expenditure has risen from £4,560 to £5,508; External Affairs has gone from £2J50 to £2,850, whilst Publications has dropped from £5,620 to £4,530, as have Societies from £6,486 to £4,738;
finally Receptions & Hospitality have gone from £1,367 to £1,390, with a new section. General Reserve (£700) being introduced.
The total result of this is a claim of £36,146, which represents a per capita grant of £11.25 (approx.). Last year's grant was £5.40 per capita (£17,391), although the S.U. spent £22,015, a per capita of £6.83.
Union officials are confident that a large proportion of this year's increase, which is pay to staff, will cause no difficulties during negotiations. They will also raise the matter of the £4,000 the School owes the S.U., the balance of £6,500 less £2,500 received, relating to the 1971-1972 dispute.
Bar by-election



JOHN BLUNDELL
BRIAN CUSACK
Once more you have the opjjortu-nity of exercising those drastically under-used faculties — commonly known as democratic rights. Following the resignation of Ms. Solomons, an election will be held on January 27th for the vacant post on the Executive Committee—the lucky winner (?) will be responsible for the Bar.
Nominations closed on Monday, January 13th with a two-man lineup:—
Mr Brian Cusack, trade unionist;
Mr John Blundell, independent (?)
The choice is yours—if you go along with an admission card to the Old Theatre some time on January 27th.
WatermeHon sugerdaddy
The purchase price of the new library, Strand House is only £49,000 short of being met, now that a donation of £106,000 has just been received.
The gift, the fourth largest in the library appeals history, has come from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, New York, and with the £3,780,000 target nearly reached, a new appeal is to be launched to raise funds to convert the warehouse.
New Army
pricing
policy
Following the efforts of Mr Walter Cousins, his M.P. and other people, the Army recently recognised some measure of responsibility for disablement and death of regulars and reservists. For regulars there are increased pensions and allowances and an insurance scheme has been introduced. The situation for reservists is still not bright.
New benefits were announced on December 17th, 1974 by the Defence Minister, though benefit is hardly the word. Disability payments will range from £254 to £509 a year, while widows will receive £382 a y'ear plus £127 a year for each, of up to four dependent children. Thus it would seem that the Army values volurtteer reservists at the grand sum of £254. One wonders what value they would put on the life of someone sensible enough not to volunteer.
New Editor for
MILLENNIUM
MILLENNIUM, L.S.E.'s reputation-making journal of international studies, has a new Editor, Don Liddell, an LLM student who was recently elected by the Editorial Board.
Don expressed satisfaction at the challenge of taking over the Editor's Chair. He said his policy would be to continue the trend of producing a balanced interesting journal. He said that he considered his main problem during the coming year would be spiral-ing printing costs, especially as the journal's printers have recently warned of a 33% increase in costs. But he says he is determined to maintain the journal's expanding circulation and reputation for quality articles.
Although the Editorial Board this year contains students from the Intei-national Relations, History, Law and Economics Departments, he said he would like to see students from other departments taking an interest in the journal. "Millennium has been considered as the preserve of the students of the International Relations Department," he said, "but it's not, it's the journal of the School, and I want to see more students take an active part in its production."
Retiring Editor, Colin Hollis, said of his year as Editor : "One felt that the title 'international journal' really meant something when we received subscriptions from places like the U.S.S.R., New Zealand. and Mauritius as well as the more regular ones from Australia, the U.S.A., Canada and Europe." He said that his main disappointment was the lack of support from L.S.E. staiT. "The International Relations staff have supported us all the way, but the same is not true of other departments although we publish articles from most departments at the School. Except for the International Relations Department; w-e hardly have a stafE subscription to the journal, in fact, we have more subscriptions from staff at some other universities in this country than we do from the staff here. At a time when many people, including some staff, are ready to criticise students, one would think that they would be prepared to support a student venture that has not only shown considerable initiative, but has brought great credit to the L.S.E,"
Every good boy deserves fun
LSE rugby teams crashed into the New Year with difficult fixtures against two fine teams from Brunei University.
Overcoming selection difficulties and post-Christmas blues, both the 1st and 2nd put up fine performances. The 1st XV lost 24—9, due mainly to poor tackling. Colin Hughes produced a hat-trick of penalty goals.
The 2nd XV faced a strong Brunei side, mainly with irregulars from the bar and library.
Much of the credit for holding Brunei to an iS-poin deficit must go to the captain, Fred Tinsley.
Forthcoming attractions: Annual sojourn' piss-up to Bristol, should be good both on and off the field; the annual Rugby Club dinner, believe it or not at the same place as last time, is to be held on Thursday January 23rd. Finally, a warning to malingerers, you won't be able to go on the Brussels trip unless you behave.
4SSCs saga
ANOTHER term of hectic activity is displayed for you below. Two comments to make—will secretaries inform us by January 27th of all meetings on and after February 4th, and, we would like some information from anybody on what they think of their SSCs.
Past meetings	Future meetings -- when students want one
Accountancy Economics Statistics Government
Law Sociology Anthropology Soc. Psychology Soc. Admin.
Students not interested Geography Int. History Int. Relations Language Studies Philosophy
January 15 - being arranged
---within two/three weeks
--provisionally Jan. 27, 1 p.m., L109
----No information collected
----January 21
January 9	being arranged
---January 23
jEinuary 15	February 26
Econ. History	-
February 14 February 11 January 23 or 30 towards middle of term Students not interested?
AA.Sc. sympathy
THE article by M.Sc.(Sociotogy) students calls for a reply which is, though critical, also sympathetic. Though I have never been approached by them I am now, as convener, involved, since these students have now made a public statement of their views and have also approached the Director.
First, I must protest that their comment on the meeting with Professor Martin is unfair- to him. I admit that I was not at that meeting, but I did have a report on it from him which was highly sympathetic to the students. Professor Martin was not, in my view, evasive, either on changing the system of assessment or on making the Methods course optional: he quite rightly stressed that on the first matter we were bound by a University rule which we were not free to change unilaterally, and that on the second matter majority opinion among the teaching staff supported the rule.
P>rofessor Martin was not trying to hide behind these constraints: they were very real. The Department can, if it so agrees, change its mind on the second matter; but doing so would not affect the present group of students. And, although the University could be asked to change its mind on the first matter, the procedure would take- as much as a year and the chances of success would be small.
Turning now to the description of the aims of the M.Sc. course, we must plead guilty for not having revised this. Clearly we are no longer concerned to meet the growing demand for sociology teachers. However, I must emphasise that the
course was not designed for that specific purpose; it was intended to provide students with an opportunity to have a fourth year (or a fifth in the case of some overseas students) in which to follow up some of their special interests in the subject.
So, while we recognise that fewer of our students may go into teaching, we are thereby committed to change the structure and content of the curriculum (which, by the way, has been changed several times during the past ten years), for this is still intended to serve the same purpose of providing for those students who wish to take a higher degree in one year without working on a full research dissertation. This is not to say that either the course as a whole er its individual subjects are without imperfections.
As for the other requests made by the students—those that we can and should meet—such as giving better guidance concerning the structure and orientation of each subject, and the topics to be assessed within it, a letter has been, sent to each course convener to act on these requests to the best of his ability. In fact, I acted on Professor Martin's proposals Ijefore the article appeared and before the students approached the Director.
Fm-thermore, we are arranging another meeting to be attended by all M.Sc.(Soc.) students and several members of the teaching staff, which will, I sincerely hope, be well attended. We all do take this matter very seriously and approach it with great concern.
PERCY S. COHEN, Convener, Sociology Dept.
More jolly goo<J Fellows
AT its meeting of Thursday, Dec. 12th, the Court of Governors, with the concurrence of the Academic Board, elected the following as Honorary Fellows of the L.S.E.:—
Sir Walter Adams, Director of the School from 1967 until his retirement in 1974;
, Mrs Joan Eckstein, president of the Friends of the L.S.E. in the U.S.A.; student 1943-49;
Professor Sir Ronald Edwards, chairman, Beecham Group Ltd.; member British Airways Board; student and member of staff 1935-40;
Dr. Leslie Farrer-Brown, Director of the Nuffield Foundation 1944-64; student 1922-25 and member of staff 1927-28;
Dr Frank S. McFadzean, chairman. Shell Transport & Trading Co. Ltd.; ' student 1936-37;
Professor Tom H. Marshall, Professor Emeritus. University of London since 1962; member of staff 1925-56 (Professor of Social Institu-
tions 1944, Martin White Professor of Sociology 1954); Director of Social Sciences Dept., U.N.E.S.C.O., 1956-60;
Sir Peter Medawar C.H., member, scienttfio staff. Medical Research Council, since 1962 and Director, National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill, 1962-71;
Sir Max Rayne, chairman, London Merchant Securities Limited; Rayne Foundation; chairman. National Theatre Board; governor, Centre for Environmental Studies:
Professor Leo C. Rosten. author and social scientist; student 1934;
Dr. Helen Suzman, Member (Progressive Party) South African Parliament; lecturer in economic history, University of Witwatersrand 1944-52;
Dr. Michael 'Young, director, Institute of Community Studies; chairman, Consumers' Association 1956-65, president since 1965; student 1934-38 and 1951-55.
Printed by Ripley Printers Ltd.. Ripley, Derby. Published by London School of Economics and Political Science, Students' Union, St. Clement's Buildings, Claremarket, London. WC2A 2AE.



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