THE Students' Union came down firmly on the side of militant action this Thursday when the UGM instructed the Executive to organise a 24-hour occupation of College buildings in the coming week, and instructed the General Secretary to co-ordinate this action with strike action by the other Unions at the School. In response to the general attacks on higher education proposed by the Conservative Government, Krish Maharaj, the General Secretary, proposed a boycott of lectures to tie in with the coming week of action mounted by the NUS. However, an angry UGM, meeting on the same day that the Prime Minister launched a White Paper imposing further restrictions on Government expenditure, clearly felt that more drastic action was required. Julian Ingram and Simon Cole tabled an amendment to the Executive motion calling for a 24-hour occupation, urging the General Secretary to co-ordinate strikes by trade unions at the School who are also threatened by the cuts, and ordering the distribution of a "Cuts Briefing" to all academics at LSE. Despite the misgivings of some Executive members, and the strong opposition of the General Secretary, the motion was overwhelmingly adopted by the Union, and the LSE is now preparing for a display of almost forgotten student unrest. The Executive met in emergency session on Thursday night to formulate a plan of action for the coming week. Union officers are to mount a press campaign to attract as much attention as possible to the students' fears for the future. Executive members worked over the weekend in order to prepare a series of posters and pamphlets to keep students informed on the progress of the campaign, and all students are being urged to back the occupation as strongly as possible. As these important developments were taking place in Houghton Street, less than a mile away at the Houses of Parliament Mrs Thatcher, in a Ministerial statement, launched the White Paper outlining the government s proposals for public expenditure in the coming financial year. Tucked away in Paragraph 33 are the innocuous looking statements that "the resources available for home students in higher education will be about the same as in 1979-80" and that "new overseas students or their sponsors will be expected in future to meet the fu.ll cost of their tuition". It must be said that there is nothing new in these statements : they continue the ruthless attack on educational standards which the government seems determined to pursue. Inflation will be at least 17',o at the end of this yee), and if the cash limit remains the same there will be a significant decline in real terms in the universities' resources. The "overnment persists with its policy of educational amputations despite the week of action which has already been called by the NUS. Universities throughout the country will be taking part in a national display of feeling against the cuts. In London, students have organised several events including a demonstration on Monday, a picket of the ILEA at County Hall at 2 pm on Tuesday and a programme of cultural events and a lobby of Parliament on Wednesday. In addition to these and the proposed action at LSE, several polytechnics are in occupation at the time of going to press and other University of London colleges are considering action. ELECTION RESULTS CORRIE WITHDRAW LSO Central Sub-Area Peter Crockford (Lab. club) Sarah Lewthwaite (Liberal) Accommodation Committee Paul Blacknell (Con.) Careers Advisory Committee Stephen Grosvenor (Lib.) Susan Penny (Lib.) David Wylie (Lib.) Welfare of Overseas Students Committee Paul Browning (Lib.) Library Committee Stewart Rayment (Lib.) Will Richardson (Lab. club) Court of Governors Dave Darton (Lab. club) Will Richardson (Lab. club) Christina Archbold (Con.) Richard Shackleton (Ind.) Mark Blackburn (Lib.) S.U. Finance Committee Steve Dawson (Lab. club) David Rutt (Lab. club) Andrew Dryszko (Lib.) Joint Union Representation Committee Richard Shackleton (Ind.) Will Richardson (Lab. club) ULU SRC Kay Forrester (Con.) Chris Birt (Lab. club) Andrew Smith (Lab. club) Gareth Davies (Lab. club) David Rutt (Lab. club) Mark Blackburn (Lib.) Richard Shackleton (Ind.) LSO Conference Delegates : Chris Birt (Lab. club) Ed Jacob (Lab. club) Becky Bryan (Lib.) Sarah Lewthwaite (Lib.) Observer : Steve Gallant (Con.) NUS Conference Delegates : Steve Gallant (Con.) Simon Cole (Lab. club) Ed Jacob (Lab. club) Julian Ingram (Lib.) Observers : Helen Fawcett (Lab.) Unmesh Desai (SWSO) Mark Blackburn (Lib.) Exec. By-election Mark Withers (Lab. club) SUNDAY, 28th October saw upwards of 40,00.0 people congregating in Hyde Park ready to march to Trafalgar Square to a rally called by the TUC against the Corrie Bill. This Bill, already at the Committee stage, \Vill effectively destroy the 1967 Abortion Act, if passed. The demonstration conclusively achieved its aim of highlighting the massive opposition throughout the country to any reduction in provision of abortion facilities for ordinary women. The demonstration got off to an inauspicious start when a squabble broke out between some of the women's groups and TUC organisers over who should lead the march. The women's groups won and moved off at the head of a column which was tightly controlled and often separated by the police. Due to the vast numbers supporting the march, the end of the column took over four hours to reach Trafalgar Square, long after the official rally had finished. Estimated numbers vary XV.KVR-K-V-, •ft " greatly : the TUC says 40,000 ; NAC says it has had a police estimate of 60.000 ; whilst some press reports have quoted as low as 17,000. Speakers at the rally were varied, too, ranging from Len Murray and Jo Richardson to Tory MP Andy Nelson. Strong representation came from the Trade Unions, women's groups, NAC, political parties and student unions. LSE was out in force despite the absence of the Students Union banner, although the an- thropology department produced its own — "Anthropologists Against Corrie." NAC professes itself very pleased with the turnout, although press coverage nationally was more than disappointing and it hopes that it will get equal support for their mass lobby of Parliament. A counter demonstration organised by SPUC attracted a mere 200 people and was kept well away from the main demonstration. NEWSPAPER OF THE LSE 6th NOV. 1979 ISSUE No. 183 PAGE 2 BEAVER SCOLDED SAY YES TO LIFE THE London School of Economics gave only one week's notice to SPUC (the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child) that arrangements made for a seminar to tak® place at the School must be cancelled. It was claimed that the LSS as an academic institution must not foe used as an arena for politica! purposes. The seminar had been booked last June and its purely educational intentions described before the TUC anti-Corrie rally was announced. It was not possible to rehouse disappointed students at such short notice. As an academic institution the LSE has a reputation for allowing free speech, fair representation and debate to a variety of organisations with mainly political objectives. Therefore it can be seen that the cancellation of this educational seminar was totally undemocratic because it deprived many students of the opportunity to present their views on a matter which is not political but moral—the protection of unborn life. The LSE has thus shown that it is fundamentally a censorial organisation whose aim is to erase objectionable matters. The students of this university must surely have the intelligence to decide for themselves after full debate. PATRICIA MOLONEY YOUR LOCAL PUB Apologies to everyone who returned their forms before October 26th as the forms were stolen over the weekend. Please hand all future forms in to S102. Meanwhile, we list below information which has been received on a few pubs :— The Three Crowns, Mile-End Road (from tube turn left and pub is one mile up on the main road). The Two Brewers, Clapham High Street (nearest tube: Clapham Common). STUDENTS UMil©N WELFARE OFFICER DEAR EDITOR.—I would like to take up certain issues from your last issue, including some points which were directly or indirectly aimed against myself, and against the Marxist - Leninist politics of LSM. In particular. I would like to: (ai Disclaim all responsibility for an article published under my name on the subject of overseas students. (to) Protest at the front page promotion of the politics (not to mention the picture) of the noted hypocrite and enemy of the LSE students, Ralf Dahren-dorf. (c) Reply to the intentional distortion and personal attacks contained in two articles by S. Lewthwaite. I am raising these issues because it is my view that a newspaper funded by students should defend their interests, and should not degenerate into a vehicle for discredited politics, or a propaganda brigade for the LSE Administration. Firstly, on the issue of overseas students. This article was originally aimed at explaining why London Student Movement had called for the re-formation of OSAC. and outlining the principles on which it has been formed. However, some eager Beaver decided to paraphrase the Liberal motion -against' the cuts, and insert it in the place of the OSAC motion, and then print the finished concoction under my name! Thus one had the glaring contradiction between OSAC having a fighting programme, yet allegedly based on the "principles" of "opposition to the Government and not the School Administration", "education as a right" etc. In fact, OSAC is not based on these "principles". It is based on defending the day-to-day interests of the overseas students at the LSE, against the fee increases, against their implementation in LSE, against all forms of racist discrimination against this section of the student body (such as quotas, discriminatory rents, reclassification and the loss of the right to a grant etc.). In the OSAC motion, the whole fraud of "subsidy" to overseas students is refuted very simply—if it were true that overseas students are being "subsidised", then how come as the fees have been raised ("removing the subsidy"), there has been no corresponding decrease in the taxation of the British working people, or a corresponding increase in the level of social services available to them? In fact, the whole notion of "subsidy", and the racist logic that goes with it, is used to disguise the fact that all sections of the students and the working people as a whole are suffering the brunt of the Government policy having their living standards cut and experiencing more and more hardship. The only ones who benefit from the increase in overseas students' fees are the rich, who have had their taxes cut, their handouts from the Government increased. So the issue can never be "British taxpayers versus overseas students", but instead the British Government versus the students as a whole. OSAC has a proud tradition of resolute opposition to the efforts by the LSE Administration to im- plement every single increase suggested by the Government. It is as a result of the work of OSAC, guided by these principles, that LSE was forced to concede a hardship fund worth £70,000, after 'a 3-week occupation in February 1977 —a fund which still exists today. Already this year, OSAC is having to fight the School for the most minor concessions, such as making the bursary forms available to all first-year students in hardship. This brings me to the second point. Why is it that the newspaper of the LSE SU devotes its leading article to a sycophantic eulogy of Ralf Dahrendorf? If the events this year, where with the. most reactionary arrogance he has declared that he is the one who is really fighting cuts, so why don't the students shut up and support him; where with bland and barefaced hypocrisy he has said that in public he will oppose the cuts, but in LSE he will implement them—if these examples are not enough, then students can look at his history. Last year he rejected the hunger strikers' demand for disinvestment from South Africa, by claiming that such a step was "political" and would "restrict academic freedom", as if investing there was not political, or "restricting the freedom of the Azanian people. For nine months last year, in public he said that he supported the Economists' Bookshop workers' demand for union recognition, white in private he was advising the Court of Governors against it. Two years earlier, he took students to court, and called in 600 police to break the resistance to fee increases. (Continued on Page Ten) Open your eyes to the challenge of marketing management for 5 days with one of the world's leading marketing companies COMPANY-- Worldwide §ucc®$$ Procter & Gamble is one of the world's most successful manufacturers of fast moving consumer goods and acknowledged leaders in the marketing field. Worldwide sales currently exceed £4,000 million and have doubled every 10 years. The UK Company markets such leading brands as Ariel, Fairy Liquid, Head & Shoulders, Crest. Flash, Daz and Camay. MARKETING MANAGEMENT Challenge-acid Responsibility Marketing Management is at the very heart of the business, since, in a Company like Procter & Gamble, the marketing department leads and controls its direction. For the young manager, that means intellectual and personal challenge, and genuine responsibility. THE COURSE-Challenging and Intensive jet Informal and Eryoyable From December 17-21 we will be entertaining a group of undergraduates in their Final year to an informal but intensive course in Marketing Management at our Head Offices. Full accommodation and all expenses will be paid. During the Course you will actively participate in business projects ranging from Product Development and Consumer Research to Television advertising and Ins tore Promotion. They have been specially designed to be stimulating, intellectually challenging and enjoyable - giving a real 'feel' of Marketing Management. By the end of the week you will have a clear overall picture of Marketing Management in a consumer-orientated Company. So if you are interested in marketing - however vaguely you understand it at the moment - you will enjoy the week and learn a lot. If you are taking finals in 1980 and are interested in joining the Course, please ring Steve Radcliffe, reversing the charges, on Newcastle upon Tyne 857141, or write to him c/o Brand Promotions Division, Procter & Gamble Limited, P.O.Box 1EE, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE99 1EE, as soon as possible. Closing date for applications is November 9th, 1979. Interviews with applicants will be held at the University before the end of term. Oqil a? PAGE 3 OVERSEAS STUDENTS the last fight AS most students should be aware, it has been announced in the press that the government intends to charge overseas students what it regards as an 'economic' fee. This would mean fees of over £2,500 per annum for next year. This figure will obviously stop the majority of overseas students from studying in Britain and as a consequence many courses with a high overseas students intake will be. cut with the sacking of lecturers etc . . . Colleges have been warned that If these figures are not implemented then college grants will be cut to make up the difference in the figures. This form of economic biackmail puts an enormous pressure on college authorities to comply. It is vital to look at the statistics to remind ourselves of the frightening nature of the problem facing us. Coupled with a 31% fee increase this year, the new proposals would mean fees of £2,350 for undergraduates and £3,075 for postgraduates. Overseas students won't be the only ones to be affected by the monstrous attacks of the Tory government. 6% of University places are to be cut down. £200 million has already been chopped off the education budget with more to come on the menu. It is vital that this message gets across to a lot of home students, that the attack on overseas students is just the first step in an attack on students' basic rights and that one can't shy out of the coming battles with the view that "it doesn't concern me so why should T stand up for their rights." One should also appreciate the political reason as to why overseas students are here and why we should fight for them. Our consistent argument throughout should be one based on internationalism. There should be no division of the international student movement on the grounds of colour or nationality. The arguments of the NUS leadership, the so-called Left-Alliance (nothing new, nothing left), wishy-washy social democrats and mealy-mouthed liberals is a chauvinistic one based on economic and cultural grounds. So one hears patronising talk of overseas stud- ents enriching British culture. Such people also point out the foreign exchange which overseas students bring in, outweighing the £100 subsidy on them, and their potential as a future source of export orders. Does one mean to say that if overseas students do not enrich British culture they should not be here? Rubbish! By pandering to such prejudices and liberal, condescending sentiments, the NUS leadership concedes that the state has a right to govern the student movement and the number of overseas students. This only divides and weakens the student body as a whole. What we have got to say is that they have a right to be here, that they don't have to prove their case and that we aren't interested in the so-called economic benefits that they bring to Britain. What we have got to say hard and clear is that education is not a market commodity and talk of an 'economic' fee is bullshit: why should the workers and the poorest sections of society foot the bill for a crisis they did not make? The Tory government has thus made it clear that it intends to follow the racist attacks on overseas students begun under the Lab- our government—and follow them with a vengeance. We have to mobilise to defend the rights of overseas students against racist attacks. The question is how. One cannot rely on the NUS executive to give a lead. The party politicos ¦ see overseas students as a football and as valuable votes at college elections. Such people in the student unions just like their parents in the outside world, can never be depended upon to defend the overseas students. At the last NUS conference, these bureaucrats spent more time debating on ways to cut down on union paperwork than on overseas students. Whatever action did take place this year in defence of overseas students, like the#occu-pations at Sussex and NELP brought a hostile reception from the NUS executive. These leaders, once elected, want to make sure that nothing disrupts their cosy life and will play down militancy. We have seen where negotiations etc. have led us in the past. Our union leadership is too busy preserving its "respectable" image of being good negotiators. We don't need good talkers—we need action now. We cannot afford to sit back and watch the welfare state and the education system dismantled. Our response must not be to try to 'persuade' the government but rather to fight back hard. The student movement today is in a weak and divided state principally because of these negotiators who have sold us out at each and every turn. We just can't afford anymore ¦betrayals and have got to come out with all the weapons we have, no matter how limited they are. What is needed is mass direct action to thwart government plans and that means occupations, pickets, demos, rent strikes, fees strikes etc. The movement is now on the march and this is a fantastic opportunity for us to regain our lost strength. Already this term there have been occupations at North London Poly, Bradford and Imperial plus fees strikes at Manchester, UMIST, Wolverhampton Poly, Salford etc. The NUS leadership has shown how bankrupt it is in terms of ideas and it is up to the rank and file to organise for themselves and fight back. This is literally the last fight for if the government can get through with such savage attacks, any future cuts and fee increases will be a lot easier to implement. We must get the message across in the hardest possible terms, that as far as overseas students are concerned "They are welcome here! No to the racist fees! No to the Quotas!" Unmesh Desai LSE SW50 S0UTHALL & S0WET0 One struggle June 16th, 1976 April 23rd, 1979 TO how many readers of Beaver do these dates have any significance? I suspect very few. However, these two dates will remain imprinted on the minds of the inhabitants of two ghettoes: Southall and Soweto. On June 16th in Soweto, 176 young people were shot dead in the streets by South African police, the first casualty being a 13-year-old boy. In Southall, the British police murdered Blair Peach and inflicted serious injury on over 500 others, including a 19-year-old Asian boy who had to have his testicles removed after receiving a police boot in the groin. These two uprisings have many aspects in common. First, both were expressions of the frustrations of black and Asian people at being continually harassed, cajoled and beaten up by police in the two countries. Secondly, those people were protesting against the racist attitudes and policies of two political parties: the National Front in Britain and the National Party in South Africa, both these parties having their origins in the Nazi movement of the 1930s. The common struggle was against racism and fascism (though some academic anti-fascists would question the fact that the South African state is essentially a fascist state). The schoolchildren of Soweto rose up against years of rascist oppression and were confronted by a hail of bullets (supplied, incidentally, by western arms manufacturers). In Southall, the local population came out to protest against self-confessed Nazis being allowed to hold an election meeting in their community and were confronted by the serried ranks of policemen, police horses, police dogs and helicopters, purporting to defend the right of free speech. Is smashing an eleven-year-old girl in the teeth with a truncheon part of defending a fascist's right to free speech? Should the essential democratic right of free speech be extended to fascists whose professed intention is to overthrow democracy once power has been gained? "Violence won't end racism, argument may" runs the poster, a sentiment generally agreed upon by the three main political parties. This may sound very reasonable. However these learned people do not have to cope with the fact that, in the final analysis, it is the colour of one's skin that matters. Have you recently tried arguing with an NF fist or a police truncheon? Try it—it's an enlightening experience. Try and explain to the parents of a sixteen-year-old Asian boy, who died after being stabbed by a National Front thug that we must argue against racism. I have one answer to all those "liberal" Tories and so-called Socialists who advocate appeasement and label themselves "antifascists"— Fuck off. We don't need you. Raj Chandaria It doesn't happen here? Tell Kevin Gateley, Blair Peach, the Grunwick pickets _____ PAGE 4 U.S. STUDENTS GET HOT JOBS NO matter how hardy or committed to tourism yum are, Washington DC in August is lough—it's a little like the inside of the Palm House at Kew Gardens — and my old friend and travelling companion who lives and wor;ks there calls it a "hot, sticky, polluted swamp." This year, a particularly bad one, the Washington Post claimed in a humorous editorial that its circulation drops to around four hundred every August as hordes of Federal Government employees take flight in search of cooler temperatures and breathable air. Meanwhile, the tourists, anxious to get their money's worth, hurry from one air-conditioned museum to the next, wearing as little as they can but not forgetting to take an umbrella as it's always liable to rain. And those local people without the benefit of air-conditioning, nor an excuse to be in a public building with some, sit outside on the porch in true Southern style and fight off the prevailing languor as best they can. I went to Washington and New York this summer intending to have a restful few weeks visiting friends before entering the academic flurry of LSE, but I soon found myself immersed in the Mardi Gras atmosphere which abounds in some parts of these two cities during the summer months. In Washington, I discovered that as well as a fun evening many young people have a fairly interesting time of it during the day. Job-hungry British LSE graduates, inclined toward social commitment, might look with envy at the multitude of public interest groups now headquartered in Washington and forming what is called the "Public Interest Community" or PIC for short. These provide numerous challenging and worthwhile jobs for clever, committed people—not all of them graduates—and by steadily nibbling away at legislative institutions actually do have an effect on what happens. My friend and host in DC, Hal Candee, works for one such group (incidentally, both he and his woman-friend managed to hold their jobs down during my ^tay) in the capacity of legislative coordinator. The group is the Campaign for Political Rights and is a CIA/FBI "watching" body. Hal has travelled throughout the US speaking to students and other interested people on the latest attempts by that other world renowned Washington community, the United States Intelligence Community, to involve stu- FROM OUR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT ALEX WYNTER dents and teachers in on-cam-pus intelligence gathering activities. I was also introduced to the co-director of another important group, important, at least, in terms of its effect on legislators : Brewster Rhoads of the Coalition for a New Foreign and Military Policy is an experienced observer of the Washington public interest scene, and he had some critical comments on the community of which he is a member. An attempt to draw a parallel between the various public interest groups and the radical movement of the sixties was dismissed by him as, he said, "most individuals in the community lack overall political purpose and are often pessimis- Federal Government dishes out thousands of "internships" and other assorted work-study programmes with the object of getting graduates and final-year students interested in a career with Uncle Sam. I was able to meet — through a friend of a friend, all of whom shall be nameless — a young man, part of whose not uninteresting summer job it was to read and analyse the international "cable traffic" passing through no less important a body than the National Security Council. Admittedly, though, he was a graduate student and he had had to fill out a form or two. The three of us had lunch together in the basement of the Old Executive Office Building, home of the NSC, and then ING IS ILLEGAL"—(ie the practice of asking patrons for identity cards). If you're unlucky enough to be barred in this way, you could always stand outside on the pavement and watch the rollerskaters at work and perhaps also admire the business acumen of the people who run the mobile rollerhire shops. Alternatively you could listen to the cassette players of black kids who pass by on their cycles with them slung around their backs like knapsacks. Both are very entertaining summer pastimes. Lastly, in this disco section of downtown, you could watch the old man who is now a DC institution and appears on local television : he sells balloons of all things with the call, "balloons tic about the prospects for long term political change," although they are largely the same people as were once active in the sixties. He felt that most of the rest of the groups' genesis lies ino increased public awareness of the possibility of high level corruption and misdemeanour since Watergate, the lack of party political or class consciousness which has been traditional in America and the spectacular success of Ralph Nader's "Public Interest Incorporated." The American public seems to respond better to a so-called "issue - specific" group than to a party or movement with an overall platform. To come back to jobs, the British students' already green hue might be augmented by the fact that every summer the went upstairs to see if the Vice-President was available. He wasn't. Not even to Beaver. After the student's stimulating day at work for the sixteenth most powerful man in the world or whatever, he or she will not find DC lacking in things to do when it finally gets a little darker and cooler. There are plenty of very smart discos in town which often make no charge for entry but part you from anything up to two dollars fifty for a small glass of beer. They also have a habit of contravening the—wait for it, this is the US—"DC Code of Human Rights" by barring those wearing blue jeans from their premises. In fact, a brightly coloured handout issued by "Womanalert" informs the bar-going public that "IN DC CARD- for the pretty ladies.. MAKE the ladies happy, balloons for the ladies." Who says government can't be fun ? There are many ingredients in what for me is Washington's unique atmosphere: Georgetown, the five-star metro system which has just opened, work-aholism (even in summer), multifarious politicians and diplomats, marines who seem to do nothing but jog, Ethiopian exiles, Vietnamese exiles, more psychiatrists per head than any other US city, etc. But for the Big City in full bloom, turn northwards to New York. Arrive there, as I did with my friends, at the worst time of the worst day of the worst month, weatherwise. at the absolute worst place : ie the Port Authority Bus Terminal at 5.15 pm on any Friday in August, for the full effect. This is a travel experience not to be missed — like being trapped in a burning ant heap. Having survived this incredible piece of urban horror, which you will because you'll be too amazed at the spectacle of two zillion people all trying to get home at once in 98 degrees of heat and humidity to be frightened by it, I recommend any of New York's excellent Hispanic restaurants. There you can get hot, spicy food which, strangely enough, has the effect of cooling the body down (or perhaps it just goes into melt down and you don't notice the heat any more). Besides, anyone agraphobic enough to brave the Port Authority at rush hour would enjoy the close, quiet atmosphere of a Mexican restaurant and, for an English taste bud, the distinctly outward bound nature of the food. If you travel in the Tropics, you may as well eat tropically. All the superlatives have been used about New York so the only thing worth emphasising here, especially as I've almost run out of space, is that there is no experience, n» type of person, nothing, in fact, that you can think of, good or bad, that you won't find in New York City. And, of course, the part of NYC where you're most likely to find whatever it is you're looking for is around Greenwich Village. Normally thought of as the centre of New York's fashionable drug and homosexual communities, in reality it's got everything, including New York University's Law School — estimated to be the tenth best in the United States. One of my friends is due to commence study there next year and, being a staid Washington type, didn't initially fancy the idea of living in a "Zoo" for three years. But the sight of a young man in mauve cut-downs, dyed green hair and a six-inch length of black plastic tubing through a hole in his ear lobe quelled any feeling that we might still be in the real world and acclimatisation began to set in. Nowadays, it's popular to rave about New York, and de rig-eur if you live there. It's a different story up in the South Bronx, of course. But the interesting thing about the city, if that's the right word, is that it not only contains all extremes of human nature but also every possible extreme of life style. Rather like Beirut, where the Palestinian shanties nestle along the perimeter of the International Airport. For those wishing to flee to and from New York, I suggest, especially if they are students, that they try Laker Skytrain Airport waiting lounges are notoriously condu-sive to study, and you can get a lot of work done in twelve hours, which is the average delay in my experience. Of course, you might be lucky and arrive at the airport to find your plane ready for take off, in which-case you can put away your book and pick up your salt tablets. PAGE 5 BLOOMSBUR Y BLOOMSBURY is a peaceful slow - moving district, jammed in somewhere between the pandemonium of the Euston Road and the chaotic one way system of Holborn. Bloomsbury lacks the pomposity of Bel-gravia while keeping itself aloof from the vulgarity of the West End. It is a little isolated, not a tourist haunt, and is the abode of student hordes. Despite various attempts on it by the University of London's Architects, the area retains much of its character and still exhibits some of the finest examples of 18th and 19th century architecture in London. 1180—Bloomsbury described in Fitzstephen's "Survey of London". He spoke of "Cornfields, pastures, and delightful meadows, intermixed with pleasant streams." 1623—136 houses registered in the "Manor of Blemunds-bury". 1652—First major development, by Lord Southampton, an ambitious, egocentric property tycoon. New tenements built. Pepys writes in 1664, "They are a very great and noble work." 1676—Montague House built 1686. Burns down and is rebuilt. 1753, purchased for Hans Sloane collection, later to become the British Museum. Present building completed in 1852. 1680-1750 — Slow development due to poor drainage. "Biemundsbury Fields, a resort for depraved wretches". By Simon French Forty steps legend — at the northern end of Gower Street there were once meadows upon which a legendary duel was fought by two brothers. Their footsteps were said to be imprinted on the earth forever as a mark of God's anger. 1757—Construction of "New Road". Now known as Euston Road. 1776 — "First stage of the most important aristocratic building ventures of the century." — Development of Bedford Square —today the only intact eighteenth century Square in London. Well worth a quick visit. Bloomsbury grows as the Duke of Bedford tries to impress his friends. St George Bloomsbury workhouse described as, "The greatest sink of mortality in these kingdoms, if not on the face of the earth." Evidence showed that out of 100 babies of under 12 months old only seven survived until the age of four. 1790-1823—Extension of Bloomsbury to east and north. Thomas Cubbitt supervised much of the work. 1838—Euston Station opened. 1860—Gordon Square completed so rounding off planned development of Bloomsbury. BEAVER'S VILLAGE LONDON Some fine Regency Houses built, many still to be seen. Mid 20th Century—Building of Senate House, "A true Architectural Monstrosity". Late 20th Century—Many buildings now protected. Building of the extraordinary, award - winning Brunswick centre. PLACES OF INTEREST 1. British Museum, Great Russell Street. 2. Bloomsbury Square. 3. Bedford Square. 4. Tavistock Square. 5. Brunswick Centre (to east of Russell Square). 6. Lambs Conduit Street (espe- cially The Sun real ale pub!). 7. St George's Church. Hart St. A fine church built between 1720 and 1730. Its portico is one of the finest in London. 8. ULU. Sports and social facilities for Students. 9. Passfield Hall. A fine example of Prehistoric (?) architecture. PASSFIELD—"RESORT OF DEPRAVED WRETCHES" TWO-WHEEL LONDON THIS article is partially plagiarised from a booklet "On your Bike" produced by the "Friends of the Earth" which contains articles, and quiet route maps of the whole of London. 50p from FOE, Lexham Gardens, W8. INSURANCE : If you buy a bike from most London shops you can usually get insurance with it. If you have a bike already, or buy a second-hand one, and want to insure it it can be more difficult. Pearl Assurance, Crusader Insurance, or Harrison Beaumont may be able to help. If all else fails, join the Cyclists' Touring Club and insure through them. Insurance is expensive, so weigh up the chances of loss or accident and the- value of your bike. THEFT: Bikes left outside Halls of Residence or in the South Bank area seem especially prone to break their bonds. There's quite a useful haul made by someone at the beginning of each academic year, largely the insides of Ever-Ready rear lights. Everything will go if it's easily removable. I've lost three locks, one reflector, one bike (twice), two lights, three tyre-levers and a front wheel in the last 12 months. LOCKS: Combination locks are less strong than chains. Cables are very frayable, a doddle with pliers. No chain is thick enough if the guy is determined enough and has a 6 foot bolt cutter up his coat. It is best to put a substantial chain or a one-piece lock, preferably with a barrel lock if you can get it, round the rear wheel, frame and fixed object. Put an extra chain round the front wheel and whatever else you can fit, too. Lastly, it is advisable to make several copies of your keys—it is a real drag trying to break your own lock with your teeth in Trafalgar Square at midnight. EQUIPMENT: Least is best. No speedos, keep your panniers out of your spokes, use your lights at night. Wear a reflector, best of all are the fluorescent sashes worn by motor-cyclists. PLACES TO GO : Euston / Marylebone Road from Paddington to Islington is a beautiful fast route right across town, but duller in the rush-hour. The Hyde Park, Park Lane area is a joy early on Sunday morning. The City is very charming on weekends : the London equivalent of a quiet rural ride. Covent Garden and Soho offer quiet and generally quick short - cuts adross central town. The Mall is a beautiful fast ride, especially great at night. PLACES TO AVOID: Roundabouts are the chief bugbear, I guess. Hyde Park Corner is less startling than it might seem, likewise Marble Arch (except coming down the Edgware Road to Park Lane, when it can be dodgy). Act confidently, give decisive signals. Trafalgar Square is slow-but pretty safe, especially if you use taxis as anti-broadside coverage. Parliament Square can be nasty unless you know exactly which lane you want from the start. Waterloo Bridge roundabout should be fine, though I lost the right knee of my favourite suit there. The York Road, Westminster Bridge one is the only roundabout I have actually found un-negoti-able in the rush-hour, but pretty tame otherwise. Underpasses can be fun but I feel the odds on being crushed against the wall by a truck must eventually turn against one. HAZARDS: I don't think that people in London are any more careless, except perhaps about opening their car doors, than anywhere else. You do need to watch for pedestrians as you whizz down the side of parked cars. One-way streets and red lights are a hazard, obstacles to progress, but breaking the law on them can lead to the alienation of car drivers, injury or death, and scratched paint or broken spokes. Newspaper delivery vans appear to have very poor visibility and tend to Swoop out of alleys straight at cyclists. Being forced off the road is usually just the result of carelessness and temporary blindness on the part of bus and taxi drivers, rarely malicious. TECHNIQUES : Advisable to keep one's brakes on partly during rain, to keep the blocks clear. Don't depend on the legalities of your right of way when it's your bike against a high-squash - factor truck. Lastly, love your bike. A smart bike is a happy bike, and a happy bike is nice to have. PAGE 6 ARTS WAITING FOR CARGO For coloured girls ¦COLOURED GIRLS' at the Royalty Theatre, is essentially a succession of stories told by seven' women characters to each other and the audience in conjunction. Its use of language is extremely stark and it is- very unusual In that it attempts f© deal with the mundane facts of daily life in a completely unex-ploitative way: "who", for example, "wants to eat pussy when you wear a diaphragm?" complains one woman in a tirade against the contraceptive pill. It has very little to do with race and a great deal to do with the real battle in society: between men and women. The author of "Coloured Girls", Ntozake Shange (a black American woman who has taken a Zulu name), has been much criticized for the allegedly divisive effect of her work—for airing private (.black) grievances in public, in other words. And it's certainly true that she makes no allowances for man-toman racism in apparently condemning the treatment of black women by black men. She seems to be stating that a black man's self-esteem, ruined by centuries of racism, is still no more precious than a black woman's: ultimately her work is a refutation of the whole idea of 'macho', black or white. This is an honest stand, and also a brave one, but "Coloured Girls" is not a separatist work by any means: there is no advocation of lesbianism, vide the quote above. And Shange does not leave one in doubt as to where she thinks the final blame for the whole mess lies. The play is very disjointed and has no plot as such, but the acting is so committed and Shange's dramatic technique of having some of the actresses repeatedly tell stories to the others so effective that concentration is effortless. Especially gripping is a scene in which one of the women tells a story of a husband holding his two children out ol a fifth floor window in an attempt to force his ex-wife to return to him. Another, which I thought the best, called "Somebody almost run off with alia my stuff", relates the lost physical integrity of women.: they have to be decorative and cheerful, clean and smooth, whereas men are free to stink if they want. in the background throughout. This focuses attention directly on the dialogue and so it's unfortunate that some of it is highly personal and colloquially American, becoming inaccessible to the British audience. Although Shange would deny it CG is an overtly feminist work. What one reviewer said of Nancy Friday's "My Mother, My Self" applies equally to "Coloured Girls": women will want to see it men ought to. Any man who thinks rape is not a political issue, who refers to women as 'girls', or who thinks that feminism has magcially become part of the left wing repertoire should see it. That takes in just about everyone. Atex Wynter PETER Shaffer has been conspicuously absent from the British theatre scene ever since "Equus" met with wide critical acclaim in 1973, and his return in the form of "AMADEUS" at the National Theatre is not an entirely fruitful one. He has taken the simple and rather hackneyed rumour that Mozart was poisoned by Antonio Salieri, one of his contemporaries and musical rivals in late eighteenth century Vienna who later "admitted" the murder, and transformed it into an elaborate yet rather unstimulating play. As such it falls far short of his best work. Although not totally improbable, the play's format comes over as being rather thin. The writer explores the idea ihat Salieri's life in Vienna is made unlivable with the arrival of the brilliant German prodigy and that the only way he can recover his former popularity is to either murder him or to create an environment where composing proves impossible. Thus he attempts to woo his pretty young wife, rob him of all his pupils and commissions and generally drive him into unbearable as well as physical hardship. As early as 1830 Pushkin had written a short play, on similar lines and Shaffer's three-hour attempt at originality often depends rather too heavily on weak comic relief. playing both the weathered, seventy-five year old "confessor" a few months before his death, and the young but charmless scheming Court composer. Simon Callow, also, is admirable as the eccentric Mozart, exploring well his obsession with lavatory humour and immature parlour games. His self-realisation that he is "the greatest composer living in the world" but is starving to death • from lack of recognition provides perhaps the most moving moment in the entire evening. Indeed the basic plot becomes almost immaterial in this light; it is no longer a question of whether Salieri is guilty of murder (the answer is in fact revealed early on in the second half) but rather an examination of the circumstances surrounding the great composer's death. Clearly Shaffer hardly wishes to confine himself to a "whodunnit'': yet his broad two-character conflicts and strange obsession with minute detail make for a rather muddy picture. There seem to be too many interesting angles and Shaffer attempts to explore them all. Certainly a considerable period of Shaffer's absence (from the theatre) had been spent on research. His work as a music critic in the early sixties ensured that the play accommodates a strict factual content, and during the course of the evening we hear of Mozart's arrival in Vienna, his marriage, the death of his father, the performance of his major works, the death of Joseph IX and so on. At times the attempt to maintain unity means that the events are reported with almost clumsy detail. The use of music, both from Mozart and Salieri. comes as a refreshing break from the drama being used to heighten the comic as well as the haunting text. It's worth pointing out that there are no far-reaching controversial conclusions but all the same I left the theatre having been reasonably entertained. But from Shaffer one expects something more. Simon Garfield ROYAL GOURT SET in New Guinea during the years immediately following ttte second world war, "SERGEANT OLA" tells the story of the seemingly crazy movement known as Cargo-Cultism: A people calling or* theip ancestors to deliver Cargo, the luxury and other items that Wetmen (ok whites) possess. Yet Cargo is at once these goods and something more; a means of finding a national identity, self respect; and as such a cart of the emergent anti-colonial struggle. The plot hangs around the changing attitudes towards wetmen of Sergeant Ola, a New Guinean who has been out fighting with the wetmen against the Japanese. Returning, he is proud to have been the wetmen's number one blackfella friend". He is keen to transform the straggly villages of coastal New Guinea with straight roads and square houses. But a time comes when he senses that in his conversion to wetmen's ways he has lost his sense of identity. He vows to lead his people back to themselves, and is persuaded to join the Cargo movement. Successful in raising support he is imprisoned. Released, Ola returns to the Wetmen's ways and accepts the new role of liberal nationalist foisted onto him by his old friends in Colonial Admin. In this simple story Lan. tells the history of a post-war colony. But Sgt. Ola' is- not a history lesson. Present-day problems are explored as three people's responses to colonialism are viewed. Makis, a mystical cargoleader, can't see the need for an anti-colonial struggle and holds out for all essentially New Guinean. He rejects the use of guns: that has never been the 'blackfella way'. He refuses to face histoiy and retreats into a politically meaningless world of myth and ritual, yet a world that seems to evoke precisely all that colonialisation is destroying. Ola as nationalist and the Cargoist seems to realise the metaphoric and evocative power of Cargo as well as the need to cope practically with the wetman. It is just that he fails to find a way of doing so: each turn he takes lands him once more in the arms of the colonialists. Alone, Ola s assistant Don sees that "what we get we get by working" that Wetmen's Cargo is the product of the blackfella's work. He sees that no-one will pour down Cargo. But in rejecting Cargo for its weakness Don loses what was strong in it; its rootedness in New Guinean Culture. Overwhelmingly I felt Lan's ability to conjure up a world of experience, Ins ability to get into the minds of his people, to explore the expanses yet lealise the limitations of their thought in their time and place. The play is a comedy. The Cargoists farcically imitate European customs in an effort to persuade the ancestors to send cargo. But the humour comes as much from a perception of the ludicrous oualitv of our own ritu-uals as from the bizarreness of the imitations. There are also deeply moving scenes as when Ola finally admits to a young admirer that he fears black-fellas get no cargo because even to their own ancestors they are iust 'black buggers'. Theie are problems. Lan overemphasises the exotic and strange in •Ca-go' He falters when coping, with the link betwen the cult and the daily exploitation of life on the wetmen's plantations: a life that seems to lead Don at least to turn his back on Cargo. Writing at times as though inspired by the rhythms and intonations of Pidgin Lan displays a rare control of language. His prose is simple yet richly textured. His images are clear and vibrant. Ola trying to grapple with his experience as a Wetmen's Blackmail' tells how he's seen a pig caught in a trap chew off its foot just to be free". The oveiall structure of the play works at times like a piece of music or poem. Characteristically Max Stafford-Clark directs with vigour and clarity Though lacking inspiration his production allows the natural rhythms of the play to surface, rarely allowing artifice to intervene between the play and the audience. Sometimes though he does fail to explore the theatrical potential of a scene or seems to falter in the face of some of Lan's more striking images. Poorly cast the actors in the smaller' parts do the production no good: particularly in the opening, introducing an unnecessary exoticism and hysteria. Norman Beaton (of Empire Road) gives a fine and at times beautifully considered performance; balancing and exploring Ola's charisma and charm with his deep sense of inadequacy when faced with wetmen. Here there is a fine actor. Fortunately he is well supported by Bruce Alexander as an almost Lear like old man and Will Knightley giving a calm, intelligent portrayal of a colonial administrator, tired, hassled, bemused and no doubt in easier circumstances rather charming. Simply it is one of the best things on. Go and see it! F,1. S. THE LONDON "Coloured Girls' uses very plain costumes and has no scenery except for a large red flower which hangs The individual acting, however, is magnificent throughout: Paul Sco-field is almost faultless as Salieri. - ___ PAGE 7 FILMS . , FILMS . . FILMS .,. MAN OF MARBLE (Academy, Oxford St.) THREE times since the end of the Second World War, Polish workers have risen against "their" workers' state. In 1956, the Soviet stooge regime of Dienst was replaced by the more nationalist Gomulka after a massive wave of factory occupations. In 1970, Gomulka was overthrown and replaced by Gierek after strikes against price rises. In 1976, the workers of Poland again rose and defeated price rises into a profound and unresolved crisis. The film "Man Of Marble" by Andrzej Wajda (Academy, Oxford Street) could only have been made after 1976 in Poland with the regime weak and on the defensive because it tells Poles about this suppressed history of anti-bureaucratic struggle. The heroine is a young trainee film-maker who is making a film about the life of a stakhonovite "star-worker", Birkut, who became a national figure during the Stalinist period of the early '50s. Birkut was later put in jail and then disappeared from view altogether. In reconstructing the Birkut story we follow through the enthusiasm of the Stalinist period : "If we can build a house in one day, then everyone can have their own place !" The growing isolation of the party from the manipulated, sullen and resentful working class, the disappointment of the 1956 revolution and the all-pervasive cynicism that corrodes Polish society today. The excitement and pain of rediscovering a suppressed past dominates the film. The heroine follows Birkut's trail with a fierce and vibrant tenacity, forcing people to recall their past role in the terrible Stalinist darkness. Some find the memory agony, others are distanced as if it all happened to someone else. Others, like the heroine's father, want the truth to be told. The film's truthfulness does not extend only to the past.. The heroine's film project is grounded by her superiors, obviously for political reasons, and the film ends on the steps at Gdansk where shipworkers were gunned down by police during the riots of 1970. One problem with the film is the various oblique references to Polish history which pass over the heads of the non-Polish audience. But this problem has become less grave for you dear reader having read this review, and this is a film which keeps up its impetus and from which you can learn a lot. Colin Meade At last a true horror film. Not a bucket of pig's offal box-office killer but a genuine attempt to disturb without resorting to stomach turning effects. ERASERHEAD owes an obvious debt to the classic '50s films, a feeling reinforced by the use of black and white throughout. This was probably a financial' rather than artistic decision but Director David Lynch uses it brilliantly—underlit scenes are suddenly swamped with light to heighten the horrific effect. It makes a welcome change from the blatant gore of "Alien". Coupled with this is a soundtrack of continuous disturbing noise. Trains brakes, machines grind and babies squeal. Eraserhead is not a relaxing experience. The story is fairly basic, inadequate boy meets neurotic girl and produce a monster baby. However, John Nance, as Henry the father raises the film above the "child-monster" standard. Henry is a lost, useless, badly dressed oddity whose only interest is keeping worms (honestly). The first we see of him is his returning home as he walks over slag heaps with the concentration of a child avoiding cracks in the pavement. In contrast the baby is an all knowing bandaged muppet who torments Henry's inadequacy. Our sympathies are firmly with Dad. For all its nightmarish qualities (and it is the best evocation of a nightmare I have ever seen) "Eraserhead" has its funny moments. Henry's uncomfortable meeting with Mary's (the mother) ludicrous family (with her father complaining about his legs) and Henry's reaction to the baby—"I think I'm going to have a nosebleed"—are both pathetic and funny. The overriding theme is Henry's sexual inadequacy. His only moment of tenderness is with a prostitute who later mocks him, and the baby is seen as a justified "punishment" for sexual intercourse. He also has, to say the least, an unnatural obsession with umbilical cords and motherhood in general—his oedipal fantasy is a kindly, fat-cheeked woman he believes to live in his radiator. Henry is obviously a suitable case for treatment. Don't be put off by these "weird" bits—"Eraserhead" functions on two levels. It touches on subjects that concern us all at some stage—inadequacy, fear of deformity, sexual guilt, and. yet it is also a brilliantly made horror film with a classic ending. Harrowing, but a must for all horror film fans. Matthew Holmes. Opera LONDON is lucky to have two major opera companies — the Royal Opera usually performing works in the original language with international casts, and the English National Opera performing works in English with largely British casts. Unfortunately many opera followers treat them as virtually exclusive, being fiercely loyal to one or the other. In fact they are complementary: it's always useful to see an opera in English at least once, even if ultimately one prefers it in the original language. While vocal standards at the ENO are generally lower than at Covent Garden, acting standards are often higher. The main point in the ENO's favour is that tickets are much easier to get hold of. For the " less popular performances (often the most interesting operas) good tickets are available to students for £1.90 from £12.00 on the day of the performance. For the more popular performances 104 balcony seats, usually costing £1.20, are available from 10.00 am. At Covent Garden, "on the day" tickets are likely to be restricted to rear amphitheatre (full view of the stage, but rather restricted sound), or the less good upper slips seats (excellent sound, but restricted view). Of the operas on at the Coliseum during November, "Aida" is certainly worth a visit. The spectacular, but simple, gold and black sets are guaranteed to keep you awake during the less gripping moments. The outstanding members of the first cast were John Tomlinson as Ramphis and Neil Howlett as Amonasso; Josephine Bars-tow sang and acted with great conviction as Aida, but she didn't quite have the voice for the climaxes. The second cast which takes over for the November performances includes Mill a Andrew as Aida. At Covent Garden "La Bo-heme" conducted by Carlos Kleibur with Ileana Cotrubas as Mimi is very strongly recommended, but tickets will be in great demand. The Covent Garden season so far has been rather disappointing: the strongly cast "Rosenkavalier" was cancelled because of a pay dispute, and the only opera performed during October was the specially commissioned "Theresa" by John Tavener (not to be confused with John Taver-ner). "Therese" was enjoyable, but it was a failure as an opera, in that what happened on stage served only to hinder appreciation of the music. Fortunately most of the music was good enough to survive the pretentious treatment of the (not very promising in the first place) story of St Therese of Lisieux. The highlights of the opera were the frenzied Stravinsky like orchestral climaxes; the low point was when the dying Therese was surrounded by mysterious masked figures, who emitted dog-like barking noises. James Johnson ERASERHEAD (Times Centa) Dance MANY people who have never seen any ballet think of it as a very specialised art form, very much an acquired taste. In fact I know of few people who have not been converted to ballet after a single performance. Tickets for performances by the Royal Ballet are hard to get, but it's well worth the effort. If you are prepared to commit yourself about two months in advance, book by post. The best buys are the side amphitheatre at £3.50 and upper slips at £2.00. The upper slip seats are rather uncomfortable, but as long as you book early you'll get a fairly comfortable view of the stage. If you want to buy tickets on the day, 65 rear amphitheatre seats, costing £3.00, are always available at 10.00 a.m. Anything the Royal Ballet performs is well worth going to, but for first time visitors I would recommend a full-length ballet by Kenneth MacMillan: postal booking opens on November 10th for January performances of "Mayerling," his sensational ballet based on the double suicide of Prince Rudolph of Austria and his mistress Mary Vet-sera. The story involves sex, drugs and violence, and includes some of the most spectacular choreography ever devised. Double and triple bills programmes of shorter ballets, are also a good idea as they give some indication of the enormous range of ballets that are performed, and tickets are usually easier to get hold of than for lengthier works. Unfortunately the two programmes on during November are less suitable than most. As far as individual dancers are concerned, the overall standard is very high, but of the male dancers Anthony Dowell and Wayne Eagling deserve special mention. Dowell is a brilliant actor and probably the the most stylish male dancer in BEYOND EVIL (Plaza 3) "BEYOND EViL" has come in for some undeservedly lousy criticism. Set in the 1890's against a backdrop of bourgeois socialism versus embryonic Nazism—Neitszche, Paul Ree and beautiful Lou Andreas-Salome, form their libertarian menage-a-trois. If you're after crash course German philosophy forget it. Erland Josephson is lost as the syphillitic professor. No attempt is made to understand his work and Liliana Cavani's portrayal of opium induced insanity is outrageous. Paul Ree (Robert Powell) struggles his way through a metamorphosis from godless philosopher to homosexual physician. The limelight, however, is reserved for the amazing Dominique Sanda as Russian Jewess Lou, hell bent on fighting male dominated convention. Feminist by design and emotional in content "Beyond Evil" is an intellectual non-event. If you're prepared to forgive Cavani for that, sit back and luxuriate in her camera work. Magnificent shots of Venice, Berlin and period interiors can more than compensate for trivial philosophy. Rowena Whelan the world. Eagling is a more flamboyant dancer of amazing strength, outstanding in the big MacMillan parts such as Prince Rudolph. Among the ballerinas Lesley Collier is in a class of her own, a great dancer in her prime; the very beautiful Jennifer Penney is a good second best James Johnson Lesley Collier in the Royal Ballet's "Sleeping Beauty PAGE 8 milHIIIIIIIIllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllillHIIIIIIIIl!!! THE ECOLOGY CLUB, which was only set up this term, is now in full flight with a membership of almost fifty. Nevertheless, we can still use new members and this piece is an Unashamed plug for the club ! Our aims are basically threefold : to discuss and debate the ideas of the ecological movements and their implications for social and political action; to take action ourselves on ecological issues where we feel it is right; and to provide a meeting-place for ecologically-minded people. So far this term we have had one general meeting at which we discussed our programme for this term. Our first event proper was held on Tuesday 30th October, when Jonathan Porritt, chairman of the National Council of the Ecology Party, came to speak on "The Politics of Ecology". At the risk of sounding simplistic, I am not going to try and summarise his speech here, but I will say that most people found it very stimulating. Porritt also proved to be a refreshing speaker in that he was able to talk hopefully—if a little desperately — about the ECO CLUB prospect of the post-industrial society. At the party after his speech, I did hear somebody actually call Porritt a "cheerful optimist"—a label not usually attached to ecologists. The next event of the Ecology Club will be a group discussion to: debate further the issues raised by the emergence into party politics of ecology. Those interested and/or outraged by the policies and philosophy of the Ecology Party are welcome THE HSRF HOWEVER revolutionary a revolutionary is, he still persists in placing himself on to a reactionary scale—namely the left-right spectrum. We all hear it, we all believe it. We are left, far left,, perhap, or. alternatively, we are on the right; not to forget the cronies in the middle who haven't the intelligence to decide which they are. Isn't it obvious that the spectrum is not only a low plane of understanding for those wishing to be involved but a plot by the established classes to rob the people of any true say? In Parliament decisions are taken and then reversed only to be retaken, all because of the left-right bug. This allows the established to remain established; for the present existential being to remain an existenial being unable to comprehend anything beyond the morals of the present. Truth is lost-all are enslaved to the present and what seems at first glance a chance to rebel by becoming a revolutionary only legitimises the pre- REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNIST SOCIETY BUY your books from our weekly stall in St Clements building — Wednesdays from 11.30-14.00. We sell a wide range of Marxist classics, texts on the history of the informational labour movement as well as good novels.-- And what we haven't got in stock we can order for you.