TRENDS: Ideas in action; events as they reflect social tendencies
OAK, LISTON M.
TRENDS: Ideas in action; events as they reflect social tendencies By Liston M. Oak Specter of Hunger Over Belgium BELGIUM imported Marty one-third of its foodatuffe before the War. For MTOral...
...It also is pushing the purge of collaborationists more energetically than did Pierlot, though the extremists complain that it is still too slow...
...And the supply of food for all the liberated nations is already very low...
...the others were turned back toward the east and nothing further has been beard about their fata, • There is a shortage of 4,500,000,000 pounds of meat for 1946, This is a staggering figure, which means malnutrition for millions, starvation for hundreds of thousands...
...Bat Hitler and Himmter are very different They are counter-revolutionary leaders who think of civil war as part of the strategy of modern warfare...
...No government, of course, can tolerate a private army or permit the growth of a dual power...
...Quitting a job became a criminal offenae, and absenteeism was made punishable by "correctional labor" for six months—working on the same job at lower wages under strict discipline...
...the Resistance representation and by incorporating it into the national army...
...Roland Hall Sharp reported In the CKriitian Science Monitor...
...Poland...
...the 7-hour day was abolished and the 46-hour weak was decreed, without any increase in wages...
...working conditions were imposed that labor in western democracies would not tolerate...
...It was conservative, bat with /Socialist participation...
...The present Government seems to have found a compromise by firing...
...but not the already hungry people of Europa snd Asia...
...Soviet authorities are evidently learning that forced labor, working 10 or 12 hours daily, cannot be driven by rigid discipline to increase output Human Affair*, from which this report it taken, concludes that there is a trend toward s "softening" of Soviet war-labor policy...
...But France will not accept a position In such a bloc inferior, to Britain...
...That's the nation that first fought against Germany...
...On Sept...
...By s decree of Dec...
...Admiral King also urges us to keep Pacific bases...
...24, 1944, Pravda directed the managers of factories to give more attention to improving labor and living conditions, and cited a giant metalurgicsl plant when conditions we're particularly bad...
...A far-reaching, liberal social insurance scheme was adopted January 1, affecting 1,300,000, raising old-sgs pensions, covering sickness, disability, unemployment, and family grants...
...s • * * Why Nails Continue Hopeless Finer GuENTER REIMANN, in Th« Propresstes of March 26, argues cogently that Allied strategy plays into the hands of the Nasis, that the unconditional surrender terms are just what Hitler ft Co...
...But "it is entirely possible that Vsrgss no longer commands the support of the armed forees, and so has no choice but to bow oat ss gracefully as possible.'' The Brazilian press remains, however, in complete control of the dictator...
...Hinden-burg and Ludendorff surrendered when they knew Germany was beaten, to save the social structure and industrial capitalism of Germany to prepare for another war...
...In an eleventh-hour effort to win mass rapport, the Fascist regime in northern Italy nationalised industry there...
...denounced this as Fascist propaganda...
...But these Polish Socialists, and others who value democracy, who fought for it—they oppose Communist totalitarianism...
...But the Argentine Fascists are now okay...
...The destruction of the transport system farther complicates a desperate situation...
...Plans for the election in Brazil include an elaborate mechanism of deception and hidden compulsion...
...When they reached Berlichingen, they were surrounded by Red Army motorized units...
...The drafting of all males froas 16 to bb, aad of f "males from 16 to M, for war work, wan completed by decrees on Feb...
...The cost of living in Franc* has risen 300 percent since liberation...
...But this may he temporary...
...That's what Britain said about Gibraltar, and what Russia now says about her sphere of influence...
...There will be no chance of democracy in defeated Germany, the Nazis calculate, according to Reimsnn...
...it is now 130 lei...
...But the basic social problems remain as yet unsolved...
...This was especially true in the factories evacuated to the east from areas invaded by the Naxis...
...Forty of the Polish officers were shot immediately...
...The rate will be about 26 percent of wages, 15 percent to be paid by the employers...
...The aim was to make gestures toward growing democratic demands, while giving Vargas s new.less* of power...
...The code calls for continuation of "private competitive capitalism," which ia "free from unnecessary governmental interference.'' • Official ration* in France equal 1,260 calories daily...
...Elections cannot be held until 600,000 Belgians are returned from Germany, where they are slave laborers...
...Allied strategy is aiding them in accomplishing this...
...As it is, the responsibility of the big nations to use their power wisely in their relations with the small nations, so the latter are equally obligated to conduct their interna) affairs in a way which arouses confidence on the part of the great powers...
...Here is a Latin American imitation of Fascism, compelled by economic and political pressure to subscribe to Chapultepec, and to join the United Nations...
...Fascism in Argentina, in Spain, in Portugal, so long as it doesn't interfere with American imperialism, seams to be approved by the US State Department Argentina represented at the San Francisco Conference—and Poland without representation, or represented by delegates from the Lublin puppet government—that is indeed the ultimate in irony...
...Should Argentina, which has declared war on the Axis, be permitted representation...
...This, he says reassuringly, is not imperialism, but merely a means of defense...
...If in Italy the Allied Control Commission was forced to use the services of Fascists, how much more will they need Nasis in defeated, dismembered, devastated Germany...
...Totalitarianism thrives on chaos, destruction, poverty, enslavement, snd vengeance...
...At in other liberated lands, in addition to hunger Belgium suffers from runaway inflation and a flourishing black market...
...They are just damn reactionaries...
...LarfO quantities of home -frown food, were used up, fist by the Germans and later by the Allied armies...
...IN SUMMARY— • General Patrick J. Hurley, Ambassador to Chungking, said that the USA will continue to try to bring the Koumintang and Communists together, but until the Communist forces are part of China's national army thsy will not receive arms...
...But what about Polsnd...
...That's the nation, that has lost 6,000,000 men in this war "for democracy...
...For MTOral year...
...The problem is less acuta than it was, and that is true of the other liberated countries...
...French officials are faced with a dilemma: they demand reparations from Germany, but realise that the total demands ef all nations upon Germany will be so staggering that Germany will be bankrupt...
...The Communist line is that "the American press isn't free because it is owned by individuals,' and the Russian press is free because it is owned by the state," which is a workers' state, • The Wall Street Journal and the Daily Worker are equally enthusiastic about the code of principles for postwar harmony between capital and labor reached by Eric Johnston, WUliam Green, and Philip Murray...
...26, 1941...
...is not the big powers' ability to intervene in a small country's internal affairs, but the wise use of the power of intervention when a small country's domestic politics seem to endanger peace...
...desire...
...From Editorial, On War'and Politic*, Tk* Ntu> Republic, April 2. • • • SovJef War Labor Policy • One year before Russia was invaded, Soviet labor policy was drastically changed by the decree of June 26, 1940...
...the problem is, should France encourage a revival of German industry so that reparations can he paid...
...The buoyant hopes of the first few weeks after liberation were soon shattered...
...The Allied Military Mission was forced to intervene to impose controls on the black market in coal, through the Government Nationalisation of the mine* is probably the only final solution, and is demanded by the miners and by the Socialists and . Communists...
...They fear social revolution within Germany more than defeat by the foreign foe...
...The recent Conference of European Socialists In London charged that Allied promises of relief for hunger in liberated lands are not being kept...
...The current issue of Fortune predicts sn uphill battle for "the American idea" of freedom of the press...
...As long as appeasement of Stalin remains the policy of Churchill and Roosevelt, Moscow's minions will be kept in leash...
...The Government, headed by Achille van Acker, faces a tough job...
...paat, few suppliea have, reached that country from •broad...
...And the conservatives and reactionaries sought to suppress the Resistance forces completely, whether Communist, Socialist, or Liberal...
...Izveiti...
...He has achieved the difficult task of forming a "government of national unity" with six Catholics, two Communists, four Socialists, four Liberals, and one non-party Minister...
...Americans will still eat as much as in prewar days...
...Argentina It Now Okay What is a Peace-loving nation...
...The DW gives the credit to Re dearly beloved Harry Bridges for pioneering tor class collaboration...
...The Pierlot Government was the target of attacks...
...Often longer hours warn worked without any regular day off...
...They will be needed to suppress revolution...
...Editorials in Soviet papers dealt with the problem of labor fluctuation...
...the penalty for "job desertion" was fixed at imprisonment for five to eight years by a Military Tribunal...
...The price of a kilo of bread in prewar Bucharest was 8 lei...
...The fact that ha la a Socialist whT" remained in the Underground within Belgium throughout the occupation is in his favor...
...A can of evaporated milk (stolen from the U8 Army) coats $4 on the black market...
...Belgium today if cold and hungry...
...The Belgian people generally favor a western Entente, a bloc led by Britain, which ia opposed by the Communists and by Russia...
...Meantime the Regency is the only solution...
...If Germany is destroyed utterly the Nasis hope to make themselves indispensable to the conquerors in preserving order...
...The Vatican newspaper Osssrvatore Roman* charged that Poles are being terrorised worse by the Russians than they had been by the Germans...
...To supply them wouN amount to recognition of the Yenan Communist regime...
...It became obvious that the most severe discipline cannot pSOISnt Workers from changing jobs whan conditions become intolerable and dissatisfaction mounts...
...and because the best wsy to confuse the public about Russian non-freedom is to cast slurs upon American freedom...
...The basic causes are poor planning and polities and greed for profits...
...In Belgium as elsewhere, the agents of Moscow sought to exploit the Resistance movement in an unscrupulous bid for power...
...The Nasis only chance for survival, Raimann thinks, is in creating social chaos and economic ruin in central Europe...
...now 45,000...
...There were 6,700 Polish officers among the prisoners...
...the nutritionsl minimum for health Is 2,400...
...13, 1942, and Sept 19, 1942 The strain of such long hours under bad working a ad living conditions, worsened by the war, began to produce serious and widespread complaints in the summer of 1944...
...Opponent* of a free press, especially the Russians, "will attack and seek to sabotage Kent Cooper's crusade . . . because they want no credit for anything good given to one of the managers of the capitalist-owned press of the United States...
...The adroit Socialist Paul-Henri Spaek is Foreign Minister, and h« will load the delegation to San Francisco...
...An intelligent, humane, just, Allied policy to encourage a free, democratic Germany "is the last thing*that Hitler, Himmler, and Goebbels want" • • • New Republic Okay* Imperialism , The point really at Issue [with regard to Dumbarton Oaks...
...Hurrah...
...The Nasis have fought two wars, first against the German people and then against the world...
...The present regime seeks to pave the way to recovery by drastic social reforms...
...Labor discipline was made mora savers...
...According to information received on March 23 in London via Sweden, the Germans evacuated s prisoner-of-war camp in Woldenberg, Neumark, at the end of January...
...Fascists...
...What is a democratic nation...
...AH workers were frozen to their jobs...
...The price for a pair of shoes was 400 lei...
...The Gorman occupation disrupted bath industrial production aad ftfri* culture...
...Subsequently the Soviet press has published reports of a number of plants where a return to the 8 hour day and a regular day off has resulted in increased productivity and reduced labor turnover...
...It is no help to democracy that starvation is spreading in all liberated countries...
...by the end of the war German productive capacity will have been greatly reduced...
...What nations should be represented at the San Francisco conference...
...The Naxis do not believe that the threst of punishing them as war-criminals will be fulfilled...
...By a decree on June 26, 1941, plant managers were instructed to demand over* time work up to three hours daily (for minors under 16 up to two hours daily...
...it was blamed for the suffering of the people, and the Communist* especislly exploited ' the general discontent...
...Robert E. Sherwood is the latest to urge that th* United States hold on to the islands in the Pacific captured from Japan...
...Thus the 60 to 66-hour week was instituted, without any consultation with the trade unions...
...King Leopold, still a war prisoner, enjoys considerable popularity, and a future election may return him to the throne, despite left-win* opposition...
...The denunciation of the Pierlot regime as Fascist, by commentators echoing the Communists, was wild execration...
Vol. 28 • April 1945 • No. 14
