THE LIBEBAL SOCIALISTS

"We preach and rave about communism, yet it is being planned for us under our very eyes. And a Government, which slanders Labor for Red leanings is falling over backwards, by making us entirely dependent on the public service, to bring about the state of affairs it professedly abhors even if it means keeping some facts from the public eyes in the process. Editorial, The Wimmera Mail-Times July 17.

The caustic comments above were prompted by a further advance of the socialist virus under our professedly free enterprise government. The decision of the government to rent the top nine floors of the Australia Square Building in Sydney and its refusal to disclose the rental to be paid is a choice example of bureaucratic expansion and arrogance combined. That the government is the captive of the bureaucracy is indicated by the bleatings of the treasurer, Mr. McMahon, whom almost simultaneously announced a need for a restriction of government spending.

In domestic policy the bureaucracy manipulating the cabinet is supreme. Backbenchers complain that important bills are now presented to parliament with little or no prior notice. Control of foreign policy must be similarly affected. As bureaucracy is the home of the carefully selected appointee whose politics are never questioned at election time, control is a continuous process irrespective of change of government. Restoration of parliamentary control, accompanied by a restriction and reduction of the bureaucracy is essential if the collectivist mentality is to be challenged in Australian politics.

THE BATTLE FOR AFRICA

Mr. Eric D. Butler reports from South Africa:

"As I passed through Rhodesia on July 1 on my way to South Africa, where I am at present before returning to Rhodesia on July 22, I read the press account of the trial of the African terrorist in Rhodesia who had given himself up to the Rhodesian authorities, telling of how he and other Africans had been taken to Soviet Russia for training in terrorist tactics and Communism. After their training in the Soviet Union, these Africans returned to Africa to prepare further for terrorist activities against Rhodesia. Their base was Zambia.

The convicted terrorist revealed how he and others were instructed on how to murder Europeans and to destroy crops, stock and properties. But when he got to Rhodesia he became frightened when he discovered that the local Africans would not support terrorism, and decided to surrender to the police. A number of other terrorists, Communist-trained, have recently been shot in Rhodesia.
Not only the Soviet Union, but also Red China, is using Zambia as a base from which Rhodesia can be attacked. But with the loyal support of the Rhodesian Africans, the Rhodesian authorities have successfully dealt with all attempts at terrorist infiltration.

"Red Chinese penetration of Africa appears to be now concentrated on the East Congo, Tanzania and Zambia. At a trade fair in Ndola, Zambia, Red China has provided the largest pavilion and a massive propaganda show. This show is being transferred to Lusaka, the Zambian capital. When President Kaunda of Zambia recently visited Red China to see Mao Tse-tung, he was granted a 15 million dollar (Australian) interest-free loan. Red China also still hopes to build the proposed new railway line from Zambia to Tanzania.

"In spite of the necessity for considerable diversification of the Rhodesian economy, it is clear that Rhodesia is holding on well in the economic war. At a time when British oil supplies are threatened by an Arab boycott, it is ironic that Mr. Harold Wilson is still blockading the Portuguese port of Beira, Mozambique. It is reported that Rhodesia is now exporting oil to its African neighbour, Botswana!

While British trade with Rhodesia has declined drastically, the major members of the European Economic Community, which Mr. Wilson is striving to join, have substantially increased their trade with Rhodesia. And America has replaced Rhodesia as the supplier of tobacco for Britain. But Britain has to pay a much higher price, and in valuable dollars, to obtain the American tobacco.

"From Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, comes news of the return of Mr. Arthur Goldreich, the South African architect who was arrested at the time of the famous Rivonia farm raid when South Africa's top Communists were arrested. Goldreich made a dramatic jail break before he could be tried, and eventually turned up in Tanzania. Since then he has been reported to have been living in Israel. Goldreich is in Dar-es- Salaam to build a 200-bed tourist hotel, but it is most unlikely that Mr. Goldreich's activities will be confined to hotel building.

"In South Africa I have learned of considerable Red Chinese influence in the former British protectorate of Basutoland.

"While it is clear that South African security authorities have since the Rivonia case been well on top of the more obvious Communist activities inside South Africa, informed South Africans are concerned with the manifestations of forms of extreme liberalism in many spheres of national life, which the Communists have always regarded as the necessary type of solvent to break down the cohesion of a society.
There is no doubt that a subtle form of psychological warfare is having its effect inside South Africa. Evidence of the success of this type of warfare can be seen in all sections of the press.

"I was much surprised upon arriving in South Africa on this tour to find a general view that Israel had dealt a major blow to Communism in the Middle East. The pro-Israel activities, the most important being nation-wide fund raising campaigns on behalf of Israel, are difficult to understand in a nation which has been consistently attacked by Israel, as has Rhodesia, and which is also consistently smeared in the Zionist press throughout the world.

In a statement broadcast before the South African national news on July 3 I observed that the position in the Middle East had not improved, but had actually deteriorated with the whole Arab world being forced closer to the Soviet Union. If the West wishes to retrieve the position, it must give firm assurances to the anti-Arab Nasser leaders while at the same time insisting that Israel observe the borders defined by the United Nations."

DESTROYING MORALE IN VIETNAM

"'One of these days', said one flier, 'one of us will disregard all the orders and bomb Ho Chi Minh in his own house'. That flier will be drummed out of the services in disgrace, but to us he will be a hero." - The Australian July 15.

In the same report U.S. Air Force leaders again let it be known how badly they felt about their fliers risking their lives daily, in the face of intensive anti-aircraft barrages, to hit insignificant targets in North Vietnam.

In capsule form this is the tragedy of the U.S. war effort in Vietnam. At the last Presidential election, Goldwater, the Republican candidate advocated a policy similar to that of the flier quoted above. He was opposed by the vast resources of the liberal-left press and politicians because he pointed out that defeat was the only alternative to victory, and that victory could never be won at the conference table. The military victor must dictate the terms at the conference table.

Hailed as the new leader of those advocating compromise with the Communists is the Harvard Fabian Socialist and economist, John Kenneth . Galbraith. According to James Reston in The Age July 10 Galbraith could provide the leadership to turn the peace movement into a political movement, (we wonder what Reston thinks it has been up to date!) which could tip the balance against Johnson. Galbraith advocates that the bombing of the North should stop followed by a policy of "active defence" as long as necessary until the enemy agrees to negotiate. Vietnam as he sees it, "is not a centre of great issues of strategy and security, and not a prize for China or the Soviet Union, or 'international communism'.

Mr. Galbraith might explain the anguish of leftists the world over at any sign of the Goldwater policy being carried out.

BOOK OF THE WEEK

REMINISCENCES
by Douglas MacArthur

THE REAL CHOU-EN-LAI

"to me he was simply a wanted murderer...the man Shanghai police wanted for a number of gruesome killings. Our files gave his name as Tsen Ong-lai or Chow Ong-lai, but today the world knows him as Chou-En-lai, Communist China's Prime Minister." - Senior Sgt. Jack (Shanghai) Tilton, in Melbourne Sun July 15.

Sgt. Tilton, now with the Australian Commonwealth Police force, reveals that in the middle thirties while a senior detective with the Shanghai police, Chou-En-lai as then "the political assassination chief for the Communist Party in Shanghai." This may surprise those who know that Chou-En-lai came from a wealthy merchant family and was converted to Communism while studying at a university in Paris. But having embraced Communism with its completely material philosophy that man as only matter and the individual is subservient to the party, we have in Chou-En-lai a perfect example of the results of perversion.

Because he could carry out his role ruthlessly, he was enabled to rise to the top of the power structure. These are the sort of men we are asked to negotiate with in Vietnam, Moscow and Peking, by those advocating appeasement and co-existence.