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ANARCHIST BLACK CROSSVol. IV No. 12 December 1976 15p

A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OUR READERS - PLEASE REMEMBER YOUR COMRADES BEHIND BARS!(cover by Cohnnha l.onginorc. Citrragh Military Prison. Eire)

;i**i if.

THE U N I F O R M NAYBE DIFFERENT BUTTHE FACE ISA L W A Y S THE

SANENEWS OF THE MURRAYS APPEAL: The D u b l i n Supreme Court s. •:> t enced Noel Murrayto life imprisonment and orderod a r e - t r i a l for Marie, to he held in thesame no jury Special Criminal Court, on I he o r i g i n a l charges of Capital

Murder. Continued support and s o l i d a r i t y w i t h the Murrays is v i t a l . TheLondon Murray Defence Group are h.oldin;- a publ ic meeting Friday 14 Jan-

uary (.7pm), Conway Ha 1 I , Red Lion Sq^ Lo' flon WC1 We ur^c^ a l l to attend.

Black Flag Vol. IV No. 12 Dec. '76Printed & Pub. by Black Flag Grp.,Subs. £3.00 per 12 issues (home)Canada, Australia, N. Zealand(air mail) £6.00 (U.S. $3.00Black Flag, Over The Water,Sanday, Orkney, KW17 2BL

CNT APPEAL

The National Committee of the CNT inSpain has issued a world-wide appeal toall comrades and sympathisers asking forcontributions towards re-establishing theconfederal newspaper "CNT." TheC.P., Socialists, Social Democrats etc..all have enormous resources at theirdisposal for the publishing of their ownpapers and the myth-making whichfollows. The CNT however, has nogovernment or "contributions" fromsympathetic companies to fall back on.Its financial support rests entirely withthose mili tants who are prepared tosupport it morally, physically andFINANCIALLY! At this crucialmoment in time they need our helpbadly and it is up to us to ensurethat we nive them what we can - andmore!

Miguel Garcia writes: One of theAnarchist fighters in Spain who becamlegendary in his lifetime as organiser o!the post-war guerri l la resistance inPontevedra. has just died in Vigo(August) . Jose Luis Quintas Figuwas a member of the anarcho-syndicCNT from his youth. Early in 1936,some armed Falangist attacked theworkers in Galicia; the anarchists wereready for them, and in the ensuingbattle Luis Collazo. leader of theGalicia Falange, was killed and Quintaswounded. He was taken to hospital,from which he escaped on the 20th Julyto join the fighters in the civil war. In1939 he continued the fight insideSpain.

Eventually Quintas was capturedand charged with the murder of Collazo;condemned to death but commuted to21 years which he served in the prisonof Santona.

He was buried in the civil cemetery ofPereiro the coffin covered with adefiant flag of the CNT local andfollowed by relatives, friends andmil i tants .

Provisional List of Libertarian Prisonersstill in Spanish Jails.In the Carcel Modelo of Barcelona areEmilio Barbera Guiu, Jorge CananellasRonsell, Fernando Melallino Serrano.Under the October Amnesty, VicenteIglesias Romero has been released.In the prison of Granada are Jose JuanMartinez Ginez, Cristona ValenzuelaMarcos.In Alicante, remains Fernando CarballoBlanco, whose case is one of the worst,25 years in prison and still 18 years toserve, he has surely suffered more thanone can expect of anyone.Cartagena: Jose Luis Pons Llovet is inCartagena.

In the demonstration for the Murraysin Madrid on 2nd October, and in theprotests against the economic measuresof the government, on the 1 2th November,were arrested: -Madrid: Alejandro Nicolas Novaguer,Valentin Antonio Gil Opez, AmadeoSaguar Ortea. (all detained over theCNT Murray demonstrations against theIrish Embassy.)In Malaga: Francisco Tomas Lopez delas Huertas, Aurelio Palma, FranciscoJimenez Ruiz, and in Murcia, tencomrades, not yet named.

They urgently need support. Aprisoners aid committee has been set upin Madrid with which the AnarchistBlack Cross i

SOLIDARITY APPEAL

General Defense Committee (IWW).Local 4, in Agana. Guam, is asking fora steady flow of contributions that willgo to the aid of our imprisoned comradesin the Philippines. Thousands languishin the "detention centres" of the Marcosdictatorship. Their crimes: opposingMarcos and his fascist "New Society."One need only read the daily new papersand weekly news magazines to know thatthe torture of class-war prisoners ispracticed every day. Local 4 hopes toprovide more concrete information inthe future. But for now we need yourhelp!

Make your cheques and money orderspayable to "G.D.C., Local 4," andindicated that they are earmarked for aidto our Filipino fellow workers. Mailthem to G.D.C., P.O. Box 864, Agana,Guam, 96910, USA.

BACK IN THE USSR . . .

The inhuman treatment of thousands ofpeople still continues. Vladimir Bukovsky(33) has now spent one third of his lifein prison, Since 1972 he has been inVladimir prison, noted for its severity.and has contracted a rheumatic heart, aliver complaint and an eye infection asa result of his treatment. He is kept ona minimum diet, despite the objectionsof the prison doctor, and is confinedin an unventilated cell.

Dr. Semyon Gluzman (28) refused apost at a psychiatric hospital wheredissident mathematician Leonoid Plyushch(now released) was detained. He wrotea critique of the official diagnosis, forwhich he was sentenced to 7 years. Whilein prison with Bukovsky, at camp VS389/35 they wrote a Manual onPsychiatry for Dissidents, -for which theauthorities have threatened a new trial.Other dissidents suffering at the handsof Russian psychiatrists at presentinclude Zinovyi Krasivsky and AnatolePonomaryov.

According to Amnesty Internationalthere are 330 prisons and concentrationcamps in the USSR for political prisonersalone. Many of these are Ukrainianssuch as historian Valentyn Moroz,journalist Sviatoslav Karavansky, lawyerLev Lukyanenko. artist StefaniaShabatura and poetess Iryna StasivKalynets, all of whom are serving sentencesranging from eight to fourteen years.Contact: —Committee for Defence of UkrainianPolitical Prisoners in the USSR,49 Linden Gardens, Notting Hill Gate,London W2 4HG.Campaign Against Psychiatric Abuses,c/o Dr. Lawrence Ratna, NapsburyHospital, St. Albans, Herts.

HURRY HURRY! BOOK NOW!The A.B.C. will be organizing theBritish Premiere f two films by theanarchist Pacific Street Film Collect-ive: Martin Sostre and Red Squad.This is a unique opportunity to seetwo excellent anarchist films so ifyou wish ei ther to see it in Londonor arrange to have it shown in yourtown let us know as soon as possible.

P.P. ZAHL Letters of support to:-Rochusstr. 350. 5000 Koln 30, Germany.

ANARCHO-QU1Z

Paschal Grousset (1845-1909). memberof the Paris Commune - afterwards trans-ported to New Caledonia -- escaped toEngland and, after the amnesty, returnedto France as an Independent Socialistdeputy. What newspaper did he edit fromexile which transformed French life,traditional values and even physicalcondition?2. When, in 1843, McNaghten killed SirRobert Peel's secretary, it was alleged he

intended to kill the Prime Minister him-self. Though McNaghton was found tobe not responsible for his actions, whichpolitical tendency was accused of incite-ment?3. When Peel did die. who did QueenVictoria blame at the time at least?4. During the revolution in Paris of1848, the crowds saw "General"Chateaurenard in the Boulevard duTemple, and carried him off t r iumphant lyto the Hotel de Ville, to make himgovernor of Paris. But he was not a

military officer at all. What was he?5. For the first time in the history ofthe Russian Empire, and never repeatedsince, on February 1st 1918 and fornearly a fortnight thereafter, therewere no political prisoners, no Statemassacres, no deportations, no oppresion,no State theft. True or false?6. When it came down to it, whichparty in the USA did Karl Marx support?

(answers on page 15)

TERRORISMFrom the bashing that "terrorism" getsin the press one would think it has super-ceded the nuclear war as the majordanger facing the human race. The wordhas changed its meaning drastically buteven in the current meaning, one wouldhave thought it a lesser evil to war,especially on the levels it can reach thesedays. Yet journalists who are silent aboutnapalm bombings in warfare can workthemselves up, over drinks, to a finedisplay of written invective against"terrorist attacks" — which happen toinvolve fewer casualties than drunkendriving. It is always the retail departmentof murder that is condemned, never thewholesale.

"Terrorism" was a charge first usedagainst the Anarchists when it meantprecisely the opposite of what it doestoday, (like the term "petty bourgeois"when used by the Marxists!) CertainStates used indiscriminate terror againsttheir populations, or part of the population.Against the mass terrorism, anarchists -in Russia, Nihilists and Social Revolution-aries too (not the same thing, despite theill-informed impression to the contrary)— used individual terrorism againstspecified individuals identified with thatmass terrorism.

This infringed the "monopoly" whichevery State likes to take for itself -nobody considers there is anythinguntoward in a man or woman beingexecuted for actual crimes committed,when it is done legally and in the courseof State "jjjstice" (except on grounds ofcompassion and even then they thinkthere should be some alternativepunishment). The attack by theseindividuals at the risk or sacrifice of theirown lives, on murderers who happen tobe in positions of State, and unreachable.some of whose crimes exceeded those ofany possible illegal criminal, createdhorror in the press of the time."Terrorism" as the word's now used isof a totally different nature.

National terrorists oppose one nation

to another. They consider their nationis at war with another nation. It ispurely a matter of which side you're onas to whether the French Resistance iscalled "terrorist" (the Germans called itsuch, the Allies didn't). Precisely thesame reasoning applies to the Irish orthe Arabs. They are indiscriminate intheir attacks because they are nationalist- as long as they "hit the enemy" it doesnot matter to them what their positionin society is. They differ from nationalarmies such as the British. German.Russian, American, only in s tatus. Thedifference is not moral but legal. Theirnations are not legally recognised. Theyare not legal armies. The point of law issometimes obscure, but i t is a lawyer'sdefinition nevertheless.

Anarchist resistance has always beenhighly discriminate. But il is incrediblethat it gets the "bad name" by the pressincredible, if it were not so obviouslydeliberate. The West German Governmentregards its greatest heroes as those gencialswho "saved Germany's name" by oneattack on Hitler. They arc posthumouslygranted legal s tatus but they were at thetime "terrorists." But they were vicious,repressive, in peace and war. and turnedon Hitler because he was losing. TheGerm&lnarchists made'tfuee attackson Hitler, the I t a l i a n anarch is t s four orfive on Mussolini, the Spanish anarch is t sone on Hitler and Franco together andnumerous on Franco. That is why theyare called "terrorists" and even anarchistsdon't say too much about these a t t e m p t sbecause they feel it gives them a badname!

The Spanish Anarchist movementa case history in the misapplication ofthe term "terrorism." Au tomat i ca l ly allwriters reach for the word as avidly as apay packet. From the first it had tofight back against State terror ism whichcame down even against the barestnotion of trade union organisation.They were therefore regarded as terror-ists. Even under the Republic there was

a special armed police to fight theworkers' organisation - and when theworkers fought back it was "terrorism."But when the armed forces of the Staterose up against the Republic itself, thiswas never regarded as terrorism (even byits enemies). For the first time, too.Spanish anarcho-syndicalism was not"terrorist!" the struggle Wd-^was"legal." But because it did not surrenderin ll)3l). but carried on the struggleafter legal recognition was wi thdrawn, itbecame "terrorist" once again. But notimmediate ly . For six years it escapedin terna t iona l ly , though not at home.tha t definition. The rest of the worldwas at war and anti-Fascism in Spain wassomehow respectable . . . not t h a t i t didit any good. Immedia te ly a f t e r !l)45.for carrying on the same struggle in thesame fashion, il was labelled "terrorist"once more!

The mass murders by the S t a t e underGeneral Franco a l t e r the c iv i l war werenever regarded by the world as " terror is t"Only people who made an effort to resistwere t h a i .

It is clear t h a t the de f in i t ion of ater ror is t is. someone ca r ry ing on armedstruggle wi thou t benef i t of a recognisedpower, unless it is po l i t i ca l ly convenientto Jo o therwise .

Nobody can. from a l i b e r t a r i a ns t a n d a r d , defend nationalistic at tacksany more t h a n w a r . By the same s tan-dard , it is a sur render to c o n l o r m i t y asbase ;is support of war. to jo in in thea t t a c k s on "anarchists" as "terrorists."The usual reason is the belief t h a t policerepression follows not only an ac tua lAnarch i s t resistance, but on any"terrorism" of any na tu re , not by anar-chists at all because the press labelsthem as such. I t is a false not ion sinceit suggests t h a t fascists and cap i t a l i s t sare incapable of making a t t a c k s onworking people w i t h o u t jus t cause, t h a tonly "action" by the people provokessuch a t tacks .

'Anarcho Patriots of Black Flag9

Us? Indeed, according to WorldRevolution (no. 8) published by amysterious Uruguayan businessman whofinances several publications in differentlanguages, giving no real addresses, otherthan a post box and unknown to ourcontacts in Montevideo.

Do we wave the Union Jack, toastthe Queen, call for measures to strengthenthe economy? Do we even advocatenationalism? No, his beef is that wereproduced an article attackingnationalism, from Fifth Estate! The

way Fifth Estate published it. it seemedpret ty good. But "World Revolution"says crossly it was originally wri t ten bythem, and "important sections" wereleft out, which would have made it adifferent article altogether. Leninapproved of national struggles in somecircumstances and they can show us hisworks to prove it.

Not having seen the original, wecan't comment. But the "anarcho-patriots" is a curious reference; thewriter, signing himself C.D. Ward,

condemns us as patriots because wesupport the Resistance against Franco.There should have been no resistance:trade unionism (which he thinks isidentical with the CNT) is counter-revolutionary, "terrorism" is "pepybourgeois" (favourite Marxist cant) -imagine, in the present day sense, ofthe word chartered accountants, tcservants, technologists, businessmencarrying out "terrorism!" (Allmembers of "World Revolution"incidentally, come in this category).

(conl. over)

ROON'N'ABOOTWORM IN THE WOOD

The film "The Messenger" lias been re-t i t l ed to avoid offending Moslemsusceptibilit ies lest the old camel driverhimself he thought to be represented byan actor , though "Green Pastures" longsince, though a l t e r a tussle, got away with(.od h imse l f appearing in person. Godhowever, l ike the Pope, has no battalions.

The in teres t ing part about Mohammed(wha teve r the film may say) is hisimplacable hatred of idola t ry . Why9 Atleast , as far lyle pointed out "there was akind of lasting merit" in the idolator'sworship, recognition of a beauty in na ture .lie did not really t h ink the image his ownhands had made was God; but only anemblem of what he thought was God. andthe most vigorous Pur i tan had hisConfession of Fa i th or his represen ta t ionof divine th ings , or we might, add -- hisKoran , or indeed his State - for an idol."All ido la t ry is comparative and theworst Ido la t ry only more ido la t rous . "he observed.

But by the time Mohammed camealong people no longer believed inI d o l a t r y ; they kept i t up w i t h o u t f a i t h ,w i t h o u t bel ief , because i t was the correctth ing to do. I he worm had already gotin to the wood, and it was an abominationto anyone who thought freely. Lutherwas much the same as Mohammednobody in his day believed in the powerof a pr in ted piece of paper to revoke sins- he regarded the Indulgences which werebought and sold in his day as ido la t rousand fiung them in the fire. He got thesympathy of the people around hisprecisely because they had come to theconclusion it was all humbug too and hadnever previously dared not to openlyconform.

Where there is no longer fa i th , and theforms are kept up persistently beyondmeasure, there will be an immense revolt.This is happening again in our t imesthough no "great man" is available to begiven the credit for it (academics have astab: "it all started with the Beatles" . . .Marcuse, they murmur , Ha igh t -Ashbury . . )The immense edifice of humbug b u i l tup c a r e f u l l y over years is c rumbl ing .Nobody believes in the established beliefsany longer yet they are still treated assacred, both in Church and State.

PUNCH UP

The molars not having played up recent ly ,there has been no occasion to visit thedentist — hence this column's belatednotice of Punch for Sept. 3 1475devoted to "The Anarchists" as seen bythe editor William Davis and con t r ibu to rE.S. Turner. A gentlemanly piss-take inthe refined style of "Punch" which ac tua l ly

succeeds in being funny in parts:-If we all live in a state of anarchy,

shall we not be vulnerable to a take-overby Soviet Russia'' Or even Uganda'.'

Not if we create such a state ofaffairs that nobody would want to takeus over. Try to visualise Britain as oneenormous pop festival which has run outof flea powder, or a loose confederationof bitchy communes, with absolutely nogold reserves.

Britain 's real anarchists, says Punch,"meet in pubs and publish undergroundpapers with t i t l e s like Black Flag,Freedom and Heatwave . . . "(Thanksfor the plug, but "underground?" Andat the risk of admitt ing ignorance, what's"Heatwave?") It even has some goodpoints "today student protest has fizzledout ( they are all too busy writing jobapplications) but parents have begun toshow an unexpected taste for revolution ."But how it does its best to present a falsepicture, but no one can be so lacking ina sense of humour as to say so. bybr ing ing in the hippy flower people image.and "people like Paul Foot and EricHeffer and Vanessa" as if they hadsomething to do with it too, and lumpingit as anarchy.

What is anarchy? Tell me that. Aspractised today anarchy is occupyingsomebody else's house, with a commonlaw wife, a colour television set and acouple of Alsatian dogs, and drawingsocial security. Thousands are finding ita rewarding way of life.(Note how he brackets the common lawwife with the TV and the dogs).

1 am sure Mr. Turner knows peoplefrom his social circles who live in the waycar icatured here, but tha t doesn't happento be anarchy nor the anarchists. ArabellaChurchil l in her luxury squat, or thesociety set in their 'communes' weekendhippying it, aren't even a caricature ofanarchists, any more than Foot, Hefferand Vanessa. One doesn't mind a goodpiss-take of anarchism, but let it be of thereal thing. Which he does in parts • -

Would I have to string up bailiffsfrom lamp-posts'' I am not very goodat knots.

All anarchists arc expected to havecertain basic skills.

Good, though still not up to the oldPunch's best, th is was the maga/ ine t h a tcreated the original stock caricature ofthe ana rch i s t wi th the bullfighter ' . , hatand Sandeman's Port cape, in which hehid the smoking bomb but then. Punchisn't what it was. they say in the clubs . .the Sandeman's figure idea was soeffective it lives on in j ou rna l i s t i cimagination (the public has advancedbeyond it) as a serious factual description.

Anarcho Patriots (cont.)There is some confusion in their mindsas to the degree of support the post-warResistance got from abroad. Theanswer : Ni l .

The policy of "World Revolution" isHerman Gorten unconsciously crossedwith Erich von Daniken. They aredoing the usual middle class trick ofpicking up working class ideas and usingthem in an elitist fashion. Adoptingwholesale chunks of "Workers Dread-nought" a fighting anti-parliamentarycommunist paper in its day (but thegroup later, finding itself isolated,turned to whole hearted support ofthe Emperor of Ethiopia, the paperbecoming "New Times & EthiopiaNews) - they adopt the theories ofHerman Gorten: Worke-rs councils arethe sole basis for organisation comprising the whole proletariat at theplace of work which of coursehappened at the time of the GermanRevolution of 1918, times ofrevolution elsewhere, but which doesnot allow for the struggle to proceedduring the times of apathy.

Von Danniken is the man whobelieves that spacemen came to thisplanet to put intelligence into somebeings and having done the job,somewhat inadequately, flew back."World Revolution" ra ther fanciesitself in this role, seeking to "intervene" in working class struggles withwhich it has no connection and noknowledge, but , instead of puttingitself as the vanguard party like theother 57 varieties of trotskyism,regards itself as an intel lectualvanguard t ha t aims at disappearingwhen it has sparked "the workers"off. I t cannot bear to admit thatthere are somewhat more revolutionarytheories about.

Up to date on Conway Hall: At thewidely=advertised (especially byopponents of fascism) meeting of theNational Party on Friday 15th Oct andAGM of the National Front on Saturday

only sixty people turned up for theNP meeting (and thirty observers fromthe NCCL, Conway Hall, pigs etc) tothe smell of amyl nitrate sprayed on thewall; some 400 turned up at the AGMof the Front while at least 400 policebarricaded the Square against some 400demonstrators.

Peter Cadogan who has used hisposition as secretary to allow the use ofthe Hall for fascist demonstrations andwon the right for these two meetings togo ahead by 8-7 on the Committeethen decided, because of an offensiveNF racialist poster at the foyer meeting,to prosecute under the Race RelationsAct. and to ban them for 18 months (whenthey might change their views1') But hishoneymoon with the NP is to go on. inthe name of the 'non-violent Centre

During the visit of King Juan Carlos inParis eleven comrades were taken fromtheir homes and deported, without anyaccusation being made, to the island ofBelle-Ile-en-Mer. All lost wages andsome lost jobs as a result. The pressstated they were 'Basques'; in fact, theywere all libertarians and included JoseMorato, Octavio Alberola, CarlosAndreu, Alicia Mur, Gonzalvo Sanchis,Manuel Ortiz, Jose Ferrandiz, JoseNunez, Juan Busquets, Jose Castro andLucio Urtubia. M. Poniatowski, Ministerof the Interior, in his concern for theroyal ponce, did not mind detainingSanchis, a veteran of the FrenchResistance as well as the Spanish, orBusquets - whom the Spanish Govern-ment has jailed for twenty years already.

The French police are fond of thisindiscriminate type of round-up, used inslightly civilised countries only in timeof war when "enemy" nationals, arerounded up in great swoops like herds

of cattle in Texas. Whenever visitingHeads of State come to France —eventhough they're looked on as criminals bythe average person, sometimes evenregarded as criminals by the State itselfthough judgment is suspended fordiplomatic reasons - the Minister of theInterior, suffering from delusions ofgrandeur in which he thinks that theworld between the Rhine and thePyrenees is his private domain, orders amass arrest of "undesirables".

Excusing the mass arrests in conditionsof appalling neglect, which followed theoutbreak of World War II and was afeature of the "phoney war," one Frenchjournalist said it was "the scum of theearth" that had been interned. (Koestlerhas described what this "scum" consistedin his book of that name: it was thecream of European anti-fascism). In peacetime however the deportations of"undesirables" from Paris whenever somemass murderer has turned up, have been

to Corsica. This has the merit of beinga pleasant island, and if people lost jobsor homes, they at least had a free holiday.Now the Minister of the Interior haschosen a bleak island in the Atlantic. It is,after all, not a rest-cure but a punish-ment. But for what? For opposingtyranny? A crime in liis eyes, no doubt,but the specific crime it was suggestedthey might commit they were not giventhe chance to do.

Will nothing cure the Minister of theInterior of this habit? We can suggestadvertising the fact sufficiently. IfCorsica or Bri t tany found themselvesknown to prospective tourists as theplace where people are sent us a punish-ment, they would soon be put t ing pressureon Paris to stop a practice which existsnowhere else in the Common Market ,and which, they may have noticed, is notpractised in London even when all thecrowned and top-hatted heads of Stateturn up to drive through the streets inopen coaches.

A Workers Defence Committeewhich includes a number of prominentintellectuals has now been establishedin several Polish towns including Warsaw,Milanowek and Poznan. Although theonly published contact addresses arethose of intellectuals who are protectedto some extent by their reputation(people such as writer Andrzejewski,economist Edward Lipinski and historianJacek Kuron) many workers are directlyinvolved.

The WDC has started publishing 'open'bulletins which detail the extent ofgovernment repression following theJune strikes, describes the type ofassistance given by the Committee, andappeals for further aid.

At present the WDC is in touch with144 people who were involved in thedisturbances at the Ursus agriculturalmachinery factory, and is providingregular assistance to 89 families, althoughits resources do not allow it to reach thehoped for level of 50% - 80% lost earningsRumours that 258 Ursus workers havebeen sacked are unconfirmed, but thereare grounds to believe that the figureof dismissals could be as high as 1,000.Over 60 people involved in the Ursusdisturbances have been sentenced toup to 3 months imprisonment and moreare awaiting trial.

Of the 144 dismissals that the WDChas been able to confirm, only 14people have been re-instated. So farmore than 205,000 zlotys have beenpaid out to strikers and their familiesby the Committee, and legal costs

amounting to 134,000 zt. have yet tobe paid (until 1st week October).

At Radom, scene of some of theworst riots, during which at least twopeople were killed while erecting bairi-cades. 114 cases of reprisals have beendiscovered by the WDC. but only 53families are in receipt of periodic aidand there is no regular contact withthe rest. Of those 53 only one personclaims not to have been beaten duringpolice "enquiries."

Seven people have been sent toprison hospitals, and at least 75 peoplehave been sentenced.

44 of the known cases have resultedin prison sentences of more than twoyears. These include:--Zigmund Zabrowski - 10 years prison,10 years loss of civil rights, after prisonto be placed in a "Centre for socialredemption" for an undeterminedperiod.Ryszard Gnidzien — 9 years prison, 7years loss of civil rights, again to beplaced in a "centre for social redemption"Tadeus Mitaz - 8 years prison.Wojciech Mitak (aged 18) - 6 years prison.Stanistaw Gosha — 5 years prison.Henryk Bednarczyk - 4 years prison.

No-one knows what "centres for socialredemption" are; this is the first time theyhave been heard of.

Reports indicate that a concentrationcamp for political prisoners has beenconstructed near Radom, althoughmany of those arrested were transferredto Biatystock prison, 300 Km East ofRadom.

Although the situation at Radom isworse than elsewhere, more people havebeen re-employed, although in differentfactories, or divisions within the factoriesand their earnings are reduced.

Security forces have attempted towreck the work of the WDC both byissuing fake bulletings in its name and byintimidating people into refusing toco-operate with the WDC, as well as byharassing Committee members; theseharassments have included the detent ionof Miroslav Chojeki. in Radom. withouta warrant, subjecting him to aninvestigation lasting throughout thenight. Raiding his Warsaw flat.Arresting and detaining people whohave attended the trials of strikingworkers.

In Poznan, one WDC member wasdetained for organising an illegal collec-tion and in Warsaw, Committee membershave been abducted at night by police,who threatened to kill one personbefore leaving him in a wood some distancefrom the city, and threatening to haveothers dismissed from their work.

The Committee seeks support forits work and an end to the State'sreprisals, and has appealed for assistance.The current situation is probably too"sensitive" to send financial help fromabroad, but medical aids and articlesof clothing should be O.K. Theseshould be sent to:

J. Andrzejewski,WarsawSwierczewskiego 53 m.4.

and if possible sent by recorded delivery.Meanwhile letters demanding the

release of the imprisoned workers and anend to all reprisals can be sent to:- '

The Consulate General of the PolishPeople's Republic,19, Weymouth St., London W.I.(01-5804324).To our knowledge defence committees

have been set up in North America andin France. Freedom reported recently

In one of the more outlandish nieces ofwartime propaganda Alice Duer Miller'spoem 'The White Cliffs of Dover' madequite a sensation for its glowing praiseof lingland wri t ten as if coming from acrit ical American. The comic piece deresistance a l though it wasn't thoughtso then was the par t where she sawpeople queuing in the dri/v.lmg rain topay t h e i r taxes which she t h o u g h t wasthe sublimes! manifestat ion of patriotism.

In r ea l i t y however, nationalism doesn'tt ake such forms. No Englishman enthusesover his wonderful civil service and how.under cons t i tu t iona l government, thet r a i n s run on t ime. No Scotsman regretstha t he cannot be compelled to servehis prison sentence in Barlinnie ratherthan an effete open prison fur thersouth No Welshman feels that he

should fill up his tax forms in Cymric,but one can't be sarcastic, some intellec-tuals have gone so fai as to do that , butone wonders if they intend to declareall their earnings if they can get awaywith it even in Welsh.

National ism is a smokescreen put outby the State. Nobody can worship theState because it is an impersonal thing,a means of exploitat ion, a form ofrepression which may be greater orlesser, but it is always there; it is co:t ra ted disciplinaryloved than the public hangman. Thipubl ic t rad i t iona l ly hated the la t te r sothey were always provided wi th someform ot emotional appeal to which theycould respond. The British have Hoggedthe Monarchy to death to do it whereasthe Americans are c o n t e n t w i t h a tewyards of b u n t i n g and t i c k e t tape as atribal ju-ju; but these things are onlyfigureheads and the emotional charismaof the modern state once the divineright , by conquest, was dead and damned

has been the na t iona l idea.The belief in the State as a count ry .

even as a person, is what has givenStatism an emotion, which is expressed asnationalism. People will give thei r l ivesto the nation when they are notor ious lyre luc tan t to pay a few shillings incustoms duties tgflto&fct*, which isprecisely the same thing. The aristo-cracy were always willing to risk thei rlives for ' the c o u n t r y ' but engaged in taxswindles in case death duties cost theirdescendants too much.'

After I1) 14 the imperia l notion ofpatriotism was as st%ale as last week's beer.It had been pushed too far . Against therising challenge of socialism, the fascistsrevived the idea of the glorification ofnationalism - in Germany, a mystic ideabound up with race. This racialism ofGermany's has come in for plenty ofhammering, but since Stalinism andsocial-democracy have raf^(jp,lge very

notion of socialism stink, the nationalistidea has revived. It has an alternative toclass struggle. Whatever its form, it isreactionary not so much because of whatit is as because it is a parasite aroundthe State, a poison ivy that makes theprison walls of the barrack State lookattractive.

In England, the disillusion with theLabour Party has given birth to oneform of racialism which has made greatstrides in the National Front; in Scotlandthe Scottish National Party exploits thesame feeling. It is noticeable the NationalFront does not make much headway inWales or Scotland where there arecredible nationalistic alternatives tosuch crude racialism as is peddled by the

; but it comes to much the same thing.However, the nationalists in Scotland

and Wales are not necessarily totalitarianany more than state socialism is

necessarily so - it merely creates theatmosphere for totalitarianism if theState needs it by fostering a nationalidentification which overrides class

I r I - r . - iinterests and feelings of liberty.The press is quick to boost nationalist

movements. Note how in Spain, theanarcho-syndicalist CNT is played downand ignored, though it has formed thebulk of the Resistance, but the actionsof a few students, if nationalist, getimmediate coverage. It is a sick jokeamong those who know anything of theResistance in Spain to read in the Pressfor ins tance tha t Salvador Puig Antich.executed by £Hm>fft-i;/ two years ago,was a 'Cata lan nationalist ' simplybecause he was a Catalan. The separatistCatalans before the civil war formed agovernment not as reactionary as thatwhich exists in Spain today, but enoughto find itself in cons'ant guerrilla warfarewith the workers against whom itformed Assault Guards to suppress theCNT unions. Now, when journalistssee banners in Catalan, they assume theyare 'Catalan nationalists.'

The alternative to nationalism is notimperialism. Because one 'nation' rulesanother, one does not have to chooseone or the other. No doubt the averageScottish football fan going down toFusion for a Wembley match resentsEnglish domination, but it isn't expressedby the dossers, English through andthrough, who he sees trying to catch asleep between police harassments.There are as many 'Scots' south of theimaginary line that runs from Berwickon Tweed to the Solway Firth as northof it and no God-given right has conferredthat section of it above to Winnie Ewing.or to Jim Callaghan to pass it over. TheCanadian Cabinet, imagining it ownseverything north of the 49th Parallel andsouth of Alaska, has seen it fit to prevent

me from entering, as did the GermanGovernment recently when I was invitedto speak at an anti-Francoist rallyrecently. The hero of B. Traven's bookThe Death Ship, puts the question andanswers it most succinctly:

"Why passports? Why immigrationrestrictions? Why not let human beingsgo where they wish to go. North Poleor South Pole, Russia or Turkey, theStates or Bolivia? Human beings mustbe kept under control. They cannotThey cannot fly like insects around theworld into which they were born withoutbeing asked. Human beings must bebrought under control, under passports,under finger-printing regulations. Forwhat reason? Only to show the omni-potence of the State and of the holyservant of the State, the bureaucrat.Bureaucracy has come to stay. It hasbeen the great and almighty ruler of theworld. It has come to stay to whiphuman beings into discipline and makethem numbers within the State. Withfoot-printing of babies it has begun; thenext stage will be the branding of regis-tration numbers upon the back, properlyfiled, so that no mistake can be made asto the true nationality of the insect. Awall has made China what she is today.The walls all nations have built up sincethe war for democracy will have thesame effect. Expanding markets andmaking large profits are a religion. It is theoldest religion perhaps, for it has the besttrained priests and it has the mostbeautiful churches; yes, sir." (The DeathShip, Panther Books, first published inGermany 1926.)

The alternative is federalism. A usefulword, which can easily be lifted — as hasbeen the clear expression Workers Controlto adapt to something which it doesn'tmean. But what I mean by federalism isthe unification of communities indepen-dent of the State, as opposed to theunification of peoples within in. Herein the Orkney Islands we have no moreto be gained by rule from Edinburgh asfrom London, or Strasbourg, Paris,New York or Wick. You might as wellallow the Danes to redeem their pledgeand give us back on a lapsed pawnbroker'sticket. People, places and communitieswere in the past swapped around aswedding gifts by rulers, taken or for-gotten, only the acceptance of rule andoppression has determined the traditionof keeping them where they are.

In the federal idea every communitythat naturally formed an independentcommunity would be self-governing;each community would be like the freecities of the Middle Ages, they wouldbe no bigger than was necessary foreach of them to be able to enable allin them to participate in their running.

(cont. p. 7)

t

STOKENEWINGTON 5Vvo

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POLAND (Cont.).that members of the French AnarchistFederation and the Spanish CNT organiseda demonstration outside the PolishEmbassy in Paris in conjunction withother organisations including the LJgueOuvriere Revolutionaire de France et dePologne. Further information regardingthe sending of financial help to the WDCand about ways of increasing the pressureon the Polish authorities will appear inBlack Flag soon.

STOP PRESS:

Hilary Creek (left) and Anna Mendelson(right) were sentenced with JamesGreenfield and John Barker in 1972;Jake Prescott had already been sentenced.They got ten years imprisonment foralleged participation in the activities ofthe Angry Brigade. They are still in jail.But all are persons of good character ,and incidentally were recommendedto leniency by the jury. Had they notbeen political prisoners they wouldcertainly be on parole by now. But theHome Office flatly denies that there isany such thing as a political prisoner inBritain. It wants to have it both ways.It denies the category if there is thequestion of special privilege, whichincidentally is wanted by no politicalprisoner (except Irish republicans andloyalists, who claim the status for obviousnational reasons). But it refuses to movepeople off the "high security" classifica-tion for political considerations, and

parole for these five has been ruled outyear after year both because they areon the high security classification andbecause of possible repercussions frommorons like ex-MP Harold Soref, orbackwoodmen of the type still gracingthe benches of the ("ominous.

Jake Prescott (he has been in thelongest), has never ceased to struggle forwhat he believes, even in jail. During therecent roof top riot in Hull prison , whichwas sparked off by a prisoner beingbeaten up by four warders, a photograph(shown here) of demonstratingprisoners on the roof of Hull jail showsPrescott standing third from left.

Recent "revelations" that a largenumber of prison officers support theNational Front seem to have shocked theliberal-minded. Who do they supposewould have the mental i ty to become aprison officer in the first place'.'

HV h a v < - . j u s tAnna M i - n r t i - l s o n HftjV r .1

!fiMl f r o m phav«> •hru

tHrtr*M>«'X4 i s sue .

THE CURSE OF SCOTLAND (Coal.)Their co-ordination would not dependon ancient treaties or n a t i o n a l affinitie*or the nearest powerful neighbourthey would unite, i n t e r n a t i o n a l l ynot nation by nation, but directly towhatever international combinationappealed to them.

There is no reason why a majorityof votes obtained on a dubiouscommitment should bind people whodetest the policies involved. Thecoercion of the minority by amajority solely obtained throughparliamentary chicanery is seen atits worst and most insoluble in Irelandwhere nobody can devise a systembut federalism where there won'tbe a disaffected minority somewhere

it is only a question of which.The breaking up of Europe into

regional communities loosely federatedmay seem Utopian in view of thepower of the States involved. Butthis is to worship power. In fact, itsuch regions arise they can sap away atthe pillars of power much as thenational idea is doing, but with fargreater potency.

What is the basis of a region asopposed to u nation? Self-interest;self-sufficiency, the clear possibilityof workers' control; the sense ofcommunity; the possibility ofcircumventing rule from above. Thereis no i :al need to bring race or colouror nation into it. One can preservethe folk traditions and progress, onecan only preserve folk-traditions andprogress when one is not subordinatedto a national centre. If, however theS.N.P., has its way. the fo«iennj ofreactionary and backward lookingattitudes will soon prove to be a moreeffective Curse of Scotland than anyplaying card ever wat.

5: POLICE STEALOn the 28th day of the trial of Noel andMarie Murray, the judge sent for them inthe cells. He asked them if they wantedto say anything, pointing out that theycould give evidence, call witnesses, makea statement under oath, or address thecourt. The following dialogue is takenfrom the court transcripts (June 8, 1976)

Noel Murray: "1 feel that since theseproceedings started over six months ago,no attempt has been made at any stageto give us a fair trial. For the first threeweeks we sat here listening while Mr.Stenson's counsel was verbally abusedby Mr.(inaudible) and while you threepeople bent and twisted all your ownrules in ordei to suit the prosecution.You did not attempt at any time evento give the appearance of a fair trial.When Mr. Stenson's case was adjournedyou should have given us a new trial asevidence in regard to Mr. Stenson'scase was prejudicial to us. You refusedto give us that new trial and since thenwe have refused to take any part indefending ourselves on theseproceedings. Now, 1 don't propose toput forward any witnesses but there area few points which 1 would like to makein relation to some of the evidence, orso-called evidence, that the prosecutionCounsel have put forward here now.

How, in this case you have acceptedtwo statements, one of them made bymy wife under duress and one of themalleged to have been made by me butin fact made by two police officers,Inspector Ryan and Detective GuardFinn. At no time did I acknowledgethis statement as my own. Theprosecution have said that or attemptedto show that a large sum of money foundin a suitcase in my home was stolenmoney. They have failed to prove thatit was stolen. It was not stolen. Thismoney in fact is part of the funds ofthe anarchist movement. It was donatedby different individuals and groupsprincipally for the relief of prisoners. Itwas to be distributed through our relieforganisation, the Anarchist Black Cross.Now, I intend to claim back every pennyof this money. It's not stolen moneyand I want it back for the AnarchistBlack Cross.

Now the prosecution have alsoattempted to prove that a .455 calibrepistol found in my home was the weaponwith which Guard Reynolds was killed.Again, they have failed to do this. Itwas not the weapon. According to theevidence in fact Guard Reynolds wasshot by a .45 calibre, not a .455 calibre.The bullet removed from Guard Reynoldsbody could not be identified as having

come from the gun in my home. Thespent cartridge cases found in St. Anne'sPark differed very considerably from aspent cartridge - or from the livecartridge found in my home. The StateAnalyst in his evidence tried to say thatthe differences here were only minimalbut in fact they are very large differences.He has also said that he considers thatthese cartridges found in my house andthe spent cases found in St. Anne's Parkcould have come from the same batch.He did not tell you how many of theseshells would be in one batch. Also theState Analyst has taken certain itemsfound at my home in GrangemoreEstate and instead of making an objtive analysis of these he has, by hisown admission, taken them andendeavoured to establish a connectionbetween those articles found at my homeand articles found in St. Anne's Park andarticles found in Dunlaoghaire. I put itto you that if he had tried to establisha connection between these articlesfound in my home and articles foundseveral miles away and make this hecould have established a connectionthere also.

Now, the prosecution, as I have saidbefore, have tried to establish that moneyfound in the house was stolen. I thinkit has been proved fairly conclusivelyhere that there is no way in which anyof the money which the Bank clerksidentified here could be identified ashaving been stolen or even as comingfrom the Bank at any time close to thetime of the bank robbery. It could havecome up to a year beforehand. It couldhave come after the robbery.

Now throughout these proceedingsthe police officers — many of the police

Iofficers have given evidence under oathwhich was completely fabricated,completely false. I did not attempt tocall witnesses to refute their evidence.I could not have done so under anycircumstances because when you arebeing held and interrogated in a poliistation with possibly several dozenpolice officers present it's not possibleto have anybody there to observe what'sgoing on. If I called one hundred wit-nesses here to give evidence, none ofthem could refute what any of thesepolice officers have said in the abseniof independent witnesses and thesepolice officers have committed perjThey're not going to change theirevidence under any circumstances.They're not going toby telling the truth.

Now, you have not attempted tofacilitate us at all. You would notfacilitate me by allowing me to chan

8

TR?

.even one word in the oath. You wouldnot allow me to substitute the word"tribunal" for the word "court" andI pointed out to you that I consideredthese proceedings not to be a trial and Idon't consider this to be a Court. WhenI don't consider it to be a Court I couldnot conscientiously call it a Court whiletaking the oath. I was prepared toswear that everything I had said inrelation to the statement and commentsalleged to have been made by me andthat everything I said in relation to thesethings was true. You Would not allowme to swear to this. I don't considerthat I have had a fair trial and thereforeI don't propose to call any evidence what-soever. In my defence, if I am given afair trial at ariy stage, I will put forwardevidence and I will have questions forall witnesses.Judge: Does that conclude all you wantto say? Mrs. Murray what's your attitudeto the alternatives which are put beforeyou?Marie Murray: I don't consider this tobe a Court. I don't think I am gettinga trial. There's quite a lot I could say inmy own defence if I were convinced Iwas getting a trial. If I ever do get atrial I shall be prepared to give evidenceunder oath. I shall have witnesses tocall. I shall have most witnesses cross-examined.

As things stand, my position — well,I have already summarised my defenceon the 28 April by pleading not guiltyto the charges but I think since theprosecution have produced so muchevidence I think it's proper that I shouldcomment on this evidence which hasbeen made public. Now, all the evidenceput forward by the prosecution iscircumstantial evidence. The case againstus rests on the interpretation of thisevidence. Several witnesses have beencalled - the staff in St. Anne's Park onthe 11 th. None of these people havegiven descriptions which fit us. Noneof these people have identified eitherof us as having been in the Bank ofIreland in Killester or in St. Anne's Parkon the 11th September. The death ofGuard Reynolds was not witnessed byanyone. Now all the other circumstantialevidence put forward — the gun found inour home can not be indentified as thegun used to shoot Guard Reynolds; thebullet taken from Guard Reynolds; thespent cartridge case, as Noel has said,they cannot be said definitely to havecome from the weapon in our home,which is natural enough because theydidn't come from the weapon found inour home. As for certain other items,the odds and ends that the State Analyst

established these connections betweenthe house in Grangemore, St. Anne'sPark and so on as he said himself heexamined these not with the objectivityof a scientist but with a view to estab-lishing connections. Most of these itemsare common — they are mass produceditems. There are certainly explanationsfor these items. There is an explanationfor everything that has been produced inevidence, but since I am not getting atrial I don't think it's the business ofthis tribunal what my defence is. I don'tpropose to explain anything here.

Now, the only thing — or the onlythings in fact which of all the evidenceput forward by the prosecution all thatconnects us to the Bank raid in Killester,the death of Guard Reynolds, are ourown statements. Now, I still contendthese statements should not have be<admitted because they were taken underduress, in my case mental, in Noel's casephysical. But they were admitted. Butthe circumstances of these statements -^^BmiBfff̂ orl̂ B^B * ifj "S*fflB^Jn ^1*'"- ^

the circumstances they were taken incast grave doubts on the credibility ofthese statements — like Noel's. Noelwas in custody for between eighteen andnineteen hours - or should I say beforehe was alleged to have made a statement.He had spoken to me several hours before.It was common knowledge in HarcoTerrace Station what was containedin my statement. Nothing could beeasier than to write out a statementembodying in broad details what wascontained in mine and this, I am con-vinced is what happened.

reasonable, intelligent person within their head that all these allegationsof brutality etc in police stations —there's some foundation to them. Yettime and time again in this buildingbefore this tribunal and in otherproper courts the Gardai are cleared ofallegations of brutality. Mr. Pringle hassaid we have made very serious allega-tions against the Guards. Well, they'remaking bloody serious allegationsagainst us. The only difference is whatwe say is in fact true. Now, quite anumber of these Gardai, they don'teven have basic manners. Just briefly

the fact, if I named people it would befurther evidence that I was involved inthe bank raid. In Harcourt Terrace,they still - they kept questioning me.Inspector Ryan and other Guards whohaven't been called as witnesses. Theynamed several people to me - friends,acquaintances, relatives. They suggested,Inspector Ryan in particular, that thereason I would not give them the namewas because I was having a relationshipwith this person who was obviouslymore important to me than myhusband. But it did not end with that.They called me a whore. They also

(Noel Murray!to run through what happened on the11 th September. We went into ourome. We were removed at gun point.am quite convinced some of those

m should not have a gun in theirhand. One man with a sub-machine gunwas trembling. He should not he trustedwith such a weapon. All through theday putting pressure on us in my case

{Marie Murray)XT • u _jB1*.i , ilak'*?''Neither would it proper to let this

carry on go on without drawing - onceagain, drawing attention to the conductof the Garda Siochana throughout thetime we were held in custody in Gardastations. The fact that everything theysaid has been believed by you threegentlemen on the bench, believed with-out question, well, it's no wonder theycarry on as they do because they knowright well they shall get away with it.Now it's common knowledge to any

what they would do to Noel if I didn'tmake a statement. I made a statementwhich is untrue. I suppose I laid it on abit thick, over-dramatising and so on but1 wanted to be believed that day forNoel's sake. Noel was beaten up.Ronan Stenson was beaten up. InHarcourt Terrace - I was broughtthere to see Noel about six o'clock.Why was I kept there until after 2.00?Because they were determined to findout the name of the fourth personinvolved. I did not name him. And

9

said if I didn't give them this namethey would bring us this point inCourt, that in fact Noel was notinvolved, that I was protecting someoneelse. All this carry on. personal insul tsand so on. Not a word of this has comeforward. They deny it and they willdeny it, as Noel says, so long as theyknow they will get away witli it. Theywill deny it and they're getting awaywith it. In general it's absolutelyscandalous the way the Guards docarry on. This point of consulting (lieirnotes which were made at the t imecould a man drive u car and take n jtes.for example? During the time I washeld, on one occasion only was anywriting done in my presence. That wasthe statement that has been produced.They have all said they made notes atthe time. This is a lie. In fact I believefrom the statements that 1 have read inthe book that a conterence was held.A number of Gardai got round a tableand made out their contemptuous notes,probably a couple of days after.

Now, Inspector Finlay also wasinvolved. Well, I think he has given hisevidence very well. I would say hedeserves to be nominated for anAcademy award on the way he hasgiven '-is evidence. He also issuedthreats, one in particular on the morningof the 9th in the Bridewell. He wantedme to make a statement on another orother bank robberies. I declined to doso. He told me that if 1 made a state-ment on this matter he could see that acapital murder charge would not bebrought aganst Noel. He could see to itthat we would.not appear before theSpecial Criminal Court that day. I stillrefused to make a statement. He said,

{continued on p. 10)

P.P. Zahl was born in 1944 in thesmall university town of Freiburg inBreisgau. Anarchist pr inter , authorand poet, he was found guilty ofprint ing a poster with the inscription"Freedom For All Political Prisoners"during the period in 1971 when theWitch-hunt against the Red ArmyFrac t ion , the Socialist PutientsCollective (Heidelberg), and other"cr imina l anarchists" was reaching itspeak. The court imposed a fine of

1 hundred marks, but the Statejrney objected to this, and in a

f ond appeal obtained a sentence ofmonths imprisonment.tven before this P.P. Zah

Income nervous and angry at tneconstant and often quite obviouspolice watch kept on him, and his wifehud to seek treatment at a clinic fornervous complaints. Zahl thendecided to evade his prison sentence,par t ly because he wanted to see hischildren occasionally, and partlybecause he felt the sentence wasu n j u s t .

In 1972, after a peridd under-ground. he was discovered by thepolice, defended himself and tried toescape. In the process he was badlyinjured; his left arm was badly shotand a bullet passed straight throughhis r ight arm. As he t r ied to get awayhe fired a number of warning shotsinto the ground between himself and

k"*"L*W1

the police, who continued to fire athim. But one policeman, who dashedforward unexpectedly, was woundedby a shot. Zahl was arrested and,after two years solitary confinement,brought before the court. He wasaccused of attempted murder - acharge which was rejected by the sixjurors, on the grounds that he hadample opportunity to gHootai tltepolice from where he was hidden buthad chosen to fire warning shots intothe ground, and only as a last resoChief Attorney Fritz Bauer hadalready commented on this charg1967: "If someone is hit with atruncheon by a policeman, disarthe officer and hits back, then theyshould be prepared for a charge ofattempted murder." Although thecharge of attempted murder wasrejected, Zahl was found guilty ofviolently resisting judicial authorityand injuring a policeman, and wassentenced to four years imprisonmenton 24 May 1974. The period ofdetention before the trial, 1972-1974was to be included; and so he shouldhave been icleased in 1976 at the latest.

Shortly after his sentence, he wasvisited by a member of the secret police(Verfassungsschutz) who brought himcigarettes, stating that everyone knewthat Herr Zahl was not, of course, aterrorist, and it was obvious fromwritings. If he showed a little under

standing for the fact that the"Verfassungsschutz" was also againstviolence, then he could receive animmediate reduction in the sentence,on medical grounds - the injured arm -which otherwise would not be forth-coming. Zahl thanked him for thecigarette, but refused the offer, sayingthat it was against his principles towork for either a Western or anEastern secret police. Thereupon itwas put to him that he should considerthe offer carefully - or perhaps hewould never come out of jail at all.

Zahl did not change his mind. In1976 he was brought before the courtagain. The Federal Attorney hadprotested against the dismissal of thecharge of attempted murder, and -without new evidence or enquiry — asecond trial was undertaken for the';-.,. 1 T^Trnsame crime.

In the meantime the law in WestGermany had changed to the disadvan-tage of the accused: instead of six jurorsthere were not only two, who could beoverruled (outvoted) by the threejudges. Zahl was found guilty ofattempted murder, not as the originalaccusation had stated, of ONE policeman,but now of TWO. On 12th March 1976the judge proclaimed that he couldsentence Zahl to a period between 7and 15 years imprisonment andcontinued, "the full limits of the lawmust be exhausted in this case, asZahl is an enemy of the State and itis necessary to provide a special deterrent."THIS SENTENCE HAS NOW BEENCONFIRMED BY THE COURT OF

MURRAYSus 1 believe he also said to Noel, that hecould spread the word in any prison inthe country that Noel in pa r t i cu la r , orme. was an informer hud. as he suid.squealed, and that in any prison in thecountry Noel could be dead within aweek. Again this has all been denied.But 1 know because 1 was there. Ihave no reason to tell lies. All in ullthe conduct of the Gurdui is nothingshoit of tor ture . They are quitesk i l l fu l in the techniques they use. Insome cases they seem to feel thatphysical ussault will break people, willpersuade people to make statements,other cases they try the psychologicalapproach. But whatever they do theirmethods arc just us effective as anymedieval torturers' use of the rack ana1 should say that this unholy inquisitionin this building is the fit culmination oftheir efforts.

While 1 was questioning the admis-sibility of my statement on the groundsthat it was not voluntary 1 mentionedthat all the evidence had not been

- A!, i-.» i • • . . " , .

produced. I say this again. 1 don'texpect it to be produced here becauseit's in the hands of the Gardai. Theywill not even play straight with theState prosecutors but there is stillmissing the written statement of RonanStenson. All the witnesses haven't beenculled. By that 1 mean Gardai who wereinvolved in questioning. If that's thecorrect term lor all the insulting thatwent on in Harcourt Terrace. All th>people haven't been called. Again, 1don't expect them to be because thedon't admit being there. So all theevidence has not been produced or hnot been given to the prosecution.

Now, I can only say, I agree withNoel, the whole conduct of this trialhas been unfair - has been prejudiciIt is not a fair trial. It is not a trial. Thisis not a Court. We don't expect to getjustice. The laws involved - they're notour laws - they're the laws of the state

now, if the servants of the state can-not keep their own laws we cannotexpect fair play or justice.Judge: Is that all you want to say, Mrs.Murray?Marie: Yes.Judge: Now will you kindly tell mewhether you want to stay in court whilethe Counsel tor the prosecution is

10

summing up the case, after which youwill be given an opportunity to sayanything more that you wish to say. Doyou want to stay in Court or do youwant to be taken down? Aiprepared to be quiet in CourtMr. Macdonald is addressing the <Marie: If this was a Court, I would stay.This is not a Court. There is no pointin us staying.Judge: What do you say Mr. Murray?Noel: I don't consider this to be aCourt. 1 do not want to stay.Judge: Very well you can both be taken'

e prior cognizance of thefact that the case against Noel and Marierested on such flimsy evidence. In thefight for a re-trial, it is of vital importancethat all comrades in Ireland who con-tributed to the Anarchist Black Crossvia Noel contact us. This money donatedfor the relief of prisoners has been stolenby the Irish Government. There is,needless to say, not much hope ofrecovering it. But we propose to initiatecivil action in the courts in an attemptto do so, in order that this may lead toa re-trial of the criminal case.

Albert Meltzer,for the Anarchist Black Cross.

PRESUMPTION OF GUILTOn Monday. March 20. 1^72. four menreceived a total of eighty-one yearsimprisonment. They had been foundguilty at the High Court in Glasgow ofa series of armed bank robberies andother offences. It was no wonder tha tsome women jurors wept and the courtgallery seemed stunned. Only one of thefour had any criminal record yet theywere receiving sentences much stifferthan that handed out to murderersand hardened criminals. Two yearsbefore Howard Wilson had shot deadtwo policemen and severely woundedanother, sentence twenty-five years.William McPherson, Ian Doran andMathew Lygate received respectively26. 25 and 24 year sentences. No onehad been shot or killed, no one evenseriously injured. One may well askwhy Lord Dunpark was so intent instamping out what he termed, "Afrightening pattern of criminal conduct."

There were many aspects of the casewhich remain strange and contradictory,the men might never have been caughthad it not been for an anonymous tip-off, the identification of Mathew Lygatewas extremely suspect as they had beenmasked and were picked out "merely bytheir stature." Indeed one key witnessclaimed he picked out Lygate. yetclaimed he had not seen him beforealthough they both had Hats in the sametenement at 271 Albert Drive. Thesame witness was in great financialdifficulty before the trial yet was doingvery well in business and propertyshortly after it. Lawson found guiltyon only one of the bank raids was pickedout by an elderly witness who could nottell whether he had a gun or a stick ou t -side the bank and yet could identify himalthough masked from over a hundredyards away.

When following the anonymous tip-offthe police had raided the bookshop inPaisley Road, they found guns andmoney but both Lygate and Lawsondenied taking part in the robberies.For political reasons they supportedbank robberies as part of the urbanguerrilla activity of the 'class-war'.Although masks had been found in thefiat shared by Lygate and Lawson inAlbert Drive, Lygate claimed they hadbeen planted.

Other features of the case seemedequally disquiet ing; Stephen Niven, atwenty-one year old mule model, hadjoined the Workers' Party of Scotlandand then some nine months before therobberies had informed Chief-InspectorRobert Clancy, head of the EdinburghC.I.D.. that the Party were th inking of"knocking off banks." Nothing wasdone at the time and there was muchcriticism after the trial about the lack

of rapport between the Edinburgh andGlasgow Police. Later developmentslend a different interpretation. Ninomonths later Alexander W a t t , a formerstudent and secretary of the Dundeebranch of the W.P.S.. gave himself upto the police as having taken part inone of the bank raids, the one belongingto the Savings Bank of Scotland atPaisley Road West. Although W a t tadmi t ted presenting a sawn-off shotgunat seven of the employees, he was givena sentence of months ra ther than years.Claiming to have taken a religious kickWatt surrendered himself v o l u n t a r i l yalthough there was nothing to l ink himwith the crime. One may well ask wasNiven and/or Watt agent provocateursand if indeed gui l ty , were Lygate andLawson led into their crimes?

Another puzzling aspect has beenthe conduct of the founder and spokes-man for the Workers' Par ty of Scotland.Mr. Tom Murray. An ex-CP member.Murray bui l t up a M a r x i s t / Len in i s tParty on Maoist lines. It wassupposed to be based on the ideas ofJohn Mac Lean, revolutionary of theRed-Clydside era and was describedbeing "more communist t h a n theCommunist Party and more nat ional is tthan the S.N'.P." More impor tan t ly i twas a vanguard p a r t s set up at p iov idh i i :the necessary leadership for a work ingclass revolu t ion . I t was a small p a i t sof never more than a b o u t t h i r t ymembers with about ha l f a do/enactivists. I t was highly s t r u c t u r e dand disciplined. Control wasexercised from the top downwaids .Murray was the theoretician. MathewLygate his most promising disc iple .f-'roin his early days Mathew Lygateprogressed a lot. became more know-ledgable about pol i t ics , stood as aParl iamentary cand ida t e , v i s i t edrevolut ionary conferences and becamechai rman of the W.P.S. M u r r a yremained in the back ground, he madethe decisions but o ther people carriedthem out . It was impossible for anyimpor tan t decisions to be madewi thou t his consenting to it or at leastbeing aware of it. Lygate resignedfrom the party before the verdict andafterwards the party through Murray,repudiated his course of ac t iv i ty .Since the trial the W.P.S. and TomMurray have done nothing forMathew Lygate.

More than four years have passed.Colin Lawson has been released.Mathew Lygate moved from Perth toPeterhead is working as a tailor andpainting por t ra i t s . He has doneseverals terms in solitary and his spir i tremains unbroken. As he shouteddefiantly at his trial , "Long Live the

1 1

Working Class Revolution." Jailcannot break Mathew Lygate. Let usconsider his case.

Lygate's sentence was as severe asit was because of its political implica-tions, There are no "political crimes"in Great Britain but there seem to bepol i t ica l sentences! M a t h e w Lygateduring the laU'days of his t r i a ldismissed his counsel, not because oft h e i r lack of competence but becausethey had de l ibe ra t e ly played down thepoli t ical aspects of the t r i a l . Lygatewas determined that if fit; was to besent down, which indeed seemedinevi tab le , t h a t he would use the dockas a pol i t ica l p l a t f o r m . He j u s t i f i e dthe robbing of banks because theyweie agencies of class exp lo i t a t ion andoppression, he jus t i f ied bank robberiesas a form ol violence t h a t aimed atreversing the greater form of violencepract ised by the s t a t e against theworking class and leading to badhousing cond i t ions , i l l h e a l t h andunemploymen t . He ment ionedunemployment as r e su l t i ng in menbeing forced i n t o the army and being(breed into v.olence against the peopleof Nor the rn I r e l a n d These a r g u m e n t sI oid D u n p a i k on ly unders tood d i m l yhut i t was enough foi h im to grasp t h a tM a l t stood tor the reversal of thesociety t h a t Lord D u n p a i k represented.Mal l indeed echoed the words of hismentor . John Maclean, who in asimilar s i tua t ion had said "I stand herenot as the accused but t he accuser ofCapitalism dripping red wi th blood."M a t t had put i t t h a t the l ime wouldcome when il would not be himself t ha iwould be in the dock but the class nowpassing sentence, represented by LordDunpark . "'1 he roles of th is cour t willbe reversed, when the workers wil l siton the bench and those people whohave judged me now wi l l be judged."

Lord Dunpark replied. "I don't lookforward to those days wi th any longing."Indeed it would be a strange classa t t i t u d e to adopt if he did.

Reading accounts of the trial leavesone in l i t t l e doubt that had Matt playedby the accepted rules of the crime gamehe would not have for the sentence hedid. Had he abjectly accepted "it was afair cop" and pleaded contrition then hemight have done as well as Wall .

But he dismissed his counsel, claimedthe charges were a frame-up and attackedthe very foundations of bourgeois societythe banks, the police force and thecourts, of justice. As a brave man he ispaying the penalty, shut up like an animalin a cell and subjected to solitary.

If one believes him guilty some mightnot condone his course of action butmight still think he got rather a raw deal.

(cont. backpage)

SOVIETISAT10NThe i i n p i i s i t i i - . n on foreign countriesof communist party regimes throughthe direct or indicrect intervention ofthe USSR. In the Hitler-Stalin periodof 193CM1, the method was directconquest by the Red Army, rapidlyfollowed by extermination or deporta-tion to Siberia of all opposition, realor imagined, including the localcommunist parties. This occured inL i t h u a n i a . Latvia, Estonia, KarelianF i n l a n d , the Bukovinia, Bessarabia ofRumania, and eastern Poland. In theendphase and aftermath of World War11, satellite communist regimes wereestablished in Bulgaria, CzechoslovakiaLast Germany. Hungary, Poland,Rumania and in North Korea. Despitesl ight local variations, the pattern ofSovietisatfcip Jn$ftp EasternEuropean count r ies was remarkablysimilar.

After the arr ival of the Red Army,accompanied by na t ive communistswfaotyrtfcwato.ned in the USSR(known as the 'Muscovites'), the firststep everywhere was the establishmentof broad coalition governments ofvarious left-wing and centre parties, inwhich the communists rarely pre-domina ted . Inva r i ab ly , however, thecommun i s t s immedia te ly took controlof the Ministry of the Inter ior , theSecurity Police, the Army GeneralStaff and the publici ty machine.During the second stage, the coalitionparties, with a mass following(generally peasant parties), weredriven into opposition by activepersecution and replaced by partiesunder covert communist control. Thisstage ended with the arrest andexecution or f l ight ot popular non-communist leaders. The third stagebegan with the liquidation of thesocial democratic parties throughenforced fusion with the communists.As w i t h the peasant parties, those whoresisted were liquidated or driven intoexile. During the fourth stage, whichbegan at the time of Tito's conflict withStal in, the communist parties themselveswere purged of leading 'home commun-isU'' who. in cont ras t to the 'Muscovites',had spent the war in their own countriesfighting the Na/is and Fascists. Suspectedof reluctance to act as simple Sovietagents, they were accused of 'nationalist'and 'Titoist' deviations and some of themost prominent among them, includingthe Hungarian. Laszlo Rajk, and theBulgarian, Traicho Kostov, were executed

after sensational Show Trials whichbranded them as agents of the US CIA.

Contrary to various left-liberal andTrotskyist claims, Stalin did not inventthe Sovietisation technique. Thefundamentals had been used effectivelyby the Bolsheviks during the period ofcivil war 1918-21 to consolidate controlin Russia, Ukraine, Caucauses, Turkestan,Siberia and the Far East. The strategyof coalition temporarily with otherleftists, followed rapidly by theirliquidation, had been used in the mostvicious manner possible against theleft-Socialist Revolutionaries, theanarchist south Ukraine and Menshe'.ikGeorgia (the left SR's had been govern-ment partners in 1917-18, the Makhnoanarchist forces of the Ukraine weretreaty allies and actually saved theSoviets in the dark year of 1919, andMenshevik Georgia was recognised as anindependent state only months beforethe Soviet invasion). Direct inter-vention had failed in the Baltic, Finland

4918, Poland 1920, and South Azerbaijan921, while the isolated regime of Bela

Kun was toppled in Hungary 1919 (asindependent worker councils werecrushed in Munich and Hamburg-Kieland factory occupations and generalstrikes floundered in Italy, USA, Canadaand elsewhere). But a fake Far EasternRepublic in China 1920-22. supposedlyindependent, was used to meet USrequirements for a forced-Japanesewithdrawal from Siberia east of LakeBikail, only to be absorbed soon afterinto the Soviet Union. A more long-lived fraud, the so-called Tannu-TuvaPeople's Republic, existed on paperfrom 1921 to 1944, when it wasincorporated as an autonomous satelliteof the USSR.

The first satellite regime of anydurability was the Mongolian People'sRepublic, declared as such in 1924after three years of Soviet occupation.The North Korean regime of Kim il-Sungfollowed this model in 1945 but becameindependent as a result of the KoreanWar see-saw. A series of pro-Sovietregimes were installed through the1930s and 40s in Sinkiang, ostensiblya province of China. Long-range inter-vention in Spain in 1936-39 succeededin subverting the government andcrushing the social revolution, but lostthe war to the Fascists. Following WWII,the Soviets were pressured to withdrawfrom Finland (but retaining a strangle-hold on the government), from eastern

12

Yugoslavia (as Tito's partisans weresuccessful in establishing an IndependentRed regime), eastern Austria (as late as1955), to abandon their repeat satellitein Iranian Kurdistan, Azerbaiyan (1941-46), renounce communist guerrillasin Greece, and order communist forcesin Italy and France to disarm and entercapitalist coalition governments.Porkkaia (Finn) evacuated 1956

In return the Soviet Union was grantedthe Japanese Kuriles and Sakhalin, ahuge chunk of eastern Poland andPrussia and continued suzereignty overthe Baltic Republics and the Ukraine(where a nationalist guerrilla force wascrushed by 1950). Stalin turnedManchuria and Sinkiang back over toNationalist China, but the areas weresoon retaken by Mao's peasant armywhich established the People'sRepublic of China in 1949. Russianfacilities in Yugoslavia were lost whenthe Comintern expelled Titoist Yugo-slavia in 1948, but were merely shiftedover to Albania, where Communistleader Enver Hoxha had managed todislodge the Yugoslav dominance whichhad assured the victory of Hoxha in1945. Yet these Adriatic naval facilitieswere again lost by the Soviets when in1960 Albania broke with Kruschev andaligned with rebel Peking.

Revolts in East Germany (1953),Poland (1956, 1970, 1976) andRevolution in Hungary (1956) wereeither crushed or subverted, Liberal-Communist democratisation in Czecho-slovakia (1968) met an identical fate.

Similar techniques have been usedsuccessfully in China and Tibet, N. & S.Vietnam, Cuba, S. Yemen, French Congo,Cambodia, Laos, Angola and Somalia.

Communist power-sharing failed inChile (1938-44), Italy, France andFinland (1944-48), Ghana (1964-66),Kerala (1957-59), 60s Egypt, Iceland(1973-74), Portugal (1974-75).

And disastrously in Spain (1939),Greece (1944), Iran (1954), Guatemala(1954), Congo (1965), DominicanRepublic (1965), Indonesia (1965),Sudan (1971), Bolivia (1971), Chile(1973).

Despite earlier reverses, situationstill fluid in India, Guyana, Italy andFinland.(I. W. W. Toronto) G.J.

MURRAY DEFENCE GROUP155 Church Road, Celbridge,Co. Kildare, Eire

"L'Anarchisme espagnol" "Actionrevolutionnaire Internationale 1961-1975"Octavio Alberola - Ariane Gransac,Paris, Bourgeois. 1976. 264pp. p/b.

This book has been published in twoeditions in two languages in one year.Spanish and French. The l a t t e r edition.French, has been corrected in someminor details and tor this reason th isreview deals with that par t icular one.It is useful that this volume shouldappear at this part icular moment when,following the death of the Caudilloand with the introduction of a certainamount of liberalisation, the enthusiasmof a particular section of the bourgeoisiewould seem to wish to wash out allmemory of the dictatorship.

In fact it is over fifteen years sinceFrancoism turned an honest face to theworld when, in 1962, the regime choseto imprison and not simply to stampout the Asturian strikers mil i tar i ly .

The great quali ty of this boot is thatit demonstrates not only that the anar-chist anti-franquist struggle did not endwith the defeat of the civil war, butthat each struggle throughout the worldadopts the use of violent outrage: "Wetend to believe that the will of themajority is the general will, the will ofall. We count on the fact tha t minoritieswill all awai t then hour peaceably, in thehope that they too will a t t a i n majoritystatus. However, it is not always so.There are those who use our so-calledperfect democracy as an idol, a perfectidol if you wish, corrupted to the pointof banishing all hope by the economicand social bureaucracy . . . " (p. 197).

State oppression is so strong thatany questioning of the establishment,authori ty, or the accepted way of l ifebrings down a swift repression: thehippies, los marginales, samizdat wri ters .Ins /iiligans (Hooligani), and homosexualsare the sacrificial lambs in both theEast and West.

Alberola and Gransac also give a briefbut profound description of thebureaucrat isa t ion of a sector of theSpanish anarchist movement while themilitants were commit ted to t o t a l struggle.Who today gives any importance to thedeclarations of the CNT against FranciscoSabate? Who remembers another CNTdeclaration condemning an anarchis tkidnapping? "If. in fact, some membersof the CNT are the authors of the kid-napping they have done so wi thout theagreement of the In tercont inenta lSecretariat, and as far as we are concernedthe entire af fa i r is a purely negativeoperation." (p . l 20).

However, in practice anarchism wasable to prove its efficiency and if**«***»***»*****#***#*#*******

This title is presently being translatedinto English and will be published byCienfuegas Press tit a future date

ReviewsFrancoisni (and the Communist Party) wasable to expect the disappearance of adangerous enemy in 1960. with thedeath ot 'Sahate. from 1961 onwardsthere were attempts, both within andoutside the CNT. to organise a violentanarchist response to the repression. Theminimum repression of the 1962strikes clearly indicate tha t the regimewas moving towards demoralisationand the consumer society in which theCommunist Party would (direct ly orindirect ly) play a role ol l imi t ing andgagging the masses and. therefore, facedwith the hierarchy of exploitation theonly alternative would be the hierarchyof the tradit ional left .

The only ones to defend the fu tu reof anarchism were generally thoseanarchist groups involved with theIberian Federation of L iber ta r ian You th(F. I . J .L . ) . In the same year of 1962the F.I.J.L.. began to organise a seriesof at ten tuts against symbolic bu i ld ingsof the regime and Spanish tourist agencieswith the double aim of giving impulse tothe class struggle (already under waywith the strikes) and also reducing thenumber of tourists bringing impor t an tforeign currency to the coffers of theregime.

This campaign caused a great deal offear within the regime and the numberof arrests and penalties inflicted onanarchists grew in proportion: JorgeCunill Vails sentenced to death in 1962;Delgado and Granados gar ro t t ed in 1963.sentences of between 1 5 and 30 yearsimprisonment (such as w i th Chris t ie andCarballo). But the most spectacularaspect was the scries of "Ideological"kidnappings which first began followingthe death sentence imposed on JorgeC 'un i l l Vails. The s ta tement issued bythe "International Federation of Liber-t a r i an Youth" said: "Our object was todraw the a t t e n t i o n of the world to thesad fate of t h ree l ibe r t a r i ans recent lyarrested in Barcelona and to prevent theexecution of Jorge Cunill Vails. Were tu rn Sr. Llias to his family as promisedto demonstrate tha t our methods arevastly d i f fe ren t to those employed bythe Franquist regime." (p64). Laterthere was the kidnapping of Ussia, theecclesiastical counselor of the SpanishEmbassy to the Vat ican, which wasclaimed by the First of May Group(developed out of the F.I.J.L.) andwhich led to the already quoted state-ment from the CNT. After holding himfor ten days the First of May Groupfreed the priest amid the expectedclamour of the world press "hoping tha tthe present Spanish governmentwhich so often proclaims its Christianitywill demonstrate its good will rapidly bygranting freedom to those Spanishdemocrats who do not enjoy it today."

That is all very well, but what needwas there to prove the lack of freedomor democracy in Spain? If anythingwas clear in politics it was that the Francoregime was, even for its own allies, amockery of legality. And in Spain,among the workers, if the right to strikewas that much easier there was still nolack of torturers for the organisers, andnobody really held out any false illusions.The mistake made by the F.I.J.L.. andthe First of May Group was wi thoutdoubt not adapt ing to the combativityof the moment, such as was later seenin the actions of the M . I . L . and the'acratas' who organised bank robberiesto f inance fu tu re actions.

This lack of reflection gives the bookan air of mere description of actions inSpain and elsewhere with l i t t l e or no .1discussion on possible s imi lar i t ies ordifferences between the Palest iniangroups, the R.A.F.. t he G .A .R . I . e tc .Also, it seems tha t the violence organisedby the m i l i t a n t s and the spontaneousaction of the workers, in Spain andth roughou t the world, is a r t i f i c i a l l yseparated, but t h i s may s imply be aproblem of s tyle .

Let us hope t h a t the au thors wil lgive us ano the r book on the s tudy andref lec t ion of present day violence and thed i f f e ren t tac t ics . I t wi l l be the i n d i s p e n s -ablecotnrdetyent to the present volume.

Frank Mint?,.

Maspero have just published a new .updated and corrected ed i t ion ofFrank Minl/.'s scholarly and definit ivework on Self-Management in theSpanish Revolut ion. C'opies can beobtained through C'.P. Bookservice.(pr ice not yet known) .

Marxism and a Free Society byMarcus Graham. "An Anarchist replyto Isaac Ueutscher's address on 'SocialistMan' with particular reference to. theMinu te s of the First I n t e r n a t i o n a l andthe sabotaging of the Hague Congressby the Marx clique" ( 20p + I Op p+p).

What passes off as Marxism today is sogrotesque, so notoriously total i tarianand d ic ta tor ia l , t h a t many th ink ingMarxis ts are ha rk ing back to a "GoldenAge" of Marxism, to Marx himself . . .There is. they declare, a humanism toMarx , an a l ternat ive to Stalinist andpost-Stalinist dictatorship, or to thegrim aspects of Maoism and itsimita t ions . They pass over Lenin withsome reluctance, not wishing to admitthat there is anything wrong with thedeified Lenin, but finding it hard tod i f f e ren t i a t e between what was builtin the Soviet Union and how it developed.The excuse that it was merely the"bureaucracy" that it was only a leader-ship that went wrong and a civil servicethat extended itself, becomes increasinglythin. So Marxists turn back to Marx,who hated anything Russian anyway, and

REVIEWS cont.

try to show that he at least wanted onlya true socialism with a humanist faceand what has happened to Marxistsocialism since has been a distortionand a caricature of Marx. Foremostamong these apologists was IsaacDeutscher whose address "On SocialistMan" was first heard at the secondannual Socialist Scholars Conference inNew York in 1966 and which has beenrepublished numerous times by variousTrotskyist bodies throughout theworld.

But is Deutscher speaking the truth,or is he merely trying to whitewash theprison walls? Was Marx as blameless ashe claims? Did Marxism ever have thehuman face he would like to put on it,like a mask? Marcus Graham, in thisshort pamphlet, published by SimianPublications, makes a trenchant analysisof Deutscher's claims for Marx andasserts positively that all the failures ofLeninism. Stalinism, Maoism as well asreformism, stem from Marx's tactics.Litt le is known about the struggle withinthe First In ternat ional . Marx has becomedeified over half the world; Bakunin istreated as a clown or a devil who daresto cross swords with the Almighty.Marcus Graham's pamphlet is a timelyreminder tha t there is quite another sideto what is generally accepted as historyas well as a sharp rejoinder to IsaacDeutscher's apology for the founder ofState Socialism.

BLACK FLAG ANARCHO-QUIZ BOOK(250 Questions and Answers on the high-ways and by-ways of Anarchism) byAlbert Meltzer (95p + 15p p+p).

What is an Anarchis t? What part hasAnarchism played in the class struggle?What relevance has it in history'' Howdoes it affect the major issues of todayand yesterday? To a large ex t en t , to asmall extent, not at all?

From the light-hearted quiz conductedby Albert Meltzer. known to the readersof Black Flag as one of the wisest aswell as one of the wittiest of l iber tar ianwriters, it is possible to answer the fore-going questions, though some of themost devoted afficcionados of the series(which has been running for a numberof years in Black Flag) protest thatthey would be lost without turning tothe answers pithy and provocative,but always i l luminat ing. This is thelazy person's way of reading up on thehistory of anarchism and its related off-shoots, by question and answer, readableand humorous, ful l of l i t t le-known factsand out-of-the-way anecdotes, the pillsof knowledge being handed out likesweeties.

The superbly comic il lustrations byPhil Ruff help to make it the ideal Yule-tide present - just the sort of thing tohand to a socialist friend who's given youthe Big Red Diary and deserves some-

thing in return . . . . Get a few of them,they are always a standby present and,apart from anything else, includinginspiring you to enter for "Mastermind",it is hoped to finance the postage billof the Anarchist Black Cross which triesto give solidarity to libertarian prisonersall over the world, for the coming year,out of the profits of sale.

Both the above titles are availablefrom Simian Publications, "Over theWater," Sanday, Orkney KW17 2BL

Cienfuegos Press Sustaining SubscriptionDear Readers of Cienfuegos Press andSimian publications,

First of all we would like to thank youfor having supported our publishingprogramme so far by buying our titlesand ordering them through your locallibraries. We would now like to proposea method whereby you can help usexpand that programme dramaticallyand, at the same time, take advantage ofa bargain offer.

The problem is — as we have oftenreported - lack of capital (at least thatis what our Bank Manager keeps tellingus). In addition to our publicationsside we are trying to supplement ourturnover by providing a general book-service and this is slowly catching on,but the problem remains the same —no money with which to build up agood stock. This means we are havingto develop the bookservice a bit slowerthan we intended, but please don't letthat stop you ordering all your booksfrom us. The more orders we receivefrom you the quicker we build up ourselection of titles and increase ourefficiency in dealing with your orders.

We don't know any friendly MerchantBankers, rich anarchists (are there any?)so the only way left to us to raisesufficient money to develop our manypublishing projects (apart from sales,contributions from regular supporterswho believe in what we are doing, bankrobberies, fraud and extortion) is tooffer you a yearly* £6.00 (§12.00)Sustaining Subscription to CienfuegosPress and Simian Publications for whichyou will receive the following:a) a copy of every book published byCienfuegos Press in 1977; b) a copyof every pamphlet published by Simianin the same period; c) the CienfuegosPress Review of Anarchist Literature;d) a I09r discount on all books carried byor ordered through the Cienfuegos PressBookservice. (*Life Subscription £25.00$50.00).

Just to show you that you won't besupporting a pig in a poke as it were,here is a list of just some of the titles wehave lined up for the coming year (thereare others, but we don't want to go intothat just yet . . . )

Erich Muehsam : A Portrait and Biblio-graphy (pamphlet). The Face of SpanishAnarchism (book). Land and Liberty!Ricardo Flores Magon (book). An

14

Anthology of Revolutionary Poetry,Marcus Graham (book), The Guillotineat Work, Maximoff (book), Vol. I TheAnarchist Encyclopaedia, A Bibliography(this title will be available in p/b onlyto Cienfuegos Press subscribers, the mainedition will be h/b), Anarchism in Japan,Victor Garcia (book), Self-Managementin the Spanish Revolution, Frank Mintz(book), Spanish Anarchism andRevolutionary Action, Alberola & Gran-sac (book), The End of Anarchism, L.Galleani (book), The Battle of CalthorpeStreet, J.M. Alexander (pamphlet). (Wewill be reprinting and updating all outof print pamphlets this coming year aswell including the long-awaited Soldiers'Councils in World War II by AlbertMeltzer) - plus a few other excitingsurprises in the near future.

This is your chance to help usdevelop an anarchist presence inpublishing and at the same time add agood number of what one readerdescribes as "spine tingling" anarchisttitles to your bookshelves at the knock-down price of £6.00, a year. We can'tsay with any exactitude how manybooks we'll be able to get out in theyear, but they'll certainly be worth alot more than £6.00.

S.C.

Titles in print to December 1976:The Black Flag Anarcho-Quiz Bookcompiled by Albert Meltzer, 95p;Marxism and a Free Society, MarcusGraham, 20p; The Russian Tragedy,Alexander Berkman, £1.50; TheAnarchists in London 1935-1955,Albert Meltzer, £1.00; The InternationalRevolutionary Solidarity Movement,ed. A. Meltzer, £1.35; Man! AnAnthology of Anarchist ideas, essays,poetry and commentaries, ed. MarcusGraham, £3.25 p/b, £7.00 h/b; SabateGuerrilla Extraordinary, AntonioTellez, £2.35; The WilhelmshavenRevolt, Icarus, 45p; Peter Kropotkin:His Federalist Ideas, Berneri, 30p; TheCienfuegos Press Review of AnarchistLiterature, 1976, 30p.

For details of our mail orderbookservice send s.a.e. for latest stocklist. (The Art of Anarchy by FlavioCostantini is now out of print).New Titles Available from Cienfuegos PressBookservice:"This Soldier Still At War" John Bryan, £4.95plus 25p p&p. The highly sympathetic storyof Joe Remiro and the S.L.A. "The Story ofthe Irish Citizen Army," Sean O'Casey, £1.00;"On the Nature and Uses of Sabotage," Veblen,45p; "Castaways of Plenty," W.E. Hawkins,90p (A parable of our times); "The Soul ofMan Under Socialism," Oscar Wilde, 60p;"A Dream of John Ball," Wm. Morris, 75p;"Facing the Chair," John Dos Passes, £1.20(The Americanisation of Sacco and Vanzetti);"Civil War in West Virginia," Winthrop D. Lane£1.20p (The story of the industrial conflictin the coal mines); "Merrie England" Nunquam£1.20 "llluminatus I: The Eye in the Pyramid,Shea and Wilson, 75p;NOW AVAILABLE:The Russian Tragedy, Alexander Berkman£1.50+ 25pp&p.Coming Soon: The IWW: Its First Seventy-Years (1905-1975), F. Thompson & PatMurfin. £2.50p.

/nL ETTER.S

Dear Comrade,Black Flag's reply to Steve's letter (Nov.1976) raises more questions than itanswers! How does one define a "classwar victim"? In what fundamental waydid the Scottish Maoists' activitieschallenge the Capitalist State? Is there aradical difference between authoritarianMarxists and Fascists? If so. what is it?Is it feasible for Anarchists to participatein revolutionary activities with authori-tarian leftist groups or their members,who represent the complete antithesisof Anarchist Revolutionism? Shouldsolidarity be expressed with Irishreligious and sectarian murderers withinthe Loyalist Para-military organisationswho are in prison? What form should oursupport take?

The issues which Steve explores inhis letter have important implications torAnarchist theory and practice and hisarguments cannot be refuted by the useof such emotive phrases as "class warvictims." or by using automat ic supportfor all political prisoners irrespective oftheir political orientation. Anarchism,both in its philosophy and praxis, isdiametrically opposed to authoritarianmovements of the Right and Left.History has shown that the Anarclmovement has suffered murderousrepression at the hands of both Fasand Communists. The Spanish CivilWar is an excellent example of whathappens to Anarchists when theyconfront centralised political power.Black Flag's approach on this question,whereby they intimate that we shouldsolidarise with our 'imprisoned' politicalopponents is rather incongruous to saythe least.

Any refusal to solidarise with Maoistor Communists, when they are imprisonedin no way implies acceptance of thetyrannical excesses of 'State Power.'State and Government is a bureaucratic,elitist excrescence which paralyses theimpulse for human freedom and mutualaid. Black Flag obviously feels that ithas to choose between the State orpolitical prisoners. But it' one defines

the situation differently, no such choiceis necessary.

The irony in the present situationis that some of those political prisonerswhom Black Flag aspires to support,(e.g. Scottish Maoists), are the exponentsof a totalitarian system of State Powewhich would liquidate any Anarchistopposition.

As Steve points out, it is importantfor Anarchists to consider the politicalviews of any group of prisoners beforeextending their solidarity.

1 have attempted to" outline a theoreti-cal perspective as a guide to our activitiesThis whole question should be analysedin a constructive fashion. Although wedetest and feel contemptuous of theexisting power structure, we cannotallow our judgement to be obscured b'emotive' reactions to 'State Repression',(however understandable they may bin this area of extreme politicalsensitivity and subject ivi ty) , as in t incase under discussion.

Yours in friendship,

Barry W.

We welcome this discussion which hasmuch more to do with basic issues ofanarchist morality than (say) the perennialviolence/non-violence theme.

It seems to us for inttancg, jhafit isbeyond argument that we should support

ish political prisoners, whatever thereligious or national banners. I) inprison, would not these be our naturalallies against prison authorities - manyof whom are (equally naturally j membersof the National hront?

It may be "incongruous"or "ironic"when anarchists give solidarity to peoplewho would (if they had the chance)oppress them but is it unworthy orinconsistent? One could equally argue(perfectly truthfully) authoritarians wouldbe going round in a libertarian societyfree from any restraint whereas liber-tarians would have a hard rime in anauthoritarian society.

How can we advocate industrialsolidarity bearing in mind the unpalatable,but nevertheless acknowledged fact,that a large number of industrial militantsbelong to authoritarian parties which in

most instances here today, take tne leadin such matters, not libertarians ifwe refrain from supporting prisonerswhose "crimes" arise from such struggles?(Shrewsbury 10)

Could we give support, say to GeorgeDavies? - "innocent, OK."providinghe's not a Marxist!

In taking part in any struggle, indus-trial, social, guerrilla, against oppressionone cannot avoid the fact that even inthe Communist countries some calling

•mselves one of the brands of Marxists,or Marxist-Leninists, will be alliestrustworthy or not. One can fight againsttheir leadership: one cannot excludeworkers from a working class struggle.The situation is quite different withFascists (and in practice even someonedisagreeing knows this full well I.

The problem would go away if noworkers supported authoritarian partiesFacing facts as they are. we think theattitude taken by the Anarchist lilackCross since its inception is correct. Never-theless, this opens the way to somevaluable discussion. We fully endorseHarry W. 's last paragraph.

TAINTED MONEY

We are porters and t ranspor t worke iswho use the same pub. In a try to s t a r toff a fascist par ty to compete wi th theNational Front a City gent ottered usCIOO for our Christmas club to stage

^racialist indiiefli. Wgdecided te-shewwhat \ve t h i n k of him by accept ing themoney, doing no th ing for i t , anddividing it among the three most oppositecauses. In sending you £35 for BlackFlag we want to say t h a t though we'renot anarchists we all admire the wayAlbert's had a go for forty years,especially the fact tha t he didn ' t giveup at the time of the so-called AngryBrigade t r i a l .F.A.C..J.B. C.S.Mick. Charlie.•*• •'*>BLACK EYE the free anarchist paperfor N. Manchester. Send sae to theBlack Lye Print Collective. 30 BelmontAvenue. Clifton, Swinton. Manchester.

ANSWERS TO QUIZ1. "L'Education Physique" (editedfrom London under a pseudonymbecause of his 'notoriety' but publishedin France) introduced, or at any ratespread, English sporting ideas, andfootball and boxing to the schoolcurriculum.2. The Free Trade movement. Peellater said that Richard Cobden (whosestatue may be found in London'sCamden Town) had menaced him bycalling him 'personally responsible' forthe condition of the country and (saidthe Times), "He knew fully thethreatening consequence to Sir RobertPeel's life."

3. Benjamin Disraeli ( then leader ofthe young England radical lory faction),whose bit ter attacks on Peel for desertingProtection and yielding to the FreeTrade Movement ultimately brought himthe eventual leadership of the Tories,but made the Queen feel he had"hastened poor Sir Robert's death."4. Chateaurenard was in fact a third-rate singer at the Opera Nationale, whohappened to be in his stage uniformwhen he looked out to see what all thefuss was about. He lasted as governorfor a fortnight. Later, under theSecond Empire, he became an officialof the secret police.

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5. Only equivocally true, alas. Thethirteen days in question were lost tothe calendar by switching from theJulian to the Gregorian system ofreckoning and nothing at all happenedbetween those dates.6. Unquestionably, the Republicanparty.The Black Flag Anarcho-Quiz book isnow on sale at 95p and obtainablefrom Cienfuegos Press Ltd., "Over TheWater" Sanday, Orkney Isles, KW17 2BL."A masterpiece of errudition"

Professor Hagbard Celine

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Leonard Peltier is a 32-year old SiouxIndian from North Dakota, and iscurrent ly facing extradit ion proceedingsin British Columbia. Leonard has beenactive for several years in Indianstruggles, initiating self-help co-operativeprojects, and taking in some of thebetter publicised activities of theAmerican Indian Movement, including

13 occupation of Wounded KrSpring, following an 18 day

extradition hearing a Canadian ccdecided that Leonard should be returnedto the Untied States to face charges ofmurdering two FBI agents during a June26, 1975 shoot-out near the village ofOglala on the Pine Ridge Indian reserva-tion in South Dakota. Now a defencecommittee has been set up in Vancouver,to help prepare an appeal againstextradi t ion. Leonard's case is that notonly is he not guilty of the chargesagainst him, but that the alleged offencewas of a political nature.

If he is extradited to the UnitedStates his life could be in danger; oneIndian was killed during the shoot-out,and Anna Mae Aquash was murdered inthe aftermath of the FBI's manhunt .She died with a bullet in her head shortlyafter her arrest on a phoney gun charge.This threat to Leonard's life must haveincreased following the unprecedentedacquittal of Dino Butler and BobRobideau of all charges in connectionwith the Oglala shoot-out. An all white,mainly working class jury accepted thatthe defendants were in fact firing at theFBI agents, but that it was in self-defence.

The defence committee which hasbeen set up has support from Indianpeople from various parts of Canada andthe US, and is working with non-Indiansupporters, including a legal collective oflawyers and law students. Typically ithas met with an unco-operative andhostile attitude .from the Canadian

authorities and police. Committeemembers have been detained at theborder, subjected to rude and improperquestioning and searches. During theextradition hearing Vancouver policecarried out a campaign of arbitrary andrandom arrests of Indian people andraids on homes, while friends andsupporters of Leonard were physicallyattacked in the courtroom and ejected bya special squad of deputies and police.

As part of its campaign the DefenceCommittee has published Seven Eaglesto publicise the case and increasepressure on the Canadian authoritiesaiming at winning political asylum inCanada for Leonard. The information inSeven Eagles updates the special editionof Indian Nation which was publishedlast April with details about the caseand its background.

The Defence Committe address is: —Box 758, Station A, Vancouver B.C.,Canada.

Letters of solidarity should be sentto Leonard at: Drawer "O", OkallaPrison, Burnaby, B.C., Canada.

Protests about his solitary confine-ment should be sent to AttorneyGeneral. Garde Gardom, ParliamentBuildings, Victoria B.C. Canada, anddemands that he be granted politicalasylum to: Ron Basford, Minister ofJustice, House of Commons, Ottawa,Ontario.

British Columbia jails have a longhistory of brutality, and as a reaction tothe intolerable conditions of formingprisoners unions. This new militancy isa distinct product of the 1970s, butprisoner agitation for better conditionshas been continuing for much longer -there have been at least four majormass uprisings, since the early sixties,protesting about conditions of over-crowding, enforced idleness, warderbrutality and lack of rehabilitationprogrammes. The February 1976issue of This Magazine carried adetailed article on the formation ofa Prisoners' Union Committee, andits work and its role during a sit in atOkala prison in July 1975.

This sit in followed shortly after anincident in which three long termprisoners seized 15 hostages after one ofthem had been told by the Prisonadministration that he was to be placedin solitary confinement. One of thehostages was a prison classificationofficer, Mary Steinhauser, who haddeveloped a strong friendship with oneprisoner, Andy Bruce. It was probablythat she would co-operate with theprisoners, eliminating the possibility ofviolence being used. The single demandmade by the prisoners was a guaranteedsafe passage to a communist country.

While the authorities went throughthe pretence of negotiating a deal, planswere made to storm the vault in whichthe prisoners and hostages were confined.On June 5. 1975, the British ColumbiaPenitentiary Tactical Squad stormed the

building, Mary Steinhauser was woundedby the first bullet, before being pushedout of the line of fire by Andy. She wasgetting to her feet shouting "Don'tshoot him, my god, don't shoot him"when she was shot down and killed.

The authorities tried to claim thatthe prisoners had stabbed Mary andwere responsible for her murder, butthis claim was retracted when anexamination of the body proved thecause of death to be gun shot wounds.A careful cover-up operation ensuedwhich meant that much of the evidenceat the Enquiry was held in camera, andno proper cross examination ofwitnesses was made. Andy Bruce wasnot allowed to testify.

The Prisoners' Union Committeehave prepared a pamphlet detailing thehistory of state sanctioned brutality atthe Penitentiary in New Westminster, B.C,and providing a clear insight into theevents briefly outlined above, and theway in which the State has attempted todistort the events in an effort to coverits tracks. Andy Bruce, Dwight Lucasand Clair Wilson were originally chargedwith Mary's murder - but these chargeshave now been dropped, although theystill face lesser ones.

Prisoners' Union Committee, Box6135, Station G, Vancouver, Canada.

Presumption of Guilt (cont.)There are others who might well believethat there are so many suspicions andcontradictory elements in the story thatMathew Lygate was as he claimed him-self, framed and then betrayed. Whoindeed made the alleged phone call thatled the police to the W.P.S. bookshop?

Anyway twenty-four years is a longtime even for Jack the Ripper. Shouldhe stay in Peterhead until AD 2000?

William McPherson, also a memberof the W.P.S. was found guilty andsentenced to twenty-six years, reducedto twenty four on appeal. He was laterinvolved in the Porterfield riot at Inver-ness prison and given an additionalsentence. Ian Doran, who had beenbrought up in London, got sentenced totwenty-five years, (unlike the others hehad no W.P.S. connection). Colin Lawsonfound guilty on one bank raid charge wasgiven six years and has subsequentlybeen released.

John Lygate, the father of MathewLygate and the prime mover in the cam-paign to have his son released, died onthe 11 th October this year after adebilitating illness and is sadly missed byall who knew him. He was a lifelongsocialist and worked very hard in tenantsgroups and other community work. Itwas his wish that the campaign to havehis son's sentence reduced should becontinued by CP members, Maoists andAnarchists, and by all who had anydoubt about the trial or were appalledby the severity of the sentence.

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