BRITISH IIBRARY OF POLITICAL S ECONOMIC SQEHCL NEWSPAPER OF THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS STUDENTS' UNION 18JU 1990 No. 109 MAY 20th, 1971 PART 1 EXAM OPPOSITION TOP PEOPLE GATHERS STEAM Academic Affairs Department has begun a new and vigorous campaign against the Pai-t I examinations. A petition has been circulating since the beginning of this month, and nearly 400 signatures had been collected by the end of the first week, over 50 per cent of them from first-year students. This should indicate that the great majority of students facing Part I's at the end of this term are against them on principle. The Committee on Undergraduate Studies (a staff-student committee) was informed of the feelings expressed by this petition on Monday, May 10th, and was asked to inform the Academic Board of the widespread opposition to the examinations. It is hoped that this approach through conventional channels will bear fruit; however, the C.U.S. has stated that it would take five full terms to go through the bureaucratic machine. In any case, there is a high probability that the demand will once more be shuttled back and forth between the School and London University, with both establishments evading the responsibility for reform. In view of the foregoing, it may become necessary to take unilateral action following a general meeting of first-year students. Such action has failed in the past because of a lack of solidarity ; it is to be hoped that better organisation and a greater commitment will result in success this year, should a boj'-cott prove necessary. JOHN STATHATOS. We must destroy the rat race may be surprised to know that at this very moment, the two most important administrators at the School are being selected. I mean the successors to the director and the chairman of the governors. Sir Walter Adams's term of office expires in 1972 and that of Lord Robbins this year. With all this large talk about democracy in universities, you might have expected the School authorities to call a meeting or two of staff and students to toss around the general idea of the sort of persons who should hold these jobs. That is not, however, quite the style of the much of the criticism at ^ present being levelled against Part One exams con-cei-ns their fairness as a means of assessment. Whilst any criticism can be useful, this type really misses the point. Exams of all kinds and many, of the forms of assessment which exist are essential in today's type of society. They are one means of allocating labour to all sections of a capitalist economy. In Secondary Modern Schools pupils have the "facts" rammed home to them that they have failed the first exam and are in consequence inferiors, likely to spend their lives in the jobs for Vvhich no G.C.E.s are required. BEAVER IS DIFFERENT you doubtless noticed two things about this "Beaver" which are rather different from previous ones. Firstly, you will notice a change in size, format and typeface. This is because due to rising costs and an unchanged income (indeed revenue has fallen because of the current state of the advertising business), we had to look around for new printers. We also hope hereby to avoid the numerous tv pographicfi' • ' ;rs which have V Sri! acter''i?d "if; last ! c;w issues "'u?: paper. Secondly, 'Beaver' will henceforward be distributed free. is because 'Beaver' is ynn.r "•''iCh^'r. containing youi; aiticies, ¦ rthou: your coll'^ and for out ¦)'. our Union "¦un ¦, -jroie Vv; i'elt it ano- Only in recent years have most Secondary Modern Schools taken any exams at all. But there is hope for the Secondary Modern pupil: he or she can-join a technical college, take technical exams, and get in on the "rat race" there. As for those at grammju" schools, some leave with "O" levels, going into an appropriate job, and others leave with "A" levels, stepping on to a .sligb''V higher rung of the ladder. Then, of course, there the university type with either a first or higher degree or a lecturing job. All on successively higher steps of the ladder, all slightly ahead in the race. Exams are the great opportunity for all classes to enter into the race, yet no one has asked them whether or not they want to run, nor shown them any alternatives. In any case, because of the part family.environment and economic circumstances play in the acquisition of an education, the present system favoui's the wealthy and the economic elite. Thus, there is not even equality of opportunity in the race. So we all are running hard, pushing others back, treading on slower opponents, seeking to destroy others to better ourselves. A step up is always at someone else's expense. We seldom question the race, we keep on luniiin.c until we drop, and are every effort to build a new society, one in which people are not obsessed with having a relatively high economic and social position. We have to start our attack somewhere and exams are so important in the rat race mentality that we must attack these. It might be easier to abolish Part One than most people think, but we must not permit their replacement by an alternative form of assessment. This is what the academic staff want. To destroy the rat race we must kill all forms of assessment used for economic and social grading. (In addition to this, see article in the current "Agitator"). place. What happens is that there are two committees of selection very similarly composed. The committee for the selection of the chairman of governors consists of the vice-chairman of the governors, the director, the vice-chairman of the Academic Board, five lay governors elected by the governors, and five members of the Academic Board elected by the Board. The committee for the selection of the director is composed in the same way except that the chairman of governors is a member, the director is not, and the number of lay governors is four. j These bodies are, as you see, I very heavily weighted in favour 1 of those who presently hold S.C.R. again trodden on Ivos. This is Westevii ''ciy'lisec- cratic(?) society whi! ii if. sur posed u) be fv;- .i:.\'0''yone 'o rl nris;nnm-^ fhu v.orf! ! ''PHE S.C.R. provides facilities much in excess of the average for a small minority group in L.S.E. This group are the powerful, they control almost everj- aspect of L.S.E. life. The S.C.R. is an open assertion of their supremacy. Just as we do not accept their right to govern us we should not tolerate the e.xistence of the S.C.B. which permits them to live in relative luxury whilst we struggle around in a cramped environment. The eating facilities are much better than uiose of the Ke-fectory. Academic suifT etc. have very nearly twice as much room in \\hi;'h to eal jijon the stu^nt in the c;'.nteen. Tlip bar jinV; icunse areas arc .lii luxurioii-s no SO.R. particularly ¦ where criteria for membership of this group are so abhorent. The S.C.R. is an exclusive club— you have to be a ruler of men (or of women) to get into it. Top administration and library staff and, of course, the academics, use its facilities. We cannot permit this state of affairs to continue. It is obsolete and immoral in today's world and is totally incompatible with the principle of equality-. A parallel situation exists throughout British and world society—ihe privileged enjoying the fruits of their expoitation. We mii.'ft, begin tx) smash this somo-vvhv?rc—why not in iho universitier.. office. They ensure that, short of a palace revolution, those now in power will select who shall succeed to the top jobs. The five members of the Academic Board at first sight seem to give the possibility (however rernote in practice) of a sizeable majority of non-establishment individuals getting their feet in the door. But in pure Catch-22 tei-ms there is a further rule I have not told you about. This is that, of the five members of the Academic Board, not less than two must be persons who are alread.v of the establishment as members of the Standing Committee of the governors. So that leaves three newly-elected "outside" academics— out of a total of 12 or 13. As to what these bodies will do in this grand election year of 1971, I know no more than the next man and a lot less than those who are not next to me. Rumour has it that Adams ¦will be reappointed as director but that Robbins, who was made chairman on the understanding that he would not hold office beyond 1971, will not seek reelection. If this is what happens, the consequences should be interesting. The tone and style of the administration of the School are considerably influenced not only by the character of the two men at the top but by the relationship between them. You will see that students and the academic staff at large don't get much of a look-in. Any member of the School may make "suggestions." And the members of the selection committees may "discreetly ascertain" the views of the academic staff. But I am afraid this does not get you or me very far into the act. The student body should, of course, have representatives on the committees. And I would like to see a short-list of candidates for these two jobs put to a general vote within the School. But both these suggestions are no more than seeking to reform in minor ways a structure of government which is, in my view, as oligarchic in its essentials as it has always been. What we need is a rauical /i'-teration and tiiat Is as far oit as ever it was. JOHN GBfFFim ^i^peu. prisoner: CllUKlt We mui: -j^Trttrrf Hirabie f'l ' r r r any" rtVea T;- ;,«nced ,?^dri?EALLY HAPPENf^D ano . iien..delli:>c? and re"- "?> •> BEAVER, May 20th, 1971—Page Two RED IVORY TOWER "Antonio Gramsci: An Introduction to His Thought," by A. Pozzolini. Trans. Anne F, Shourtack. (Pluto Press, 90p,) A NTONIO GRAMSCI was one ¦* of the crop of remarkable leaders and theorists thrown up during the revolutionary upsurge in Europe during and immediately after the first world v/ar. What makes this book about him remarkable is the fact that you could read through crucial sections of it ' without realising this at all. Pozzolini himself is largely to blame. Commenting on Gramsci's unremarkable statement that under capitalism the state is "the economic and political organisation of the bourgeois class," he writes. "Indeed the state is the bourgeois class" (P. 59). Quoting .Gramsci to the effect that a revolutionary party should distinguish itself from the working-class as a whole, while preserving a fundamental unity, Pozzolini writes: "The party is the masses" (P. 77). But that's not all. The straight-faced blurb on the back cover claims that Pozzolini's commentary linking the quotations fro: i Gramsci 'avoids prejudgme- or dogmatic ideas." The only thing it crues manage to do is conceal the present-day relevance or otherwise of Gramsci's ideas. For instance. Gramsci—like Lenin—was in favour of getting communists into Parliament. The idea was to use Parliament as a national platform for socialist ideas and to expose and win workers away from purely Parliamentary reformist parties. This Pozzolini explains. But not in teiTTis of a political situation in which many workers still believed that only a Parliamentary strategy could improve their living standards and conditions of work. This throws a new light on the question of Parliamentary socialism today. After all. crucial improvements for workers over the last 20 years have been gained through direct industrial action and not through Parliamentary reforms. Nor are Parliamentary reformist parties quite so young and relatively innocent as they were in Gramsci's day. Pozzolini's attempt to achieve a spurious objectivity is just an insult to Gramsci's own historical sense. The real lesson here is how to analyse and act on a particular situation in a particular historical and national context. Britain in 1971 is a very different place from Italy in the "twenties and 'thirties. The prime importance of Gramsci for us is therefore not so much what he did and wrote so much as the method he used and improved in doing it. Gramsci himself was much clearer about this than Pozzolini. The various "branches" of Marxism, economics, philosophical, political, social, etc., tend to be historically limited to specific periods within the life of capitalism as a whole. Marxism is nevertheless relevant to all the phases of capitalism because it is at root nothing more than a method of analysis and a guide to action. There is a great need of Marxist theory in Britain today. But it has to be related to the dominant ideas held by potential socialists—and particularly by workers. In Britain, these ideas are known loosely as Labourism. For the benefit of left-wing publishers, there also exists another set of ideas known as Conservatism. These, too, are held by some potential socialists. There is hardly any good socialist writing on these crucial areas. The only two titles that come to my mind are "Parliamentary Socialism," by Ralph Miliband, and "Where is Britain Going ?" by Leon Trotsky, the first of which is out of print. Another one was "The Employer's Offensive." by Tony Cliff. Urban guerilla Kropotkin, revolution, bread... and cheese A 3 the authoritarian left increas-ingly find.s itself isolated and out of touch with the contemporary scer.D. vve can observe an increasing interest in libertarian thinking. One a.spect of this has been the appearance of several new publications of original anarchist writings. One such of these is Kropotkin's "Selected Writings on Anarchism and Revolution" (M.I.T. Press^i. This anthology contains essays and letters of Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921', one of the bigge.st names in the history of libertarian ideas. The essays of the Paris Commune, the 1905 revolution in Russia and on the theme of expropriation clearly manifest the anarchistic belief that it is the masses who must make their own future. The germ of the ideas contained in these passages is that it is the autonomous ¦self-activity of the masses which provides the success of any revolution. With this in mind, Kropotkin analyses the successes and setbacks, the victories and defeats of these historical events. Kropctkin's historical writings invariably contain original and interesting themes. In "The Russian Revolutionary Party" we are given an analysis of the late 19tli century revolutionary movement. What is interesting in his description of how the revoluticnai-y violence of that period was generated in the defensive actions against the "om-cial" violence of the state. Similarly, an interesting viewpoint is given in his essay on the history of the state, where he sees in the ascendence of the state a regressive step back from the communal autonomy of the Middle Ages. Of the five letters presented here the one written to Steffen in October 1914 is by far the most significant. It reveals why Kropotkin surprisingly supported the allies in the Great War. It was his stand on this issue which bitterly split the anarchist movement and lead Mala-testa to write his polemical pamphlet "Anarchists Have Forgotten Their Principles," The letters to Lenin, however, and his conversations with the Bolshevik leader, published here, add nothing nw to our knowledge of the libertarian perspective of the Russian Revolution. By far the most interesting essay is one with the lengthy title of "Mu-st we occupy ourselves with the examination of the ideal of a future society?" It is Kropotkin's first political essay, written in 1873 for the Chaikovskii Circle, a revolutionary group in St. Petersburg. It appears here in English for the fust time. In it we can read of issues which are still extremely relevant today—the role of intellectuals and students, the debate about peaceful and violent means, the role of reformism, of education, agitation and organisation. Kropotkin's writings on these issues are throughout infused with his vision of the future society where equality and freedom are the key principles. This anthology is edited by Martin Miller, an expert on Kropotkin's early life. His excellent introduction not. only traces the develo'p-ment of Kropotkin's life but also situates the rise of anarchism in its historical situation which witnessed the immense growth of the state's power in the latter half of the 19th century. BOB DENT "Armed Insurrection," by A. Neuberg (Tukachevsky, Ho Ghi Minh, Piotnitsky, Wollen- berg). New Left Books 1970— £3.00. I'PHIS book was assembled by the Agitprop section of the Communist International under the direction of O. Piotnitsky (who, along with his co-authors, "Tukhachevsky and Kippenber-ger, was later executed by Stalin) in 1928 and was the Comintern's official manual on insurrection. This edition has a new fore-ward by Eric Wollenberg, the only survivor of the team of authors, who was a military leader of the German Communist Party, but who later broke with Staiin and is now highly critical of the policy of the Comintern at the time and, therefore, of the political content of the book. It is a pity that this piece by Wollenberg is not more extensive. Much of the technical/organisational information is interesting (there is a long section by Tukhachevsky that is obviously based on the experience of the Russian Civil War and a section by Ho Chi Minh on work among the peasantry), but the majority of it either does not deal with insurrection in advanced urban countries or is militarily outdated. I am afraid this is no manual for a future British Red Army—that is yet to be written. Marxists have always recognised that v,-ar is simply "politics carried on by other means." (Clausewtz). This means that the policy of a socialist party to insurrection is only the final outcome of its previous political activity. The first two chapters of the book, "The Second International and Insurrection" and "Bolshevism and Insurrection" are valuable surveys of the attitudes of Social-Democracy and Marxism to the state and insurrection, which rely heavily on quotations from Lenin on the nature of opportunism and the need for the state to be in an advanced state of decomposition before insurrection is begun. There then follow four case-studies of armed revolt more in the tradition of Blanqui than that of Marx or Lenin, Reval (in Estonia), 1924. Hamburg 1923, Canton 1927 and Shanghai 1926-27. , The Reval rising, a thoroughly "putchist" adventure, was organised independently of the real development of class-struggle in order that Zinoviev, then head of the Comintern, should have a "success" to use in an inter-party faction fight. Hambui-g 1923 was a ridiculously irresponsible move on the part of the Comintern and the Brondler leadership of the KPD to stage a rising in one city in order to test the possibility of a general rising. The Canton insurrection took place while the revolutionary wave was receding, chiefly owing to the policy of the Comintern in subordinating the Chinese Communist Party to the Kumingtong. In the Shanghai insurrections the working class was completely under the political and military domination of the "anti-imperialist" Shanghai bourgeoisie and the Kumington Army. Although Neuberg steers clear of many political topics, the fact that the events are not sufficiently distorted to clear the Comintern of failure brings him in for criticism in an appendix on behalf of the Comintern probably written by Togliatti (later leader of the Italian CP, and darling of a section of the "New Left"), This statement represents the line of the Comintern during the ultra-Left "third period" and the writer refers to the SPD and its military organisation, the "National Flag," as Social-fascist.'' This policy led to the victory of genuine fascism in Germany four years later. How could the leaders of Comintern have made such blunders ? The answer is basically fairly simple. The Russian bureaucracy, having separated itself from its own working class bj' material privilege and the bayonets of the Red Army and the rifles of the GPU, was unable to approach the international working class on any other basis than giving it orders to be carried out; after all, on the home front the Russian leaders were used to being obeyed. By the time this book was written the organic relationship between Party and Class that had been the foundation of the Russian Revolution had disappeared on the national and international level. Letters I")EAR LIZ,—From time to time people mutter darkly and despondently about the standard of lecturing in L.S.E. Particularly the rather older victims who have come back into full-time, formal education after a considerable interval. Naturally, comments vary according to the individual and his -ciations. lu pr-,. Bu': there is ol complaint a-: k : what iS ¦ . e standards: 1 . Are new-LV asa In the University of Zambia (as in other institutions) the Department of Education ran a two-day course for lecturing staff, partly to introduce them to techniques, visual aids, etc., which many tended to fight shy of; partly to refresh those longer in tooth and more set in mould who had sufficient humility to admit their shortcomings as lecturers. After all, not every academic is golden-tongued, a born teacher. Why should it be thought that the charisma of communicator is conferred with the Ph.D.? And why should audiences (y^^^^^have to be suffer in excrucia*' suit ? Q- hide behind his reading-desk. Would it not assist both lecturer and audience if some method of assessment and evaluation was set up ? Each student would be invited to contribute his own comment (anonymously, if need be) : Is the material "coming across?" Is it audible, lucid, well presented, sufficiently illustrated ? Is the lecturer evasive, dogmatic or simply dull ? Does he leave sufficient time for questions and discussion ? Would some of our sociologists be interested in initiating a survey in the School ? I would be interested - to - receive comments and suggestioiTS. (Grad, STUDENTS' UNIONS JJJEAR SIR, — I note in "Beaver," 25.2.71, Jacques Arnold's piece on the rights of individuals under the current Industrial Relations Bill, that he fails to refer to the parellel of student unions. No one has the right to contract out of student unions. This urgently needs to be reformed also. ^ At Bradford we are offering a prize, nationally, to the first student who gets his L.E.A. not to pay his union dues, A framed copy of the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights and £15 cash.. Yours, etc.. Lis Faulkner, Norman Bergel, John Stathatos, John Andrews, John Fisk Theatre: Diana Villiers Cinema: Norman Bergel Advertising Agent: J.E.P. & Associates, 107/111 Fleet St., E.G.4. Printed by: Ripley Printers Ltd., , Ripley, Derbyshire. Beav^r"~3aclress: L.S.E. Stud&'Jts' b/h-Ti, St. Clement's SuiidTr WC2A 2P' BEAVER, May 20th, 1971—Page Thrfce control of the university: V.P. speaks out HAT exactly do we want ou r University to be ? What should be our status within it ? The institution should be controlled by its members. These are all the people who work there—the library and administration staff, the porters and cleaners, the undergraduates and graduates and the academic staff. Oi' course this is not the situa- The hated exam system ling-tion which exists at present, ers on when almost all students Take, for example, the non-academic staff. Their whole day is spent at the school, eight hours or more, yet what say have they over this period oi" their daily life ? They are employed at the terms of the L.S.E. executives, and have only as much independence and self-determination as these executives deem necessary. Thus this whole area of their life is outside their control. They have no choice, they can be treated as inferiors at L.S.E. or in industry or they can starve. They are oppressed by the whole system and L.S.E. is' a part of it. It is a system which uses every viable means of keeping them in their lowly positions. The very survival of the system depends on this. The same applies to the student. It is true that he can choose between L.S.E., some other university or a job in industry or ' commerce. Yet what type of choice is this ? It is a choice between evils. Just because a person chooses L^S.E. that in no way_ implies that he is obliged to obey and respect its customs or its rules and regulations. A person cannot be held to a contract which is morally and politically unfair. Indeed he has an obligation to destroy and replace that contract. Just as the worker's day is ordered by his superiors, so is ours. The academic staff decide what it is we will study. We do have some say. However, since it is our own lives should we not have complete control ? The amount of the course the academics permit us to choose is basically irrelevant. If they were as generous as they could be this would not be good enough. The very fact that it is the academic staff who choose is the thing which is wrong. The choice should lie with the students. Many of our professors may be "benevolent tyrants", "enlightened despots", but tyrants/ despots they still remain. taking exams agree that they are a farce. The whole allocation of the buildings in which we work and so many other important things are all outside our control. Our inferior status overflows into every aspect of the institution. The facts are inescapable ; our lives are controlled for us. The powers that control them have it at their discretion just how much say we shall have. We must fight to destroy this system, using all reasonable means, even when the School interprets these means as being unconstitutional. When the School takes disciplinary action against us without reasonable cause it is they who have committed the crime, not us. Some form of decentralised democratic mass control of our college is what we must be striving for. We are old and intelligent enough to run our lives ; how long are these academics going to deny us this fundamental right ? It is time for a new constitution to be drawn up ; one that is acceptable to the majority of L.S.E.'s inhabitants and one which permits mass control and the maximum degree of self-determination for minority groups. It is clear that the academic staff's present offer of representation is a violation of the principle of equality and is in no v.-ay a just or morally correct system for running our college. It should not be up to any individual to create a constitution ; it should be collectively produced by everyone who has to live by it. However, to avoid this article being meaningless, the type of . constitution I envisage is one where the supreme body is periodical meetings of all the individuals of the college. This assembly would make general policy decisions, taking a simple vote v/here necessary. The decisions would be implemented by committees (e.g., on housing, health. School accommodation allocation and admis- sions, etc.). Implementation of decisions would be the sole function of these committees and their composition and duration would be completely under the control of the general meeting. One of these committees perhaps called the Finance Committee could negotiate with the outside authorities for the School grant. The negotiation would be subject of course to ratification by the general meeting. It would- be wrong for the general meeting to decide the conditions of employment for non-academic staff. The principle of worker-consumer control must apply here. Conditions of employment should be decided by a committee consisting of half representatives of the workers and half representatives of the consumers of the particular product being produced. The representatives should be subject to the strict control of organising academic work. This could be done by general meetings of each academic department , i.e., the students and staff of a department would meet and take decisions over such matters as the nature of courses, employment of new lecturers, allocating courses to various lecturers, and the future of • examinations (if they have a future). Each academic department would have a constitutional right to exist, to run its own affairs and to be maintained at its initial strength. Certain individual rights should be written into the constitution, e.g., the right of students and staff to remain at the college and use its facilities. No minority group should be oppressed. It is up to the majority in this University to get together and construct some democratic system of management for it. Having constructed such a system it would be up to us all to fight vigorously for its implementation. John Fisk SEASIDE ACTION POLITICS J3LYM0UTH may not be the ing very much the poor relation most mspirmg of towns for a week's stay over Easter, but that was the lot of the five L.S.E. Liberal Society members who attended the Young Liberal Conference. The first two days were devoted to the Union of Liberal Students, among the topics discussed being the involvement by students in action within the local communities in which they are studying. Much consideration was given to the fact that students are only available for this work in term-time and also to the apparent conflicts that arise with local residents for housing and other facilities. ,i,^oned higher • tens ediicatipn.. Tliis is that differentiates p'- '¦! univtjrsiti s*:;-;:ndev centra] and th« ¦h ,1 of the former so far as books, grants, etc. are concerned. The binary system was acknowledged to be a "bad thing," the ending of which should be campaigned for vigorously. Underlying everything, however, was the general concensus of opinion among those present —not least those from L.S.E.— that the year had seen the collapse of the Left as represented by Socialist Societies and the like and that there was now a vacuum on the student political scene. The National League Conference which followed dealt with every conceivable topic from " ¦ ¦ piiLllc raiisport i.,;'.;in Ar-erica ajid ther» ; a stror--io-Iing that th^r- w, - mv^-a >jn the'arond? for airything to 1iscus:^ec! - " ' is was on -action arH on 'E.-IF;!!-?- inojv' Hoe where some Young Liberals performed a short sketch to illustrate the horrors of the census. As was said often during the conference and finally by Jeremy Thorpe, the census was to be resisted by all possible means, for it marked the beginning of the "data-bank" society. Lastly, it must be mentioned that Andrew Keogh had an easy victory in the election for Chairman of the Union of Liberal Students over a Cambridge opponent while Bill James has also found himself on the Executive as ''general dogsbody."' And — strangely enough — the name John Morton appeared as a write-in cani'idale . ..• :¦ o.;e case ^hi Vi.-f? Festival '71 "A^TEVER ! we never have nor if the collection had been con-fiimv ic reaction ducted in a more piecemeisl ever will" is a many will recognise to the proposal that L.S.E. should have its own student festival, why ? Doubtless there are a number of reasons but they can be broadly classified into two main group : The first is the "bourgeois do-gooder" group and the second, the more general, "it won't be allowed" theory. The "bourgeois do-gooder" theory encompasses all those who consider such festivals to be simply pandering to the middle-class concept of a student, etc., whilst also including those who consider anything related to charity to be irrelevant and harmful to the "cause." However, the view that is probably most widespread within L.S.E. is that which holds such festivals to be outlawed at L.S.E. because of our proximity to Westminster ; no one is quite sure how this belief spread in the first place because a visit to Bow Street proved it to be completely unfounded ! It must be admitted that most of those involved in the initial organisation, having taken the advice of the local girls believed this would be their greatest hurdle, hence there was relief all round when the myth was revealed. For those who take the view that the whole project is simply "do-gooding" and thus to be avoided at all costs, there is an answer, one good enough, we believe, to allow a change of mind without a sacrifice of beliefs. It is to be hoped that no one v.-ould argue with the belief that students have a responsibility towards the community, the form of the responsibility can vary, but it is our belief that the festival we envisage will provide students with the opportunity of making a positive contribution to the community instead of simply stating its ills and how they came about. "Charity" indicates giving something for nothing bar personal satisfaction, though it is a much-maligned and misused concept. In our context charity can be taken as indicating money raised in return for personal enjoyment, a feature of life that is often sadly absent from today's society. One of our greatest hopes is that the festival will bring students closer together through involvement in the various activities we propose. Students often complain, and with some justification, that there is a lack of communication, both amongst and between the different years; we believe that this is often due to the lack of opportunity to intermix, and that the festival can and will provide the means whereby students can be more fully integrated amongst themselves. By concentrating the fund-raising activities into a set and defined time peiiod it will be possible to raise a far larger amount than would be the case fashion. The Festival is open to the criticism that we are acting like students. Well perhaps, but the fact remains that whilst to some the festival might appear trite, every little bit helps. No amount of criticism can destroy the fact that the money we raise will be of benefit to someone. Who that someone is depends on you. Some of the results from well-established festivals/rags are far from ephemeral. Birmingham ,for instance, expected to realise £10,000 for local corr-munity projects. What exactly do wo mean by "festival" ? Well, for a start, the name is used simply for convenience—the final title has yet to be decided on. The basic framework of the festival organisation has already been established, this consisting of three main committees, magazine, publicity and programmes ; obviously all are closely linked and there are certain sub-groups such as the one that coordinates with "Ents"' who have the main responsibility for the musical side of the festival. All of these committees are open and as yet no major decisions have been made bar that of choosing a date ; however. work must begin soon, so if you are at all interested, join now. Decisions on the music side are especially urgent, as bookings have to be made. We v;ant to cater for as broad a range of tastes as is possible so suggestions (as always) are welcome. Likewise, it is important that vrork begins on the magazine soon, as this is the key to the festivars financial success. Obviously an event such as this depends on the quality of the ideas behind it. The range of possibilities is endless as has been amply shown by other colleges. One Southampton student scaled the wall of the maximum security wing at Parkhurst to daub his slogan inside, returning the next night to prove it had been no fluke. One of the most ambitious schemes took place in the North, where students managed to convince a whole village it was to be moved' 200 yards to the r;ght. Petit-ions were organised, letters sent, etc., and after a month it vras the students who revealed the hoax. It has been proved that the festival is possible and the help we have so far received shows that it is practical, but, as al-u-ays, help is needed. We need people prepared to put forward practical ideas and then help in their execution. Anyone interested should contact either John Fisk or John Andrews through the Union. CHINA WEEKEND CONFERENCE; Rpport from Apr. 1971. Sacu Visit. Politics in Chinese life. Friday, 9tli July to Sunday, lUh July at' Plow Hatch Hall, Sharpthorne, nr. Ea.?f Grinstead, Sussex, incl. cost: £,6.50. Apply EX'e Sheringham. S.A.C.U.. 41 Gt. Russell Street, W.C.l. i IttdUBi JEWELLERY AND WATCHES - 25Vo DtSCOUi*. U' ill NUS —-iDers ^nd or . DJAMOND c:¦^GAGfc^;E^r RINGF.. VVeu_ : a;iu ' • Silver—CIgareite Cases, Pcwdt. Brar jlcts. •Vecklac'' . Hiircl'ps. I f. Silrfi'': and E.P.s.C-, ^ 10% ¦ 20% DISCOUNT fo all NUS menrtef- • or, al! Branded Goods—AM Watches, C'-ckb. Cutlery, • r>. ano on ail Socond-hr'i<; Jewellery. and repairs to fi.1': jr lepairs i<, Vf'"'- ^ c ' Haiton Garde -. ---9-12 700/ / WEAVER, May 20tli, 19*1—Page Fom 1, iy'ould be realistic and beneficial and not evil. It would be likely that Asian children would be selected for such schools, and most West Indian childi'en would remain in normal schools, due to having the same home-language and culture. The scheme would probably be costly, and the rate support grant for these areas would have to be increased. This section of the Bill could give these areas a breathing-space to properly assess and improve community relations. The Bill also brings in "the concept of Patriality. The problem of immigration inevitably raises the question of who has priority. It appears to me to be quite reasonable to give priority to those who have the closest contact with these islands, given that we cannot potentially accommodate any sizeable proportion of Commonwealth citizens who make up a .quarter of the wodd^s--^ Right of Abode is given to : U.K. citizens who are, or their parents or grandparents were, citizens by right of birth, adoption, naturalisation or registration in the U.K. ; or U.K. citizens settled for more than five years in this country; or Commonwealth citizens who are the child or grandchild of a U.K. citizen by birth. The Patriality clause has been called racialist. This, of course, avoids the issue. Inevitably, the greater majority of patrials are white. Britain has always been predominantly white. However, the descendants of all immigrants, born in this country, regardless of colour, will be patrials. There are already thousands of non-white patrials. The Bill extends to future Commonwealth immigrants the duty to register annually with the police ; as do already alien residents. It is to be hoped that an amendment to this clause will be passed. If it IS necessary to register, this could probably be done at the local Social Security Office or Employment Exchange, either of which have adequate facilities for registration. Registration with the police is to many degrading, and many immigrants, due to their home background, may fear policemen. The original reason for registration with the police, introduced at the turn of the century for aliens, was that they have widespread local stations, and that they have the facilities to follow-up people who fail to re-register. This does not mean that in the minority of cases the details cannot be forwarded to the police for investigation. The number of people failing to re-register may, in fact, be so tiny, and the need for control so slight, that registration in practical terms may well be altogether unnecessary bureaucracy. Registration of aliens by the police has, however. worked smoothly in the past. Only 15 extra men will be needed for the new registration. Tlie Bill also extends the sanction of deportation to those immigrants who are committed to prison for a criminal offence (and are recommended for deportation), or for breaking their conditions of stay. These provisions, if each individual case is adequately proven, are it^a-sonable and necessary. There is no reason why non-U.K. citizens should be a burden to the community 'except, possibly, where they genuinely cannot help themselves). Equally, the person's dependerjts may be deported if they are likely to become a charge on public fun els. Careful and considered amendment of this may be necessary. It codd be grossly unfair to send back a mother and children against tht-ir will because the husband has "gone off the rails." If she can supp'.Tt herself and them it would be wrccjg to send them back. Equally, self-supporting or teenage studying children may have, a moral entitlement not to be deported because of a misdemeanour of a parent. In all cases flexibij;:.y humanity and individual consider.'t-tion must be exercised. The Bill provides a wide range ci right of appeals ; against refusai oJ entry; against refusal of a charge in the conditions of stay; against deportation; and against refusa'; of a certificate of patriality. There is no appeal against a o'.--cision personally taken by the Hoir^t; Secretary. There is, thereby, a danger of injustice, but is one inherent in our democratic system ratr.ti than in this Bill? The Home Secretary gives consideration to such value-judgments as the "pubj:c good." This flexibility to defend ow society is essential. After five years' residence. Co"-monwealth citizens may regisux I i.e. naturalise) as a U.K. citizer. ; having proved to be of good chara;-ter; to have sufficient knowledge oJ the English language, and to have the intention of remaining in ti.is country. There is no more danger of xht police stopping coloured people the road to enquire whether they are legal immigrants, than there ;s now. Police -harassment is unlike.v to occur due to the high standarc.'-. and traditions of the force, and aSst. to the fact that policemen norma:],v do not try to make work for ther,-,-selves. A policeman who does hf.;--rass immigrants is subject to lais; and discipline, and individual ca.'-e.s must be followed up. The Bill is a rationalisation ci the control of immigration to country. Those who have called racialist are prone to see "racialists under the bed." and would do betiey to put their social consciences to work, by striving for racial harmony and integration, rather than looking for grievances to scare coloured people with. By making "racialism" a perpetual issue, such people are danif^t:-ing integration and causing a reaction personified by Mr. Powe:? JACQUES ARNOLD Chairman, Conservative Society A warm welcome to Spurgeon's STUDENTS & NURSES Fellowship at the METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE Elephant & Castle, London, S.E.1 Evangelical fellowship and meetings EVERY THURSDAY- "SAMPLE" TOPICS from MAY: The Infallibility and Inspiration of Scripture ; The Regulative Principle of Scripture ; Rome and The Church of England ; Evolution Now ; Guidance ''Informal Fellowship from 6.30 p.m. Main Meeting starts 7.30 p.m., followed by discussion, light refreshments and optional recreational activities. Pipase 'pi'one 735 7076 for nrn«nectus r*TTT . -------f ;Oi BEAVER, May 20t1i, 1971—Page Six Revolutionary Textbook "Marx's Theory of Alienation," by Istvan Meszaros. (Cloth £2.25, Paperback £1. Merlin Press.) ^'THIS is, in every imaginable way. one of the best Marxist books to have appeared since the war. It is comprehensive without being esoteric. It is readable without descending into banality. If parts oi it are difficult to grasp straight away, then the difficulty can safely be attributed to depth of tb.ought rather than pretentiousness or academism. And—wonder of wonders (especially coming from a left publisher)—it is" relatively cheap (300-odd pages a pound). "Man must compete if he is not to die" is our imperative that lies behind much social activity today. From the attempt to cut real wages to working for an exam, this motto is justified by the threat from the other country or from the other students. Marx says that competition was not absolutely necessary, but necessary only in terms of one kind of society. The only human necessity that applies to all societies is "man must produce if he is not to die." Such is the ideological aspect of the theory of alieBation. But it is only one aspect. Alienation in Marx is, as Meszaros points out. a concept of synthesis. What the synthesis rests on is the analysis of alienated labour. In general, people work to produce and reproduce themselves as human beings. Under capitalism the worker works to produce and reproduce (1) capi"-tal and (12) himself as a worker, a servant of capital. Everyone in capitalist society is alienated. Different spheres of social life are divorced from each other. Society tends to become polarised around two main contending classes. But though everj'cne may be alienated, only one of these classes is capable of recognising the fact. From the standpoint of labour, the very process of production as such can appear to be a process of alienation. From the standpoint of capital, it appears as the gaining of the fruits of other people's labour. Only the workers have the potential, as a class, to see themselves and the rest of societies as they really are. Only they have the potential to revolutionise labour and society. Me.szaros' writing is far removed from the crudity of some professional "Marxists" and "anti-Marxists." Unlike them, he does not place himself above a conflict' that is escalating both in Britain and a number of other countries. That is why this book is Marxist in the true sense—it is a guide to action. Pessimism of optimism the intelligence, of the will n "Antonio Granisci: Life of a Revolutionary," by Guiseppe Fiori. (Published by New Left Books at £2.75.) 1UST a few months ago, the Italian Communist Party' celebrated its 50th anniversary and 20,000 communists at a mass rally in the Palazzo Dello Sport pledged themselves to ¦follow an independent "Italian Road to Socialism." Earlier Party leader Luigi Longo reaffirmed that Italian communists were following their own road "to a socialism that responds to the national traditions, to the requirements of our country and to our country alone." The full significance of these statements and of current thinking amongst Italian communists can only be realised through a searching analysis of Italian Marxist Antonio Gram-sci. Giuseppe Fiori's excellent biography of Gramsci ^ goes much of the way to achieving this analysis. Fiori's major contribution is in unravelling the confusion that has camouflaged Gramsci s position on the Stalinist rejection of the "transitional stage" to communism. The sixth congress of the 2nd International declared that the rightist approach of a united front programme was to end and that there was to be no affiliation with bourgeois social democratic parties. This sectarian line spelt out that social democrats were non-revolutionary and maintained an equivalence between social democracy and fascism. Communist Parties should have no part in any alliance but should conduct an isolated struggle against all bourgeois parties. With the imprisonment of Gramsci by the fascists, Tog-liatti assumed leadership of the Italian Communist Party (P.C.I.) and the task of engineering the change and propagating the new ideology fell to him. Gennaro Gramsci was called upon to consult his brother in prison and discover his views. Gennaro returned to declare that any conception of the existence of a revolutionary situation was premature. Later that year, the more determined communists began a campaign to split themselves from the P.S.I, and form an Independent Communist Party. Gramsci was opposed to such a split and came in for some strong criticism from Lenin : "To the Italian comrades we must say simply that_ it is the outlook of the 'Ordine Nuovo' militants which corresponds to the principles of the Communist International, and not the outlook of the present majority among the leaders and their parliamentary group . . . Hence, we must say to the Italian comrades and to all parties which have a right-wing; the reformist tendency has nothing in common with communism." Lenin's influence upon Gramsci. however, was considerable and in his "False Discourses on Freedom," Gramsci was finally convinced of the need to split. In June 1921, at the 17th National Congress of the P.S.I, the split came. If a revolutionary situation was not imminent in Turin in 1920, it was certainly imminent in 1922 and the failure of the left to seize upon this is principally demonstrated by the enthusiasm of the fascists to grasp the situation and seize control. By October 1922 Mussolini was in power, having stolen the initiative from the left. The specific dynamics which brought about this ironic twist of fate will doubtless be debated by many. The split on the left created a vacuum which the fascists seized upon and exploited to the full. The communists also were not prepared to resort to the tactics of the fascists, believing in a more democratic rather than heavy-handed method. Whilst in Moscow Gramsci met and fell in love with Julia Schucht. This relationship was to give him the only solace and joy that he would receive throughout the depressing and I iciiuiv, .w r sickening years that were to clearly signified come. The position in Italy that "Nino is in complete agreement with you. With the acknowledgement of Italy's leading Marxist theorist, the P.C.I, continued on its suicidal course. Gennaro now .states, however, that he lied in order to save his brother from expulsion. Practically, the nevi' ideology made little difference to the Italian communists for they had already been destroyed by this time and no alliance with the social democrats would have saved them or us from fascism. Theoretically, however, it is important that we note Gramsci's independent line for it helps to explain why today's Italian communists also follow an "Independent Italian Road to Socialism" and are prepared to deviate from the official Soviet position, as they did over Czechoslovakia. The Italians have learnt their lesson the, hardest way with the rise of fascism and are now prepared to acknowledge Gramsci's insistence upon a thorough analysis of the specific existing conditions. Antonio Gramsci was born in Sardinia in 1891, the son of a middle-class family who had seen better times. Despite his stunted growth and hunch-back he showed early signs of a brilliant intellect and won a scholarship to the University of Turin. It was here that he became a confirmed socialist and began his journalisms. Illness forced him to leave university and he took up professional agitation having joined the Italian Socialist Party (P.S.I.) during the war. He became closely aligned to the Soviet position in the immediate years following the revolution, paying respect to the idea of factory councils based on a non-sectarian ideology. By autumn 1919 over 30,000 engineering workers were enrolled at Fiat and Lancia. His activities helped prolong the Turin strike of 1920 and bring about a general strike but the defeat of the strike was a personal blow to Gramsci and a second takeover and subsequent failure in Sep tember 1920 was deteriorating, as also wa; Gramsci's health. Almost thi; entire leadership of the P.C.I, had been arrested and Gramsc, was forced to assume leadei'shiji from Vienna, From this pos;'^-tion he was able to move P.C.I, towards the right so that it could effectively challenge fascism and avoid total annihilation, 1 In May 1924 he stood for an^l i was duly elected to the Italian | parliament, a position which granted him immunity and thuj allowed him to continue agitation within the borders of Italj, instead of outside. The movo infuriated Mussolini but Granisci managed by his stealth ti> survive two years before Mussolini could take no more and declared that no opposition parties would be allowed in Italy. On November 8th, 192fi. Gramsci was arrested. At his trial in June 1927, ho was sentenced to 20 years im^ prisonment. Mussolini's rull was now complete and all oi>-position ceased to exist in Italy until many years later. Between 1927 and his dea^ on April 27th, 1937, Gramsci underwent increasing pain from tubercolosis and angina but wa> not deterred from commencin:^ a project which was to stam]) his authority on Marxism. His prison letters and notebooks span a period of over ten years and set out a detailed analysis of Italian and Marxist philosophy, affirming Gramsci's position as a leading Marxist theorist and revealing the soul of a committed revolutionary. ; Today's New Left as well as the present day Italian Communist Party can learn mucM from Gramsci. Particularly, that every situation requires an independent analysi.s. There is no formula for socialism or revolution which can be appliiJ4 to every situation. Sectariaii politics by the left may mabj the achievement of socialism all the more difficult. Discipline without thought is as senseless as enthusiasm without maturity. STEPHEN F. KELL\. steering the economy alternative London "makes fascinating reading—lots of original and imaginative suggestions, plus down - to - earth advice, — "Observer," mysticism — communes — crafts left-wing activities — macrobiotics — meditation — arrest — legal aid — flat-finding — squatting — the dole — jobs — tenants' rights — contraception — abortion — adoption — VO — drugs guide — homp-sexuals — auction rooms — credit — phone — transport — escape. "Genuinely iiiformative guide to surviving in tVie Smoke . . . i^iQue und exceUei^t vaUte."Tioie.puj ards Communism, but the victim of a zealot's narrowness of vision, and obsessed in his later years with an almost paranoic regard for violence and death. Castro emerges as yet another victim of the Cuban malaise he sought to conquer. Diversification of the economy has failed, while Russia has usurped the traditional role of America . Standards of education and health have certainly improved, but the price, like the time-keeping of Musso]ini"s trains, has been a high one. All individual-it.v, once one of the most attractive facets of Cuban life, has been consciousl.y sacrificed for uniformity. With prisons overflowing and shooting on the increase. the old spectre of corruption still walks abroad, but wearing different clothing. The iid Cuban road still leads rriiwuai^waaa. BEAVER, May 20th, 1971—Page Eight PENDING ATTENTION! THEATRE "Coriolanus." National Theatre Brechfs controversial production. "The Inquisition.'' So ho Theatre, at lunchtime. Michael Almaz (Anarchist and Rasputin). An account of the Spanish Inquisition. "Forget-me-not-Lane." Apollo Theatre. A beautiful play recently shown at Greenwich. EXHIBITIONS Edward K i e n h o 1 z. I.C.A. Eleven tableaux are shown in an exhibition which took three years to organise. There is no comparable retrospective show of Kienholzs' work. Henri Lartigue, E m m e 11 Gowan (famed photographers). Photographers' Gallery, 8 Great Newport Street, W.C.2. Robert Morris. Tate Gallery. Five dimensions agilely demonstrated in one show. Bring rubber soles. CINEMAS "The Rite." Academy Two. Bergmann's latest film. Superb. "Joe"—the latest American film about a committed society, where murder is part of justice. BALLET Bejazt and the Ballet of the 20th Century. London Coliseum. A unique company. SOLDIER BLUE At Odeon Leicester Square A CURIOUS mixture of romanticism and horror appear in this film. The coexistence of violence, glory, patriotism with love, fear and final surrender, reveal an atmosphere of contradiction which makes it very hard to have a definite opinion on "Soldier Blue." From the very beginning. Buffy St. Maries song of "Soldier Blue," captivates the audience : it is sad, desperate, a complaint about life and freedom, it sets the tone to the film. "Soldier Blue" is the story of a white girl, captured by the Indians, married to the Cheyenne Chief, and then rescued by the army ; a white girl who is torn by two worlds: the white one, with its principles and pride ; the indian one, naive but sincere, courageous but nevertheless a minority. She loved her Indian husband, but she also loved Soldier Blue (Pter Strauss)—only at the end do the two worlds link up: this is the only ray of sunshine in Ihis film. The centre of the film is the massacre of Sand Creek, and the horors committed by the Yankee army. The battle scene is the most violent scene ever to be shown on a screen. Everything you mean when you use the word terrifying comes to life under your eyes. The final aim of this film is to show that in a world where violence seems to be the main occupation of men, love can. find little place, rebellion is the only alternative, but in most cases it is useless. Cinema DEATH IN VENICE By Luchino Viscount \ N intensely dramatic film, where love, hate, failure, success seem to be part of one ing. Death. It is undoubtedly Visconti's greatest film and a completely new experience in cinematography. The dialogue is almost non-existent ; with one word Visconti reaches his purpose: plague. The plague is the terror of Venice, it is the destructive element of its beauty and charm. "Death in Venice" is the dramatic story of an unusual I'elationship: a musician's soul and beauty. The end moments of an artist who finds the answer to his search for perfection in the face of a teenager. The desperate struggle of a man in love with an abstraction, which he cannot reach because, of its material immorality. But this later factor hardly appears in Visconti's film; the main element of this relationship is the protection of that perfection (the beauty of the teenager) against the horrors of the plague. Dirk Bogarde is outstanding, I had not seen him give such a fantastic performance since Losey's "The Servant." Sylvana Mangano is, as usual, beautiful, exciting and a perfectly-balanced actress. "Death in Venice" is probably a film we will remember, not only for its dramatic intensity, but for its sheer beauty. records DIVE DEEP—Quintessence (Island) 1 TURING their short history Quintessence have grown from strength to strength and although, strangely enough, their records have never sold in any large quantity they must rank as one of the strongest draws on today's group scene. This is no doubt due to the excitement they generate which, in their own words, "turns the group into the audience and the audience into the group." In this, their third L.P., they manage to capture in a studio the same excitement they create on stage. Musically there has been no change in content from the first two albums, but this recording develops earlier themes giving great room for improvisation. The songs follow the same pattern as the live act, beginning very quietly and building up to a climax. Unlike other rock bands they do not need to rely on volume or on vast amounts of distortion but on gentle vocals and on flowing instrumental solos of which the most prominent are performed by flautist extraordinaire Raja Ram and lead guitarist all. To the cynic the religious sentiment must seem unduly pretentious, however there can be no doubting the sincerity of the band. Their display of joy-fulness and happiness is apparent from the simple lyrics but there is no seed to seek out meaningful interpretations—just relax and listen to this album "dedicated to the Divine Mother of the Universe" and the message is perfectly clear. M.K. t NO - ROCK The New Trend ''|''HE Entertainments Commit-tes has been pleasantly surprised to discover that our decision to cancel our proposed rock concerts this term has met with some disappointment in the college. Originally, three were proposed. Two were cancelled because we doubted their commercial viability (anyway, we had little left of our grant, £450, and we were reluctant to exceed our budget), and it is our over the year. Result: no Pi'ocul Harum and Savoy Brown/Climax Chicago at L.S.E. The Faces concert was to go ahead ; no doubt as to the viability of that one. However, the Faces chose to accept a Camden Festival Roundhouse date (May 1st) thus violating agreed but unsigned contract terms. This reduced a certain success to a dubious proposition, given that we are dependent on some of the 3,000 Roundhouse audience patronising L.S.E. concerts, too. So in my personal wisdom, given these facts, and also because the Faces refused to alter the terms from a £300 to a £200 guarantee (but not altering ihe percentage of door receipts agreement) thus restoring good faith, and lastly because colleges in general, and L.S.E. in particular, are messed-around by short-sighted, philistinic money boys, I called it off, accepting a half-hearted, and, of course, yet to materialise, promise of a return date in the autumn. This proposed May date was itself a return for their "illness." So L.S.E. has no reek dates this term. The question remains: how many of you wili miss them. 50, 100. 800 ? The Union will lose no money, the rock music industry computer punch card will have no hcies in it, and the agencies (our is Chiysa-lis—Jethro, TEA, T.Rex. Yes. etc.) won't collect their five per cent. Ents members have been diverted to the cinema on alternative Saturdays. If anyone cares : Er.ts meetings S.118, Thursdays, J p.m. ballet HUGE SUCCESS FOR BALLET RAMBERTAT JEANNETTA COCHRANE THEATRE Ballet Rambert's last performance in London last November scored such a hu^e hit that they have decided to refurn to the Jeannelta Cochrans theatre for a spring season. Their repertoire includes old works, but neverthttess very exciting ones which wi'.hoiit any doubt ballet faos will be glad to see again. The programme this season also includes a new piece by Norman Morris, "That is the show''; one by Christopher Bru&c. "Wings" and J. Scoglio's "Metaflow.'' As usual the Baifet Rambert have tried to Insert an; original element into the pro..? ram me. On Saturday, May 15th, the whole performance wiff toe dedicated to "The Anattrt.iy of a Ballet," in this case Norman Morris's "Blind Sight", an ex-tremelV exciting experience on which I'll try to repi&rt in the next is£ue of "Beavft", The season started cm May 6th and will end on May 22nd. Ballet Rambert: Nf.-o:an Morrice's piece. The Ei '.rly Suit. BEAVER, May 20th, 1971—Page Nine 3? m m m HOW PLAUSIBLE IS STAGED Bakunin in "The Anarchist" at the Theatre Upstairs. FOOD & ZONK These two plays by John Grillo are highly entertaining, but not of great merit. Food Is a gastronomic fiasco with a middle-aged couple gorging a celebration feast. Food for them is a substitute for sex, but the enti'j' of Walter Dreyfus, the negro in search of Sylvia Magnesia, upsets the facade. When the blocked kidneys of sexual frustrations are relieved Doreen (Maev Alexander) rediscovers her true appetite. There is enough substance in this play to fill a short act, but there is too much unnecessary fat about North Sea Gas and Herr Stew's orgies thrown in. Much more enjoyable is ZONK. Blue is the darling of his mother, Dora, (.originally played by Christopher Riggins), and the pathetic offspring of disciplined Eone. No small wonder that the schoolboy bullied by Dad, who swears as often as most people say "you know," and mollicuddled by Mum turns blue in the face and green in the heart. Dad cannot help him, but Mum listens and lets Blue suck her wis- dom and warmth. This play is a vivid de.5cription of what Freud described as the "Oedipus" complex. (.1 wondered it Blue would have been so mystified about the fact.s of life if he had seen "Growing Up," but Mum's lessons would seem preferable to one hour's handbook to the human sex-life.) The acting by the same four actors is highly competent and the production by the Portable Theatre Group lively and fast. You laugh and grunt at a good evening's entertainment. REVOLUTION ? Anarchist," Michael Al-maz's play at the Theatre Upstairs, combines a chronological sequence of historical events with theatrical drama. He has restrained from elaborating on the texts of the first and second Communist Party Congresses in order to write a play which is both informative and exitertaining. "The Anarchist" tells of Nechaev, the earnest leader of the Anarchist movement in St. Petersburg, visiting the hero of the movement, Bakunin, in exile. Bakunin's reputation for active revolution and inspiring leadership has wearied in his old age and the genial "Muscovite bear" has less stamina and fervour than his young visitor. Nechaev, dispassionate and intent on success—the revolution, —is dismayed at Bakunin's deterioration, but he is determined to relight the dynamism of the movement. In the process he is utterly ruthless, prepared to be brutal and to kill. The Anarchist movement begins to stir again. No longer can Nikolai Ogarev, the poet and financial supporter of Bakunin inspire the members, but now his philosophical advice is replaced by Nechaev with his demand for guns not votes. Karl Marx's fundamental disagreement with Bakunin is portrayed through their correspondence, invective comments and bitter criticism. The constant interjection from the two grand men gives the play spirit and humour. Marx condemns Bakunin for his irrationality, lack of constructive thought and general propagandist approach. Bakunin is wary of the German Jew and intellectual. From his reading room in the British Museum. Marx with his beer and books sneers at Bakunin, sloshed on brandy in an armchair in Geneva. There is a constant inter-play of conflicting ideas :—communism versus anarchy, the German against the Russian, the man of action contemptuous of the man of thought, the bourgeois awaiting his inheritance despised by the working class revolutionary. This last conflict is skilfuJy described in Bakunin's relationship with Nechaev, proletari ;t. The the;i'.rical entertainment is enhanced by the close atmosphere of the small theatre with 60 people closely grouped around a shallow pit. From the first the audience is involved. The domestic scenes with Bakunin's beautiful wife (DebQ; , rah Norton) are full of pathos. They relieve the political intensity, while providing a lively distraction which enables us to see behind the sculptured heroes. This is a play in the round, for many facets of the characters and the movements they inspired are combined into the piece. It is a long play : over three hours, but it is never dull. The acting is superb. John Malcolm's Bakunin, Jeffrey Shakley's Nechaev, and Leonard Fenton's Ogarev are totally convincing and they are well supported ijy other actors. Only John Griilo's portrait of Marx is ludicrous. He tries too hard to counter-balance the central figure of Bakunin with silly ditties, jigs and wild gestures. But Grillo's irritation is unwarranted, Marx's later success was to make the Anarchist movement look like whitebait by comparison. Meanwhile, he can afford to hand the stage over to Bakunin. A New Communion— FOR FREAKS, PROPHETS AND WITCHES ZOO STORY T S.E.'s entry to the London University Drama Festival was good. Edward Albee's play tells of Terry, a chewing-gummed gaunt chap looking for companionship. (This is a literary version of David Hockney's pen drawings of loneliness in New York). On the park bench he meets Peter, a prim, respectable, middle-aged, middle-class family man. Aggressively, Terry draws out the real man behind the parrot, two children and suitable wife. He draws him to angry play and finally into accidentally murdering him. The play is a classic.and its reputation maintained in Hilary Chadwick's production. Jim Wilson is utterly convincing as Terry, for which he won the title of best actor. Tom Lee's part as the older man is mor difficult, but he passes—just. The only scene which could have been cut was the death scene, but with that five minutes shorter I would eagerly see the play again. Zoo Story is now on at the Cockpit Theatre. THE FOURSOME D W A R D WHITEHEAD'S first play is for homesick Liverpudlians and carefree Londoners. Two boys pick up two girls on Saturday night and take them to the sand dunes on Sunday. The intention is to have them and to begin with there is a lot of show-oft' and big talk. The girls giggle while the boys make the running, but they get bored so the girls are left to make the next approach. It is the usual game, but entertaining, because it is so true. Radio One and half-gnawed oranges are clear signs that the day's game is long and hot. Sand gets everywhere, in pants, lemonade and buries eyelashes. The scenes are extremely vivid and yet very straightforward. The acting by the small cast is excellent. You can't fault it. They could even be from Liverpool for their accent is convincing. The mannerisms are unaffected and typical of most people in the same situation; being invited out for sex by someone, who basically is frightened of performing. In the end both the boys and the two girls accuse each other of teasing. The scenery, with its high mound of sand is very good—a simple sand dune, nothing more. The play is unpretentious and short. The tale is simple and straightforward with no deep philosophical message. Some might criticise it for lacking depth, but all it attempts to do is represent life as it is; honest and fun. y^OMEN'S Liberation can be dangerous if it develops into a power struggle against men. It should be searching for woman's lost soul—amongst the pots and pans of dull household routine, in fantastic dreams of an ideal which can never be achieved, and in submission to convention., "A New Communion — for Freaks, Prophets and Witches" is a statement of this dilemma and appeal for help in the search for "truth," cast symbolically in the theatrical setting of a mental institution. The all-female cast act out real-life roles which appear as complete madness. There were moments of obscurity in the symbolism, and of what can objectively be called "bad acting." In contrast, there were scenes of beauty, horror and humour, with very good acting. Jane Arden has had the courage to dispense with the • cliches of direction : the normal secrecy of backstage preparation and preoccupation with perfect disguise. It is refreshing to see the breakdown of excessive demarcation between actors and musicians, lighting and sound, audience and players, adding up to an unconventional and exciting whole. To understand the play I think it is necessary to appreciate the problems of Women's Lib., and it is possibly incomprehensible to those with no sympathy there. BEAVER, May 20th, 197X—Page Ten Calling all revolutionaries T HAVE heard many times the intellectual argument that since all major changes in history have been achieved through violence, violence is a necessity of revolution. A favourite example of this argument is the "Red Revolution" and there is a marked number of self-styled "revolutionaries"' now congregating in the universities, in search of a Winter Palace. The object of this essay is to draw to mind a new pi-ecedent, and to relate it to the problem of apartheid. In the "Times" of the 19th February, a small insignificant article appeared reporting on the first hundred days of Dr. Allende's government in Chile. Dr. Allende, governing by Marxist principles, has turned the private fai-mlands over to the peasants, and is in the process of nationalising the copper industry, which is the country's main economic resource. It is another case of the "oppressed'' overcoming the "oppressors''—but how was it achieved ? Dr. Allende waited eighteen years to be constitutionally elected as President. The result is that he and the majority of the population have power. Big deal ! 'Who wants to wait nearly 20 years, and still have to deal with the establishment ? If the peasants had been imited, if they had been given arms, if they could have found an acceptable leader and if they could have taken the established oppressors by surprise, they could have easily gained power many years ago. If this is what you want to believe, that's fine—but just suppose revolutionaries with their impatient traditionalist and conservative methods had led the peasants ; suppose violence were used. Mutilation for the present would become memories dividing the nation in the future. Chile has not found paradise, and the President may well be in danger from the dispossessed private-owners. Would you not be angry if you had been exploited ? Yes, Dr. Allende has exploited the upper classes by using their past achievement for the future good of the peasants. That's some Revolution. With this progress, no Stalin will be needed in Chile. Revolution can be achieved by peace, constitutional methods and the law of the land. With those words, enough to choke any "traditionalist" revolutionary, I will turn to the promised subject of apartheid. In the above edition of the "Times," I also read that the South African Government "is planning to execute the last grand stage of putting it (apartheid) into practice." This stage involves the granting of limited self government to the African Homelands. Legislation comes under the "Bantu Homelands Constitution Bill," and I will mention the few facts I know about it:— (1) Self government will be limited as in the Transkei— Independence in the Transkei is limited by South African Government control of currency, defence and foreign policy, telegraph, radio, main roads, railways, customs and excise. This is dependence, and deprivation of financial sources. (2) 13.7 per cent of the territory will be granted to the Africans comprising 73 per cent of the total population —The figures show that the Homelands will be grossly over-populated, and be beyond the scope of the very Youth holidays in Lebanon (3) The territory is largely without resources—this re- i moves the chance for the : Africans to help themselves. : Without South African Gov- , ernment intervention they . will starve. (4) The Homelands are fragmented—an obvious check on any uprising, it will give the African a child's freedom. These points highlight the latest injustices of the South African Government, and show us again the narrow minds of its members. Yet what can we do about it ? The argument in favour of violence to overthrow the South African Government says that we have, waited long enough for peaceful methods to work. As a newcomer to the forum, I would ask : "Have you used the correct tactics in the past ?'' The answer would of course be "Yes," but nobody would be quite sure what those tactics were, nor why they failed. I suggest that we need a fresh start, and instead of being old-fashioned. let's have Chile as our precedent. Since the following paragraphs are the more important part of my essay. I feel I should shock you first to alert your concentration. Apartheid is realistic .... because it admits a fact of life, that different races do not like to live together. Varying customs breed suspicions, since society loves conformity. If I wished to stretch a point, I could rightly say that we have apartheid in Great Britain. The West Indians have a Homeland in Brixton, the Pakistanis in Bradford and the Australians in Earls Court. The trouble with apartheid is its details, and when we have discovered these, we can set about doing something about them. People have heard that South Africa is a police state, but this does not tell us much : that "Coloureds'' must carry identity cards, but then so does all immigrant labour even in Great Britain. I might add that the Europeans were first to populate the Cape, and w^ere then joined by-migrations of Bantu from the North ofi'ering cheap labour. I am not trying to justify apartheid, but I am saying that approaches to the problem have been too superficial in the past. To find the reason why evil arose, is to get half-way towards curing that evil. Consider first the Unity Movement of South Africa : they seek to extend the franchise to the whole population. It is supported by multi-racial academics much more aware of the problems than a guerilla trying to shoot straight. Then there is the Government plan to allow "Coloured'' workers to fill skilled vacancies in the building industry. This is what we v.-ant. Naturally the unions have gone on strike about it since the European workers can bargain high wages for their scarce labour. Threaten their pockets and you cut these wages, and the shock might make at least one sector of the white population more aware of the inequalities. Threaten their pockets and you break the dam of protest. We can however do nothing until we understand. The Europeans have been brought up—socialised—to look down upon an African. Children do not choose to do this; they merely do not question wha^ their parearrts never questioi^j ^yiTIilN its narrow frontiers Lebanon contains a wealth of attractions,' both historical and contemporary, as well as some of the most spectacular scenery in the world. The "Youth Centre" in the National Council of Tourism in Lebanon offers young people of all countries in the 18 to 28 age group, a wide variety of programmes for an inexpensive holiday; youth centres, camping sites, general and specialised tours, work-camps, archaeological digs and cultural activities. The special student fare, which is available for students between the ages oi' 16 and 28, for travel economy class between London and Beirut is £36.25 and is applicable between June 1st and October 15th. 1971. In the archaeological work-camp, an international group of young volunteers, participate in various digs conducted by Lebanese archaeologists. The digging is in Qualaat Fakhrat, a site rich in Roman and Byzantine ruins, at 65 kilometres from Beirut and an altitude of 1,200 SPECIAL STUDENT FARES (JUNE 1st - OCTOBER 15th) Doily by MEA Cedarjet From LONDON to BEIRUT - £36.25 CAIRO - £36.25 BAGHDAD £42.50 NUS TRAVEL SERVICE or your local STUDENT TRAVEL OFFICE or MEA, 80 Piccadilly, London, W.I Enjoy miles of deserted beaches *Swim & Surf under the African sun . . . See fantastic desert and mountain scenery. Old walled citics that have no equal in Europe Arab markets. Snake charmers. Swim in deep rock pools Ride camels over little used tracks. SAHARA«!!»»£50 EXPEDITIONS * FOR 2/3/4 WEEKS liVfUTS FC»^ jCyggg i30tJOUiZ &ZCIC/yc//2£ NAME ADDRESS- * __ ~~~ EXPEDmOMS 6X6 EXPEDITIONS ^ 2IVIAII\IST.SHADWELL lEE0S17Tel661684 or ask for a FREE COLOUR BROCHURE from the Editor. metres. Lodging is under tents and the registration fee is £5 for a two-week session on full board accommodation basis. Three sessions are available :— July 11th-July 24th, July 25th-August 7th. August 8th - August 21st. 'Vacation workshops are reserved for young volunteers between the ages of 18 and 30. They are designed to give participants a better chance to meet the youth of all countries, to be taught a handicraft and also to learn something about Lebanon and its inhabitants. The site is the Convent of Mar Challita situated at 35 kilometres from Beirut. The registration of £8.30 per two-week session includes full board accommodation in rooms with two to six beds. The dates of the three sessions are the same as those of the archaeological work-cam.p. For those who do not wish to participate in any of the above programmes, accommodation in youth hostels in Beirut is available for as little as 52p per night including breakfast, 80p per night, half board, and £1.10 per night, full board, in two-bedded rooms. Many tours are also organised at very inexpensive prices. One can also enjoy water-skiing, diving and yachting at very reasonable prices. glllllllllllllllllllillllllllllllllllllllllllllllilj^' I TRAVEL 1 ECONOMIC FLIGHT . . . IN'DI.V : U.S..V. : C.ANAD.V E. .VFRIC.V : F.AR EAST 187 TUFNELL PARK ROAD, LONDON, N.T. Tel. 01-607 5639. SURF [ORnuinu THIS sumniER FROM THE ONLY FREAKED OUT EK UIORLD mm II R.ni STflTIOm GREAT BEACHESHLONELY SURF IN IDVELY CORNISH COUNTRYSIDE ItllLES mill miLES f rum nnVIUHERE AOCOMIVIODATiON BAR BfSTRO GOOD SOUND SYSTEM^>.POOL FREE USE OF BOARDS and TUITION IT'SALL HERE-NO HASSLE £7aweek WRITE OR PHONE CHRIS P»1ER SEIMiSIEN LAND'S END CORNWALL SENNEN 287 STD 073 687 287 BEAVER, May 20th, 1971—Page Eleven Beaver basketball bounces along ^0 on take a peek at it. Don't ^ get too close—you never know if it's dead. Give it a kick but move away quickly because it is alive and fighting. "It" is the L.S.E. Basketball Club, It's probably the only club in the Union that operates all year round. Last term we finished very impressively, winning three of our last four games. We trounced a couple of London colleges (even Pistol Pete Thompson sunk a bucket or two). Paul "the Swisher" Levine led all the scorers as he continued to average above 20 points a game. The main reason for the big score was possibly the towering presence of Howie "The Broom" Arnett. Howie has a tendency to physically destroy any living creature foolish enough to get in his way. The opposition obviously hadn't heard that basketball can be a contact sport. So when "'The Broom" moved in they moved out. We then dropped a close one to the City of London Poly. "The Broom" was injured and had to sit out. But Latella (if that's the way they do it on New York playgrounds, that's the way we do it here) was playing defence with a bid "D" and ''The Swisher" otherwise known as "Paul the Popper" (deadly from outside 20 ft.). Also Tricky Dicky alias the Coach, moved his ass off the bench and actually ran for a change. The first half ended 18—18. The second half saw some questionable referees making some dubious calls. 'Fast Marty" Finkler kept the L.S.E. close but Poly's ail-American players (honest they have a few) began to run us down. Sheer numbers began to tell as they had more than 20 players show up while we had to rely on only six (no-one else was sober). In spite of a last-minute rally we lost by four points. It was our best effort of the year and we will remember it and bribe the referee next time. Our final game last term t6ok us to a school near Oxford (we wouldn't condescend to play Oxford, of course). We took a tour of the slum area called the University (honestly why would anyone want to go there when he could have Houghton Street). With its usual efficiency the A.U. got us a bus that broke down, (note from the typist: "So I'm supposed to be a mechanic for coaches now as head cook and bottle washer!). Well, in spite of that we absolutely clobbered the opposition. Our Pension Brigade astounded them with 30-foot shots that grazed the ceiling and scored ! "Giant Jack'' Kappel went wild as he screamed himself hoarse (and accidently scored some). Everyone else was also in double-figures as we had a real problem keeping the score down (but not too far down— when you get it—daunt it!) LADIES' TENNIS JF there are any women who want to play tennis this term—there is no Ladies' Tennis Club! This is a bad state of affairs, girls—the men have a very good team,—I'm sure that we are quite as capable ^s the men. If anj'one is interested in starting a club for Ladies' Tennis, they 1970-71 L.S.E BASKETBALL TEAM Left to right; Standing, Pistol Pete, The Coach, The Broom, Latella; kneeling, Persian Brigade, Fast Marty, Jumping Jack, The Englishman, Smiling Paul, 2nd half Persian Brigade. Afterwards the other team invited us to take a dip in their indoor pool (we're no dummies —we know who to play). Perhaps the most impressive event of the day was that no-one drowned. As for this term. As everyone knows a dedicated B-ball man never lets studying and exams interfere with the really important things in life-^like basketball. So, the L.S.E. rolls on. We have a few games lined up for this term. We challenged the Harlem Globetrotters but they felt they couldn't handle us. Oh well, maybe next year. Next year will see the L.S.E. Basketball Club in a regular league as well as in various tournaments. We hope to have a regular gym to use (especially if the penny-pinching A.U. will give us more than a pound to support the Club! Typist explodes again !). It is hoped to have an international fixture, along with the usual bunch of universities' clubs and cripples we usually schedule. Who knows, we'll maybe play the Globetrotters. Tricky Dicky Muller. BAILS TO EVERYONE should come along to the A.U. office and see one of the Executive who can give them any help necessary. The facilities at Malder are excellent—grass courts, showers and changing-rooms are available, Make use of these facilities—it may be all you ever get out of the school 1 \WHAT'S happened to our Cricket Club? Their record this season Is played 2, lost 2. Rumour has it that they even turned out a full team yesterday. Where have all the supposed cricketers from Yorkshire and Lancashire gone ? From one of the most successful clubs last season they have become almost non-starters. Anyone who has wielded a bat or tossed some balls, or even tossed a bat and wielded some balls should come along. Yesterday v/e lost to Northern Poly by 100 runs. L.S.E. was all out for 35 runs. A couple of our boys were given out while attempting to slash outside their off stumps, (they've been warned about it on a number of occasions in- cluding on the top board of U.L.U. pool). After the game there was the customary p - - s-up, this time in the Tufnell Park Tavern. We lost one of our star players who was last seen draped over the bar. To get back to the lighter side of the game, we are desperately short of players. Our American friends are again exerting their influence. Steve Baumgartner has made the transition from his successful first season with the Rugby Club to being one of the most reliable close-fielders in the Club. If Steve can play cricket any American can play cricket. Come on and show us what you can do !!! What we really need is a fast bowler of the standard of Diarrhoea Dick of the Yellowstone Trail. Mountaineering Club SUMMARY of the year shows the club to have been very active—a group at Christmas followed up a report in "Mountain" in the S.E. coastal range of Spain and a small party intends to tackle the largely unclimbed routes of the Lafoten Islands this summer. Throughout the year frequent meets have been held in different areas of the country; North and South Wales, a week in Cornwall, the Avon Gorge, the Lake District, Derbyshire and one is planned for the Isle of Skye. The standard of climbing has been high, particularly among new members. It is hoped that at the beginning of next term anyone with an interest in climbing or mountaineering generally will join. The proposal that the A.U. buys a van has been made for years but it is hoped that this year something will be done. The smaller clubs need this facility. Finally we would like to thank the officials for the year who retired at the A.G.M. Conservative Society WINSTON CHURCHILL, MP. will speak on TUESDAY. 2Dth MAY at 1 p.m. In ROOM S 421 on "BRITAIN & THE COMMON MARKET" -sOHEN ATRXTING-..... ^ A ROWING IS SWINGING THE L.S.E. Boat CSub is getting organised for the sum-mer. We have several first-class oarsmen in the school this year and the emphasis is now on getting the eauipment, the atmosphere and the training they wil! need to win. We have a new Italian Dond-ratico sailing boat on order and also a new coxless four from Shandau, Berlin, on order. This is the limit that club funds can finance this year, but next year we will be budgeting for a coxed four from Shandau in Berlin, another Donoratico scull and a double scull from Sims. This should be enough for the, best rowers in the College to" use. Training is another problem. This year we shall have to go outside the L.S.E. for serious coaching, but for next year we hope to send some people on coaching classes organised by the A.R.A. At present we are hoping to work in conjunction with Kingston Rowing Club for training and facilities. This summer the L.S.E. flag probably in conjunction with Kingston will be flown at a large number of good regattas. We plan to go to Hereford and Monmouth for the Spring Bank Holiday and then to Walton, Ostend, Reading, The Henley Royal, Lucerne, and Amsterdam, Gloucester and Ross. The novice and junior crews will also be at many of these regattas. We have almost enough talent — and certainly the equipment—to keep both a novice and junior crew on the water all summer. The present novice crew is quite competitive and hopes to be racing in junior races before long. Fortunately we have good training equipment for our juniors. Club atmosphere is really the centre of the team sports events. This is especially true for the novices and the juniors, who we expect will want to row for the excitement, the regattas and th? fellowship. This summer we want to work hard and enjoy ourselves. We want more people—men, women and in-betweens—to come anc? help. L.S.E. seems to generate large numbers of Old Blades, some of international standards. If yot! are an Old Blade, or want to be one, put your name on the Boat Club noticeboard in the St. Clements Building or get iii touch with one of the Committee. LS.E. OPEN DAY L S E OPEN DAY this year is on June 12th (Saturday), There will be sports events: Mixed rugby Six-a-side soccer Cricket, etc. In the evening there is discs and Bar-B-Q. Transport is free from LSE. BRVVKR, May 20th, 19T1—Page Twelve Absolutely '"J^HERE have ahvays been complaints about the way the L.S.E. Union is run. Plenty of undemocratic actions have taken place in the past but never to the same extent as has hai> pened in the past year. I don't believe it's getting any better either but we know that last year's V.P.s can tell similar stories. These concern two petty dictators—Price and Tuckett. The facts related here come from those connected with the bar. I don't think I need say much about Price except that he still seems to think he's President, iar pretends to act that way. It was his continuing illegal interference in the running of the bar that caused the resignation of the bar-steward, Ben. Not many people would have stood up to as much aggravation for as long as Ben did, but' it got too much even for him. Thus we lost the best steward that the Three Tuns has had in the five years I've known it. It would be possible to list all the incidents but it would need another thousand words to do so. I think the danger from the Price dynasty is probably over —a greater danger comes from the protege, Tuckett. He seems to be following in the same footsteps, with a complete disregard for the decisions of the Union. lie has been censured twice (or is it three times?), has been refused ratification as Senior Ti'easurer but carries on regardless. He doesn't turn up to Union meetings nor did he turn up to the last three Bar Management Committee meetings. He appears to regard the BMC as a minor nuisance to be avoided at all costs. If they make a decision on a matter his attitude is that they have no authority as it is a "financial matter" and thus the Finance Office's responsibility. A recent example of this was the appointment of the new bar-steward. A sub-committee had been appointed for this purpose, but when interviews were held, foiu' members of the sub-committee were absent. These v.-ecc Trevor Jones (Depat\ Prtsideat, to \\hom the bar-stewaid is directly responsible), Ian Cam-lett, George Collins and I can't speak for Trevor and Ian but George and Chris tell me that neither of them were informed of any meetings even though they were both around at the time. The Senior Treasurer also attempts to use the Honorary Treasurer again.st the committee. The BMC has always had a few members on it who work in the bar. This helps give the staff viewpoint. However, the Hon. Treasurer has recently said that no member of the BMC should work in the bar—workers and management shouldn't mix—don't we all agree ? One assumes he gave this advice on the prompting of the Finance Office and Sen. Treasurer. Why and how else would he know this happened ? The BMC asked the Hon. Treasurer to reconsider but he wouldn't. Tuckett then told the steward not to employ BMC members in the bar. Did he first bring it back to the BMC ? Of course not. As I've told you before, he hasn't been to the last three meeting. Also since then, we've checked our constitutions and discovered :— Section I"V Union Council: Sub-Section 5; The Honorary Treasurer shall be appointed by invitation by Union Council, subject to Union approval. . . . Council is bound to accept his advice on all matters concerning the financial por-cedure of the Union. Financial procedure in this context shall mean all matters specifically relating to the bookkeeping of the Union and the holding and banking of cash in hand belonging to the Union. No wonder Tuckett didn't bring it back to the committee ! Though he'd probably claim that employing staff is a "banking procedure'' or some such. His latest exercise of heavy-handedness has been the sacking of Perla, the bai'maid. He wrote to her two days before she was due back at work after Easter, telling her that her services were "no longer required." Both Price and Tuckett seem to love playing games with other people's livelihoods! His efficiency is also in doubt at the moment. During the Easter vacation, our temporary steward, Tim collected the £50 till float from Tuckett but discovered it was £9 short! This was a very serious error—if Tim had not checked, he would have been that much short at the end of the week and he'd have been responsible for it. And no doubt he'd now be out of a job. Tuckett is always claiming he is ultimately responsible for finance.s—isn't it about time he accepted responsibility in D P. SEES DOUBLE Miracle at-tendance at Union Meeting NION'S chickens have come home to roost with a vengeance. The first, and quite conceivably last, Union Meeting of the summer term on Friday, April 30th made it quite clear that the sins of the fathers, in the guise of the chaotic personal rivalries that have troubled us over the past year, are being visited on the sons in a big way. The extremists, who had a field day once again, were left celebrating a Pyrhic victory and a precedent which may yet come back to haunt them in the future. But what of L.S.E.'s emergent whiz-kid, Ian Camlett, who walked home to victory in last term's presidential elections and started off his term of office so flamboyantly with press conferences, radio spots and assorted tub - thumping ? Mr. Camlett, it would seem, has found the trappings of office more to his taste than its burdens, and handed over his duties to the Deputy President, Mr. Trevor Jones. Let us ponder the' case of a President, duly elected by Union in order that he may carry out certain obligations, effectively resigning these in favour of an officer elected for (it is assumed) entirely different purposes. Of course, this is where the sins of the fathers come in; nobody could say Mr. Camlett failed to give us adequate warning of his intentions, or ever let it be understood that he was actually going to do something in order to justify his election. And so, in Mr. Camlett's absence, the Friday Union Meeting was chaired by Mr. Jones. There was little of importance on the agenda, so less than seventy people bothered to turn up. Shortly after the official announcements, the quorum was challenged. Mr. Jones looked around and declared that there was indeed a quorum present. No official count was taken, but BEAVER'S estimate, supported by numerous eyewitnesses, is that between fifty and sixty people were in fact present at that point. Nick Spurier immediately objected, but his objection was merely "noted and dismissed." The reason for this piece of sleight-of-hand became apparent when the next item on the agenda was brought up: this was the ratification of Council's appointment of Michael Tuckett to the post of Senior Treasurer. Upon Bazlinton's objection to the ratification, a rapid vote was taken, and to nobody's surprise, the appointment was not ratified. Strangely enough, when the quorum was challenged a few minutes later, Mr. Jones immediately accepted that there were less than 150 people present and brought the meeting to a close. Are we to deduce from this that Mr. Jones is incapable of counting, or that he is suffering from double vision ? Or, as seems more likely, that our so-called President has saddled Union with a political figure quite prepared to perpetuate and even improve upon the unsavoury practices of past Union Councils ? In any case, Spurier put in a complaint to the Constitutional Committee. After a certain amount of discussion, it was discovered that they had no choice but to reject the complaint, since according to the letter of the constitution, it is up to the chairman of a meeting to decide whether or not it is quorate, and the constitution, rather naively, pre - supposes the honesty and goodwill of the chairman •In view of the foregoing, it is probably time for this Union to acquire a new constitution and/ or new officers, before the Deputy President starts seeing little pink elephants in the Old Theatre. . . . JOHN STATHATOS 4 ON -THeAft \ . This film shows a young lady masturbating . . . ahem pardon ! . . . the Royal Tour . . . now in its fourth week. this case and got out? Let us end by quoting Lord Acton :— "Power corrupts but absolute power corrupts absolutely." Price and Tuckett have moved the Union nearer the "absolute" bit. THE G.S.A. GOES A-PIMPING ,/^RDENT ^nd retentive readers of "Beaver" will recall that certain rumbles have been heard throughout the session with respect to the formation of a Graduate Students' Association (GSA). On Thui'sday, May 6th, yet another meeting was held to discuss the present position and future prospects for a GSA. The situation now is that there is a GSA constitution. However, a mere fonn of words needs an infusion of life from an active membership, and since in a place like LSE legality must needs find satisfaction, the GSA went a -pimping this week for a democratic vote. HOLY MATRIMONY PROPOSED The recent meeting was presented with an "association agreement": namely, what is proposed is an "association" (a remarkably descreet term) between GSA and the Union roughly to the effect that each is independent of the other, but keeps a weather-eye on the other's interests in the formation of its policies. Clearly, this is a marriage of convenience designed to satisfy the moral law as interpreted by the governing body: the GSA given its errant past clearly requires thg strictness of wedlock to keep it on the right path. The meeting of the 6th May, chaired by Bertie Ramcharan, was characteri.sed by the sad fervour of an apostolic convention, for there were but twelve present. This overwhelming smallness of re.sponse led to the decision to go a-pimping: the faithful had to be canvassed on the streets, it was apparent, since the association agreement required ratification by a quor- um of at least 50 members of the GSA. SOLICITING IN THE FOYER It was decided to set up a stall in the entrance of the Old Building, with a suitably impelling po.ster telling graduates about the benefits which would be theirs were the GSA to stand on its feet. This stdll was manned during the lunch-hours of 10-12 May, and every graduate who could be prevailed upon was given a copy of the association agreement to read, and a ballot-paper asking the question ¦'Are you in favour of the proposed agreement with the Students' Union as circulated ?" Whether it was the charms of the constitution-sellers or the befuddling heat of the day which influenced people is hard to say; at any rate, a high response was achieved: of 111 votes cast, 107 were for and 4 against, association. THE HAPPY COUPLE ? Matters are not yet resolved. The association agreement has yet to be agreed upon by the Union Council, and to be presented to a general meeting in the next fortnight or so. It is reliably reported that there are vague muttei'ings about the unsatisfactory nature of the GSA constitution (a more innocuous one was ne'er conceived of) and perhaps the happy couple will yet be ripped asunder. It is to be hoped not. After all the festering and faltering of this year, it would be a pity if the GSA were to stumble on the brink of success; the least we can do this year is to make sure that next year's happy bunch of graduates will benefit from the work done so far. PHIL SCHLESINGER.