NEWSPAPER OF THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS STUDENTS' UNION
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No. 90 April 24th, 1969



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BEAVER
AprU 24th, 1969
MEET CLEAVER
Eldridgc Cleaver's book ' Soul on Ice' is beyond all the overworked superlatives of contemporary criticism. The collection of essays and poems ' on personal and racial questions' do indeed lay open a large section of this man's soul. And his erudition expresses so much of the Black in America's soul. In the America of private property where the blacks "have all the private and no property " and Cleaver condemns primarily the white man's capitalist system for the suppression, not only of blacks, but of two thirds of the world and all minorities.
Cleaver has an incredible literary style, as accurate yet as novel as Fielding or Dickens and this is probably due to the large amount of reading he has done in jail. He has been in San Quentin, Folsoni and Soledad for offences from marijuana to rape ("rape on principle" of white women) and murder. He is Minister of Information for the Black Panthers and now ' underground ' to avoid arrest and to continue the revolution.
His book is on two levels, the personal and the political, and yet shows the irreducible connections between the two. On the political side he gives a clarifying insight into the development of radical thought in the black community, seeing the Black Muslims as one side of the coin to Uncle Tomonism and the
other, both over reactions. He accurately traces the white ' undergrounds ' more towards the greater desirability of a black consciousness to that of conventional whites and the gradual congruence between the rebels of the campus to unity with the American representatives of the suppressed third world.
" What has suddenly happened is that the white race has lost its heroes. Worse, its heroes have been revealed as villains and its greatest heroes as arch-villains. The new generation of whites, appalled by the sanguine and despicable record carved over the face of the globe by their race in the last five hundred years, are rejecting the panoply of white heroes, who.se heroism consisted in creating the inglorious edifice of colonialism and imperialism; heroes whose careers rested on a system of foreign and domestic exploitation, rooted in the myth of white supremacy and the manifest destiny of the white race."
Whites can go forward with blacks if it is to overthrow this .system.
However, it is the personal side of this book that is the most impressive, and which makes the politics so compelling and logical. Cleaver traces his own realisation of his position, of coming to terms with his colour and expelling " The Ogre —the white woman."
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He became a rapist.
" Rape was an insurrectionary act. It delighted me that I was defying and trampling upon the white man's law. upon his .system of values ".
The frankne.ss with which this episode is dealt with could so easily have been left out to avoid alienating the reader, or put later (its in chapter one), but it reveals the soul and the development to where he .saw the act as wrong—that it was not only anti-white but dehumanising. " From this moment Cleaver is free and developing towards the clarity of vision which lights up the whole book. In parts it is the necessary rationalising of acts to retain sanity but the reasons are compelling.
He developed his mind under a Chris Loudjieff. a visiting teacher to the prison who taught everything and essentially humanity. Eventually the prison stopped him coming—his packed classes (voluntary) were a threat—thinking prisoners. After the " guru" Cleaver read and sealed up the wealth of learning and beauty that survived despite everything.
The most beautiful section of the book involves the letters to a female lawyer who became his legal advi.ser. As with the whole book all extractions are trivialisations but the understanding . . .
" The reason two people are reluctant to really strip themselves naked in front of each other is because in doing so they make them-.selves vulnerable and give enormous power over themselves one to another. How awful, how deadly, how catastrophically they can hurt each other, wreck and ruin each other for ever ! How often indeed they end by inflicting pain and torment on each other. Better to maintain shallow superficial affairs; that way the scars are not too deep, no blood is hacked from the soul. You beautifully—O. how beautifully ! !—spoke, in your letter, of " What an awesome thing it is to feel oneself on the verge of the possibility of really knowing another person . . ." and " I feel as though I'm on the edge of a new world." Getting to know someone, entering that new world, is an ultimate irretrievable leap into the unknown. The prospect is terrifying. The .stakes are high. The emotions are overwhelming. In human experience only the perennial themes can move us to such an extent. Health. Birth. The Grave. Love. Hate."
" Soul on Ice " (Cape 35/-)
Two poems from a collection of poems by Frank John, called Black Songs; John is a Trinidadian involved in the struggle " in a society which is suppressing two types of people : the dispossessed of the First World, and my own black people of the Third John concentrates on the black area.
BLACK POWER
The strength of my black ancestors
Which were tied in chains,
Beaten with whips and spit upon,
Put to work on the white man's plantations,
Is that hlackl
Some whites believe that black is a spirit or jumhay. They can see to put to work, chase with whip.
To treat like pigs, and dogs, or burn Like a castaway shadow in the dark.
Is that really black"}
No, no, no more of this blasted shot.
No more no more, we shall overcome.
We have passed the stage, we are conscious of our blackness.
We are black and beautiful.
That is black.
The cry is black, the call is black.
It is for all black brothers and black sisters
To stand up and unite hand in hand.
Don't matter where you are, as long as you are black
That's the black cry.
That is black power.
The world is in fear of Black Power,
The power which was in chains and bondage.
The power which the white man used to build his
country and empire.
That was power.
Black Power is black people, demanding the rights. Fighting for their freedom to chase and to stop the white plague.
The call is for black brothers and black sisters to unite, A black togetherness, black culture, black consciou.mess. That is the black cry and the call for freedom.
That is Black Power.
April 24th. 1969
BEAVER
3
NEW BOOKS
Willi the Italian jail uprisings still fresh in our minds the novel on the subject by Frank Ellis although set in America, is very relevant. Called "The Riot" (Pan 5/-) it traces one mans involvement in a prison revolt in one of the terrible southern or south-western jails. The general characterisation is very shallow but the " feel " is authentic and the action tense and gripping, 'i'he degree of active participation and direction from the mass of prisoners is underestimated too much, as was the participation of dockers in the TV play "The Big Flame " but the release of the inhuman oppression from the guards shows how warped human nature can become "for the good of society". The book has been filmed using real prisoners and actors, an experiment the results of which I impatiently want to see.
Also published to coincide with the film release is Peter ShalTers brilliant play " Royal Hunt of the Sun " (Pan 4/-).
Britain's sickening property racket is well revealed in Oliver Marriott's " The Property Boom" (Pan Piper 7/6). Though mainly an empirical tracing of the boom from 1945 to the pre.sent day it cannot help but show the horrifying callousness and greed of the men involved often with the collusion of the authorities.
It is a sordid talc involving the complete absence of architectural standards, the.se being totally subjugated to the needs of increa.sed profits per square foot of building. This architectural castration of standards can in London be laid at the door of about ten firms of architects, trading monopoly for inventive standards in the interests of money.
The book is brilliantly documented and clarified by Marriott and when examining the deliberate prevention of occupation to obtain high rents, e.g. Centre Point (Hyams being the worst olfender in this with his Oldham Property Co.), the power of money, deals between builders and councils, particularly the LCC. the use of the Third Schedule to evade limits on odice sizes and subsequent government tardiness in amending laws. One built during the Third Schedule dodge was let to New Scotland Yard!
The book is the best one I have yet seen on the subject. With its tables, data and often rare information on this prime example of the ills of rampant capitalism, it is an eye opener for those unacquainted with the disease and a comprehensive history for those already all too aware of the details.
Those who considered a quick revision could be obtained from Penguin's collection of essays " The Founding Fathers of Social Science " are going to be dismayed. The book is a very brief, very personal view of eminent social philosophers by a number of " experts" in a non-academic "averase reader" form.
FREEDOM FIGHTERS
The torch that burn throut^h day and night
The torch that hum with human life, sweat and hlood
The torch that burn with newborn
The torch that make mothers and fathers mourn.
Freedom fighters, freedom fighters.
With their guns, banners, with cocktail bombs.
With bottle and stone,
With their cutlass, hatchet and knife.
Ought to burn, ought to loot.
With their inspiration and determination
To fight for liberation.
To fight for all country who is suppressed and dominated By their suppressors.
Revolution fighters, revolution fighters.
To set themselves free, fighting for freedom.
Revolution fighters.
Freedom fighters all over the world.
Freedom fighters in the battlefield.
Freedom fighters in .street corners or alleys.
Freedom fighters who just fighting to he free.
Freedom fighters who's continuing to challenge and to destroy
Their suppres.sors, continue to fight For freedom, for freedom.
Frank John
PERMANENT REVOLUTION
PETER BRAYSHAW
The Political Revolution in the Workers' States is the epicentre of the world revolutionary process. On its outcome depends the future of our epoch. Therefore any contribution to the understanding of the crucial events occurring in the Workers' slates is welcome, especially this small volume on the contribution of the Chinese revolution.*
Joan Robinson's book consists of documents, reports and conversations from China, together with an enlightening interpretative commentary. The documents, which include Chairman's Mao's own big character poster " Bombard the Headquarters ", and the " Sixteen Points " adopted by the Central Committee in Augu.st 1966, are well-selected and informative. The lengthy report from Shanghai by a member of the Revolutionary Committee holding power in November 1967, helps considerably to lay open to view the inner course of events in that city. This unavoidable concentration on documentary evidence does however seem to have led to an overemphasis in Professor Robinson's interpretations on the purely ideological dimension of the Cultural Revolution, at the expense of any significant analysis of the material dimension and its concomitants of class structure. She asserts ; " What took place between J une 1966 and October 1967 ccrtainly was a revolution, in the sense of an abrupt reversal of political power, carried out by a popular movement, as opposed to a coup d'etat, an inner party purge, or a general election. But it was a popular rising instigated and guided by the leader of the very regime which was established before it and which remains in being" (P. 24). But to .say this is to mechanically conflate two opposed interpretations of the Cultural Revolution, and is a direct result of overconcentration on the ideological reflections of the class struggle in China.
A further result of the lack of balance between the different dimensions of process is the author's capitulation to the definitions of the classes groups and strata of Chinese scx;iety in the terms used by the Mao tendency itself. The.se categories are of course them.selves ideological rather than scientific. It is neces.sary to perform a resolution of the social forces at work in Chinese society during this period into their different components, making it clear that the anti-bureaucratic components, the breaking of the " Bloc of Four Classesthe impulse towards the elimination of economisticleadership tendencies, never correspond completely, with the perspective of the team of MaoT.se-Tung.
Because of her failure to
do this, the author lapses into too voluntaristic an analysis of the continued revolution in China, writing of the consequences of "the Thought" of Mao Tse-Tung as if they flowed directly from it. True, ideas become a material force when they grip the minds of the masses, but then they interact on equal terms with other material forces. What we need to analyse in order to arrive at an adequate grasp of the Chinese situation, is the concrete mediations, organisational and material, of the impact of " the Thought". Professor Robinson's book does not do this, and worse, obscures the need for it.
Despite these reservations, and some others that could be added such as a lack of direct evidence concerning the Cultural Revolution in the countryside, Professor Robinson's book contains much that is valuable. For instance, as an introduction to the subject the sections in the author's introduction entitled "the Struggle" and " the Way Ahead" arc an important corrective to the image of the Cultural Revolution as a contest between chaos and tyranny fostered by the Western Press.
In general, this book does cast light on the complex events of the Cultural Revolution. and can usefully be read by anyone infected with a bourgeois or l.S. perspective on China.
?THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION FN CHINA. JOAN ROBINSON. PELICAN 5/-.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
COLIN CROUCH
Few people, seeing this rather faded figure slumped carele.ssly in his habitual chair in room "D", his eyes with that far-away look (perhaps dreaming of a different, more comfortable chair in a more exalted .setting), would give him a second glance; and yet this is the man who in his heyday of power was surrounded by the grovellers and genuflectors who gather around those in high office as surely as flies gather around a decaying corpse, and whose every word was eagerly printed by " The Times" or " T he Guardian ".
T here is a wistful look in his eyes, thinking of what might have been, where he went wrong, and so on. Could he have been a labour M.P. (or a Tory one. Crouch was nothing as an entertainer if not versatile.) Should he have stuck so rigidly to his principles in that long-ago. now almost forgotten crisis? The questions whirl around in his tired mind in a dizzying circle.
What did go wrong, he was the perfect political candidate. Mr. Average in person, as full of practical common sense as meat and two veg, as
OLD CODGERS
FROM LSE TO PAUL HOCH
Dear Dr. Hoch.
1 April 1969
I am replying to your letter of 24 February.
T he Judge pointed out in Court that his view was that there was no contractual relationship between yourself and this School so that you are what is called in law a bare licensee and we arc entitled to withdraw the licence at any moment. This withdrawal is not a matter of discipline so far as the School is concerned.
We would point out, however, that we have no evidence that you have any wish to attend any course of instruction at this School and we lack the authorisation from your own College that is required by the special note on the back of your ticket. You will remember that the answer to your enquiry of 15 February 1968 about the possibility of your doing a Ph.D. in the Philosophy of Science at the School was that, since you were not qualified to do this, you might instead apply to do an M.Sc.; your failure to respond to this answer rather confirms our feeling that no educational purpose would be served by your attending this School.
It would be disingenuous to suggest that your activities in the School as exemplified in the Exhibit PKH.5 to your Affidavit have not influenced us in coming to this decision.
As regards your question as to the mechanism, if any, by which you might, appeal against this decision, your contract, if any, is with Bedford College.
I am instructed by the Director of the School to require your to refrain from entering the premises of the School without his express permission in writing and to warn you that should you so enter you would be trespassing.
Yours sincerely,
J. ALCOCK,
Academic Secretary.
liberal as a national assistance hand out—a mirror for all men—and an echo, he flattered and won them by this and his chameleon—like political colourfulness. Crouch was as much to the public taste as sliced bread.
And yet, once in ofiice, he began to develop views of his own. and worse, to express them. He showed signs of developing as an individual capable" of bleating out of time with the rest, and that as every politician knows, is fatal. His friends pleaded with him, but to no avail, and then finally deserted him. Gorged with his power over the media, and egged on to ever more reckless displays of individuality he must be de.s-troyed or the whole edifice of impersonal government by the least interested and capable would be smashed. Soc. Soc., aware of this danger.
and ever willing to defend the best in the British way of life, passed a censure motion. The wording is not important. The essence was that Crouch had blatantly exposed and intruded his personality into the unsullied political process and must therefore resign. He was finished. his political career in ruins.
That is the whole sad story, one of unbridled ambition destroying itself. So as you pass that ragged-suited figure in room " D ", staring vacantly into the past, don't laugh, or kick the chair from under him, but think of his former glory, and remember that but for the grace of Gcxl he might have been as great a Parliamentarian as Harold Wilson.
written by Albert J. Goatfinger the third
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4
BEAVER
AprU 24th, 1969
DEGREES OF GUILT
The University College of Rhodesia still issues External degrees of the University of London. Thus the University of London puts its stamp of approval on the final stage of the racist educational system in Rhodesia.
Not only this but Sir Douglas Logan, the principal of London University, went to Rhodesia on March 29th to sit on the triennial review commission appointed by the government to determine the financial requirements of U.C.R. between 1970-72 (when the newly proposed laws for virtual apartheid will be in operation). With him on this august body sits Sir Robert Aitken, the deputy chairman of the British University Grants Committee.
Academic Freedom has not existed at UCR since U.D.I, was declared in 1965 when Walter Adams was principal (see other articles), and the tenous ' Freedom ' that exists to date will be totally dissolved when the most pernicious racial laws since Nazi Germany come into effect.
Questions flood into the mind—what makes Sir Douglas and Sir Robert acceptable to Smith's Front ?, why does the University allow this terrible state of affairs to continue ?
The special relationship with University of London can no longer be justifed by the very definition concerning it put forward by the Secretary for the Colonies (in his paper Inter-University Council for Higher Education Overseas, published June 1955).
" Th is special relationship with the University of London into which the colleges are admitted is a temporary arrangement intended to safeguard their standards while they are establishing their reputations and building up their experience until they judge they are ready to take full university powers and award their own degrees."
By no stretch of imagination is the Univeristy College building its reputation and the University of London has obviously lost its power to safeguard the standards of the College.
The demand is already growing, beginning at U.C. (London) and certain technical colleges that all London University exams be boycotted until this shameful link has been broken, claiming no London degree is worth anything while this exists.
Already on other racial issues many students have been demanding the resignation of Sir Douglas Logan and his latest involvement will undoubtedly show more clearly the case they are making.
From a speech made by Ian Smith, August 19th, 1966, at opening of Umtali Show
" I am very happy that the Principal of London University made a statement . . . which made it very clear, so far as he is concerned, the Govt, is not interfering with the academic Freedom of the University. This is one of the things our enemies are accusing us of doing, so it was indeed comforting to hear from a man in this position his views and I would like to make it clear that we have no intention of interfering with the academic Freedom of the University.
" But when we perceive the sort of thing we did find—a malignant growth in a very important organ of our country—then we would say to you that we have no option but to act in the manner in which we did. And this was to operate and remove the diseased part."
ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND UNIVERSITY COLLEGE RHODESIA
Sir Douglas when involved in the row surrounding the threat to academic freedom in Rhodesia wrote to the Times.
"Sir
The late Sir Hector Hetherington, in his P. J. Anderson Memorial Lecture of 1954, explained what he meant by academic freedom in the following words:
"The essence of the matter, I think is that under modern conditions the area of a University's free choices must be smaller than it was .... I think it vital that the Universities should each retain full responsibility for its own appointments: that it alone subject to the ordinary law of the land, should choose its teachers, should settle the conditions of their tenure and should if need be, dismiss them. That is the primary condition of University freedom . . . The University must retain full responsibility for the organisation of its causes . . . and for the character and standards of the instruction given within its walls.
If we apply this definition of academic freedom to the University College in Salisbury, the following questions arise:—
1)	Has the Rhodesian Government ever interfered with the right of the College to choose its teachers?
2)	Has the Rhodesian Government ever interfered with the organisation of the College's courses or with the standard of instruction? [note no mention of students.]
Others may be better informed than I am but, to the best of my knowledge, the answer to both questions is in the negative.
Sm"DOUGT.AS*T.OGAN. M.A., O.Phij., O.dl.. U.6.
The difference between Sir Hector Hetherington's definition of academic freedom and that contained in the letter from three members of the college staff (August 4) is that he, correctly in my opinion, regarded acade-mis freedom as a qualified right "sub ject to the ordinary law of the land." Appointment to a university post does not confer the kind of immunity which diplomats traditionally enjoy . . .
T am yours faithfully,
D. W. LOGAN.
April 24th. 1969
BEAVER
5
RACIST EDUCATION IN RHODESIA
narrowness of the definition of academic freedom is horrifying from our leading University administrator and defends the actions of the Smith regime as maintaining law and order in Rhodesia.
Prof. R. C. Pratt of Toronto University ably replied
" It is sad and disheartening for those in Africa who value the great contribution which Britain has made to her universities to see that contribution compromised at least as far as a future free Rhodesia is concerned by the willingness of the British Gov. and some of the leading members of the British Academic community to deal with the Smith regime."
Prof. Pratt drew 3 points against Logan's position
1.	It comes from an eminent academic, and must be detrimental to British Govt, efforts to bringing about a return to constitutional govt. Indeed Mr. Smith went so far as to congratulate Sir Douglas on the letter at Umtali (see below).
2.	The letter is incorrect in substance and effect. TTie Bisley report and the retort to the report by 55 lecturers makes this apparent.
3.	The definition of academic freedom is untenable. It allows gross interference by the regime and a total restriction of the lecturer's democratic rights. For Sir Douglas Logan, in his talk of " law and order " and the need for its maintenance, forgets that it is a regime elected by 4 per cent of the population whose " law and order " he advocates be supported. Would he have demanded scientists in Nazi Germany complied with orders to prove Jews an inferior race, had they attempted dissent ? No government, let alone an illegal regime, has the right to tell a university how to think. And no university can exist in a vacuum.
To answer Logan's two definitions, however narrow they be, and show how before 1967 they had been contravened is simple. First the first definition
1.	A government veto on appointments.
2.	Resident permits not renewed (Feb. 1966 R. Palmer—teaching assistant).
3.	Deportation—on July 27th eight lecturers were arrested and deported.
The second definition.
1.	No publications could be made without the censors consent. This extended to the research findings of members of the history dept. (Revisions in Central African History to 1953).
2.	Broadcasts on Rhodesian Broadcasting Corp. censored (educational broadcast by I. Henderson of history dept.).
3.	Police raids and searches commonplace.
4.	Seizure of exam papers to be read for subversive material.
5.	In March 1966 all college activities needed police permission.
From these and numerous other examples we can supply if required it is obvious that not even a semblance of Academic Freedom has been maintained at University College, Rhodesia since the declaration of U.D.I.
The chances of an African student getting to U.C.R. are impossible to deduce. He has to get through segregated junior and secondary education (very rarely has a student even heard of primary schools) if his family can afford to allow him to study. They may need him, as is the most common occurrence, to work to prevent the family starving or living in appalling conditions.
The ' native sector' of education receives less than the white despite the fact that not more than
AFTER THE LODGINGS BUREAU ?
The ULU lodgings bureau keep separate lists of those landlords who discriminate against coloured or foreign students. A picket line which went to the bureau had the reaction of the office closing down. The bureau's administrators refused to give an undertaking that only non-racist landlords would be accepted.
Following up the careers of London University's administrators it became obvious that it is run by capitalists, the military, ex-colonial administrators plus the academic who ensure that the content of education conforms in all respects to the roles, norms values and beliefs of bourgeois society.
Some of these we list below.
General Sir John Hackett—careerist soldier in declining days of Imperialism when rule had to be maintained by troops. He served in Palestine 1936, Syria and Lebanon. 1961/3 Deputy Chief of Imperial General Staff. Now Principal of Kings.
Sir C. U. Phillips (Deputy Vice Chancellor, Director of SOAS)^—leading member of Colonial Office Mission on Community Development, Africa, member of Social Development Committee, Colonial Office 1947'55; Commonwealth Education Commission.
Lord Penney (Rector of Imperial)—Chief Superintendent, Armament Research, Ministry of Supply 1946-52; Director o^ Atomic Weapons Research Establishment 1953-59; Director of Weapons Research and Development, U.K., Atomic Energy Authority 1954/9; Director now of Tube Investments with 17 branches and subsidiaries in S. Africa and Rhodesia.
Students at the LSE are already familiar with the wholesale involvement of many LSE governors in Rhodesia and South Africa so is it so
unlikely the doctrines they support financially are infiltrated into the University which is run like a colony, with natives and saabs ?
6 per cent of the population is white. The schools are atrociously equipped, can only handle at most 25 per cent of all African children.
To this Fascist education policy the University of London blandly gives its approval by awarding degrees to those who either float through the system or against all odds draw themselves through the morass of the ' native sector'. Nevertheless less Africans attend UCR than whites and are decidedly in the minority.
EXAMS
The recent events at LSE have made action on exams all the more pressing. Combined with this obviously untenable connection students must press for at least a postponment and review of exams. The LSE union passed overwhelmingly a motion urging an examination of exam proceedures and have asked all colleges to support them in this.
Even the NUS have agreed to support this minimum demand,
I
However, if you look closely you may find that YOUR college is more closely linked than ever imagined.
BEAVER
April 24tli, 1969
EXAMINATIONS
The great majority of students at British universities. apart from the shamefully small and unchanging proportion of working class entrants, owe their position to a tight combination of privileges. necessarily unavailable to their contemporaries. Privileges such as a relatively cushioned and stimulating upbringing in a secure environment. based on a combination of satisfactory material standards and parental concern encouragement; a mastery of the formal, middle-class language necessary for educational success; and the socialised aspirations and determination to achieve this success, bolstered by a belief ingrained and encouraged by their social environment that such success is possible and practicable.
On leaving, the majority then take with them a degree, gained in a competitive examination system, the underlying assumptions and actual form of which are radically imperfect, and in my own opinion, totally misguided. This degree then paves the way for the student's inter-gration into a social system from which he will derive increasing material and social benefits throughout his life.
In other words each student in his final year implicitly displays a self-interested willingness to take his chances in a race where the starter has placed him half way round the track ahead of the vast majority of others before tiring the gun.
It is sadly obvious that onnly radical changes and expansion in the educational .system, supported by careful and extensive research, and with a radical re^^appraisal of the priorities governing the socio-economic system, can do anything iJowards effectively improving the situation.
It is also clear that past and present government policy falls impossibly short of any such attempt. And it is clear that the universities, though they are uniquely equipped to perform such a role, have abrogated their responsibility and refused to lay the ground for and cataly.se such change, and are even reluctant to include the kind of di.scussion which must necessarily precede such change in their curricula.
It seems to me that a serious challenge to the as-
sumptions behind the exam system in particular and the form it takes, and to those underlying the wider educational framework and the scx'io-economic framework with which it exists in a supportive functional relationship. can only centre on the degree examinations themselves.
By refusing to write the linal exams, and instead handing in detailed work in all one's subjects and//or a number of dissertations which inter-relate among the subjects one has studied, one can made an elTective and two-pronged protest;
I) By rejecting the privilege of a degree, the paper qualification which is in-strumentally meaningful in the present social system. and on whose fallible judgement the system is increasingly coming to depend, one is protesting against.
a) a seriously incgalitarian educational s y s t e ni, which in fact maintains and reinforces the inequalities inherent in the social and economic system. instead of doing its utmost to both fight and coimteract them.
b)
The particular passivity displayed by the universities. despite the potentially crucial role they could play, when it comes to any attempt to instigate, or even discu.ss. the radical changes so blatently necessary to improve the situation in ed ucation.
2)
By refusing to take the final examination and handing in detailed work relevant to the courses one has been persuing one is making a meaningful protest against the assumptions behind the assessment system as it exists at pre.sent at USE, and against the anachronistic inertia of any attempts which have been made by those in authority to que.slion these assumptions.
There is a contradiction in-\fjlved. One is rejecting the privelege of a degree, and yet one is asking for recognition of the work one has done "in lieu" of taking the exams. As far as I can .see this remains a contradiction, though it is partly re.solved if one takes the view that only
by clearly demonstrating an ability in subjects on which one would otherwise be examined does one seriously challenge the assumptions behind the examination sy.steni at 1..SH and provoke .serious discussion of all the issues involved in the concept of assessment and its practical application in present-day British education.
¦ I'inally. such a protest nia> be cynically characterised by st)mc in a number of ways, such as 'an easy way out of writing the exams' or 'an emotional reaction to an im-perfecl though necessary part of the social system. The .seriousness of forfeiting a degree, the guarantee of a satisfactory and more probably very comfortable material and social standing for the rest of one's life should dispose of the first criticism. As for the second criticism, if the root of the prote.sl is an emotional and objective 'No!' to the present educational, .social and economic system in Britain, there is no shame in saving so.
MAY DAY STRIKE IN LSE
As stated in the last edition of Beaver Mayday this year in Britain is to be celebrated by militant trade unionists as a day of solidarity in opposition to the governments corporate slate proposals embodied in the White Paper " In Place of -StrifeThe proposal has been put forward that students themselves " come out on strike " to show their support for the workers and in opposition to the government. This has been made all the more relevant by the obvious similarity of tactics employed against protesting Students and " unoflicial" strikers.
Marches will take place tiiroughout London and in other industrial centres. Active support from students will help foil the divide and rule strategy of the authorities.
I'his aspect of the strategy employed by the State was revealed when LSE students marched to the Law Courts to support the Ford strikers. At the factory gates the ploy was attempted continually but met with little success.

rat race
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April 24th. 1969
BEAVER
7
VEEKEND 24th - 27th
WHATS ON
LECTURES
24th Some masterpieces of the 12th century Europe British Museum 15.00 Francis Bacon
Tate Gallery 13.00 Abstract Art in England 2 Tate Gallery 15.00
25th 1929 Modernism
Victoria and Albert 13.15
26lh Kith. Century German Painting National Gallery 12.00 Persian Painting
British Museum 11.30 William Holman Hunt
Tate Gallery 15.00
27th Time and Space Structures by Eric Mottram Arts Lab 19.30
POLITICAL
25th-27lh First National Convention of the LEFT
at St. Pancras Town Hall. For information ring 387-6073
DANCES
24th Private Eye Benefit — Country Club, 210 Haverstock Hill (nr. Belsize Park)
Fairport Convention—City of London College, London Wall EC2
Elmer Gantry at Marquee, Wardour Street, Soho
25th Elmer Gantry + Mick Abrahams (ex-Jethro Tull)—Northern Poly Theatre (Holloway Road tube)
Van der Graaf Generator—Woolwich Poly
Andromena + Sermon—Acton Town Hall (Chiswick Poly)
Geno Washington—White Lion, Edgeware
Taste + Pegasus—Marquee, Soho
26th LSE BENEFIT—see ad.
Pink Floyd + East of Eden—Bromley Tech.
Episode Six—Kingston Tech.
27 Free—Country Club, Haverstock Hill
Liverpool Scene—Northcote Arms, Southall
Van der Graaf Generator—Black Bull, High Rd., Whetstone N20
House of Lord.s—Marquee, Soho
Bottleneck Blues Club at Railway Tavern, Angel Lane, Stratford E15 has jam sessions on Wedne.sdays, entrance free—on Sunday 27th Fisshook play live.
CONCERTS 24th Count Basic—Fairfield Hall, Croydon
Peggy Seeger at Bamet and Whetstone Folk plub John Ogden—Q. Elizabeth Hall (19.45)
String Quartet—Purcell Room
25lh & 29th Tony Bennett and Count Basie—New Victoria, Victoria
27th Tony Bennett and Count Basie at Odeon, Hammersmith
On 271h SHELTER CONCERT
15 00 Indo-Jazz Fusions and Moody Blues 19.30 Pentangle and East of Eden at Sadlers Wells Theatre, Islington (nr. Angel tube)
tickets for each performance 5/- to 25/- proceeds to Shelter
€
' Killer " Cohen on duty
DASTARDLY DEEDS
The deadly rape of Dr. Cohen's room in the dead of night during the occupation protest last term has led to the setting up of a secret Staff SchutzstafTeln (SS/SS). This intrepid band can be seen operating in the no-man's land of the main staircase after lights-out. Led by Percy " Killer" Cohen and his trusty steed Housemanager Smith.
They mount a dusk to dawn vigil on all rooms with secret documents hidden in their drawers.
Whether uncertain as to the effectiveness of this squad, or merely prudent, the administration has removed all such documents to the safety of Fort Eden (Adam's land Connaught House). Behind the multi-locked electrified doors masses of paper arc now stored being guarded by CIA agents.
It is well known in Staff circles that dossiers on students are being brought up-to-date. These additions are of course totally unrelated to events at the school and marks on them indicate football prowess. Martin Tomkinson is to captain England this year. Adding invaluable information are SS/SS who can be easily identified by rotating ears and nervous tics. The full f orce of this accumulatory "evidence" will not be felt until the summer vacation however.
The terrible attack on the virginity of "Killer" Cohen's room including paint actually daubed was prevented from becoming orgeastic in proportions by the responsible revolutionaries of the Socialist Society. It was much to their horror that they found the maiden not as innocent as she appeared and contained "secret" files! However we must act responsible and hope the "other side" see the example set and begin to play fairly.
EXTRACTS FROM THE PAPERS TAKEN FROM PERCY COHEN'S OFFICE To the Standing Committee from Prof. Shapiro
I can see no harm in restoring the practice of the tear off slip of acknowledgement which was apparently in use up to 1967; but it is probably not strictly necessary if the students attention is clearly drawn to the Regulations before he has accepted a place in the School. It may be objected that the procedure I have proposed will not deter the dedicated "revolutionary", he will sign anything in order to get in; and that it may deter high-minded but not very clear-minded students, who will be put off on grounds of some principle, 1 think such an objection is invalid. We shall not stop revolutionaries whatever we do. As for the high minded middle-heads, if
we lose a few we shall be none the worse for that, and on the other hand once such a student has signed the obligations, the chances arc that he will regard himself as morally bound by it. Furthermore, the clear undertaking of an obligation to comply with the regulations will mean (assuming that they are clearly expressed) that if disciplinary action should bccome necessary the case for it will be that much more unassailable.
Cohen and Housemanager Brown In waiting for miscreants
FROM THE MINUTES OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE
25th February, No. 147. "Lord Robbins said that he would speak to Lord Goodman regarding the possibility of intrcxlucing legislation in Parliament at an early date to amend the law relating to trespass on premises such as those of the School".
14th February, N. 118. "A brief discussion on security arrangements took place with particular reference to the possibility of employing House Detectives and it was agreed that the matter should be further cosidered at a later date."
4th February, No. 89.7. "In the meantime consideration should be given to the possibility of requiring students to sign an undertaking before being allowed into the School."
It is always easier to believe than to think, to accept than to resist, to keep silent than to speak out.
J. H. PLUMB
BUILDING A BETTER BRITAIN
Reliable sauces have stated that the new extensions to the LSE now undergoing construction are not to be used by students but are to become a police barracks, as proposed in the latest educational report issued jointly by Lx>rd Robbins and Kingsley Amis.
The report concluded that any increase in the student population would be disastrous to their hopes of a Conservative victory at the next election and that the administration of LSE felt that the final solution of the "student problem" was near at hand. This involved a removal of students faculty by faculty (beginning with the sociologists) until eventually none remained. Thus the smooth, efficient running of the School would be ensured cutting down costs, particularly cleaning and teaching. Economic planning could become an exact art with such fringe benefits as having constant exam pass rates guaranteed.
Commenting on the report a Socialist Society (So-So) spokesman said "It is a great pity about the new buildings —we hoped they were almost ready for occupation".
Scotland Yard commented "This whole plan is a welcome sign. Our remaining problem are the workers and wogs".
A threat that he will set himself alight was made by an Indian student on Monday. The student, who wishes to remain anonymous, said " Unless the two lecturers are reinstated I will immolate myself in Loughton Street next Monday at five o'clock. The draconian measures are the last straw. My studies have been ruined by the ineptitude of Lord Robbins. Life is now intolerable at LSE."
I saw Chris Pryce on television on Saturday.
We have still got a President. He is a moderate.
The B.B.C. said so and they know.
Cos Robbins told them.
And he knows cos he's a leading citizen.
8
BEAVER
April 24th. 1969
Private property is the principal source of all the ills which burden societj' ... the sun shines on everyone and the earth belongs to no one. Go on then, my friends, batter, upset, overturn this society which does not suit you. Take what suits you everywhere. What is superfluous belongs by right to him who has nothing.
VICTIMISATION BEGim
Babenf.
MANY LSE'S
When looking at the accounts of the recent disturbances at Harvard University one is struck by the similarities between their experiences and what happend at l.SE last term.
Time' magazine, April 18th, 1969, refers to a "small band of rebels" who radicalized the moderate students after police had been called in to remove them from the occupieil administrative building. The occupation took place to back up demands to abolish ROTC and to end University encroachment into Black urban areas to build new faculty buildings. The Harvard Corporation, which is the equivalent to our Standing Committee of the Court of Governors, dismissed these demands as "unnegotiable". Without consulting the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (which is like our Academic Board) the President, Nathan Pusey, who seems like another Walter Adams if such a thing is possible, called in the cops. 400 cops, half of them state troopers, punched and clubbed their way into the building where the students were, managing to arrest 184 people, seriously injure 45 people and break at least one woman's back. Needless to say the "moderates" were shocked. At a meeting at Memorial Church (Friends' House) over 1,500 students, after a four hour meeting, votetl for resolutions demanding No Victimisation, Amnesty for those arrested, and Student Representation on their Harvard Corp. However, their academics behaviour was different from thai of our Academic Board in many respects. They allowed 5 students to address their meeting (our academic board allowed 0); they voted 395 to 13 for the dropping of all charges (our beloved Academic Board supports victimization, with notably few exceptions), and they called for a committee to investigate the possibility for changes. (Our academic board rejected the two reports on the Machinery of Government of LSE). Their behaviour has been interpreted as a sharp rebuke to Pusey !
Who is Pusey? Can he really be like our own Dr. Adams? Surely the appointment committee of Harvard could not have been as astute in their choice as ours was! When asked to reply to the students' demands, he replied : "How can one respond to allegations which have no basis in fact", the identical reply from Adams to the Agitator leaflet on Rhodesia which contained minor, and unsubstantial inaccuracies. "Time" magazine reports, "that Pusey himself .... violated the tradition (of Harvard) by summoning the police without gaining a concensus of his community". He is said to rule Harvard, to many of its students a large and impersonal school with a faceless administration, like a guiding presence. "Time" describe him as a "distant and pompous seeming figure". For a comparison see "Sunday Times", January 26th, 1969, "Is Dr. Adams Still Aloof?" Needless to say. Harvard students are calling for Pusey's resignation. Haven't L.SE students been calling for Adams to go, even before he came?
L.astly, the solutions which are suggested in the "Time" article are interesting. "Universities are in for trouble until they can mobilize a moderate majority that respects institutions" Adams & Co. attempted this in their letter to students stating: "The Director and Governors remind all staff and students that they belong to an institution which has reason to be proud of its past." Further on we read in "Time", "The way out is to restore democratic governance . . chiefly by creating coalitions of moderate students and the all to aloof faculty". See the "Strictly Private and Confidential Report" prepared by Professor 1.. •Schapiro to try and attempt such a plan, ensuring that the mcxlerates are puppets of the administration.
A pattern of events similar to those at LSE are reoccurring in many countries, where .students realize that their university is an institution run by, and in the interests of monopoly capitalism, imperialism and the suppression and exploitation of the masses. What is needed is not two or three but many LSEs.
by H. CHE WIL.SON
The .students at Harvard have now got their demands.
MAYDAY COMMITMENT
Union passed a resolution on Monday that calls on all students to march with workers on May Day. In this way the struggles can become linked against the same bosses.
The decision to sack Robin Blackburn and Nick Bateson is, coming in the days before term starts, a deliberate provocation by the authorities. The fact that it contravenes their contracts and is based on ludicrous charges is obviously by now by the way. I he authorities are involved in a political power game in whicii this purge is designed to gain them some advantage. They obviously hope that in exani term they can blackmail students into compliance with their dictatorial methods.
They have consi.stently broken every written statement or agreement (e.g. contracts, letters to staff and students) and the callous Bi.smarkian politics they are involved in. waged incredibly in the name of academic freedom, musl be countered. It must be clear to the mo.st moderate moderate that there can be no standing aside — this is effectively a victory for Robbins.
Elsewhere in this paper we show the hypocrisy of the administrators of the university who are in league with our 'rulers'. As Professor Schiparo stated, the "muddle-headed high minded students" are an encumberance to the ellicient suppression of the .School. This applies throughout the whole university. Whether we like it or not we are now a te.st case for the whole of the university and the country and for this reason we must resist the totalitarian tactics of the administration.
The students at the Friends House meeting have a chance to show that their moral outrage is more than a subservient verbocity.
Ts is almost certain that the administration decided to provoke such a confrontation now because of the impending visit of the Parliamentary Select Committee.
They could appear the beleaguered academics and philanthropists battling against the indoctrinated Marxist hordes. All their arbitrary actions would seem justified if they could supply incensed students to disrupt the hearings.
They had insurance however. Adams selected both staff and student representatives to go before the Committee. The students were to be
Chris Price
Colin Crouch
John Rose (Deputy Pres.)
Roger Pincott (President GSA)
and the President of the Athletics Union.
The decision to sack Blackburn was, however, taken on March 15th and the authorities have just carefully chosen the time to provoke the students—and ruin many lives!
A report that the computer is in fact Lord Robbins' was denied by ollicial sources on Wednesday. The rumour claimed that Walter Adams was an automated robot electronically controlled by the computer - which has had minor faults lately.
"This whole thing is ludicrous," said the spokesman.
"This whole thing is ludicrous."
"This whole thing is ludicrous."
"This whole thing is ludicrous. Whizz. Bang. End Message".
LSE DANCE
APRIL 26th
Proceeds to LSE Legal Defence Fund
TERRY REID FANTASIA and CIRCUS
Admission 1/6
Bar Proceeds to Defence Fund
on May 10th. Champion Jack Dupree & Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation
May 24th. Howling Wolf & East of Eden
Published by London .School of Economics Students Union. Printed by F. Bailey Son Ltd.. Durslcy. Glos.