NEWSPAPER OF THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS STUDENTS' UNION BRITISH UBRAHY OF POLITICAL & ECONOMIC SCIENCE 18JH1990 No. 86 21st November, 1968 Price 3d. W Delete as necessary 2 BEAVER November 21st, 1968 CAREERS Next year marks the sixtieth anniversary of the foundation of the University of London Appointments Board, which has responsibility for providing a careers advisory and appointments service for the benefit of internal and external students and graduates of the University, A large proportion of students in their final year are not aware of all the many and varied career opportunities open to them, and need help in reaching decisions about suitable fields of employment. The Appointments Board sets out to provide students with information about careers, to assist in making a choice and put them in touch with employers in all sectors. The Appointments Board is a Department of the University, and has offices at 1-9 Gordon Square, W.C.I., which is close, both to the Senate House and the University Union Building. The staff number twenty-six, including ten careers advisory officers all of whom are graduates with industrial, commercial or other experience outside academic life. They keep in touch with trends, by frequent discussions held at the offices of employers, and visiting research laboratories, manufacturing plants and other installations of industrial concerns throughout the United Kingdom. Students who wish to consult an officer of the Board, may be seen by appointment, and last Academic Year, nearly four thousand five hundred made use of the service. Interviews, which are conducted on a personal basis and treated as confidential, normally last one hour, and during this time information is provided about fields of employment, individual problems discussed and guidance given on how to make careers decisions. The officers are assisted by the Information Unit of the Board, one of whose functions is to maintain large stocks of pamphlets published by the Board, employers, professional institutions and other bodies. These publications which provide information about careers and employment are made available to students according to their interests. In providing a careers advisory service, one of the main problems of the Board is presented by the wide geographical spread of the constituent Schools and Colleges of the University over the London area. For some stud- MISPRINT In our centre page spread last week the last paragraph of the Liberals' "view of the occupation" should in fact have been the last paragraph of ASTMS's view. We apologise to both groups. We offer our apologies also to all those Liberals who must be disappointed that the only non-cliche-ridden intelligent paragraph in their leader's text was not in fact written by him. ents a visit to Gordon Square, to consult one of the officers, is both time consuming and costly in fares. To overcome this difficulty a scheme, known throughout the University as the Appointments Board Field Officer Service, has been introduced. Mr. J. D. Paffley and Mr. C. D. Green are the two officers of the Board who visit the School and appointments with them can be made at the Careers Advisory Office, Room No. 414 on .the fourth floor of Con-naught House, Next term, some two hundred employers interested in recruiting graduates, will visit the offices of the Board in Gordon Square to conduct preliminary interviews with students. In addition, for the benefit of students of L.S.E. a number of these employers will also visit the School. Copies of both programmes of visits can be obtained on request from the Careers Advisory Office mentioned above. The services provided by the Board are free, and students who need guidance and encouragement, should not hesitate to arrange to see one of the officers. E. Dibden HUH? One of our reporters (ha ha!) was sitting behind our great helmsman, Walter Adams, on the Tube on Monday. Dr. Adams was heard singing . . . "Going to the zoo, zoo, zoo . . TRIAL by water QUOTE FROM 'INCANT', THE PAPER OF KENT UNIVERSITY: "During the after-noon while we waited, I met the Beaver staff. The people at LSE will do anything for Beaver, their respect for it is so great." At a meeting a fortnight ago, the day the last issue of the incredible Beaver was published, all of the frustrations and 'everybody hates me' hysteria of the members was vented against this paper. Amid the frantic outbursts—which it would be cruel to repeat—one or two valid questions/objections to your journal were raised. Why aren't we a newspaper any more? We dispute the Beaver ever was. If what was put on the front page of our forerunner last year was news then excuse me while I puke. Nothing much worthy of such a title happens here. When it does, our deadlines, and the fact of our being fortnightly, often prevent us from covering it as news. There has been no news this term that we have not fully covered, that you didn't hear in the bar a week before we came out. We do, however, cover fully all events in a retrospective manner. We agree that some kind of news media besides the duplicated hand-outs of has-been Council members is de- sirable. We do not believe that it is possible for a fortnightly paper to serve this function. Of course, there are some things we miss. And it is alleged that when we cover things after the event we are biased (see our centre page spread last issue for a biased account of the Occupation from all the political groups). This is not deliberate Beaver policy. We accept news/comment/ articles from anybody. We print most of what we receive, almost everything that is legible and not already covered. So if you think we have treated a subject unfairly write your own version for us. We believe that objectivity in journalism is a myth. A glance at the way the nationals covered the occupation/demo, or anything that you have attended, is sufficient to show this. Leaving out information, emphasising other facts, outright distortions, headlining, clever selection of photographs—all methods of controlling the way you view a particular incident. Our reporters are subjec- tive. They can be nothing else and we accept it. Not deliberately so—not desperately attempting to force a view. Just writing things as they see them. But the subjectivity is not hidden as happens in the national press. Crouch objects to our reporter's assertion in the last issue that Council's decision to resign was its first honest one, because the report is subjective. We think the report was obviously an opinion. Therefore it was honest. The dishonest way is the Fleet Street way—writing an "impartial" story but arranging and leaving out facts so that it appears as if it was the Council's first honest decision. An objection against Beaver that is understandable, is that it neglects sport. But it uses every word available at present. Nothing is left out. Athletic Union President Phillip Peatfield himself is satisfied with our coverage. But we need more sport. Anybody who fancies himself as a sports writer, please note. We appeal to athletic societies to expand. Classes And Games Barrelhouse The games that children play are commonly supposed to mimic the adult world which they see but understand only imperfectly. You can test this theory by going to any Friday Union meeting. This is how the game is played. One group of children sit on the right; the other on the left. There is a small audience which the two groups right and left, try by every possible trick and absurd posture to impress. The audience are just as much part of the game as anybody else, only they are playing at being uncommitted. The game starts and the two groups begin to oppose one another. It does not matter what the issue is, just so long as they do oppose each other, the object of the game (called democracy) is achieved. It's not a very pretty sight, so I advise anyone with a weak stomach not to go. A young member of the bourgeoisie will stand up, and, using a special language designed to hide the fact that he has nothing to say, or even worse, to prevent the other group understanding him, defend the interests of a group who do not know him, and who, if they did, would immediately recognise him as their natural enemy. Now a working class lad will stand up and defend the interests of a group who would not recognise him, and if they did would only patronise him in order to use him. You can see much the same behaviour in a pub punch-up every Saturday night, but this is more sickening for we have been more highly trained than most to abuse and degrade each other, we are a skilled elite in the art of inhumanity. The outside world would be proud of us. How well we have imitated the society of which we are a microcosm. How cleverly we play the game! The Union meeting is not proof of our freedom but of our slavery. THEY have set the process in motion and with the awful inevitability of clockwork we destroy each other just as we were designed to do. The meeting is not a proof of our essential unity but the training ground on which we sharpen the tactics and refine the language of our division. Neither group is really offering us freedom, they are in fact only competing for the privilege to oppress us. Nor do they realise to what extent they themselves are trapped and oppressed. We are just mimicking the outside world and we are doing it well, M. A. Chimonas Last Thursday at one o'clock barrel house was at the Graham Wallace room. And what was the barrelhouse? Rolls (supplied by War on Want), limejuice, coffee, apples, a few comics, some music (all right if you're a flower child or something) two films—one was funny, a selection of the day's newspapers, i.e. Mirror, Guardian. Hardly anyone turned up because the advertising campaign was useless. The whole thing was a farce. The next meeting is at one o'clock Friday. The Lie Crouch, Ted Parker, and the Sunday Telegraph, have all told the world that your paper is controlled by the LSE Anarchist Society. We wish to state categorically that only a small number of our staff are Anarchists. The Anarchist Group have asked us to state that they have no formal membership, and that they are immensely flattered that the growing libertarian feeling in the School, as well as vast improvements in its principal publication, should result in smears against them by the various hierarchies. Hit, A5" ^ * Hie | 2F$Rr q-vioi A?, rd"" i) tyy-foe- teass j) S Hou teavfr ~ thegOS's °y *&ef\v\ if and I ,&fl o x. x .i m l>vt on (-:m bcm% j ^W; ij \r >0 iWe * "•! «i i rtflC* f- UniVer&vk| Graduates 3feiH- November 21st, 1968 BEAVER 3 "The Revolution must be born of Joy, and not of Sacrifice" Obsolete Communism: The Left-Wing Alternative by Cohn-Bendit Published by Andre Deutsch The brothers Cohn-Bendit are not great theoreticians, nor particularly original. But all they claim for their book is that it is "an attempt to participate in a continuing scene, with all its remarkable spontaneity". They are too modest. This book, well written, and containing a wealth of factual evidence to substantiate the ideas expressed, succeeds in putting yet another six inch nail in the coffins of the Marxist bureaucracies (Orthodox and Trot.), and the musty argument that revolutions need a 'party' to lead and consolidate them. The idea of spontaneity is of course Cohn Bendit's favourite, and those who doubt its validity would do well to read this text before rushing to join the latest in psuedo-revolutionary student organizations. There is first a justification for revolutionary student activity: — "While the smug administrators and reactionaries of tomorrow eke out their boring days on the campus, many students resent the futility of life in what is at best a middle class ghetto" and "A complex and sophisticated industrial bureaucracy cannot function efficiently with a resentful proletariat. What it needs is apathy — just this apathy against which we are agitating. If we in the universities can show factory workers how authoritarianism and the official hierarchy can be overthrown in our own institutions, they will not be slow in applying similar methods to theirs. Hence the panic of the authorities — they do not mind criticism, however radical, but they cannot afford to let us express our disgust in action." The King In His Palace Versus The Palace In King Street The book discusses at great length what must be the greatest current problem for revolutionaries (certainly the one that gives Ted Parker paranoic nightmares) — the questions of organization/hierarchy/vanguard parties. There is derision of "those Leftists who see themselves as the leaders, the self-appointed vanguard of a working-class movement whose language they have ceased to speak and which, once it has become revolutionary as it did in May and June, is only too happy to dispense with leaders and a vanguard altogether." The alarming way in which not only the Communist CGT, but also the Students' Union (UNEF) and young Trotskyists (JCR) cut back on the movement are well illustrated. For instance, on May 24th a march of 10,000 took complete control of the streets, capturing and setting alight the Stock Exchange. Everyone wanted to go on. But a leader of JCR took charge and diverted the march away from the Ministries of Finance and Justice, and back into the Latin Quarter. So when Ted Parker tells you that he and his friends have worked hard to build up a revolutionary group in LSE and are not about to allow anyone else to muscle in, remember that in France it was all the pre-existing political groups, regardless of 'fervour', who hindered the movement, and it was organizations springing directly from the situation itself which provided the means of advancement. Young non-union members were the ones who took the initiative in the factories, and among the students and workers in general it was via action committees organized through horizontal relationships, which did most of the valuable work, but their lack of hierarchy in no way diminished their power of united action. The point bears repitition — anarchists of the Cohn-Bendit type can in no sense be said to be against organization. He says himself: "Acts that can transform society take place in association with others, and form part of a general movement that follows its own laws of growth. All revolutionary activity is collective, and hence involves a degree of organization. What we challenge is not the need for this but the need for a revolutionary leadership, the need for a party." And again: "If a revolutionary movement is to succeed, no form of organization whatever must be allowed to damn its spontaneous flow. It must evolve its own form and structures." Thus organization is not an end in itself, and must remain flexible enough to cope with changing situations. With the decision of the Communists, Social Democrats, and JCR to enter the constitutional arena with the call for a 'popular government', the struggle was proclaimed by De Gaulle to be one between Stalinism and democracy, and few workers wanted the former. The blackmail worked—and the respectable Left had once again saved the crumbling world. The Communists always were best attacked with their own words: "Public opinion, deeply upset by all the trouble and violence, confused by the equivocal position and the free and easy attitude of the State, has come to look upon the CGT as a great force for peace and order" (Seguy). "Communist militants, as befits men of experience and good sense, have done their utmost to avoid every provocation" (Waldeck-Rochet). It is mere coincidence that the dreaded riot police, the CRS, were set up by the Communists and Socialists after the war. By way of an excellent demolition of the fallacy that the revolution needs a party for its success, Cohn-Bendit traces the collapse of the movement in Russia in association with the rise of the Bolsheviks. The vanguard theory is smashed primarily with quotes from the great pervert himself ¦— Trotsky. Thus: The party lagged behind the revolutionary dynamic . . . The most revolutionary party which human history until this time had ever known was nevertheless caught unawares by the events of history ... the masses at the turning point were a hundred times to the left of the extreme left of the party . . (History of the Russian Revolution) Again: "the movement had begun from below irrespective of the Bolsheviks •—¦ to a certain extent against their will" And: "On the eve of the overturn of the official machine even the most revolutionary party put up a big resistance." The story is then told of the crushing of the peasants and workers movement in the Ukraine by Trotsky, and the start of the bureaucratic counter-revolution. This book is a plea for the overthrow of present society, but also a warning that the forces who attempt to lead and control insurrections must themselves be fought. Everything cannot be achieved in one book, but perhaps more attention could have been paid to a critique of Marxist ideology as such, and not merely to the cretinous structures it gives rise to. But he does sum up his philosophy in an anti-Marxist (?) way: "We must rid ourselves of the Judaeo-Christian ethic, with its call for renunciation and sacrifice. There is only one reason for being a revolutionary— because it is the best way to live." RICHARD BEBB Could it happen in Bootle? BEAVER November 21st, 1968 Ran. Ban. Again JAZZ by Steve Crocker Six weeks ago the "People" ran an article on the scene at Piccadilly. Since then the police have launched a concentrated attack on the beats, -to drive them off the streets. In the last fortnight 35 kids have been picked up for "obstruction", i.e. just standing around —• singing — having a fag. If this had happened all at once, it would have been big news, but because it's happening over a period of time, no-one takes any notice. Three Saturdays ago the fuzz tried to clear 40 kids off the steps around Eros. 6 arrests were made but the tourists and other straights were allowed to occupy the same steps and photograph beats being taken away. The beats claim that the Pronto Bar and other Fortes organisation cafes and some of the pubs around Piccadilly, have adopted a policy of discrimination against beats, by refusing to serve them at any time. So on the following Saturday and Sunday they organised a sit-in at the Pronto bar, to demand "every Englishman's right to drink a cup of tea". The sit-in lasted several hours and involved about 60-70 beats and there were several arrests, as the beats were dragged out eventually by the police. To continue the campaign they will be organising pickets outside the Pronto bar and other places they say discriminated against them. An appeal for funds to pay legal fees and fines of those kids who get arrested, is being organised. They desperately need support to continue the fight for our/their rights. Send bread etc to:— Tony Young, c/o Lewis Cutner and Co, 24/5 Manchester Square, W.l. Orgies Inc. Whilst the Union has spent the last week traumatically deceiving itself with the belief that it is participating in some meaningful action by electing a new set of entertainers onto Council, the real Entertainments Committee (well known as Friendly Ents, the Society for Untrammelled Desire, or even in some quarters the Committee of Public Safety) has been at work creating a new art form out of the remains of Saturday dances (?) Negotiations are afoot to fill the Refectory next term by the return of the Aynesley Dunbar, and with the help of Divine Providence in the form of DAR Country Joe and the Fish. Coupled with this there will be an increased use of the Shaw Library, crammed with assorted modern jazz musicians, country blues artists, folk singers, poets, actors and, Mr. Mager permitting, sitar players—the whole to be compered in the form of a spontaneous workshop by a Mr. J. Peel, lover of pygmy mice. There will be lights, films, and sounds in the Old Theatre — all that is now needed is your presence. how would you like to become an expert on ... 'life assurance' We Should Be Pleased To send You A Free Copy Of A Life Assurance Analysis, Which Would Enable you To Compare The investment return of Leading British Life Assurance Companies. Fill in the coupon below and send to : A. MARMOT & COMPANY LTD., 345, BALLARDS LANE, LONDON, N.12 : students insurance bureau : am interested in learning more and would like to hear from you without obligation, Date of birth Name Address (term) ref: FELIX Portrait of Johnny Griffin Of all the instruments of modern jazz, the one that dominates is undoubtedly the tenor saxophone. Its range, possibilities of articulation, and dominating sound have made it increasingly the major tool of jazz development. Hence anyone who wishes to make a mark on tenor, has to accept the fact that he is competing against many masters and many styles, from Stan Getz, through Sonny Rollins to Archie Shepp. This means that when a tenor player is described as outstanding, he really has to be capable of remarkable things, and Johnny Griffin, in the opinion of musicians who know his work, qualifies without question. Griffin's technique is so powerful that it is the first thing the listener notices. The notes come out at such a furious rate at the faster tempos, that the impression is often one of a constant stream of sound rather than of independent notes. What is next noticeable is the beautifully precise way in which every note is defined —an art to be found also in the work of the late Clifford Brown. Griffin was born in Newark, New Jersey, in May 1928 and is mainly associated in British minds as a very aggressive tenor player with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers of the late 1950's. After working for a short while with Thelonious Monk and Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis, he left America for Europe, appearing in Paris at the 'Blue Note', in Stock- holm at the 'Golden Gate' and in London at Ronnie Scott's where he established himself as one of the most remarkable of the long line of tenor players who have worked there. He is now one of the most prominent American musicians working in Europe, basing himself in Paris. If there is a limitation to his style of jazz, it is that one feels his technique always threatens to obliterate the actual musical content of any piece he plays. The comparison with Tubby Hayes is perhaps relevant—here too is a man happier at fast tempos where a relative lack of inventiveness can be hidden to an extent under a welter of notes and scales. Unlike Hayes however, Griffin has a pliable tone; and his style alows him to relax in his playing; he is not just a textbook musician. Griffin while not perhaps reaching the topmost ranks of the jazz greats remains one of the most exhilerating of modern saxophonists, at home in any musical situation. Witchcraft "Witchcraft Through the Ages", a silent film made in Sweden in 1926 by Christensen, has been re-released with English titles and a narrative by William Burroughs. It is not an historical study, as the title would suggest, but an exposee of Medieval witchcraft, and more particularly, of the witch-hunt. Information about witchcraft other than the manufacture of poisons and love potions (which seems to have worked on the most unlikely people) is very confused since most of it was extracted under torture. It is more enlightening on the witch's fantasies than on their actual deeds. The film gives a brief sketch of some of the devil worship and pre-Christian religious practices which incensed the Catholic church and led to the persecutions. Made in the 1920's, when psychology was fast becoming the new opiat of the people, the film attempts to explain the behaviour of the witches as simple cases of hysteria. We are also reminded (but not given any psychological explanation for the fact) that not only the hysteric, but also that disgusting human aberration, the policeman, is always with us in the shape of the travelling church commissions for the suppression of witchcraft who are thought to have claimed 8 million victims, all executed, throughout Europe in 200 years. The film shows a great sympathy for these victims who in many cases were harmless old women who had nothing to do with witchcraft at all. One wonders whether more of the hysteria surrounding witchcraft originated in the minds of the witches or in those of their persecutors. Pete Taunton Destitute Childrens Fund Why not a Carol party Tins, badges etc. available War on Want London W5 Every penny goes Christmas cards sale or return 4d. each November 21st, 1968 __BEAVER VSrtations of Friendship The Enigma Variations — Co vent Garden It was inevitable that Elgar's Enigma Variations would be presented sooner or later as a ballet. Indeed, one rather sorry production did reach (and quickly left) the stage in the 1940's. On Friday night Frederick Ashton justified the long wait with the first performance of his new ballet at Covent Garden. Ashton has skipped the obvious temptation of "interpreting" the score by using it as a peg on which to hang a series of entirely independent gymnastic sequences, as no doubt Cranko would have done, and has attempted, and magnificently carried off, a reconstruction of an afternoon at Elgar's home in the country with his friends ("portrayed within") around him. Julia Trevelyan's Oman's set, half house, half garden, surrounded the action with a feeling of hazy autumn and cucumber sandwiches and all that was best in the heyday of English Capitalism before the First World War. The action consists of Elgar's friends amusing their host or themselves while wating for a telegram from Richter to say that he would conduct the first performance of the enigma. All this we were fortunately told in the programme —otherwise the arrival on stage of a much out-of-breath telegram boy (how times change) and the ensuing ecstasy of the company would have been quite incomprehensible. It is to Ashton's credit that he has managed to extract from Elgar's score and put on the stage the substance of friendship. Lust, murder, sudden death class prejudice and love are all standard ingredients for choreographers. The reason for this ballet's striking impact is that it brings to life the essentials of the relationship between Elgar and his friends, and without too much use of dramatic gadgets to create interest. The ballet consists of 15 short sequences, with the family and friends moving around at the back of the stage keeping the continuity alive. Each sequence shows up the character of one of the friends. The company have shown again as they did in Brandenburg's 2 and 4 that they are capable of fielding a large team of soloists without showing weaknesses. Antionette Sibley's Dorella, and Anthony Dowell's breathless Scherzo stand out for special attention. Martin Wood Time Out London's Underground What's On, 'Time Out', has expanded in the last couple of months from a double-sided sheet to a comprehensive coverage of drama, films, folk, poetry, jazz, and demos in booklet form. They would like to include events in all the above categories and others organised at colleges and universities. All entries are free. Information should be sent to: 24 St. George's Court, Gloucester Road, S.W.7. Each issue covers a three week period, and the latest copy date for the next issue is given in each. WHATS ON TODAY CHRISTIAN UNION: Students training evening — missionary support 7.30 p.m. Prisoner of Conscience week — 17th-23rd November — write to Amnesty International, Farringdon Street, E.C.4. MONDAY 25th AFRICAN SOC: Ghana after Nkrumah SI01, 1 p.m. LSE's NEWEST Society—Polyglot: Party in Concourse area 7.30 p.m. TUESDAY 26th FILM SOC: Stalag 17, Old Theatre. ESSENTIAL READING FOR STUDENTS. Keepin-formed on politics, world events, social & economic affairs, new books, all the arts. Every Friday, 1s 6d. NEW statesman SPECIAL OFFER to new student readers: 20 weeks for 15s. Write sending 15s. to Arthur Soutter, NEW STATESMAN, GreatTurnstile, London WC1. WEDNESDAY 27th ANARCHIST GROUP: Meeting, Room 102. MUSIC SOC: Lunch-hour concert 1.30 to 2.30 p.m. Founders Room. A recital of harp music and songs by Grainne Yeats—Irish harp. LIB SOC: AGM S100 1.10 p.m. THURSDAY 28th PHIL SOC: Symposium 7.30 p.m. by Mr. G. Cohen (UC) on "Man, Hegel and Marx". SATURDAY 30th MUSIC SOC: St. Faith's Church, North Dulwich 8.00 p.m. Charity Concert for Save the Children Fund. Handel: Zadok the priest; Organ concerto No. 4 in F; Messia Part One— LSE Choir and orchestra. DANCE: Jethro Tull, Fairport Convention and the Don Rendell-Ian Carr Quintet 7s. 6d. TUESDAY 3rd Bloodgiving in gym. 10.15 to 1.30; 3.00 to 4.30. FILM SOC: East of Eden and Case of the Mukkinese Battle Horn, Old Theatre. METHODIST SOC: 1.15 p.m. at King's, Brian Hamlin. ANARCHIST GROUP: Meeting, Room 102. WEDNESDAY 4th MUSIC SOC: Lunch-hour concert 1.30 to 2.30 Founder's Room. A Fidelio String Quartet. BOOKSTALLS: 3rd Floor Main Building—Monday, Lib Soc and Christian Union; Tuesday, Soc Soc; Wednesday, Anglican Soc and Cath Soc; Thursday, Con Soc; Friday, Anarchists. Ground floor St. Clements — Monday, Cath Soc and Anglican Soc; Wednesday, UNSA; Thursday, Christian Union. Lesly Hamilton O Jens O Jens Chens, 1968 Appollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire caught the flu and died 50 years ago this month. Celebrating the end of this early Twentieth Century cultural meteor the ICA gallery in the Mall is currently showing a pot-pourri of fementoes, art works, portraits, and modern homages to him. Apollinaire — poet, artist, writer of nasty sadistic pornography and fine erotic verse, over-exhuberant art critic —comes across as a highly significant catalyst of early modern art. The exhibition has various interesting photos, letters, manuscripts of the calligrammes and other Apollinaire personalia. But, apart from his obvious importance as a poet, it is his influence on the work of contemporary artists which gives his life, and this show, its greatest strength. Portraits of Apollinaire by Picasso, Delaunay, Matisse, Rousseau and many others are on display. Works by these artists, and others he inspired such as Marcel Duchamp, Derain, Leger and le Chirico, show the penetrating insights he had into cubist and futurist experiments. In comparison the section of the exhibition showing modern homages to Apollinaire seems more slight. The poet's personality was almost a Dadaist work of ant in itself, but many of the flippy laconic gestures and anti-art comments presented here are masks for run-off jobs. A few works, like Pol Bury's beautiful double portraits of Apollinaire with its subtle green distortions and Tom Phillips' treated books, do him justice. But others are unimaginative. Richard Hamilton's item is surprisingly slight for him, and works by Peter Blake and Joe Tilson suggest that they have now reached a low ebb. The ICA also has an exhibition, running to the same date as the Apollinaire, of paintings by Liverpool poet-artist Adrian Henri. It has to be assumed that comparisons between Apollinaire and Henri are intended. But Henri is a minor figure in this company, at least as far as the paintings are concerned. The series of 'Ubu' paintings is especially feeble. Both exhibitions close on November 27. Peter Finch Giorgio de Chirico Portrait of Appollinaire 1914 "Les Freres Appollinaire" Cinetisatation by Pol Bury 1968 6 BEAVE VOTE for Ihe Two-Poify System - BELOW: Presidential (!) Candidates RIGHT: D.P. Candidates MARTIN TOMKINSON Socialist Society is putting up candidates for this election for one main reason — to make Socialist propaganda. We want this election to be about politics instead of who has the nicest sm i 1 e or the most friends. Our opposition to the School authorities must be seen as part of a total opposition to capitalist society. The structure of power at L S E is broadly determined by the structure and power in society in the following way. The School exists with the support of funds from private industry and the government. The rationales for the provision of funds is that research in the social sciences and a plentiful supply of trained management material is essential for British industry. If the purposes of British industry were not being served at this School, funds would tend to dry up and grants be chopped. Thus those staff whose careers might be threatened by a challenge to the dominant ideology and capitalist-orien-tated nature of the social sciences will move heaven and earth to keep power from the students and junior staff, who at present appear likely to reject the prevailing values. For the right wing staff the Court of Governors is the final refuge. It is a self-perpetuating oligarchy, consisting overwhelmingly of members of the British ruling class, with over 250 directorships between some 70 governors. If elected, we will call a mass meeting of the Union suggesting the dissolution of Union council, and the handing over of necessary administrative functions, such as those undertaken by the Welfare departments, to voluntary committees. But all substantive and political decisions would be taken by mass meetings of the Union. The post of President in particular must be abolished. In the present situation he gets built up by the press as some sort of representative, and career opportunities open up for him which must necessarily distance him from the feelings of students as expressed at mass meetings. All meetings would be chaired by members elected from the floor. The Union facilities would be available to any member or group members of the Union who wanted to use them. Finally, socialism cannot be won by voting people into power. Socialism and democracy imply meaningful self-activity on the part of the mass of the participants. We are standing because we want to involve the mass of the students in L S E in the decision-making processes of the Union. Voting merely expresses the frozen state of people's consciousness at one moment in time; we have to go from there to involve everyone in L S E in the actual running of this institution. We regard it as largely irrelevant whether we win or lose — our aim is to involve, not to bribe or to badger or to buy votes. CHUKWUMA OSUJI The events of the past few weeks have crystallisd the inadequacies of the present Union structure and the shortcomings of the authoritarian power system of the School. The need for a change is now more apparent than ever. A democratic and efficient Union is needed if we are to achieve our wider objectives. A useful classification of the functions of Union would be: (a) The political role; (b) Academic affairs; (c) Welfare and other services. The fault with the Union lies with the first of its functions. The present structure is failing to fulfil the political function in the following respects: (a) Only a minority of students attend Union general meetings, where the political deci sions are taken. Such meetings are dominated by factions. Union meetings, as a result, all too often degenerate into sessions which lose the respect of much of its membership. (b) It is difficult to say whether Union meetings represent the wishes of the student body as a whole, but I certainly think that the apathetic students are not represented. (c) In general, research has shown that the role of an executive system, based on direct election, in raising individual members to dominant positions, enables them to make policy decisions. Council members are elected to serve a dual function —most of them play both a political and departmental, administrative role. Reforms:— The main consideration must be the democratic nature of the structure. The Union general meeting is the supreme body within a system of direct democracy. As many students as possible should be involved in the political decisions of the Union; those who make the political decisions should be as representative of the student body as possible; any elected representative must be immediately and easily answerable to Union. The incumbent of any Union post must not initiate policy. Policy making should, therefore, be exclusive to Union General Meetings. Committees of Union should be responsible for execution of policy. In order to encourage participation, committees should have open membership. An independent chairman is necessary for Union meetings. His task would be to ensure fairness of debate and the representation of the various points of view present in the meeting. Court of Governors:— What most students seem to object to is not merely the existence of a Court of Governors; but rather to a whole system which concentrates power in the hands of a self-perpetuating and un-representative body. This must be abolished in its present form, and replaced by a body representative of all those genuinely and directly concerned with the work of L.S.E. FRANCIS KEOHANE This election is the most important ever held at LSE. The issue is simple: the use or abuse of student power. At last students are being accepted as having a meaningful role to play in the running of the school. It is essential that we build on the progress already made and press for further reforms. We must reject the nihilist doctrines of those who believe that the school is a tool of the capitalist system teaching bourgeois subjects. The idea that the School should be governed by "instant democracy" in a General Assembly not only is impracticable, but will inevitably lead to a curtailment of academic freedom. Getting the union committed to a "direct action" policy is a retrograde step, and can only be considered stupid along with the directors closure and suspensions policy "as a fundamental process in self-education". There are many good things about LSE. Let us not throw out the good with the bad. The 80 members of the Court of Governors are a complete anachronism. The court should be abolished and its powers given to a standing committee of staff and students. Student participation is essential. To be fobbed off with consultation is not enough. Union reform is necessary. At present it does not represent students. Important decisions must be arrived at by ballot, preceded by reasoned argument and debate. LSE could be much more active in problems facing mankind. The World University Service has done much to for- ward education in the less advanced countries, yet LSE has done nothing for this organisation. Revolutionary approaches can have disastrous effects such as the recent loss of thousands of pounds to War on Want as a result of the association with the "sit-in". While students cannot directly be blamed for this, the losers were those who received help from that organisation. Last year the Students' Union raised over £650 for the Hull Trawler Disaster Fund. This was achieved quietly by students without having to proclaim their faith in the Socialist Revolution. In the coming months we can make a vital contribution to the student movement or throw it away by adopting negative philosophies and slogans. Already we have had a student pamphlet . "LSE and how we fought it". Let not the next one be "LSE and how we ruined it". During the short while I have have been at LSE, it has become apparent that the Union has became the battle ground of various factions trying to dominate the Union for their own private gain. Mentioning no names, some groups force the Union to adopt emergency motions, and vote upon it without making it clear to the bulk of the students at LSE that an emergency resolution is being debated and voted on. Thus, as earlier this term, a clique managed to pass a resolution as an official Union motion, for the occupation of LSE. Only after a vigorous counter- campaign did it become known that a majority of the students did not support the resolution to occupy. I only mention this instance as it bears out my view that the Union is the prey of unscrupulous pressure groups out to promote their own nefarious measures. I am not in principle opposed to the clique mentioned above more than any other faction. Mainly I am interested in seeing that Union does not become the tool of any faction no matter what colour whitewash they use. Union meetings are the forum of the whole School, and not just a closed shop for ideological maniacs. The President should therefore see to it that the Union meetings are not misused to the advantage of Left or Right. I, as President would attempt to see that all Union decisions are reached as a result of consulting the broadest possible cross-section of the School. I cannot promise that I would succeed in this, but I would oppose strongly those who try to use meetings for their own political ends. The President apparently does not have many formal powers. However I would press for a change in the constitution concerning voting on important issues. The President on any important issue should be able to call a vote by ballot, by the whole School. This would ensure, I hope, that no important resolutions would be passed without the whole School voting. This should settle any doubts as to what my policies are. I do not represent any faction or organised body of opinion at LSE. I would like to see democracy working at Union meetings, and not the present domination by various oligarchies of differing political persuasions. I have suggested one method at least — voting by ballot on important issues, or even having referenda — which would allow the will of the majority at LSE to prevail more than it does at present. Whether or not such machinery can be set up I don't know, but in principle I see no reason why not. As far as this campaign goes I do not represent a minority group, but hope to represent the general will as far as I can. As far as I know I'm the only candidate with this platform, but no doubt the others will soon jump on the bandwagon and claim the same. TRUTH WILL COT ' QEAVEft ' sroppft^s. 0 BUT...... AT THE START OF CHAOS W1L-L- ENSUE \F "me woad »ets OUT;... IHTnll llf < EVENING- J \v? SO IaJTHIN hours.....; NICK BOYCE tember 21st, 1968 Onl on Saturday, LSE used to be known as an international centre of liberal education. Now it is known as a place where "f . . ing students arse about and 'play' at revolution". These elections provide an opportunity to tell psuedo-revolutionaries where to get off and establish a liberal and responsible situation. I want to see a basis of education in which everyone has a share. The student body should be involved in long term policy by a system of referenda. People should be encouraged to observe Council meetings to see that the Council fulfils its functions and executes Union policies. Once we have established our responsibility we can negotiate for participation in the School from a position of strength. Until then we can only play at "student power". Roger Collier ¦y.'-'.'-y" W«wm /ff . John Perry Inevitably, this election turns on political issues. I propose here to consider two: the Court of Governors and Union affairs. I oppose the Governors — an authoritarian minority whose only function is to mirror the inequitable distribution of power within our society. But I differ from the Socialist Society as to the course of action we can adopt. An unrealistic commitment of the Union to a conflict with the Governors will lead to the assumption of positions of mutual hostility and intolerance. Union is not inherently undemocratic but there is need for reform. Structures which allow manipulation have perverted the essentially democratic nature of Union into an arena for the exchange of slogans and propaganda. I pledge myself to work for the re-establishment of democracy so that we can achieve those ends which affect the lives of us all. Ted Parker Our main problem is isolation. The working class is turned against us by Press smears, distortions, misrepresentation of us by Crouch, the Governors and right-wing staff. The solution is to ally the student movement with the fight against injustices experienced by the working class. A big Spring demonstration about the housing issue can show the relevance of our perspectives to a situation in which building resources are deployed not in response to human needs but in response to the market. Luxury offices and flats are built for the bourgeoisie while homeless remain homeless because they cannot pay. Reformism offers no solution, as recent reports show. Only democratic working class control over the productive resources would quickly solve the housing shortage. We must ensure that student opposition to capitalist domination of the educational system is understood to be such by the working class.. John Brogan I reject the ideology whose morality is "the breakdown of legitimacy in all our institutions" (Moriarti). My means is the time honoured institutionalisation of conflict, and exploitation of the potential in LSE for effective social-structural criticism. I am not an elitist struggling for bureaucratic power. I stand for the adoption of the Union Structure Reform Report: administrative implementation of policies formulated by Union alone; open committees, independent chairman; steering committee to decide on the virtues of an emergency motion; rotational business; retention of the office of President. Union must cater for all segments of Union and not pander to a clique minority. I endorse the Griffith proposal in .the realm of school structural reform: i.e., a supreme Academic Board with student parity, subsuming the Court. ¦ ¦ Don Strickland Steve Lord i J. Harris 'THEI'LL NEVER klOOvO AND THE.V DIDN'T" NOTICE, umtil. . , . . Sarah Perrigo on Sunday Left : Welfare V.P. Below (in descending order) : External Affairs V.P. Academic Affairs V.P. General Secretary V.P. Bottom Left : Social V.P. Bottom Right : Administrative V.P. David Lewitt Diane Denny I iltl te ••••;>,. N. Khan Ray Bignall Ron Wolfe Bobbie Hall Andrew Martin 1 Andrew Dorn fH Alison Emmott Hazel French Angela Greatley Richard Patterson owe drr IDEA.... 0 OfoiOtt 0 ceouctt to BE, aCEK>5UKE.D « AWO it WORKED! BEAVER sw PRBS o lAsst ifi-% THE END. 8 BEAVER November 21st, 1968 MOANIN' Just a general moan this week about record companies. They are normally so apathetic that much valuable material lays around for months waiting for release. It must be frustrating for an artist to be so far ahead on stage performances to the record currently being sold. With the pop scene moving so fast this is a particular failing. The most blatant example is that of the Mothers. Zappa claims record releases are one and a half years behind. The Mothers have four L.P.'s recorded since 'Lumpy Gravy,' so Zappa has formed his own company, Bizzare, to give full scope to their output. British companies, it must be admitted, are suffering from the effects of a printing strike which is holding up covers. The Jethro Tull L.P. was ready for some two weeks before the covers were printed. Even Mick Abrahams had to keep his copy in an old Sun House cover. The Nice too are suffering from cover hang ups with the new'Ars Longa Vita Brevis' album. This place is sure death to joy and inspiration. They would outgrow the present narrow categories of knowledge and transcend the professional mediocrity of the academic. Therefore, your every attempt at creative activity will be frustrated. It will be channeled into one of the worn out categories which it threatened to outgrow; it will be rendered down in the lan- The effects of the strike, however, are grossly exager-ated and when covers do appear they're not worth having ! British L.P. covers compared with those in America seem so tatty. The American .covers are sometimes bound better than most books ! The process of laminating covers only succeeds in making them crease, bend tear and crack with only the slightest handling. Anyway, back to my principle moan. The situation is even worse for specialist material in blues, folk and jazz. It has only been due to the current blues boom that record companies have released material they have been sitting on for years. Jazz too has suffered badly from companies hoarding masters obtained from Americans, too indifferent to release it there. So buck up lads at E.M.I., Decca and such likes and smaller companies too. (Immediate are SO BAD !) I know it's a hard job trying to please all tastes but the cost of records today justifies a far better service than is at present available. LATEST It's sad to see a great artist like Muddy Waters degraded, as he has been by his guage of the academic, the lowest common denominator of intellectual discourse; it will be cleansed of the dangerous elements of joy and inspiration it contained. By accepting their format and their vocabulary your format will be turned against itself, will become yet another support for the system you have tried to defeat, another hardened artery in this already moribund world. JD DJ new 'Electric Mud' into a bum. He looks so self-conscious in his white ' hippy ' robe in the cover booklet, that it leads one to suspect it wasn't his idea at all! Maybe I'm wrong, but the music certainly has lost vitality and power and as for his version of ' Let's Spend The Night Together,' well! ? However, his stage act in his current British tour is just as exciting as ever, which perhaps confirms my suspicions that Muddy is no longer responsible for planning his albums. The Family have a new single out, to whit 'Second Generation Woman,' which is perhaps not so complicated as their album things but is still well worth listening to. The Pretty Things, too, have a new single, ' Private Sorrows,' which proves just how much they have improved since their bad old days. To end on a happy note, Country Joe and The Fish' 'Together' L.P. should be out now. This album proves that they must surely be the greatest pure pop group in America. Nothing grows here except, like fungi, parasitic on the inspiration of those past great figures who lived in a world less dominated by the salary earning professional. Now because rigor mortis has set in, we are unable to pursue creativity actively; to radically alter our concepts and divisions between them. We cannot tumble the precarious structure of words and concepts which we call understanding. We cannot build up anew worlds in which ideas balance momentarily between sense and nonsense, teeter on the edge of meaning, and then fall in a shower of bright shapes and colours, back into the undifferentiated grey mass. The real act of creation is impossible under these circumstances and we are presented as a masturbation substitute a static, pornographic picture of knowledge, full of grotesque, ridiculous postures. This is the measure of our sadness, that we can never flow, change and become. We have consented to the tyranny of mediocrity. Now we must smash and transcend. Tony Chimonas YOUR CHANCE AT LAST... Number One The B.B.C. are organising a competition but this time for would-be playwrights. The competition is open to all registered full-time students at British Universities or Colleges of Education. They are looking for scripts about 50 minutes or 75 minutes in length with a contemporary setting. The theme should be aimed at the ' Wednesday Play' series. They are expecting the competition to appeal to those new writers who will want to make television drama their first concern and who will, by their own development, come to realise its potential and importance as a medium of communication enlightenment and entertainment. Candidates are advised to avoid the epic and the static conversation piece, as these often prove unsuitable for television. Application forms can be obtained from : Student Play Competition, BBC Television Centre, London, W.C.12. Number Two Hutchinson University Library are holding an essay competition to mark their 21st birthday. The subject is: " University Education : Indulgence or Education ? " Will you send your son or daughter to a University or Technical College? Why are you reading for a degree yourself: as a means to an end? How successfully does the University meet the needs of present day society, or is its role played out? You are invited to treat the subject politically, culturally or professionally, or in any more individual way of your choice. A prize of £100 is offered for the most challenging and constructive essay. Provided the expected high standard is reached, Hutchinson will award five further prizes of £50 each and publish all six essays in a collected paper back volume. The candidates entering for this competition must be reading for a first degree. Essays must not exceed 10,000 words. Candidates are asked to write on one side of the page only; typing will be welcome but not necessary. Application forms can be obtained from : Hutchinson University Library Essay Competition, 178-202, Great Portland St., London, W.l. NATIONAL STUDENT DRAMA FESTIVAL The Northcott Theatre, Exeter, will be the setting for the 14th National Student Drama Festival organised by the Sunday Times. The Festival will be held from 30th December 1968 to 4th January 1969. This year only new and full plays have been admitted and there have been 36 entries, 24 of which are new plays, 2 are documentaries and 10 are new translations. All 80 plays are being judged on their home ground during November, the selection for the festival final being made on 1st December. Tickets are available for Students at a cost of 10/- per seat per session and cheques and postal orders should be made out to the National Student Drama Festival. For further information write to : Clive Wolfe, Times Newspaper Ltd., Room 503, Printing House Square, London, E.C.4. SOCK IT TO 'EM MARY GAL.. " After the last war, the enemies of the West—and you can interpret that as you like—saw that Britain was the kingpin of Western civilisation. She had proved herself unbeatable on the field of battle because of her faith and character. If Britain was to be destroyed those things must be undercut. I don't see how else you can explain what has happened in the last twenty years. How is it that intelligent people lack the historical sense to see these attempts to undermine the character of the nation? And now it's coming to fruition in the actions of these anarchists. I think we would be blindly foolish if we didn't see this. This is why, as far as I'm concerned, we are fighting not only for the moral well-being of our nation but the democratic nature of our society-—because these two things are inseparable." Mary Whitehouse, F . . . -Up TV Campaign. LEADEN^ HEADED WETNECKS Surprise Surprise They tell no lies Their song is only sung To hypnotise and organise And gain obedience From the young who know So much of learning Learning Learning How to speak smile Stand answer while Meaning the very opposite Thing Each day they march Into rooms of grey With briefcase register And files Each day they make-believe They hold the truths Deep down within their Certificates and bits of paper Surprise Surprise They tell no lies Their song is only sung To hypnotise and organise And gain obedience From the younger minds and souls For in these institutions There are common grades and goals To win and lose: competitions Voice is loudest with its Views of jealousy Its fear of defeat Its isolation and ignorant Terms of promise Unfulfilled is beaten Into minds to lessen Their own ideas growing Into roots of anarchy Surprise Surprise They tell no lies Their song is only sung To hypnotise and organise And gain obedience From the young Sometimes a lonely soul Exists who wants to learn As well as teach But every day he lasts There threatens blindness Ignorance arrogant ways Of mindlessness..... Dennis Gould SKI MOGUL CAIRNGORM '69 AND GET WITH IT! Best Instructors. Modern Methods ;ind Rapid Progress. New Skis and Boots. Luxury Hotel, Chalets, Youth Hostel or Camping. Special Group Dormitory Scheme. Group Leader Free. Brochure: SKI MOGUL Box No. 3C, Aviemore, Inverness-shire. Or Tel. Kingussie 413. U.S.A. Are you interested in North America ? Join University Students Abroad International House 40 Shaftesbury Avenue London W.l Tel. 01-437-5374 Your Local Bookshop SIMM0NDS UNIVERSITY BOOKSELLERS 16 FLEET STREET, LONDON, E.C.4 THE PHALLIC FLOWER November 21st, 1968 BEAVER 9 SPORT Sad... Drifters Fencing The Athletic Union — why is it that the name always conjures up a picture of people rushing wildly around sports fields in the depths of winter, rugby club songs on the coach, parties at Maiden (having to leave at 10.30 to get home), aggressive canvassing for new members . . . In fact the AU includes many people of entirely different interests. The Canoeing Club, for example, whose members can spend occasional afternoons drifting peacefully downstream, past timber barges, old Royal Ships from film sets; watching the ducks and the world go by. Various members and friends spent a week in Shropshire last July, canoeing and generally amusing themselves, and the Severn provided quiet or more exciting water according to taste. Next summer we will probably choose the Danube for a tour, and may spend a week or so surfing in Cornwall. There are also various competitive events throughout the year, usually in Wales or Scotland, and because of both the small number of canoeists involved, and the faot that canoeing is essentially an individual activity, these are approached in a relatively light-hearted manner. FRANCIS COOPER TUTORS A.S.T.M.S. is attempting to organise Graduate tutors and teaching assistants in LSE. It is making some progress but having difficulty in finding names of graduate teachers in the various departments. Those interested please give your names to Beaver Office, room SI 16. The Fencing Club will be re-starting after the Christmas break. Any fencers at LSE with previous experience as well as beginners will be welcome. It is planned to start with one session each week probably on Monday afternoons, with the tuition of a professional coach, Mr. Brian Pitman. Beginners will be able to use some of the club's equipment to start off with, but once they decide to continue fencing seriously they will be expected to provide their own foil, glove, mask, and jacket (total cost about £4 to £5). Fencing is a very stimulating and enjoyable sport, which requires agility, speed and thought rather than brute force. When the club gets enough members of sufficient standard we can start matches against other colleges. For those fencers who do not already know, the London University Fencing Club meets every Tuesday night at 8 o'olock in the Badminton Court at ULU, and I would recommend you to go there until the LSE Club starts again. Any fencers or those interested in starting should put their names on the list on the fencing club notice board in the Concourse Area. JONATHAN MAGER ORIENTEERING We apologise to competitors who missed transport arrangements on November 10. The course was eminently suitable for novices, and D. Parkin was 24th in a field of 120. Next event: Merry Oak Classic, New Forest, November 24. As we watch our two new buildings take shape, it is a sad thought that there is no provision for either the Students or the Athletics Unions. The Athletic Union facilities within LSE are insufficient and in a poor state of repair. We have a squash court which is continually in use and a "gymnasium" which dates back to the days of Sydney Webb. Despite the fact that the gymnasium is small, and dark and badly constructed, a variety of activities take place there. There are training sessions for rugby, soccer and rowing clubs and the badminton and table tennis teams hold matches in the gym. The more violent side of the AU is represented by the karate and judo clubs who practise their arts on Monday and Thursday respectively. We hope soon to establish a fencing club which will add to the demand for our facilities. When one includes the time allotted to the staff fitness class (!!) and the daily sessions of the weight lifters, it can be left to the imagination as ito how congested the gym becomes. Nevertheless, these activities do go on in the depths of our college and it is a credit to those who take part that they persevere in such appal-ing conditions. It is to the shame of the powers that be that they have neither recognised nor encouraged these people. P.P. LOST: The whereabouts of the Athletic Union typewriter is at present unknown. Will that person who borrowed it kindly return it to the AU Office immediately? The amazing BEAVER will be starting a classified ads. column in the next issue . RATES 4d. a word, 6d for bold. 1/- for box number. Latest date: Monday, 2nd December. ASTMS The Research Committee latest in the long series of committees to have to consider the question — met on November 6 to discuss the application of A.S.T.M.S. to negotiate on behalf of research assistants in the School. (See 'Beaver' October 24 for full history of the claim). The matter, as was feared, was "not effectively discussed", and has been referred elsewhere yet again. Where else this time is far from clear. All attempts by the LSE Branch of ASTMS to obtain information on this point have met with evasive replies from the School; each telephone call has drawn a blank, either ignorance of the present position or a direct refusal to impart information. The School had not seen fit even to keep their own personnel department informed of the pro- ROW? gress of these discussions affecting the vital interests of the college and Administration. There will be a meeting of the Branch on Thursday, November 21st, at 1.00 p.m. in Room C 342, to discuss what to do next. Meanwhile it is worth noting the report in the Guardian of November 9: "After months of comic-opera insurrections, the London School of Economics looks like having a real, old-fashioned industrial dispute on its hands. Clive Jenkins' union has started organising the LSE's graduate research assistants, and is demanding negotiating rights. So far the school has refused point blank, and Jenkins is muttering darkly that the union 'reserves the right to take any action necessary . . STUDENT FLIGHTS GATWICK DUBLIN DUBLIN GATWICK 5 gns. Single December 7, 14, 21, 22, 24, 28 29. January 4, 5, 10, 18. Contact: U.S.l.T. (Irish Student Travel Service) 157 Victoria Street, S.W.I. Telephone 834 8637 Would you find our challenging atmosphere a stimulus? Please fill in the coupon and send it to i , Mr. F.B. Hunt, Staff Officer, / nightsbridge Green, London, S. IP7 I am W interested in the following type of work WT/ Please send me information and y initial application form NAME ADDRESS University/ College_ 10 BEAVER November 21st, 1968 Legal Hang-Ups Kings Revolt During the original sit-in (March 1967) David Adel-stein and Marshall Bloom incurred legal costs of £170, fighting their suspensions by the School. The following May, NUS Liverpool Council passed a resolution welcoming their "Executive's offer of financial support (for Adelstein and Bloom and which was never in writing) from the Legal Aid Fund and asks that they raise any supplementary funds if necessary." Despite repeated attempts by LSE Union to persuade NUS to cough-up, the Executive has still not paid anything. They argue that their original offer referred to High Court costs and that as the fees were for taking counsel's opinion only (a High Court appearance being unnecessary when the School removed the suspensions) these are not covered. They also state that NUS cannot give financial help to individual students. Two possible remedies are now open. We could disaffiliate from NUS. This has been indicated to the President of NUS by Colin Crouch following a recent Council meeting. The money for paying the NUS subscription, plus the cost of conference delegates' fees (£800) has already been moved into the External Affairs reserve account at the budget meeting. This money could now be used to pay the legal fees and the remainder put to other use in Union, e.g. grants for political societies. As an alternative or in addition we could try to get a motion passed at the NUS November conference forcing the Executive to pay the fee. This would now have to be moved by another College as the money is not available to send our own delegates since the budget meeting referred to above. 'I his is only the latest of a long line of issues between NUS and LSE Union, however, and in view of growing disenchantment among LSE students, the first choice seems increasingly likely. John Sydney Pakistan Trouble Startling signs of the "radicalisation" of student opinion came last week from King's College, traditionally the most conservative of London colleges. A teach-in on student representation discussed a manifesto by King's Socialist Society demanding total democratisa-tion of the university including direct student representation on all administrative bodies. PARLIAMENT Goronwy Roberts, ex-Labour Minister for Education, said undergraduates wanted representation on course structures because they wanted to do "as little work as possible", but not university entrances because they were already in. The Conservative, Mr. Straubenzee, said he had defended students in "the House" but warned us "You must watch your public relations." NUS Geoffrey Martin, president of the NUS, argued there was an irreconcilable split between those content to reform from within and the revolutionaries who used the university as "a social syndrome on which to experiment." The university must not be dominated by a single political ideology. He rejected any ideas of a mass-based democracy and instead advocated the "sensible course" of student representation. It was a choice between control or anarchy. ESSEX David Triesman of Essex University did see some use for Parliament. He had been considering converting it into a hospital. They could get MPs through the lobbies on wheelchairs. He bitterly attacked the NUS for "totally eroding any grassroots democracy" by its policy of keeping politics out of education and thwarting radical opinion. The dismissal of three students had destroyed the conception of Essex as a liberal university, although it was possible to fornicate almost anywhere. The purpose of education was to produce people who were severely iconoclastic. He appealed for the breakdown of the distinction between students and workers. HORNSEY Tom Nairn had just lost his job as a lecturer at Horn-sey where he felt there had been the strongest demand for student self-government. The sit-in had had massive support and they had believed the governors would have been convinced by the logic of their argument. LSE David Adelstein rejected the idea that LSE was a left wing institution. It had the most authoritarian structure of any British University and this had a direct effect on the ideological bias of the courses offered. A lecturer who had fought to gain a significant post in the economics department was there— by much less likely to challenge the subject-matter he was teaching. The antioccu-pationists had used the argument that student unrest was destroying the academic heritage of the school. This "academic heritage", on examination, had been found to be a myth. Of all the major innovations in the social sciences in Britain, none of them had originated in LSE. Robert Parks Clashes between police and students have paralysed West Pakistan, with scores of vehicles burnt out, windows smashed and troops called in to restore order in some areas, following allegations of police brutality in Rawalpindi and Peshawar. Trouble started after police tried to disperse a students' meeting in Rawalpindi with lathi charges. The meeting was to have been addressed by leftist politician Z. A. Bhutto. This sparked off a chain reaction across the province, and although official estimates give three dead, unofficial reports say as many as 20 died with many injured. All schools and universities have been closed indefinitely. At least 20 politicians and leaders, including Mr. Bhutto, are being held. West Pakistan province is under a state of emergency. Is this linked with the waves of student unrest sweeping the world from Berkeley to Prague, or is it an expression of frustration by a tiny vocal minority of an undeveloped country against existing structure? For the masses, Pakistan was based on a certain ideology — one which was more akin to Islamic Socialism than to Capitalism. Ironically, what really happened after independence was that the new state became founded on the same British structure — the very structure against which people had fought for decades. It was the same bureaucracy and police system that people thought would be re-struotured. The revolution of 1958 at least brought one change — all the political parties were banned. Only two "parties" were allowed to govern the state — the civil service and the military. Apart from that, there was no major modification of the old system. In fact, efforts were made to perfect that system which suffered from inherent corruption and social injustice. The recent student protest was against that same system. Since 1958 education facilities in Pakistan have increased 15-fold. The increase in the student population has been at least 10-fold. Despite this, and despite tremendous economic development, the student still feels insecure about his future after graduation. He may be able to do or say anything, but in a very restricted sense. There are no adequate safeguards against the administration. Why are students still dissatisfied? Perhaps (a) they are more enlightened about their rights compared to the uneducated masses, or (b) they don't have much to lose by making a protest as compared to the common man. The students problem can be solved in Pakistan, not by repressive measures, but by listening patiently to their ideas. The fundamental cause is that students have refused to allow themselves to become bogged down into an authoritarian western bureaucracy or totalitarianism. Hence the problem will not be solved by closing down the universities, but by having a reappraisal of our whole system, by restructuring it in a way that is akin to our own ideology and guarantees greater social justice and political freedom. IJ.K. Big Deal The Monetary Economics Society, President Andrew Segal, held its 2nd annual dinner on Friday, November 15, at the Cafe Royal, Regent Street. Guests of honour were Professor and Mrs. Kaldor, Professor Kal-dor's lightly controversial after - dinner speech opened with an evolving attack on the economic views held by a number of LSE staff members who were present at the dinner. Professor Day. in proposing the toast to the Society, used the opportunity to set the balance straight by light-heartedly putting Professor Kaldor's assertions in context. A. Segal Instead of a diatribe against Union elections and student politicians we intended to write, and which you expected, we have allowed the candidates to bury themselves in their own excrement. See centre Polygot Few people in this college are aware of the existence of its languages department. Only 28 students are attempting to study for degrees in languages and— dare I say it? — linguistics. It is in a desperate attempt to gain some recognition that we have launched an LSE "revolution" by forming the society "Polyglot" — to inspire linguistic and cultural interest among those who have any leanings towards such fields. "Polyglot" hopes to organise visits to foreign films, and plays, and bring them to LSE, to hold frequent play readings and music sessions and to invite speakers to talk on foreign topics. One attraction is the intended affiliation to the "Centre Charles Peguy" in Leicester Square — a social club run by French-speaking people, offering many entertainments facilities. The breakthrough begins on Monday, November 25, with a party in the Concourse Area. Chris Allen Associations of staff and students in over 60 colleges took action last term to change the educational content and to democratise the administration of Art Schools. A July conference convened by the Movement for Rethinking Art and Design Education presented a detailed critique and viable alternatives to the present structure. The authorities used political pressures to get us back into line, and bypassed real change by procrastination, by substituting insignificant concessions, or by setting up the eternal ineffectual commissions. We wanted college communities to become federally-linked autonomous, participant democracies. Our educational ideal was an open network system, but we didn't seek to impose this on other colleges. The open course system is centred on an educational core of library, complementary studies, history of art, and visual reference facilities. New techniques of audio-visual communications and mechanised indexing would speed up information servicing. Intake sources would range from industry, periodicals, the mass media, to other colleges; information could be disseminated in film, slides, tapes, lectures, and seminars. The core would have specifically scientific data, as well as philoso- N.S.U. Lives Why did Geoffrey Martin attack the October demonstration? Does he protect the interests of all students or only those who agree with him (see above)? That 'orrible immigrant agitator what 'ain't even a student, Tariq Ali, doesn't hold a student position like our Geoff, whose protege Trevor Fisk is now waiting in the wings (president-elect). Geoff, an Ulster immigrant and professional politician who steadfastly refused to support "student power" judged beautifully when to gain meaningless but publicity-gathering promises from the vice-chancellor. phy, and social sciences, from which the art student could analyse and relate to his milieu. A questioning and critical attitude would be required for students to search and authenticate their activities for themselves. The student with the help of a personal tutor uses the remaining resources of the college as he requires them. The locations are a series of areas where technicians and artists carry out their own work and research, where facilities and technical help are demonstrated and available. Transfers to other colleges and programmed courses, for example into 'welding technique', could be set up as required. This sort of structure accommodates those whose direction is adready determined, and for those who require a controlled programme, the tutors could structure their courses accordingly. There should be no academic requirements, nor exit certification, other than a statement of what a student has studied. At the moment students in design and vocational diploma courses are trained as cogs in a socio-economic system which is on the point of collapse. Fine artists are influenced to produce bourgeois gallery art for the few who can afford it. Stalin Too This month we burned Guy Fawkes. In Poland they have a much nicer game —] eleven students and teachers will be tried and sentenced to a labour camp, where the Stalinist government can gently sap their youth and courage. They are evil-doers. They took part in a demonstration with 4,000 others in Warsaw last March to demand the reinstatement of two of their colleagues. Over 25 lorry loads of the valiant keepers of law and order were brought in to stop this expression of bourgeois dissent, those to be tried are Jews. Guildford this summer Crisis in art Published by London School of Economics Students Union. Printed by F. Bailey & Son Ltd., Dursley. Glos.