Seventy-Fifth Year
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DEPENDENCY AND REVOLUTION:
U. S. Policy Economic Exploitation
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Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 1965 NIGHT EDITOR: MICHAEL BADAMO
'Rights' Orientation
In Russia Increasing
Post-Stalinist Russians are now experiencing a new liberalization
in the legal structure. However, only the first steps have been
made. It is still difficult to believe that Soviet leadership will
reach the proletarian stage in civil rights in the immediate future.
JjN THE TWO-DAY conference on the
"Khrushchev Era and After," held
here last week, Prof. John N. Hazard of
Columbia University, presenting his views
on the Soviet legal system and its pres-
ent, trends, said that the post-Stalin Rus-
sians are becoming "rights oriented."
In support of his case, he reviewed
events after Stalin's death, pointing out
the following significant changes in le-
gal policy:
-Denunciation of Stalin's execution
policy by the Soviet law journals and the
end of police terror;
-Setting aside the death penalty for
economic reasons;
-Reinstituting some Western trial pro-
sedures;
-Improvements in the Soviet prison
camps. The prisoners now have legal
rights to defend themselves, and
-Recognition of the fact that the So-
viets do not have real election rights.
Hazard believes that the reason be-
hind these changes is the presence of a
hiumanitarian element in Soviet lawyers,
who are seriously concerned about the
progress of Soviet law.
PERHAPS THESE CHANGES are in the
process of actual implementation, but
Ado tion Plan
Must Remain Pure
THE MICHIGAN STATE University Peo-
ple to People Association, a group
which plans to "adopt" a South Vietna-
mese village, began its fund-raising pro-
gram last week by sponsoring a talk by
Vice-President Hubert Humphrey.
Humphrey's speech, aside from rais-
ing a great deal of money for the cause,
also raised a serious question about the
direction the program is to take.
The originators of the people to people
program feel that their economic action
-their "adoption" of the South Vietna-
mese hamlet of Long Yen-will do a great
deal to, help rebuild that war-torn na-
tion, and will be a significant contribu-
tion to the people of Viet Nam.
Such economic assistance-by itself-
Is commendable. Their cause has been
'further strengthened by their repeated
emphasis on the non-political nature of
their organization, certainly a refresh-
ingly different tack, if nothing else.
]BUT THERE IS A GREAT danger that
this "non-political" group will be sub-
verted into a political vein, a possibility
which Humphrey's talk made this pain-
tfully evident.
Humphrey referred to the people to
people program as a weapon tobe used
to "defeat a new and pernicious form of
aggression against mankind." By turning
this economic assistance program into
Sjust another facet of the ideological war-
fare being waged in Viet Nam, Humphrey
robs it of its most attractive quality.
Such a program would only supply med-
ical facilities, educational services and
the like. The group's funds should not be
used for such things as military supplies
or even uniforms for the village militia.
Aside from avoiding such overt political
activities as these, the backers of the
people to people program must remain
constantly alert to prevent their venture
from being dragged into the political
arena.
HIS IS EASIER SAID than done, how-
ever. But the group must be prepared
to make lively protest if anyone-even
the Vice-President-tries to use the peo-
ple to people program as a political tool.
With this in mind, last week's talk by
Vice-President Humphrey was not a good
beginning for the program. The MSU
group should have politely but firmly re-
mindd Huimnhrev-either before or after
one cannot forget the tyrannical regime
of Stalin. The long period when the So-
viets experienced frequent punishment
without any legal trials is still fresh in
our memories.
In fact, most Western observers of So-
viet law say that the rights orientation
has been a mockery in Soviet law, so far
as the question of practical implementa-
tion is concerned. This is, however, the
conciliation that at least the text of
the present law provides some degree of
justification.
One argument is that Khrushchev was
very humanitarian and was therefore re-
sponsible for bringing about these chang-
es. Of course, he did introduce these re-
forms, but there is little evidence that
Khrushchev was really humanitarian. As
a matter of fact, it was the necessity of
circumstances which he realized and act-
ed upon.
The man in the street and in the courts
had persistently demanded the stimula-
tion of rights consciousness, and it would
have indeed been unwise not to make
some changes during Khrushchev's time.
Changes came in Soviet criminal law
procedure in 1958. These provided that a
person accused of a crime would not be
convicted without trial. Undoubtedly, this
may be regarded as a big switch-over
in Soviet policy.
ANOTHER SIGNIFICANT development
was to bring down the number of So-
viet law articles from 456 to 156. Khrush-
chev did so, claiming that it would make
law easier and understandable. It was
also stated that no one would be pen-
alized outside the scope of these articles.
The abolition of the Special Boards and
elimination of the famous "analogy pro-
vision" has given a deep sense of re-
lief to all and fostered hopes that Soviet
law is becoming stabilized.
The dangerous "analogy provision"
made the definition of crime so flexible
that anyone could be punished without
justification.
Although there is now a provision in
Soviet law that no one will be punished
without a trial, it is still far from pro-
viding complete justification. Its biggest
weakness is that the accused is not en-
titled to keep a lawyer for his defense
until the charges are made and trial is
set.
This denies the accused the right to
seek defense and legal advice at the
earliest stage of the case. Soviet lawyers
apparently realize this and are in fact
very much embarrassed when criticized
by legal experts from France, Great Brit-
ain, Germany and the United States on
this point.
THE ORIGINAL CODE change of 1958
has also reduced death penalties to a
small number. The Soviet law journal
mentions a list of death penalties in its
January 1965 issue. The changes have
heralded the movement towards rights
orientation, .putting pressure on Soviet
law. Moreover, it has been much influ-
enced by lawyers seeking more liberaliza-
tion.
Shifting political circumstances are also
playing a considerable role in the
changes. Even an idea like multi-candi-
dacies in elections has come up in the
party meetings, and the old idea that one
could not think of rival candidates now
seems to be fading.
However, it does not mean that the
Communist Party conceives of more than
two candidates in elections. The editor
of the Soviet law journal wrote recently
that, "The concept of multi-candidates is
not a conception of secondary import-
ance in comparison to the Stalin period."
Besides, he said, political measures
more important in considering rights are
being discussed for the new constitution,
coming within the next three years. This
will recognize the need to change the
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following
article is an excerpt from the in-
troduction to an unpublished hon-
ors thesis, "Process and Revolu-
tion in Latin America: The Role of
the Intellectual" (April, 1965).
By STEPHEN BERKOWITZ
THE WORLD TODAY is in the
midst of a revolution so vast
in scope, so thoroughgoing in its
goals, and so intense in the de-
termination those 'dedicated to it
bring to the task of securing
them, that it is an act almost of
abject faith to state-with any
semblance of surety-what the
political structure of world so-
ciety will be like from one mo-
ment to the next.
Throughout the world-in Latin
America, in Africa and in Asia-
people are emerging from the
darkness of the poverty, misery
and repression which has been
the only form of living they have
known, into the realization that
the fruits of a modern technologi-
cal age may properly belong also
to them.
This "revolution" - variously
called "the revolution of rising
expectations," "the revolt of the
masses," "the social revolution"-
hasappeared in many different
places and in many different
forms.
IT IS NOT NEW-it is only,
now, "very much with us."
In the parts of North Africa
and Asia which formerly belonged
the colonial powers, the term "so-
cial revolution" has been associat-
ed with a form of nationalism
which seeks a liberation not only
from ,the political domination of
the European state system-but
also from its conceived framework
of international relations.
Hence we have the phenomenon
of "neutralism.-
IN LATIN AMERICA, which
has been largely independent for
almost a century and a half, the
revolution strikes not only at the
political and social disease which
lies within its borders, but at the
place the rest of the world has
relegated to it in the economic
scheme of things. ,
The tendency of Latin Ameri-
cans to think of further changes
in their social enviornment in
terms of alterations in an eco-
nomic "system" is significant.
The rest of the areas touched
by the expanding social revolu-
tion in progress today have just
entered into-or are about to en-
ter into-the sort of relationship
vis-a-visthe economically more
developed nations that Latin
America has enjoyed for a long
time; e.g. one inwhich de jure
control of a country rests in the
hands of the people of that coun-
try (or rather those of their elite)
and its de facto control, to a
greater or lesser extent, rests in
the hands of the foreign investors
that own or dominate the coun-
try's economic resources.
THE REVOLT-the upsurge in
revolutionary sentiments - which
we are in the midst of, began with
the increased share in the goods
of society given the common man
by the technologically more ad-
vanced nations of Western Europe
and, then, spread rapidly among
the peoples of ther colonial poses-
sions.
In doing so, however, the revo-
lution altered its character in
certain ways.
To the people of these coun-
-Associated Press
AN ANTI-AMERICAN CROWD topples a sign in Buenos Aires in a demonstration protesting U.S. Inter-
vention in the Dominican Republic. Such anti-American feeling has often focused on U.S. investments
of the U.S. greet the intellectual
community is a special form of
madness..
In view of the fact that much
of the ostensible foreign policy of
the United States aims at influ-
encing just these people-those
who lead or will lead new nations
-what, precisely are we doing
wrong?
What are the processes whereby
the U.S. might come to under-
stand the role it is, in fact, play-
ing in much of the world today?
IN THE FIRST instance, it
should be noted that the views
intellectuals throughout the un-
derdeveloped world share as to
the nature of the American image
is rooted in the economic facts
of their life-space.
To them, the "American" is not
a Peace Corpsman, or an Ameri-
can missionary of the economic
or religious sort; he is the owner
of a large industrial combine that
takes minerals from their earth
and leaves them in rags..
. . To many' of them, even
American aid has about it one
essential demeaning quality which
operates to'the exclusion of all
the others: it is directed to and
through governments which are,
not of their own choosing...
THIS BELIEF is a sound one-
for such governments rarely pass
these benefits along to their
people.
Yet, exploitation alone tells only
part of the story.
The primary effect of American
investment upon the economies of
the underdeveloped portion of the
world is not, simply, to drain off
capital or increase the inequit-
able distribution of wealth within
many portions of that area... In
a larger sense, it is, to create
economies which are uneven in
their growth-thus either over-
inflating or over-taxing govern-
ment, creating vast urban slums,
and draining from the country 4
economic resources which will be
essential to its development later
on.
The effect of this pattern of
economic disruption, moreover,
has been to create further dis-
ruptions and incongruities within
the fabric of the societies of these
countries as a whole.
around the world.
tries, a higher standard of living
and independence were but two
sides of the same coin: when the
Europeans left, they thought, an
economic Utopia would follow.
THIS, IN FACT, is not what
happened.
In the first instance, the ending
of the colonial system - which
rested upon the direct political
and economic control of the rest
of the world by Europeans-has
not freed most of these new coun-
tries from the economies left be-
hind by their erstwhile masters.
The ties of economic depend-
ency, forged during the colonial
era, remain.
Thus what has persisted after
the liquidation of these empires,
is a line etched deep in the sur-
face of the international com-
munity between the rich and poor
-the independent and dependent
-countries of the world.
In some places, such as the
Congo . . . major industries left
over from the colonial period, re-
main in the hands of those who
held them before independence.
In other areas, the control of
the economies of former colonial
possessions, while becoming sub-
tler (that is to say it proceeds in-
directly, through banks, holding
companies, the regulation of in-
ternational markets), remains as
decisive.
THIS PATTERN is not, of
course, always an adequate des-
cription of the relationships which
exist between the larger economy
and that of a particular country . .
In much the same way that a
map offers not reality, but an
approximation of that reality,
however, the value of the notion
of "economic dependency" ought,
in the first instance, to be gauged
by the potentiality it offers for
the prediction and description of
the phenomena it incorporates.
All formerly colonial countries,
however, have not been content to
remain in a dependent status in
relation to their "mother" coun-
tries.
INCREASINGLY, the world so-
v
. '
1 -
cial revolution today addresses
itself to the task of seeking 'to
free the economies of newly in-
dependent (and newly functionally
independent) countries from the
grip of foreign domination.
"Africanization," "Nationaliza-
tion," "economic readjustment,"
"sociolization"-these words in
their several senses relate to the
felt need on the part of the people
of these countries to direct the
fruits of their economic resources
to their own betterment.
Yet, the people of the under-
developed parts of the world see
many serious impediments in the
way of their economic and social
progress. Not the least of these
. . . is the role being prayed by
the United States in world af-
fairs.
IN AN AGE in which the rest
of the highly developed capitalist
countries in the west are in the'
process of diminishing-or modi-
fying-what economic relation-
ships they enjoy to the rest of the
world, we seem determined upon
a course of action which is the
precise opposite of this trend both
in force and direction.
In the face of a revolutionary
climate of world sentiment--
when confronted by a situation
which would seem to inveigh
against just the sorts of actions we
are undertaking-the U.S. seems
about to embark upon what ...
(might be) . . . called its "Period
of Second Empire."
In Latin America, in Asia, in
Africa we are pursuing a course
of behavior which the former
colonial powers have given up as
crude and wasteful. Our foreign
policy seems geared more to the
understandings and moral as-
sumptions of the 19th than the
20th century.
IN BRAZIL, in Viet Nam. in
many parts of the world where
the specter of revolution rises
forcefully from amongst the
people, we have chosern to retreat
-on the level of rhetoric at least
-into the outrageous moral plati-
tudes of a half-century ago.
In the face of this, then, the
disregard, with which the actions
H UMPTY-DUMPTY:
Machines--Extensions of Man
0;
HUMPTY-DUMPTY is the fa-
miliar example of the clown
unsuccessfully imitating the acro-
bat. Just because all' the King's
horses and all the King's men
couldn't put Humpty-Dumpty to-
gether again, it doesn't follow that
electromagnetic automation could
not have put Humpty-Dumpty
back together.
The integral and unified egg
has no business sitting on a wall,
anyway. Walls are made of uni-
formly fragmented bricks that
arise with specialisms and bur-
eaucracies. They are the deadly
enemies of integral beings like
eggs.
Humpty-Dumpty met the chal-
1
N
,s ~,
,. L
t f i
lenge of the wall with a spectac-
ular collapse.
When Europeans used to visit
America before the Second World
War they would say, "But you
have Communism here-"
What they meant was that we
not only had standardized goods,
but everybody had them. Our mil-
lionaires not only ate cornflakes
and hot dogs, but really thought
of themselves as middle-class peo-
ple.
WHAT ELSE? How could a mil-
lionaire be anything but "middle-
class" in America unless he had
the creative imagination of an
artist to make a unique life for
himself? ,
It is strange that Europeans
should associate uniformity of en-
vironment and commodities with
Communism? ... We really have
homogenized our schools and fac-
tories and cities and entertain-
ment to a great extent just be-
cause we are literate and do ac-
cept the logic of uniformity and
homogeneity that is inherent in
Gutenberg technology.
This logic, which has never
been accepted in Europe until very
recently, has suddenly been ques-
tioned in America, since the tac-
tile mesh of the 'V mosaic has
begun to permeate the American
sensorium.
TO MISTAKE the car for a
status symbol, just because it is
asked to be taken as anything but
a car, is to mistake the whole
meaning of this very late product
of the mechanical age that is now
yielding its form to electric tech-
nology.
The car is a superb piece of
uniform, standardized mechanism
that is of a piece with the Guten-
berg technology and literacy
which created the first classless
society in the world.
The car gave to the democratic
cavalier his horse and armor and
haughty insolence in one pack-
age, transforming the knight into
a misguided missile.
IN FACT, the American car did
not level downward, but upward,
toward the aristocratics idea .
The car, in a word, has quite re-
fashioned all of the spaces that
unite and separate men, and it will
continue to do so for a decade
more, by which time the electronic
involved the entire society in the
decision-making process, shocks
the old press man because it ab-
dicates any definite point of view.
As the speed of information in-
creases, the tendency is for poli-
tics to move away from represen-
tation and delegation of constit-
uents toward immediate involve-
ment of the entire community in
the central acts of decision.
Slower speeds of information
make delegation and representa-
tion mandatory.
Associated with such delegation
are the points of view of the dif-
ferent sectors ,of public interest
that are expected to be put for-
ward for processing and consid-
eration by the rest of the com-
munity.
WHEN the electric speed is in-
troduced into such a delegated
and representational organization,
this obsolescent organization can
only be made to function by a
series of subterfuge and make-
shifts.
-Marshall McLuhan
"Understanding Media, The
Extensions of Man"
Federal Aid
Falls Short
ELPING deserving young men
and women to finanice their
college education is a worthy
cause. It's one in which private
enterprise is playing an important
role.
In 1960 a small group of far-
seeing men determined to help
open college doors to self-reliant
young Americans, regardless of fi-
nancial standing, and to do so
through existing private agencies.
Out of this determination there
was established an organization
known as United Student Aid
Funds, Inc., which guarantees
loans made to students by their
home-town bank.
The first loan was made on Feb.
1, 1961, and by the same date in
1965, the organization had guar-
anteed 68,379 loans totalling $39.8
million, and 685 colleges and 5,-
522 banks were cooperating in the
program.
of