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Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily ex press the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 12, 1965 NIGHT EDITOR: EDWARD HERSTEIN
he Growth of Corporate Power
Threatens U.S. Democraey
SINCE THE END of the Second World right to veto either the persons "elected"
War, changes have taken place within to office or their program.
the fabric of American society which
represent a challenge not only to tradi- JN FACT, however, this is precisely what
tional political structures within this a concentration of economic power-
country, but to the very modes of politi- or "political" or "military" power-would
cal conceptualization upon which these seem to held in store for the United
institutions rest. States.
Students of the work of C. Wright If a larger and larger portion of the
Mills will find this point of view some- decisions which affect the lives of the
what less than startling. Mills' "Power members of American society are made
Elite" describes, in some detail, the com- within the governmental or corporate in
frastructure, the decisions of the ballot
military power within our society-and box will become increasingly less mean-
the concomitant concentration of this ingful.
power within the hands of those per- Of course, one could conceivably "vote
,sons who fill the "command posts" of the bastards out" (as per George Fox)-
sons whriousiftith na"com aneposts either directly (in the case of govern-
the various institutional arrangements ment officers) or indirectly (by voting
which reflect each of these dimensions egislation which undermines the social
Mills saw this "agglomeration" of au- bases of elite power).
thority as a threat to a democratic sys- But te ver). c
tem f'goernmnt .But the very scale and complexity of
tern of government. modern government-together with the
This, of course, is -true. The concen- moen.gvrmn-oehrwt h
Thtis, of courei -e.l The oncen- natural tendency of elites to resist legis-
tration of power -especially when this lation which promises to hurt their in-
terests-would seem to make this unlike-
tually unbridled growth in the scale of or- .
ganization-almost necessarily results in . It is both within the interests and
its misuse.- the prerogatives (educational, cultural,
etc.) of members of the elite, to infil-
BUT THE FORCES abroad in American trate and control those positions of pow-
er within government, which promise to
society are more dangerous than even er inernhenpw hyeprrmise
Mills' analysis might suggest: the United undermine the power they exercise
States today is faced not only with a host through other institutional means-chief-
of social forces which inveigh towards ly large corporate economic organza-
the production of an "elite," but with Thsi
(1) traditional modes of social analysis relations with Latin America, car manu-
which do not allow for even the most facturers our relationships with the auto
basic understanding of these sorts of industry, and generals-or former gen-
forces and (2) a regimentation of its spir- erals-governmental ties with military
itual and intellectual life which makes producers.
even a superficial understanding of these
forces a matter almost of accident. THE SECOND pre-condition to demo-
Representative government, in essence, cratic government, then, must be that
rests upon two assumptions: the condition of economic equity be open
Firstly, that a relative degree of eco- to political analysis-that the society in
nomic equality obtains among the per- question assume as an habitual part of
sons who comprise the electorate. With its political analysis-an attitude of jeal-
this state of affairs as a pre-condition, ous interest in the economic nature of
a counting of heads indirectly-but fair- government.
ly accurately - represents an important In the United States, however, it has
dimension of social power. become routine to take the ostensible dis-
If either (a) the number of electors tinction between economics and politics
within a society is small or (b) the eco- as a limiting condition-to assume that
nomic power of some is highly dispropor- the assumption of economic equity is be-
tional to, the configurations of political ing met within political life merely be-
power as set forth by the electoral proc- cause of the existence of the ballot.
es, the social relations dependent upon The growth of corporate power-in both
this congruity break down. an economic and a social sense which
No one, of course, would hold that the has taken place since the end of the Sec-
results of a "democratic" election within ond World War has put the assumptions
a country would be terribly meaningful of equity within this country to the test.
if one individual (or a group of individ- It remains for those truly interested in
uals) within that society, exercised the the directions of political life to test out
Subscription rates: $4 for lIlA and B ($4.50 by mail the parameters of the situation which
$2 for IA or B ($2.50 by mail) -has grown up in its place.
Second class postage paid at Ann Arbor, Mich
Published daily Tuesday thrugh Saturday morning. STEPHEN BERKOWITZ

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EDITOR'S NOTE: D. F. Flem-
ing is emeritus professor of in-
ternational relations at Vander-
bilt University and a visiting
professor at the California State
College in Los Angeles. He is
the author of "The Cold War
and Its Origins," now in its
fourth printing. The following
essay was published in the July,
1965 Annals of the American
Academy of Political and Social
Science, and is being presented
here in two parts today and to-
morrow.
By D. F. FLEMING
IT IS VERY DIFFICULT to real-
ize the great change that has
come over our prospects, both as
individuals and as a nation, since
February 7, 1965.
Up to that time we had every
right to look forward to a far
better future at home and abroad
than we have had for decades.
We had elected a President who
has a deep and sincere desire to
halt our vast expenditures for "de-
fense"-swelling well toward the
trillion dollar mark since the Cold
War began.
He had actually reduced the de-
fense budget a little, only a little
but a precious change of direc-
tion.
AT LAST the'great wildernesses
of cold war neglect in our home
life were to be tackled - our
starved schools and overcrowded
colleges, our inadequate hospitals,
the shameful jungles of our city
slums, great areas of the hope-
less rural poor, our dying com-
muter railroads and choked high-
ways, our foul and dangerously
polluted rivers and harbors, our
choking and health destroying city
smogs, our neglected treatment of
mental illness, our stubborn un-
employment problem and the
menace to so many people's reason
for being in rising automation,
burgeoning crime syndicates ap-
parently beyond the reach of law,
personal assaults in public places
making everyone unsafe but stir-
ring no aid to the assaulted, and,
not least, freedom and justice and
dignity for our Negro citizens.
All these and many other, evi-
dences of a run-down society, too
long absorbed in frustrating oth-
er peoples' purposes, were being
tackled under the superb leader-
ship of President Johnson, with
his noble, down to earth vision of
a Great Society.
Yet suddenly, almost in a twin-
kling of the eye, all of our hopes
for a better future were clouded
by the President's abrupt decisions
to seek solutions for revolutionary
conditions in Asia and Latin
America by the exercise of our vast
military power. The arms budget
is on the way up again and now
no man can count on peaceful
progress.
ABROAD, TOO, the other side
of our outlook was equally bright.
The grisly image of the alleged
Red monolith had receded. Every
intelligent citizen knew that so-
cial evolution was taking place
very rapidly in the Soviet Union
and throughout East Europe. Pres-
Mdent Johnson had declared, on
December 18, 1963, that we want
"to see the Cold War end; we want
to see it end once and for all."
Moscow and Washington talked
publicly about exchange visits of
the heads of state, direct air serv-
ice with the U.S.S.R. was about to
be approved along with other
openings of still closed windows
to understanding - even friend-
ship,
The long night of the Cold War
seemed about over. Its end had
been signalled resoundingly by the
overwhelming defeat of Senator

Goldwater in November, who had
been rejected first and foremost
because we believed he would be
trigger happy and ruthless in the
use of our immeasurable national
power.
WHEN THE AMERICAN people
went to bed on the night of Feb-
ruary 7 they had every right to
believe that tlpese immensely bene-
ficial trends, both at home and
abroad, would lead on into a civ-
ilized and humane world in which
they and all other peoples could
breathe freely and attack their
problems confidently.
But on that night something
happened at Pleiku, in South Viet
Nam. A band of ragged Viet Cong
walked into one of our barracks
compounds, found all the guards
asleep and blew up the barracks,
with heavy American casualties.
Then they did the same thing to
our planes on a nearby airfield.
Similar events had happened
in Viet Nam before, without the
earth being shaken to its foun-
dations, but this time President
Johnson suddenly yielded to ad-
visers who had long been urging
the bombing of North Viet Nam
and seized the occasion to attack
North Viet Nam, in violation of
all international law including the
UN Charter.
THIS DECISION was made for
two reasons: because our attempt
to suppress the Viet Cong rebel-
lion had obviously failed and be-
caune "governmental instability in

gin at once, selecting the targets
himself, and it has continued
since, more than three months as
this is written in May. During this
time we have been taught daily
that the North Vietnamese are ag-
gressors (in their own land) while
we are only defending a sover-
eign nation in South Viet Nam.
THIS REASONING, enforced by
perpetual bombing, leads straight
on to the bombing of China. Presi-
dent Johnson has already spoken
ominously of "the deepening shad-
ow of China" and has alleged that
"the rulers of Hanoi are urged on
by Peking."
The thunder of our bombs also
drives China and Russia slowly
toward each other, in spite of their
deep antagonisms, and our new
definition of "aggression" may
compel the bombing of the U.S.-
S.R., precipitating the final world
war.
It would be shortsighted indeed
not to brace ourselves for this
to happen, but the President's
often repeated promise to use our
power "with wisdom and re-
straint" leaves open another pos-
sible outcome. Accepting negotia-
tions with the Nine Power Geneva
group of 1954, including the Viet
Cong National Liberation Front,
would involve the neutralization
and unification of North and
South Viet Nam.
This appears to be ruled out by
the President's adamant insistence
on April 7 that we must have the
independence of South Viet Nam
guaranteed and that "We will not
be defeated. We will not grow
tired. We will not withdraw, eith-
er openly or under the cloak of a
meaningless agreement."
THIS LEAVES as a way out a
turning back from escalation to
the relentless imposition of our
will on Viet Nam, North and
South. It involves the destruction
of every elenent of strength in
both parts of the country which
is susceptible to bombing and the
sending of large numbers of .Amer-
ican troops to dig the Viet Cong
out of the jungles of South Viet
Nam.
It may be that the lack of nu-
clear arms in China would compel
extreme forbearance on the part
of the Communist powers while
our mastery of Viet Nam is made
good. Since the Chinese may feel
compelled to hold their hand, it is
not too soon to consider the ef-
fects of our "victory" in South-
east Asia.
According to our hardliners
everything would then fall into
place. Southeast Asia would be
"saved." Everyone in the world
would know who was top dog. We
would be spared the intense hu-
miliation of admitting that a guer-
rilla revolution can succeed and,
with the contrary demonstrated
in Viet Nam, all other revolu-
tions around the globe could be
suppressed, by the same terrible
measures if necessary but prob-

Ix

Americana'

Feasible?

A VIETNAMESE woman watches a group of U.S. Marines patrol along a dirt road toward defense posi
tions around the Da Nang air base. The defenses of the air base have been strengthened recently, and
aggressive patrols around the base--which search for Viet Cong-initiated.

must be the policy of the United
States to support free peoples who
are resisting attempted subjuga-
tion by armed minorities or by
outside pressure." Mr. Truman in-
sisted on the word "must."
In these sweeping terms he
meant to forbid any future revo-
lutions that were Communist led,
or supported by outside Commu-
nists, but by outlawing revolt by
armed minorities he proscribed all
revolutions.
THIS, TOO, has been the heart
of our policy to this day. It was
the main motive for the Marshall
Plan, which should have preced-
ed the Doctrine, and-after one
revolution did turn Red, in Cuba
-of the Alliance for Progress.
This guiding fear of revolution
that might be Red helped to pow-
er NATO, SEATO, CENTO and
all the other segments of the
great rings of containment.
But it was all very frustrating.
For nearly 20 years containment
sent us rushing from one brink of
war to another, in an effort to put
fires that might extend Commu-
nist areas.
The negativism of the policy
steadily built up in our right wing
an ever mounting and angry frus-
tration which finally took control
of the Republican Party at San
Francisco in 1964 and nominated,
Goldwater, a candidate dedicated
to victory by power, everywhere.
HE WAS DEFEATED. President
Johnson refuses to be, but can
his extremely powerful consensus
pressures really bring along the
liberal Democrats, who supplied
his great majority, into a national
policy of using our power every-
where that revolution, or conflict
that might lead to .revolution,
arises?
The doctrinal basis for a "Pax

conceivable gradation of military
power, and with the most "sophis-
ticated" theories and rules for ap-
plying it in "limited" wars. To be
sure there is the ever present
danger of escalation getting out of
hand, but this need not deter a
self confident President from tak-
ing many escalated steps to en-
force our kind of order in the
world.
ACCORDINGLY, it is essential
to begin to think ahead to the
probable results. The war game
players have been doing it for
years and they have now captured
our citadel of power. It is high
time that the rest of us tried to
foresee the course and conse-
quences of firm applications of
escalated power, since everything
depends on the outcome.
To begin with, the Soviet Union
and Eastern Europe are under the
Russian nuclear umbrella, and
perhaps China. Much depends on
the power of rising anger in the
Soviet peoples and, their leaders
while our subjugation of Viet Nam
proceeds. In any event, there is
only one way to prevent China
from taking control of her own
coasts, harbors and islands some
time in the next decade or two,
that is to destroy her atomic in-
stallations and much else now,
And keep them from ever being
rebuilt, either by periodic bomb-
ing or permanent occupation.
This is the real price of impos-
ing our will on South East Asia
and China now. We must be pre-
pared to practice genocide in
China.
THE LARGEST, toughest and
perhaps the ablest people in the
world will not otherwise submit
to our close blockade, -by every
known means, including control
of the two Asiatic peninsulas
which guard her from both the
North and South. 'Also in her
struggle to assert herself in her
own region, China is likely to
have the warm support of some
750 million other Asians.
In spite of her border wars with
China India is already very angry
with us for our conduct in Viet
Nam, as are the Indonesians.
Pakistan opposes our bomb-into-
submission tactics. The Philip-
pines are restless and the Japanese
people are increasingly critical and
fearful of our policy..
It would be rash not to count
soon on the united opposition of
all Asians to our reassertion of
white control on Asia's doorsteps.
This is a jeopardy in which the
British in Malaysia also stand
with us. It does not require any
sophisticated reasoning among the
most illiterate Asiatics to tell
them that yellow and brown backs
are'again bared to the white
man's lash, this time administer-
ed horribly in several ways from
the skies.
THIS IS WHY Senator Morse,
one of the two most courageous
men in the United States and one
of the wisest, said at Stanford
University that the Second World
War had ended all forms of
colonialism in Asia and that "the
Asians will bury it." With their
different "values in time, life and
materiality" this is what we must
expect.
What appears to seem to our
leaders like to be a righteous pro-
tection of freedom for our clients
on the rim of Asia is bound to
seem to the Asiatics the remnants
of a bygone age which must be
destroyed. It could cost them a
hundred million lives, or more, to
expeil us from Asia, but there
would be enough of them left.
' In the process- we could destroy
much that is material in Asia
while killing in ourselves all that
is moral and spiritual. We can
cling to a vast arc of containment
amound the rim of the new China
only by measure that would put
us beyond the pale of humanity.
Is this a road we can afford to

travel?
WHILE WE ARE facing West
without inveterate faith in being
ahl to master anvthing in that

canization of Canada's economy
well advanced, to the extent of
some 13 billions, prosperous Eur-
ope exerts an inevitable lure.
"All across Western Europe a
new, growing wave of resentment
has been building up against
American corporations which seek
a foothold on the continent,"
wrote Bernard D. Rossiter in the
New Republic on April 10. "Op-
position to the American dollar as
it pours into West Germany, cap-
turing entire companies or taking
over parts of other firms, has
sharply increased," reported a Los
Angeles Times writer from Bonn
on February 14.
A CAREFUL European survey
by Senior Editor Arnaud de
Borchgrave of Newsweek on March
8, found our economic power to
be practically irresistible - our
economy growing at $40 billion a
year, $20 billion spent by our
comvanies yearly for research and
development, $1 billion collected
annually in patent fees from three
West European, countries; Gen-
eral Motors with $5 billion in
world sales, 200,000 different pro-
ducts and $500 million to invest in
European expansion-our invest-
ments in West Europe up $10
billion to $11.5 billion in the past
decade and expected to rise to
$24 billion by 1975.
Said a prominent German
banker: "The rate at which the
Americans have been gobbling up
small European companies is posi-
tively indecent."
Other observers agreed that
against the mighty outflow-, of
American take-over dollars only
one economic defense was possible,
the rapid formation of giant Euro-
pean combines able to battle ours
on Europe's home grounds. This
logically required the quick for-
mation of a United Europe poli-
tically, to assist and control the
new corporate behemoths.
FACED BY the essential ques-
tion "to be or not to be," quick
developments in Europe were to
be expected. Nevertheless, the re-
sults of Arnaud de Borchgrave's
second European tour two months
later, reported on May 3, are sen-
sational. He found nothing less
than "a major regrouping of
Western and Eastern European
nations, including Britain, that
could cut sharply into the re-
maining influence of the U.S. on
the Continent."
The debate in Europe is no
longer between "Atlanticists" and
"Europeans," he continued, "The
burning issue is how to end the
artificial split between the French-
led Common Market and the
British-backed European Free
Trade Association as a prepara-
tion for joining up with Eastern
Europe, in a grand new order."
The real debate is whether to
stretch this new order to include
Russia, as Zorin, Russia's ace
diplomat, arrived in Paris as Am-
bassador to France and Soviet
Foreign Minister Gromyko fol-
lowed him to receive a royal wel-
come in Paris.
EVEN IN BRITAIN de Borch-
grave found pressures building to
break out of the Atlantic mold,
that is, close association with the
United States. The British Tories
had concluded, to quote one of
their top leaders, that: "A home
market of 50 million consumers is
not enough. And it is no good
looking toward the U.S. There is
no room for Britain in the pattern
of America's economy."
British thinking was being cry-
stallized by "a Pentagon-fueled
drive by U.S. defense and aircraft
industries to make Europeans de-
pendent on American weaponry."
"Ruthless high-pressure U. S.
salesmanship of arms and air-
craft" was choking Europe's de-
fense industries," said the London
Daily Telegraph, the bible -of Brit-
ain's Conservatives.

Equally portentous, too, is the
inner side of Europe's closing door
against us. Led by Krupps, West
German firms are shipping whole
factories to various East Euro-
"a- efaf +s ha nnerati on a.

A U.S. MARINE, part of the recent Vietnamese military buildup,
patrols the shore of a river in South Viet Nam for Viet Cong.

ably with less effort.
We would not have to fear wars
of liberation or the contraction of
our free enterprise living space
thereafter.
INEVITABLY, TOO, this image
of the future grows in many
minds in many lands, as the ap-
plication of sheer power by us in
Asia proceeds. Nor would it be
wise for us to dismiss or discount
too soon the deep currents in our
life which run in the direction of
a Pax Americana.
As early as February 17, 1941,
Henry R. Luce spoke for powerful
segments of conservative think-
ing when he called for "The Amer-
ican Century," asking us "to ac-
cept whole-heartedly our duty and
opportunity as the most powerful
and vital nation in the world and
in consequence to exert upon the
world the full impact of our in-
fluence, for such purposes as we
see fit and by such means as we
see fit."
This expression of imperial will
did not have the support of Presi-
dent Roosevelt, but in 1945 his
sudden death brought to power a
President who quickly became

Americana" policy is virtually
complete. In his April 7 address
the President disavowed any de-
sire to "impose our will or to dic-
tate" the institutions of others.
But, he continued, "we will al-
ways oppose the effort of one na-
tion to conquer another."
In using the word "nation" he
begged completely the nature of
the struggle in South Viet Nam
and left the way wide open to in-
tervene in every civil war and to
decide any conflict between two
states, since the threat of conquest
can be defined as elastically as
"nation" to shelter any regime,
that we may wish to preserve.
THE PRESIDENT warned also
that "Armed hostility is futile.
Our resources are equal to any
challenge . . . Our patience and de-
termination are unending . . . We
have no desire to devastate that
which the people of North Viet
Nam have built with toil and sac-
rifice. We will use our power
with restraint and with all the
wisdom we can command. But we
will use it." (Italics added.)
The intent to make our will
prevail, first in Viet Nam and

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