Bringi
By DAVID GARFINKEL
AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France -Around
here "Bottle of wine, fruit of the vine"
is no longer on the top 40.
"A meal without the wine of France
is like a day without sunshine," the
saying goes. Curiously enough, there
have been a good many days here with-
out sunshine this fall, and while that
hasn't stopped anybody from drinking
the stuff, it is generally acknowledged
that 1974 will not be a good year for
wine. In Provence, the rain has diluted
the sugar concentration in the grapes,
causing a low yield of alcohol.
What's worse, the worldwide market
for wine is slackening. "In France, the
thousands of smaller grape growers who
operate on tracts of 6 to 10 acres are
in danger of economic ruin," reports
Newsweek of September 16. Le Monde
of October 15 notes a 45 per cent drop
in the going price for "investment" Bor-
deaux as of June 1974. Not a very
sunny situation, you might say.
But then you would be forgetting that
the French are a very proud people.
They are strong in their traditions, and
the proces of cultivating and producing
wine is among their greatest.
BUT THE vinters need outside help,
because their experience has taught.them
that for any one vineyard there are
only a few certain days which are op-
timum for picking the grapes. This said,
so begins the story of les vendanges.
This seasonal work is open to all who
are willing to do it. In the area of
Provence it begins in late September
and continues through the middle of Oc-
tober, which is perfect for French stu-
dents, whose classes don't start until
the beginning of November.'
Since it is temporary, uncontracted
work, les vendanges are open to Ameri-
can students. This year several of them
took -a day or two off classes to pick
grapes and pick up a little cash as well.
Scott Freeman, from Wisconsin, did
a lot of factory work over the summer.
He thought the difficulty of the two jobs
was about the same. But for him there

0

j

ng
was a difference:
"you can stand up
see le Mont Sainte

in
with les vendanges,
and look around, and
Victoire behind you."

the

wine

crop

IT'S NO PICNIC, though, because the
work consists of bending over and snip-
ping off bunches of grapes from vines
about two feet high. So part of the job
is standing up and looking around.
Randy Kovacic, also from Wisconsin,
explains the phenomenon known as "Mal
aux reins": "If you're not used to bend-
ing over, your back hurts a whole lot.
You have to get up and stretch!"
Nonetheless, there are sizable rewards
for the work, and the fringe benefits are

can earn 1100F, which is the SMIG
(minimum wage), and that includes nei-
ther the value of the meal (maybe 12-
20F) nor the worth of the unlimited wine.
Tamara England, from Wisconsin,
and Jill Enzmann, from Michigan, were
a little more adventurous than most;
they worked the vineyards for a few days
together in Pierrefeu in the region
of Le Var. They were given free lodging
in the Chateau, the large house of the
owners, and three meals a day. They too
received SOF for each day of work, but
to them it was worth far more than
that.
"It was like a personalized exper-

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"At Pierre feu, Tamara and Jill had working compan-
ions ranging from a 14 year old boy-crazy girl who
threw grapes at the young men for attention, to a 60
year old man who could walk only with the aid of two
canes. 'He could pick grapes all day long,' Jill said, 'but
when he drank his wine he would fall over and people
had to pick him up.'"
mv. } . r M'||1||,||3 |||..|||. . .

some neighbors came by and talked
about the possibility of machines, the
possibility of mechanizing the vendange
within say, ten years," Tamara recalls.
"But I interrupted them and said, but
what about the community spirit of it,
because I think that's real important and
the thing of the old people and the young
people working together? It's one thing
that they look forward to."
FOR NOT all the workers are students.
At Pierrefeu, Tamara and Jill had
working companions ranging from a four-
teen-year-old boy-crazy girl who threw
grapes at the young men for attention,
to a sixty-year-old man who could walk
only with the aid of two canes. "He could
pick grapes all day long," Jill said'. "But
when he drank his wine he would fall
over and people had to pick him up."
One important reason that Americans
find the work so attractive is that it
opens an inroad into the French cul-
ture. Though the work is hard, it pro-
vides an unequaled opportunity to meet
people otherwise unavailable.
The leisure classes of France, for in-
stance, do not find it at all beneath
themselves to join in the work for the
exercize and fresh air. Randy Kovacic
told me of a partner who was the wife
of the local military commandant and
lived in -a chateau. Secretaries from Mar-
seille find the vendange a pleasant and
invigorating way to spend their Satur-
days in the country.
STEPHANIE HARRY, from Wisconsin,
was rather straightforward in her re-
count of the experience. Could you de-
scribe how you felt at the end of the
first day, I asked her.
She thought for a moment. "Dead!"
she said, and laughed. "But I went back,
and it was better the second time." She
showed me the cuts on her hands. What
about a third time, I asked. She crink-
ler up her nose. "Yeah, I probably will
do it again," she said.
David Garfinkel is a European Cor-
respondent for The Daily.


Eighty-four years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan

Friday, November 8, 1974

News Phone: 764-0552

one of its main attractions. After work-
ing from early morning to noon, the
vendangeurs are rounded up and taken
to lunch, and it's usually a feast. Stand-
ard fare is a meal starting with green
salad, followed by an entree of meat
and fresh vegetables, potatoes, bread
and cheese, fruit dessert coffee and all
the local wine you care to drink, all
considered as part of the day's wages.
Lunch is the main meal in France and
one eats at a leisure pace, for one to
two hours.
THEN AFTER lunch there are four
more hours of work, and for local work-
ers there's a payment of 50 Francs ($10)
and a ride home. This is not an exploita-
tive situation by French standards. By
working 22 days a month, a vendangeur

ience," Tamara said. "I was living with
this family, they were sharing their
home and, their food with us. It was a
very fine contact to have met a family
who was warm and very open."
THEIR VERY routine was getting wok-
en up at 6:45, breakfast of cafe au lait
and bread, going out to the fields, a
break at 11:00 for a sandwich jambon,
work again from 1:15 until 5:00, wash-
ing up and sitting around the fireplace
(it gets cold in mountain vineyards at
night!) and then dinner with the family
around 8:00. It should be noted that not
all vendangeuses have it so good!
In France the grapes are still picked
by hand, but even here 'the spector of in-
dustrialization looms large. "One day

420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mi. 48104

Amnesty: The real thing

ON SEPTEMBER 16, 1974 President
Gerald Ford announced his "am-
nesty" program which would give de-
serters and draft-evaders "the op-
portunity to earn" their return to
American society. On that same day,
the Joint Clemency Processing Cen-
ter at Camp Atterbury, Indiana
opened. Less than one month later
the Atterbury Center closed due to
lack of business. Although the center
has been relocated about 50 miles
north in the smaller facilities at Fort
Benjamin Harrison, business has re-
mained slow and it has become in-
creasingly clear that the expected
hoards of returnees are not going to
materialize.
According to statistics provided by
President Ford, 12,500 men who de-
serted at some point during the pro-
scribed period from the Tonkin Gulf
Resolution (August 4, 1964) to the
withdrawal of American forces from
Vietnam on March 28, 1973, are eligi-
ble for this program. Of these 12,500,
1481 have applied for amnesty; and
500 of these were already in military
custody.
4 MONG DRAFT-evaders the statis-
tics are even less impressive. On-
ly 66 of the 6800 men said to be eligi-
ble have surrendered.
The final category of men who can
apply for amnesty under Ford's plan
are those who have already been con-
victed of desertion or draft-evasion.
The Clemency Review Board, whose
purpose it is to review such cases, es-
timates that 123,000 men are eligible
for clemency under this heading. So
far 560 have applied.
Apuarently deserters and draft-
evaders aren't buying Ford's amnesty
plan. and it's no wonder why.
Before Ford's proclamation, the
most common way of handling re-
turned deserters was by giving them
an Undesirable Discharge. Under
Ford's plan, these men still receive
an Undesirable Discharge, plus are
required to serve a term of alterna-
tive service of up to 2 years. Upon
comnletion of alternate service the
Undesirable Discharge is replaced
with a Clemency Discharge, but the

value of this switch is questionable
for even with a Clemency Discharge
a service man is still ineligible for
service benefits.
FOR THE MEN WHO view the Un-
desirable Discharge and the
Clemency Discharge as one and the
same-which in this case they seem
to be, there is an apparent loophole
in the law of which they might want
to take advantage. The loophole is
the fact that the military has no
authority over a man once he has
received his Undesirable Discharge,
and there is no way a man can be
forced to perform his alternative
service. Chances of reprisals against
one who fails to do alternative serv-
ice are practically nil; in fact Penta-
gon sources have let it be known
that it would be rather difficult to
prosecute a man for failing to per-
form alternative service.
The logic behind Ford's plan can
also be questioned from another an-
gle. Some lawyers believe that draft-
evaders would come off better if they
took their chances in court, espe-
cially since many were inducted un-
der laws which have been declared
unconstitutional. In recent years
juries have been reluctant to convict
men for Selective Service law viola-
tions and many judges have been
lenient with those who have been
convicted. The drawback is that in
taking their cases to court, draft-
evaders run the risk of being coA-
victed of a felony, while those who
come under Ford's program are as-
surred of a clean record.
PERHAPS IT IS TOO early to call
President Ford's amnesty pro-
gram a failure, but certainly, it has
not been a success. The benefits of
the program are questionable at best,
and the lack of response by those it
is sunnosed to aid indicates little
hone for future success. If Ford wants
to h/elp the deserters and draft-evad-
ers as much as he says he does, he
would do better to offer complete
and total amnesty instead of hand-
ing out old policy in new guises.
-SUE WILHELM

mmm

Letters

AP- s -W -_

oceans
To The Daily:
I HAVE just finished reading
in Saturday's paper an editorial
written about the presently
pending proposal for a two hun-
dred mile limit in defining the
ocean boundary of the United
States. I wholeheartedly agree
that the limit itself is not the
best thing that can be done to
foster the 'one world' concept;
however as with every other
major issue which faces human-
ity today, there is no right or
wrong in such absolute terms,
and the end result must be a
product of a balancing of poli-
cies.
My immediate reaction to the
editorial was to say "Who the
hell is this to state policy on
ocean boundary limits?" be-
cause the medium of communi-
cation was the Daily - 600 mil-
es, at least, from any ocean,
and relatively ignorant of the
realities of ocean life. When I
say ocean life I refer not just
to the rapidly falling population
of whales or the slow pollu ion
of food species and other al-
uable living resources, but I al-
so refer to the quality of life
which exists along the ocean it-
self. A two hundred mile limit
has some subtle repercussions
which a Midwesterner wo'.ld
really not recognize. For exam-
ple, the City of New York has
created a dead sea about 40
miles west of the Ambrose light
at the entrance to New York
Harbor. This seems to be a tact
most peopleeknow. But what
they fail to understand is that
this dead sea is expanding.
I could go to beaches ;n Sea
BrightNew Jersey for years
as a kid and swim in water as
clean as any in the continental
U.S. Now the water is of a
noticeably darker color, and,
while clean enough for bathing,
it does occasionally have out-
breaks of the 'red tide' some-
times toxic. I can still go fif-
teen miles south to Sea Girt
and find my clean water, but
I'd prefer to travel less. And,
I am sure, so would the fifteen
million New York metroplitan
area residents who choose to use
the new Gateway National Park,
which is closer to that d e a d
sea than Sea Bright is. To im-
pose a 200 mile limit would in
this instance force that sludge
dumping to be done further
away making it more costly,
and creating an incentive to find
another way to dump sludge
than into our largest 'sewer'.
THERE ALSO exists along my
coast two traffic lanes for
ships from foreign lands - the
Barnegat/Ambroce lane end
the Ambrose/Hudson Canyon
lane. From what I see in those

ic living for a great deal of
fishermen lobstermen, and other
people who deal in this area.
The constant intrusion by trawl-
ers from other countries, plainly
visible from shore, hurts their
trade, and forces them to catch
sea life which is too immature
for good harvesting and should
be allowed to grow and spawn.
Whether oil resources exist on
the Continental Shelf and whe-
ther they can be reaped withouf
making the water quality worse
is a question which I really can
not answer. I don't particularly
like the suggestion of a super-
tanker port off of my coast. On
the other hand I think that it
is probably more equitable that
the U.S. drill for oil and take
these oil resources than some
other country whose closest
shore is two continents away. In
addition it is possible that the
200 mile limit will exist for cer-
tain' purposes and not for oth-
ers. Thus it could be a 200 mile
limit for national sovereignty
purposes, a 100 mile limit for
fishing and oil, and, say a 20
mile limit for travel exploration,
natural investigation, and other
purposes which would benefit
all nations. Such a construction
is not absurd. It might be wise
to face facts. Japan and the
Soviet Union are moretcapitalis-
tic and exploitative than that
notorious exploiter the U S.
when it comes to fishing. The
U.S. maritime industry is sore-
ly in need of better capital in
the form of larger and better
equipped ships, etc. An exten-
sion would help to avoid collapse
of the industry and give it time
to rebuild. It would also provide
a nonviolent bargaining tool in
trying to get the other fishing
countries to commit themselves
to a harvest of the sea, and not
a rape.
AS I ALLUDED to earlier, in
an idealistic world, it would be
fine to have no ocean sovereign-
ty at all. Maybe then The Rus-
sians Are Coming would be fact
and not fantasy. But at the pre-
sent time those roles are re-
versed, and we must balance
our facts, to avoid our fantasies.
It is true that a 200 mile limit
is a badge of an overprotective
self interest, but maybe the limit
is also a sign of risking a short
term annoyance for a long term
benefit.
-M. Thomas McCue
Law '75
In reply,
I AM NOT PERSUADED.
To tie off picky points first:
Certainly the Daily (building)
has never been anywhere near
an ocean. But more than o n e
member of the Daily (staff peo-
ple) have lived on both ,oasts,

tolI
posal to prevent that,
NYC Sanitation Depart
a miniscule reputation
ing in good faith in n
ecology and public 1
case in point: the ConE
stacks. And "dumping
where else" is hardly a
tive suggestion for er
hyperconsumption /hyp
ion that you complain
One question: how
"sound economic living
fer to in paragraph4
the "collapse" you re
paragraph 5?
THERE ARE no "no
bargaining tools that I
and extending ocean b
generally works the o'
The kind of long tern
you speak of seems tc
modern version of ma
tiny. It would be wise
cleaning up "annoya
home and at conferen
than to make anotherc
tion's perpetual unilate
ever outward.
-Marnie Heyn
To The Daily:
PRESIDENT Ford,
novice in the Whitel
learning fast. His adep
displayed during hisr
tempt to come clean
burden of the Nixon
His strategic move,s
by the press, to allow
cameras to cover his g
fore the House Judici
Committee was really
cise in deceit.
Whatever the truth
the pardon of former
Nixon, Ford is anxious
it up. The opening u
hearings aided' the pr
two ways. First, it b(
popularity on an issue
lost ground on a mont
reinforcing his image c
Secondly, but more im
he was able to close
on any alleged deal
former president. Forc
in no uncertain terms
pardoned Nixon for th
the country. But thev
sonalities in the House
mittee failed to ask
"good" is. And relyin
pressures of history
made, Ford was confi
embarrassing question
to Nixon's mental w
(or lack of it) woul
asked.
-Nicolas J. Ker
October 18
To The Daily:
ON TUESDAY, 15
th Revn,,tio, , S,,

and the
tment has
for deal-
natters of
health. A
Id smoke-
it some-
an ;nnova-
nding the
erextrus-
about.
does the
g" you re-
4 become
fer to in

e

'Daly
porters of the Revolutionary Un-
ion (RU). Several members of
the audience, some of whom are
supporters of New American
Movement, walked out in pro-
test of this flagrant violation of
workers democracy. For the po-
litical cowards of the RU/RSB,
this contemptuous defiance of
workers democracy represents
simply one more desperate at-
temptrto shield their political
"theory and practice" from the
stinging criticisms of revolu-
tionary Leninism and Trotsky-
ism. *

Both the RU and its quasi-in-
onviolent" dependent group, the RSB, have
know of, a long history of gangster-like
oundaries attacks upon other left groups,
ther way. including the SL/SYL. Last year
m Denefit the RU viciously attacked var-
o mean a ious left-wing paper salespeople
nfest des- at the Fremont, California, GM
r to start plant, UAW local 1364, despite
nces" at the protests of workers who
ce tables were entering the plant. At the
of our na- next local 1364 union meeting,
ral shifts, the workers made clear exactly
how they felt about these self-
appointed "guardians" who
would seek to choose what the
workers could or could not read
slime and discuss. By a nearly unani-
mous vote, .the union passed the
following resolution:
once a No member of this union shall
House, is attempt to prevent the sales
tness was or distribution outside t h e
recent at- plant of the literature of the
with the various labor-socialist groups,
pardon. since this violates the basic
so lauded traditions of this union of free
television and open discussion within the
rilling he- labor movement.
iary Sub-
an exer- The SL/SYL has always fought
for the principle of workers'
is about democracy, the right of all lab-
president or-socialist groups to freely d i-
sto cover tribute their literature and at-
tp of the tendand speakat public events.
esident in It is only through free, open de-
oosted his bate and ideological struggle
e that he within the workers movement
h ago, by that the working class will see
of candor. the revolutionary program prov-
portantly, en against the bankrupt politics
the book of the various false and reac-
with the tionary leadership.
di told us,
s that he . THE LABOR bureaucracy of
e good of George Meany and Leonard
weak per- Woodcock, unable to answer the
Sub-Com- criticisms of revolutionaries in
what that the unions, regularly resorts to
ng on the attacks like the 1,000 strong
b e i n g goon squad used against the
ident that Mack Avenue wildcat in the
alluding summer of '73. Just as the lab-
'ell being or-fakers employ vicious meth-
d no be ods in their attempts to smash
"dangerous" revolutionary ideas
'esztesi within the labor movement, like-
wise the Stalinists of the RU/
RSB are compelled to resort to
petty gangsterisms and thug
debate tactics in order to prevent ex-
posure of their reformist, petty-
bourgeois politics. Thus the tac-
October, tics of the RU/RSB are identi-
ie R;. cal to those of Meany/Wood-

their defense despite our many
serious political differences with
PLP/SDS. Furthermore, t h e
SL/SYL has been the o n l y
left group which has consistent-
ly opposed using the agents of
the Bourgeois state - the cops,
campus administrators, a n d
courts - to settle disputes with-
ing the socialist movement.
The mis-leaders and opportun-
ists within the workers move-
ment will be increasingly c o n-
fronted with the revolutionary
program and practice of the
Spartacist League/SYL. Those
members of the RU and/or the
RSB who are seriously commit-
ted to the struggle for socialist
revolution must sooner or later
make a decision - to continue
with the dead-end politics and
methods of reformist Stalinism
or to join the SL/SYL in taking
up the revolutionary program of
Lenin 'and Trotsky to defeat the
mis-leaders and reactionaries
and to build the revolutionary
vanguard that will-lead the com-
ing socialist revolution.
-Janet Russ
Spartacus Youth
League
singles
To The Daily:
TO ALL singles: It is time for
all 31 million of us to attack
the discriminatory system that
Congress and our representa-
tives are practicing in overrul-
ing the passage of Bill H.R.
2701 Tax Reform for Singles .. .
This Bill has been up for re-
view and passage many times;
however, our voted-in officials
have always removed it from
direct discussion and passage.
It is now up to all. singles to
show the representatives and
congressmen that we are un-
happy of their mishandling of
such an important issue as tax
reform on singles . . . If they
are interested in votes, 31 mil-
lion of them, then we should also
expect some gratuity by not be-
ing penalized beyond almost the
limits ...
Write Marvin L. Esch, asking
him why he has not done some-
thing about this bill . . . also
Wilbur Mills of the Ways and
Means Committee. The House
of Representatives has referred
this most important bill to sing-
les, to the Committee of Ways
and Means, and as mentioned,
although it comes up. The dis-
cussion is stifled. Now that-votes
count, let us make ours count
we desperately need the
tax relief as you well know..
-Unfortunately a SINGLE
-Mrs. EKH
October 21
Letters to The Daily chovIld

No home for the holidays

THANKSGIVING IS GOING to be
more expensive for some people
this year. The Civil Aeronautics
Board (CAB) last week authorized
the nation's airlines to raise domes-
tic air fares by four per cent Novem-
ber 15 - just in time for the holiday
rush. They also made permanent a
six per cent surcharge imposed on
travelers last spring as an emergency
measure to offset higher fuel bills.
The new increase boosts the average
price of a domestic airline ticket 20
per cent higher than last year. Home
fnr the nut-nf-state student who flies

enter the realm of magic carpets.
National airlines, not exactly do-
ing a nosedive, have been winging
their way up the profits curve this
year. Dissenting CAB members as-
sailed the rate as in violation of
President Ford's anti-inflation pro-
grams. Airline profits were 400 per
cent higher in the first half of this
year than in 1973. Revenues are ex-
pected to skyrocket an additional
400 million with the new increase.
Passengers won't be flocking to the
airports in response to the new fares
nnd trnffie will nrohahly fall off