THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL
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LETTERS:
uppresseGhandi
crific needs support
To The Daily: Perhaps even more disgusting
IN RECENT weeks, Indira tn the predictable class be-
nIN rcNToweeko ndira-trayals of the various Indian
Ghandi's crackdown on her par- Stalinist tendencies is the crim-
liamentary opponents has drawn inal abandonment of tha's de-
attention to that country. Prior fense by his own party. nJa's
to- the recent crisis, however, group in India is a supporting
the norms of Indian bourgeois section of the ostensibly Trotsky-
democracy have meant the sys- ist "United Secretariat of t h e
tematic suppression of leftist Fourth International" (USee),
parties and union militan:s. A which is supported by the Amer-
case in point is that of Jagadish ican SWP and YSA. When Jha's
Jha, a leader of India's land- organizing drive had its first
less peasants. This veteran 'rot- successes, he was given con-
skyist organizer has been under siderable publicity in the USec
vicious governmental attack for press. But now that the defense
five years, and presently faces cases of the Chilean M.I.R. are
enormous legal and medical ex- more newsworthy, Jha has been
penses. The Partisan Defense totally ignored by his supposed
Committee, legal defense armo of comrades.
the Spartacist League, has
launched a campaign to gener- JHA'S OWN program has cer-
ate international support for tain flaws. For example, his
Comrade Jha. calls for nationalization leave
In late 1969, Jha led a suc- out the crucial demand :hat
cessful ten day strike of 15, 0o there be no compensation of
farm laborers in 100 villages of former landlords. But regard-
West Bengal's Bankura D i s - less of political differences, the
trict. Farm wages were nearly PDC considers an attack o7 any
doubled, but the strike led to part of the workers' movement
savage repression of Jha's un- to be a potential opening for
ion, the PSKS (West Bengal Vil- further attacks on the entire
lage Workers and Tillers Un- workers' movement. The PDC
ion.) therefore urges all individuals
and organizations which take the
Thirty-nine cases have b e e n side of the exploited and op-
brought against 150 PSKS men-- pressed to contribute to the de-
bers and organizers. The charg- fense of Comrade Jha.
es include "rioting," "illegal
seizure of land," "use of ire- The Partisan Defense 5.ous-
arms,' and "incitement to vio- mittee has also supported the
fence." Jha's legal defense car- defense efforts on behalf of the
not be supported simply through San Quentin Six, George lack-
the contributions of his union's son's fellow inmates, and Joan
remaining members, whose wag- Little. It was also active in the
es in the best of times are bare- defense oftheMa c
ly above starvation level. Jha defense of the Macmillan strik-
himself must support a family ers in New York last year. The
of six, and to compound h i s PDC deducts no administrative
difficulties, he has fallen ill and expenses from contributions.
is in the hospital Every cent you give will go di-
THE HISTORY of Jha's case rectly to Jha's defense. Checks
points out the political bankrup- or money orders should be pay-
tcy of the major Indian parties, able to "Partisan Defense Com-
The state government which in- mittee" and contributions to
itiated the proceedings agaist Comrade Jha should be so mark-
him was a popular front, irclud- ed.tDonations may be made
ing representatives of the pro-
Moscow Communist Party of In- through the Spartacus Y ou t h
dia (currently Ghandi's s o 1 e League or mailed directly to:
suporter outside her own party!) Partisan Defense
and the Maoist CPI (Marxist) Committee
as well as the ruling Bngla Box 633,
Congress Party. These parties CanalStreet Station
collaborated in the suppression New York, New York 1003
of the PSKS and also in the
brutal extermination of t h e -Robert Carswell,
Maoist guerillas of the CPI Spartacus Youth League
(Marxist-Leninist). July 17
'tisa Nor IMpao'tI V )RM eSt R MMa MAe Mnei1W 00 rt
fO5*'" l Ir'WtOg OF PRi"'
TENANT'S CORNER
Beware, the Parasite People
By LARRY COOPERMAN
FOR APPROXIMATELY ten
days this month, there was
a gaping hole in the window of a
prominent management c o m-
panys office. It makes on e
wonder: if they cannot replace
their own office's windos
quickly, what chance do their
tenants have? Furthermore, if
they rent the office space from
someone else, and that landlord
had to..repair the window, would
the cost of replacing it be de-
ducted from the damage de-
posit?
Perhaps a large part of the
reason for the present antag-
onism between landlord a n d
tenant is that the owners of the
property do not have to rent
from themselves or live in the
same buildings. The institution
of rental housing began, at least
in capitalistic times, with t h e
leasing of rooms in a private
individual's home. If the heat
went off in February, the land-
lord suffered, too.
Irate tenants, in more recent
times, usually have to withhold
their rent before the landlord
will notice their problems. How-
ever, more creative methods
The Michigan Daily
Edited and managed by Students at the
University of Michigan
Friday, July 18, 1975
News Phone: 764-0552
have been employed at times.
One tenant demanded that her
landlord allow her to use his
shower until he fixed her own.
This really hit the landlord
where he lived, figuratively and
literally, and he soon made the
needed repair.
DEEP DOWN inside, landlords
are probably much the same as
you or me. They may apprec-
iate the little joys in life that
we all do. They surely have de-
veloped many warm, mutually
beneficial relationships withoth-
er people, such as bankers, real-
tors, and their lawyers. in fact,
the only plausible reason for
their having become so gruff
"One tenant de-
manded that her land-
lord allow her to use
his shower until he fix-
ed her own. He s o o n
made the needed re-
pairs:"
aE 'H NISSEN .. .....-.
JO MARCOTTY .......
ROB MEACHUM ....
JEFF RISTINE......
TIM SCHICK ...........
DAVID WHITING .....
BILL TURQUE .........
ELAINE FLETCHER ....
TRUDY GAYER
ANN MARIE LIPINSKI
PAULINE LUBENS :.....
JON CHAV z ..........
AL HRAPSKY .. .. .....
RICH LERNER ........
BILL CRANE ............
tdiorial Staff
JEFF SORENSEN
Editor
PAUL HASKINS
Editorial Director
....................,..
BRIAN DEMING
Sport,, Editor
.Editorial Page Ass't.
...
...
...
..
...
...
...
,..
..
...
.... ......Night Editor and uncaring is that the long
.......Nieght Editor
..........Night Editor years of a parasitical ex-stence
.......... Night Editor soured them beyond help.
............ Night Editor The Ann Arbor Tenants Union
........ Night Editor has much compassion for these
.... Ass't. Night Editor
Ass't. Night Editor misguided individuals. If your
...... Ass't. Night Editor landlord has come down with
Asst. Night Editor any of the usual symptoms of
unpleasantness and inordin-
. ...Night Editor ate and, sometimes, insatiable
. Night Editor greed, please call the Tenants
Night Editor Union for advice. Remember,
Contributing Editor aspirin just will not work: the
social illness that these land-
lords have can be cured only
by united action of the part of
...... Classified Manager
. C.. Sales Manager their tenants.
Advertising Manager
... Circulation Manager
Larry Cooperman is a staff
serman, Sylvia Calhoun, member of the Ann Arbor
Tenants Union.
Business Staff
DEBORAH NOVES
Business Manager
PETER CAPLAN . ....... ...... ...
BETH FRIEDMAN..........,
DAVE PIONTKOWSKY ,... ...........
CASSIE ST. CLAIR.. . . .........
STAFF: Nina Edwards, Anna Kwok
SALES: Colby Bennett, Cher Bledsoe, Dan Blu
Jeff Milgrom