Sixty-Ninth Year4
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editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
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DAY, JULY 21, 1959 NIGHT EDITOR: SELMA SAWAYA
Cub- Six
Months
Later
11 1
By HAROLD K. MILKS
HAVANA ()-For the first time
in Cuba's revolt-filled history,
the power of a successful revolu-
tion movement rests on the poor
"Campesinos," the little people of
Cuba.
Fidel Castro has rejected the
cooperation of political president-
makers, economic czars and for-
mer military leaders who tradi-
tionally have put rebels in power
and kept them there.
Midway through his first year of
boldly cast aside the friendship of
upper class Cubans, many of whom
contributed heavily to his guerrilla
movement which overthrew dic-
tator Fulgencio Batista.
He has ignored the resistance
of big, landowners and the threat
of opposition from, sugar and
ranching interests whose lands
face expropriation under his con-
troversial program of land reform.
* * *
CASTRO'S appeal has been to
the little people and they support
him wholeheartedly. "I will bring
half a million of them into Ha-
vana July 26 (anniversary of his
revolutionary movement) to prove
it," he says.
But how long Castro can retain
their support depends upon his
ability to turn lavish promises into
action and give promptly the pro-
mised better life to the millions of
agricultural workers who form the
bulk of Cuba's population.
Like a gambler in the once-
crowded casinos of Havana's lux-
ury hotels, Castro has staked the
future of his movement on a single
Closer Contact Needed
BetenSuetFaculty
rule,
the bearded premier has.
"What's The Hurry -His Term Hasn't Expired Yet"
A RECENT issue of "Life," Sir Maurice
wra of Wadham College, Oxford Uni-
ty, described what the magazine's headline
ers called "A Medieval Way of Learning,"
ford's basic recipe for a well-educated man."
e British tutorial system, as he describes
epresents an aspect of education almost
;letely lacking for the American under-,
uate. Considering this, it is remarkable
the American emerges as "well-educated"
e is.
)xford's colleges," Bowra explained, "are
ally communities of scholars - dons and,
ents."
E DON, HE SAID, must be i"a scholar for-
nidably armed over a wide range of knowl-
and a human being able to communicate
knowledge to others..
bove all he must make his students think.
themselves. Though many dons give lec-
s, it is the weekly tutorials which bring
r full abilities into play. A tutorial is often
ael between two agile gladiators. The stu-
treads aloud the essay he has written. His
listens raptly from the depths of his arm-
r; fingertips together, watching through
Mdern Man
Looks Forward
["S FINALLY HAPPENED. Madison Avenue.
has broken the bonds of the gray-flannel to
ter the realm of the meer'schaum and art-
's smock.
That's right folks; for one half hour a week
u can now be enticed by the best in tele-
lion commercials, uninterrupted by come-;
an, quiz contestant or even champion of the
st. Hardly a spectacular start, but' the eve
full-fledged dramatic (traumatic?) commer-.
als is fast approaching.;
The possibilities are infinite -- just imagine
cking the magic button some night to be
tellectually stimulated by a slightly-altered
heaper by the Dozen." Changing channels,.
u might find "Life of a Salesman" or "A
odest Proposal." And one mustn't miss
Jart," the story, not of $4 super- but an or-
nary just-around-the-corner variety.
I1 COURSE, planning the cultural revolu.
tion will take a little time, but America's
eative commercialists have the beat - an
alian and a French production (featuring.
andy and brassieres, respectively) domin-
ed the first program, but it's only natural
this stage of hte game. After all, the Con-
rent has always been the cultural mecca of
e Western world.
And who's responsible for the- current bit
aesthetic wool-pulling? Names Woollen.
flled "Cavalcade of Spots," the creation
ems from the entertainment. center of the
>rld, Hollywood.
The local television station is certainly pro.
ling a 'public service by sating the public
th commercials, free gratis to the select ad-
rtisers: What is that old publicity blurb?
Movies are better than ever."
-KATHLEEN MOORE
half-closed eyes, waiting for the moment of
carelessness or shaky logic.
"Nothing brings on such withering donnish
sarcasm as the parroting of ideas the student
found in some other scholar's book. The Youth
is expected to think for himself, to strike out
boldly and imaginatively and to defend himself
when under attack. Between a first-rate don
and a bright student these dialogues sometimes
rise to a brilliance and drama that rivals any
theatrical performance in intellectual excite-
ment."
Bowra goes on to explain that Oxford men
begin concentrating (or "majoring," as we put
it) in one area as soon as they arrive. For a
year, they match wits with the same don, being
required to attend no classes, read no books in
between.,
But it is hard to imagine a student lingering
long unless willing to prepare adequately for
his tutor, for ignorance would be rather obvious
in a two-man conversation.
SERE AT THE University, a comparable
H tutor-system is obviously out of the ques-
tion.-
But students wanting more for their money
than a four-year ride with -diploma would do
well to profit by the Oxford example, and sit
down with their professors in their offices,
and talk.
(It is quite conceivable that some members
of the University faculty could stand to be
stimulated once in a- while.)
From Yale University comes a little buff}
booklet, which describes in typical Ivy League
fashion an institution the University should:
examine, then emulate.
TIMOTHY DWIGHT College, Yale, was given
a considerable grant by alumnus Hendon
Chubb, '955. (Yale's colleges are for the mostI
part residence halls rather than academic units
like those at.Oxford or Cambridge.) The pur-
pose, according to the booklet, is "encourage-
ment of student interest in public affairs."
So, after some years of deliberation, Dwight
College set up the Visiting Chubb Fellowship,
which brings eminent men to live at the college
for four or five days and "mingle freely with
the students in the Dining Hall, informal after-
dinner discussions, and in the classroom, there-
by joining in the spontaneous give-and-take
of Yale's social and intellectual activities."
In 1952-53, for example, Chubb fellows were
social scientist David Reisman, Philadel-
phia mayor Richardson Dilworth, "Atlantic
Monthly" editor Edward Weeks, and Connecti-
cut Governor Abraham Ribicoff.
OTHERS FROM the 10 years since the pro-
gram's inception include Lewis Mumford,
Arthur Koestler, Dean Acheson, Clement At-
tlee, Chester Bowles, Harry Truman, G. Men-
nen Williams and Adlai Stevenson.
While Stevenson was at Yale, Peter Gilling-
ham of Dwight College reports, "over 400 peo-
ple had more or less intimate contact with him
in more than 15 smallish groups and another
4,000 heard him in larger gatherings."
This is the sort of thing our Student Govern-
ment Council's forum. committee was getting
at when last heard from, and there is no reason
why 1959-60 shouldn't see such a program,
established here.
-THOMAS TURNER
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toss of the dice. The toss is called
"agrarian reform."
.* g
HIS CRITICS say the agrarian
reform plan will ruin Cuba by de-
stroying the system which made
it the world's biggest p'roducer of
sugar and created huge suppliers
of tobacco and cattle.
What is the agrarian reform
program?
Castro calls it a movement
which will free Cuba's farm work-
ers from economic serfdom by di-
viding nearly nine million acres
of expropriated land among 150,-
000 landless families.
His critics call it a move to sub-
stitute government co n t r o I
through the institute of agrarian
reform which Castro heads - for
private ownership so Cuba's farm
workers will labor for the state
instead of the landlord.
* *
THE CASTRO regime still is
essentially a military force. Its
uniformed commanders still con-
trol all civil life; even agrarian
reform depends on the armed
forces for implementation.
Castro has been far too busy
seeking to transform his dreams
of a new Cuba into reality to find
time for such matters as elec-
tions or restoration of any mea-
sure of civilian government.
Castro's 26th of July rebels took
power Jan. 8 in Havana, a week
after the flight of the Batista
government. Six months later this
is how the situation looks to most
observers:
POLITICAL - Castro has at-
tempted to override political op-
position by threatening to invoke
counter-revolutionary regulations
against those who oppose him.
These regulations provide up to
the death penalty for violations.
Castro has said he wil give
Cuba elections "when the people
ask for them." But election day,
most sources say, is fromh three to
four years away - if the Castro
regime lasts that long.
Political opposition to the rebel
government appears to be grow-
ing in Havana, but it is largely
unorganized or, at most, organ-
ized underground.
Outside the capital the bearded
one claims unswerving support
from his landless little people. But
big landowners, and in some cases
those with relatively small hold-
ings, have defied his program and
attacked its merits.
In the capital, bomb tossing
has been revived as a demonstra-
tion of opposition. Castro calls
such incidents "Batista-provoked,"
and has, demanded stern treat-
mentfor those responsible, when
and if they are'caught.
ECONOMIC - while Castro de-
votes his whole time and energy
to setting tle agrarian reform
program in motion other sectors
of the national economy present
a varying picture, mostly bad.
Latest published, figures claim
that general revenues of the Cu-'
ban government for the first five
months of 1959 totalled $196,459,-
142, a 19 per cent jump over those
for the same period of 1958.
But bank deposits for the first
quarter of this year were down 20
per cent bank clearings in Ha-
vana dropped 12 per cent, and
sugar exports in the first five
months were off almost 50 per
cent.
Blackest economic picture is in
construction. Estimates say 90
per cent of Havana's construction
workers remain idle as the value
of construction permits dropped
from 22 million dollars in the first
five months of disturbed 1958 to
only eight million in the same
period of this year.
ON A NATIONAL basis unem-
ployment runs somewhere be-
tween 500,000 and 700,000 with
another 300,000 sugar mill work-
ers unemployed until the year's
end because of the seasonal shut-
down.
Castro has just announced a'
public works program to' spend
134 million dollars in the next six
months to ease unemployment
and help his little people through
a period of difficulty.
He has not disclosed how he
proposes to finance this ambitious
program except to comment, that
government revenues have im-
proved.
The difficult period Castro is
fighting may get Worse in. many
ways during the coming months.
Wealthy Cubans with money to
invest are keeping it hidden, fear-
ful of long-term investments dur-
ing this unsettled period.
* * *
ON THE agricultural f r o n t
thousands of farm and sugarmill
workers who traditionally live on
credit during the "tiempo de
muerte" -- the dead period be-
tween the end of one sugar har-
vest and the beginning of the next
-rare finding their credit cut off.
Mill and sugar plantation oper-
ators are reluctant, -they say, to
give credit to workers when they
may no longer control their
lands when the next harvest time
comes around.
Castro has met this problem by
establishing more than a hundred
agricultural cooperatives under
control of the Institute of Agra-
rian Reform, and by speeding
public works jobs in rural areas.
MILITARY -- The defection of
Cuban Air Force Chief Pedro
Luis Diaz Lanz, who charged
Communist infiltration of the
AT THE STATE:
'Hercules' Possibilities Not Realized'
INTERPRETING THE NEWS:
"THIS TREMENDOUS picture,
will have proven again the
vitality of the motion picture in-
dustry."
So states the ad in the lobby of
the State Theater concerning the
picture "Hercules." Well, it is to
be ,hoped that the burden of
proving the vitality of Hollywood
does not rest solely on, the shoul-
ders of Steve Reeves, He does
have muscles but this will not
provide much support for the mo-
tion picture industry.
Moreover, I hope Joseph LeVine
does not intend to do with Greek
Mythology what Cecil B. DeMille
did with the Bible.
OF COURSE the potential to be
developed in a movie is not com-
mensurate with the scope of myth-
ology. DeMille proved this quite
often during his career. So when
a producer with less talent, and
less means at his disposal tries it,
the results are not even disap-
pointing, they are merely tire-
some, and if the viewer is fortun-
ate, close to the ludicrous.
As to the acting, Steve Reeves
has muscle. He tried to display
emotion only twice, once when he
was tired of being musclebound
and wanted to be like other men,
and later after he finished chas-
ing two tittering Amazons through
the woods.
Sylva Koscina has legs, but her
timing was poor, which made her
emotions erupt always a second
too late. Gianna Maria Canale,
the leader of the Amazons, man-
aged to shed tears when Jason
sailed for home. She also has legs.
The scenes are necessarily
phony. Jason had to spear a mon-
ster which looked remarkably like
the creature from thirty fathoms
down that appeared some movies
back, to recapture the golden
fleece. The Cretan Bull was an
American Bison.
* * *
ALL THIS is more or less for-
givable, however, because Chris-
tianity was never able to conjure
up the variety or the bizarre se-
lection of gods the Ancients pos-
sessed. It would hardly be fair to
condemn Hollywood for not being
AT THE CAMPUS:
Ordet' Pro fers
Message of Faith
equal to the imagination of the,
Greeks.
The same could be said in re-
gard to the Amazons. You
couldn't expect American women
to have heavily muscled legs, at
least not the girls in Hollywood.
So they were capable of seducing
the men of the Argot, which would
have been hard to swallow had
they been muscled like , Steve
Reeves. It was in this section that
produced the only real acting in
the form of a lecherous old goat.
Had he been Hercules, the movie
might have been entertaining.
-Thomas Brian
FIDEL CASTRO
. . . what now?
armed forces, and the privately
expressed dissatisfaction of some
other military leaders has created
still another major problem for
Castro.
He and his major supporters,
including his brother, Raul,
promptly denied the charges of
Communist infiltration, claiming
the Air Force chief deserted be-
cause his command was under in-
vestigation. Their statements ap-
parently failed to satisfy critics
within the armed .forces.
Castro's military forces have
been kept too busy administering
the nation's civil affairs and im-
plementing agrarian: ref orm~ to
achieveasmooth transition from
a guerrilla army into a perman-
ent armed force.
Activities of anti-Castro groups,
including those seeking to hoard
arms clandestinely and those at-
tacking with bombs or arms, have
also kept Castro's .force busy al-
though as yet the attacks have
been no moreethan pin-pricks.
* * *
LABOR-Castro's 26th of July
movement has won unchallenged
control of organized labor in
Cuba. Elections placed its candi-
dates in office in unions ranging
from the powerful Sugarwprkers
Federation to the Hotel and Res-
taurant Emzployees in Havana.
Communist efforts to infiltrate
Cuban labor unions have been
foiled, unless the Reds managed
to win under the guise of being
26th of July candidates.
Under Batista, labor organiza-
tions were controlled tightly and
employers feared that under a
revolutionary regime union work-
ers would indulge in a wave of
strikes.
Castro calmed the fear by
warning workers this was not the
time for labor strife; that the Job
of rebuilding Cuba must come
first. As a result there have been
few serious interruptions in' pro-
ductivity due to strikes.
. (
Shift in the Middle East
By J. M. ROBERTS ,
Associated Press News Analyst
'HE UNITED STATES is undertaking a bal-
ancing act, in the Middle East which could
entually have considerable affect on her rela-
mns there as well as on relations between the
tions of the area.
The decisions which have produced the situa-
)n have been taken more or less separately,
id one of them, the proposal to stop grants
aid to Israel, is still more or less tentative.
Here are some of the things that are hap-
mning.
Israel's military position has reached a stable
d effective stage.
[ER ECONOMY is approaching a similar
condition. She is carrying on related pro-
ams of trade expansion and technical assist-
ce with Asian and African countries which
ve already produced important results and
omise more. Less concretely but perhaps of
en more portent, she is setting an example of
aterial progress for other underdeveloped
untries.
Nearby Arab populations can see the effec-
reness of the Israeli system as compared with
eir own, where politics gets flrst attention.
Israel has not complained loudly against the
oposal for stopping grants in aid, but some
her supnorters in this country have.
reported on his recent negotiations with Presi-
dent Nasser of Egypt about this. A lot of quiet
work is going on, however, looking toward a
face-saving compromise for Nasser.
O N THE OTHER SIDE of the ledger, the
United States is improving relations with
Nasser, and President Eugene Black of the
World Bank, primarily supported by the United
States, has played an important role in re-
solving settlement of Suez problems between
Egypt and the former owners.
Services to Egypt cut off during the Suez
dispute have been resumed. Cooperation in the
American-Egyptian Rural Improvement Serv-
ice has been resumed. So has the CARE pro-
gram. Frozen funds have been released, and
48 million dollars worth of surplus foods allo-
cated. Five million of economic aid has been
volunteered.
Twenty-five million will go next year to the
Arab refugeesfrom Israel.
Much, of this is based on increasing hope
that the existence of Israel . is gradually be-
coming an accepted fact in the Middle East.
Nasser himself has reversed his former position
that this could never happen.
M OSHE SHARETT, former Israeli premier,
told the Socialist International Congress
at Hamburg last Thursday that 'forces are at
AN ALMOST belabored dot of
religious philosophy is avail-
able to all for a limited time at
the regular rate: the Campus.
Theater now shows The Word
(Ordet) four times daily. "The
word" is "faith," or any of its his-
torically tested equivalents. Whose
word it is, is obvious.
Mainly, the"Plot deals with the
mechanism of revelations of the
power of faith, and the degener-
acy of its substitutes. In this light
it is a social, or theological, criti-
cism, indicting those whose re-
ligious ways merely involve par-
taking of the formalities of re-
ligious faith.
John, son of a traditional Dan-
ish "pater omnipitens," has been
studying theology, and with the.
sudden realization that practiced
religion is essentially :a decadent
version of real faith, turns into a
characteristic schizophrenic. He
decides that he is Jesus Christ re-
turned, and sets out-'to perform
various analogous miracles that
the people might know.
NONETHELESS, it is import-
ant to realize that at this point,
he himself has no faith, and thus,
his "miracles" are doomed to ul-
timate failure. And indeed this is
so, for when he attempts to raise
his sister-in-law, dead from child-
birth, to life, he fails. This shock
is great enough in movieland to
(as the family doctor has predict-
ed) "turn his subconscious, up-
side-down," and revert him to
normalcy.
He then leaves home for a few
days to consider what course to
take. He returns to interrupt his
sister-in-law's funeral ceremony,
and, announcing that all within
earshot are rotten because they
don't know THE WORD, proceeds
to demonstrate the power of faith
by calling on God to perform a
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