“The Black Panther Party is a Marxist-Leninist Party because we follow the dialectical method and we also integrate theory with practice.”  The Black Panther, January 23, 1971, page C.

            The term “Marxist-Leninist” is a synonym for “Communist.”

            “In 1966, we called ourselves, that is, the Party, a Black Nationalist Party.  We called ourselves Black nationalists because we thought that nationhood was the answer.  Shortly after that we decided that what was really needed was revolutionary nationalism, that is, nationalism plus socialism.  After analyzing the phenomena a little more, we found that it was impractical and even a contradiction.  So, therefore, we went to a higher level of consciousness. . .we saw that in order to be free we had to crush the ruling circle and, therefore, we had to unite with the peoples of the world, so we called ourselves Internationalists.  We sought solidarity with the peoples of the world.”  Page E.

            Newton states that, because of U.S. Imperialism there are now no independent nations:

            “Now if no nation is in existence and in fact the United States is an empire, that would make it impossible for us to be internationalists.  We are no longer internationalists, we’re not afraid about that.  Matter of fact we will try to shed light upon it, and we will define the new transformation and phenomena, and we will call ourselves ‘Intercommunalists.’  Because nations have been transformed into communities of the world.

            “So tonight, the Black Panther Party would like to disclaim Internationalism and support Intercommunalism.”  Page F.

            He tries to differentiate between a nation and a community.  Concerning Communist China and Communist Korea, he states:

            “We say they represent the people’s liberated territory.  They represent a community liberated. . .  It is only ground for preparation for the liberation of the world, seizing of the wealth from the ruling circle and equal distribution and proportional representation in an intercommunal framework.”  Page F.

            This all leads to the climax of his message: “We have to liberate our communities.”  Page G.

THE REAL RED CHINA, PART II

            This continues the report of the experiences of a British Engineer, George Watt, who went to Communist China in December, 1966, to supervise the building of a textile factory in Lanchow, a walled city in Western China, by the British firm, Vickers-Zimmer.  His arrest and trial during the horrors of the Great Cultural Revolution have already been described.  We now report his imprisonment and ultimate release.  The report is condensed from materials published in The Sun of Sydney, Australia, January 7-11, 1971:

Imprisonment

            “I was kept in Lanchow jail for four days.

            “I was in constant agony from the beating I received at my ‘trial.’

            “My right eye, swollen to golf ball size, was still closed and the throbbing seemed to rock my brains in my skull.  A rip in my left ear was still oozing blood.

            “Not once was I offered medical attention.  And I was determined not to beg for anything.  I would rather rot first.

            “On March 18—the day after St. Patrick’s Day—I was flown to Peking.  On the flight I couldn’t help laughing (although I tried to pretend I had been seized by a fit of coughing) when one of the officials on board banged his head on the overhead luggage rack when standing to quote from ‘The Thoughts of Mao.’

            “This indiscretion was reported to the security guards who awaited me with a car at Peking airport.  As the car pulled away the guard sitting next to me, without warning, struck me a terrific blow across my mouth.

            “Another pulled my ears while a third punched the top of my head.  I slipped to the floor and was kicked until I lay still.  Then they put their feet on me and stamped hard every few seconds.

            “That was how I traveled to Peking jail.  A reception committee awaited me in the prison yard including some women and children whom I took to be families of the prison officers.

            “My left arm was twisted fiercely up the middle of my back and I was forced to run.  I stumbled a few steps and fell.  The women and children joined in the general cheering and clapping.

            “I was hauled to my feet, the twisted arm still held in position, and made to run again.  Again I fell.

            “Several hands tugged at my left wrist and gradually my hand was forced up and up my back until it was actually touching my neck.  Half pushed, half carried, I was taken into the cell block.  I was bent double and half-crazed with pain.  The corridor walls were just a blur.

            “We stopped. I heard a door open and I was then hurled bodily into a cell.  I landed on my face on the stone floor and I felt my teeth stab into my bottom lip.  I lay their spitting blood, my left hand fixed and rigid and sticking out behind me.

            “My shoulder had been dislocated.

            “I knew I was not going to get any medical help so I had to quickly do something about that arm myself.  Sitting in a corner of the cell, I jammed my feet against the wall and leaned on my right shoulder against the other wall.  Then I stretched my right arm across the front of my body until I managed to hook a finger around the little finger of my left hand.  I pulled until I heard my shoulder click back into place.  I think I fainted for a few seconds.

            “I spent that night half asleep and half unconscious.  I was roused at dawn the next day.  I was not allowed to wash.  My face was filthy, bruised and streaked with dried blood.  My right eye was still closed.  My sports jacket was in tatters and my shirt torn and bloodstained.

            “Handcuffs were clamped over my wrists and I was thrown into the back of a jeep.  Where now?  I wondered.

            “We stopped at a huge gate set in a high wall.  This opened and we drove into a courtyard to stop before another gate.  This swung wide and I was in the main yard of the Peking ‘Ideological Remoulding Centre,’ an establishment which deals with foreigners who are reluctant to acknowledge the superiority of all things Chinese.

            “I was pushed into Cell No. 5 on the ground floor.  I was about 15 ft. by 19 ft. and 10 ft. high.  Its furniture consisted of one small table, one chair, a bed of four wooden planks, without mattress, and a toilet pail.

Indoctrination in Maoism

            “Before long I was marched off to the office of an English-speaking official who, for the long months ahead, was to be virtually the only person I would speak to.  He was in fact to be my tutor in Maoism.

            “He gave me four paperback volumes in English.  They were ‘The Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung’ and ‘The Thoughts of Mao.’  He said: ‘This is a valuable gift.’

            “Back in my cell the tutor pointed to Mao’s picture and said: ‘The Chairman has put rice in the bowls of the people.  You are now alive because of his teachings.’  Still pointing he added: ‘Before each meal you must show your gratitude; bow to the Chairman and say Wan Sui.’

            “In my first year I was in a sort of semi-solitary confinement.  Once a week I was called to the tutor’s office for a lecture on Mao’s brand of Marxism-Leninism, asked questions and given ‘homework’ to do in my cell.  This was to write reports on the lectures and on what I understood from reading the ‘Works of Mao.’

Fellow Prisoners

            “During those first months I was highly curious about my fellow prisoners.  They were obviously several non-Asians in nearby cells.  They were mainly Americans.  It think there was one Englishman there.

            “Although each prisoner was given exercise alone to prevent the inmates meeting, I began to build up a dossier on some of the others in the ‘Remoulding Centre.’

            “My clues to their identities were some old envelopes I found in the box room when emptying rubbish there.  The envelopes bore American stamps.  They bore two Anglo-Saxon names, and one French name.

            “Those names were Major Philip Smith (a US Air Force pilot who was whot down over Chinese territory when his plane strayed out of Vietnamese air space in 1965), John Downey, and Richard Fecteau, who were both captured during the Korean war 18 years ago.

            “(Downey and Fecteau, civilians with the US Army during the Korean War, were captured after the US plane, in which they were hitching a lift, was shot down.  Another American, Hugh Redmond, was also aboard.  Downey and Redmond were sentenced to life imprisonment and Fecteau to 20 years, all on charges of spying.)

            “I am sure I saw Downey and Fecteau. When cleaning the corridor I managed to get an occasional glimpse of lingering at cell doors waiting for the breeze—it was a very draughty jail—to lift the little curtain which hung over the observation windows.

            “I was shocked when I saw these two men.  They sat in their cells gazing into space like listless old men.  The effects of years of brainwashing and unknown tortures were plain.”

Feigned Cooperation

            “The summer of 1968 was hot and sticky.  With it came a swarm of mosquitoes.  I was badly bitten.  The tutor saw me scratching and was moved to an unexpected act of kindness.  He gave me a fly-swatter.

            “By this time I had decided that my only chance of getting out was to appear to fall in with the Chinese wishes.

            “I would appear to be a model of Communism.  I studied every book they gave me as if my life depended on it, as indeed it may have done.

            “I would fool them, I would make them think they had beaten me.

            “But this meant I had to learn to switch my mind on and off so that I was, at all times, in complete command of my knowledge of Communism and not it of me.

            “Over the months I slogged away, and early in the second year, 1969, my tactics seemed to make headway.  My visits to the tutor’s office were upped to two and three times a week.  Sometimes he would question me for three hours.  And now he began sending me to filmed lectures.”

Writing a letter

            “Back in November, 1968, I had been allowed to write the first letter to my wife since being detained in August, 1967.  and what trouble I had it getting that away.

            “It was brought back every one or two weeks and I would be told to ‘change that line’ or ‘what does this mean? Change it.’

            “Originally I had written: ‘I’m having a nice time and the food is good – tell it to the Marines.’  I was given a two-hour grilling on what it was I wanted to tell the marines and finally was told it was ‘not necessary to tell the Marines about the prison food.’

            “It was January 1969 before that letter was finally passed as suitable for posting.”

Bernadette Devlin

            “The lectures in the tutor’s office were becoming more positive.  They obviously thought me to be good revolutionary material.

            “They showed me films of how to make petrol bombs, stone bombs and nail bombs.

            “There were films demonstrating how a Communist agent should infiltrate poor areas and trade unions and stir up trouble.  ‘A clever agitator,’ said the tutor, ‘can do more damage to a factory than a plane dropping a bomb on the roof.’

            “Early in 1970 the tutor was quite excited when he came to my cell.  He was holding a newspaper.  ‘I have heard some wonderful news about your native Ulster,’ he said.

            “‘Bernadette Devlin was presented with the key of New York by the mayor and this, in turn, had been presented to the Black Panthers, that is a great gesture of defiance at the American lackeys.

            “‘Northern Ireland can be compared to the mountain range from where Mao Tse-tung set out on his long march to take over China.

            “‘In Ulster the revolution to take over Britain has started.  People like Bernadette Devlin are lighting the prairie fires which will spread to Liverpool and Glasgow, where the large Irish population will join the underprivileged immigrants. . . it will be the start of the liberation of Britain.’

Release

Fattened for Freedom:

            “On March 25, 1970, I saw a doctor for the first time.  It was for a blood test.  Three days later I was X-rayed, and on March 31 I was given an anti-flu injection and told I would be allowed an hour’s exercise in the yard every day.

            “One day, around that time, I was given a fried egg for lunch.  It was a trifle burnt, but it tasted fabulous.

            “Small chunks of roast pork began to be served with my rice.  Once I was given about a dozen chips.  Then little treats began to crop up. . . a piece of fried fish, small slices of ham.  I was being fattened for freedom.

            “On the morning of July 30, 1970, I stared in amazement at my breakfast.  They had given me four boiled eggs and some grey bread.  It could not be a mistake. . . they don’t make these sort of mistakes.  And the guards were smiling.

Exhortation

            “Shortly after lunch the tutor said: ‘We are going to have a little ceremony.  Bring your Red Book and follow me.’

            “I was taken to a large hall which I had not seen before.  Assembled there were the Prison Director of Discipline, political commissars, members of the Public Security Bureau and some Red Guards.

            “The director stood, looked at me and said: ‘We are to announce an act of clemency on your behalf.’  He then read out a detailed history of my case which lasted half an hour.

            “Finally came what I had been waiting and hoping for. . .

            “‘George Watt, British Imperialist spy, you are to be immediately released because you have accepted our remoulding.’

            “‘You have done very well.  When you return to Britain you must always remember the great leniency we have shown you.  We should have executed you, but now you are free.

            “‘When you get to Britain it is likely that some friends of China there will contact you.  When this happens you must do what you can to aid the Revolution.

            “‘Always remember you owe us your life—you are in our debt.’

Freedom at Last

            “That night, escorted by two guards, I caught the train for Canton.  After an overnight stay at the Canton Government rest house we caught another train to the Hong Kong border.  It was August 2, 1970.  They pointed to the border.  Over the bridge I could see the Union Jack.  I wanted to run like made towards it.

            “It was not until I heard a British police officer say: ‘Good afternoon, Mr. Watt, welcome back,’ that I knew I was free at last.”

SHOULD RED CHINA BE ADMITTED TO THE UNITED NATIONS?

By Dr. Walter Judd

            Dr. Walter Judd understand both communism and China as few other Americans do.  As a medical missionary in China, he became personally acquainted with many of the Chinese Communist leaders.  Lin Piao, heir apparent of Mao Tse-tung, received medical treatment from him.  After his missionary service in China, Dr. Judd served ten terms with distinction as Congressman from Minneapolis, Minn.

            At this critical period, when the forces advocating admission of Red China to the United Nations appear to be at the point of victory, the views of Dr. Judd merit very serious consideration.  A summary of these views as given at the Orange County Antisubversive Seminar, February 12-15, 1971, is presented:

            “Communist China has forfeited all right to be considered a member of the international community of nations.

            “It insists that ‘political power grows out of the barrel of a gun,’ that world events are to be determined by ‘revolutionary violence’ rather than by civilized negotiations which is the method prescribed in the U.N. Charter.

            “Red China has refused to upgrade its international conduct to the standards of the U.N.  Is it progress toward peace to have the U.N. downgrade its standards to those of Red China?

            “What benefits, in any, could be expected to come from admission of Red China?

1. To Red China’s neighbors:  Would it strengthen to weaken their resolve to resist Red China’s threats from without and revolutionary activities within their countries?  If the world’s peace machinery accepts Red China, how can it neighbors be expected to continue to resist it?
2. To the free world:  Would Red China’s prestige, influence and power to make trouble in other countries be decreased by admission to the U.S.?  Or increased?
3. To the U.N. itself:  Would Red China’s admission make it stronger and more united?  Or weaker and less united?

“Would it help to ‘maintain international peace and security’ to bring into the machinery of peace-making a regime that repeatedly and officially declares its resolute adherence, not to peaceful means of settling disputes, but to the use of revolutionary force?

            “Would it strengthen and make the U.N. more effective to admit into its membership an international outlaw which proudly declares it will not accept or carry out the obligations which the U.N. Charter specifies as conditions for membership?

            “Just why should any persons or governments that want a genuine and lasting peace in the world advocate a course from which nothing could be gained and a great deal would be lost?

            “What kind of madness is it that urges us to take an action that is not legally or morally justifiable under the U.N. Charter, would bring no benefits to a world hungry for freedom and peace, and would give increased prestige and power to an avowed enemy of everything we and other free people believe in and stand for?”

PERSECUTION IN YUGOSLAVIA

            I remember well the excitement I felt when I first read the book “Moscow Summer” by Mihajlo Mihajlov.  The book reported objectively the conditions observed by the author as he toured the Soviet Union in the summer of 1964 and interviewed various prominent authors, poets, and artists.  He did not hesitate to criticize the actions of the Soviet leaders—past and present.  For example, he pointed out that Hitler was simply copying Lenin when he established concentration and extermination camps.

            Mihajlov has suffered severely for his honesty.  He was sentenced to 3 ½ years in prison for writing the book “Moscow Summer,” and another volume entitled “Russian Themes.”

            Following his release from prison, he continues to be persecuted by the “benign” communist government of Yugoslavia.  This is illustrated by his letter to an American citizen of Yugoslavian descent as published by the student newspaper of New Mexico State University:

“Round Up—Student Newspaper of New Mexico State University

Friday, February 12, 1971

“Mihajlov letter cites Soviet suppression

            “A NMSU faculty member recently received a letter from Russian author Mihajlov in which he outlines the nature of publishing charges brought against him in Yugoslavia.

            “In the letter—sent to Olga Shaskevich, an assistant professor in the NMSU department of foreign languages—Mihajlov cites an Oct. 24 “philosophical, not political” article in the New York Times as the basis for the charges.

            “Mihajlov was recenlty released from prison after serving three and a half years for writing the two books Moscow Summer and Russian Themes.

            “The following is the text of the letter sent to Mrs. Shackevich:

            “‘On an invitation from Mr. Harrison Salisbury I wrote a couple of months ago a philosophical, not political, article for the New York Times.  The article was published on the 24 of October 1970.  The name of it was “Art as an Enemy.”  This year on the 29 of January I was called to appear before the town judge at Novi Sad because the police had reported a denunciation against me for breaking the prohibition of publishing.  The prohibition is in effect until March of 1974.

            “‘I have again been threatened with imprisonment and it is the first time that Yugoslavia has persecuted someone for publishing non-political material abroad.  The prohibition has been used only for printed material inside the country.

            “‘This is a drastic example of preventing one’s involvement in cultural activities and actually his very existence.  As for political activities, I respect the prohibition for four more years.

            “‘I am not allowed to accept a job here in this country and am not allowed to have a passport even though I keep receiving offers of employment from American and European universities.

            “‘The threat of punishment in prison is not so frightful to me.  It possibly won’t be for more than a couple of months.  But it is the matter of the first case where one is prevented from indulging, not only in political activities, but also in intellectual activities.  This at the moment is the most important thing, not my personal feelings.

            “‘I would be grateful if you would bring out this case to your country.

            “‘Mjhajlo Mihajlov, Novi Sad’”