The Carter upheaval
Political developments in China receive peculiar —
and sometimes amusing — treatment in the American
press. In trying to sift the news from the rhetoric of wall
posters and official sources, American journalists have
created a rhetoric of their own.
Let's see what a news story about recent political
developments in the U.S. might look like if Newsweek were
headquartered in Peking instead of New York.
HAVANA — Old America hands here in Cuba seem to
agree that after a power struggle of monumental propor
tions, strongman Jimmy Carter's grasp of state and party
leadership is secure.
The dramatic fall from power of the once-omnipotent
Republican faction began in 1973 when rival Democratic
forces usurped control of the press and began denouncing
former Chairman Nixon as a ‘conspirator.”
As the Democrat's drive for power accelerated, the
Nixon-Erlichman-Haldeman-Mitchell "gang of four” was
forced to install Gerald Ford as party leader, a man charac
terised in recent campaign posters as “centrist." Ford
managed to suppress demands for a public trial of Nixon,
though “criticise Nixon" became the ideological watch
word of all American political factions.
The Republican's prestige was further shattered by the
discovery of the Reagan-Schweiker “anti-party clique”
operating within party ranks. Reagan and his lieutenant
were discredited, but the Republicans lost the popular
support needed to gain the upper hand in the recent power
struggle.
When the Democrats named Carter, an obscure rural
functionary, to be the new party strongman, most veteran
America watchers were surprised. But Carter proved to be
exactly the man the Democrats needed to clinch their
control of the state apparatus: a ruthless politician capable
of crushing opposition and purging obstructionist elements
within the Democratic ranks.
Carter consolidated his control over the Democratic
party, then proceeded to smash the Republican regime
Ford retired to luxurious isolation far from the centers of
power.
America watchers are not sure what to expect of the
era which began with the Carter upheaval. Massive de
monstrations of popular support in Washington upon his
ascension to power would seem to indicate the days of
strife are over — at least for the time being.
7
Letters
Offense unintended
In my article which appeared in
the opinion column on Wednes
day of this week, I made reference
to a “sex change operation.’’ My
intention was not to offend
anyone’s sexual orientation but
rather to create a satirical com
ment on the number of Greeks
currently on the Incidental Fee
Committee. It has been pointed
out to me that I have indeed of
fended people by treating the sub
ject of sex change so lightly and
for that, I apologize.
Gary Feldman
I.F.C. Chairer
Lesson in life
At the end of the trial Judge
Allen asked, Who remembers
the victim?" It is not easy to think
of Eric Thede as a victim. He was
our friend. We will always re
member him.
Eric wanted to be a landscape
architect. He was fond of plants
and knew their Latin names. He
loved San Francisco, his home
town He liked people and liked
being with them
Eric had the strongest kind of
love for life, for the world and the
people of it — he demanded truth.
He had integrity and expected it
from others. Eric cared enough for
people to set them straight. He
was alert to the world and saw it
clearly.
Sometimes people die and you
find you had not realized how spe
cial they were and are to you. We
knew Eric was an important per
son in our lives all the while we
knew him It is hard to think of all
he might have done.
There is no way that society can
appropriately avenge for a lost life
because there is nothing that will
make him alive again Eric's life
shows how much we should value
living.
Richard Slayton
Junior — Architecture
Stephanie D. Slayton
Senior — Anthropology
Jessica Dole
Senior — Geography
Eric Thede, a University stu
dent, was shot and killed on July
10 while working at Tom 's Market
at 19th and Agate in Eugene. The
killer was convicted and sen
tenced to life in prison. - ed
Problems relative
In regards to the article pub
lished on January 12th concern
ing certain Australians brought
"up-short' by the recent devalua
tion (18 cents per dollar), consid
eration should be paid to the rela
tive financial positions of their fel
low students, graduate, under
graduate, foreign or otherwise.
To most foreign students the
undertaking of a course of study at
a university such as the U of O
involves existing on "saved" re
sources and very little can be ex
pected in the form of other monet
ary assistance. Very few students
attend universities under a scho
larship provided by the home gov
ernment and therefore are re
sponsible for all costs incurred
Some professionals, however,
attend universities under the con
cept of a "paid sabbatical" and
some will even be eligible to return
to a paid position upon the com
pletion of their degree. Therefore,
the students in the latter category
cannot be considered to be in a
similar economic situation as ex
ists with most foreign or other stu
dents. To those on study leave
devaluation represents a de
crease of 17 per cent in a source
of income that a vast majority of
students never have access to
To many graduates, should
they be so fortunate, a Graduate
Teaching Fellowship from the
host institution represents their
only source of income regardless
of marital status Alternatives
such as having the spouse work
even with a family, mdebtmg one
self through loans, etc., are com
monplace. Even with a F visa
(enabling one to reside in the U S.
but not work) employment is pos
sible and many students have
overcome this problem. Holidays
are not spent travelling and stay
ing at motels but working to re
main even marginally solvent
Devaluation does not result in a
decrease of money earned while
in the U S. nor does it affect fi
nance transferred to the U S. prior
to devaluation An attempt by the
interviewer to cover a broader
spectrum of the Australian student
population would have resulted in
a more objective assessment of
the effects of devaluation upon
student life. In any event, those
"up-short Australians need only
to inquire into the financial stand
ing of their fellow students to be
come aware of the fortune of their
position.
Keith Mountain (Australia)
Graduate, Geography
Biased article
In reference to the front page
article on Bella Abzug by Tom
Wolfe: Wolfe wrote the article in
an unfair, biased manner, leaving
out the most emphasized issues
of Bella Abzug’s speech, women s
rignts and lack of women in posi
tions of power politics. Bella stres -
sed the fact that women, being a
majority of 51 oercent ofthepopu
lation, are represented by a per
centage of less than 10 per cent in
the government.
Women have built this country
as pioneers, farmers, and labor
ers They have been, and continue
to be, the grass roots of the nation,
and yet discrimination and injus
tice continue in the forms of un
equal pay, lack of funding for day
care, and the continued rejection
of the E R A Bella Abzug talked at
length about all of these issues
and yet none of them were men
tioned in Wotfe s article.
The one reference Wolfe does
make to Bella Abzug is the follow
ing statement, Bella Abzug
brought an applauding EMU
crowd to its feet Tuesday night
with her pulsating tirade against
the gross distortion of our times
— the domination of white upper
class males in positions of
power Here Wolfe portrays her
as a ranting, raving emotional
female carrying on nothing but a
"pulsating tirade
Women will continue to be op
pressed and denied equality if
they are constantly misrep
resented by the press
Janice Rubin
Junior — English
Parking problems
i am pleased to see the article in
the ODE (1-13-77) about the park
ing restrictions in the area directly
south of the University The re
striction is an attempt to prevent
students from parking in the area
and force the University to deal
with the student parking "prob
lem ' Support for the restrictions
is not unanimous within the af
fected area It causes problems
for some of the area's residents as
well as the students and employes
who parked there
I urge those who prefer to park
in this area to express their opin
ion to the Eugene Traffic En
gineering Department (687
5261).
Michael V. Hoffman
1308 E. 19th Avenue
Eugene
Lenin - a man who shaped history
Today marks the 53rd anniversary of the death
of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin; a man who has had more
impact on the lives of common working people
around the world than perhaps any other person who
has lived in the 20th Century.
The ideas formulated by Lenin, ideas of re
volutionary strategy, analysis and organization, have
played an immense and liberating role since 1917. It
was Lenin, and the political organization he helped
build who took the science of socialism developed by
Marx and Engels and fashioned it into a weapon of
liberation used by the oppressed peasants and
workers of every continent. Lenin’s books have been
printed and reprinted in more editions, in more lan
guages and in greater quantities than the books of
any other writer in the history of the world.
It was Lenin who played the key role in the
creation of the Bolshevik Party in Russia in the years
before 1917. And it was Lenin and the Bolshevik
Party who led the Russian working class to power in
1917. Two years later Lenin and the Party smashed a
counter-revolutionary invasion by more than 15 dif
ferent capitalist countries, including the United
States. And it was Lenin who inspired the formation
of a new worldwide organization of revolutionary
working class parties that made the rich and powerful
of the world realize their rule would never again be
unchallenged.
The analysis, strategies and organizational
forms that bear the name "Leninism” are the ideolog
ical roots of the Chinese Communist Party and of the
teachings of Mao Tse-tung. Leninism guided the Na
tional Liberation Front in its successful struggle to
Page 4
liberate Vietnam from landlord, military and U.S.
domination. The ideas developed by Lenin have al
lowed millions upon millions of common people in
Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America to rid them
selves of foreign intervention and to seize control of
their own lives. Today these people are no longer the
tools of landlords, foreigners and rapacious corpo
rations nor passive beings who exist only to produce
wealth for others.
In America we are insulated from many of the
forces making world history in our time. While most
people in the world live in countries with either
Marxist-Leninist governments or with massive politi
cal organizations of working people who embrace
Marxism-Leninism as their guiding principle, we in
America have grown up to believe Leninism is an
oppressive philosophy.
Many are the teachers, the professors, the jour
nalists, the screen writers, the artists, the union or
ganizers and the political leaders who have been
fired, driven into exile, blacklisted, and even exe
cuted for defying the anathema put by the rich and
powerful in this country on the ideas of Lenin.
But the time is coming when the conditions of the
American people will lead us all to understand what
the common people of the rest of the world have
already come to know: the principles developed by
Lenin are essential tools for guiding us as we too
send the corporations and those who run them pack
ing and establish a truly democratic and egalitarian
society in these United States.
Lenin lived, Lenin lives, Lenin will live.
Staff Column