In houses in Frankfurt forty young people, who have absconded from a borstal, are waiting for identity papers, so that they can integrate mselves into the W. German working class, ind work towards a more progressive political tuation.
This project is being sponsored by the sociaint group at the university, and administered by local urban guerrilla-type, Lousis.
1 first met Lousis when was walking out of e town at about one o'clock in the morning, he stopped in his beaten-up old Renault and offered to give me a lift; I told him that I was t looking for somewhere to lay out my doss,and he invited me to stay at this house with some of the people he was helping.
The house looked derelict from the outside, the ground floor windows were boarded over and the garden was overgrown, but inside all basic conveniences were working, and re were a fair amount of semi-luxury Ptems.
very room had a record player, typewriter, d there was a wardrobe with extra clothing, edding and a sleeping compartment petitioned with mattresses, and a small bookcase. There was a communal room with television, radio and a large bookcase with the thoughts of Mao, Che, Lenin, Marx and several books on se self-defence. They were extremely active politically, even by W. German standards, and they bowed me photos of demonstrations that they had partially initiated.
In the spirit of all the best revolutionaries they use megaphones to impart the word to a larger section of the masses. At about four o'clock we took Lousis's Renault to the autosat in the underground station to buy breakast. They live like the "underground" in any ountry seems to, on a diet of bread, milk and heese. Back at the house we went to bed, only so be awoken early by the sound of typewriters beating out their message to civilisation, and the German newsreader on the television. I bortowed a radio to listen to the rather distorted American version on the G.I. waveband.
I had arrived in Germany only two weeks before the election, and plans were underfoot for a big rally against the NPD (the neo-Nazi party), although the more informed view was that if ublic anger was aroused the election would go against the socialist party (it actually stands a ttle to the right of our Government), and ost young Germans would rather settle for anything than the NPD. Around dinnertime I went to have a look around the kitchen and see what there was; most of the supplies were obviwasly U.S. in origin, but I wouldn't like to say cause they had no I.D. which is essential in nearly any foreign country. If they were stopped by the fuzz they usually had to run to avoid being returned to the borstal.
Unfortunately I had to leave the next day to meet a group of students at an "underground" club in Friedberg. But had I found an example of genuine socialism in action, or was it just the West Germans showing that they could dc everything better than us? No-the first statement was partly true; this commune was being run efficiently by dedicated people who were genuine in their beliefs, but the recipients of this dedication, the usual collection of social dropouts, non-conformists and delinquents will, 1 predict (wrongly I hope), only succeed in becoming integrated into criminal society. These are the kids who leave the main body of lemonstrations to act out spontaneously what las been carefully rehearsed in private. The are also the guerrillas that we need for the revolution. They're the people with the guts to do what the "teeny-boppers" of politics never will. To put it bluntly, they're who we should be recruiting to our ranks in this country, instead of building our hopes on a solid unit of intellectual matter, most of which can never be active fully until after we seize control.
John Hewitt Here are some possible tactics. 1. You'll find that many of your fellow-journalists are more progressive than you'd expect from the contents of their reports and articles. This is partly censorship, partly self-censorship. Find out which of them tend, however vaguely, to the progressive side. Ally yourself with them. Earn their respect by your work and comradeship. Don't lecture them at length about politics, but don't hide your political sympathies from them. React to the stories they write. This will have an effect. They'll think twice about their coverage of the next demonstration if they know that you've been on it, that you'll read every word they write with care and that they've got to share the same office with you next day. 2. Once he knows your views, the chief reporter or news editor isn't likely to give you many important political stories. If he tells you to do a hatchet job on (say) Fidel Castro, refuse, explaining why. Make it clear to whoever takes the assignment that you turned it down. 3. Whatever your contract says, there's nothing to stop you secretly passing on stories which your paper won't print to the socialist press (e.g. The Black Dwarf). 4. Be active in the National Union of Journalists, which is about as revolutionary as the Frank Ifield Appreciation Society. Fight on rely on the selection of facts, rather than the use of emotive adjectives, to make your point. 6. If you come into a head-on political conthict with your editor and he suggests you resign quietly - don't. Let them sack you, take the golden handshake and kick up a stink in the office and the union. 7. If they try to cut one of your signed articles or reviews for political reasons (rather than rea sons of space), insist that your name be taken off the piece. This is your right. It bothers them. 8. Encourage the recruitment of other socialist journalists to your paper. Unsubtle suggestions to the chief reporter like: "There's this bloke down from London who's a fantastic reporter, and he's thinking of moving near here. Why don't you come and meet him, we're having a drink in the George at seven?" sometimes pay off. 9. If anyone asks you about the Press Council, tell them that it doesn't exist. 10. Every journalist knows damn well that news papers should be run by newspapermen. Discuss this with your more progressive colleagues, including the printers, who are likely to be the most politically aware group in the building. When the time comes, you and your comrades should be ready and able to take control of your paper. 11. Prime causes of dissatisfaction among jour