than on the other. If the Arabs have a right to grab Israel (let them try!), then the Germans nave an equal right to go over their "Lost Territories". Neither of these are possible.
Certainly this Israel-Palestine question is one that no British workman is interested in (believe me), no matter how revolutionary he may be. But if the left-wing intellectuals of the Black Dwarf do ever succeed in getting certain British workers concerned in this matter, it may only end by making them not only anti-Zionist but also anti-Semitic. Perhaps the True-Blue British Socialists who produce the Black Dwarf would not hesitate to try this-angered as they are at the haughty refusal of the Israeli and Jewish people to accept their historical role of scapegoat.
You, as Editors, must take the responsibility for what you are hoping to do. It seems that you are following the good old British ruling-class trick of setting Arab against Jew and hoping that the oil-man will win. Though I am sure you believe it is unthinkable to be anti-Semitic, it appears to be part of your "Socialist Legalto give free rein to the deeply ingrained anti-Semitism of your middle-class Edwardian grandfathers. The Black Dwarf, by its support of the bomb-throwing, child-murdering, so-called liberation movements of the Middle East are aiding the effort to make a mass Jewish grave in the sea and thus create a socialist final solution which would be more final than any other.
As long as the pseudo-socialists of the Black warf continue to support this murky cause o rab Nationalism and Revanchism, they wil seem to condone the crimes of El Fatah pirates and butchers.
Alan Sillitoe, 97 Larkhall Rise, London S.W.4. THE BLACK DWARF REPLIES:
Alan Sillitoe's letter is an important one; both its content and tone reflect a widespread feeling on the British left. An answer to its substantial points may go some way to dispelling the suspicion and apprehension felt about the position of revolutionaries on the Palestine question, and may help to build a basis for dealing with this highly complex and explosive issue.
Sillitoe's letter gives the impression of his having rushed into an emotional attack on us without having read the copious material we have published. We have called for the overthrow of the existing Arab regimes. We have denounced anti-Semitism and solutions to the problem of Palestine that rest on eviction or murder. We have tried to evolve an independent, internationalist position on this question. If Sillitoe and others like him refuse to read what we write and make quite inaccurate attacks on us, we are entitled to reply that he has not seriously attempted to evolve a socialist position. Let him re-read issues no. 16, 19, and 22 of the Black Dwarf, where our ideas are spelt out. Both the solutions advocated in these pages-a bi-national state, and separate states after the liquidation of Zionism-are serious non-racist attempts to find a solution, and to overcome Zionism and Arab chauvinism! Both are quite clearly opposed to "driving the Israelis into the sea".
We realise that this is a highly sensitive ques tion. It is also one of major importance. ContiRegister me I am an Arab Card No: fifty thousand Children, eight The ninth will be born next summer Are you upset?
Register me I am an Arab Vocation: Cutting stone with the comrades Must cut bread, clothes and books For the children, you know I will never stand at your door a beggar I am an Arab Are you angry?
I am nameless Patient where everything boils with anger I struck roots here Before the olive trees and the poplars A descendent of the plough-pushers My ancestor, a mere peasant No family tree My home, a cottage of reeds How is that for a man?
Register me I am an Arab Colour of hair, jet black Eyes, brown Distinguishing features:
A Keffia and aqul on my head Hands rock hard and scratchy Favourite food: Olive oil and thyme Address: A forgotten hamless village Where streets have no names And all men are in the fields and quarries Is that good enough?
You have stolen my vineyards And the land I used to till You haven't left anything for my children Except the rocks And I heard it said That your govement will expropriate Even the rocks Well then Register first:
I hate nobody Neither do I steal But when I am made hungry Then I will eat the flesh of my oppressor Beware of my hunger and anger.
DWARF sea Rent Officer, Lt. Col. H.C. Philips.
Nobody is likely to take these appointments with anything other than a pinch of salt-nobody, that is, except the honours-conscious City gents.
The announcement of the two Honours Lists, on the Queen's birthday and on New Year's Day, thrills City men second only to a Conservative landslide in a general election. Ap propriately, the City is probably the easiest of all places to pick up a few extra letters to tag on the end of your name. There are two possible courses open to the award-hungry business man, "civic service" or straightforward exploitation, and the two can go hand in hand. HEAP IT ON Take this year's most significant City civic award. Desmond Heap, the City Comptroller and Solicitor, gets a knighthood for twentythree years' service to the City Corporation. Heap's work is easily defined: he is the man who makes sure that the City's exploitation of /ears, gets a man who climbed the stairs every day for forty years to wind the clock in the City's own suita bly lavish parish church, St. Paul's Cathedral.
But of course, these trivial civic awards are not half as ridiculous as the flattery paid to the industrialists, the exploiters themselves; especially now that Wilson has perpetrated the myth that there was something exceedingly virtuous, almost saintly, in "services to export"
Look down the list of knighthoods alone: Ronald Fairfield of British Insulated Callender Services, Philip Oppenheimer, diamond hustle supreme, and Lionel Pilkington, who made million in the glass business. In fact, no les than 20% of all knighthoods awarded this yea went for cashing in on the export racket.
The munificence and worthiness of expo ers shrivels to its reality when it is seen that t be a successful exporter, one must first be a successful profiteer. Services to export and ser The Black Dwarf 30th January 1970 Page 5 Printing House Square, the prestigious site, thrown in for a song. He was able to do this because, when he bought it, the Times was in such desperate straits that it was prepared t accept the most ridiculously small offer imagin able Should Thomson decide to sell Printing House Square alone at any future point in his career, he will be able to get a handsome price, and will certainly make a big profit on the whole deal-but he is not likely to do that in the immediate future, because the North Bank Development Scheme is already under way nearby, and this will send the value of Printing House Square rocketing again.
Thomson may be losing some of his massive Organisation income each year with the Times, but by buying it, he has boosted the asset value enormously, and as any exploiter worth his saft will tell you, that is what really matters in busi ness, that is the kind of thing which will get you a GBE In fact, it seems you can get honoured for