[THE OCTOBER Monthly Fund now stands at £286.89…]

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THE OCTOBER Monthly Fund now stands at £286.89, eleven days to go to the end of the month. It is important, that a big effort is made to raise the full £600 in that period.

Latest contributions include: Hull, £16.50; Liverpool, £5.00; South London, £20.00; BLMC Cowley workers, £8.50; NHS workers, £41.30; Coventry, £8.20; PSF workers, £5.00; East London, £30.00; Banbury, £2.30; Central London £50.00; Nuneaton, £2.00; Leamington, £2.40; North London, f42.00; Aylesbury, £0.40 and Oxford General, £11.00. Cultural Revolution or since - the mass of Chinese workers have had any place in deciding the policies or leadership of the Communist Party and state.

SHANGHAI

At the weekend, in Shanghai -raditionally the centre of powe of the ousted "left wingers' around Mao's widow, and the scene of enormous demonstrations following the removal of "rightist" vice-premier Teng Hsiao-ping at the beginning of this year - demonstrations of thousands filled the city centre in response to officially approved posters with crosses obliterating the faces of the four leading ""leftists" — Chiang Ching (Mao's widow), Yao Wen-yuan, Chang Chun-chiao and Wang Hung-wen.

They were described as the "Anti Party Plot Group". At the same time rumours spread that they had headed a conspiracy for a coup d'etat and had planned to assassinate Hua Kuo-teng.

Other posters demanded that the leadership "crush the heads of the four dogs " and "crush and "rightist" was, equally suddenly, back in office last week.

But whatever the short-term future of Teng and his immediate group, it seems clear that the political crisis was precipitated by an agreement between Hua and the main body of the army and state leadership, forming a bloc to control the Party, State and military apparatuses, and to act violently against all opposition in the upper echelons of the Party.

Beyond doubt questions of ambition, careerism and personal animosities play a major part in the struggles amongst China's Stalinist chiefs.

DEATH • with the death, within a few months of Chou En-lai, Chu Teh and finally Mao, the enormous weight and prestige of the generation that led the revolution has been effectively dissolved.

Mao's body may be preserved in a crystal sarcophagus, but the battles for possession of his political corpse are conducted in a fog of bureaucratic cynicism and this year.

This group, linked by nepotistic and family ties with Mao's personal faction in the leadership have now lost the enormous capital of his support.

The new leadership is highly likely to seek a raprochement with the Soviet leadership (which maintained a deafening silence on last week's crisis) at least in an attempt to reduce the strain of military spending.

This raprochement will not, of course, require any break Chinese support for fascist regimes, but domestically the peasantry will bear the new burden of accelerated and more efficient industrialisation.

Yet the zig-zags of Chinese Stalinism no more than those of its Moscow twin, offer no prospect for the rebuilding of a new international revolutionary leadership. It is absolutely impermissible to mistake the 'left' phrases thrown up from this moment to that in the bureaucratic faction fights for voices of All contributions should be sent to:

ERS SOCIALIST LEAGUE Class on Revolution in South America October 31st at 7.30 at ke St. Community Cent LETI We welcome readers. Letters should be kept as and sent to:

Socialist Press, Park Hill, London with only therefore, Socialist Press Monthly Fund 31, Dartmouth Park Hill, London NWS THR.

letters from for publication brief as possible 31, Dartmouth NW5 1HR.

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hypocrisy: scapid tot of der poster eatinst