GENERAL MOTORS:
Concerns
(million dollars)
General Motors (U.S.) 24,295 Ford (U.S.) 14,755 General Electric (U.S.) 8,448 International Business Machines (U.S.) 7,197 Chrysler (U.S.) 7,052 Unilever (Anglo-Dutch) 6,030 International Telephone and Telegraph (U.S.) 5,474 3,597 Volkswagen (West German) 3,536 Imperial Chemical Industries (British) 3,257 the anti-trust division, the Federal Trade Commission, and Securities and Exchange Commission. GM has been acquitted in only three of 17 anti-trust cases in the last 40 years. This has had no effect on GM-they control over 50% of auto industry sales.
PROFIT MORE THAN DOUBLE NATIONAL AVERAGE In controlling the prices of all automobiles in the US, GM consistently makes a profit more than double the national average.
In 1965, GM's prices were so high that it could have cut the price of each automobile it sold by S428 and still after taxes make profits equal to the average profit rate in the whole economy.
GM spends nearly $500 million (25% of the price of a new car) in style changes, and then spends a quarter of a billion dollars a year that the newer model is better and worth the extra cost. In 1969 GM spent only $12 million on pollution research and control.
GM's top executives see a continual expansion of car production in the '70s. Instead of contributing to a rational and balanced transportation system in the United States, GM insists on the dominance of the privately owned automobile, here and abroad.
defend rouge!
into a major political issue in France, for it represents a calculated attempt to silence the paper of the largest and most important revolutionary Marxist group in France. It is important that English militants do not regard the trial as "something which couldn't happen here"-the Industrial Relations Bill, the Oz trial, and the banning of the Little Red Schoolbook show only too clearly that the ruling class is quite prepared to withdraw such "freedoms" if the deteriorating political climate so demands. Already one of our own comrades in Colchester has been found guilty of "behaviour likely to cause a breach of the Number of persons employed in the manufacturing industries some capitalist countries (in thousands)* DENMARK FINLAND GREECE Data for 1968 GM ignores the results: the pollution of our urban spaces by cars themselves. Says GM Chairman Roche: "America's love affair with the automobile isn't over. Instead, it has matured into a marriage.
As early as 1963 GM had excess profits so great that it had accumulated $2.3 billion dollars in surplus liquid assets, an amount larger than the assessed property valuation of 18 of the 50 states. The Wall Street Journal surmised that GM was "saving up to buy the federal government". With its immense economic and political power, it really does not need to.
Nixon's new economic policy promises to raise GM's profits even more. With federal excise tax on new cars eliminated and a new 10% import tax on foreign cars (as well as other goods) there will be a greater demand for American-made cars. GM's production will increase and profits will go up. These new profits will stay in the pockets of GM's elite because the wage-price freeze prevents the unions from bargaining for increased wages.
What does GM do with its great corporate power?
MILITARISM AND RACIALISM As a bastion of the military-industrial complex, GM produces M-16 rifles, launches for the anti-personnel 2.75 rocket, 105mm, 81mm, peace" simply for selling The Red Mole, and many others have reported increased harassment by the police in the last few weeks. By defending Rouge, we defend our own right to continue publishing revolutionary literature.
Both publicity and money are urgently needed for the defence of Rouge. We urge all revolutionaries, as individuals or organisations, to send telegrams in support of Rouge to the following address:
Monsieur le President de la 17ieme Chambre Correctionnelle.
PALAIS DE JUSTICE, 75-Paris-lier. FRANCE.
Number of persons employed by some international manufacturing mo nopoles (in thousands)* AUSTRIA FORD PHILIPS NEW JIMES * 20mm projectiles and bomb parts, selfpropelled howitzers, parts for military vehicles, engines for helicopters (like the OH-58 performing the main observation role in Asia's jungle war) and for aircraft (like the A-7-one of the most effective planes performing the close air support role in S. E. Asia) and many other weapons for use in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and throughout the world.
GM's racial policy at home and abroad matches their record of militarism. Out of the 12,500 dealerships, GM has allowed only 12 to be owned by blacks. There are no blacks or women in top management positions. In apartheid South Africa, GM's employment policy is matched only by that government. The starting rate for Africans or Coloureds at the GM engine plant is 52d an hour or $83 a month -81 below the South African Government's poverty datum line for an African family of five.
Perhaps the clearest expression of GM's attitude toward non-whites is R. J. Ironsides" (plant manager, GM South Africa) remark: "1 wouldn't say these people don't have any reasoning power, but what they do have is very limited."
For further information contact: The Brain Mistrust, 507 Church Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
LNS Please also send a copy of your message to the Ligue Communiste in order that they may publish it:
Henri Weber, 95 rue du faubourg St. Martin, PARIS 10e, France.
Those comrades who are also willing to give money to help pay for the costs of the trial should contact the following address:
ROUGE DEFENCE, 182 Pentonville Road, London N.J.