denounce enemy crimes, these films have become tombstones of hate and resentment through the pictures recording the barbarous crimes of the American invading army in its deliberate destruction of market places, schools, temples and churches and especially of our hospitals. The film of the Quynh Lap Leprosy Camp, destroyed by the American pirates, is, before international opinion, a fitting slap in the mouth of Johnson, the robber who both kills people and recites his prayer of "humane peace." The cruel character of the American imperialists was unmasked through their insane act of bombing the sick people receiving treatment there. The American bombs and bullets only brought to the surface the great and humane efforts of the public health workers of our country on the road to conquering Hansen's germ and to defeating the U.S. imperialists. The realism of the film is a reflection of the ardent revolutionary sentiment of the people who made the film. Only by really hating and resenting the enemy and only by really loving our system and our people could the film makers show these real pictures and be able to have such an effect. Teaching and creating hatred, resentment and despising of the enemy and building up the determination of our people to annihilate the enemy is a science and it is one of the important tasks of our culture and art.

We have recorded beautiful pictures which easily reflect the incomparable bravery and the will of the army and people of North Vietnam to defeat the enemy's war of destruction. In the rain of enemy bombs and storm of enemy bullets our patrol boats still fiercely strike back at the enemy planes; the air defense fighters still aim directly at the enemy and fire; the militia women still bravely fight and help down U.S. jet planes; the workers still climb up tall electrical poles to join a wire; the Suot women still bravely row the ferryboat to serve the troops. . . . By bringing to the movie screen these very "real" and very "alive" scenes, the newsreels and documentaries have tried to prove in a concrete and active way the great revolutionary heroism of our army and people. One type of news reportage films about the front line provinces of the old Region Four has been welcomed by the people because of the new pictures in the first period of combat. A number of films after that learned how to penetrate an individual, a thing and a scene and condition in combat. Through the scenes of our soldiers placing their guns on the corpses of the French tanks at Dien Bien Phu and of our army and people joining together to pull artillery up high hills in order to fire on U.S. airplanes, the film Tay Bac Attacks The Americans showed the people the relationship between the previous resistance against France and the present resistance against the United States and, in so doing, consolidated their trust in the anti-American national salvation task. The film Fighting To Protect The Native Island, is like a picture poem singing the praises of the spirit of combat unity of the army and people of Bach Long Vi. From the first arrival of troops on the island to the time when the troops help the militia in military training and coordinate in rhythmic combat against

the American aircraft one sees a process of development, not only of incidents, but also of people. The film Brave Con Co showed moving shots of the life of combat on a small and brave island of the fatherland through the eyes and feelings of a soldier guarding the island. It can be said that the film is a diary splashed with feeling. Alongside the hours and minutes of fierce fighting against enemy planes and warships, our soldiers still occasionally relax and lie with their legs crossed, whistling; still sometimes mischievously splash water on one another while bathing; or right in the middle of the fighting trench enjoy the boiled crab of the cook. Their bravery is as great as their spontaneity, initiative and optimism; it is an unusually simple kind of bravery, combining in a lively way the essence of the new revolution and the traditional national traits of the Vietnamese people.

Together with the precious films of the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam, the newsreels and documentaries in North Vietnam have effectively contributed to teaching the line and policy of the Party and Government, to stimulating the revolutionary heroism and will to win, to stimulating the people to stretch up into the front ranks, both producing and fighting and mastering science and technology. The newsreels and documentaries have been received by the masses with no less enthusiasm than for a feature film. Not only is the percentage of showings distinctly higher than before but the average number of viewers per showing is higher for newsreels and documentaries than for features. The tendency to treat newsreels and documentaries lightly and purely business thinking in the showing of films have begun to be overcome. It can be said that we have begun to carry out the instructions of late 1964 of Prime Minister Dong defining the present requirements for film production as "principally not feature films but newsreels and documentaries."

*

The aforementioned record in producing and issuing newsreels and documentaries is a noteworthy victory on the ideological and cultural front. It has contributed to the defeat of the schemes of the Americans in using bombs, bullets and psychological warfare in the hope of shaking the determination to liberate South Vietnam and of blocking every antiAmerican-national salvation action of our people. It proves that in the war against the United States newsreels and documentaries have increasingly become powerful ideological weapons and more and more are the indispensable spiritual food of our people. From this we can affirm that the more the anti-American-national salvation work progresses and the fiercer the struggle becomes, the more abundant and the more powerful the newsreels and documentaries will become; and, regardless of the situation, the production, issuing and elevation in quality of the documentaries and newsreels will still continue to develop.

Among our ideological tools, newsreels and documentaries are able to

reflect these real people, real things and real scenes in the most faithful, lively and timely way. The film Anh Nguyen Van Troi Song Mai (Nguyen Van Troi Lives Tommorrow) has greatly contributed to the work of mobilizing among our our people a seething movement to imitate hero Nguyen Van Troi. It has been warmly received by foreign opinion chiefly because it has been able to introduce a hero who is proud and indomitable before the enemy troops during the last minutes and seconds of his life. When we saw Troi's picture in the newspapers we were able to concretely perceive a part of the truth. When we saw his image on a screen it was like seeing the entire truth about the historic nine minutes of his life. Real people and really brave things which have a political significance and effect, once selected for filming into documentaries or newsreels, take on more and more of a political character and are increasingly effective in directly serving politics. Lenin clearly pointed that the nature of newsreels and documentaries is reason and politics visualized, that the spirit of the film must comport with the proletarian press line and that the people who make the films and documentaries must become Bolshevick reporters with movie cameras in hand.

In reflecting real people, real things and real scense in the antiAmerican-national salvation task in order to stimulate, teach and organize our people to defeat the American aggressors, newsreels and documentaries perform the duty of a Party newspaper using images. As Party newspapers using images, the newsreels and documentaries must really correctly and really promptly reflect the line, policy and viewpoint of the Party through the reality of the masses who are striving to properly execute every directive and resolution of the Party in a selfaware manner. And, like a Party newspaper, newsreels and documentaries must assure timeliness, a mass quality, a combat quality, a liveliness and, most of all, truthfulness.

The principal value of newsreels and documentaries is the value of truth in life. Our people need to see newsreels and documentaries chiefly because they want to see the images of their native villages and their people and activities at the present time in order to take pride, be encouraged and be determined to vanquish the American invaders. Our people trust in the newsreels and documentaries and, consequently, we cannot allow one detail of the film to be able to sow suspicion in the viewer. In addition to the films which have unnatural smiles and smiles in the wrong places, there are a number of films which have a great many images of one hand on the plough and one hand on a gun, one hand on a hammer and one hand on a gun, and one hand on the fishing net and one hand on a gun; these have a forced quality. Tendencies to rearrange everything according to the subjective desires of the person making the film are also pretty prevalent. Even in some of the good combat films we still see details lacking in genuineness. No embellishment, no matter how "artistic" has any place in newsreels and documentaries, because newsreels and documentaries are only to reflect real people and real things.

The Soviet Union probably decided sometime in 1966 to take advantage of the growing opposition to Mao in military circles and openly intervene in the cultural revolution. Moscow no doubt felt that the area was fertile for exploitation and that there was not too much risk involved on her part. The beginning of the Soviet attempt to subvert the Maoist leadership and provoke discontent within the PLA was signaled by an editorial in the 29 December 1966 issue of Red Star, the Soviet daily military newspaper, entitled "Events in the Chinese People's Republic and the People's Liberation Army of China."3

ANTI-SOVIET CAMPAIGN

The article begins with a commentary on the anti-Soviet campaign currently being waged in China and praises the PLA as representatives of the working class and true revolutionaries. It further states that the Maoist leadership is attempting to make the army a blind weapon for implementing its anti-Marxist-Leninist, anti-Soviet course. On purges, it stresses that those purged:

were experienced military leaders and Communists who tried to base and strengthen the combat capability of the PLA with a consideration for national peculiarities and revolutionary traditions."

Having purged the army of all those disagreeing with Mao's politicomilitary theoretical concepts, the article accuses the Maoists of attempting to strengthen the army's role in the nation's political life and make it a bastion for Mao's ambitions. The article closes recalling the history of friendship between the PLA and the Soviet Army and expressing the hope that they will march together again united.

The Radio Moscow phase of the campaign to turn members of the PLA against Mao's military thought began slowly in 1967 and picked up momentum toward the end of the year. In February 1968, the Soviets sharply escalated the attack by increasing their half-hour programs to PLA listeners from three broadcasts a week to daily programing with each broadcast repeated four times per day.5

The general format of a "Program for the PLA" usually consists of a commentary by a military officer. He holds the rank of colonel or above and in many instances is identified as a former Soviet advisor to the PLA. Frequently, the previous warm ties of friendship between the PLA and the Soviet Army are recalled before the commentator attacks various Maoist policies said to be harming the armed forces. The program usually closes with a summary of the main theme and the hope that the PLA will overcome the grave obstacles put before it and become united once again with the Socialist camp.

The propaganda effort by Radio Moscow toward the PLA is based on six basic themes: a general attack on Maoist military doctrine, combat weakness and training, the cultural revolution and the army, the purge, the use of the PLA for nonmilitary purposes, and the recall of historical ties between the PLA and the Soviet Union. It is evident that the aim of

aims of leaders, to convince enemy troops to defect, and to carry out plans for economic and other development while educating the people.

To carry out these goals the Government uses posters, leaflets, motion pictures, still pictures, cartoons, traveling theater groups, FAR PSYOP teams, loudspeaker programs, radio broadcasts, and printed media.

The RLG has radio stations at Savannakhet, Pakse, Luang Prabang, Chimaimo, and Vientiane which transmit to an estimated 70,000 radio receivers in the country.

Since most of the people are illiterate, radio and loudspeaker programs are the most effective from the standpoint of reaching numbers of people. The cartoons, plays, and to lesser extent, leaflets are well received. Probably the most effective program is that of FAR country teams who travel throughout the country informally talking to villagers.

The Lao publish Khao Phap Pacham Sapda, a weekly news and photo sheet that has a circulation of approximately 20,000 and reaches the largest number of literate people in the country; this pictorial newspaper is valuable because its format is very effective in appealing to the uneducated villagers.

Since PSYOP effectiveness is always difficult to assess, the Ministry of Information, Propaganda, and Tourism is responsible along with military units for assessment. Recently, the value of leaflets was shown when large numbers of PL defectors stated that leaflets and loudspeaker programs were influential in their decision to desert. During the conflict in Indochina, PSYOP will be important.

Most Lao leaders are quick to recognize the importance of PSYOP to them even if the situation does not always allow necessary materials and support for thorough programs.

INFORMATION AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS*

BY THE NEW ZEALAND DEPARTMENT OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

Pacific

Government information must be clear, well written, and adapted to the audience. Official information activity must be carried out with reference to policy objectives and national interest.

In the past five years, following the somewhat belated recognition of the support which information activity must give to foreign policy, several important steps have been taken to shape and extend New Zealand's information efforts overseas. A Cabinet Committee has been established to provide co-ordination and guidance. An information unit has been set up within the Tourist and Publicity Department to produce material specifically designed for distribution overseas. Procedures have been worked out for regular co-operation and consultation in Wellington among the five most interested Departments-Treasury, the State Services Commis*Excerpts from Annual Report of the Department of External Affairs (New Zealand), 1 April 1966 to 31 March 1967, pp. 67-69.