PEKING AND PEOPLE'S WARS

In May, 1965, Red. Flag (an organ of the Chinese Communist Party) carried an article by Lo Jui-ching, chief of the General Staff Dept. of the People's Liberation Army, entitled ""Commemorate the Victory Over German Fascism! Carry the Struggle Against U.S. Imperialism Through to the End!"" In September of the same year, the New China News Agency released the English translation of another piece, by Lin Piao, Vice Premier and Minister of National Defense, under the heading ""Long Live the Victory of the People's War!"" Together, as Appendices, these two works comprise better than two-thirds of this slim volume. The remainder, simply labeled ""Introduction,"" is an extended interpretation of their intentions, as understood by Mr. Griffith, who also felt called upon to summarize the main events in the great civil war which ended in 1949. Both Lo's and Lin's works are presumably very important in the context of China's future policies vis-a-vis the U.S. and the Third World, and the publisher is to be thanked for making them available. However, an introduction less stridently dedicated to making them appear utterly nefarious would have been more useful. This is a bit like issuing a collection of the Marquis de Sade with a foreword by Anthony Comstock.