Most Businessmen Have a Fairly Accurate Reading of Their CompetitionnHow About Their Opposition?nThe magazines and activist groups which mold and manipulate public opinion toward anticapitalistngoals are now big business. Their impact in recent years has grown more potentnthrough a network of multinational support groups. The last election has given this activity anvibrant new impetus, with funds and memberships on the increase. There is now a muchngreater readiness to form coalitions among groups whose goals previously had seemed remotenfrom one another.nIt is clear that the conflict between the interests of the business community and these anticapitalistnforces is going to become more intense during the eighties.nPersuasion At Work is a newsletter specifically designed to keep the businessman apprisednof the important developments in this opinion-making contest. Each month we offernan analysis of a publication, an organization or a movement pushing public attitudes one waynor the other on an issue of importance to the business community.nThese commentaries are drawn from direct sources including attendance at the meetingsnof activist groups, study of their promotional literature and monitoring of their periodicals.nAmong the groups and issues that we’ve addressed in recent months:n(‘ommon Cause s. PAC’s or Business as the Fall Cuyn’•Iluis the distaste which Common C’ausi.- holds lor f’AC’snshould comi; as no surprise. For it is primarily through suchncommittees that the business comnuniit badly mauled bynthe regulatory and liscal excesses of the l9W)”sand I97()’s hasnlouud an eli’ectivc political oiee for restoring some balance andnsanity to federal economic and regulatory policies. CommonnCause, quite understandably, prefers lewer and less-assertivenactors on the probusmess side of the political stage.”nPhilanthrup> Proudly Kaisiii); the Banner (if Whatnin Nu-Man’s Land? or Businessman, Alert!n”it IS [Independent Sector] uses its money, power, lobbyingnexpertise and army ol constituent members in behall ol thenliberal ideolog which has characterized the big foundationsnand the most determined elements ol the nonprofit sector overnthe past (|uarter century, then the advetu ol IS is not good newsnfor ihe business communilv.”nSlick Anticapitalisni at Your Corner .Newsstandn”Much ol the grist that is ground in the Uniht’r .lK() issue has a leature siory listed on the cover.n•f-XMin ‘s. The Sun,” accusing I’.xxon and other corporatengiants ol conspiimg with the Department ot Inergv to preventnthe development by small companies of low-cost solar energynsystems. Ihe previous issue carries a scathing attack on thensafety record oi’a Bethlehem Steel plant in Maryland.nIt is only in the context of these larger ideological goals thatnthe businessman, or the housewife, can come to understand thenmotives and the biases and the range ol carelully chosen subjectsnof a Miiiher Join’s and the manv ideologically allied, butnless successful, periodicals and newspapers.”nA Militant Challenge to the Business Communitynby its I’nrecognizcd I-°riendsn•’It is our Judgment that this is one gioup eiidea or which will bengathering momentum in the months ahead. The corporationsnwhich may find themselves on the receiving end of its orchestratedncomplaints had best begin prepaiing their policy positionsnnow. Moreover, what is at stake in this particular push fornchange is a rational and long-overdue challenge to the narrownconcepts which generally have governed advertising policies inn.nierica. 1 hat is grist i’or the mental iriills of every businessnenterprise.nCH rV I The Coalition ior Better Television] is engaged innan effort which may help corporate advertisers to recogni/enthat a tree society cannot stay in business it’each ciii/en setsnhis own rules and behaves as he sees fit, and that the nature ofnthe television programs sustained by advertising is one ot thenmost critical lactors in tipping the balance toward eivili/ed andnproductive living or social chaos and economic oblivion.”nIn this era when “corporate responsibiUty” has become a bludgeon used by activist groups tonforce corporations to meet their demands, a new level of understanding is needed by thenbusinessman to hold his own in a kind of contest for which he has had little preparation.nPersuasion At Work is a sentinel resource to help guard a poorly protected flank.nAs an introductory offer, we will send each new subscriber a gift copy of the booklet,n”Corporate Responsibility: The Viability of CapitaUsm in an Era of Militant Demands.” Thensubscription price is $8.00.nTo order, use the adjacent post card, or send check or money order to: The RockfordnInstitute, 934 N. Main St., Rockford, IL 61103.nnn