Ruairi Quinn (born 2 April 1946) is an Irish former Labour Party politician who served as Minister for Education and Skills from 2011 to 2014, Leader of the Labour Party from 1997 to 2002, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1989 to 1997, Minister for Finance from 1994 to 1997, Minister for Enterprise and Employment from 1993 to 1994, Minister for the Public Service from 1986 to 1987, Minister for Labour from 1983 to 1986, Minister of State for Urban Affairs and Housing from 1982 to 1983. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin South-East constituency from 1977 to 1981 and 1982 to 2016. He was a Senator from 1976 to 1977, after being nominated by the Taoiseach and again from 1981 to 1982 for the Industrial and Commercial Panel.

Early life
Quinn was born on 2 April 1946. His family were prominent republicans in County Down in the 1920s, taking an active part in the IRA during the War of Independence and on the anti-Treaty side during the Civil War. The Quinns were prosperous merchants in Newry, County Down, then moved to Dublin in the 1930s, where Quinn's father built a successful business career.

Quinn was educated at St Michael's College and Blackrock College, both in Dublin, where he was academically successful and an outstanding athlete and a member of Blackrock College's Senior Cup rugby team. From an early age, he was interested in art and won the all-Ireland Texaco Children's Art competition. This led him to study architecture at University College Dublin (UCD), in 1964 and later at the School of Ekistics in Athens.

In 1965, Quinn joined the Labour Party working for Michael O'Leary's successful campaign in Dublin North-Central. In the following years, Quinn was a leading student radical in UCD demanding reform of the university's structures and the old fashioned architectural course that then prevailed. This earned him the nickname "Ho Chi Quinn", after the Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh.

He travelled in Europe and became a europhile, which was to be a defining characteristic of his political career. He qualified as an architect in 1969 and married for the first time that year before embarking on studies in Athens. He and his first wife had a son and a daughter. He married again in 1990 and has a son with his second wife, Liz Allman, an architect, whose family came from Milltown, County Kerry. He became employed as an architect with Dublin Corporation in 1971.

In 1972, Quinn decided he would stand for the Labour Party in the next general election and hoped he would be the running mate of the sitting Labour deputy for Dublin South-East, Noël Browne. The party organisation was largely moribund since Browne's election in 1969 as Browne had been ill and little work had been done locally. When the election was called in February 1973, Quinn found he was the only Labour Party candidate as Browne refused to stand in principled opposition to the Labour Party's decision to enter into a pre-election pact with Fine Gael to form a National Coalition. Quinn lost by 39 votes to Fergus O'Brien of Fine Gael in the final count. Following the 1973 election, Quinn began to rebuild the Labour Party in Dublin South-East with his mainly youthful supporters. He won a council seat on Dublin Corporation at the local elections in 1974 in the Pembroke-Rathmines local electoral area and took a leading role in the Labour Party group on the city council.

He was a partner in an architecture firm from 1973 to 1982. In 1976, he was nominated by the Taoiseach, Liam Cosgrave, to Seanad Éireann when Brendan Halligan won a by-election in Dublin South-West and his Senate seat became vacant. He was first elected a Labour Party TD for Dublin South-East at the 1977 general election. Quinn was at this time associated with environmental issues being the first professional architect and town planner ever elected to the Dáil. He served as environment spokesperson for the Labour Party and was very close to the party leader, Frank Cluskey, whom he had voted for in the leadership contest of 1977. He lost his seat at the 1981 general election and was elected to the 15th Seanad on the Industrial and Commercial Panel.  He was re-elected as TD at the February 1982 general election and has retained his seat until his retirement in 2016.

On 10 March 1991, Quinn was observed by Gardaí driving erratically in the Clontarf area. At Clontarf Garda Station, Quinn provided a urine sample, which showed him to have an 202 mg of alcohol for 100 ml of urine. He was banned from driving for a year and fined £250.

Early ministerial career
In 1982, he became Minister of State at the Department of the Environment. Between 1983 and 1987, he served as Minister for Labour. From 1986 to 1987, he was appointed Minister for the Public Service, held in addition to the Labour portfolio. He resigned as a minister when Labour left the government in January 1987. In 1989, he became deputy leader of the Labour Party. He was director of elections for Mary Robinson's successful presidential election campaign in 1990.

Minister for Enterprise and Employment
In the Fianna Fáil–Labour Party coalition government of 1993–1994, Quinn became Minister for Enterprise and Employment.

In July 1993, Quinn adopted a successful employment policy called the Back to Work Allowance, which targeted the long-term unemployed. This allowed unemployed people to retain their unemployment benefit on a sliding scale for a number of years, while setting up a business or taking up a job. He also presided over the merger of the former Department of Industry and Commerce with the former Department of Labour, with a new focus on enterprise development and the reduction of the then high level of unemployment. Quinn implemented reform of industrial strategy and reorganised the industrial development agencies. He also introduced the Community Employment Programme to provide activity and involvement for unemployed workers in 1994. This proved to be particularly successful.

Quinn was seen as a moderniser in economic terms but, despite attempts, failed to close the Irish Steel company in Haulbowline, County Cork. Nevertheless, it was in August 1994, while Quinn and Fianna Fáil's Bertie Ahern were economic ministers, that the Irish economy was first described as the "Celtic Tiger".

Quinn, along with many of his Labour cabinet colleagues, strove unsuccessfully to keep the Fianna Fáil–Labour government together during the Father Brendan Smyth crisis in November 1994. He records in his autobiography that he still cannot understand why that Government fell.

Minister for Finance
The following year he became Minister for Finance in the Fine Gael, Labour Party and Democratic Left "Rainbow Coalition" government. Quinn took a relatively conservative line as Finance Minister, being conscious of his position as the first Labour Party Minister for Finance in Irish political history. He quickly proved his competence, dispelling opposition jibes and stock market fears about a social democratic minister holding the sensitive finance portfolio. The Irish economy continued to perform, while inflation and the government finances were kept under firm control. Unemployment gradually fell and public debt levels improved.

During Quinn's tenure as Minister for Finance, the overall tax burden in Ireland (the ratio of tax revenue, including pay related social insurance levies, to gross national product) fell from 38.7% to 34.8%, of by 1.3 percentage points each year. He achieved this by limiting current government spending to grow by 6.8% in nominal terms or 4.8% in real terms, against a backdrop of improving economic fortunes, due to increasing investment in technology intensive sectors of the Irish economy.

Under Quinn, the General Government Balance went from a deficit of 2.1% in 1995 to a surplus of 1.1% in 1997. The General Government Debt went from 81% of GNP in 1995 to 63.6% in 1997. The year before Quinn became an economic Minister in 1993, Irish economic growth was 2.5% (1992). In 1997, it was 10.3%. The unemployment rate fell from 15.7% in 1993 to 10.3% in 1997.

Quinn served as the President of the Ecofin Council of the European Union in 1996, and worked to accelerate the launch of the European Single Currency, while securing Ireland's qualification for the eurozone. Quinn, and his party leader and Tánaiste, Foreign Minister Dick Spring enjoyed a somewhat uneasy relationship during the Rainbow Coalition, as recounted in Quinn's 2005 memoir. At the 1997 general election the Labour Party returned to opposition, winning only 17 of its outgoing 33 seats. Many other ministers of the Labour Party were under significant pressure from the media (particularly the Irish Independent) concerning allegations of cronyism ("jobs for the boys") and abusing the privileges of office. In comparison, the opposition under Bertie Ahern placed heavy reliance on cutting tax rates as opposed to widening tax bands favoured by Quinn. Ahern also claimed credit for the country's improving economy was due to his earlier term in government.

Leader of the Labour Party

Accession to leadership
In October 1997, Dick Spring resigned as leader of the Labour Party following an unsuccessful campaign by the Labour Party candidate, Adi Roche, in the 1997 Irish presidential election. Quinn defeated Brendan Howlin to become the new leader. In 1999, the Labour Party and Democratic Left merged. Proinsias De Rossa of the latter party became the largely symbolic party president, while Quinn remained as leader of the party. He used the years of leadership to develop a strong policy platform, publishing a Spatial Strategy for future development of the country, promoting universal access to health insurance, advocating reform of the Garda Síochána, and arguing for closer European integration. Fianna Fáil countered by exploiting Quinn's middle-class background, labelling him "Mr Angry from Sandymount," the middle-class district of Dublin where Quinn is a longtime resident, and was part of the constituency he represented.

2002 general election
At the 2002 general election, which saw the incumbent Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrats government re-elected, the Labour Party returned with no net gain since the previous election, after accounting for the merger with Democratic Left. Quinn fought that election on an independent platform although he indicated a preference to enter government with Fine Gael, which he had served with in the Rainbow coalition era. Quinn's strategy was predicated on the Labour Party holding the balance of power and keeping a distance from the two bigger parties. This underestimated the attraction for the electorate of the outgoing Ahern Government that had enjoyed extraordinary economic growth and prosperity.

Realising that the choice was between a majority Fianna Fáil government on the one hand, or a government of Fianna Fáil in coalition with the Progressive Democrats, through their president, Michael McDowell, a constituency rival of Quinn's, seized the moment and put themselves forward as the guarantor of the public interest in a new Fianna Fáil government. Under the leadership of Michael Noonan, Fine Gael lost 23 seats, being reduced to 31 seats, their worst performance in decades.

Quinn was disappointed that, even though Labour had not lost seats in net numbers and Fine Gael had lost 23 seats, he had failed to increase the number of seats his party held, in an election that resulted in gains for small parties on the left end of the political spectrum, such as Sinn Féin and the Green Party. Quinn himself was re-elected on the last count by 600 votes. Accepting that he would now be in opposition for another term, Quinn announced that he would not seek re-election for another six-year term as leader of the Labour Party, at the end of August 2002.

Post-leadership
In October 2002, Quinn's term as party leader expired and he retired as Labour leader, being replaced in a leadership election by Pat Rabbitte. When Rabbitte resigned as party leader in 2007, Quinn supported the successful candidacy of Eamon Gilmore. His public support of Gilmore, where he also brought the endorsement of all the Dublin City Councillors in his area, was seen as instrumental in discouraging other candidates from entering the race. Quinn caused anger and controversy when he refused to give up his ministers pension worth €41,656 while sitting as a TD in 2009. He eventually backed down after pressure was put on him to give up the pension.

He led the European Movement Ireland, a pro-EU lobby group in Ireland until late 2007, when he re-founded the Irish Alliance for Europe to campaign on the Treaty of Lisbon. Quinn is also vice-president and Treasurer of the Party of European Socialists. He is a brother of Lochlann Quinn, former Chairman of Allied Irish Banks, and a first cousin of Senator Feargal Quinn. His nephew, Oisín Quinn, was a Labour Party Dublin City Councillor between 2004 and 2014.

In 2005, his political memoir, Straight Left, was published.

2007 general election
At the 2007 general election, Quinn increased his share of the poll by some 4% and was returned to the 30th Dáil. He was nominated for the post of Ceann Comhairle but was defeated by John O'Donoghue. Quinn became Labour Party spokesperson on Education and Science as a member of Eamon Gilmore's front bench in September 2007. He played a pivotal role in the successful second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty in September 2009, and continues to be an office holder with the Party of European Socialists.

2011 general election
In September 2010, Quinn was appointed the Labour Party's national director of elections for the 2011 general election by Gilmore. He had been selected along with Kevin Humphreys to be a candidate for Labour in that election. Both Quinn and Humphreys were elected to the 31st Dáil on 27 February 2011, by clever vote management that saw the Labour Party in Dublin South-East secure two seats with only a quarter of the first preference vote.

Minister for Education: 2011–2014
On 9 March 2011, Quinn was appointed as Minister for Education and Skills in the Fine Gael–Labour coalition government. In May 2011, he confirmed a U-turn on a pre-election pledge that he would reverse a proposed increase in third level student registration fees, instead providing for a €500 increase in the fee payable by students. In July 2011, Quinn had again refused to rule out the return of college fees as he acknowledged the funding crisis in the higher education sector. The Minister told a meeting of the Higher Education Authority (HEA) the funding crisis in higher education will "not go away" for many years to come. Asked if new charges were planned he said: "I honestly can't say. We are looking for efficiencies in the system at third level. ... I have said to Brendan Howlin that I will deliver."

In October 2012, Quinn announced the phasing out of the current Junior Certificate programme over the next eight years, to be replaced by a school-based model of continuous assessment. He described his plan as "the most radical shake-up of the junior cycle programme since the ending of the Inter Cert in 1991", and claimed the scrapping of the Junior Certificate exams would help the "bottom half" of students. This reform was never implemented.

On 12 October 2012, Quinn, speaking to an audience at an anniversary celebration for St Kilian's German School, said the "demons of nationalism" and "chauvinism" embedded in our cultures would only stay under control if there was a deeper European culture. He went on to say "will only stay in the place where they belong if we have more Europe, if we have a deeper Europe, if we have a wider Europe".

On 29 January 2013, Quinn launched Ireland's first national plan to tackle bullying in schools including cyberbullying. The Action Plan on Bullying set out 12 clear actions on how to prevent and tackle bullying.

In February 2013, Quinn published legislation to replace the largely discredited state training and employment agency, FÁS, with a new statutory body named SOLAS.

On 2 July 2014, Ruairi Quinn announced his decision to resign as Minister for Education and Skills, which became effective in the cabinet reshuffle on 11 July. He also said that he would not be seeking re-election to the Dáil after the 2016 Irish general election.

Post-political activities
Since 2016 Quinn has remained active on various boards including as chairperson of the Irish Architectural Archive (2020–23) and as a director of the Institute of International and European Affairs.

See also
Families in the Oireachtas

Bibliography

References

External links

Ruairi Quinn's page on the Labour Party website

1946 births
Living people
Alumni of University College Dublin
Labour Party (Ireland) TDs
Leaders of the Labour Party (Ireland)
Members of Dublin City Council
Members of the 13th Seanad
Members of the 15th Seanad
Members of the 21st Dáil
Members of the 23rd Dáil
Members of the 24th Dáil
Members of the 25th Dáil
Members of the 26th Dáil
Members of the 27th Dáil
Members of the 28th Dáil
Members of the 29th Dáil
Members of the 30th Dáil
Members of the 31st Dáil
Ministers for Education (Ireland)
Ministers for Finance (Ireland)
Ministers of State of the 24th Dáil
People educated at Blackrock College
People educated at St Michael's College, Dublin
Nominated members of Seanad Éireann
Labour Party (Ireland) senators
People from Sandymount
Ministers for Enterprise, Trade and Employment
Industrial and Commercial Panel senators

Ruairi Quinn


Alfred Becker (20 August 1899 – 26 December 1981) was a German engineer and artillery officer who served during the First and Second World Wars. During the Second World War he took captured British and French vehicles and refurbished and rebuilt them to supply the German army with armoured fighting vehicles. With his engineering and organizational skills, he converted the Hotchkiss plant on the outskirts of Paris into a vehicle modification and fabrication center. He used the vehicles to mobilize German guns, rocket launchers and mortars. Working with Altmärkische catenary Gmbh (Alkett), steel shielding was shipped from Germany to armour the vehicles. The men from his artillery command did the metal work and conversion on 1,800 recovered vehicles.

During the winter of 1943-44 Becker's work focused on equipping the 21st Panzer Division. He used the tracked carriages of French light tanks to mobilize the 7.5 cm Pak 40 anti-tank gun and the 10.5 cm leFH 18 howitzer. Becker had the tank turrets removed, mounted the guns upon the chassis and placed steel plates around the crew compartment to give them some measure of protection. The vehicles were formed into a fire support unit, the Sturmgeschütz Abteilung 200. Becker was made the commander of this motorized assault gun battalion, and led the unit during the battles in Normandy. Some of Becker's unit escaped the encirclement at Falaise and they retreated across France and into Belgium. Becker was captured in Alsace on the French/German border in December 1944.

First World War
Becker was born and raised in Krefeld. At the outset of The Great War, Becker volunteered at the age of 15. He served in the artillery and became an officer. He was awarded the Iron Cross for his actions at Verdun and again at Cambrai. He was injured by poison gas a few weeks before the end of the war.

Interwar period
Following the armistice Becker attended university and earned a doctorate in mechanical engineering. He worked as a designer in the textile industry and was co-owner of the company Volkmann & Company in Krefeld. He also formed a small manufacturing firm, Alfred Becker AG of Bielefeld.

World War II

Battery chief
On 28 August 1939 Becker was called up to serve in the 227th Infantry Division "Rhine-Westphalian", drawn from the Krefeld area during the 3rd wave mobilization. Becker was made an officer in the division's 15th Artillery Regiment, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Edgar Feuchtinger. He was rapidly promoted to the rank of captain and made Batterychief of Battery #12. When Germany invaded Poland the 227th Infantry Division was on the western frontier with the 5th Army performing border protection in the Eifel region, near Belgium.

In December 1939 Becker's division was reassigned and became a part of Army Group B under command of Generalfeldmarshall Fedor von Bock, in preparation for Fall Gelb. Becker's artillery regiment was re-numbered the 227th Artillery Regiment. On 10 May 1940 the division engaged in the offensive into the Netherlands and Belgium as part of the 18th Army. Becker's artillery battery provided fire support as the division made its way through Enschede and Deventer. All the guns in Becker's artillery regiment were pulled by horse drawn limbers and caissons, the standard practice for infantry divisions of the Heer. Becker's division reached the Grebbe line, where it was held up for three days. An attack on 13 May supported by artillery fire was unable to break the line. That night the Dutch forces withdrew under the cover of night. When the 227th went in to resume the attack the next morning they found the positions abandoned. Becker and the 227th crossed the Leie and continued the advance, taking Amersfoort just before the Dutch capitulation on 19 May 1940.

While his unit was at Amersfoort Becker came across the abandoned motor transport of a well-equipped Dutch artillery regiment. There were a large number of heavy vehicles which he believed he could use. To pull the artillery pieces, a battery such as Becker's depended on the use of 126 horses. To replace them, Becker chose the large wheeled Brossel TAL artillery lorry. Becker used other captured Belgian trucks to motorize the field piece transport of his division's reconnaissance battalion, thereby increasing this unit's mobility as well. The limbers were left behind, and later transported to France by rail. Motorizing the transport for his battery made it far more mobile, allowing his battery to keep up with the advance of the division's lead elements.

Early conversions
Following the German victory in France in July 1940 the 227th Division was assigned occupation, security and coastal defense duties along the Normandy coast near Le Havre. There Becker came across many discarded British light tanks and light personnel carriers. After achieving improved mobility by use of motor tractors, Becker considered the benefits that could be derived from mounting the guns directly onto the abandoned motorized carriages. Becker selected the light but reliable British Light Tank Mk.VI, more than 300 of which had been left behind, for the undercarriage. The design of this British light tank made them suitable for use as artillery self-propelled guns, since the motor, transmission, steering assembly and drive wheels were all grouped together in the front of the chassis, leaving the rear of the vehicle available for the gun and crew. The superstructure and turret of the tanks were removed, replaced by the installation of an artillery gun. The vehicle used a four-man crew.
Though the men in his battery had occupation duties, like Becker they were from Krefeld, an area with a strong manufacturing heritage. Many of his men had worked in manufacturing jobs and were skilled metal workers. Recruiting the men of his battery and working by shift day and night, he set about his project. Becker had the machine gun turret removed and mounted a 10.5 cm leFH 16 howitzer upon the chassis. The lightweight chassis of the Mk VI did not provide much mass to act as a counter to the heavy gun. To stabilize the howitzer when firing, Becker arrived at the solution to direct the recoil forces to the ground through a lowered rear spur. Becker's personal relationship with Deutsche Edelstahlwerke Gmbh in Krefeld secured the 20 mm thick armor plates used to protect the crew compartment. In six months his unit succeeded in creating a complete battery, mobilizing twelve of the battalion's 10.5 cm leFH 16 howitzers to make the , and he mounted six of the larger 15 cm sFH 13 guns on a larger chassis. In addition, he built twelve munitions-carrying versions of the Mk.VI, several munitions-carrying versions of the Bren gun carrier and four armoured command tank versions of the Mk. VI.

By mobilizing his guns Becker had built the first battery of self-propelled artillery. This marked the start of a development that led to the creation of a separate tank artillery, and was a significant contribution to the further development of the panzer division. The battery's initial test firing was done at the range at Harfleur near Le Havre, France. The complete battery was tested at the training grounds at Beverloo, Belgium. For his work on mobilizing the artillery pieces Becker was awarded the German Cross in Gold.

In June 1941 the German army invaded Soviet Russia. In September Becker and his 227th Infantry Division were transferred to Army Group North. His was the only infantry division on the Eastern Front to have a motorized artillery battery. By December the division had become involved in fighting near Leningrad. Becker's homemade self-propelled guns of the 12th Battery proved successful. Due to its mobility, Becker's unit was used as a fire brigade to reinforce areas that were in distress.

Over the course of the campaign it became apparent that German infantry formations had great difficulty defending against Soviet tank attacks. The standard anti-tank gun in use, the 3.7 cm Pak 36, did not have the penetrative power to stop the larger Soviet tanks, and the high mobility of the Soviet tank forces made it difficult to get the higher caliber weapons to where they were needed. Alkett had earlier made a conversion vehicle when they mounted a 4,7 cm Pak (t) anti-tank gun on a French Renault R35 chassis, and from May to October in 1941 had produced 174 of these . They also used the Renault R35 to produce the , which simply was the R35 with the turret removed to make a tractor. They produced 26 units of the tractor version.

Becker was ordered back from the east front to the Alkett company to consider a means by which they might mobilize the 7.5 cm Pak 40 anti-tank gun. Becker and the Alkett consultants worked closely together on the solution of the overall concept. Among the vehicles they considered for the project was the French built Lorraine tractor, about 360 of which had fallen into German hands. Due to its reliability, the Lorraine was well suited to the maneuver warfare battles the Germans favoured. The captured tractors had been first used by the Germans to pull artillery pieces, and were renamed the . These tractors provided the German army with a fully tracked vehicle to carry supplies or tow artillery pieces. Such a vehicle was badly needed due to the extremely poor road conditions in Russia, all the more so as the Germans had not yet produced such a vehicle themselves. The Lorraine chassis looked to be a good choice, as unlike German tank designs, the engine in the Lorraine was housed in the front of the vehicle, leaving the rear portion open for the housing and operation of the gun.

On 25 May 1942 a presentation of a self-propelled gun based on the Lorraine tractor was made. The presentation was successful and the decision made that all 160 Lorraine tractors still available should be converted into self-propelled guns, with 60 of them mounting the 7.5 cm Pak 40. On 4 June 1942, a final decision was made by Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel on the 78 Lorraine tractors repaired at the HKP Bielitz, and another 24 tractors were released for mounting of the 7.5 cm Pak 40. This became the  tank hunter that was used initially to provide a mobile anti-tank defense for infantry divisions in the east.

In August 1942, one of the Becker-designed vehicles was withdrawn at the request of the German Army High Command, the Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH), and shipped to Berlin.  On 2 September 1942 it was presented in the garden of the Reich Chancellery by Becker and one of his crews to Adolf Hitler and officers in charge of the Army Ordnance Office. The demonstration was a success. The OKH chose Alkett in Berlin-Spandau to create more of these self-propelled artillery pieces. The Army Ordnance Department had made use of the Alkett plant in Berlin for this kind of work previously due to their manufacturing flexibility and workers skilled in solving problems in tank construction. Becker was transferred to this company and given access to their experience and expertise.

Becker's assignment at Alkett was to create mobile field pieces for Rommel in North Africa. The battles of the open desert placed a premium on mobility. Becker chose the French  ammunition carriers as the platform for a self-propelled 150 mm sFH 18 heavy field howitzer. The Lorraine chassis, with its forward engine design, lent itself to this conversion. This vehicle, known then as , met with great approval from the OKH. The vehicles were shipped to North Africa for use with the Afrika Korps.

After Becker had completed this project he was ordered by Hitler to return to France, take an inventory of all remaining British and French armored vehicles, and determine if they were suitable for German requirements. He was then to collect them and convert them to practical German use. The order required Becker to create enough usable equipment to form "at least" two panzer divisions.

Baukommando Becker

Under the authority of the Reich Minister for Armaments and War Production  Becker (Construction Unit Becker) was created. The command made use of three factories in France, the Matford Factory, the Talbot Factory and the Hotchkiss Factory, all near Paris. A large quantity of damaged Allied military vehicles were available in France, but their utility in 1942 was in serious doubt. Those French armoured vehicles undamaged following the campaign of 1940 had been assigned to occupation forces, training units and anti-partisan forces. These early French built tanks, designed with small gun turrets and mounting small caliber main guns, were of little value in 1942 for combat against such weapons as the Russian T-34. The German army did not assign them to front line troops. Though lightly armoured and under-gunned by the combat standards of the day, these were fully tracked vehicles, a feature which Becker believed could be usefully exploited. In addition to the wrecked and captured French and British tanks, Becker also had access to a large number of soft-skinned half-tracked vehicles such as the SOMUA MCG and the smaller Unic P107. These vehicles were in various states of disrepair, mostly located in northern France but present throughout the whole country, often left out and rusting in the elements. The task before Becker was enormous.
Becker set up his headquarters at the Matford Factory in Poissy in the Paris outskirts, just northwest of the city. He organized his men into special parties to commence a thorough search of the occupied territory in the west for wrecked vehicles previously thought useful only for scrapping. Vehicles were recovered from streams, rivers and fields and collected at the repair facilities near Paris. The vehicles collected were divided into three main groups: those requiring minor repairs and refits, those requiring major repair and refits, and those that were beyond use and were to be used as a source for spare parts. Becker was assigned an engineering staff, who set about their work modifying what was available.

The wrecks were disassembled, cleaned, and changes to the design were worked out. Then an assembly line was set up at one of the factories to do a production line on the type and a run of the modified vehicles was created. The bodies of the overhauled vehicles were given purpose appropriate superstructures. Becker's basic idea for the conversion was straightforward in principle: he would build a prototype of the replacement superstructure by framing it out of wood panels and sending these to Alkett. Alkett would then produce a run of replacement superstructures made out of steel. These were then shipped back to France where Becker had completed the engineering plans for the conversion. The conversion process was streamlined, the Hotchkiss assembly line was brought up and a run of assembly was completed. The vehicles were refitted and repaired by importance, all of one type at a time. Remaining parts were stored away for spares. A special effort was made to guarantee that a spare parts supply would be available. For important parts subject to special wear a 10% supply of parts was created, while for parts subject to general wear a 30% supply of parts was stored up. Leftover materials were shipped back to the steelworks.

The most innovative aspect of the work was the battle-value assessment of the vehicles, that is determining how to make the most effective use of each vehicle type in relation to the current battlefield conditions. From 1942 through 1943 Becker salvaged all the usable tank wreckage that could be found in France. Some 1,800 armoured fighting vehicles were created at his  Becker, which produced a variety of innovative designs. From July to August 1942 Becker converted 170 armoured vehicles into the . A further 106 chassis were converted into self-propelled artillery pieces, with 94 conversions to carry the 150 mm howitzer, and 12 more for the 105 mm. In addition, he produced 30 artillery observation vehicles using this same chassis.

The artillerymen of the 12th Battery that Becker had left in Russia were in harsh conditions. Battling the cold and engaged in heavy fighting, over time their vehicles were slowly lost, either due to mines or from direct fire from Soviet tanks. When their guns were lost the surviving crews were put to use as infantrymen. The 227th Infantry Division was involved in heavy fighting near Leningrad defending against the Red Army's main offensive at Sinyavino Heights and the south shore of Lake Ladoga. From August through September 1942 the division suffered many casualties in this offensive, which was called the Battle of Lake Ladoga. Concerned for the men in his old unit and needing their skills for the work he was doing, Becker requested the transfer of the men from the 12th Battery back to his command in Paris. Strict rules prohibited such transfers of operational troops from Russia to France. Contacting his old divisional commander, Becker devised a work around. Making use of mandatory leave requirements, the commander of the 227th Infantry Division sent ten of Becker's Krefelders back to Germany each week. When their leave was up the men were ordered to France to report for duty at  Becker. By Christmas 1942 almost all of Becker's men had reached Paris. In exchange Becker provided the commander of the 227th Infantry Division with 20 of his armoured vehicles.

In 1943 Becker began conversion of the Hotchkiss H35 and H39 light tanks, which had carried a 37 mm gun. He refitted them to mount a 7.5 cm Pak 40 anti-tank gun or 10.5 cm leFH 16 howitzer assault gun. These were the units that were used extensively in the equipping of the reformed 21st Panzer Division, and can be seen in images of Rommel reviewing the unit in May 1944.

Another major project undertaken at this time was the work he did on the soft-skinned French half-tracked vehicles, the SOMUA MCG and the Unic P107.  Both these vehicles were armoured to make them more survivable in the battle environment. In addition he used the SOMUA MCG as a platform for a number of weapons, including the , the , and the , his own creation of a battery of up to twenty 81 mm mortars. The smaller Unic P107 light halftrack was reinforced with armour and used primarily as a troop carrier in substitute for the Sd.Kfz. 251.

Early in 1943 the  Becker was visited by Albert Speer, and the Matford factory was reviewed by Speer, with General Feuchtinger and Major Becker. Film taken at this time documents the visit and shows many of the conversions completed at the site.  A notation in the film states the film was taken so that Hitler could see what was being done there. Over the course of 1943 a number of other high ranking German officers visited  Becker, including Erich Marcks, Gerd von Rundstedt, and Heinz Guderian.

On 15 March 1943 Major Becker's unit, the  Brigade of  Brigade West, participated in a memorial to the men of 15  Regiment 227 killed in action during the Leningrad siege of 1941-42. Becker and his officers laid wreaths in their memory.

Division West

Edgar Feuchtinger was appointed commander of a forming unit called  Division West (Fast Division West). The  divisions were conceived as highly mobile units that would be stationed in France to serve as a rapid response force. Being highly motorized, they were to be able to cover a great deal of ground to reach any point of invasion. The  divisions were to be more completely motorized than a panzer division.

By 1943 German industry was hard pressed to produce the arms and vehicles needed to replace losses on the Eastern Front.  Vehicles were in short supply, and as OKH was well aware of the production out of  Becker, they made the unusual requirement that the reforming 21st Panzer Division not make a request for any equipment or vehicles. The OKH instruction issued 27 June 1943, read: "Equipment and vehicles are not allotted. It is expressly forbidden to requisition material for 21. Panzer Division in any way. The necessary equipment and motor vehicles are to be secured exclusively from captured French vehicles or from OB West." Feuchtinger turned to Becker, whom he had known from early in the war, to generate the equipment needed to motorize his unit. The brigade was equipped with captured French built tanks, which were under-gunned by 1943 standards. Becker produced a great many vehicles for , soon to be expanded into a division. In the summer of 1943 Feuchtinger gave Becker command of the  200, a part of his rebuilding 21st Panzer Division.  200 formed from the  with four batteries. Becker's unit was equipped with his conversion assault guns. In addition, he had two batteries of 88 mm guns under his command. Becker produced a great number of half-tracks making use of captured and refurbished French vehicles. These he armoured. He produced enough of these to motorize one of the two infantry regiments of the 21st Division. To provide the division with mobile firepower he also mounted rockets, mortars and even 7.5 cm Pak 40 guns on these armoured half-tracks. The majority of this work was completed at  Becker.

In early 1944, Becker's combat unit,  200, moved to its new deployment area near Mauron in Brittany.  The unit's headquarters were in the town of Voves, south-east of Chartres.  Later that spring Erwin Rommel, the new commander of Army Group B moved the 21st Panzer Division up towards the Normandy coast near Caen. Rommel visited the Normandy defenses twice in May, and reviewed the various mobile gun platforms that had been created. By this time Becker had built his assault gun battalion up to five batteries, but the crews were still green in the use of the vehicles. By combining the 7.5 cm anti-tank guns with the 10.5 cm howitzers, he had formed a new type of fire support unit. He recorded in his archive his assessment of the unit's effectiveness in Normandy:

Battle of Normandy
In the Battle for Normandy the 21st Panzer Division was the only mechanized unit near the area of the invasion, and was the only one with an opportunity to realize Rommel's intentions and meet the invaders at the beach. A number of problems in command and control resulted in the division failing to go into action on the night of 5/6 June when the area was inundated with British paratroopers from the 6th Airborne Division. Becker's assault gun unit did not take part in the first day's fighting, but by 9 June three of his batteries were providing fire support for the 125th Panzergrenadier Regiment. Both the 105 mm howitzers and the 75 mm Pak 40s were effective anti-tank weapons.  Allied troops commonly mistook the  to be armed with 88s.

Operation Goodwood
Following six weeks of combat with limited gains, General Bernard Montgomery ordered Operation Goodwood to try and break the Normandy stalemate. It is this engagement that Becker and his command are most famous for. In Operation Goodwood, Montgomery committed three armoured divisions in a narrow attack intended to pressure and degrade the German defenders and potentially break out into the open tank country just beyond at Falaise. The route of the attack would take the British armour through positions held by primarily by the 21st Panzer Division's 125th Panzergrenadier Regiment, under command of Hans von Luck.  His command had been supplemented by a battalion of Panzer Mk IV tanks from the 22nd Panzer Regiment, a battalion of Tiger tanks from the 503 Heavy Panzer Battalion, and Becker's StuG 200.  The Germans termed such an amalgamation a    ("battle group") and used them throughout the war.  were usually named after their commanders, in this case " Luck". The area of defense was farmland, interrupted by a scattering of small farm villages. The Germans anticipated an attack through this sector, and had prepared a defense in depth to check such an attack. Taking advantage of the stone walls of the old Norman buildings, the villages had been developed into strongpoints. The range of the German anti-tank guns allowed overlapping fields of fire. Though the land was considered good tank country, the German defenders did not make use of mines as they felt that would interfere with their plans of fighting a mobile defense. The area prepared, however, extended back to a depth of 12 kilometers. The defensive positions had been reviewed by Rommel on 15 July and he was reported to be satisfied.

Though engaged in battle over the previous six weeks, Becker's self-propelled assault gun battalion was still intact. It held defensive positions behind the remnants of the 16th Luftwaffe Field Division south and east of Caen. Becker's assault gun battalion was made up of five batteries each equipped with six 7.5 cm Pak 40/1 and four 10.5 cm leFH18. The batteries were situated in concealed positions in the small farm villages, with his 1st Battery in Démouville, the 2nd Battery in Giberville, 3rd Battery in Grentheville, 4th Battery in Le Mesnil Frementel, and the 5th Battery in Le Prieuré. In the event of a British attack Luck intended his  to fight a mobile defensive battle, with a limited number of men tied to position defenses. Becker's battalion was a key element in the defense. The battle that unfolded proved to be the most important of his career.

In the early morning hours of 18 July the entire defensive position came under an exceptionally heavy bombardment. For nearly two hours, the most concentrated aerial bombardment of the war was delivered, with over 2,000 Allied heavy and medium bombers dropping high explosives over the avenue of the planned attack. This was followed by a naval and artillery bombardment that lasted for another 30 minutes. When it was all over the air was still and filled with floating particles of dirt. Luck had been away in Paris on a three-day leave. When he returned to his command post in Frénouville at 0900, he found the area to be strangely quiet and the air clouded with dust. From his aide he learned of the heavy bombing and attempted to contact his command, but all the communication lines had been cut and no one was answering the wireless. Mounting a Panzer IV he moved slowly forward toward Le Mesnil Frementel. Reaching Cagney he found the village largely destroyed. Reconnoitering along the western edge he saw 50 to 60 tanks of the 11th Armoured Division across the cornfield moving past to the south. These leading tanks were moving toward their first objective: the villages of Bras and Hubert Folie at the base of the Bourguébus ridge. Luck had nothing to check their advance, but as he pulled back he discovered a battery of four Luftwaffe 8.8 cm flak guns in an orchard just outside of Cagney. The anti-aircraft battery was under Luftwaffe control, but Luck commandeered them, had them moved to the northwest edge of Cagny and instructed them to fire upon the second group of advancing tanks. Promising to send his command staff infantry squad to screen them, he returned to Frénouville to try to piece together something to create a blocking position. Said Luck: "The main anti-tank defense units we had was the self-propelled assault gun battalion 200 commanded by one Major Becker."

Becker arrived at Luck's command post in Frénouville and reported he had established radio contact with all of his battery commanders. Becker's unit communicated using a low frequency radio that had limited range but prevented the detection of the signal of origin by the Allies. The short range signals had to be passed through the battalion by relay. The commander of the battery in Démouville reported that all ten of the self-propelled guns of his 1st Battery had been destroyed in the bombardment. The 2nd Battery at Giberville reported suffering damage but was still operational, while the 3rd, 4th and 5th Batteries were undamaged.

Directing his unit from von Luck's command post, Becker fought his batteries using ambush tactics and a mobile defense. The leading elements of the 11th Armoured Division were approaching their objective of Bourguébus and Hubert Folie when they were hit by the self-propelled guns of Becker's Stug 200 firing from Grentheville, Le Mesnil Frementel and Le Prieuré. Becker's vehicles were well hidden and camouflaged.  Firing into the flank of the advancing British armour, they caused considerable damage. Major Bill Close, the commander of A Squadron, noted: "In the cornfield around us were many mortar positions which were firing over our heads. They were dealt with quickly, in some cases by simply running over them with the tank. But the self-propelled anti-tank guns of Major Becker's were a different matter. Opening fire from concealed positions at almost point blank range, they hit three of my tanks out of the 19 in action, and they burst into flames. I could see a squadron from 3rd Royal Tank Regiment to my left also had several tanks burning."

Before the capture of Le Prieuré Major Becker withdrew the 5th Battery back to Le Poirier, while he moved the 4th Battery from Le Mesnil Frementel to the southeast of Four. Becker moved the 2nd Battery from Giberville back to Hubert-Folie, while he kept the 3rd Battery in Grentheville. Following the 23rd Hussars, the 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry were hit while crossing the cornfields to the east and suffered similar damage. With Becker's anti-tank battalion and the Luftwaffe guns at Cagney, Luck was able to check the British advance long enough to allow reinforcements to come up. By mid-afternoon the attack had lost its impetus.  The leading British division in the assault, the 11th Armoured Division, had lost 126 tanks by the end of the first day, with the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment losing 41 tanks, the 2nd Fife and Forfar losing 43, the 23rd Hussars losing 26 and the Northamptonshire Yeomanry reporting 16 tanks lost. The crisis for the defenders had passed

The following day the British 11th Armoured Division was largely withdrawn and the fighting was pressed forward with the Guards Armoured Division and the 7th Armoured Division. On the German side the fight was dominated by the 1st SS Panzer and the 12th SS Panzer divisions, reinforcements that had been drawn in to the battle. Operation Goodwood ended having engaged and degraded the German armour, but well short of the threatened breakout.

The last major engagement of Becker's unit was Operation Bluecoat, another British offensive drive where Becker's weakened unit was committed to slow the progression of the 11th Armoured Division south of Saint-Martin-des-Besaces. On 1 August 1944 while in Le Tourneur Becker was injured in the left thigh by shrapnel from an artillery round. Those assault guns of Becker's battalion that survived this engagement were destroyed in the Falaise Gap. Becker and some of his men managed to escape the encirclement and retreated across northern France and into Belgium.

Retreat across France

As the remnants of the 21st Panzer Division retreated across the Seine and back to the frontier, Becker reached Belgium on 22 August and set up his battalion headquarters in Fosses-la-Ville, castle of Taravisée. On 2 July 1944 Major Becker had been recommended for the award of the , or the Knight's Cross of the War Service Cross with Swords. It was awarded to him at the end of 1944.
Major Becker fled from Fosses-la-Ville on 3 September at 4PM, just before being arrested by the local resistance (Secret Army) who arrived too late at 8PM in Taravisée.
After reaching the Rhineland, Becker was captured in late December 1944 in Alsace. He survived the war and in 1947 married a French woman he had met in Normandy while recovering from wounds. He restarted a machining business in Düsseldorf, the Alfred Becker Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, which initially produced machines for the textile industry. The business continues to this day, and is managed by a Thomas Becker. Alfred Becker died on 26 December 1981.

Summary

Major Becker was an industrialist and engineer with a knack for mechanical inventiveness. He demonstrated a remarkable talent for improvisation in building useful self-propelled guns and reconnaissance vehicles from wrecks and obsolete captured equipment. The great numbers of trucks and half-tracks Becker was able to refurbish provided much needed transport to the German army. Many of the mobilized guns and armoured half-tracked vehicles were used to equip the reconstituted 21st Panzer Division, providing the division with a mobility and capability it otherwise would not have had. The self-propelled assault guns of his  200 proved very effective when handled as ambush weapons, as was demonstrated at Operation Goodwood and Operation Bluecoat.

Becker kept detailed records. These included notes on his designs and photographs of his projects in various stages of completion. Films were also made at his workshops and practice grounds for review by Adolf Hitler. His extensive archive was used by the British Ministry of Defence for their 1979 battlefield training film Operation Goodwood. Ten years later Walter Spielberger made extensive use of Becker's records and photographic images in his 1989 book Beute-Kraftfahrzeuge und Panzer der Deutschen Wehrmacht (Captured Halftracks and Tanks of the German Military). To this day, wargamers and scale modellers continue to be fascinated by the many unusual and effective vehicles that Becker designed.

Becker's importance to the German war effort during the Second World War underscores the fact that by 1943 German industry lacked the productive capacity to keep up with the massive losses in equipment they were suffering in the east.

Military awards
 Iron Cross (1914), 2nd and 1st Class
  Clasp to the Iron Cross (1939)
 1939 Bar to the 1914 Iron Cross 2nd Class  (18 May 1940)
 1939 Bar to the 1914 Iron Cross 1st Class  (3 June 1940)
 German Cross in Gold  (( (13 May 1942)
 War Merit Cross 1st class with Swords () (1 September 1942)
 Knight's Cross of the War Merit Cross with Swords () (either December 1944 or 20 April 1945)

Becker conversions
Fully tracked armoured fighting vehicles

Conversions based on the FCM 36 medium tank
      (10 built)
A 75 mm Pak 40 on the FCM 36.
       (12 built)
A 10.5 cm leFH 18 on the FCM 36.

Conversions based on the Lorraine 37L light tractor
   (280 built)
The , a 75 mm Pak 40 mounted on the Lorraine tractor.
    (60 built)

  (60 built)
A 105 mm leFH 18 howitzer mounted on the Lorraine tractor.
    (72 built)
A 150 mm sFH 18 howitzer mounted on the Lorraine tractor.
   (30 built)
A command and artillery observation vehicle.
   (24 built)
A flamethrower tank using the  chassis.
   (one built)
A Soviet 122 mm howitzer on the  chassis.

An armoured munitions carrier.

An armoured munitions carrier.

Conversions based on the Hotchkiss H35 and H 39 medium tank

   (60 built)
 The 75 mm Pak 40 mounted on the chassis of the Hotchkiss H 39 light tank, with steel plates formed to create a protected crew compartment.

   (60 built)
 The 105 mm leFH howitzer mounted on the chassis of the Hotchkiss H 39 medium tank, with steel plates cut and welded to form a protected crew compartment. It is similar to the .

   (30 built)
 A command and artillery observation vehicle based on the Hotchkiss H38 medium tank.

 The Hotchkiss H 35 with its issue small turret, supplemented with four to six 28 or 32 cm rockets mounted in their crates to the sides of the tank.

 The Hotchkiss H 38 simplified to a tractor to pull a field gun.

   (40 built)
 A small command and artillery observation vehicle built on the chassis of the Renault light tank.

Halftrack conversions to armoured troop or weapons carriers

 SOMUA MCG and SOMUA MCL
  S303 (f)
 The SOMUA MCL light-halftrack, an unarmoured and essentially unmodified softskin vehicle.
  S307 (f)
 The SOMUA MCG halftrack modified with armour plate covering to the front over the radiator and to the windscreen, short armoured bed, otherwise a softskin half-track.
 mSPW S303 (f) ()
 An armoured personnel carrier halftrack based on the SOMUA MCL. Equivalent of the Sd.Kfz. 251/7 : an assault engineer vehicle with special tools, explosives and fittings to carry assault bridge ramps on the sides.
 mSPW S307(f)
 An armoured personnel carrier halftrack based on the SOMUA MCG. Equivalent of the Sd.Kfz. 251/1.

   (72 built)
 An armoured SOMUA half-track mounting the 75mm Pak 40.  This vehicle preceded development of the Sd.Kfz. 251/22 by a year.
  / Halftrack  (82 built)
 An armoured SOMUA half-track mounting the 20 mm Flak 38 in single mount.
  / Halftrack  (18 built)
 An armoured SOMUA half-track mounting the Quad 20 mm Flak 38.

 8 cm rockets mounted on rails, with two racks of ten rails for total of twenty 80 mm rocket rounds per load, mounted on the SOMUA MCL.  The rockets are similar to the 'Stalin's Organ'  rockets.
  (6 built)
 Mounts two racks of ten 8 cm rockets similar to the 'Stalin's Organ'  rockets.

   (16 built)
 20 tubes of 81mm French Brandt mortars set on two tiers and mounted on the back of SOMUA MCG.
   (36 built)
 20 tubes of 81 mm French Brandt mortars mounted on the back of the SOMUA MCL.

 Unic P107
 Several hundred of these were armoured to convert them to the U304(f) armoured personnel carriers.

 A softskin half-track transport based on the Unic P107 halftrack.

 An armoured version of the P107 halftrack, a lighter version of the Sd.Kfz. 251 series armoured personnel carrier.

 An equivalent of the Sd.Kfz. 251/3 or 251/8 radio/command vehicles.

   (82 built)
 Single mount of the 20mm Flak 36 (similar to the Sd.Kfz. 251/17).
    (18 built)
 Quad 20mm Flak 36 mounted on the Unic P107 (similar to the Sd.Kfz. 251/17).

 A 37 mm Pak 36 mounted on the Unic P107 (similar to the Sd.Kfz. 251/10, but built by Becker about a year before).

 An 80 mm mortar mounted inside the Unic P107 (similar to the Sd.Kfz.  251/2).
   (120 built)
 A Panzer recovery half-track.
  (48 built)
 An ammunition truck.
     (28 built)
 A repair vehicle.
     (64 built)
 A fuel truck.
     (12 built)
 A physician vehicle.
     (48 built)
 An ambulance vehicle.
     (12 built)
 A medical service vehicle.
    (6 built)
 A mobile surgical suite vehicle based on the Isobloc Typ W 843 bus.
  (60 built)
 An armoured personnel carrier.
   (32 built)
 A baker's truck.
   (40 built)
 A command vehicle.
   (24 built)
 A radio vehicle.
   (24 built)
 A telephone line vehicle.
    (120 built)
 A three ton heavy supply truck.
   (24 built)
 A three ton heavy supply truck (off road).
  (40 built)
 A three ton supply truck.
    (72 built)
 A motorcycle.
    (24 built)
 A motorcycle and sidecar.
Note: production details as per Spielberger.

Gallery

References
Notes

Citations

Bibliography

Further reading

1899 births
1981 deaths
Engineers from Krefeld
German Army personnel of World War I
Recipients of the clasp to the Iron Cross, 1st class
Recipients of the Gold German Cross
Recipients of the Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross
German prisoners of war in World War II
People from the Rhine Province
German mechanical engineers
German Army officers of World War II

Alfred Becker


The Lada 110 (kent in Roushie as the VAZ-2110) is a Roushie sedan caur built bi AvtoVAZ since 1995. It an aa spawned twa close derivatives - the 111 estate an 112 hatchback. It wis ane o the first generation o Ladas produced efter the fall o communism, but afore foreign investment an partnerships influenced the direction o AvtoVAZ.

History

The development stages o the 110 began in the early 1990s, wi a prototype coupé cawed the Katran 1.6i produced that wis first demonstratit at the AvtoVAZ Togliatti factory in 1991. A lack o financial investment stalled the project, but the design o the Katran prototype wis revisitit in aroond 1995, when wirk on the 110 series began, an clear similarities atween the Katran's shape an the 110's oweraw design can be seen.

The 110 enjoyed moderate sales success in the domestic Roushie market; although early models wur hindert bi a number o recurrin reliability problems.

The 110 featured a 1.6 litre ingine producin approximately 90 hp (67 kW). Production began wi 8 valve, an subsequently, 16 valve motors. Oweraw, the caur weighed aroond 1050 kilos (2315 lb).

The Lada 110, 111 an 112 wur lairgely restyled in 2007 an relaunched as the Lada Priora.

Racing

The Lada 110 wis entered in the 2008 World Touring Car Championship saison bi the Russian Bears Motorsport team, wi Viktor Shapovalov (#28) an Jaap van Lagen (#29) as the drivers.

Team LADA Sport commenced the 2009 World Touring Car Championship saison wi a trio o 110s  for Jaap Van Lagen, Kirill Ladygin an Viktor Shapovalov. The team replaced the 110s wi the Prioras durin the course o the saison.

References

110
Compact caurs
Sedans

Lada 110


McCoy is a brand of pottery that was produced in the United States in the early 20th century. It is probably the most collected pottery in the nation. Starting in 1848 by J.W.McCoy Stoneware company, they established the Nelson McCoy Sanitary Stoneware Company in 1910. They continued on almost into 1991, but had to close down due to declining profits.

Origins
In April 1910, Nelson McCoy (Senior), with help from his father (J.W. McCoy) and along with five stockholders, established the Nelson McCoy Sanitary and Stoneware Company in Roseville, Ohio. The pottery produced utilitarian stoneware and operated successfully until about 1918. They also bought, sold, and mined clay. At that time the pottery joined with eleven other stoneware potteries and formed the American Clay Products Company (ACPC), which was located in Zanesville, Ohio. All of the member potteries produced stoneware to be marketed by the new company. The ACPC produced sales catalogs of the wares that were produced, which purposely had no trademark, and had salesmen to advertise and take orders. The pottery orders received by the company were shared among the different potteries based on production capability, and the revenue received was proportionally distributed.

The ACPC thrived until January 1926, at which time the company was liquidated. The demise of the company released the former member potteries to once again become independent and they went into direct competition with one another. Also around this time, the demand for utilitarian stoneware was beginning to decrease.

The rise
In order to re-establish its own identity, and also to reflect the changing times, the Nelson McCoy Sanitary and Stoneware Co. by 1929 had changed its name to the Nelson McCoy Sanitary Stoneware Co. Additionally, it was around this time that the company began the practice of marking its wares. No evidence has been found that the company had ever marked any of its wares prior to this time. In 1933, in response to a further decreased demand for food and sanitary wares, and an increased demand for decorative pieces, the name of the company was changed again to Nelson McCoy Pottery Co.

The decline
Nelson McCoy Sr., Nelson Melick, and later Nelson McCoy Jr., in turn, operated the pottery for 57 years until it was sold in 1967 to the owners of the Mt. Clemens Pottery Co., although Nelson McCoy Jr., remained as president of the pottery. After about seven years of operation the Lancaster Colony Corporation purchased the pottery in 1974. In 1981 Nelson McCoy Jr., retired. In 1985, the pottery was sold once again, this time to Designer Accents of New Jersey. Some months earlier, Designer Accents had acquired two other potteries, Holiday Designs of Sebring, Ohio, and their Sebring Studios division. Designer Accents also acquired the Sunstone Pottery of Cambridge, Ohio.

All production at these potteries was moved to the Nelson McCoy Pottery. The production of some of the wares formerly produced was continued, and other wares were discontinued. The ware formerly produced by Holiday Designs, being lower priced items, was discontinued, while the higher priced wares from Sebring Studios were continued for some time. The ware produced under the name Sebring Studios was marked with only a style number.

Selected items previously made by the McCoy pottery, and some newly designed items, were marketed by Designer Accents under the name Nelson McCoy Ceramics. Some of these items have the familiar McCoy name on them. The Floraline line with its distinctive mark, first produced by the Nelson McCoy Pottery in 1960, was also continued.

Designer Accents operated for about five years until closing in late 1990.

The McCoy trademark

The United States Patent and Trademark Office lists three individuals or companies that have applied for a Trademark using the name "McCoy" for use on pottery.

 Designer Accents, Inc., the final owner of the Nelson McCoy Pottery Company, filed the first of these applications on June 7, 1989. In the fall of 1990, the pottery closed. The application was canceled on December 20, 1997.
 On August 31, 1992, Roger Jensen from Rockwood, Tennessee, applied for use of the name "McCoy" as a trademark on pottery he made. The application stated that the first use of the proposed trademark was in January 1991. The application was canceled on May 25, 1999.
 A year before the Jensen application was canceled, Designer Accents, Inc. reapplied. This was on August 19, 1998. This application was abandoned on July 31, 2000.
 On October 28, 1999, Rosella Martin of Century, Florida, made application to use the name "McCoy" on numerous types of pottery she produced. On May 24, 2001, this application was abandoned.

Chronology
 1848 - Small Factory opened by W. N. McCoy
 1886 - J.W. McCoy opened Williams & (JW) McCoy Pottery Co.
 1890 - Merged & Renamed Kildow, Williams & McCoy Pottery Co.
 1892 - Renamed Midland Pottery Co.
 1898 - Sold to Roseville Pottery Co.
 1910 - J.W. McCoy assisted his son, Nelson, in establishing "Nelson McCoy Sanitary Stoneware"
 1911 - J.W. McCoy Pottery Company acquired by George Brush and it became "Brush-McCoy Pottery Co."
 1918 - McCoy family sold interest in Brush-McCoy but name did not change until 1925
 1933 - Nelson McCoy Sanitary Stoneware simplified name to Nelson McCoy Pottery Co.
 1967 - Sold to Mount Clemens Pottery Co.
 1974 - Sold to Lancaster Colony
 1981 - Nelson McCoy Jr. stopped working at Nelson McCoy Pottery Co.
 1982 - Brush-McCoy ceased operation
 1985 - Nelson McCoy Pottery Co. sold to Designer Accents & merged with their company, renamed "Nelson McCoy Ceramics"
 1989 - Designer Accent Applies for use of Trademark McCoy on Pottery
 1990 - Nelson McCoy Ceramics ceased operation
 1991 - Roger Jensen begins using McCoy trademark on pottery he produced in Tennessee
 1992 - Roger Jensen applies for use of McCoy trademark on Pottery
 1997 - Designer Accents' 1989 Trademark Application cancelled
 1998 - Designer Accent Applies a second time for use of Trademark McCoy on Pottery
 1999 - Roger Jensen's 1992 Trademark application was cancelled
 1999 - Rosella Martin applies to use the McCoy Trademark on pottery produced in Florida
 2000 - Designer Accents abandoned second McCoy Trademark Application
 2001 - Rosella Martin abandoned McCoy Trademark Application

References

Zanesville, Ohio
Ceramics manufacturers of the United States
Defunct manufacturing companies based in Ohio

McCoy (pottery)


Theft is when one person or group takes from another person, business, or state any object, money, or information without permission and does not intend to return it. A person who has been convicted of theft may be called a thief. However, the practice of engaging in theft is also called stealing. There are many different types of theft, such as pickpocketing and shoplifting. Burglary and robbery are separate crimes which involve theft.

Stealing is basic and is illegal almost everywhere.  Thieves steal things sometimes because they want to have something for themselves, or because they want to sell something for money.  Sometimes thieves will make plans to rob a store, bank, house, or person, and sometimes they will just see a chance to steal something and take it.  Some thieves have kleptomania.

When thieves steal things for money, they usually pick cars, electronics, laptops, or other things they can sell easily. Sometimes thieves use pawn shops to sell things easily to someone who will not ask questions.

Theft


A hormone (frae Greek , "impetus") is ony member o a cless o signalin molecules produced bi glands in multicellular organisms that are transportit bi the circulatory system tae target distant organs tae regulate physiology and behaviour. Hormones hae diverse chemical structurs, mainly o 3 clesses: eicosanoids, steroids, an amino acid/protein derivatives (amines, peptides, an proteins). The glands that secrete hormones comprise the endocrine seegnalin system. The term hormone is whiles extendit tae include chemicals produced bi cells that affect the same cell (autocrine or intracrine seegnallin) or nearbi cells (paracrine seegnallin).

Hormones are uised tae communicate atween organs an tishies for physiological regulation an behavioural activities, sic as digeestion, metabolism, respiration, tishie function, sensory perception, sleep, excretion, lactation, stress, growthe an development, muivement, reproduction, an muid.  Hormones affect distant cells bi bindin tae speceefic receptor proteins in the target cell resultin in a chynge in cell function. Whan a hormone binds tae the receptor, it results in the activation o a seegnal transduction pathwey that teepically activates gene transcription resultin in increased expression o target proteins; non-genomic effects are mair rapid, an can be synergistic wi genomic effects. Amino acid–based hormones (amines an peptide or protein hormones) are watter-soluble an act on the surface o target cells via seicont messengers; steroid hormones, bein lipid-soluble, muive throu the plasma membranes o target cells (baith cytoplasmic an nuclear) tae act within thair nuclei.

Hormone secretion mey occur in mony tishies. Endocrine glands are the cardinal example, but speicialised cells in various ither organs an aw secrete hormones. Hormone secretion occurs in response tae speceefic biochemical seegnals frae a wide range o regulatory systems. For instance, serum calcium concentration affects parathyroid hormone synthesis; bluid succar (serum glucose concentration) affects insulin synthesis; an acause the ootputs o the painch an exocrine pancreas (the amoonts o gastric juice an pancreatic juice) acome the input o the smaw thairm, the smaw thairm secretes hormones tae stimulate or inhibit the painch an pancreas based on hou busy it is. Regulation o hormone synthesis o gonadal hormones, adrenocortical hormones, an thyroid hormones is eften dependent on complex sets o direct influence an feedback interactions involvin the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA), -gonadal (HPG), an -thyroid (HPT) aixes.

Upon secretion, certaint hormones, includin protein hormones an catecholamines, are watter-soluble an are sicweys readily transportit throu the circulatory system. Ither hormones, includin steroid an thyroid hormones, are lipid-soluble; tae allou for their widespread distribution, thir hormones maun bond tae carrier plasma glycoproteins (e.g., thyroxine-binding globulin (TBG)) tae form ligand-protein complexes. Some hormones are completely active whan released intae the bluidstream (as is the case for insulin an growthe hormones), while ithers are prohormones that maun be activatit in speceefic cells throu a series o activation steps that are commonly heichly regulatit. The endocrine system secretes hormones directly intae the bluidstream teepically intae fenestratit capillaries, whauras the exocrine system secretes its hormones indirectly uisin ducts. Hormones wi paracrine function diffuise throu the interstitial spaces tae nearbi target tishie.

References

Physiology
Endocrinology
Cell signalin
Signal transduction

Hormone


Aimé Marie Antoine Lepercq (2 September 1889 – 9 November 1944) was a French soldier, industrialist and political figure.

Early life and education
Born in Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or (now part of the Metropolis of Lyon), as the eldest of nine children, he graduated from the École Polytechnique in 1911, and then the École des Mines.

Military service

World War I
Lepercq fought in World War I, in which he was wounded three times and decorated for valor five times, becoming Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in 1915 and receiving the British Armed Forces Military Cross. After the war, he worked as an administrator of industrial properties for the Škoda company in Czechoslovakia.

World War II
On the outbreak of World War II, Lepercq fought in the artillery during the battle of France, and continued to fight despite orders to no longer do so, until the actual Compiègne armistice of June, 1940. After a brief internment by the Germans, he returned to civil life as an industrial administrator, but was fired in 1943 for speaking out against the collaborationist administration and the Vichy regime, regarding the Service du travail obligatoire and deportations of Frenchmen to German labor camps.

Consequently, he became an active member of the French Resistance, commanding the Forces françaises de l'intérieur (FFI) in Île-de-France. Arrested again in 1944, he was set free due to the German authorities' failure to investigate, he took part in the Liberation of Paris (August of the same year), leading the FFI's attack on the Hôtel de Ville. For his role in the Resistance actions, he was made a Compagnon de la Libération; he was twice recipient of the Croix de Guerre, for his valor in both World Wars.

Political career and death
He was selected by Charles de Gaulle as Minister of Finance, but died soon after in a car accident near Lille, and was replaced by René Pleven. He is buried in Cimetière des Batignolles.

References

1889 births
1944 deaths
People from Lyon Metropolis
French Ministers of Finance
French Army soldiers
French military personnel of World War I
French Army personnel of World War II
French Resistance members
Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France)
Knights of the Legion of Honour
École Polytechnique alumni
Burials at Batignolles Cemetery
Recipients of the Military Cross
Road incident deaths in France
French prisoners of war in World War II
World War II prisoners of war held by Germany

Aimé Lepercq


The Federal republic of Liberia military book, entitled, "The History of the Liberian Armed Forces Day" before February 25, 1955, there was no Armed Forces Day as such, except the country and militia units, each of which had its own quarterly parade day enacted by law.

During those days, the regular Army then called the Liberian Frontier Force (LFF), used to combine with units of the national militia to have joint parade on special occasions, such as Independence Day, Inauguration Day, etc. However, in 1954, the late Colonel Francis M. Dean, then Assistant Chief of Staff (G-2), recommended in his annual report to the Defense authority that a day be set aside by an act of the National Legislature to be styled and known as "Old Soldier Army Festival" a day on which units of the Liberian Armed Forces throughout the nation would assemble at their respective headquarters to jointly participate in field ceremonies of parades and other planned military exercises.

Colonel Dean's recommendation traveled through the necessary chain of command until it successfully reached the official desk of the late Commander-In-Chief, President William V.S. Tubman who, in turn, approved and submitted it to the lawmakers for legislative consideration.

How February 11 Was Chosen As Armed Forces Day

When the Liberian legislature met in session to consider colonel Dean's recommendation for legislative enactment, it was suggested that choosing any month and date to be set aside as Army Festival would be inappropriate.

Instead, a month and date with some historical events in which a member or members of the Armed Forces had performed some marvelous deeds in the supreme interest of the nation (Liberia) and its people.

By so doing, members of the incoming generations of the Armed Forces would continue to celebrate this day under appropriate military exercises in honor and remembrance of the heroic deeds of their comrades in arms. Moreover, this suggestion was embraced with popular support. However, the only event that could quickly come to the minds of the lawmakers was the month and date of the Major Mckay Cadell incidence in 1909.

Major Cadell was the first commandant of the Liberian Frontier Force who carried on mutiny action against the Liberian Government during President Arthur Barclay's administration, that aggression of Cadell was repelled by the first militia regiment headed by Ltc. Isaac Moart and his deputy Major.

Joseph Dennis in 1909 having reached a unanimous consensus on the month and date of Major Cadell's event, of February 25 1955, an act of Legislature was passed, declaring May 9 of each year as Armed Forces Day with a proclamation that it should be officially observed throughout Liberia as a National holiday. When the Act was proclaimed on May 9 as the month and date of the Major Cadell's incidence, historians everywhere disagreed and argued that the incidence occurred on February 9, 1909. This argument in turn created a demand for legislative amendment.

Consequently, on March 22, 1956, amendment was made, deleting May 9 and inserting February 9 in the Act as Armed Forces Day. Less than a year after the amendment was made, some survivors of the Major Cadell's incidence declared that it was February 11, 1909.

Once more and finally, on January 26, 1957, the appropriate rectification was made in the Act. Major Cadell was a British officer brought to Liberia from Sierra Leone to command the Liberian Frontier Force, and with him were some Sierra Leonean soldiers whom he incited against the Liberian Government for salary arrears.

The Liberian Frontier Force thwarted their mutiny action and they were given twenty-four hours to leave Liberia. The current site of the Executive Mansion was the location of the Military Barracks named and styled "Camp Johnson". Today, a new 2000-strong AFL is being built under the auspices of the Security Sector Reform (SSR) program.

DynCorp International is training this new 2000-strong regimented and law-abiding AFL with support from the United States Government.

Note- The Armed Forces of Liberia is 100 years, (1908-2008) and this celebration of Armed Forces Day marks the 51st observance of the day since 1957.

References

Organizations based in Liberia

Republic of Liberia national defence forces


Sarracenia flava, the yellow pitcherplant, is a carnivorous plant in the family Sarraceniaceae. Like all the Sarraceniaceae, it is native to the New World. Its range extends from southern Alabama, through Florida and Georgia, to the coastal plains of southern Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Populations also exist in the Piedmont, Mendocino County, California and mountains of North Carolina.

Like other members of the genus Sarracenia, the yellow pitcher plant traps insects using a rolled leaf, which in this species is a vibrant yellow in color, and up to over a meter (3 ft) in height (although 50 cm, 20" is more typical). The uppermost part of the leaf is flared into a lid (the operculum), which prevents excess rain from entering the pitcher and diluting the digestive secretions within. The upper regions of the pitcher are covered in short, stiff, downwards-pointing hairs, which serve to guide insects alighting on the upper portions of the leaf towards the opening of the pitcher tube. The upper regions are also brightly patterned with flower-like anthocyanin markings, particularly in the varieties S. flava var. rugelii and S. flava var. ornata: these markings also serve to attract insect prey. The opening of the pitcher tube is retroflexed into a 'nectar roll' or peristome, whose surface is studded with nectar-secreting glands. The nectar contains not only sugars, but also the alkaloid coniine (a toxin also found in hemlock), which probably intoxicates the prey. Prey entering the tube find that their footing is made extremely uncertain by the smooth, waxy secretions found on the surfaces of the upper portion of the tube. Insects losing their footing on this surface plummet to the bottom of the tube, where a combination of digestive fluid, wetting agents and inward-pointing hairs prevent their escape. Some large insects (such as wasps) have been reported to escape from the pitchers on occasion, by chewing their way out through the wall of the tube.

In spring, the plant produces large flowers with 5-fold symmetry. The yellow petals are long and strap-like, and dangle over the umbrella-like style of the flower, which is held upside down at the end of a 50 cm, 20" long scape. The stigma of the flower are found at the tips of the 'spokes' of this umbrella. Pollinating insects generally enter the flower from above, forcing their way into the cavity between the petals and umbrella, and depositing any pollen they are carrying on the stigmata as they enter. The pollinators generally exit the flower, having been dusted with the plant's own pollen, by lifting a petal. This one-way system helps to ensure cross pollination.

In late summer and autumn, the plant stops producing carnivorous leaves, and instead produces flat, non-carnivorous phyllodia. This is probably an adaptation to low light levels and insect scarcity during the winter months, and shows clearly the cost of carnivory.

The yellow pitcher plant is easy to cultivate, and is one of the most popular carnivorous plants in horticulture. The yellow pitcher plant readily hybridises with other members of the genus Sarracenia: the hybrids S. x catesbaei (S. flava × S. purpurea) and S. moorei (S. flava × S. leucophylla) are found in the wild, and are also popular amongst collectors.

References

Mody, NV; Henson, R; Hedin, PA; Kokpol, U; Miles, DH (1976). Isolation of insect paralyzing agent coniine from Sarracenia flava. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences 32(7): 829–830.
N.C. State University reference

External links
 About Sarracenia Flava
 Botanical Society of America, Sarracenia - the Pitcher Plants

flava
Carnivorous plants of North America
Endemic flora of the United States
Flora of the Southeastern United States
Least concern flora of the United States
Plants described in 1753
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus

Sarracenia flava


Pravachansara is a Jain religion text. It means "the essence of the doctrine".

Chapters and Verses
It has 275 verses in total. It consists of two books and an appendix. Book I is called "Knowledge" and has 92 verses. Book II is called "Knowable" and has 108 verses. The appendix is called "Conduct" and has 75 verses.

The first and last verse

Book I "Knowledge"
The first verse of book I is:
Here I pay obeisance to VArdhamana, the saviour, the promulgator of the law, who is saluted by the suras, Asuras and lords  of men, and who has washed off the dirt of destructive Karmas.

The last verse of book I is:
The great souled Sramana, who has put an end to his delusive vision, who is expert in scriptures and who has established himself in conduct free from attachment, is qualified as Dharma.

Book II "Knowlable"
The first verse of book II is:
The object of knowledge is made up of substances, which are said to be characterised by qualities, and with which,  moreover, are (associated) the modifications; those, who are deluded by modifications, are false believers.

The last verse of book II is:
Therefore, thus realizing the soul as the knower by nature, I give up the notion of mineness and have come to adopt the (notion of) non-attachment.

Appendix "Conduct"
The first verse of Appendix is:
Having saluted the Siddhas, the foremost great Jinas and the saints have
 adopted asceticism escape to mistery.

The last verse of Appendix is:
He, who practising the course of duties of a house-holder and of a monk, comprehends this doctrine, realizes, within a short time, the essence of the doctrine (the Self).

Jainism
Religious texts
2nd-century works

Pravachanasara


For water wheels used to drive boats, see paddle wheel.  For wheels used solely to lift water see noria.  For factories or industries driven by water wheels see watermill.

A water wheel is a hydropower system; a machine for extracting power from the flow of water.  Water wheels and hydropower was widely used in the Middle Ages, powering most industry in Europe, along with the windmill.  The most common use of the water wheel was to mill flour in gristmills, but other uses included foundry work and machining, and pounding linen for use in paper.

A water wheel consists of a large wooden or metal wheel, with a number of blades or buckets arranged on the outside rim forming the driving surface.  Most commonly, the wheel is mounted vertically on a horizontal axle, but the tub or Norse wheel is mounted horizontally on a vertical shaft.  Vertical wheels can transmit power either through the axle or via a ring gear and typically drive belts or gears; horizontal wheels usually directly drive their load.  A channel created for the water to follow after leaving the wheel is commonly referred to as a "tailrace."

History
Main article: Watermill

Greco-Roman Europe
The technology of the water wheel had long been known, but it was not put into widespread use until the Middle Ages when an acute shortage of labor made machines such as the water wheel cost effective. However, the water wheels in ancient Rome and ancient China found many practical uses in powering mills for pounding grain and other substances. The Romans used both fixed and floating water wheels and introduced water power to other countries of the Roman Empire. The Romans were known to use waterwheels extensively in mining projects, with enormous Roman-era waterwheels found in places like modern-day Spain. In the 1st century BC, the Greek epigrammatist Antipater of Thessalonica was the first to make a reference to the waterwheel.

Ancient China

By at least the 1st century AD, the Chinese of the Eastern Han Dynasty began to use waterwheels to crush grain in mills and to power the piston-bellows in forging iron ore into cast iron.

In the text known as the Xin Lun written by Huan Tan about 20 AD (during the usurpation of Wang Mang), it states that the legendary mythological king known as Fu Xi was the one responsible for the pestle and mortar, which evolved into the tilt-hammer and then trip hammer device (see trip hammer). Although the author speaks of the mythological Fu Xi, a passage of his writing gives hint that the waterwheel was in widespread use by the 1st century AD in China.

In the year 31 AD, the engineer and Prefect of Nanyang, Du Shi, applied a complex use of the waterwheel and machinery to power the bellows of the blast furnace to create cast iron.
Waterwheels in China found practical uses such as this, as well as extraordinary use. The inventor Zhang Heng (78–139) was the first in history to apply motive power in rotating the astronomical instrument of an armillary sphere, by use of a waterwheel. The mechanical engineer Ma Jun (200–265) once used a waterwheel to power and operate a large mechanical puppet theater for Emperor Ming of Wei.

Medieval Europe and Modern

Cistercian monasteries, in particular, made extensive use of water wheels to power mills of many kinds.  An early example of a very large waterwheel is still extant  at the early 13th century Real Monasterio de Nuestra Senora de Rueda, a Cistercian monastery in the Aragon region of Spain.  Grist mills (for corn) were undoubtedly the most common, but there were also sawmills, fulling mills and mills to fulfill many other labor-intensive tasks. The water wheel remained competitive with the steam engine well into the Industrial Revolution.

The main difficulty of water wheels was their inseparability from water.  This meant that mills often needed to be located far from population centers and away from natural resources.  Water mills were still in  commercial use well into the twentieth century, however.

Overshot & pitchback waterwheels are suitable where there is a small stream with a height difference of more than 2 meters, often in association with a small reservoir. Breastshot and undershot wheels can be used on rivers or high volume flows with large reservoirs.

The most powerful waterwheel built in the United Kingdom was the 100 hp Quarry Bank Mill Waterwheel near Manchester. A high breastshot design, it was retired in 1904 and replaced with several turbines. It has now been restored and is a museum open to the public.

Modern Hydro-electric dams can be viewed as the descendants of the water wheel as they too take advantage of the movement of water downhill to turn a wheel.

Notes

References

Needham, Joseph (1986). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Part 2. Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd.

Other websites

Glossary of water wheel terms
Water wheel history
Esay/audio clip
Waterwheel Factory, with pictures of water wheels

Tools
Engineering
Hydropower

Water wheel


Marxist economics are based on the economic theories of Philosopher Karl Marx. Marx's theories explain the "laws of motion" of production and exchange under capitalism. This theory was used to argue against the middle class theories of economics common at that time. Marx wanted this to be a tool for the working class (the proletariat) to use to overthrow capitalism and replace it with socialism, then with communism. Socialism, would be a step towards the disappearance of the state, and communism would be, according to Marx, a society where goods and services would be distributed "to each according to his need, from each according to his ability."

Marxist used the Labor Theory of Value, which says that the value of a commodity is determined by the labor required to produce it. More specifically, Marx defined the value of a commodity as the Socially necessary labor time required to produce it, the average (taken across all of society) time required to produce a given commodity under the average conditions of production. It follows from this that the [working class] is responsible for the production of all of the [value] (wealth) consumed by all members of society.

Marx viewed the capitalist class (the bourgeoisie), those who control the means of production, as leech-like and unnecessary; they are not necessary for the production of the goods society must consume in order to meet human needs and reproduce itself. Rather, Marx saw the capitalist class as getting wealth for itself by the exploitation of the working class. Marx argued that wages under capitalism are determined not by the value created by workers during a given period of time, but by the cost of their labor power (ability to work). He argued that the cost of labor power is determined by the cost of the goods and services (food, clothing, shelter, child care, education etc.) nececssary to maintain and reproduce workers. So, capitalists do not pay workers for the value they create: they extract Surplus value, the difference between the value created by a worker and the cost of their labor power (their wages), from the working class. In other words, surplus value is unpaid labor performed by the working class for the capitalist class, which Marx termed exploitation.

Marx argued that because the capitalist class enriches itself by the exploitation of the working class, the economic interests of the two classes are opposed and therefore incompatible. He saw the dispossession of the capitalists and the seizure of control of the means of production by the working class as historically progressive in that it would bring about the end of class society, remove the contradictions inherent under capitalism (a result of the antagonism of the two major classes, the bourgeoisie and proletariat), and qualitatively increase the scope of human development in many areas.

Other websites
 Marxist website

Marxism

Marxist economics


Amateur radio is a hobby for people who like to talk using radio transmitters. Many people enjoy using amateur radio to talk to other amateur radio hobbyists in other countries. Amateur radio hobbyists also use their radio transmitters to get help in emergencies. Amateur radio is often called Ham Radio. Many people use their amateur radios for fun. People who use Amateur radio are often called amateur radio operators, hams or amateurs.

During a disaster or emergency, amateur radio can be used to get help. When telephones do not work, it may be the only way to communicate. Some radio hobbyists volunteer to listen to emergency band frequencies in case there are distress calls. If the volunteers hear a distress call, they notify the appropriate authorities (for example the police or the Coast Guard).

License
People must have a license to use Amateur radio. In most countries users must pass a test to get a license. In some countries there is more than one license grade. In some countries, people can use Amateur radio if they have a license from their home country.

There are many clubs for Amateur radio in many countries. These clubs do many things as a group and help people get their Amateur radio license.

Talking
Amateur radio operators talk to each other in many ways. Some people talk with their voice, others use computers, television, or Morse code. They use many ways to get their signals to others. Most use shortwave radio signals that bounce off the sky. Some bounce off the moon or a satellite. Amateur radio operators have many ways to talk using the radio. Amateur radio satellites are called OSCAR's - Orbital Satellites Carrying Amateur Radio. Hams can also talk to astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Fun

There are many ways to have fun with amateur radio. There are many games and contests. Amateur radio operators try to talk with as many others as possible. They then mail each other postcards called QSL cards to confirm the contact. Contesters may try to see how far they can talk, or to how many different people they can talk.

Some hide a transmitter which sends out a signal and others try to find it using receivers. This is called radio direction finding or fox hunting. Sometimes the event is done with cars, or as a foot race.

In India
Amateur radio is practised by over 15,000 licensed users in India. The first amateur radio operator was licensed in 1921. By the mid-1930s, there were around 20 amateur radio operators in India. Amateur radio operators have played an important part in the Indian independence movement with the setting up of pro-independence radio stations in the 1940s.

Radio

Amateur radio


Disney's Princess Favorites is a 2002 album released by Walt Disney Records that serves partially as a soundtrack to the direct-to-video animated film Cinderella II: Dreams Come True (which there was never a true soundtrack released for), but also as a standard compilation of classic Princess-related Disney songs. It was released on February 5, 2002, and went on to peak at #3 on Billboard's Top Kid Audio chart.

Track listing
"I Won't Say (I'm in Love)" - Susan Egan, Lillias White, LaChanze, Roz Ryan, Cheryl Freeman, and Vaneese Thomas (Hercules)
"Belle" - Paige O'Hara, Richard White, and Chorus (Beauty and the Beast)
"Can You Feel the Love Tonight" - Kristle Edwards, Joseph Williams, Sally Dworsky, Nathan Lane, and Ernie Sabella (The Lion King)
"If I Can't Love Her" - Terrence Mann (Beauty and the Beast Broadway Musical)
"Reflection" - Lea Salonga (Mulan)
"Out of Thin Air" - Liz Callaway and Brad Kane (Aladdin and the King of Thieves)
"Kiss the Girl" - Samuel E. Wright (The Little Mermaid)
"Once Upon a Dream" - Mary Costa and Bill Shirley (Sleeping Beauty)
"Follow Your Heart" - Brooke Allison (Cinderella II: Dreams Come True)
"The World is Looking Up to You" - Brooke Allison (Cinderella II: Dreams Come True)
"It's What's Inside That Counts" - Brooke Allison (Cinderella II: Dreams Come True)
"Put It Together (Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo)" - Brooke Allison (Cinderella II: Dreams Come True)

References

External links
[ Disney's Princess Favorites] at Allmusic

Favorites
Albums produced by Bruce Botnick
Albums produced by Mark Mancina
2002 compilation albums
Pop compilation albums
Walt Disney Records compilation albums

Disney's Princess Favorites


Harold Locke Hazen (August 1, 1901 – February 21, 1980) was an American electrical engineer. He contributed to the theory of servomechanisms and feedback control systems. In 1924 under the lead of Vannevar Bush, Hazen and his fellow undergraduate Hugh H. Spencer built a prototype AC network analyzer, a special-purpose analog computer for solving problems in interconnected AC power systems.  Hazen also worked with Bush over twenty years on such projects as the mechanical differential analyzer. This early work, and the binary algebra used, would be foundational to the emergence of electromechanical and digital computers in later decades.

Education and career
Hazen was born at Philo, Illinois in 1901. Several years later, his parents moved to Three Rivers, Michigan, where he graduated from high school. He went to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as an undergraduate student in 1920. When he graduated from MIT in 1924, he briefly worked for General Electric. In 1925 he returned to MIT as research assistant and instructor in 1926. he obtained his master's degree in 1929 and his Doctor of Science degree in 1931.

In 1934 Hazen published two papers on the theory and design of servomechanisms which provided clear descriptions of the operation of servos and a design methodology.

After 1937 Hazen became increasingly involved in teaching and administrative work, becoming Head of department in 1938 and serving for fourteen years. From December 1942 until 1946 he was head of Division 7, "Fire Control", of the NDRC (National Defence Research Committee). In 1952 he became Dean of the MIT Graduate School until his retirement in 1967.

In 1928 he was married to Katherine Pharis Salisbury (1905-2003), eldest child of Bert E. Salisbury and Mary Patterson Pharis. They had two sons and two daughters.

In his later life Dr. Hazen promoted engineering education programs both in the United States and internationally. Harold Hazen died in Belmont, Massachusetts, in February 1980.

Dr. Hazen and his wife resided in Belmont, Massachusetts, except for living in Columbus, Ohio during the 1934–1935 academic year when he was named the first exchange professor between MIT and Ohio State University.

References

1901 births
1980 deaths
20th-century American engineers
Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty

Harold Locke Hazen