e

OPEN F ORU M .

Answers Philpott

C. CARON, North Vancou-
ver,, B.C.: In the December 5
issue of the Vancouver Sun
columnist Elmore Philpott
threw more fuel on the fire of
the cold war in Asia promoted
_ by U.S. imperialism.

In his column, under the

heading “China’s Folly,” he
proceeds to accuse China of ag-
gression over the India-China
border problem.
Philpott tells us that there
is no definitely established
-poundary between India and
China, then proceeds to say
from India (a
which he has consistently ex-
“pressed sympathy) ‘that the
ver-belligerent Chinese Com-
unists in the past five years
have persisted in muscling ixto
the vague border zone in a
erude, truculent way that was
bound to end in violent
clashes.”

Here Philpott is very des-
eriptive with his adjectives
without a basis in*fact.

I had the good fortune of at-
tending the 10th anniversary
i celebrations of the founding of
a the People’s Republic of
| China, also the opportunity of
discussing the India border is-
sue; and let me assure you
that the government of China
has an entirely different and

problem than that presented
by The Sun columnist.

country for.

more plausible version of the

The government of China
also states that no definite
boundaries were ever estab-
lished by agreement between
the two countries. However,
there have been _ traditional
lines unilaterally advanced by
both countries.

In .1854 the Court of Direc-
tors of the East India Comp-
any advanced such a line and
in pre-liberation days - the
China Shun Pao Press alse ad-
vanced a line close to India’s
1854 line.

Then, prior to India gaining
its independence from Britain,
British imperialism tried to
impose the so-called MacMa-
hon line, which was an outrag-
eous infringement on tradition-
ally looked-upon Tibet terri-
tory. Because of the strong sp-
position which this aroused,
the British refrained from pub-
lishing any official maps with
their MacMahon line demarca-
tion.

The present government of

China in the process of negoti-.

ation with India, republished
the pre-liberation map that
had appeared in the Shun Pao
Press.

The government of India, in
turn, adopted the line of Brit-
ish imperialism — the Mac-
Mahon line, in the Mygytium,
Yasher, Longju area, and in
the Karaporum Pass where the
most recent armed clash took
place (at this point India
claims over 70 miles of Tibet-
an territory, including the
Singkiang Tibet Highway).

All of the armed incidents
were within Tibet territory as
described by the traditional
line of India in 1854 and the
line advanced by China before
the liberation.

China has displayed great
patience on this question. The
proposal of Chou En-lai that
both India and China with-
draw- twenty miles from the
MacMahon line and proceed to
settle the dispute through ne-
gotiations, is indicative of this
patience and the peaceful in-
tentions of China.

But this is not the case with
feertain reactionary forces in
India and Asia. U.S. imperial-
ism, in alliance with Chiang
Kai-shek and reactionary
groups in’ Asia would like to
destroy socialism in China.

For instance, the U.S. rec-
ently shipped seven big land-
ing craft to Taiwan to be plac-
ed at the disposal of Chiang.
The U.S. has also turned over
a number of reconnaisance jet
planes to Chiang, equipped to
photograph the Chinese main-
land. They try to divert the
attention of the people-from
the contrast between the great
advances under socialism in
China, and the stagnation in
evidence in India and most of
the Asian countries, under
feudal rule supported by U.S.
imperialism.

The plans of reaction will
not succeed, notwithstanding
all the efforts to distort the
facts of what is happening in
Asia.

‘Travellers
to visit —
Wancouver

ACIFIC Artists Series will
give Vancouver folk song
enthusiasts a real treat on
_ January 25 at the Art Gallery
at $:15 p.m.

‘The well known Canadian
folk song group The Travellers
will make their first Vancou-
ver appearance — although
they are already known to

many thousands of Vancouver-
ites through their appearance

on TV programs originating’

from Toronto.

df Two record albums by this
song group have received wide
acclaim and are constantly
being used by national and
local radio stations. :

The three men and a girl”
who make up the group will :

present an interesting evening
4 of folk songs from many coun-
tries, including qa number of
Canadian folk songs.

' Tickets are available | at
- Duthies Book Store, People’s
Co-op Bookstore: and Castle
Jewelers.

The Travellers, who have emerged from impromptu
campfire sings six years ago to the foremost group of
their kind in Canada today, will make their first personal
appearance in Vancouver next month.

BILL PHILIPOVICH’S” B

(Guest column by E. B.)

T may come as a surprise to

many readers that at least
three of the primitive stages
of human social evolution —
primitive communism, slavery
and feudalism — could co-ex-
ist, within a radius of about
150 miles, with the most ad-
vanced social system on earth,
socialism. :

That is the situation today
in the southwestern Chinese
province of Yunnan.

The most highly developed
of the societies described by
Alan Winnington in The Slaves
of the Cool Mountains has not
advanced beyond the stage
identified by Engels as Upper
Barbarism. Since it has as yet
neither a written language nor
stable agriculture, it does not
meet the test of the lowest
stage of civilization. Yet it al-
ready contains within itself
fairly advanced social relations
of the type associated with
early forms of civilization,
namely, slavery and feudal
serfdom. :

The Autonomous County of
Ninglang is effectively isolat-
ed by surrounding mountains.
Winnington is the first white
man to have penetrated it.
There he found a community
of 56,000 people, 3,000 of
whom are noble slave owners,
and the remainder bondsmen
and slaves. Among them he
found a classical pattern of
clan marriage relations, sor-
cery, superstition and _ ignor-
ance — virtually a textbook
example of Friedrich Engel’s
picture of early society.

In two other areas of Yun-
nan, along the Burmese bor-
der, Winnington encountered
still more primitive tribes,
the Wa and the Jingpaw,
where. the level of culture and
of production had not yet
reached the point at which it
is feasible to exploit slaves—

{the surplus produced ‘by a

slave over and above his own
keep is not enough to be worth
taking. Hence economic rela-
tions. are spontaneously co-
operative and egalitarian.

At first glance, the most sur-
prising feature of Winnington’s
narrative is the fact that these

_| relations still existed in 1957,

eight years after the Chinese

revolution and this notwith-

standing several years of Com-

munist administration.

This is explained . by the
Chinese Communist policy of
peaceful persuasion and non-

interference in the affairs of

national minorities. Political
work-teams assigned to the
areas confined themselves to

4

the principle “Do good and
make friends,’ patiently ex-
plaining the evil of slavery,
sorcery etc., educating by ex-
ample, training cadres, but at-
tempting no reforms until the
people themselves demand-
ed them.

The demand for abolition of
slavery did not come quickly,
even among the slaves. To a
slave with his limited field of
i vision, the only hope of pro-
F gress is to become a slave-
owner. Moreover the prospect
of responsibility for support-

after a lifetime of utter de-
pendency.

By skillful work, however,
the workteams eventually unit-

port of the reform and guided
the people in carrying it out.
The reform, however, brought
with it many problems. For
example, when newly - freed
slaves were handed food sub-
sidies to tide them over until
they could raise crops of their
own, how could they make the
supplies last the necessary
time, considering that they
had never in their lives- deter-
mined their own meals, and
furthermore, that they had
never learned to count? x

The lengths to which non-
interference is carried by the
Communist Party (‘“Jiefang’’)
may be seen in the following
speech by the local party sec-
retary on the subject of the
abolition of head-hunting:

“Aileh, when a head is cut
off you can’t put it back
again. There is some danger
now that yours will be cut off
and then your wife and chil-
dren will suffer. But this is a
tradition of your people and
nothing to do with Jiefang.
You discuss: it among your-
selves and Jiefang will stand
in the middle. It will not take
sides. You should talk it over,
whether more people think
head-cutting is good or bad.
But in talking about it you
should be calm. No quarrel-
ing.”

To those whose taste for
journalists’ travelogues has
been dulled by John Gun-
ther’s banal superficialities,
this book will come as a pleas-
ant surprise. To all, it can be
recommended: as-a highly read-
able and scholarly study of
society in transition.

“Ryverything in> Flowers”
FROM

EARL SYKES
56 E. Hastings MU 1-3855
Vancouver,-B.C.

December 18, 1959—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 5 _

ing himself is rather terrifying -

ed the vast majority in sup-—