CCF = Standard Oil tie-up in

threat against opponents

BURNABY, ‘B.C.

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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 195]

Burnaby voters ‘this week were treated to the revealing spectacle of CCF councillors working
hand in glove with the giant Standard Oil Company against a popular movement. of ratepayers.
The same day that Standard Oil circulated through the mails its threat to move its plant out of
the municipality unless voters grant it an easement across Confederation Park, CCF Councillor
George Isherwood stood up in council to denounce the appeal for a “No” vote in this Saturday’s

Continued from page one

Racketeers in Hong Kong

operate extortion fraud

the evidence which I present
here:

Eng ‘Chuch Yee, the pretty
‘young girl shown in the ac-
companying photograph, writes
on November 10, 1951, from
People’s China to her father in
Vancouver, telling him how she
and her ‘husband are making
out on their farm. She says, in
part: :

“This year we have 18 moas
of land (four moas are about
one acre) under cultivation and
next week we expect to harvest
the crops. We shall have about
50 hundredweights. Our rental
will take 15 hundredweight. For
our own use we will have about
35 hundredweight. We shall
have plenty for’ our family’s
food. Do not worry for us. We
are all well.

“Take good care of yourself,
Father, and if ever there are
Ships plying again from Van-
couver with trade between here
and there, you will come home
to us, Father. Previously you
had written that you are afraid
to face old age with nothing to
eat back here. That is unneces-
sary worry as we can and are
able to take care of you. We
shall have plenty for us all.

“I manage our home. My
‘husband, Choy Foke, is a gen-

e erous person and insists that
you come and make your home
with us. I want to return the
care and love you lavished on
me in the past so do come home
soon. Now I am sending you
a photo of myself. Now I lay
down my pen.” ‘

_ On November 16, 1951, Won
Git of Gong Bin Village,
Kwaong-tung province, wrote to
his father here in Vancouver.
He thanked him for 300 Hong
Kong dollars (Chinese in Can-
ada continue to ‘send money
home to their families, as they
have always done in the past—a
practice that has been going on
since the Chinese immigrants
first came tto Canada, and
which the U.S. State Depart-
ment and its allies,-the Chiang
Kai-shek forces, would like to
see banned). Here is Won Git’s
letter, as translated locally
from the original letter, a photo-
stat of which appears along-

‘side this article:

“Dear Father: Your letter
sent with 300 Hong Kong dol-
Jars has been received ‘and
everyone in our family is happy
to hear from you. :

“At last! Land reform is
here and locally it has taken. its
first step. For ruthless land-
lords who in the past have ex-
torted exorbitant rents from
hapless tenants, the day of reck-

oning. has arrived! For col-
laborators with former enemies,
racketeers and local bullies,
judgment day is here!

“The people themselves are
the prosecutors and the people’s
tribunal decides on the guilty
ones and the fines and levies
that must be paid to a collective
storage. These fines are in the
form of grain, which is distri-
buted to the poor, the refugees
and all the needy without stint.

“In our village of Gong Bin,
the total of money which was
‘fined from the racketeers is
_ about 400 million Chinese dol-
lars (Hong Kong money not
accepted). This has been re-
distributed at one million to

each person who is eligible for:

this reimbursement. There are
approximately 400 eligible in
our village.

“The next step is very diffi-
cult. Teacher and pupils alike
must pitch in to help as this
vast land reform is a giant up-
‘theaval which shakes both heav-
en and earth. This reform is
the basis for a solid foundation
for the future of our China.
Everone is affected by this
change. We have every hope
for a bright and lasting future.

“At the present day money is
stable. No more fluctuations
as in the past. Prices of every-

day commodities are also stable -

and-getting cheaper. Our pre-
sent day program of production
and reconstruction compared
to ‘the past is like the sky com-
pared to the bottom of the well.

“Everyone is well. Your son,
Wong Git.” 5

Next is a letter from a Chin-
ese citizen of Vancouver, Mar
Wing ‘Chu, dated December 4,

1951, and addressed to the Paci-

fic Tribune. He writes:

“Last October, my father in
Edmonton wrote me a letter
informing me that he had re-
ceived a frantic plea from my
brother in Hong Kong pleading
for an immediate remittance of
$2,000 Hong Kong dollars as his
family were victims of Chinese
Communist persecution. My
father had sent the money in
haste, being touched by ithe urg-
ency and was preparing him-
self for further demands.

“When I heard this news, I
could not perceive my brother
running afoul of the authorities.
So I sent a hurried appeal to the
refugee citizens’ committee in
Hong Kong asking for the
whereabouts of my brother. In
reply, I was informed my broth-
er never was in Hong Kong.
Then I sent a letter to my son
in Canton, inauiring as to the
plight of my brother. My son

replied that his uncle, my broth-
er, is in the volunteer army up
north, but his family is still in
our home village.

“He related how the majority
of the people in our vicinity. re-
acted favorably by cooperating
in 'the new program of land re-
form and reconstruction, but
there is a certain lawless ele-
ment who never did conform
to any authority past or pres-
ent, such as confirmed laggards,
beggars, petty and bigger rack-
eteers and the dregs of the old
Chiang era. Quite a few had
escaped to Hong Kong. It is
only natural that these local
fugitives know of the villagers’
family ties which lead to well-
to-do relatives in Canada and
America,

“My son added further that
at present Hong Kong’s normal
population has swelled many
times by the refugees. It is
common knowledge that many
refugees are faced with no pros-
pects of gainful employment.
Blackmailers and racketeers are
organized into gangs to prey on
unsuspecting relatives (especi-
ally the rich ones) on. the pre-
text that their families will suf-
fer untold persecution at the
Communists’ hands. My son
implored me to tell his grand-
father and all our countrymen
that the current extortion is not
the work of the new regime but
the brainchild of the little des-
perate men without country,
faced with a bleak future.”

Let me add one more fact be-
fore drawing some conclusions
from, this evidence. Last week
an unnamed Chinese/Canadian
bank employee in Vancouver's
Chinese district told a Vancou-
ver Sun reporter that less
money is being sent to ‘China
by Chinese Canadians than ever
before. “The total has been
getting less every year since

‘Chinese were given Canadian

citizenship and enabled to bring
younger members of their fami-
lies to itthis country,” he said.
So much for the “huge sums
being sent to ‘China” fabrica-
tion.

Several conclusions emerge:

®@ Chinese citizens who have
committed suicide in despair as

a result of extortion letters re-/

ceived from Hong Kong are the
unfortunate victims of Chiang
Kai-shek gangsters who are op-
erating a gigantic extortion
racket in Hong Kong.

© In People’s China fife is

getting better for the workers :

and peasants; for the first time
in history the threat of famine
has been conquered and mil-

lions of poor peasants have been
given land.

@® Fearful that Chinese citi-
zens in ‘the United States and
Canada will learn the truth
about rising living conditions in
People‘s China, the despicable
Hong Kong racketeers have
been embraced by the U.S. State
Department, which is utilizing
its vast power and its close con-
nections with Chiang’s Kuomin-
tang agents on this continent
to play up the extortion racket
as 2 method employed by the
Chinese People’s Republic, in
order to freeze sending cf legiti-
mate funds to China and pre-
pare the ground for a possible
extension of the war now rag-
ing in Korea to an American
attack on -Manchuria.

® Holed up on Taiwan (For-
mosa) the repudiated Chiang
Kai-shek and the remnants of
his defeated armies scheme for
an American-financed war
against People’s China, and
through the reactionary Kuo-
mintang machine in North
America release large sums of

money to propagate their hate—
‘campaign,

® Aim of the foul scheme,
short of the war they hope to
extend, is to cut off all trade
between this continent and
China, to ccafuse and develop
hatred for their homeland
among Chinese citizens here,
and block normal communica-
tions between these citizens and
their relatives and families liv-
ing in People’s China.

The “great Chinese famine”
which never took place but
which was headlined in ‘Cana-
dian and American daily news-
papers last year was the big-
gest news hoax of 1950; the
“Chinese extortion racket” will
probably go down in history as
the biggest news hoax of 1951.

‘Mr, Truman would like you 4
guys in the North Atlantic
‘Treaty mob’

plebiscite issued by the Save
Confederation Park Committee
as “a most insidious and cow-
ardly piece of propaganda.”

Echoing his right-hand coun-
cillor, ‘(CCF Reeve W. R. Beam-
ish proposed that the ‘question
be referred to C. C. Bell ,muni-
cipal solicitor, to see what ac-
tion might be taken against the
committee, a body representa-
tive of all shades of political
opinion.

Isherwood’s stand in council

“on Monday this week was con.

sistent with his determined ef.
forts to consumate the propos-
ed deal with Standard Oil re-
gardless of popular opposition.

The issue first came to pub-

. lie notice when North Burnaby

Community Centre protested
that Isherwood, as chairman of
the council’s special committee,
had recommended sale to Stand-
ard Oil of 72 acres of land, in-
cluding 10 acres needed for ex-
tension of Confederation (Park,
without hearing protests from
community organizations. Ish-
erwood’s own report and sub-
sequent information elicited by
protest delegations made it
plain that although tthe council
committee had ignored popular
representations it had conferred
at every step with Standard Oil
officials.

This unprecedented attempt
by Isherwood and Beamish to
intimidate opponents of the
Standard Oil deal has dismay-
ed many CCF supporters. They
find it hard to explain why
their elected representatives
should be campaigning so vig-
orously on behalf of Standard
Oil, a moncpoly which is the
favorite propaganda target of
official. CCF publications.

They also see a contradiction

between ‘the pledge to provide
more parks made by CCF can-
didates for Vancouver Parks
Board and the readiness of Ish-
erwood and Beamish to sacri-
fice Confederation Park to
Standard Oil.
_ Residents: of North Burnaby
are under no illusions as to the
significance of the deal. They
know it will permanently fix
the boundaries of Confedera-
tion Park and prevent its ex-
pansion, squeezing it between
two oil plants. With plans to
bring the Alberta-British Col-
umbia oil pipeline along the
Burnaby shore of Burrard In-
let, they are alarmed both by
the prospect of being denied
adequate recreational facilities
along the waterfront and of hav-
ing their finest residential
areas surrounded by oil plants.
with a consequent disaster
hazard.

A firm stand for a “No” vote
on the plebiscite has been taken
by the two candidates of the
Labor Elections Committee,
Mrs. Ruth Turner, contesting a
council seat, and Mrs. Cather-
ine Marsh, standing for school

' board.

The Save Confederation Park
Committee is urging support
only of candidates calling for a —
“No” vote, among whom is one
independent, Morris Perrett.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — DECEMBER 14, 1951 — PAGE 12