a

‘il influence is immense.
_@: All-India Trade Union Con-
made unequivocal declara-

in support of the Chinese
mame against the Japanese ag-
For; in support of the Ethio-

® people against the Italian
er; in support of the Span-
ttc Government in its
‘Wiele against the Hitler-Mus-
§ puppet, Franco.
e

2 of these declarations and
jany more have been direct
snges to Gandhi’s leadership,
dership which has been the
obstacle within India to a
tnt nationalist movement.
his policy of “non-violent
mooperation” has been the
@* of reaction, the policy of
ism, the policy of defeatism.
te trade union movement of
% 2 has been in the center of
-@ struggle to defeat the poli-
<=) of the colonial tories as well
te pacifism of the handful
ig adividuals led by Gandhi.
‘aj “bers of an American union
ssed this question of Gand-
th Secretary Joshi of the All-
ial a Trade Union Congress. The
ide of the Indian trade unions
s@ expressed by him in strong
s: “habor does not follow
sandhi.... We made it clear
we faver a policy of national
ise for the motherland, to-
<r with the unification of all
snts in Indian life around
2 a program.”
e
@it position of the trade
“= nions in India can be sum-
Wezed in the following words of
Secretary of the All-India
e@ Union Congress:
m2 one more than we hate
ism both local and foreign ...
2) f favor a definite stand and
‘a against the Axis. ... The
rity of our unions and mem-
@ttip believe that real support
# le war can only be secured
the realization of India’s
seoendence.”
can safely be said that the
* Union sector of the Indian
wonal Congress is becoming
§£ and influential. The Con-
itself is the great national
geaization whose leadership of
#2 Indian masses is unques-
d. The trade unions will be=
| the backbone of the Con-

is interesting to note that the
dia Trade Union CGongress
had the full support of the

@ants’ union and the Indian

=nts’ Hederation, as well as
support of the Indian Nation
sress in all of the anti-fascist
ms listed above.

By R. LAL SINGH

HE Indians have been fightinz=
the battle against fascist slav-
ery for a long time. The Indian
Trade Union- Congress, through
the Indian National Congress,

called out every Indian worker ~

en strike from Japanese-owned
tin mines in Malaya after the in-
vwasion of China in 1937; and In-
dian longshoremen refused to
load ships going to Japan which
were carrying materials for Jap-
anese war industries.

Victory for the United Nations
is thus clearly, in the eyes of
the Indian trade union movement,
a necessity, a pre-requisite for In-
Gian freedom in any form.

Freedom for India will help
the United Nations win the war.
We have at Calcutta the larg-
est steel plant in the entire
British Empire. With freedom,
we could greatly increase its
output.

Qur iron ore is a 65 percent
gerade, one of the very richest in
the entire world. We have mil-
lions of tons of coal near our in-
dustrial centers. Qur production
of cotton is very great; 438,554
workers were employed in the
cotton industry according to the
figures of 1939.

Qur rice production is almost
one-half of the entire world pro-
duction. We produce twice as
much sugar as any other nation.
We have a world monopoly in
jac for shellac. Bengal is the world
center for jute. India produces
more leather than any other coun-
try. =

e

WD India’s manpower is so

great that Jawaharlal Nehru
stated last year that with free-
dom India could organize an army
of 100,000,000 along the same lines
as the Chinese or the Russian
guerrilla and regular troops.

Can America, can the United
Wations, afford to ignore such
help? With shipping space at a
premium, can America, can the
United Nations, afford to assume
the entire burden of war in the
South Pacific? The question of
supplies is becoming critical.
Why should not India be allowed,
be encouraged, to industrialize
her economy as soon as possible?

The fullest development of In-
dia’s resources, the fullest use of
her manpower in the war, may
well become one of the main fac-
tors determining the length and
the intensity and the cost of win-
ning the war in the Asiatic the-
ater.

I believe from this that you

India’s Unions:
| They Know
} The Enemy

eg (Editor India News, Member Indian National Congress)

ERE are trade unions in India. Although India is still an agricultural country, with
® some seven hundred thousand villages, and with the overwhelming majority of~the
@uation engaged in agriculture, it remains a fact that India has started on the path to-
fi industrialization and now has 666 registered trade unions.

The total membership of the trade unions of India is only 511,138. The trade union
sement has only 18,612 women members.
Although these figures indicate that the present trade union movement is small, its po-

will see that Indian fredom will
help America. Nor should you
forget that during the post-war
period the further industrializa-
tion of India will undoubtedly
help greatly in the economic re—
habilitation of the world. If India

speculators and hoarders.

tribution and price control.

ent crisis.

( eee reports of serious discontent in India as a
result of the food situation and black marketing
were described recently by Professor N. Gangulee, former
Professor of Agriculture and Rural Economy at the Uni-
versity of Calcutta, who was a member of the Royal
Commission on Indian Agriculture.

“The reports from India inspired by government of-
ficials,” said Professor Gangulee, “ascribe the food short-
age to: (1) failure cf crops; (2) loss of imports—rice from
Burma and wheat from Australia; (3) black markets,

“To this I can only say that the government of India
has bungled the whole business of food production, dis-

“Only a national government of the people of India
ean solve the food problem because the government will
have the confidence of the people. The present govern-
ment is an alien government and its administrative ma-
chinery is absolutely incapable of dealing with the pres-

LONDON.

is free, that rehabilitation will
come with much greater speed.

Now what can you trade union-
ists of America do about it? We
hope you will pass resolutions
asking for immediate freedom
for India’s imprisoned anti-fasclist
leaders asking that negotiations
with the Indian National Con-
gress be re-oponed, with a view
to accomplishing self-rule for In-
dia. :

Tt is very important, also, that
such resolutions be sent to the
British Trades Union Congress,
Transport House, London, be-
cause the British trade union
movement must take the lead in
England in the fight against the
colonial die-hard tories who are

preventing Indian freedom and
thereby obstructing the war ef-
fort. i

Yes, there are trade unions in
India. And every trade unionist
is aware that the present war is
indeed a war of liberation and
not even the mistreatment of the
Indian people by the colonial
tories can change its character.

We Indians are determined to
find ways and means of using
our immense national energies to
help defeat the Axis. Our help
is needed by the United Nations.
We hope, therefore, that you
trade unionists will help us gain

_the freedom which alone will

make possible our fullest partici-
pation. i

Why. Field Marshal Paulus
Decided To Save His

By ALEXEI TOLSTOY
MOSCOW.
HE victorious offensive of
the Red Army is gaining
in scope with every passing
day. In a mere two months
the Red Army has smashed
192 enemy divisions, and as
for trophies, they are count-

less.

The Red Army has entered the
Donbas, has reached Kharkov
and Rostoy and the Azov coast.
The German troops have one way
open from the Caucasus to the
Taman Peninsula. They think
they will evacuate from Taman
via the straits. Whether this naval
operation will succeed will be
seen in the next few days.

So sweeping and powerful is the
Red Army’s offensive, calculated
with such strategic wisdom; so
crushing the fire of Soviet ar-
tillery, that German fortifications
but recently considered a miracle
of military engineering have all
at once become obsolete.

The Red Army man has stepped
across these unsurmountable
strongholds. The Germans have
not yet lost their self-confidence;
the idea of racial exclusiveness
has been well hammered into
their bovine heads.

e

TTH all their lauded organiza-

tion and technique, military
academies and drill, and despite
the fact that every German has
been transformed, into an wun-
reasoning robot with one aim—
going forward and murdering
every human being—the German
army, as was to be expected,
proved weaker than the Red
Army, and the Germans took

flight before the Russians, before
the Soviet men.

True, the Germans retreated
also last winter; but at that time
they had hope of remedying their
failures. They were hard hit near
Moscow, but they nevertheless
achieved a tactical gain during
their summer offensive. They
still had reserves.

The German front is now liv-
ing through the most trying or-
deals ever experienced by any
army. The war has entered a
severe stage. Hitler can hardly
expect much help from the Itali-
ans, Hungarians and Rumanians
during this campaign. And the
expectation of German reinforce-
ments must also be discounted.

Had a similar situation arisen
in the summer of 1941, Field Mar-
shal Paulus and the 23 German
generals would probably have
fired bullets through their own
skulls.

But if the cause which these
generals serve is lost, if there is
no faith in victory, if they are
fed up with disgust from thinking
of their mad Fuehrer, then why
the devil sacrifice their lives? And
Paulus with his 23 generals de-
cided to save their skins.

But if this is how the German
field marshals and generals think
and act, what then must be the
mood prevailing among the gray
mass of German soldiery? Rather
bad. And if the German soldier
is in a bad mood, you cannot win
a war with him.

The Hitler army exists by vir-
ture of German thickheadedness
and drill. Of this it still has plen-
ty. The Red Army will yet have
to strike many a bloody blow at
the Germans to get them howling
like dogs.

Both the Russian and the Ger-
man are marching into battle to

Own Skin

the death, But the important and
decisive thing for victory in war
is the cause for which one or
the other is prepared to stand to
the death. The lever of the moral
tasks determines the mental ten-
sion, fortitude, daring and fight-
ing ardor of the soldier.

The war has entered a phase
where the Russian is becoming
stronger while striking blows;
whereas the German, fighting
back and retreating, is growing
steadily weaker.

The Red Army man is moved
by a thirst for revenge, anger
and pain for the burned homes,
torture, ruination, millions of dead
compatriots, mounting offensive
ardor and unwavering confidence
that after the war his country,
having healed its wounds, will
again prosper, that in the post-
war period every Red Army man
will “stand to the life” as he
formerly stood to the death ana
apply all his wisdom and cour-
age to build up his country.

The breeze of glory and victory
ruffles the banners of the Red
Army. There is no law that a
people, risen to glory, should
change to ingloriousness. The
jRussian people and all the Allied
people will march on with the
same great strain of effort from
glory to new glory.

The German was always afraid
of Russia. Hitler had to convert
him to a bloodthirsty robot to
add courage to him.

Now his age old fear is re-
turning to him with greater force.
He must be given no time to re-
cover, not a day, not an hour
of respite; he must be chased, en-
circled, exterminated, this tin
soldier of Hitler's, until he is
completely melted in the fire of
the Red Army.

at tare