“ae pio Seay 10 Fascist Grip Strengthened Political Strategy Of Japan's W arlords Labor Organizer’s Life By L. P. THOMAS N MARCH 19 the Japanese Diet approved sweeping ad- ministrative changes which greatly increased the powers ef Premier Tojo and give him complete control over industry and war production, as well as the power to assume the duties of any other cabinet member or official concerned with pro- duction. Tojo therefore emerges as the “strong man” in a fascist setup in Japan, with powérs which hitherto have not been embodied in a single individual. This increased concentration of power in Tojo’s hands and the more rigid contro] of economy within Japan may indicate grow- ing difficulties in her current war effort. The most obvious are: in- creasing shortage of ships to carry supplies to and from the distant regions of her newly-conguered empire, shortages of trained tech- niicans and skilled labor, and the reluctance of the conquered peo- ples to work as slave-labor for the Japanese. By Japsan’s own admission, re- sistance in the Philippines, Dutch Bast Indies, Thailand and else where has not ceased. The latest news from Burnmia indicates that one section of the militant na- tionsalist Thakin party has organ- ized underground struggle against the Japanese. But above all in China, the magnificent resistance of a people who have fought for almost six years continues to elicit the admiration of the freedom- loving world. e yt it would be wrong to feel that these signs of deter- mined resistance, plus our success- ful holding actions at Guadalcanal and on New Guinea, will be enough to defeat Japan. Japan is too powerful with her acquired loot to be brought to her knees by blockade or mere defensive actions. Controlling an empire of roughly 2,000,000 square miles con- taining 300,000,000 human beings, Japan is digging in and stocking herself with* raw materials in preparation for a long siege. This strategy was forecast early in 1941 by Japanese Admiral Kanazawa, when he told the American jour- nalist Clark Lee: “When we have seized whatever territory we need to make our defenses impregnable, we will set up an impregnable wall of planes, ships and submarines. We will fight inch by inch to hold every foot of territory we take. We will fight with the utmost deter- mination. We will make the cost of driving us out of those areas so great in men and ships that we believe the American people will become discouraged and decide that Japan, after all, is the logical nation to rule the Orient. Then our war will be won.” HIS strategy is clearly illus- trated by the present char- acter of Japan’s war against China, which seems to be more a military-economic than a purely military war. Japan is slowly endeavoring to get a stranglehold on China with tactics designed to weaken and demoralize China not only in a military but also in an economic sense. By now, the Japanese have occupied al] the plains and fertile river valleys in China’s coastal regions. Behind this North-South line are hills and mountain ranges, standing as a barrier to further Japanese penetration into the great Chinese West. Behind the Japanese lines it is also in the hilly areas, not the plains, that anti-Japanese guerrilla warfare is most successful, The reason is elear: none of the Chinese armies is sufficiently strong or well- equipped to launch frontal as- saults on the Japanese in open country. In mountainous terrain, however, they are much more capable of continuing their dogged resistance despite their inade- quate supplies. Conversely, the Japanese with their superiority in modern weapons and equipment find it fairly easy to adyance in the fertile river valleys and plains. But once they are faced with the problem of dislodging the Chinese forces from rugged, mountainous country, their advance comes to a balt. Having gradually enveloped China in a kind of huge arc, the Japanese now seek to knock her out of the war by military-eco- nomic strangulation. e Roe it is significant that in one - area the Japanese assaults have not been as successful as in the rest of China. For example, for the month of February, Tokio official headquarters summarized the fighting ih China as follows: 1,446 engagements, of which 356 were with the Chungking ferces (meaning the Central Government of Generalissimo Chiang Kai- shek) and 1,090 with what the Japanese call the Chinese Com- munist forces. Why this disproportion of en- gagements with the 8th Route Army and Communist-led guer- rillas in the Border Regions of the north and northwest? Because in the Border Regions a greater degree of national unity is in operation than in the rest of China. Strong ties exist between the army and every section of the people. Economy is much more resilient and stable. Hoarding, speculation and financial corrup- tion are almost non-existent. In- flation has not assumed the run- away proportions which threaten China’s economic foundations. S HAT conclusions may we draw from this situation? Certainly the United Nations, and particu- larly the United States, must do everything in their power to help arm and supply all the Chinese armies so that once Nazism is crushed in Europe, they will be in a position to launch an all-out offensive to drive the Japanese out of China. China must not only be made ready for that mo- ment, she must be made strong enough to spearhead the offen- sive. The Chinese government, for its part, can do much to hasten the day of the victorious offensive against Japan by digesting the lessons of the indomitable resis- tance of the guerrillas in the Northwest. Close cooperation be- tween the fighting forces of a na- tion and its people and economic stability are deeply interrelated. An end must be made to the harmful blockade of the Border Region troops in the Northwest by some of the best divisions of the Central Government’s army. True national unity in China with all that it inrplies would inspire the Asiatic millions under the Japanese yoke and rouse their energies to an unprecedented de- gree. Such unity would have even a profound effect on the Japanese people whose political power has too often been completely neg- lected in the strategy behind the war in the Pacific. “JAKE HOME,” by Ruth Mckenney—Harcourt, Brace & Co. OQ” of the barren slag heap of a coal town, with its myriads of starved and anemic human weeds, a sturdy oak shoots up. It battles its way to life—driving its roots deep into the clay that gave it life. In the mig ments, it rocks and sways in the blasts of adversity—but steadily grows in strength and stature. The oak is Jake Home. Born in the poverty of a mining town: born fighting — fighting to live: — fighting that men may live. Something of a genius in child- hood —translated into action in manhood.