Japs Face Disaster fascist partners — unconditional Surrender and military occupa- tion of their very homeland. Certain defeat has stared Ja- pan in the face ever since the great naval battles of Midway and the Coral Sea turned back the Japanese Imperial Navy and set American forces on their island-hoppine journey which has brought them to the very edge of the Japanese home isl- ands. And the nature of that defeat—its political and econom- ic implications—have been pres- ent in outline, since the Gairo Conference in 1943. How soon that defeat may come is another matter. With the Huropean war ended, the en- tire military and naval might of the United States and Great Bri- tain will soon be brought to bear. Japan is now. the primary objec- tive. But a number of compli- cating factors, not the least of which is the position occupied by the Chiang Kai-shek government in China, make it di..cult to assess the conditions under which the Japanese empire can be brought down to defeat. -~ IN A TOUGH SPOT Geographically speakine, Ja- pan is in a tough spot. Her hastily-won possessions, ex- tending down into the East In- dies, now lie within the confines of a giant net being draw tight at its mouth by American and British naval and air strength. The stationary end of that “net” is attached at Yenan in North- west China. The northeast and “movable” end of the net is clos- ing in at Okinawa, severing Ja- pan’s supply arteries connecting her with Southeast Asia and the Indies. Inside that encircling: “net” lies the entire coastal area of China, Indo-China, Siam and the Malay Peninsula, the Dutch Hast Indies and part of New Guinea and all the maze of small Pacific islands which have been by-passed and isolated by the American drive. : The high mark of Japanese conguest was reached jin 1942, when the Japanese were at the very approaches to Australia. Since then their outposts have been steadily driven back, first at Guadaleanal, then in New Gumea, then back: up through the Marshalls to Guam and -Sai- pan, tll now the American forces Stand at Okinawa, just 300 miles from Japan’s main islands, and close to complete liberation of the Phillipines. After a long and arduous campaign, British forces have almost completed the re- occupation of Burma, and a Brit- ish and Australian task force, having landed on the island of Warakan off Borneo, is now be- ginning: the job of winnis back the Dutch Hast Idies and the Strategic base of Singapore. ARMY ON CONTINENT “But Japan proper still lies out- Side the closing mouth of the Allied net, affected only in the Siant maneuver by the strategic bombing of the U.S. super-fort- resses. Most important of all, at least 90 percent of the Japan- ese army is on the continent of Asia in exactly those areas Where the Allies have little Strength to oppose the Japanese with. Because of this, even the Highest Prices Paid for BIAMONDS, OLD GOLD, Other Valuable Jewellery STAR LOAN Co. Lid. Est. 1905 719 Robson St. MAr. 2622 complete devastation of Japan from the air—a possibility not yet proven—and the sealing off of Japan from the southern part of its stolen empire with its ex- fulsion from Siam and the Ma- layan Peninsula, would not ne- cessarily mean its defeat. The Japanese could still exist on the supplies and resources of China and as a last resort choose to make their last stand in Ghina as Germany attempted to do.in Austria and Czechoslovakia. Whether that last possiblity becomes an actuality depends on at least three major factors. MAIN FACTOR UNITY The military and political un- ity of China is the number one factor. China’s military situa- tion is desperate. Barring the latest offensive in the Foochow region, the Chungking goyvern- ment’s armies have experienced nothing but disaster since early in 1944 These setbacks have oceurred despite China’s great natural resources and manpower, the not inconsiderable Allied help and the military shortcom- ings of the Japanese themselves, end are due almost entirely to the cockeyed political situation within the country. Since 1939, China has been di- vided in two by a blockade line manned by some 500.000 crack gevernment troops, placed there by the Chiang Kai-shek controll- ed “Free” China to guard and harass the Yenan-administered “Red” China. ‘The Chungking area is bowed under the stiflms burden of virtual dictatorship, official graft and corruption, in- ept and often traitorous military leadership. The so-called Com- munist region in the North is actually a New Democracy, with the Communists voluntarily re- strictinge themselves to one-third representation in the governing bodies. The thing to note, however,’ is that the Yenan armies are the only ones which have been win- ning victories over the Japanese, while Chungking, despite. Allied equipment and the assistance of the U.S. Fourteenth Air Force, has lost almost every campaign in recent months. COMMUNIST OFFERS REBUFFED Recent attempts of the Com- munists to solve this situation by proposing a unified government which would remove the Kuomin- tang one-party dictatorship and release all of China’s pent up forces haye been blocked by Chiang Kai-shek. His counter- proposal, which would have in- cluded Communist representation in a sort of war cabinet on con- ition that the Communist armies be absorbed under his leadership, was meaningless, since it would have given the Communists no zeal responsibility in’ making de- cisions while retaining the old dictatorial setup. The unity of China’is, then, a major factor in determining how soon the war against Japan will end. A second factor in the war against Japan is the Anglo-Am- erican friction on colonial policy. So far the Phillipines remains the only liberated colonial coun- try to be given its: full independ- SU CEESUASUESERCAUCUIUGESUYONSEUSEESCOEAUENUELIAEUESUENEVIIEELSE SOL |p Adeline Beauty Salon We Specialize in PERMANENT WAVING 1148 Granville St. Opposite St. Helen’s Hotel MArine 6612 COCO (ir CUO | TUNASSCCUUEUUSEEAUICLUSTEAEEAL LES EEESEEECESELESERSSESSSUREEEEEECT AL PARKIN ence by its liberators. Now that Burma is close to liberation, the British are making no move to- ward bringing the Burmese people into the democratic fold, and neither Britain nor the Netherlands have shown any in- tention of applying the Atlantic |. Charter to the Pacifie so far as the Dutch East Indies, Malaya and Siam are concerned. Any progressive change in the colon- lal policy of the great powers Such as has already been applied Page 8 — May 12. 19% Candidates Invited T | Address TLC Meeting Official entry of AFL unions of Vancouver into the federal elec- tion campaign was marked at this .week’s regular meeting: of the Trades and Labor CGouncil which delegates unanimously ap- proved the calling of a special meeting for Tuesday, May 29, at which all federal candidates for office will be asked to state their positions in labor’s postwar pro- gram. é Proposal to call the méeting. came from the council’s Political Action Committee, and followed a letter from the national Politi- cal Action Committee of the Trades and Labor Congress urg- ing immediate action by affiliates to fix the attitude of candidates for office on all labor problems So.as to be able to carry out the PAC policy of striving for the election of men and women sympathetic to labor aims. The special Trades Cou meeting, to be held at a pl later announced, will be atten, | by members of the jocal gy | PAG’s as well as regular couy, delegates. It will mark the fi; time in the history of the Vy, couver' TLE that it has tal” part as a council in a fede. election campaign on a non-=pa) | san basis. . Council voted te send a ~ protest” to Ottawa regarding } proposed employment of Germ POW’s in B.C. industries to m the present “manpower sho | age.” ' ' : Council delegates also voted © support the demand of Loca] | : Hotel and Restaurant Empl ee’s Union, for special legislati which would provide safe cond home for all female waitres working shifts which termini | between 12 midnight and 6 an in the Phillipines would bring a great upsurge of anti-Japanese feeling among these millions of exploited people and shorten the War immeasurably. : SOVIET INTENTIONS Finally there is the question mark regarding the Soviet Union. Many observers believe the Soviets will enter the anti- Japanese war. Such an opinion Was expressed just last wéek by Tim Buck, national leader of the |. Labor Progressive Party. The | USSR’S denunciation of her neu- trality pact with Japan signified that the socialist state is ready to play a more active role in the Par East than she has been able to do up till now. Even if her participation in the Pacific war goes no farther than that, the very existence of the Soviet Far Eastern Army, which is tying down an estimated one million of Japan’s crack troops in Manchuria, is contributing materially - to the success. of Anglo-American arms. But the Soviet entry into Far Eastern affairs, signalized by her denunciation of the non-ag- gression pact, is certain also to bring greater pressure to bear on Chiang Kai-shek for a demo- cratic solution of the China crisis, even barring an actual Red Army attack in Manchuria. If the Sov-|- lets enter the war, of course, the solution to the Chinese situation is certain to be hastened. How- ever it comes, unity between the Yenan and Chungking govern- ments on a democratic basis ‘s one of the key military problems of the war. Unless that unifica- tion is achieved, many more thousands of Chinese, - British, American and Canadian lives will be lost than would otherwise be the case. —AL PARKIN George Greenwell, LPP federal candidate for Nanaimo. will speak at a political forum, con- ducted by the Nanaimo Local of the United Mineworkers of America, in the Miner’s Hall, on May 27. Representatives of the major political parties contesting the riding haye been invited to speak at the meeting. REPAIRING SHOP First Class Shoe Renew for both Ladies and Gentlemen Best of Material——Done while you wait = 410 €COLUMBI 7 =a FIGHT ONE-MAN CAR OPERATION ! SAFETY: FOR YOU AND YOUR. YOUNG ONES : m=, SHORTEN THE TIME BE- SERVICE: TWEEN WORK and HOME JOBS: FIGHT THIS PLANNED RE- DUCTION IN EMPLOYMENT THE STREET RAILWAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION - - - requests your active participation—whether by letter. | “petition, resolutien, telephone call, or wire—in its protest. to Mayor J. W. Cornett and the City:Council, Premier John | Hart of British Columbia, and to your own representative in the Victoria House. = Broadway at Commerciai Armstrong 304 Dunlevy Avenue & Cape Tel. HAst. 0141 2 COMING MONDAY FOR ONE WEEK ft Tel. FAir. 3010 i 3 1k TUEMEY SHAY SSESUCUNECUAYEAUUUAYAALUANECUCULTEYINACSUALSRAYATCCUUONENAEYSURUSSENATAT DITA TECTACIILSTE ANIA CSLA LITLE ELLUA LEED 5 Paradise ABBOTT and G@StELLO . IN “HERE COMES THE CO-EDS”