HE Simla conference has

once again brought the
forgotten Indian people and
problem to the forefront of
international affairs. What-
ever the outcome of the ne-
gotiations now being con-
ducted between the British
government and the Indian
leaders, the ‘“‘Wavell Plan”
falls far short of meeting the
fundamentals of Indian in-
dependence.

To term it a “New Deal” is a
misnomer. For the Wavell Plan
is no advance on the notorious

Cripps offer. The British pro-
posals to include Indian people’s
representatives on the Viceroy’s
Executive Council, which has
no policy making power and is a
puppet organization, have been
twice. rejected since the out-
break of the present war. There
is no indication whatever that
the Viceroy will relinquish his
veto power to reject legislation

_ passed by the Legislative As-
sembly and vice versa. Neither
does it seem probable that he
would forego any of the other
sweeping powers placed at his
discretion by the India Acts of
1919 and 1935. Under such con-
ditions, the acceptance of the
plan will not in any “way ad-
vance India. towards the desired
goals of freedom and demo-
cracy to any appreciable extent.

However, it has been report-
ed that if the Indian nationalist
leaders reject the plan, the Vi-
eeroy Lord Wavell has been em-
powered to resort to wholesale.
repression, re-imprison the Con-
gress leaders and suppress any
popular movement with brute

_force. To meet just such an
emergency the Viceroy has re-
portedly asked for the replace-
ment of Indians with British
officers in the army.

e .

ILE constitutional talks

continue the teeming mil-
lions of India are undergoing
indescribable hardships. De-
spite Mr. Amery’s assurance to
the contrary famine is not over
yet. Starvation in Bengal con-
tinues. In March 1945, there
were 100,000 destitutes in the
Chittagong district alone. Thou-
sands of girls and women of re-
spectable working class and
peasant families, whose male
relatives died in the famine, are
without any ostensible. means
of living. British and Indian
Army contractors hire them
at cheap wages and make added
profits by trading in their
flesh. There are 7,000 such wo-
men in the city of Chittagong.
Cost of living in Calcutta today
has increased 100 per cent over
the famine prices of 1943. In
other cities the prices of various
foods are above the means of
the poor. While prices soar all
wages of railroad and. govern-
ment employees have been
frozen. During 1944, the-cost of
‘living bonus has been refused
in every industry. Hoarding
and profiteering is still not be-
ing combated. There is no ef-
fective price control system.
The black market prices of to-
day become the control prices
of tomorrow. The peasant is
being robbed both as a seller
and consumer. According to P.
C. Joshi, the Gen. See’y of the
Communist Party of India, “ A
peasant having to exchange 80
Ibs. of paddy for a seer (1 seer
equals two Ibs.) of salt is noy
an uncommon phenomenon in
Bengal villages.’

PAGE 10-— PACIFIC ADVOCATE

. that room.”
charged fantastic rates of rent. ~

India’s Millions Forge Ahead

The starving people have
been rendered an easy prey. to
epidemics. Out of the total
Bengal population of 60 million,
Dr. B. C. Roy moderately esti-
‘mated in October 1944 that 30
million, if not more, are suffer-
ing from malaria. In thousands
of gases, not one member of the
family is well enough to walk
in order to procure medicine.
Out of the 20 to 30 million af-
fected by epidemics, 1,200,000
have been rendered invalid. In
the neighboring Behar Prov-
ince, 200,000 died of cholera in
the division of Tribut alone be-
tween January and July 1944,
The government supplied 100,-
000 pounds of quinine for mala-
ria sufferers. But this was suf-
ficent only for one-third of the
diseased. Most of the quinine
supply is sold in the black mar-

‘ket by the corrupt officials and

never reaches the people. There
it is sold at the fantastic rate of
800 rupees per pound, while the
control price is 80 tablets per
rupee.

e

pyo annually produces mil-

lions of yards of cloth. Yet
at present ithe people- cannot
purchase enough to cover their
frail bodies. Casés were sited
by Patiram Roy, MLA, at the
last session of the Bengal,
Legislature ‘on February 22,
1945, that women unable to find
enough cloth to cover them-
selves had committed suicide.
Cloth cannot be purchased even
for coffins. This situation has
been created by the fact that
the Government has placed the
control of machinery in the
hands of the textile magnates
who sell cloth directly to the
hoarders and make phenominal
profits. The housing condi-
tions are even more frightful.
In Bombay, according to the
“People’s War,” the organ of
the Communist Party of India,
in April 1945, there were 200,-
000 homeless people sleeping in
the streets. Overcrowding con-
ditions are so horrible that Mr.
Nanji Dwarkadas, a labor and
welfare officer for a group of
mills in Bombay said: “I found
in one room four husbands and
four wives and their nine chil-
dren living together. In another
room I found 17 beddings and
at least 17 men are living in
These people are

While profiteers run amuck
and hold high positions, pa-
triots are being terrorized and
persecuted by the police for no
erime other than serving and
organizing the people. Free-
dom of speech, press and as-
sembly as we know it in North
America, does not exist in In-
dia today.. Naked terror reigns
the land. The “People’s War”
was recently banned in the Uni-
ted Provinces for publishing an
anti- Japanese statement by
Chandra Singh, a national hero
of the famous Carhwali rifles,
who refused to fire on a Con-
gress demonstration in 1930 at
Peshawer. Dr. K. M. Ashraf
an outstanding jntellectual was
was not allowed to enter Indore
state to deliver speeches on
Oriental culture and history.
In the Punjab it was expected
at the last session of the Legis-
lature that the ruling Zomin-
dara (landlord) Party forcibly
collected 200,000 rupees by in-

‘Savings Certificates.

timidating the peasantry. At
Halionspur, Ludhiana District,
the people were beaten by po-
ice for pleading that they could
not afford to purchase War
Babu Sri
Krishna Sinha, ex - Congress
Premier of Selar, confirmed a
report that one-year-old chil-

-dren were being snatched from

their innocent mothers and-im-
prisoned in retaliation against
the activities of a terroristic

._ band the police was unable to

arrest. A group of Marathi
Journalists reported that they
had interviewed 60 persons in-
cluding women from ten vil-
lages of Sitara District, Mahar-
ashtra, who had been beaten by
police and then salt water pour-
ed on the wounds inflicted on
them. Thousands of political
prisoners are being maltreated.
In Cujrat jail, political prison-
ers, including two Sikh MLA/’s,
were being kept in solitary con-

_finement to break their morale.

THs is but a fraction of the ;
bestial' record of imperialist |

brutality. There is-no end to
these stories of terror let loose
on innocent, peace loving peo-
ple. Looking at this ugly pic-
ture one wonders if Nazism has
as yet been liquidated. The peo-
ple of India direly need food,
medicine, civil liberties and a
breathing spell from repression.
Under these circumstances, the
nationalist leaders may well ac-
cept the British proposals in tthe
hope to serve the people in a
limited way.

The picture, however, is not
entirely dismal and hopeless.
Even in the face of this extreme
suffering the people of India are
arising to the height of the oc-
casion. They are waiting for no
Messiah for their salvation.
They are organizing, planning
and laying the foundation of
their own future. Two historic

events, the twenty-first annual
session of the All India Trade
Union Congress and ninth an-

= » A Good Chance
On Holiday? * Do a Little

™" Serious Reading

The TEACHINGS OF KARI, MARX 25c¢
By V. I. Lenin

The FOUNDATIONS of LENINISM 60c¢
By Joseph Stalin

By Darshan Singh Sangha

nual session of the Al] India
Kisan Sabha (peasant league),
which respectively took place in
January and April this year, tes-
tify to this affect.

The AITUC convention held in
Madras was termed the “biggest
and most representative” of its
‘history. Present were 855 dele-
gates, who represented every in-
dustry, large or small and came
from the ranks of all nationali-
ties, religions, castes and creeds.
Every province in British India
and nearly all Native States
were represented. Fraternal
delegations were present from
nearby Ceylon and far off Da-
luchistan in the northwest.
Most remarkable were the gains
registered by the AITUC since
its 1943 session in Magpur. The
membership had increased by
nearly 50 per cent, from 323,-
000 to 427,000, the highest ever
realized. The number of af-
filiated locals had jumped from
209 to 416. At this session also
the powerful Indian Seamen’s
Union broke away from the
government subsidized Indian
Federation of Labor and joined
the AITUC. In the past most
of the delegates came from the
ranks of the students and intel-
lectuals. However, here the
Indian working class was show-
ing the signs of its approach-
ing maturity. Most of the dele-
gates came’ straight from:
mines, mills and factories. For
many this was their first trade
union convention.

Ten thousand workers jam-
med the first open air session.
Red flags with slogans, “Long
Live the TUC” fluttered in the
air. But the atmosphere was
tense. For a small bloc of Con-
gress Socialist Party students
(the Indian brand of Norman
Thomas social democratic pest),
who had smuggled. themselves
as delegates were present to
split the AITUC by interjecting
anti-Communist venom in the
convention. Their strategy was

MODERN LIBRARY GIANTS

$1.95

THE FORTY DAYS oF MUSA DAGH
By Franz Weefel

DON QUIXOTE

to unite the anti-Gi/
and non-Communist £1
the basis of general {
against the Commun:
thus smash the AITU)
opposed the AITUG |
fighting for the unit}
National Congress anc)
League, of woxking fos
lease of populan Congi+
ers and urging a Natit!
ernment. However, +l)

administered a crushir |
when resolutions on —
above points were am
animously. Answering

=

rupters, a 65-year-old
pioneer of the trad:
movement, who pres

the opening session, He
“Today the trade uni¢:'
ment is mainly led by,
themselves. We refuse
to those renegades ani}
of the boss who wish tc.
our leadership and wal}
fall at their feet.” ine

In the absence of |
Dange, the AITUCG Pres }
the London World: Trad |
Conference, Mr. Faz: }
Quorban, a Communisi }
of the salt miners fr
Punjab, presided. Quc
his report thanked aj .
gratulated the workers.
dia on their “exemplaj |
ence and patriotism” j
taining uninterrupted —
tion for victory and thi
of the people even in |
of “just grievances and:
ate provocations on the.
employers.” He reveal |
while prices were sky.
ing, the*monthly wage: |
textile workers did not i
the semi-starvation rat \
rupees ($7.70), of the ez
ing workers 22 rupees, < .
and metal workers 34
of chemical workers 20 -
and of railway workers
pees. -The plantation x
in the gardens are ber ©
nine rupees per month i |
six for women and five? |
dren.

Quorban’s statement -&
scandalous profits rea |
the employers shocked t'
gates. He declared it
profits of the jute indt >
1943 was 900 compare 7
100 for 1939; for cotton s

AND DISCUSSED

RUSSIA IS NO RIDDLE Z
By Edmund Stevens

PEOPLE ON OUR SIDE ______"
By Edgar Snow

REPORT ON RED CHINA _____
By Harrison Forman

WANT TO RELAX?
READ THESE—
THE PIED PIPER OF DIPPER CREEI

$2.50

By Thomas H. Raddall

By Miguel De Cervantes

TRISTRAM AND SHANDY
By Laurence Sterne

THE STORY OF AMERICAN
LITERATURE
By Ludwig Lewisohn

THE SEA EAGLE

ALL IN A TWILIGHT

“STORM

By Albert Roy Evans

By George Stewart

Summer Clearance Sale now in Progress. Come in and Look Arounc 4

DEODPLE°*S

420 WEST PENDER

POOKSTORE

PHONE: MArine 5836