New Chinese parliament will
be elected. by popular vote;

first 5-year plan launched —

|

By ARTHUR CLEGG

An All-China People’s Congress — a new parliament — will be elected by popular

LONDON
vote this

year, which will also see the start of the country’s first Five-Year Plan. :
om This was announced by Premier Chou En-lai in a speech, broadcast by Peking radio, which he
Made recently to the national committee of the People’s Consultative Conference, the interim  parlia-

Ment elected in 1949,

-_ Chou told the national commit-
_ tee that China was about to enter
® new era of large-scale, planned
€conomic construction. °

; To meet this new task it would
he necessary to fix a date to con-
Vehe the People’s Congress.

Thus in 1958 tremendous new
Prospects of both democratic and
€conomic advance open up before
the Chinese people.

Conditions for calling of an All-

ina-Congress had now matured,
€ said,

‘It was time to carry out the
Common Program adopted by the
Chinese people in the Consultative

_ People’s Congress of 1949, which
had Proposed 1a People’s Congress..

t was no time to carry out the
clection of people’s representatives
‘rand by the people and to call
the congress and elect the People’s
®0vernment,

Both Preparations for the con
8ress and its actual convocation
should be undertaken this year
and an electoral law and consti-
tution be drafted.

Chou’s statement was heartily eh-
°rsed_ by .the standing committee,
Which was attended by 110 rep-
“sentatives of the 11 democratic
Se of People’s ‘China and by
;Presentatives of people’s organ-
ations,

Bea *
mec viewing the general develop-
i of China since 1949, when
<4 ‘ng Kairshek wds expelled and.
€ People’s government. set up,
ba ®u' said that with the exception
Way ormosa all Chinese territories
; now been freed.
eth aan unification such as
ie ee been formerly known had
~“&0 achieved.
Ge pitty had been basically wip-
struck and iheavy blows had been
and ; at the reactionary feudal
Mperialistic forces.
pe eet from the areas inhabited
Viet € national minorities, land
T

pleted. had been in the main com-

Works
had a

Strengthened, he said.

ha, °nomic and financial _ policy.
country © unified throughout the
Ship of ‘and the economic leader-
vorg the state-owned sectors of
tomy. had been established.

&-class leadership in China }-

?

The~ national budget had been

balanced and prices stabilized.

Restoration of China’s economy
had proceeded successfully. despite
the U.S. invasion of Korea and her
threats of war against China, said
Chou. :

In the past two years the Chin-
ese people had been _ strong
enough both to carry through the
restoration of China’s economy
and to resist the U.S. and aid
Korea.

On the basis of these successes
tremendous new prospects opened
up before the Chinese people.

* * *

Chou’s statement was the first
official public |Jannouncement of
both the calling of a People’s Con-
gress and the starting of a Five-
Year Plan,

'To prepare for China’s new eco-
nomic era-the People’s government
last November appointed a four-
member board to survey “the new
task of larger economic and cul-
tural construction” for 1958. "

Its chairman was Kao Kang, pre-
viously chairman of the North-East
(Manchuria) Regional’People’s gov-
ernment, who directed the immense-
ly successful economic reconstruc-
tion of that area in the past four
years. :

The national committee, which
Chou addressed, was elected in 1949
by the People’s Consultative Poli-
tical Conference.

The members of that conference
were elected by 14 democratic par-
ties and groups (some of which
have now merged with each other),
by the trade unions, by army units,
and by religious and cultural
groups, :

It has been the interim parliament
of China and the Common Progrant
of the Chinese people which it drew
up and adopted provided that in
the future a fully constitutional and
elected People’s Congress would be
held.

PREMIER CHOU EN-LAI
[he time has come to carry out the
Common Program of 1949.

a

British communist

brief

Case outlined for :
Scots parliament

' By HARRY McSHANE

LONDON

The need for a Scottish parliament will be emphasized by the
British Communist party in its representation to thg forthcoming

ment to Scottish affairs.

“Such a parliament would handle;
the administration of Scottish af-
fairs and deal with Scottish aspecis
of industrial and’ social Tegislation
and would be in a position to carry
through a constructive policy based
on the needs of the Scottish people.”

A Scottish parliament legislating
for Scottish affairs would require
to have power to deal with:

Edueation, public health, housing,
and town planning, fisheries and
forestry, industrial legislation, trade,
industry and commerce (other than
foreign trade);

Food, social insurance and social
security, transport (land, sea and
air), fuel and power, broadcasting
and scientific industrial research.

The Scottish (MPs, it is suggested,

should meet in Edinburgh at least

Royal Commission on Scottish Affairs.
Reference is made to the small fraction of time devoted by parlia-

“There needs to be a new legislative body in Scotland with wide
powers to go ahead,” the Communist party’s representation states.

four times a year for not less than
20 days to discuss matters of direct
concegn to the Scottish people.

“The provision should be written
into the constitution of any future
parliament in Scotland that indus-
trial standards legislated by <a
Scottish parliament and levels of
social security and unemployment
insurance, food _ subsidies,  etc.,
should not be less than those pre-
vailing in. the United Kingdom as a
whole.”

Dealing with the background to
the problem, reference is made to
the fact that the rate of unemploy-
ment in Scotland is double that of
Britain as a whole and that the
rate has steadily risen until now
more than 70,000 men and women
are out of work.

U.S, driving for control of
rich Indochinese resources
by ‘aid’ to French ‘dirty war’

PEKING

Developments in the past few weeks indicate intensification of
the “dirty war” in Indochina, in the opinion of observers here. They

point to the resolution recently adopted by the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization meeting at Paris in support of the French appeal

for aid and to increasing U.S. support for the French military cam-
paign against the Vietnamese People’s Democratic Republic.

“The French imperialists, their re-

1 sources strained to the limit, are

desperately looking to the U.S. to
extricate them from their diffi-
culties. The cost of the war, re-
flected in taxes and living costs at
home, and the shortage of man-
‘power, accentuated by the military
reverses and losses Of the past two
vears, combine to make this one of
the most unpopular wars in French
history.

.

The U.S., observers here believe,
is prepared to give the French con-
siderably greater financial and mili-

tary aid — but not to strengthen

the French position. Wall Street in-
terests hope to be able to force con-
cessions from. the hard-pressed
French which will give them control
of Indochina’s rich resources.

As part of this manoeuvre, the
U.S. is expected to demand that
an offer of “independence” be
made to Viet Nam, both for
propaganda purposes and to fac-
ilitate the U.S. move into Indo-
china, since any such ‘independ-

Sig 99

ent” government would be no

more than’ a U.S. puppet regime.

_Aeleased war criminals boast of expansionist aims

Belts AUCKLAND

cik ais War criminals, back in.
Doas ae positions, are openly
She ee what Japan will do once
the yj; Strong enough to challenge
lctors of the Second World
~ tary: reports, Allan Monteith, secre-
and New Zealand Peace Coun-
“Asi a delegate to the recent’
aR

‘an~ SAT
ching vite Peace Conference at

; oop tite in the People’s Voice,
‘iat Sive weekly here, he. says
eq ‘panese war criminals restor-
the rotons of power are using
Heaisic Phrases as before Pearl

fin the “Greater South-East
to Be corey Sphere,” “expansion
ow”; South Pacific? and “over-
ear ng of Japan.” <
Con ae Ree delegates to the peace

this g)e° in Peking warned us of
teith, Bain and again,” says Mon-
today th hey said that in Japan

_ - ™esame people, using the

Japanese imperialists th

same phrases, aré pursuing the same
policy as led to the last war. What
they told us showed that the men-
ace to the Pacifie countries, in par-
ticular New Zealand and Austra-
lia, increases every month.

“After talking with the Japan-
ese delegates themselves, it is per
fectly clear that Japan has not
been just rearmed for genuine de-
fense; the whole econdmy and peo-
ple is being completely remilitarised
for aggression.

“The Japanese delegates earnest-
ly impressed on us that the releas-
ed Japanese war criminals, back in
their old positions in the political,
economic and military sphere, open-
ly demand the right for Japan to
expand. They point to the under-
population of the countries in the
South Pacific in contrast to Japan’s
‘overcrowding.’

“Japan’s aims of empire and

:

reaten Pacific peace

conquest have not altered, and
they are making the most of their
strong position in the cold war.
The Japanese imperialists mean to
solve their domestic problems by
aggressive expansion into the
‘ south Pacific.

“Qur Japanese friends who risk-
ed life and limb to attend the con-
ference pleaded with us to take
this message to our people.

“Tyade with People’s China and
the USSR has been stopped by the
American blockade and the Japan-
ese economy is built entirely on a
war basis.

“An end of the Korean war
would see Japan in a serious eco-
nomic plight, and the answer would

undoubtedly be looked for in in-
creasing militarization of the people

and in new markets.

.

“Certainly those markets would
not be gained at the expense of
the United States.

“Those who fondly believe that
Japan will turn her aggressive in-
tentions towards China and the
USSR should remember that the
politicians and militarists of Japan
are realists who are not fooled by
the slick propaganda emanating
from the lie factories in Hong Kong
and Western Germany. ,

“The strength of the Soviet
Union they already know by dis-
astrous experience. If the Jap-
anese could not subdue a weak
and divided China, what chance
have they now? They are real-
ist and look south. In Japan they
make no bones about their inten-
tions.”

1

year inGDR
By PHYLLIS ROSNER
BERLIN

The central commtitee of the So-
cialist Unity Party of Germany has
appealed to all Germans to observe |
1953 — 70th anniversary of the
death of the founder of Commun-
ism — as Karl Marx,year.

‘Every German,” says the party’s .
statement, “must feel proud that it
was the German nation which gaye
mankind the genius and ardent re-
volutionary Karl Marx and his co-
fighter, Frederick Engels.

“Marxism, the teaching of Marx
and Engels, is the greatest and most
important cultural heritage of the —
German nation.” ; :

It is therefore, the German na-
tion’s “special right and duty to
celebrate the anniversary of its
greatest son and to use this oppor-
tunity to acquaint all German men
and women — and particularly the
youth — with the life and work of
these two great scientists and revo-
lutionaries.” : :

“The Socialist Unity party has ©
therefore declared 1953 Karl Marx _
year. :

“It’s main aim is to enlighten
the German people on the historic
world importance of this great son
of the German nation and to edu-
cate the working class in the spirit
of the implacable fight for a so-
cialist society.

“This,” the statement continues,
“ean be achieved by developing a
relentless struggle against all forms
of Social Democracy. . . . The prere-
quisite for a successful Karl Marx

year is the raising of the scientific ©

level of all sections of ideological

work.”

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JANUARY 16, 1953 — PAGE 3