ee Fight on two fronts SYDNEY, Australia—While pre- paring to meet the fresh combat troops that the Dutch are now sending into the field, the Indo- nesian republic is pursuing its ef- fort to raise the living standards of its 70 million population it was learned here. The program of social legislation which it is now putting into effect makes clear why the people of the island are willing to fight bare handed against Dutch attempts to restore their prewar status as colonial slaves. This ‘program, drawn up by the powerful All-Indonesian Central Organization of Trade Unions (SOBSI) includes the objective of full employment, guarantee of the rights to organize, bargain collec- tively and strike, and of freedom of speech, assembly and demon- stration. - It restricts child labor, provides for safety legislation and social security in all industry, and establishes a guaranteed minimum wage. Under Dutch rule, Indonesians were not allowed to form unions and they had no voice whatsoever in the government. In the re- publican government, the ,SOBSI not only holds 40 seats in 'Pparlia- ment but is represemted in the eabinet as well. The _ republic’s vice premier is chairman of the SOBSIL The minister of labor, Mrs. Tri Murty, is a member of the SOBSI executive and the sec- retary of state is head of the Plantation Workers Union. Newspaper invasion PORT HARCOURT, NIGERIA— The London “Daily Mirror” is plan- ning an invasion of Nigeria with its newspapers, The Guardian cor- respondent writes from Nigeria. It is being promised unlimited supplies of paper. Its duty will be to “challenge” African-owned newspapers, more especially the group of Zik’s Press Limited.” Labor compels retrial BERLIN—The decision to bring Baron Kurt von Schroeder before the International Military Tribu- nal at Nuremberg is a direct re- sult of German pressure. The Cologne banker who, in 1933 arranged a meeting between Hit- ler and Ruhr industrialists in his own house was recently sentenced by a local denazification court to three months in jail and a small fine. Twenty-five thousand workers stopped work when they heard the sentence and British military authorities were flooded with pro- tests until they decided to charge him at Nuremberg. ILO ‘conference’ a dud CALCUTTA—Pres. S. A. Dange of the All-India Trades Union Con- has announced that an Asiatic labor parley sponsored by the World Federation of Trade Unions will be held here early in 1948. A recent conference on Asiatic problems sponsored by the Inter- national Labor Organization evok- ed no enthusiasm among Indian workers who, along with Austral- ian delegates, bitterly opposed the exclusion of delegates from In- donesia and Indo-China. The vague hopes expressed by delegates, union leaders charged, were exposed as meaningless when the conference barred the rep- resentatives of the two countries which are leading Asia’s fight against feudalism and _ foreign control. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1947 Social amenities Although they may not see eye to eye around the conference table, US Secretary of State George G. Marshall and Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov greet each other warmly at the Soviet Embassy in London where a reception was held for the Big Four foreign ministers. ClO union or are opened for wage re-nego- tiation, the Big Five have started a major campaign against the International Longshoremen’s & Warehousemen’s Union (CIO). The basic industry in the islands. Acting as water-boy for the powerful monopolists is Territorial Governor Ingram M. Stainback, a Democrat who is highly unpopular with the ILWU and other im- portant elements of the local Democrat party. To offset their demand that he be replaced in office. the governor has launched a drive to fire all “Communists and Communist sympathizers” in the administration. He has also demanded that the unions “clean house.” As in other cases, the term “Communist” is being applied to anyone who ever made a pro-labor statement. A series of news stories which are laying the ground for a big union has 35,000 members in every key target a ' ag a In Hawaii witch-hunt HONOLULU—Hawaii’s Big Five monopolists—who own just about everything worth owning in these islands—have joined the witch-hunt bandwagon. With one eye on February when union contracts expire “expose ” has hinted that school teachers as well as other public employees are Communist suspects. So far no names have been mentioned. A large section of the commun- ity is aware, of the governor’s political motives and powerful forces are being rallied to oppose his attack upon civil liberties. the Marshall Plan proposals agreements reached at Geneva 23 countries, had been in session since April 10. Its deliberations were dominated throughout by the men of Wall Street, notably in the person of former Undersec- retary of State Will Clayton. The proposals of the conference must now go before the legisla- tures of the various nations for adoption. They:are of such a nature that only polititians completely devoid of any interst in the welfare of their nations could affix their signature to them. France was one of the partici- pating countries. Since that country sgems to be one of the chief targets of U.S. free enter- prise interests at this time, - it will be well to examine just how some of the Geneva proposals would affect its economy. One of the main topics on the agenda of the meeting was the matter of restrictive tariffs. The dollar men spoke eloquent- ly about the virtues of free trade and insisted that such tariffs be removed. Some’ of the nations present argued that they needed them as protection for their own in- dustries, as a ‘guard against the influx of cheap foreign merchan- dise. But the U.S., in the main, had its way. The final draft of the proposals said that nations having “an available amount of foreign ex- change” could no longer employ such “restriction” on trade. This is where the Marshall Plan comes in. If France should obtain dollars by loan it will no longer be able to protect itself against the influx of U.S. made goods, since it would then have foreign exchange. Such a happening would lead, for instance, in the case of the French radio industry, to its vir- tual destruction. Unlike the U.S., the French radio industry is in the hands of small operators. They have to sell their Wall Street dictated — Geneva trade pacts By GEORGE LOHR Daily People’s World Foreign Editor SAN FRANCISCO—There is a distinct tie-in between and the international trade in October. The Geneva meeting, attended by representatives of products at a much higher price han those manufactured by mass production in the US. Nevertheless, it is the fifth largest industry in France, em- ploying more than 300,000 workers. As soon as these French radios are no longer protected by a tariff against the U.S. product these workers will find themselves without employment. Other industries are in much the same position. But -there is an additional angle involved here. As a result of such mass sales, the U.S. in- dustrialists will receive a large amount of French currency. They said that they want to invest these francs in French in- dustrial enterprises. US. spokesmen at Geneva in- sisted on having this privilege and demanded further that their investments enjoy a favorite | status. In essense, they demanded that they receive extra _ territorial status for whatever corporations they would buy as well as for their personnel. This would mean, for instance, that a future democratic French government would not be able to nationalize any of these enter- prises. France also, under the Geneva pact; would not be able to traae with the Soviet Union or the new democracies of Eastern Europe. Wall Street demanded that the door be closed to all nations whose foreign trade is controlled by the government. . These. are only some of the provisions which the dollar in- terests plan to use to bring coun- tries like France under their dom- ination. It can be readily understood why the Marshall Plan and its various concomitant schemes such as the Geneva pact are meeting with such strong opposition among French democrats. $ famine menaces Aussie industry, trade with USSR, Europe is urged SYDNEY—A dollar famine threatens heavy layoffs in Australian industry and is raising demands in Parliament that Australia shift her trade from the U.S. to central ana eastern Europe and the Soviet _ Union. Prime Minister J. B. Chifley has already announced that many American imports must Parliament. purposely to head off a threatened walkout of public utilities workers December 8. The workers are seeking higher wages to enable them to afford basic necessities. Semi-starvation is now common in Greece, where prices have soared almost beyond imagination. Though there are no spokesmen for opposition parties in the Greek Parliament, the drasti¢ law arous- ed some criticism even from the staunch supporters of the royalist regime. Premier Themistocles Sophoulis defended the law by saying: “The fight in the mountains is enough. We cannot afford to fight the Communists on two fronts.” Members of Parliament pointed out, however, that the labor move- Death penalty for all Greeks who dare strike ' ATHENS—An absolute ban on strikes, death penalty for violators, has been approved by the Greek carrying the The law was rushed through at a special session called ment had already been purged of Communists by earlier govern- ment moves. These included the removal and arrest of all elected union leaders, the appointment of pro-government union officials and the deportation of several thousand militant unionists. - Government spokesmen argued in reply that even these measures have failed to stop strikes and protest actions by the workers, and that stronger steps are re- quired to keep labor in check. Meanwhile American officials revealed here that $60 million worth of military supplies had been delivered to the Gfeek government up to November 28 to assist its civil war against opposition groups. be cancelled and others reduced. Newspapers predict mass firings in tobacco, newspaper, maritime, road transport, office machine agencies, publishing, motor repair and assembly, and other industries. Reason is that the essential fac- tory machines needed to expand or maintain Australian industry are too expensive if bought in the U.S. The dollar shortage has been aggravated by steadily rising U.S. prices. The amount of goods that Australia can purchase from the U.S. is being constantly reduced by the increase in cost. Sen. William Morrow has urged Parliament to explore the possibility of alternate supplies from central and eastern Europe. He recommended that Australia buy machine tools and other factory equipment from Czecho- slovakia, tobacco from Buigaria, gas from Rumania, and gas and timber from Russia. Trade with these countries is done chiefly on a barter basis, with each of the trading countries agreeing to exchange specified amounts of needed materials and foods rather than paying each other in money. ' Australia, Morrow pointed out, would benefit from this agree- ment not only by getting needed materials but by finding an outlet for Australian wool, which. the U.S. is not buying in sufficient quantities to keep the industry going. ’ Sydney dockers have announced they will not load any bricks for export because too many unionists are forced by the housing short- age to live in overcrowded slums. The longshoremen clapped the ban on bricks when told to load them into the steamer Rona for Suva, Fiji, a British colonial outpost. An officer of the Building Workers Industrial Union at the wharf certified that the bricks could be used to build much-needed cottages in Australia. A similar ban on the export of laundry soap has been observed since last February, when Austra- lian housewives raised a howl over the severe soap shortage. The dockers decided that working: men need clean clothes and house- wives need a_ break, ‘so they stopped loading soap. In both cases, the needed pro- ducts were being shipped abroad because the manufacturers make bigger profits from export than from domestic sales. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 2: