nit SOMEWHERE IN NORTH - VIET NAM Shee power of the government of Ho Chi Minh is based on free secret elections carried out on January 6, 1946, to the Nation- al Assembly. Elections were organised after the people of Viet Nam had seiz- ed power from the Japanese in August, 1945, the French having completely abdicated their pow- er to the Japanese in March 1945. The National Assembly was elected by over 80 percent of the population, and first met at Hanoi March 2, 1946, and elected: Ho Chi Minh as president. After French aggression against the elected government started, the assembly met in secret at Hanoi in November 1946 and. elected a permanent committee, headed by Ho Chi Minh, with full powers to carry on the war of resistance. French power is concentrated chiefly in two wedge-shaped delta _ regions. In the north is the Red River delta, in which is located Hanoi, the second largest city in Viet Nam, and Haiphong, the second largest port: In the south is the Mekong River delta, with Saigon as the centre. Ninety percent of the popula- tion of Viet Nam live in liberat- Wilfred Burchett (in white shirt, facing caniera), Au ed areas, guerilla bases or gueril- la zones. Guerilla bases are areas com- pletely cleared of the enemy, in control of guerillas, but detached from the solid bloc of liberated areas. Guerilla zones are areas where the French troops can still carry out armed raids. : Where the administration reaches, people use the currency’ and postage stamps of the Peo- ple’s government, pay taxes to the People’s government, and benefit from agrarian reforms and the literacy campaign of the govern- ment. Even in the remotest regions from the centre, the government finds means of helping them, sending buffalo to replace those strafed by French planes, seed to replace stocks burned by the French raiding parties. No fewer than 14 million had learned to read and write by the end of last year in the govern- ment’s anti-illiteracy campaign. One can roll along well-paved roads and roam through jungle trails in thousands of square miles in Viet Nam without being with- in hundreds of miles of the French positions. ~ The French left behind them a legacy of shocking communica- tions, a few narrow roads which were little better than lanes. Even these were largely destroyed in i stralian-born correspondent who reported the Korean War with the Korean People’s Army and the Chinese Volunteers is now in Viet Nam with the Vietnamese People’s Army. By WILFRED BURCHETT#=:=#0» 6,700 head of cattle, Ut DE . the first phase of the war of re- sistance by the guerillas.. As the balance of the war be- §an to change, roads were need- ed by the People’s army. Between © 1950 and 1953 over 1,600 miles of automobile roads had been re- paired or new built. If life is Bes and stable for the Viet Nam people in the lib- erated areas, it’s just the con- trary for the French in “occupied” areas. A good example of this is Red River delta region, the borders of which I visited recently. The total area of this “oc- cupied” zone is about 5,775 square miles of the total 42,300 in North Viet Nam — formerly Tonkin. In the four provinces north of Red River, which comprise the Major part of the delta triangle, are 2,784 villages — all classified as part of the “occupied” zone. In July 1952, 607 of these were completely liberated and serving as guerilla bases. By July 1953, 1,486 villages were liberated. And since July the position has changed still more in favor of the People’s goy- ernment. This is the reason why the Peo- ; ple’s army and the guerillas could put the 30-mile road and railway between Hanoi and Haiphong, in the very heart of the French stronghold, out of commission in March, and destroy scores of French posts at widely separated Points in the delta region, . This is a picture of French “strength,” at the very nerve- centre of its power. During 1952 and 1953 in the Same four provinces the French completely razed 178 villages, burned 34,400 houses, slaughtered and destroy- ed 12,200 tons of Tice. Despite this, the peasants paid their taxes to the People’s govern- ment, carrying rice at the risk of their lives across the French lines to the public granaries in solid liberated areas where no French pillaging expeditions could reach. Tons Under the noses of the French, they sent their sons to fight to expel the invader from Viet Nam soil so that they can live in peace under their own elected govern- ment. Hollywood's new hero. tolerance—for after all, the wife herself is Melanesian, Such examples could be multi- plied tenfold. The point is that these moral lapses are not pres- ented as chinks in the hero’s armor or as faults that make him human. The audience is asked to identify with this hero as he is— to believe him, pull for him and, in the end, acclaim what he has done. , - I do not know to what degree U.S. audiences have accommo- dated to the budding fascist hero. From all reports, he is not a howl- ing success at the box office. But ‘let us not be too quick to assert that decent people “see through” these pictures. The very fact that so many people still dismiss the white- man’s-burden films as “escapist” is cause for alarm. They are not escapist, but - propaganda films, expressing the doctrines of Man- ifest Destiny, the American Cen- tury and white supremacy in gaudy technicolor. The men who produce these pictures hope you will absorb them without critical scrutiny, that you will be sufficiently diverted by their heroes’ imperial- ist adventures to forget the un- - sung heroes of your democratic - heritage. Nobody is going to hold his breath waiting for Hollywood to screen the life of Frederick Doug- lass, or Tom Paine, or Sacco and Vanzetti. Only a strong people’s movement for films produced in- dependently of the big monopo- lies can bring such epic themes to life. } Meanwhile we cannot remain silent as the Hollywood hero be- comes a paragon of McCarthyism. If audience protest is loud enough, even the men who con- trol the movie industry cannot remain deaf to it. ‘The fascist hero may be invul- nerable on the screen, but he is > not invulnerable at the box of. fice; and were he to perish there, we might again see nice young men like Mr. Deeds and. Mr. Smith. s ® This article js reprinted from the Hollywood Review. Its author, Michel Wilson, wrote the screen Play for the Mine- Mill film, Salt of the Earth, ORK TYRONE POWER Distance swimraer Flo rence Chadwick may attempt to swim the Straits of Juan de Fuca this summer. Photo shows her looking over : e a chart of the treacherous waters with Stu Keate, publisher oft a Victoria Times. Miss Chadwick has also been invited to swim i Exhibition, and Mrs. Winnie R American swi Gert Whyte's face across Lake Ontario as a highlight of the Canadian Nationa! has been challenged by Canada’s ace woman swine oach Leusler, who says, “I feel | can beat her- mmer has rejected the challenge, however. SPORTLIGHT [TLE Tony Leswick’s overtime goal gave Detroit Red Wings the Stanley Cup in a 2-1 victory in the seventh game of one of the best title series in hockey history. But why couldn’t it have been the Canadiens? They made such a marvellous comeback after being down 3-1 in games that most of the fans were rooting for them to take the cup. And no one more so than yours truly, who called Montreal to win. Oh, well, there’ll be another season. * * * BEG: First British Empire Games were held in Hamilton in 1930. Four years later the Games went to London, and in 1938 to Sydney. cancellation of the 1942 and 1946 Finney, Preston North End’s captain and Eng- land’s winger, has been elected “Footballer of the Year” by the British Football Writers’ Asso- clation. He nosed out Sam Bar. tram (Charlton), John Charles ‘(Leeds) and Ron B : ham), urgess (Totten Past winners of the award ar Stanley Matthews, John pe Harry Johnston, - Billy Wright, Nat Lofthouse and Joe Mercer. * * * BASEBALL: the New York off his chest: certain Senator wh dealt with baseball, may short- y make the following bneonia’ “What I am abo . will Positively rock the A; Lester Rodney of Worker gets this 0 has not uis Browns—L,R 7 “T hold in my hand 8 document “This deam Operates j : Sim a sub. ED ok Cambridge Massachussets, © of that den of Subversion, PACIFIC TRIBUNE — APRIL 23, 1954 — PA rs / Harvard. Its open and avowee aim and purpose it to knoc the Yanks. Seay “This team has a very signi cant history. It’s last two P® nants, or flag raisings, ee 1918, the year after the Bols Revolution, and in 1946, 4 after the unfortunate defea some dear friends of mine, “+ persecuted German heroes Malmedy. “Tie the facts together, frien Concealed on the roster ~tche?) team, in fact, its leading Pl RN- is a LEFT hander named fia: ELL, who as you all know Russian agent in Ireland. ner thermore, this fate, has a Pl named IVAN Delock. eri: “T hold in my hand the AM, can League schedule which ‘ ay 8 that this team plans to La, doubleheader on Labor D also has a RELIEF spe named Kinder. You all. dea. that relief is a bolshevik 1 pic “Now there is another a ious team in this league as the Cleveland Indians. oy the Indians go back where ontly came from! This team i phia. traded Wheat to Philads : Everyone knows that tt communistic. 15 uThis same team sends play - to farms at Wilkes Barre < e this dianapolis. Can we tolere COLLECTIVE FARMING? ye that “I further propose to pro player ask, Philadelphia has added @ named Power. I merely ae could this be STATE ae “Tt is amply clear on hich pe dence that this league, W ; gan in 1901, represents pe of more or less than 53 y@ treason. as i “Next week I will Le the so-called National Le * * * sit te > TRACK: John Landy, A? waile 6 lia’s great miler, ran a 4.02 in Melbourne this weer leaving for a tour of S¢ and the British Empire ; rm still shooting for the four ay mile. Maybe Vancouver to hit BEG track will inspire the jackpot? é e 10 ee tof get “pefot® fr; ndinave eS Garels 7 Landy ran a great race, +n tite new -