French dockers
jobless rather
than load arms

By MARK FREEMAN

PARIS

Although no shots have yet been fired, a bitter, relentless battle is
being fought, on the French coast between port agents and dockers who

have been condemned to permanent unemployment by tne withdrawal of

their work cards because they refuse to handle war cargoes.

On one side stand armed uniform-
ed forces of police and mobile
guards equipped with armored cars
and guns and backed by govern-
ment authority, as at Dunkirk and
La Pallice.

On the other side stand plain
men in faded overalls, weaponless
except for work hardened hands,
courage and fierce determination
not to lend themselves to the
plans and devices of the cold war.

Dockers with angry looks pass by
empty hiring halls where work is

waiting if they agree to abandon
the cause of world peace. Work-
cards will be returned if they give
a simple pledge to the authorities
and employers to “handle all mer-
chandise.”

“All merchandise” means at Dun-
kirk the unloading of war material
to kill fellow workers in Viet Nam.
In other ports it means guns, bombs
and bullets for Viet Nam and for
France—designed for the day when
the French workers themselves will
be offered as cannon fodder in a
third world war which no one wants
—no one, that is, except imperialist
minded American monopolists and
their counterparts in France and
Britain, and the brasshats at Wash-

ington and their counterparts in
Paris and London, and their politi-
cal spokesmen in every Western
capital. *

Dockers know that these ports,
under a virtual state of siege, are
in the front line of the battle for
peace. They know that tomorrow,
next week or next month, the threat
made by one American writer may
be carried out and “the first blood
in the war between Russia and the
United States will spurt unofficially
amid the salty spray of the warm
Atlantic and Mediterranean ports—
through which we are trying to
ship arms, bullets, tanks and war-
planes to aid free Europe.”

Dockers say, however, “we will
-stand firm in the face of hunger,
repression and provocation.” Their
slogan is' “not guns but peace,” and
they are supported in the gallant
struggle by the solidarity of all
peace-loving people who, despite
mounting unemployment, go with-
out necessities to send food, cloth-
ing. and money to the front line.
Dockers have already received al-
most 6,500,000 francs for the solid-
arity fund.

«

30,000 to lose
jobs in Italian
steel shutdown

_ By GINO BARDI

ROME.

Over 30,000 workers and technicians are faced with dismissal in
consequence of the Italian government’s decision to liquidate and dis-
mantle a number of engineering plants which are controlled and financed

by the government.

This decision was one of the demands recently’ put

to the government by the president of the Italian Association of Indus-

trialists, Dr. Angelo Costa.

The haste with which the govern-
ment is moving to carry out the
industrialists’ demand leaves no
doubt that other demands imposed

by the Industrialists’. Association—
particularly that regarding the “re-
duction of production costs,” a
phrase to mask the policy of cutting
real. wages—will be sympathetically
considered by the government.

_ The engineering plants to be af-
fected by the government’s dismant-
ling decision include the Breda
works in Milan, the Breda shipyards
in Venice, Caproni Motors, Isotta
Franschini Motors, Reggiane Eng-
ineering Works, the Ducati works in
Bologna, and others, between them
employing 30,000 workers, techni-
cians and office empioyees.

It is noteworthy that these

plants constitute minor competi-
tors of the giant Fiat Motors en-
terprise and that their elimina-
tion will mean further strengthen-
ing of the Fiat monopoly—a clear-
ly defined objective of the Mar-
shall plan in Italy.
_A four-hour general strike
cently took place at Sesto San
Giovanni, an industrial suburb of
Milan, .to protest against the
decision. In addition, all Milan
factories staged a 10-minute work
stoppage to pretest against the dis-
mantling policy. ‘

A resolute fight against dismant-
ling is being conducted by the Ital-
ian Federation of Metallurgical
Workers’ (FIOM) whose 700,000
members constitute the backbone
of the General Confederation of
Labor,

re-

U.S. officers
sent to Siam

BANGKOK

A group of American officers who
arrived in the Siamese capital re-
cently completes the corps of more
than 100 American army and air
force officers who quite openly con-
trol the Siamese armed forces.

The group declared officially that
their presence and activity in Siam
had been approved through normal
diplomatic channels by the French
and British governments.

The American officers came to
Siam as “military advisers and
army instructors” and in coopera-
tion with local specialists their
main task is to work out a plan
to “stem the Communist advance.”
The plan will also’include Malaya
and Burma. :

The American officers in Bang-
kok are in constant contact with
the French military authorities in
Saigon. Among the instructors are
artillery and air force specialists
as well as experts in jungle war-
fare, Siamese military circles are
expecting new deliveries of Amer-
ican war material, mainly aircraft
and heavy artillery. :

Siamese political circles are con-
vinced that the British and French
governments gave their consent to
American presence in Siam only
under strong pressure from Wash-
ington. The Americans, on the
other hand, point out that consent
was not difficult to obtain in view
of the situation in China and Viet
Nam and the endless difficulties

in Malaya. d RS

| We a3 r : x t

iba ‘ i

Unionists

By PHYLLIS ROSNER

LONDON
A country where living stan-
dards are constantly rising,

where there is no unemployment
and where the people are con-
fidently building for the even
brighter peaceful future envis-
aged in projects still in the
planning stage.

This is the picture of the So-
viet Union brought back by a
delegation of British workers
who visited the USSR for the

_ May Day celebrations and are
now back home after a 16-day
tour covering nearly 2,000 miles.

The delegation, as guests of
the Moscow Trades Council, vis-
ited several cities, saw a foot-
ball’ match and attended the
opera and ballet. One of the
things which pleased and sur-
prised them was the number of
Soviet people who speak Eng-
lish, including many of the

laud Soviet progress

school children they met.

When 11 of the 20 delegates

spoke to a press cenference here
they were, in their own words,
“submitted to an inquisition.”
Many of the questions fired at
them aroused their indignation
and in turn members of the
delegation firmly indicated that
the picture given in the capital-
ist press about life in the Soviet
Union was very far from accur-
ate.

Aberdeen engineer Daniel
Martin said that the tremen-
dous desire for peace was the
overwhelming impression he
had brought back with him.
“People kept asking us wheth-
er We were taking part in the
movement for peace in our
country,” he said, and added,
“I certainly intend to now.”
Labor camps were a “figment
of the imagination,” said Fred
Hollingsworth, national organ-

izer of the Amalgamated Union
of Foundry Workers. “There is
no question of forced labor...
aman is free to change his job.”

He pointed out that the Brit-
ish delegates ‘were amazed at
seeing so much reconstruction.
There were no restrictions on
our movements and we saw
nothing of: any secret police.”

“Religious persecution is a
myth,” said Dagenham toolmak-
er Henry Lyall of the Amalga-
mated Engineering Union.

He gave a glowing picture of .
the abundance of food and other
consumer goods in the Moscow
stores. Shoppers thronged the
counters to get jewelry, watches,
powder compacts, handbags and
briefcases, dress materials and
silk scarves. :

“People have ample money
to buy not only the necessities
but the little luxuries that
make life pleasant,” he added.

TRYGVE LIE

UN Secretary General Trygve
Lie reported life in the Soviet
Union as being on the upgrade.
People are well dressed in Mos-
cow where there are new large
roads and avenues, new buses and
trolleys, mew private cars, and
a great new international air-
field. He last visisted Moscow in
1946. He said a crowd of 120,000
soccer fans in Moscow was well-
dressed enough to be easily trans-
planted to Wembley Stadium or
Ebbets Field.

Ho Chi Minh 60

: PEKING

All Viet Nam people are being

urged to develop a special produc-

tion drive in celebration of Presi-

dent Ho Chi Minh’s birthday — he
was 60 on May 19.

The impressive victory of the

the Turkish political scene than in

This has been substantiated by
statements of “Democratic party”
spokesmen, particularly the party’s
leader, Jelal Bayar, which indicate
clearly that the policy of accepting
American supervision of the econ-
omic and military life of the coun-
try will continue.

Final results now published give
the Democratic party 434 seats in
the National Assembly, and the
Popular Republican party 52, com-
plete reversal of the pre-election
assembly in which the Popular Re-
publicans held 359 seats and the
Democratic party 64.

Elections took place against a
background of widespread popular
discontent with the 27-year rule
of the Popular Republicans which
brought the people to the extremes
of economic misery and the coun-
try to the status of an American
colony.

With conditions approaching fa-
mine in the countryside following
the failure of last year’s harvest,
and with growing unemployment in
the cities caused specially by the
crisis in the textile industry, the
opposition party in hope of a
‘change. F
’' Little change even in home po!-

icy, and no improvement in the

lot of the workers and peasants,

however, can be expected, since
| the main cause of Turkey's crisis
lies in her economic subjugation
to American monopolies.

Jelal Bayar is remembered as
the man who, as. minister of na-
tional economy in 1933, introduced
a decree outlawing strikes, follow-
ing a strike of 700 coal miners near

No change seen
In outcome of
Turkish elections

elections and reduction of the powerful “Popular Republican party” to
the status of a parliamentary group is likely to bring no greater change to

according to the unanimous opinion of observers here.

people undoubtedly voted for the |

CAIRO

opposition ‘Democratic Party” in

the names of the ruling politicians,

China reasserts
claim to Tibet

PEKING

“We must once again warn Unit-
ed States imperialism and its ac-
complices, the Indian government, ©
that Tibet is ‘Chinese territory and
that no foreign aggression there
will be tolerated.” :

This is the comment of the
Chungking Sinhua Daily on the
agreement reportedly reached be-
tween the United States and India
for transport of American arms
to Tibet via India.

“The people of Tibet are an in-
separable part of the Chinese peo-
ple,” continues the paper. “The
liberation of Tibet will soon be
realized . .. the various peoples of
Tibet will certainly give their all-
out support to the People’s Libera-

tion Army in its efforts to libera
| Tibet.” a

6000 delegates sign
world peace appeal ©
/ PEKING

A mass rally was held here re-—
cently to expand the drive for sig-
natures on the World Peace Com- —
mittee’s appeal. Over 6,000 dele-—
gates, representing Peking’s two.
million population, expressed their —
unanimous support by signing their _
names on the appeal. . ae

ATHENS
A new currency-smuggling scan-
dal involving top Athens politi-
cians, members of American mis-
sions and high-ranking officers of
the Greek armed forces has broken
here as a result of the arrest of
a few members of a big interna-
tional smuggling organization. |
Activities of this gang have long
been the subject of common gossip
in Athens where authorities have
shown remarkable reluctance to
make any serious efforts to break
it up.

foreign currencies illegally from

Mee

It has been engaged in exporting |

Currency scandal bares Greek corruption, —
American airman among three arrested _

Greece and exchanging them
abroad, mainly in Egypt, for gold
pounds (sovereigns) which are tak-
en back to Greece and resold for
foreign currencies at the higher
rate received here.

Racketeers arrested are John

Xanthopoulos, a broker who financ-.

ed the smuggling business, Squad-
ron Leader Angelos Angelidis of
the Royal Hellenic Air Force (on
active service), and Lieut. Anthony
Sarkedakis of the U.S. Air Force,
‘an American citizen.

It is not seriously believed in
Athens that any legal proceedings

will be started which will break —
up this racket in which so | :
leading politicians have profitable
investments.

Lieut. Sarkedakis, who by inter-
national law should be tried by a
Greek court, has been taken to
the United States, allegedly “for
trial there,” on the basis of U.S.
extra-territorial rights in Greece. _

The gang has its he uarters =
in Athens, but it is sec eee
to have wide international rami-
fications with agencies in Egypt. _
Italy, Germany, Switzerland and
other European countries. - >

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JUNE 2, 1950 — PAGE 3.

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