A Cana CHINA (This letter from China reveals the depth of degradation of Chiang Kai-shek’s regime, and also the hope of the Chinese people for freedom. The author is a Canadian who has lived in China for years—and who is not a Communist. For reasons of safety, his name cammot he disclosed.) —SOMEWHERE IN CHINA. E are all multi-millionaires now. Our monthly salary is 10 million dollars (Chinese). Just a year ago it was $450,000. Some inflation! Salaries go up every few months, but never fast enough. There is no hesi- tation in boosting prices, but there is an awful lethargy in raising wages. So the rich get richer and the poor get poorer . The root of the trouble is, of course, the civil war. A few Chinese swallow the government’s propaganda—that the “rebel” armies are wholly responsible and that, when these are beaten, democracy and re- construction will begin. d how many Cana- dians think that the war is a struggle for power between two parties—the Communists and Kuomintang? I suppose big bus- iness would like them to. think that, But—it isn’t true. The war is a le petween the peo- ple (led by the Communists) and a fascist bunch of bank- ers, landlords and _ profiteers ‘ who control the government— and therefore control the army, the police, the gestapo. The government is making a lot of the approaching “elec- tions.” No doubt they will be played» up: in our papers to prove that Chiang wants a dem- ocratic China—if. only those Reds would stop disturbing the peace! But nobody here is at all interested in the “elections.” Everybody knows they are a fake to fool Americans. The following description of the Greek “elections” by three British M.P.’s_ will fit China just as well: “We found that, with the exception of the ex- treme right wing, everybody said the elections were carried out by means of forgery, per- jury, terrorism, assassination and every kind of corruption.” And yet I suppose our press will hail the “elections” as “free” and “democratic’—just as it did ‘those in Greece. The other day a friend whisp- ered to me: “Do you know that is being taken to Chung- king and will be shot?” I know the man well-a leader of the Democratic League (now ban- ned), a fine fellow with a pas- sion for the good of the people and therefore dubbed a “Com- munist.” He published a liberal % paper till he, with many like I wonder him, was secretly arrested, Five | truck loads of political prison- ers were seen going out of the city. Few of the prisoners have been heard of since. 8 ‘HEN Chiang’s government falls, there will be a wave of’ joy throughout the country. That fall has not happened yet, but everybody knows that this is because of the aid Chiang gets from the USA (and from Canada). Little wonder that America, which used to be re- garded by the Chinese as a great friend, is now feared and hated. A Chinese friend wrote re- cently from Tsingtao: “Here we see mostly Americans—marines and their families. My blood boils! But it is not their fault that they are here and are be- ing hated. It is the policy of Washington and Nanking. When Americans read in their papers that Russia controls Dairen, a Chinese city, do they ever think of Tsingtao?” (A newspaper correspondent recently visited Dairen and reports that there is little sign of Russians there, hardly a soldier to be seen— and a completely Chinese and very democratic city govern- ment.) There are very “few factories and very little construction in China. This is due partly to civil ’ war and partly to impor- tation of foreign goods (now largely American) bought with huge loans from the U.S. and serving to strangle Chinese in- dustry. Both of these factors are caused by American foreign policy—the determined effort to capture markets and -to check progressive ‘movements. But the black clouds have sil- ver linings. The labor movement all around the world is grow- ing stronger. People are realiz- ing that they can rule them- gelves and have a_ society of abundance. The Chinese are slowly winning their struggle against their fascist oppressors. Even America’s billions cannot prop up much longer a eat oughly rotten regime. A el unt eel ti st Libabddh > >i) Di OES ww \) i TE MINIES & ett i} _ Friday, un 20, 1948 @ The world in review Britain faces its blackest year The plot behind Gandhi's murder ----- e Duplessis challenges Canadian labor by Mark Frank % WMCP ar gs: Py, ae ian writes -from A guide to good reading RISE OF THE NEW ASIA— by Darshan Singh Sangha—Pro- gress, $3—Book Union selection, $2.15. ARSHAN Singh Sangha was born in a little mud hut with three windowless and light- less rooms in the Indian village of Langeri, in the Punjab. His struggle to climb upward, to educate himself, to reach the light, is a fascimating story in itself although it is not Og in this book. At 15 Darshan joined the In- dian National Congress; at 19 he came to Canada as a student and attended the University of British Columbia for a year and a half. Winancial problems pre- vented his continuing his college studies; he took a job in the lumber industry and soon won himself a prominent position in the International Woodworkers of America, (CIO). Darshan returned to India this year to throw himself into the struggle to liberate his people. Before he left Canada he wrote this book, Rise of the New Asia. At Bombay customs officials con- fiscated the original manuscript; but the book was already in the hands of Progress Publishing Company, Toronto, and _ this month it is the Book Union choice as the book-of-the-month. His first article from India ap- peared in the February 13 issue of the Pacific Tribue, to whose readers he needs no introduction. In its 260 pages, Rise of the New Asia tells the saga’ of the march of a billion people in Asia brief foreword. towards independence and free- dom. “I do not pretend to be impartial,” says the author in a “No sane per- Son can afford that luxury when the issues are so decisive.” Darshan is a Communist and in analyzing the great people’s revo- lutions sweeping through Asia he vividly recounts the key role Communists play in the surge forward to win freedom and democracy. This book deals at length with the struggles in China, Japan, India and Soviet Asia; and brief- ly with the fight for freedom in Korea, the Philippines, Indo- China, Indonesia, Iran and Tur- key. Although the author mod- estly states that space limits him from dealing with any but the highlights, the reader will find an amazing amount of fac- tual material. This reviewer found the chap- ters on India and Soviet Asia the most interesting. The tyran- nical role of the British in In- dia (“How can foreign rulers ever be patriots!” exclaims an old Oriental proverb) is graphic- ally told, Sixty percent of the Indian people are born in hun- live in hunger and die of ger, hunger. The sham of the “in- dependence” recently granted India is exposed, and the author traces the development of the great national liberation move- ment and the growth of all-India national and anti-imperialist con- sciousness which will lead to a complete and genuine indepen- dence. “The negative aspects of the role of the dominant Congress and League leaderships does not — in any way mean that an in- dependent India under a Con- gress or League regime would be no better off than under imperial- ism. Powerful democratic forces are at work in India, both within and outside the organizations. Once British imperialism is gen- uinely ousted, the forces of the Indian people will sweep aside Indian reactions of all brands.” Running like a dirty thread through the book is the greed — of American imperialism, and the jackal role of “our own” Canadian government, eager to share in the spoils. Canada’s active share in the imperialist policy of exploitation of colonial peoples is made abundantly clear. Canada’s alternative choice— aid to the liberation forces of the colonial world and assistance __ in the development of their natural resources, can only be realized today by a people’s movement here to get rid of the old-line Liberal and Tory parties and elect a CCF govern- ment which would be sensitive _ to the democratic desires of Can- adian citizens. Rise of the New Asia is a book well worth having in your lib- rary. In pointing the path the colonial peoples. are taking it also charts clearly the road we must follow in Canada to win _ all.—B.W.