} in Communists meet | led with ae ilmiro Togliatti, Italian Communist leader (right), is pres- ltali @ bouquet of flowers as the national council of the ommunist party opens its meeting in Rome to discuss the coming national elections. US, embargo brings ‘Tisis to Singapore Brit PEKING Bey Observance of the U.S. OVe mt an unfavourable im- 1 Straits “Se More than $53,000,- Nua : ast year. Imports for Februa i n ry this year Wet eY $10,000,000 Straits » and the value of 0 Ver gay 22d exports declined Mary. $30,000,000 Straits in Feb- Nem; ; : Wake ment has followed in Ustry A the decline of both Ad commerce. More than 1,300 people register at the Singapore British Labor Office for employment every month. Approx- imately 1,900 people have register- ed at two navy employment agen- cies. According to press reports, rubber plants in Singapore dis- charged 2,500 women workers at the end of March. Even Malaya’s Financial Secre- tary E. Himsworth admitted last month that if the prices of rubber and tin “continue to fall at their present rate, Malaya will face a financial crisis within six months.” The Singapore Straits Times reported on April 23 that a “ris- ing sentiment” against the trade embargo “was felt in Singapore trade circles.” Business leaders believe that trade with the Peo- ple’s Republic of China “would be a major step towards solving Malaya’‘s present economic crisis” Udia won't "ith ban trade People’s China, = "endly country’ Peg The Ing; ble, 2dian amt Over trade ite Peopie Minister 'T. NEW DELHI €nt will not allow any discrimination against T. Krishnamachari, stated this in the House to Quac: e . Sstions eee house of parliament) here last week in answer K Y Hiren Mukherji, Communist leader. Kikuyu Mau ®en murdered Mukherji had said he was .per- turbed by reports that British had consulted India and other Com- monwealth countries about ban- ning shipment of strategic mat- erials to China. ae In reply, Krishnamachari said India’s membership of the Com- monwealth did not mean she fol- lowed the economic or political pattern of other countries. “China is a friendly country, and we will not allow any discrimina- tion by anyone doing business from this country,” he stated. , He added the Indian embassy in Peking had sent the Indian gov- ernment a list of articles China would like to buy from India. Some of them were strategic materials, which India could not sell, not because of any discrim- ination, but because they are in short supply. Restrictive regulations th a t might be enforced on ships regis- tered in the United Kingdom would not apply to Indian ships. a ‘Brain-wash’ treatment of freed U.S. POW’s brings angry protest There is widespread indignation and disgust in the U.S. at the way U.S. Army authorities are treating 23 returned prisoners of war now jailed in military hospitals in Pennsylvania. Even out-and-out anti-Communist newspapers like the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Baltimore Sun and the New York Herald Tribune have been moved to protest against what is being done to these young American soldiers. Released by the Korean authorities, they were labelled as “misfits,” singled out for special treat- ment, and sent to Valley Forge military hospital as mental cases. This was because on arrival at Panmanjom they would not produce the atrocity stories that U.S. Progressives carry assembly elections Army officers and U.S. pressmen demanded of them. The chief psychiatrist at the Valley Forge Hospital, Col. ' Philip Smith, has expressed amazement at these men being called “mis- fits.” Despite U.S. Army attempts to prevent these men from making statements they . have declared their disgust at the way in which large sections of the U.S. press accepted the brasshats’ account of them as “brain-washed” mental cases. Ten of the men held their own press conference to tell what they thought of the “dirty deal” they had received, as Private Roger Herndon, of Jacksonville, put it. Among them was Private Rob- ert Stell, a Negro from Baltimore who was the. first U.S. prisoner to reach Panmunjom at the exchange, and a Negro paper, the Baltimore Afro-American, points out that as a result of the Korean action for once a colored American came first. : “The enemy knew that in his native city Private Stell was not a first-class citizen,” said the Afro-American. “They knew that he and others like him were in Korea fighting for a democracy they could not fully share at home. “They knew that despite his sacrifice for his country, he would continue to be despised, segregat- ed, discriminated against and denied a better job merely be- cause his skin was not white.” The Washington Post said it shared the disgust of the attend- ant at the hospital where the men are. When questioned about | “brain-washing,” this attendant replied: “What the hell do they think we’re running here — a laundry?” in British SERETSE. KHAMA Bamangwato tribe loyal to Seretse Africa’s Bamangwato tribes- men have foiled all British ef- forts to impose a new chief on them. The tribal meeting called at Serowe last week to decide on a new chief to succeed the bann- ed Seretse Khama ended with- out a chief being chosen. Seretse was banished by Brit- ish authorities after his mar- riage to Ruth Williams, an Eng- lishwoman. New Soviet ambassador Here V. V. Kuznetsov, newly-appointed Soviet ambassador to the People’s Republic of China, is shown with Mao Tse-tung, chair- man of the Chinese People’s government, after he presented his credentials in Peking. Guiana _ LONDON Election figures in British Gui- ana show a sweeping victory for the People’s Progressive party which won 18 out-of the 24 seats in the’ House of Assembly. Although the People’s Progres- sive party will constitute the gov- ernment in the lower house, it will have only two seats in the upper house, appointed by the British governor, which holds veto power over all legislation. The voting indicates that the 400,000 people of the colony have given solid backing to the People’s Progressive party’s electoral pro- gram. This declared the party’s stand for a socialist polity based on the abolition of exploitation and oppression. It pledged itself “to the task of winning a free independent Gui- ana, of working out a democratic federation with the Caribbean colonies, whose federal constitu- tion should be written by a con- stituent assembly.” It has declared that it consid- ers the new constitutions as un- democratic and a facade under which to continue the present colonial exploitation of the West Indies. The People’s Progressive party also stated in its program that it would “strive for unity of workers and farmers, cooperatives, friendly societies, progressive business men and professionals, civij servants and housewives of all races. “It will champion their immedi- ate day to-day interests. “It will uncompromisingly fight against imperialism and colonial oppression and will support with all its power the international working class and the national lib- eration movements of all countries dominated and run for the benefit of alien interests.” The party has a membership of nearly 5,000 and is Supported by two trade unions — the British Guiana Labor and the British Gui- fm sen Union Congress. ese have a combined - ship of 15,000. meee Linden Burnham, chairman of the British Guiana TUC, is also chairman of the People’s Progres- Sive party, and many leading mem- bers of the trade union organiza- tions are also leading members of the party. Prominent in the news is Dr. Cheddi Jagan, who as leader of the People’s Progressive party in the Legislative Council has hitherto fought a Ione battle for indepen- dence for British Guiana. His wife, Janet Jagan, is of American origin, and the two of them have been so feared by the authorities that they were forbid- dent to visit the sugar Plantations, main source of the colony’s wealth. PACIFIC TRIBUNE — MAY 15, 1953 — PAGE 3 .