' \" Ay th | thi ii, Ll alti Price Five Cents Vol. 8, No. 32 ene Vancouver, British Columbia, Friday, August 19, 1949 ‘I marched with People’s army in big offensive’ FIRST EYE- WITNESS STORY ee t Here for the first time is an eye-witness account of the most im- Portant event in world history since the Russian Revolution—the liber- eir jokes are also chest- tobacco being the possessions ave won—and it will take its ution of 1917—was won and travelled down from north of Mukden, Manchuria, to enter Pei- By ALAN WINNINGTON Rewspapers are still talking about a Kuomintang comeback and some r Actually there are no more serious battles XCLUS nF duration for’the possession of individual towns, fang conscripts, with no support among the mass of the people, con- © Kuomintang is finished. ew large towns. Mintang armies into shreds in a matter of five months and changed the People's army did it, ranging from **Russian arms” to “the enigma of ™ystery, don’t go to China—stick to the movies and Charlie Chan. tured American jeeps and trucks, burning American gasoline. Over As for the Chinese character, I found them very ordinary people, They have a strong sense of humor and th of He humblest peasant. © hard way. the pr “my has “hecome: eTsbers reas; the razor-edge training © auton of China from the feudal imperialist Chiang regime. Alan innington was with the People’s Liberation Armies for 16 months Ring. His article below was written before U.S. Secretary of State cheson’s report on China was released. It seems necessary to say that the People’s Liberation army has alteady won the war in China. Necessary, because I see that some Merican backwoodsmen are trying to get some more dollars to push Own? the Kuomintang rathole. to be fought on the mainland. There will be some battles of a few hours’ or even a few days but the war is strategically won. ; Only about a million and a half war-weary remnants of Kuomin- pont up to four million beautifully-equipped people’s fighters who are Volunteers to the last man and are riotously welcomed wherever they go. b Yet less than a year ago, the People’s army was inferior in num- ets and equipment to that of the Kuomintang and possessed only a I was lucky enough to be able to watch the preparation of the Course of the relentlessly coordinated offensives which ripped the Kuo- Whole balance of forces in China and the world. _ bh There have been the, usual run of mystery stones about how the 'he Chinese soul’. ; rats ere is nothing mysterious about tt. If you are looking for c here are no Russia arms in China, but plenty of American, anadian, Japanese and British. I went everywhere in China in cap- there they refer to such gear as “presents from Marshall, via Kuomin- ang transport’’, ‘NX many ways more like the English than the English are like the tench, Mts sin the western world; they smoke pretty heavily, “Reap, and they like a drink. Courtesy and charm are a at these workers and peasants h ace in history alongside the Soviet Revol Owever. much equipment was captured, this could a ane oblem: of equipping a modern regular army, such as the T ¢oP Only t i ing of the whole population of th ated A, y the unstinted backing Mies eae 4 the faultless . Continued on back page See NEW CHINA KUOMINTANG FINISHED These are the me final great offensive now nearing Canton, against Ch imperial Japan, against the arms and dollars of the commander of the Liberation armies, and Mao Tse-tung, n who have led the liberation of China, from the historic Long March to the iang Kai-shek’s armies, against the armies of United States. leader of the Chinese Communist party. They are Chu Teh (left) Woodworkers’ unity can win wage boost Conciliation board findings in the IWA-lumber operators dis- pute have not been made public, but one thing is certain—wood- workers must prepare to fight back against the wage-slashing policy of the operators. A bulletin issued by the Wood- workers Industrial Union _ this week puts the case for wage in- creases and woodworkers’ rank- and-file unity to win them in these terms: ‘Never was the need for a wage increase greater. Never was it more necessary to hurl back the employers’ demand for a wage reduction. Never was the need for a united stand by the workers on the job more imperative or more pressing. . - - “WIU offers of united action on the job to maintain wages and working conditions have been sab- otaged by IWA officials. For three and a half months these officials have done absolutely nothing to arouse the workers to action in support of their wage demands. They have falsified the facts regarding their membership, fooling nobody but their own members. Instead of pressing the urgent needs of the workers, they have warned the bosses of the high cost of a-wage increase. They have attempted to make a back-door deal for a “blacklist which would wipe out the wage issue. , “And now, because of all this ineptitude, bungling and betrayal, the woodworkers are faced with a wage slash and the loss of all major gains won in the past few years.” In plants and camps, wood- workers are‘ holding rank-and-file discussions on action to beat back the lumber barons’ wage cutting program. United action from be- low has become imperative today. Rising living costs underline the need for wage increases. © The WIU bulletin gives some figures on HCL: “Between September 1, 1947, and August 1, 1949, living costs increased by 26.6 points. Living costs shot up again last month. All prime essentials—food, rent, light and heat—went up in price. Government figures reveal that foodprices jumped 4.3 points in July. Rents climbed another point. The cost of living now stands at 162.1, the highest peak ever reached in Canada’s history. “Canada’s pre-war dollar is now worth less than 43 cents. That’s what the cost of living figures really mean. Expressed in terms of bread and_ butter, they mean that wages are still shrinking; that the ability of the worker to buy the needs of life is still on the downgrade; that hunger is hovering closer in a land of plenty. So the lumber bosses are demanding a wage cut!”