@ The U.S. keeps this war going The ‘dirty war’ in Indochina HE French have suffered a new defeat in Indochina. But a month ago Ho Chi-minh, president of the Democratic Re- public of Viet Nam, -offered France an armistice. In these circumstances for the French to continue the war is to fall in a U.S. trap to enslave France, Indochina and the whole of Southeast Asia. Ho’s-offer to negotiate brought great hope to the anxious moth- ers and fathers of France. For seven years their sons have been dying in Indochina as of- ficers and NCOs in the Foreign Legion, in the Algerian and Mor- ocean regiments, in the West African forces and in locally re- cruited puppet armies. ~The 500,000 French and puppet troops the French. government maintains in Indochina have im- posed .a crushing burden on French taxpayers. But although the 6ffer to nego- tiate was repeated and publicly broadcast just before the war entered its eighth year on Decem- ber 19, there has been no answer from the French government. That France has been busy electing a president is not a rea- son for this silence. The Laniel government has had time for all sorts of things this last month — but not to end the war in Indo- china. x The reason there is no armis- tice in Indochina is that the French government has capitu- lated to British and U.S. pressure_ to keep the war. going. @ There has been no welcome for the peace offers of the Democra- tic Republic of Viet Nam from the British government. On the contrary, on December 8 Malcolm MacDonald, British Story and two more for preparing cof- fins for interment of the deceas- ed. é From then on their troubles multiplied. During the First _ World War many citizens in the Kootenays insulted the Doukho- bors because they lived up. to their pacifist beliefs and refused to join the army. Bitterness de- veloped. Following the death of Peter (Lordly) Verigin, killed in a rail- — way accident which many Douk- . hobors believe was not an “ac- cident,” the affairs of the com- munity. declined under poor lead- ershrip, and the coming of the Great Depression added to the financial difficulties.. Between 1928 and 1938 the CCUB paid off over two million dollars in principle and interest By ARTHUR CLEGG commissioner-general for south- east Asia, informed the French authorities in Saigon that the of- fer of an armistice was “nothing but a trap.” He was telling the French authorities to go on killing French and other soldiers. -U.S. pressure on France has been even more blatant. Hardly HO CH! MINH a week now passes without U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles issuing some new threat to keep France toeing the U.S. line in Europe and the Far East. Nicholas Read-Collins, a for- mer chief of the British Legal Division of General MacArthur’s GHQ in Tokyo, who visited Saigon in 1944 and 1948, has aptly de- scribed the U.S. role in the Indo- china war. In his pamphlet, Report.on the War in Indochina, he writes: “The American State Depart- ment seems to have shown itself just as practised in the art of divide-and-rule as the French, In fact, the United States has per- haps outmanoeuvred France at her own game. “From the outset it has been the American desire to effect economic infiltration of Indo- china.” The . unsuccessful offensive launched by the French com- mand in October last year was planned by the U.S. military mis- sion in Indochina and carried out on orders from Washington. French and French puppet soldiers do the dying in Indo- china. But it is the Americans who issue the orders and get the economic plums. Last year the French: govern- ment devalued the piastre, the currency of the French areas of Indochina, as a move against the black market. The only result was that the big U.S. monopolies making hand- some profits out of supplying the war through dollar grants were given a guarantee that a larger share of the spoils of this dirty war would go to them. The war in Indochina began seven years ago when the French government broke its treaty with Ho Chi Minh’s government and began its invasion of northern Indochina. Every year the war has con- tinued has found France more impoverished and driven farther into enslavement to the United States. An .ever-growing majority of the French people now wish to escape from the U.S. trap of con- tinuing the war. They, if not their government, want to accept Ho Chi Minh’s of- fer to negotiate an armistice and their demand is that of peacelov- ing people everywhere, to end a war that threatens world peace as long as it continues. of Doukhobors on loans and mortgages, but in 1938 the organization was declar- ed bankrupt and foreclosure pro- ceedings were instituted over the comparatively minor sum of half a million dollars. Later the province took over the Doukhobor lands en bloc for the trifling sum of $296,500. Value of the land and holdings was up in the millions. Doukho- bors have never forgiven this great “land steal.” In the past year we have seen mass arrests accompanied by po- lice brutality; heavy sentences meted out to Sons of Freedom Doukhobors who took part in nude protest parades; and fore- ible separation of children from their parents. The B.C. government has made no serious attempt to solve the . ‘“Doukhobor problem.” Most of the recommendations contained in the 1952 Report of the Douk- obor Research Committee (a re- port prepared at the request of the government) have been ignor- ed. The Doukhobors, not unnatu- rally, have lost any confidence they might have had in the new Social Credit government because of its bungling of the situation. British Columbians — and all Canadians — must feel a deep sense of shame when they study the brutal and stupid attitude adopted by governmental bodies towards the Doukhobors almost from the time of their arrival in this country. Throughout the province, and from coast to coast, democratic citizens should raise the cry: “Justice for the Douk- hobors!” News Agency and the one at bottom from French sources, show units of the Vietnamese People’s Army in action. : ate posters on boardings’ and walls announce the ar- rival of Czechoslovakia’s big- best travelling circus, Hum- berto’s and not only children but adults too await its per- formances with the same ex- citement with which circuses are anticipated all over the world. Those who. remember the posters announcing the “120- year-old woman” who can perform miracles and tell your fortune by looking in your face, a “real” mermaid, and other such “sensations” may be surprised to see simple, artistic posters depicting in- dividual circus acts as they really are. Gone, too, are the shabby vans, wobbling on wooden, often broken wheels, pulled by tired old mares and accom- panied by shabby people, ‘clowns and barking dogs. In- stead, 65 freight wagons car- rying vans, animals, technical personnel and equipment ar- rive at the railway station. Humberto’s, the biggest touring circus, visits only re- gional cities, circuses, smaller but similarly- equipped, cover all the smaller towns. These, plus two per- manent so-called winter cir- cuses in Prague and Ostrava, are part of the national en- terprise which employs all artists ‘and other personnel and plans and directs the work of all the individual shows. Artists, like other people, like to live comfortably even though they spend most of their time in vans. Recalling the old caravans, one is sur- but ten other ~ Circus-news tyle prised to see the taste and comfort of the modernly-furn- ished bed-sitting rooms with gay curtains, easy chair, book- case, radio, pictures. on the wall. Today, earning decent salaries, all ‘circus workers can afford these attractive “flats.” Most striking is-the parents’ care for their children. Many remember a childhood spent in want, taking part in fami- Jy performances, rarely going to school. Though a number of the present generation of children show great talent — and take part in the circus program, their general educa- tion is not neglected. They attend ordinary schools wherever they are, and though they must change schools of- - ten, this difficulty is mitigat- ed by the fact that the school curriculum is now uniform throughout the country. All artists spend much of their time in training, as per- formances are based on skill and certainty, and the per- former is not out to thrill by flirting with death but by dis- playing real art and mastery. Winter used to be a tragedy; circuses closed down and everyone got sacked. Artists had to take whatever work they could find and try in the spring to get another booking. Now they are permanently employed and paid according to their work and their skill. They enjoy health insurance and all the other | benefits which belong to citizens in a people’s democracy, and in addition the state pays for their training. PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JANUARY 8, 1954 — PAGE 10