THE WAR IN KOREA

line and morale than orderly advance,

Prisoners from fire-ringed Seoul.

able to break into smaller ones

ahs type of warfare. Tanks and bombers are No use

Problems of

By ISRAEL EPSTEIN

Seek ic badaetanne!

British in Malaya, will face U.S.

| hed to figure out the outlook in Korea today? This
question must be answered both militarily and pol-
itically. :

On one side of the military picturé, regular warfare
appears to be ending in South Korea. Regular war
Means army fighting army, weight of metal against
Weight of metal, for possession of points and communica-.

Hons, U.S. forces now show power to break through to

any such objective. For example, they were able to get
into Seoul, break out of the Pusan beachhead and link up
across the peninsula.

‘On the other side, however, the Korean army still
exists. It has been able to fight fierce rear-guard actions
against superior American arms. It has also withdrawn
from lost points in good order. Among examples of such
Orderly withdrawal, requiring a high degree of discip-- _
are its success-
ful evacuation of. industrial machinery and American
Where it abandoned
heavy military supplies, it seems to have done so for
§reater mobility. :

Moreover, while the Koreans have pulled out of many
points, there is no evidence that they have pulled out of
any area, War-front correspondents write that while
some units have been moving north, other have “melted
into the countryside.” This means large formations are
carrying their arms
with them, and to take refuge in villages and country-
Side away from main roads.

Getting back to the’ situation of the, Americans, it
will be seen that the 'U.S. is at great disadvantage in this
against
guerillas, or regulars operating as guerillas. Destruction
of villages and other “possible” thiding places only en-
tages the population and make more guerillas. The
Only way to fight guerillas is man to man, rifle to rifle.

Guerilla fighting depends essentially on political
factors. Victory depends on whether the people support,
shelter and give intelligence to one side or the other. |

This brings us squarely into politics.

. Politically, neither ordinary city folk nor peasants
in Korea can be on the America side. City people whose
homes and means of livelihood have been smashed by
American, not Korean, fire-power are hardly likely to
feel grateful. Peasants everywhere the Korean army went
were given rent and mortgage-free titles to the land they
tilled. They are now better off than when they had to
pay rent, interest and taxes to Syngman Rhee’s sup-
porters. Since the U.S. army brings Rhee back as the
“legal” govrnment, they will fight to preserve their
gains. They will not take food into occupied cities where
the U.S. will therefore have the added burden of feed-
ing the population. The city people will not blame the
peasants. They will blame the U.S., since they too will
see American occupation and defense posts as the bar-
riers between town and coutry. ‘

This is not speculation, It is what is happening to
the French in Indo-China today. It is what happened
to the Japanese, and later to Chiang Kai-shek, in China.
It spells the fact that while foreign military domina-
tion of points and lines in Korea is possible, domination

_ of all Korea is impossible. Victory, in the wider sense

not only of having more guns in the place but of im-
posing one’s will, of restoring what was there before,
is also impossible. The old social system in Korea, feud-
alism in the countryside, has been smashed. beyond re-
call. No one can put humpty dumpty together again.

If the, U.S. sticks to Rhee, it will tie itself to an
attempt to restore corrupt feudal powers, since that is
Rhee’s main objective. If it disclaims Rhee and feudal.
“property rights”, Koreans will like it no better. They

will say, “Why did you come in and kill people to stop

us doing this thing for ourselves in the first place, with ”
‘much less damage? And why are you in our country
now?” i :

In either case, the U.S. army, which faced the North

Korean forces and many of South Korea’s people for ©

three months, will find itself opposed by the entire
Korean nation.

LPP COLUMN

jet out

“| MOVE that:we pledge to fulfill our quota by 200
percent” was the answer Nanaimo press workers
gave to the Pacific Tribune's appeal for 2,000 ae
scription ‘renewals before October 31. This fig -
ing reply fits to a tee the times we live in.
‘It fits the times because it is based on the real
situation existing today and the possibilities for get-
ting subscriptions created by that situation. !
The capitalists are actively engaged in war in
Korea. They are striving to convert this war into
global conflict. Every. capitalist — \
government is feverishly arming
for World War Three. Taxes, di-
| rect and hidden, are bearing heavi-
ly on the people. Profit-taking and
price-gouging are at an all-time
high. ;

Capitalism and its lackeys in the
labor movement are conducting
violent attacks against the think-
ing of ordinary people. The de-
fenders of capitalism have cast a
mould called “communist” and into
this mould they would pour every $i ;
individual a dares even to question the right or
wrong of governmental policies.

i etition, are
with pens and the great world peace pe on;
conducting an heroic and winning struggle to prevent .
world war and to maintain peace. sir

Working people are fighting back against oe
alism’s assault on their living and working conditions,

to maintain the right to think, to speak and to act
in the name of truth, justice and need. as
Overshadowing all is the titantic struggle between

and get those subs

are whipping up war hysteria. In one way or
‘another, they all present monopoly’s point of view on

>

On the other hand the peace forces, armed only » .

in PT circulation. Our Nanaimo comrades are ready

Left-wing and progressive people are fighting hard

permeates the daily lives of every single individual.

.viewpoint. It prints the news the big dailies suppress.

committees.

By ALF DEWHURST

the old and the new—between capitalism and social-
ism. This struggle, consciously and unconsciously,

Its outcome is inevitable. Victorious socialism will
create a new, happy and peaceful life for all working
people. : ;

- The capitalist press, the CCF press and the right-
wing controlled trade union press, in varying degrees

war or peace, wages or profits, free or controlled
thinking. j ;
The left-wing labor press crusades for peace. ptr
holds high the banner of socialism. It presents a
working class viewpoint on what happens at home
and abroad. It explains to working class folk how
events shape history and how ordinary working people

can shape events, thus making history. It helps to

mobolize people to act in their own interests.

“The Pacific Tribune is the finest working class
paper on the Pacific Coast. It presents the people’s

- Street sales prove that people want the Pacific
Tribune. Street sales are going up. More people are _
renewing subscriptions on their own, and as the
Pacific Tribune reported recently in its columns, one
out of every three readers, in renewing their sub-
scriptions, voluntarily make a donation to the paper.

Objective conditions favor a substantial increase

to meet the challenge. The sum total of individual
pledges made it possible for them to double their —
‘collective target. Their method of tackling the ifs
sub campaign should prove an inspiration to all press

By dB. SALSBERG
Elect unionists -
to peace rally |

the top brass of both trade union centers the member-
ship will now have an unusual opportunity to deliver a

LABOR FOCUS

_ mighty blow for peace. .

This opportunity is given by the campaign which the
Labor Committee of the Canadian Peace Congress has
launched for the election of trade union delegates to the
world peace congress in London next month. /It will be
the rank-and-files first chance to hit back at the buereau-
crats who jumped to the crack of the U.S. State Depart-

' ment’s whip at the recent conventions,
which they made into hysterical, red-
baiting, warmongering spectacles. We
are confident that the union men and
women across the country will use this
opportunity to the full. ‘

In a recent talk with one of the
officers of the Labor Committee of the
Canadian Peace Congress I learned
that though the union leaders who
head the committee have set them-
selves a modest objective, they hope,
nevertheless, to have delegates elect-

, ed from the main industrial areas in
the country. But what impressed me most was the dem-
ocratic pattern which they presented to the working
people in those areas for the election and financing of
the delegates. The election campaign will in itself be
a great labor demonstration for peace.

I should point out that “the delegation which the
Peace Congress will send is to include popular and trusted
representatives of all walks of life. But what the Labor
Committee is especially concerned with is the trade union
movement and~with the direct involvement of tens of
thousands of trade union members in the selection of
the delegates to represeht them at the world gathering
of peace forces. Neither the Congress nor its Labor Com-
mittee has the finances for such an enterprise. Every
last cent for the payment of fares, maintenance while
away and compensation for lost wages will have to be
raised by the workers who send the delegates. The com-
mittee has, therefore, evolved a plan that will guarantee
the most democratic and popular election and also pro-
vide funds required. Here is the plan. ;

The Labor Committee of the local peace councils will
call public conferences to which all workers, regardless
of political opinion or union affiliation, will be invited.
At those public and popular conferences the proposal to
send a trade union delegate from the area will be pre-
sented. If the decision is to send one then a delegate
will be nominated there and then or at a subsequent
meeting, as the conference decides. A special and all. —
inclusive committee will also be elected to conduct the
campaign for mass endorsation of the delegate and to

raise and be in charge of the funds required to send the

delegate.

These committees, on behalf of the local or regional
delegate conferences, will then conduct the campaign.
It will consist of securing signed endorsations of the
delegate from all union members in the area, sending
speakers to local union meetings, arranging plant gate
and other meetings and affairs. - Those signing the
nomination papers will also be asked to make voluntary
financial contributions to cover the expenses. Each
worker will give as much as he can or cares—anything
from a nickel up will be welcomed. As the spokesman
of the Labor Committee told me, they would rather have
10,000 nominators in an area each giving a dime than
have 500 who will give two dollars each.

e' +
Without fear of contradiction, I declare that this will

- be the most democratic and most popular election ever

held anywhere in this country. The men and women so
chosen will truly represent masses of Canadian workers.
They will be people with staunch records among their
fellow unionists. ‘They and not the machine-elected

.

union bureaucrats will have the right to say that they ~

speak for the working people,

Compare this democratic, mass-participating election
of workers delegates to an international conference with
what’s taking place in the “official” trade union move-
ment today. »The delegates sent by either trade union
congresses to ILO conferences actually receive plums

from Congress ‘chiefs for services:rendered to the ma-

cHine and then only after the government approves them.

The delegates sent by either trade union congress to

other world “labor” conferences are selected by a hand-
ful of men at the top. In addition, the officialdom of

ry

North American trade unions has recently been supplying

the U.S..State Department with hundreds of “leaders” who

are sent on trips throughout the world to sell the Marshall _

Plan and U.S. war plans to the working people of those ©
countries. The state department pays for those trips.

This does not include the hordes of labor bosses who are ;

given long-term jobs as labor attaches or who serve on
the Marshall Plan agencies in many countries.

What a contrast! On the one hand, the appointed

- Jabor servants of big business and its governments, on

%

the other, men and women from the ranks chosen by ~

thousands of their peers, workers like. themselves, to
join with similiarly chosen workers from all parts of |

the globe in the greatest of all present-day crusades—

to outlaw the atom bomb, to reduce all armament, to
avert a third world war, to win peace, lasting peace, for

-us and the entire world.

It’s a great, glorious campaign which now unfolds.
Go to it with all you’ve got to elect labor delegates to the
World Peace Congress in London.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — OCTOBER 6, 1950 — PAGE 9