Malaya Rubber Stoppage Has Complexities for Reds

Chinese Communists Now Need Supply Which Guerrillas Have Cut Off From U. S.

By Lawrence Griswold Last week there was no Malayan rubber surplus available to

the American market. Every bale of it, from ribbed smoked sheet to crepe, had been bought up by the government of Red China, probably for re-export to the U. S. S. R. ,

This transaction also put Mao’s Chinese Communist, regime in a curious position, for the widespread banditry in Malaya, which has been hampering all industrial' and plantation production since the end of the war is also a result of Chinese communism.

Now, since the Oriental iron curtain countries appear in need of this strategic essential for war, it will be interesting to see if the murderous gangs which have ter- rorized Malaya since 1945 will halt or even reduce their activ- ities. So far there is no sign of it.

For in the Malay Peninsula, as In the rest of Southeast Asia, political independence has not brought with it the peace and prosperity envisioned by the polit- ical spellbinders. In Luzon, the Hukbalahaps range around Manila as though they and not the gov- ernment controlled the island. In Indonesia, outraged minorities struggle against Javanese im- perialism and threaten a return to interisland warfare. In Burma the precarious reign of Thakin Nu hardly extends beyond the city limits of Rangoon and the crisis in Indo-China has been well re-

ported of late.

State of Siege Now, in Malaya, where at least

12.000 well-armed and organized guerrillas deploy around some

40.000 British and native soldiers, a highly mobile, slash-and-run warfare has created what amounts to a state of siege.

Like the other guerrillas of Southeast Asia, the Communist gangs of Malaya were armed, at great trouble and expense, by Britain and the United States, for the harassment of the Japanese occupying the peninsula.

To a certain extent, which \ a- ried from place to place, these guerrillas were a source of annoy- ance to Japanese patrols, but their j subsequent depredations against the nationals who originally out-! fitted them have been infinitely more effective.

When, at the coming of peace, the bona-fide guerrillas laid down their arms and returned to their jobs, the Communists formed what they called the Malayan | People's Army and proceeded to lay waste the countryside. Equipped with stolen Japanese weapons as well as the arms they got from the British and Ameri- cans, they were often better out- fitted for battle than the govern- ment troops they bushwhacked; frequently emerging the winners of pitched battles, although their j usual tactics were hit-and-run. To date, the British and loyal Malay casualties are <?ver a third higher than those of the Commies.

About the size of the State of New York in area, the Malay Pe- ninsula, extending from Thailand toward Sumatra, is a sparsely populated land of tropical forests and rivers. The tin, which is dredged from the river banks and shallows, is no longer as valuable an export as the rubber which is tapped from the descendants of the trees which were smuggled out of Brazil in 1877 by Wickham Steed. Strategically, however, it is fully as important.

Tin and rubber, twin sources of Malayan wealth, were both de- veloped by aliens. The Chinese! were working the tin mines of Perak centures before the birth of Christ, and the early Portuguese, settlers had a tin coinage when,! in the 16th century, the Dutch; took the territory away from them.

Stimulated Immigration And when the British intro-

duced hevea brasiliensis seedlings to Malayan soil and developed the rubber industry, the native Malay became a parasite on his own land, owning neither of the products that the native earth yielded.

Moreover, the rubber industry stimulated further immigration from abroad. Strong and willing workers were needed to clear the forests for planting and the good- natured and humorous—but lazy —Malay was soon displaced by floods of arrivals from China and India.

At the present time, the Malay is a minority in Malaya, number- ing only 2.1 million among a pop- ulation totaling three times that many. The Chinese rank first, with a population of 2,615.000, and the Indians (mostly Tamils) rank third with 534,000. Clearly the Chinese, even without the assist- ance of the Tamils, can so domi- nate the voting power that the native Malay may be left with- out a voice in the government of his own land.

The Malay Federation which emerged in February, 1948, from the four Federated Malay States (Perak, Selangor, Negri-Sembilan and Pahang), and the five Un- federated Malay States (Johore, Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Trengganu) is still a British de- pendency but with a popularly elected central government at Kuala Lumpar, the former capital of Selangor. The equation, there- fore, of “one citizen, one vote” can mean a great deal to the peace, and integrity, of the Malay Peninsula.

In 1947, an amendment to the constitutional proposal of the year previous sought to compen- sate for this inequity by requiring a minimum of 15 years of con- tinuous residence as a preliminary to citizenship. As in the case of most compromises, this has pleased no one, since the Chinese are still in the majority, but their numbers would be sufficiently af- fected so that the Malayan Chinese Society, the Chinese Com- munist Party and the Malay Com- munist Party have howled against it in chorus. Clearly, the Chinese intended to control Malaya.

At the end of 1950, Malaya is Just about as politically confused as during the months preceding autonomy. Deprived of the as-

sistance of the rajahs and sultans who traditionally furnished the village headmen with political ad- vice and guidance, the bewildered Malays are the targets of vague and conflicting theories emanating from local politicos, whose ha- rangues are not calculated to soothe their fears.

Large Conservative Party Por instance, there is Tan Cheng

Lock, the leader of the very im- portant Malayan Chinese Associa- tion. He is a commander of the Order of the British Empire and frequently addresses the multi- tudes in the accents of peace. Nevertheless, there is a stubborn rumor that Tan Cheng Lock is also one of the officers of the Council for Joint Action* which supplied every possible aid to the terrorists in the early days, and which is still one of fhe most ac- tive Communist-front organiza- tions in Malaya.

Interestingly enough, the largest political party in Malaya is thor- oughly Conservative. This is the United Malay National Organiza- tion (UMNO) comprising most of the literate Malays, the business and professional men and the rep- resentatives of the former ruling class. It includes practically no Chinese which generally are mem- bers of one of several separate groups, each smaller than the UMNO, but far more numerous in the aggregate.

The UMNO is run by the scion of an old and wealthy Johore family. Da to (Chief) Inchi Onn ibn Ja’afar is a Moslem, formerly a newspaper publisher in Johore Bahru and later Prime Minister of that state. He claims a mem- bership of over 2 million for his UMNO, but since this would in- clude practically every Malay man, woman and child in the peninsula, it is felt that this is an exaggera- tion. Actually, the UMNO is cred- ited with something under a mil- lion members.

Next in importance is the Malay Nationalist Party, which is to say. the Malay Communist Party. Headed by a mysterious figure named Dr. Baharanuddin. it num- bers about 100,000 members and exerts the real Communist pres- sure in Malaya. Probably less than 40 per cent of its membership is Malay; the balance are Chinese, Indonesians. Eurasians and Sa- kais. An undisclosed number of Europeans are also included.

Red Army Elusive The Council for Joint Action is

composed almost wholly of Chi- nese and Eurasians, and it is strongly anti-occidental. Its mem- bership is largely among the wealthy immigrant families and its numbers are well concealed. It is headed by a wealthy Chinese named Tan Ka Kee, allegedly a close relative of Tan Cheng tock, who also operates one of Singa- pore’s famous inland Coney- Islands called “Wide Worlds.” One of the CJA’s Steering Committee is a youngish man named John Eber, son of a respectable Eura- sian family of Singapore. Eber was graduated from Harvard and Oxford, but he is violently anti- white. His activities have already ruined his father, once a king's counsel in Singapore.

The Malayan Democratic Union is a highly articulate organization in the press but is without'official leadership. Apparently, its mem- bers are exclusively university- trained lawyers. Its policy is anti- British and obstructionist.

The API (Malay for “fire”) is the symbol for the Malay Youth Organization which appears to exist only to supply young men to the Communist gangs in the interior. Outlawed for some years, the API still drills and trains its recruits in accordance with CP directives. The leader of the API goes by the name of Bustamen and is the author of a book published in 1947 called “Revolu- tion by Bluff.”

The Chinese Communist Party has a small but very exclusive membership. Its officers are

changed at irregular intervals and it performs no active revolu- tionary work. Instead it creates

I and directs the activities of other movements and is the channel along which Communist literature and directives are passed to other points in Southeast Asia.

At the present time, the Malay Peninsula is far from a happy land. Even in Singapore, an island separated from the penin- sula by an arm of the Straits of Malacca, and still a well-defended crown colony, there is little free- dom from gangsterism. And from Perak, in the Malayan north, to Johore in the south, the planters and engineers go well heeled when they fare abroad, and their pleasure cars and trucks are often formidably armored.

As in the case of the French in Indo-China, the British can do very little in Malaya unless they go “all out.” The troops are gen- erally too late to the scene of a massacre, or they are ambushed on the way. And while it is known that a regular Communist army exists, it is as elusive as smoke in the thick forests. The British are wrathfully aware that the ma- rauding terrorists they pursue at night are, all too often, the demure farmers and small tradesmen who work at their legitimate occupa- tions during the daylight hours.

Since 1946 the British and na- tive soldiery have captured thou- sands of rifles, automatic weap- ons, machine guns, mortars and hand grenades. Only a small fraction of those tools of war could be identified as part of the equipment so carefully and ex-

pensively parachuted to the Ma- layan People’s Anti-Japanese Army of 1943-1945. All the rest came from Red China.

*

Kashmir Is Pummeled From Without and Within ■

1

The secretary of the World Moslem Conference recently served notice that further delay on the 3-year-old issue of who is to have Kashmir might dis- rupt the armed truce in the In- dian peninsula. At the same time there are persistent reports in New York of encouraging re-

sults in exploring for oil in Kashmir. Coming at the same time as the Communist threat to India via Tibet, these de- velopments turn the spotlight on

what may prove to be one of the most explosive issues faced by the United Nations.

On the map the Eurasian land mass resembles an arch over the Indian Ocean from Africa to Australia, with India serving as the ill-cut keystone ready to slip out under the strain. In that keystone the only* part which seems locked in place is the northern tip, Kashmir, which, with the neighboring Northwest Province, is squeezed in on the west by Afghanistan with Russia on its back, and on the east by China, thrusting down symbolically upon Tibet.

India and Kashmir are in reality just as badly placed in terms of today’s global strategy as they always have been pic- torially in the geographies. For the Indian Ocean is the key to Asia and whoever uses it must base on India.

Today Russia and China are moving against Kashmir under circumstances favorable to the Communist technique of inter- vention behind the scre*n of in- ternal discord. Russia’s Malik as long ago as last August prac- tically notified the West that communism would adhere to that system when he harangued the United Nations on the sanc- tity of civil wars and the crim- inality of exposing or resisting their instigators.

Because Kashmir is the back- door to India, which in turn is vital to the current world strug- gle, the fight over it is impor- tant. There are really two simul- taneous fights for Kashmir. The Communists seek to detach it from the West, and the two states into which India is now- divided seek to take it from each other.

First a glance at the internal Struggle. Kashmir belonged to a maharaja, who was chased out when India won independ- ence. The old India is now divided into Pakistan (Moslem)

By Randolph Leigh and India (Hindu). India as now constituted has in its con- stitution the official alternate name of Bharat. Both of the new nations rushed in to grab Kashmir. India, with 250 mil- lion population as against bare- ly 100 million for Pakistan, got there first with the most men, and still occupies that beauti- ful state. Civil war over that and other issues loomed. Leaders of the two nations called a truce, froze their boun- daries, left their troops in place, and appealed to the United Na- tions, in January, 1948. The United Nations sent an Aus- tralian commissioner, who fin- ished his survey months ago. It is over the delay in hearing his report that the Moslems now clamor.

Both sides agree in principle on a plebiscite. But who will referee it? The issue is further complcated by the fact that Kashmir is held for India by Sheik Abdullah, who also has an army of his own on the spot. But it is not certain that any solution can be peacefully im- posed. Pakistan insists on the witdrawal of troops, since they are hostile, and since the popu- lation is mostly Moslem. So, nominally, is Abdullah.

Chinese Invade Kashmir Even if InjJia consents to with-

draw its troops, what will hap- pen if Abdullah keeps his at the ballot boxes? He is the only politician who.se job is at stake. He could create a splinter state, counting on the dread of civil war on the part of both sides. For a religious war in Kashmir would mean a civil war in India. If Abdullah gambled thus and was hard-pressed, he might ap-

; peal to Stalin. If civil war

| breaks out in Kashmir, under whatever guise, the West would have another Korea on its hands—a Korea 1.000 miles in- land, with the whole Indian subcontinent as ultimate stake.

What are Russia and China doing while the rest of the world awaits the United Nations solution for Kashmir, which may not be a final solution? Both are active there. This is doubly significant for China, since it discredits claims of "volunteers only” in North Korea and of non-official activ- ity in Tibet. Too much “spon-

taneity” smells of a total plot. Russia led off with an agree-

ment with Afghanistan, flanking Kashmir. Its terms are secret but it is reported that the famous “desire” clause, pat- terned on the agreement with Iran in 1921, is included. This clause authorizes the sending in of Russian troops “if a third party occupies or desires to occupy” the "protected” nation. Under that clause Russia poured troops into Iran in 1941, against the “desire” of Hitler, which in that case w’as real enough,

Russia has also set up a tre- mendous propaganda machine in Pakistan and India. Com- munists are now allowed to publish scores of newspapers violently hostile to the West. They are in the vernacular and in English. Many of them carry articles- identical with those in Pravda of Moscow and even with the same release dates.

China has made the boldest move of all by infiltrating some 5,000 men through Karakoram Pass into Northeast Kashmir. Along with this went in August a smaller colonizing movement of Russian Uzbeks, via the Chi- nese defiles above Hunza, into that district, which is India’s northernmost outpost. Slightly below Hunza the British created 60 years ago the Gilgit Agency, on the upper Indus, as a barrier to just such a Russia move.

That these “migrations” In force into a desolate area must have high-level direction is in- dicated by three facts. First, they are aimed at territory where the actual boundaries in dispute are ill-defined even as

regards the local factions. Next they foreshadow the reasser- tion of nationalist claims, espe- cially on the part of China, of a kind which have not been put forward for more than a cen- tury. Finally, the land, aside from the new oil rumors, has almost no economic but con- siderable strategic value. What strategic value in a

snow-covered area, nearly 3 miles above sea level, where the Hindu Kush, Karakoram and Himalaya Ranges fold in toward one another to form the “roof of the world?”

For one thing, the Karakoram Pass leads down from China into the headwaters of the

Indus. That river eventually opens up the part of India nearest the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf—the close-in combat area for a fight for the Near East oil fields via the Indian Ocean. It also leads down to nearby Leh, focal point for caravans from the west and from the north for Ihasa. It ties in with the direct threat to Tibet via the passes farther east.

Descendants of Huns The Hunza district, into which

Russia is dribbling its scouts

or settlers, is still inhabited by a Hun tribe chased out of China centuries ago. Its inhabitants resemble Chinese more than they do Indians proper. The “immigrants,” who are, of course, illegal entrants, are, as

stated, Uzbeks, which is to say Russian Mongols. They are

directly descended from the Golden Horde of Genghis Khan. They are coming through the defiles near the point where the Chinese border and that of Afghanistan meet the northern line of Kashmir. They are com-

ing in with difficulty, at an

elevation of almost 4 miles, but they are slowly coming. Even if they establish themselves in force they would not have opened up a military route, since the defiles are too high and narrow.

The Chinese infiltration is entirely different. It is by way of the ancient Karakoram Pass, and could be either an immedi- ate military threat or, in con-

junction with the Hunza pene- tration, a "stacking” of the pop- ulation of upper Kashmir, which is thinly settled, with racial elements to augment the Mon- golian strain already there and form the basis of a strategic conquest by means of an appeal to a plebiscite while India is st:ll in turmoil on that issue.

If the Russians and Chinese now coming in are really sol- diers, they might seriously upset things, if the inflow continues, by striking at the backdoor of the Khyber Pass. They would also be in a poistion to take Lek and operate down the Indus as far as their strength would jus- tify.

This is taking place at a time when neither India nor Pakis- tan is strong enough to defy i either Russia or China.

Tough Red Takes Over Thorez Hammer in France PARIS.—A new tough leader is

expected to close Communist ranks in this key sector of the West’s defense.

Many believe 39-year-old Au- guste Lecoeur is slated to replace Party Boss Maurice Thorez, par- tially paralyzed by a stroke sev- eral weeks ago. A protege of Thorez, Lecoeur, like him, is a coal miner from Northern Prance.

When Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Vishinsky’s plane—an American C-47—flew here to take toe ailing Thorez *to a Russian sanatorium, leaders of the French Communist Party filed into the plane to say farewell.

When they emerged, few in the crowd noticed that one remained in the plane. It was Lecoeur, off on his first trip to the Kremlin.

“It’s like the French kings who had to go to Reims to be crowned,” one anti-Communist Frenchman remarked. “The Communist kings have to be consecrated in Mos- cow.”

Underground Active If Lecoeur, who has since re-

turned to Paris, is to be king of the French* Communists, he can expect to have fewer, but more fanatically loyal, subjects than Thorez. Many see him as head of a new type of French Commu- nist Party, designed only to bolster Soviet foreign policy and dealing as little as possible with domestic issues.

When the present French Par- liament was elected four years ago the Communists polled 5,489,000 votes—over 28 per cent of the total and more than any other group. They were the “No. 1 party of France,” where no party ever gets a clear majority. Their leaders won strong positions in the cabi- net and could argue convincingly for even stronger ones. They dom- inated the General Confederation of Labor, the country’s biggest labor union.

Many people would not have been surprised if they had taken over entirely, withftut too much violence. That actually did hap-,

•

By Carl Hartman pen in Czechoslovakia after a free election gave the Reds the same position they had in Prance.

But a middle-of-the-road, anti- communist coalition managed to hold together in Prance, strength- ened by massive American aid, and the Communists found them- selves isolated.

Their ministers were driven out of the cabinet. Their Deputies round themselves almost always on the short end of votes In Par- liament. Their labor union split. Its strikes were broken and rela- t i v e prosperity returned.

Communist popular strength was clearly on the downgrade. C i r c u lation of L’Humanite, the party’s chief daily, dropped from a high of about 400,000 to 225,000. Local elections showed the same trend.

Now Parlia- ment is at work on a new flee- non law iranxiy designed to cut the number of Communist Depu- ties to a minimum. If followers of Gen. Charles de Gaulle win a big vote in next year’s election the party may even be outlawed.

#With their tradition of conspir- acy and clandestine politicking, the Communists are always ready to close ranks and go underground The process is gradual and already under way. Half-hearted followers are purged. Good Communists drop their non-Communist friends, or find themselves in serious trou- ble with the party. rihe leaders are surrounded by more and warier bodyguards.

The heavy iron shutters have closed permanently on the book-

shop that used to occupy the ground floor of party headquarters in Paris. The seven-story building looks more like a fortress than ever.

Investigators working secretly report three top leaders of the Communist resistance to the Nazis are now concentrating on underground work. Funds are be- ing amassed in France from

Auguste Lecoeur Sketch by A. P. Artist H. E. Munhall

; abroad. In- creased effort is going into speci- alized propagan- da work among workers. For in- stance, the Re- nault automobile factory in the suburbs of Paris, with 40,000 em- ployes, now has 4 5 Communist cells, 6 daily newspapers and 12 weeklies.

What the party seems to want now is a well- trained hard core of militants ready to make any sacrifice for

! the U. S. S. R. in a hot or cold war. Instead of the

present 700,000-odd members, it would be satisfied with about 400,- 000—some think as few as 100v- 000—if they could be counted on to the death.

To carry out the new retrench- ment the party seems to be turn- ing to younger leaders. Their ad- vantage is that they have been brought up to believe that the Kremlin is always right.

Lecoeur seems to be one of the leaders—perhaps the leader—of the party group that non-Com- munist Frenchmen call the “Durs,” a slang term which trans- lates roughly as “the hard guys.”

He joined the party at 19 and in his early 20s became Mayor of Lens, center of the northern,

French coal-mining area. Lecoeur volunteered for the Spanish civil war and commanded a battalion in the international brigade. On his return he became head of the party in his area and member of the 100-man central committee. Captured by the Germans in the 1935-1940 campaign, he escaped and returned to underground work in France. The Gestapo hunted him in vain for four years.

Lecoeur led the Communist resistance in the coal basin and is credited with organizing a strike of 100,000 miners in 1941, Turn to Youth

Anti-Communists charge that armed resistance groups at the time of the liberation were less interested in killing those who had collaborated with the Germans' than in liquidating those they considered lacking in faith in Russia. In any case the miners’ union which Lecoeur now heads turned from a strongly Socialist outfit into a strongly Communist one.

Lecoeur went into Parliament after the liberation and was named # to a subcabinet post— undersecretary of industrial pro- duction for coals. This was during the honeymoon of the anti-Nazi parties in France. He kept the post nearly a year, making a trip to the United States in May, 1946, to get more German coal for France.

Lecoeur helped lead the two big coal strikes of 1947 and 1948, but their failure seems to have done him little harm. The party sent him to represent it at a cominform meeting in 1948 and last April chose him as a secretary. His special job is the key one of or- ganization and administration. This gives him tremendous power in the promotion and firing of minor leaders, an unequaled chance to build up a machine personally loyal to him. Stalin held the same job in the Russian Party before he became its un- questioned ruler.

attributed br the Aieocieted Preu.)

Controlled U. S. Spending May Stop Philippine Reds

1 •

America Willing to Lay Out Money, but Not the Way It Was Done in China's Case

By Frank White MANILA.—The United States apparently is willing to spend dol-

lars to save the Philippines from the threat of communism. But it is also apparent that there will be no unsupervised pour-

ing out of dollars as was dene in Nationalist China. There is ample evidence in the preliminary United States aid

agreement signed in Baguio in mid-November that the Truman ad- ministration has decided that* combating communism with cash requires one thing—aid funds must benefit the low-income masses who are the special targets of Red propaganda.

This is an abrupt change from the way American aid was handled in China before it turned Com- munist. It may yet save the Phil-1 ippines as the ^“showcase for democracy in the Far East.”

The State Department in its “white paper” on China last year admitted complete failure of the previous policy which respected “face” and allowed the Chinese uncontrolled use of some $2 billion.

Only a fraction of that Ameri- j can money trickled through to the low-income farmers and laborers, who simply stood aside and let the Communists take over.

I

Bell Report Basic Plan The China experience was a

bitter pill for Washington. That is why the preliminary'

agreement signed by President Elpidio Quirino and Economic Co- j operation Administration Chief j William C. Foster, as personal representative of President Tru- man. may become a historic docu-; ment in the fight of Western democracies to contain commu- j nism in Asia.

The agreement makes the Bell report, a survey conducted by a

group of American experts during the past summer, the basic plan for future aid from America. The concluding paragraphs of the re-! port of former Undersecretary of; the Treasury Daniel W. Bell said in part:

“The best way to strengthen the confidence of the Philippine peo-! pie in democratic government is to provide a strong and progres-j sive economy in which people can work and live with dignity and security. This will not be achieved j by continuing the agriculture and industry of the country along the present narrow and inefficient; lines. •

“The people of the Philippines need an opportunity, to expand production in agriculture and in- dustry and to share fairly in the increased output that this will bring.

“Above all, economic develop- ment must not become a means for increasing the existing in-!

; equalities in income. “The development should bring

with it higher real income and new opportunities for a better life for those who work on farms, in industry and in commerce. .. .”

Before the agreement was signed, some objections were heard in high Philippine quarters that the new United States offer of aid trod on Philippine sover-

eignty.

Parallel With China These objections largely disap- j

peared when the opposition Na- I tionalista Party and its unsuccess- ful candidate for President, Jose P. Laurel, said they saw no reason why the United States should not supervise the spending of a pro- posed $250 million loan.

There has been no attempt to minimize the difficulties this, 4 Vi-year-old republic has en- countered and still faces.

Tlie hard-hitting Bell report said the outlook for the Philippine economy “cannot justify an atti- tude of complacency.”

It said the “immediate financial and economic problems are acute. The long-run possibilities appear to be neglected.”

Under these conditions, the re- port continued, "no policy is so

dangerous as to sit back and do nothing.”

The men who made the Bell survey and independent observers here agree that the CQmmunist-j directed Hukbalahap movement is part of “an organized effort to disrupt the economy of the country and to destroy confidence in the government.”

It is agreed that suppression of disorder is essential, if “planned aggression” of the Hukbalahaps is to be put down.

Beyond this military action, however, is the need to deal flrmlv with poverty. Otherwise there is a distinct possibility that discour- aged, near-destitute masses of Filipino farmers and laborers will fall for communism. •

There is a striking parallel be- tween conditions that existed in China and those prevailing in the Philippines today.

The Chinese economy had been severely dislocated by the

*

long; war against Japan. The same is true in the Philippines, but the impact has been even, harder be- cause the proportion of this coun- try's resources destroyed or neg- lected is larger. *

As in China, inflation set in, wages continued low, faith in the currency evaporated and there was a flight of capital from the country.

Hit-and-Run Tactics In the Philippines a feudal sys-

tem of farming still is largely intact. Landlords have evaded the provisions of national legisla- tion increasing the share of crops received by tenant farmers, nul- lifying attempted reforms. In- dustrial workers in the cities receive scarcely enough for a sub- standard living and their plight increases as inflation continues. Measured in real income, both workers and tenant farmers re-

ceive less than they did before the war.

These conditions provide popu- lar support for the Communist leaders of the Hukbalahap move- ment who contend they are chief- ly interested in agrarian reform, the same propaganda line once

used by Chinas Communist leaders.

The Hukbalahaps—origin ally organized as the people's anti- Japanese army — were wartime guerrilla 'Units on Luzon. Tactics learned during the Japanese oc-

cupation were continued after the war against the newly established Philippine republic. Their “su- premo,” or leader, Luis Taruc, demanded land division before he would disarm his men. ,

Today it may be too late to deal with Taruc and the hard core of his army of between 15,000 and 30,000 guerrillas except on a surrender-or-die basis.

The Huk army and its leaders, embracing militant communism after a period of milder socialism, hope to take eventual control of the Philippine government to carry out their program.

The Huks thus far have evaded defeat by the Philippine Army by avoiding large-scale combat. Their hit-and-run raids are modeled after the tactics of the Chinese Reds.

Gradually the Huks are increas- ing their zone of operation, spreading through the back coun- try over Luzon into a dozen or more provinces, and occasionally striking close to large metropoli- tan centers, such as Manila.

The Huk movement also has spread to several adjacent islands in the Central Philippines where it feeds on agrarian discontent.

The Huks are in direct touch with the leaders of world com-

munism. They now call their forces the “People’s Liberation Army.” They are spurred to hope tor eventual success by the march of communism on the Asiatic mainland.

Before the Red Huks can suc- ceed. however, they must have far more popular support than exists today in the predominantly Cath- olic Philippines.

Not Too Late A vigorous government program

which will improve the lot of the low-income farm and industrial laborers and provide them with an incentive for standing by democratic institutions will de- prive the Communist Huks of any chance of success—short of actual invasion by Red armed forces. That is considered far beyond the present capacities of the Reds, who still eye Formosa from the China mainland.

The United States has been try- ing to instill democratic prin- ciples into the Filipinos for more than 50 years.

It’s not too late, provided there is outside aid in money and tech- nical help, an improvement in liv- ing standards and a chance for every man to become a landowner, a small-business operator or a worker with some sense of -se-

curity. This outlines a program quite

radical in the view of the pressure groups which now control the Philippines government. They are not likely to submit tamely. On the other hand, realists among them are frankly frightened by the prospects that the Huks may succeed unless outside economic aid comes quickly.

But they are not so frightened as to agree to any program call- ing for higher taxes on the wealthy. This part of the Bell program will meet strong resist- ance. Other opposition is likely to take the form of attempting to divert the funds or, at least a part of them, to the pet projects of politicians. Provincial powers need government funds to keep large numbers of their followers on the payrolls, most of them as special police who ruthlessly stamp out any opposition.

The Bell report recognizes the possibility that the funds intend- ed for improvement of the condi- tions of the masses may be di- verted to such projects. Therefore it suggested that a technical mis- sion of Americans supervise 'he spending of the aid funds. T'-'is aroused immediate opposition by the political powers tut popular support was so strong (hey had to retreat.

The choice of Mr. Foster to come to the islands to talk things over allowed the politicians to back down and save “face.”

Mr. Foster kept quiet publicly, standing on the record of ECA accomplishments in Europe as denying any infringement of the sovereignty of nations receiving aid under the Marshall Plan. But in private conferences, reliable sources say, he firmly stood by the Bell report and went even further in some respects.

He told the politicos it was a matter of accepting what the United States offers—or getting nothing.

Under the present close division of votes in the American Congress, he reportedly told the Filipinos, it was extremely doubtful whether they would get any aid from Con- gress unless they first enacted legislation showing their good in- tentions of carrying out adminis- trative reforms, raising taxes in the upper income brackets, halting inflation and profiteering, provid- ing minimum wages and balanc- ing the budget.

There is a good chance that the program will go over. Tre- mendous pressure is being put upon the politicians by Filipims with faith that their democratic government can succeed.

Unless the program does suc- ceed, 50 years of democratic experiment in the Far East will fail.

(Distributed br the Associated Press.)