Yesterday and today

of his country were 1,200 milgs.,

away from the frontiers of ‘his country,

Tn 1947 the former commander of the First Canadian Army, General Crerar, announced that the strategical frontiers of Can- ada pass through Japan and Korea, and that these are being threatened by the Communists.

Thus in the opinion of General Crerar the frontiers of his coun- try pass 3,500 miles from the frontiers of his country. Who can dare say after this that there is no progress?

Chapter Ten: Franco will al- Ways be Franco,

In moments of adversity the Viennese used to console them- Selves with the song, “Vienna Will Always Be Vienna.” I sug- Sest a new song for the night- clubs of New York and London— “Franco Will Always Be Fran- co.” Of course Franco has had to change his vocabulary some- what, For example, he now says, “In a certain sense we, too, are Americans.” In 1941 he said: “We feel that we are the brothers of the Fuhrer’s gallant soldiers.” But these are minor points, and Only a pedant can cavil at them. As regards essentials, General Franco has undergone no change Whatever.

In 1941 he arranged with Hit- ler to send Spanish soldiers to the Soviet Union.

As reported in the Paris-Presse Cf October 2, 1948, Forrestal’s Personal representative, Air Gen- €ral Boatner, was conducting ne- Sotiations with General Franco concerning the number of divi- sions which Spain would be able to place in the field in the event of war against the Soviet Union.

I, myself, think that General Franco is offering his new cus- tomers the same old “Blue” divi- sion, As facetious Frenchmen Say, even the most beautiful girl Cannot give more than what she hag,

Chapter Eleven: Pavolini and Patrissi, ’

In November 1943 the Italian fascist party held a congress at Verona. At that congress Deputy Pavolini declared: “Traitors have done us much harm. The enemy iS in Naples. But with Germany’s ‘help we will crush Communism.”

In 1948 Deputy Patrissi de- Clares: “America will crush Bol- _ Shevism, and we will restore the monarchy, a monarchy revivified by evangelical fascism, of which We are the new apostles.”

Chapter Twelve: Dancing part-

hers stay on.

In 1941 Marce] Deat, who, as”

& super-traitor, was too much even for traitor Petain, wrote: A Russian invasion would sig- nify the Bolshevization of France.

All that ‘remains for France is.

to take her place, without res- ‘‘tvations and without reticence, at the side of a Germany fighting for the defence of the common ideals of the West.”

In 1948 Paul Plandeu, one of

he leaders of the RPF, General .

ns Gaulle’s - party, states: Whether we like it or not, Ger- any is our protection, our

‘Shield against the Soviet men- ace,” : f

om 1943 Friedrich Grimm said: cons formation, by a Stoup of sound-thinking French-

‘Bay of the French legion of

ism,” ;

tn the summer of 1944 I had °ceasion to witness the inglorious “nd of the “French Legion.” The

\

‘doned the

small

ciate against Bolshevism, is ‘ aaoweee first contribution to the ®fence of Europe from Bolshev-

first “contribution” was anything byt a success,

In 1948 Le Monde, organ of “sound - thinking” Frenchmen, writes: “A European army will necessarily be a Franco-German army.” Apparently, Plaudeu and

-his friends hope that the second

“contribution” will turn out bet- ter: they have a very tall gen- eral and a very short memory. e

Chapter Thirteen: back to its vomit.

Dog goes

Paul Shafer, member of the Armed Services Committee of the U.S. ‘House of Representatives, recently stated that the indus- try of western Germany could be restored quickly enough to play its role in a war.

General Halder, former chief of staff of the Wehrmacht, assures that he can build up a German army in Bizonia at short notice.

The roles have thus been dis- tributed: Shafer takes care of the .cannon and General Halder of the cannon fodder. All this is taking place in 1948 — three years after the surrender of Hit- ler Germany and the signing of the Potsdam Declaration.

The posthumously hanged Gor- ing can give General Halder no help in his new activity; nor can he recall that at one time he said: ‘The British and the Ameri- cans were mad when they re- fused to rely on Germany in the fight against Eastern: anarchy.”

Chapter lampshades. Commenting on the Yalta De- claration the Volkischer Beobach- ter wrote: “The heroes of the anti-Bolshevist war will get, not the punishments which the blind Mr. Churchill promises them, but the laurels of history.” Churchill has proved. to be not so blind after all: speaking re- cently in the House of Com- mons, he referred to “the hateful processes of denazification trials.” Karl Schaefer, president of the NDP (German National-Demo- cratic party, a new edition of the “NSDAP), who thrives in the American zone, declared that he demanded that “denazification be stopped immediately.”

It seems to me that Churchill’s wishes and Karl ‘Schaefer’s de- mands have been anticipated. Dr. Schacht is now treated with all respect. Heinrich Wilhelm Kopf, the butcher of Poland, is prime minister of Lower Saxony. It is hard to enumerate in a’ brief article all the war criminals who, even if not “the laurels of his- tory,’ got good ministerial port- folios. I shall only record the fact that General Clay has par- woman executioner Ilse Koch, the one who had lampshades made out of the skins of Buchenwald prisoners.

@ Chapter Fifteen: A little geo- graphy. : ‘ In 1941 the Frankfurter Zeitun wrote: “No one will ever again dare to dispute our rights to Alsace and Lorraine.” In those days—recent and yery distant— many did not agree with the opinion of the Nazi newspaper,

Fourteen: Intimate

for example, the population of

Alsace and Lorraine.

In 1948 the already mentioned

president of the NDP, Karl Schaefer, convened, with the blessing of the American occupa- tion authorities, a meeting of

tried and tested Nazis in Stutt-

gart and = grimly proclaimed: “Germany must get back all her lands, including Alsace and Lor- raine.” ge

It seems that it was right after this that Remadier declared in the Chamber of Deputies that

|

og %S

France was menaced by Soviet Russia. It cannot be said that he is very strong in geography.

©

Chapter Sixteen: Edouard the Victorious.

I recall Edouard Daladier’s tri- umphal entry into Paris in the autumn of 1938; that was after the victory he had won in Mun- ich. Daladier then said: “Hitler will be engaged in the Ukraine, and Russia is a colossus on feet of clay. The Red Army is poorly armed and in general is not a force to be reckoned with.’ :

In 1939, Daladier thad the walls in France plastered with placards reading: “We will win because we are stronger,” After that the Germans entered Paris,

When “the colossus on feet of clay” reached Germany and France’s hopes revived, Edouard the Victorious reappeared on the scene.

Recently Daladier again assert- ed in Carrefour that Russia is a colossus on feet of clay, that the Soviet Army represents no force and that its armaments are “old and demoded.” °

He is obviously drafting a new placard reading: “We will win because we are stronger.” Da- ladier was born in the Vaucluse department; this is some 25 miles from Tarascon, which gave the world another, more modest, but nevertheless famous victor— Tartarin. ,

Here I end. I must admit that I set out on this effort with a smile, but I soon stopped smiling —you cannot read without in- dignation the statements of the new cannibals who, sitting nap- kined at their dinner table, dream of being served 70 million human lives. You cannot read without anger the speeches of M. Jules Moch or M. Ramadier who in their blind hatred for Communists are re-enacting the disgusting story of Severing and Noske.

Some readers may ask: Is it possible that everything will be repeated? No. Ecclesiastes said that all the rivers run into the sea, and that unto the place whither the rivers go, thither they go again. Yet the rivers never go backward, nor does time ever turn back.

What if Daladier does repeat

what he said before France’s debacle? As we know, there is, besides Daladier, the French

people, which has learned a great deal in recent years. This people does not want to fight the Soviet Union — together with German fascists and under the command of American racists. Very likely the “Franco-German army of Europe’ will

*“Moch and. Oberburgermeister

Reuter, who, joining hands, will:

wend their way to the nearest American bar to celebrate the latest pay.

Besides the neo-fascist Patrissi, there lives on the Apennine Pen- insula the Italian people, and Scelba knows very well that this people has realized and learned a great deal. ;

I appreciate that Churchill is fond of reminding people of his existence. Still, Britain does not consist of Churchill alone; there are many ordinary people there; they may perhaps be phlegmatic and slow, but they think and understand, and they are not in the least inclined to die because Professor Oppenheimer feels an urge to “press a button.” Finally, in the U.S. too, where there are many bullies like Admiral Zach- arias or Paul Shafer, there are

many more peaceful people — -

foundry-workers and farmers, physicians and teachers, lumber- jacks and garment-makers. Be- Sides . . . there exists the Soviet Union.

-

consist of Jules

similar work.”

By ALAN WINNINGTON

— HARBIN [N the liberated areas of Chi- na, women are now free; their equality with men is guaranteed by law. The pur- chase and sale of women, pros- titution. concubinage are ille- gal; free choice in marriage is guaranteed; divorce is equally available for women and men; equal pay for equal work is in force in every factory.

It is one thing to enact such laws. but it is quite another to get the women themselves to take advantage of their new freedom. The feudal customs of centuries cannot be defeated by a law, and only the women can emancipate themselves.

’ This is the problem now be- ing tackled with vigor by the 20,000,000-strong Women’s Un- ion of the Liberated Areas.

In the countryside, the big- gest break was made by the re- form of the feudal land-hoid- ing system. To China’s peas- ant millions land is life—the ownership of land means se- curity and social status. Under

must be equally distributed to all peasants, irrespective of age or sex :

Everywhere hot discussion raged among the women: Should engaged girls have their land at their father’s or their future husband’s place? What should they do with their land on marriage? Should wo- men have separate title deeds to their land? Argument swept from family to village meeting and back again.

The Women’s. Union encour- aged and helped the women to take a leading part in this gigantic redistribution which revolutionized every village.’

In areas near the fronts, wo- men carried out the whole re- form themselves while. their men were helping the army. and they did not hesitate to take up rifles and spears to prevent sabotage by armed

lords.

With the menfolk flocking into the army to defend their new freedom,. almost all wo-

al work.

In addition, helped by the Women’s Union, they are car- rying on innumerable side oc- cupations: spinning, weaving, making uniforms and shoes.

All these profitable occupa- tions are doing more than in- creasing the family income and providing for the army—they

pendence and a new social sta- tus

From this it a short step tc

learning to read, studying po-

gangs inspired by the land-.

“Girls of 15 to 25 normally join the women’s militia, which cooperates with the men’s militia in minelaying, sniping and

the new agrarian laws, land _

men are now doing agricultur- —

are giving to the women inde-.

20 million women choose freedom

litical affairs and taking part in local administration. td

In all the battle zones women are the backbone of the non- combatant work. They tend the fields while their men go to help the army, transport mu- nitions or carry the wounded; they prepare the armies’ food.

Girls of 15 to 25 normally join the women’s militia, which cooperates with the men’s mi- litia in minelaying, sniping and Similar work.

In the battle areas the wo- men medical workers are out- standing. They train them- selves to run, jump. ford riy- ers, and, with full equipment, keep ae with the People’s ar- my, e€ swiftest infan i the world. oe

Li. Ling-Ting is typical; only 24 she has had seven years of gruelling battle experience and heads her medical group. During a sudden retreat in

ssu, she found herself with 500 wounded to evacu- ate and only a few stretcher- bearers. Li mobilized local peasant women and, herself carrying the leading stretch- er, extricated every man un- der strafing from Kuomin- tang planes, é s

The emancipation of women in the town has been even swifter than in the country- side.

In the New China. the indus- trial workers are the leading class, assuming the responsibil- ity of creating a modern indus- trial state from the ground up- ward. Women are crowding in- to industry, studying tech- nique and being appointed to high administrative positions.

Their conditions of work were fixed by the recent Sixth All - China Labor Congress. They include: equal pay for equal work; paid leave up to two months for confinement Or miscarriage; a basic eight- hour day; restrictions on over- time and night work, and free education,

Today in New China the wo- men are setting themselves free. Already the basis of all the old vicious customs has been destroyed. Now there is no economic reason for tor- mented mothers to sell their girl children, or for women to remain the victims of ar- ranged marriages

Lo Feng-lien, who herself was sold to a landlord at the age of three, ran away at 14 to join the army of the people,

Summed up her views by say-

ing:

“The only way for China’s women to win their freedom is to take part in the revolution and in production.” ,

This ex-slave girl, now fac- tory director, is typical of the awakening that is taking place among ‘the women in Liberated China.

PACIFICO TRIBUNE — FEBRUARY 13, ‘i949 — PAGE 5