British Commonwealth Is Most Important Battlefield In The Present World-wide Ideological Struggle

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 14883, 21 January 1949, Page 6

British Commonwealth Is Most Important Battlefield In The Present World-wide Ideological Struggle

It is obvious that among so variegated an association of peoples and so diverse a mixture of economics as are assembled within the British Commonwealth, the influence of Communism and the reception accorded to it must vary greatly. In Australia and New Zealand, for instance, as in the United Kingdom itself, Communist activity is expressed chiefly through the organised and powerful trades union movement, In all three countries the Communist party is still permitted to operate without overt hindrance, but in the face of increasing and hardening disapproval from moderate Socialist Governments. In all three countries the realisation, among the rank and file of trades unionists, that Socialism and Communism can never be reconciled is only now making general headway.

Progress in Australia

The Communists have probably made more effective progress in Australia than in neighbouring New Zealand, if only because the more highly industrialised Australian economy and, perhaps, the more volatile Australian temperament, lend themselves to it. Yet in both countries the disclosed Communist numerical strength does not amount to one per cent, of the total electorate.

Communist tactics in both Dominions have followed the same pattern —indeed, there is obviously the closest possible liaison between the two branches of the party. These tactics have followed the course already familiar in the United Kingdom—the establishment of active and militant Communists in executive trades union positions wherever possible; the embarrassment of the Government by strikes and industrial discord; opposition to every and all policies not approved by Russia, and the infiltration of Communists into apparently innocuous cultural organsations—as, for instance, the AustralianRussian Society., In both Dominions, Government reactions have also followed the same pattern—the organisation of moderate trades union, opinion as an anti-Communist buffer, the denunciation of Communist policy, and the tightening of regulations to prevent the dangerous exercise of Communist tactics in the civil service.

N.Z. Watersiders Notwithstanding these measures, and despite a notable anti-Com-munist publi'c reaction independent of political circles, the Communist influence upon such important unions as the Australian ironworkers and watersiders, and the New Zealand watersiders, remains very strong. In both countries it has been responsible for persistent go-slow tacti’cs on the waterfronts, for damaging and irritating strikes and, in Australia, at least, for interference in foreign poiicy.. The Australian Government was prevented by Communist elements in the watersiders 1 and seamen’s unions from sending arms by sea to Malaya, and the same two organisations also succeeded in gravely retarding the reconstruction of the Netherlands East Indies oilfields. ' In both Dominions the respective Prime Ministers, Mr Chifley. and Mr Fraser, have been forced to rally anti - Communist feeling. They appear to be doing this successfully, for only last month the Australian Labour Party, in the face of the strongest Communist opposition, withdrew its traditional objections to conscription for overseas military service and the New Zealand Federation of Labour and National Council of Labour, both got ri'd of vocal members of their Communist minorities. In both countries, still predominantly agricultural, an important factor is dislike and distrust of Communism among the farming communities. This serves, however, to introduce another note of discord, by re-emphasising differences between town and country.

Canada’s Problem Canada’s Communist problem is simpler than that of Australia and New Zealand and Canada’s reactions towards it have also been simpler and more direct. The Canadian attitude is inevitably largely swayed by the American which, on the subject of Russian expansionism, is in an uncompromising mood. Canadian feeling has also been greatly influenced by the disclosures made during the Canadian Russian spy trial two years ago when it was shown that Communist sympathisers in the Canadian civil service had been passing important defence secrets to Moscow. Like the Australians and New Zealanders, the Canadians have not yet outlawed Communism, but they do not extend to it even the wary toleration , it now receives from trades union circles in the two southern Dominions. The Canadian (ex-servicemen’s) Legion, all the main labour unions (which are extensions of their American counterparts) and, of course, the Roman Catholic Church (which largely influences the important FrenchCanadian section of the population), have all firmly opposed Communism with the result that any manifestations of Communist activity have been driven underground. Finally, Canada’s attitude is profoundly influenced by the fact that Canada believes herself to be directly in the path of any Russian trans-Arctic aggression. Many Canadians believe that the first bombs dropped in any third world I war will fall on Canadian soil, and | this feeling induces an attitude of

Concerted Action

DOMINIONS’ REACTION TO PERSISTENT COMMUNIST THREATS

The massive and spectacular American anti-Comiiumist reaction during the past eighteen months has tended In obscure the fact that the British Commonwealth is, in many respects, the most important battlefield in the present world-wide ideological struggle.

The United States of (America represents a substantial proportion of the vast hinterland of entrenched Western industrial democracy, but the British Commonwealth, vaster than either the U.S.A. or the U.S.S.K., stands upon the most strategic international frontiers—the underdeveloped and politically malleable East. It is upon the frontiers that the strategic moves of all campaigns arc based. It is particularly important, therefore, in discussing Ihe battle between Russian Communism and Western social democracy, to consider the British Commonwealth reactions to Communism, and the extent to which Russian Communist expansionism has gained or lost ground within the Commonwealth's sphere of influence. This sphere is so vast that this article can deal only with tin 1 Dominions, or self-governing territories, writes a special Dominions correspondent of the Reciprocal Trade Federation of the United Kingdom. Equally complex problems arise in the great British colonial territories still largely administered from Whitehall.

ostentatious realism towards any groups or individuals with proRussian sympathies. Colour Problem in South Africa.

South Africa, though for different reasons, is also in a forthright mood. The South African Government attitude—and there is no fundamental difference in this between Malap and Smuts—is dominated by the colour problem. European South Africans, whether of British or Beer descent, realise that the teeming coloured races among whom they uneasily dwell, offer an obvious and fertile field for Communist propaganda. They are determined, by any means in their power, tc prevent this propaganda from spreading and, as an initial precaution, from repeating the tactics it has already employed in Burma and Malaya. It is for this reason that recent British proposals to form a native African army have met with a most frigid reception in the South African Union.

As a result of these considerations, we find Dr Malan, who, in opposition, preached secession and republicanism, making an unequivocal declaration that South Africa will fight on the side nf Britain in any war with Russia. Fear of Communism in South Africa appears likely to achieve a conversion which, all the Imperialist oratory of Smuts failed to produce. Malan makes no secret of the fact that he intends to outlaw Communism. He has no trades union problem, as have Australia and New Zealand, because only European trades unions arc permitted in South Africa and among South African Europeans, fear of the colour war is the dominating consideration. We come then to the new Asiatic partners and associates in the wellknown firm of John Bull and Co. Three Asiatic Partners

Of the three Common wealth Asiatic partners who have recently assumed full control of their own affairs, India has undoubtedly the most serious Communist problem. This is due, in part, to India’s economically and politically vulnerable positron, but also to the growing influence exerted by the spread of Communist power in neighbouring China. Burma and Siam. Before the war the British banned Communism in India, but when'Russia became an ally this ban was removed, and considerable assistance was given the Indian Communists in what the Raj conceived to be their anxiety to fight the Japanese. The Indian Communists, however, as with the Chinese Communists in Malaya, fought the Japanese only as a subsidiary motive. Their main purpose was to consolidate their forces for the struggle now proceeding. As a result of the Communists’ growing power, the new government of the Union of India has been forced to revive security ordinances employed by the British against many of its own members, and use them to deal with Communist agitators and leaders. Many recent strikes and industrial disturbances in India, notably in Calcutta and Bombay, are attributed to Communist influence, and also some of the serious disturbances among the agricultural peasantry. These last include the wanton destruction cf rice crops at a time when India was importing grain from Australia in order to avert famine. Economically, Pakistan offers fully as enticing a field for Communist disruption as does India, but in Pakistan the cement of Islam which formed the foundation of the new Muslim state, has so far successfully withstood’ the Communist acid. Both the religious and property laws of Islam reject Communism and, so far, this has kept Pakistan largely free from the troubles besetting her neighbour. Ceylon occupies an intermediate position. Because her economic conditions are more ‘'settled and her territory so much less extensive, she offers less encouragement to Communist activity than does India. At the same time she does not possess the religious defences of Pakistan and in her politically sensitive and semi-educated middle classes she has a productive Communist recruiting ground.

< The most immediate effect of the Communist attempts to break through the guard of Hie British Dominions appears likely to be one the Communists never anticipated. Under the threat implied in Communist agitation, South Africa’s new Government has ceased to advocate republicanism and has become a convert to Commonwealth solidarity; Pakistan and India, which might both have followed in Burma’s footsteps, have shown a similarly changed disposition. Even Burma herself, if a face-saving formula can be found, shows a desire to retrace those footsteps. The Commonwealth conference in London has given the leaders of the British Commonwealth countries an opportunity to consider their individual Communist problems together and to concert some united action.

In doing this they recognised that the methods which can be employed to counteract Communism in countries like Australia and New Zealand cannot be employed in countries'like India and Ceylon. They also recognised that mere repression of Communism is only the negative approach and that the real answer to Communist imperialism is the improvement of standards of living and economic conditions, particularly among the underdeveloped coloured races.