COMMUNISM’S PROGRESS

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 January 1947, Page 8

COMMUNISM’S PROGRESS

POSITION IN SOUTH AMERICAN

REPUBLICS LOYALTY TO MOSCOW Communist parties loyal to Moscow have made greater progress m the South American republics than ever was the case with Nazis loyal to Berlin, Rome, and Madrid, says W. H. Lawrence. . n Mr. Lawrence is a special correspondent of the New York Times, who has just completed a four months, tour of all South American capitals.. In an article he states: ‘ln this correspondent’s opinion these Communist parties constitute a greater challenge, to the United States in Latin America than ever was the case with the Nazi and Fascist parties.

Balance of Power

“There seems little likelihood that the Communists are ready or wish to assume formal political power in any Latin American country in the near future. Their importance at the moment- lies in their consistent propspanda against the Western Democracies’ foreign policy and m support of the foreign policy moves by the &°Lawrence estimates that at a conservative estimate the Communists would poll 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 votes if the 20 Latin American republics held free elections, in which about 20 million persons might cast ballots. He says that the Communists exercise a balance of power in Cuba and Chile, where the Rightist parties are divided and confused. They are also making rapid organising progress in Brazil, which soon may place them in a position to decide the elections by throwing m their lot with one or other of the Rightist groups. No Foreign Funds

Communist adherents, he says play an important role in the growing Labour movements in Central and South America. . , He found no credible evidence that foreign funds were being used to build up the Latin American P artia s and leadership was also native to the hemisphere, though most of the top leaders at one time or another had been trained in Russia or France. “Latin-American Communists constitute a highly vocal dissident bloc impeding continental solidarity, ne says. • • • “This vast Communist organising, effort, undertaken in the interests of the Soviet Union and in an effort to introduce the Soviet political system on the American continent, is a dn ect challenge to the Monroe Doctrine.