HEAVY PRESSURE ON PRESIDENT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22569, 24 February 1948, Page 5

HEAVY PRESSURE ON PRESIDENT

The Trades Union Council said it would not tolerate the failure to down tools in a one-hour strike on Tuesdav which is in support of demands for the enlargement of the nationalisation programme. Street transport, telephones, telegraohs and broadcasting will be held up only for a token five minutes. Police and Hospital services, gas, electricity and essential work in factories will be exempt from the strike. Heavy pressure is being put upon Dr. Benes, to accept the resignations of the eight Ministers who asked leave to resign from the Czechoslovak C~ 1 ret as a protest against the Communists’ refusal to carry out the instructions of the majority of the Cabinet against victimising non Communists in the police, says the Times correspondent in Prague. The Communist Premier, Dr. Gottwald and the chairman of the Trade Union Federation, M. Zapotocky, both demanded the acceptance of the resignations in their speeches to 8000 representatives of works' councils. The final resolution, however, left this delicate issue on one side, partly no doubt because Dr. Benes is known to be unwilling to take this step and, as he is extremely popular among the Communists themselves, an open clash between him and their leader would be highly unwelcome. The British United Press correspon dent says that the Ministry of the m terior issued sub-machine-guns and carbines to the Prague police. The Communists in Slovakia threw out non-Communist Ministers- "l the provincial Cabinet and divided their posts among Communist Ministers.

Typesetters on the Slovak democratic newspaper at Bratislava refused to set article's criticising the Communists while the Communists elsewhere urged printers not to handle material imposing Communist or trade union policies. The Ministry of the Interior said !hat the Czechs in future would have ' d obtain special exit permits to travel abroad. These would be granted only for urgent business journeys or journeys in the States’ interest.' Czechoslovak airline pilots were prohibited from taking off today follow ing the new travel regulations.