exaggerated picture of their real strength. The overwhelming majority of the population was not involved and has, often at considerable in- convenience, continued to go about its ordinary work.
7. As the record shows, the Government was throughout at pains to use as little force as necessary in dealing with the disorders. It was not engaged in a 'war' with the communists. It is not an offence in itself to be a communist or to study the teaching of Chairman Mao Tse Tung. The ban on the dissemination of inflammatory literature or posters does not include quotations from 'Mao's Thoughts' or the display of his portrait. The Government's sole concern has been the maintenance of law and order and the prevention and punishment of criminal acts whether they are committed by communists or by anyone else.
CHAPTER 2
THE START OF CONFRONTATION
8. At the beginning of 1967 there were 57 unions in the Colony with a paid-up membership of 60,000 under the control of the communist- dominated Federation of Trade Unions. The influence of these unions varied but they had considerable strength, though by no means a majority, in the labour force of many Government departments, essential services, public transport and shipping companies.
9. These unions were basically political associations. They were little concerned to safeguard the interests of their workers although they had gained some success in the improvement of working condi- tions for them. Their main purpose was the political indoctrination of their members by means of propaganda and by intensive courses of study of the works of Chairman Mao. In this they had succeeded to the extent that they had a comparatively small but dedicated core of adherents to the communist cause who had come to regard labour disputes primarily as political issues in which the principles of com- munism and the cultural revolution should, and must, prevail.
10. In this climate, and with the encouragement of the recent events in Macau and the successful confrontation of the shipping company in Hong Kong, it was inevitable that there would be clashes between communist workers and their employers. In the months preceding con- frontation there were major disputes affecting seven undertakings: four taxi companies, a textile factory, a cement works, and a factory pro-
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