CONFIDENTIAL
C.S. 41A
布政司署
香港下亞畢道
Minute σ
drapr
**** OUR REF.: SCR 3/3571/71
來函檔號 YOUR REF.:
Frog A
the brillen
REM IN
PL O'Keeffe Esq CVO
REC
Hong Kong Department
F CO
Dear Laurence,
A
2. 51
10 AUG 1976
COLONIAL SECRETARIAT
LOWER ALBERT ROAD
HONG KONG
6 August, 1976
Fulé sont to
me please
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is hull need to illa. reply if only adehauled fent-
Jas
In my letter to you (SCR 3/3571/71) of 14 July I promised an up-to-date assessment of the activities of the New Left. I would have got a piece together more quickly, but as you know we have been troubled both with earthquakes in China and refugees from Vietnam during the whole of July. (Charles is still enjoying his leave in the UK.)
2.
3.
What follows is mainly drawn from Special Branch material and I hope it will give you the full picture you want.
We use the term "New Left" to describe groups of mainly young people who profess discontentment with the established order and who actively organise protest in an effort to bring about changes. They do not form a cohesive political entity with a firm ideological base. In fact, they represent a variety of shades of radical opinion based on vaguely conceived Marxist beliefs.
4.
There are three New Left organisations in Hong Kong and their general policy is the voluble promotion of the more radical Trotskyist/Marxist ideology. They are:-
(a)
the 70's Bi-weekly group;
11(b)
the Revolutionary Marxist League (R.M.L.); and
(c) the International Socialist League (I.S.L.).
The total number of their supporters probably does not come to more than about one hundred.
50
The 70's Bi-weekly group was founded in January 1970 by several radical college graduates and former students some of whom were dismissed from their colleges for criticising their institutions' administration. In 1972, whilst studying in France, some members of the 70's Bi-weekly group were in contact with a senior founder member of the Trotskyist Fourth International (T.F.I.), China branch, then living in exile. As a result of his direct influence and teaching, members of the group embraced the ideology of Trotskyism. After their
/contd....
CONFIDENTIAL