CO537-2188 — Page 237

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other unions and a great number of clubs, guilds and associations which may in time be found to qualify as Trade Unions when the Trade Union Registration

Ordinance is introduced.

Over most of these it is safe to say that the K. M. T.

has established a certain amount of influence, varying in degree in different cases but probably capable of considerable intensification at any given moment,

It must be remembered that in spite of all efforts to broaden the basis of the

Government of China the KMT. is still the dominant party and is in possession

of considerable funds. It is not popular but it is feared and the Chinese in

Hong Kong are particularly sensitive to its influence. It is much easier and

safer to offer at least lip service with the majority than to stand out as a

rebel and be branded as a traitor, especially if your wife and family are living

in Canton,

.

The intention is ultimately to weld these guilds and unions into a

general labour union which will be organised by the K. M. T. and controlled through

the Triad societies. The purposes of such a union are solely political and have

no connection whatsoever with improving the standards of living of its members.

Labour organised in this way is a tremendously powerful weapon in the hands of

Chinese politicians because it is very easy to swing it as a whole into a general

strike which can completely paralyse the economic life of the Colony. It must

be emphasised that this weapon is in the hands of a political party whose every

action during the past two years has shown quite clearly that its policy is one

of active opposition to British rule in Hong Kong.

I venture to quote from that very interesting book, "The Chinese Labour

Movement" by Num Wales (Mrs. Edgar Snow), written and published in 1944:-

"The labour question is very clear-cut in Chungking to-day. It is simply this: whether or not labour is to have the elementary right to organize in defense of its own interests. At present it is stifled by a net- work of control by the most anti-labour and reactionary elements in Chungking. The Communists do not enter this picture. They are isolated in their own regions and have their own system of labour unions. Neither do Socialists, Social-Democrats or other pro-labour ideologists. No such groups have any organisation among Chinese labour. There is no question of Right or Left;

The therefore it is impossible to support one such wing against another. question is whether labour unions shall exist which represent the workers and serve their interests, or whether organizations using that name shall instead serve the purposes of the anti-labour forces

The policy of forcing workers to join "unions", inaugurated under the National Mobilization Act of 1942 and made law under the new Labour Union

The so-called Code of 1943, is a new departure and still experimental, unions were organized by the Ministry of Social Affairs and the CC party machine; if figures can be believed, they did a very rapid job of it in a few months

The underlying purposes of the new unionization program are quite clear: (1) to utilize the "unions" in order to help "stabilize" wages and