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"in the police to deal with a labour dispute, and they beat up fellow Chinese. The Hilton or Garden Road incident marked a turning point. Fellow Chinese went to stage an orderly demonstration but they were beaten up by the cunning police. After this, it became a racial and political struggle." All of those I inter- viewed adopted the same line of reasoning, particularly on the police intervention in the Sanpokong labour dispute.
"While the communist prisoners are highly motivated by nationalism and communist ideology, the question remains: Why are they so? Is it due to their educa- tion? Are they indoctrinated communists aiming to liberate Hongkong from the "imperialist" yoke? Why have they attached themselves to the communist cause?
"To try to find the answers, I examined the records of 100 prisoners most of whom were released in June and July. While this did not provide the most satis- factory method of finding out what made these commun- ists tick, the survey produced fairly reliable infor- mation on the backgrounds of a reasonably typical cross-section of those convicted in the 1967 distur- bances.
"Of the hundred, 11 were under the age of 20; 44 were aged between 20 and 30; 25 between 30 and 40; 15 were 40 to 50 years of age; and five were over the age of 50. All spoke Cantonese and only eight spoke or wrote English. Of the group, 83 claimed to have no religious beliefs. The sample included 43 married men and 55 bochelars. (Two of the group were woman.) One theory about those involved in communist violence is that they were sent by China to stir up trouble in Hongkong. This simple view does not hold water. Of those born in China (65), most have lived in the Colony continuously for several years,
"Another possible explanation is that the extremists who broke the law last year were the victims of communist indoctrination, Some evidence suggests that those who took part in really violent activities were partly recruited from communist middle schools and had been heavily indoctrinated, But it is by no means obvious from the sample that I examined that those who have gone to prison for the communist cause were "brainwashed" into espousing extremism. general, the group did not listen exclusively to radic broadcasts from China, for example. A mere 33 of the 100 read the "official" communist papers, Ta Kung Pao or Wen Wei Pao, but another 56 read other communist newspapers like Ching Pao or the New Evening News. At the same time, 42 of the sample admitted that they read non-communist or right-wing papers regularly.
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"Ignorance or illiteracy is not a good explanation for the causes which brought these prisoners before the courts. Only 15 had received no schooling at all; while 10 had received 10 or more years' education, and 30 had attended school for between five and 10 years, Surprisingly enough, the bulk of prisoners were not members of communist unions despite the active part played by the communist labour movement in last year's violent campaign. Only 36 prisoners had been union members, although the communist unions make quite determined efforts to recruit members and offer very considerable material benefits to their supporters.
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