TNAG-0328-FCO40-364-Activities-of-New-Left-groups-amongst-students-and-youth-of--1973 — Page 69

G.F. 323 0003230

CONFIDENTIAL

- 9 -

demonstrations become increasingly respectable, more students may be willing to take part in them. The main elements in

society from which participants seem likely to be drawn are discussed in a note prepared by the Secretariat for Home Affairs and attached to Annex C to this paper (with which it inevitably overlaps at some points).

35.

Educational establishments are likely to be amongst the first targets, with students pressing for a greater voice in how their colleges are run. The new campus of the Chinese University may well be a focus of this movement.

36.

The formation of by the 70s Bi-Weekly group of a United Front Anti-poverty Action Committee suggests that social issues will continue to be exploited. The fact that on certain issues such as Chinese language, Sugar Street and the Yaumetei Typhoon Shelter public demonstrations seemed to produce quicker action by Government has given many the idea that results can best be obtained by this type of action. The idea may influence young workers too. Though attempts to form student/worker alliances and the activities of the Christian Industrial Committee have not yet been very effective, future industrial disputes may be exacerbated by activists.

37.

Chinese patriotic sentiments and issues can be expected to become more prominent. So can increasing support for official CPG policies from Chinese students in both North America and Hong Kong, now that China has a seat in the United Nations and is emerging from prolonged isolation. The Chong Kin Experimental College group has indeed already shown communist sympathies. where these are absent, the Colony's uncertain future will be an increasingly unsettling factor: the young will demand answers to awkward questions about it.

38.

Even

This will serve the interests of the local communists. Initially they were suspicious of the New Left. Although reporting its activities, their press thus gave it no overt support. They have now begun to change their tactics. As part of their United Front operations they will sometimes find it politic to support particular issues like the anti-poverty campaign started by the 70s Bi-Weekly; and to continue to sponsor group visits by students to China. However they are at present likely to remain aloof

/from any

CONFIDENTIAL