The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-03-30
FRANCE EXPLOITS
SYRIA FOR ITS
WOOL and COTTON

PARIS, (By MaiD France IS try
ing to convert Syria into one Of its
colonies, Syria is to be screw in
the colonial machinery of France, the
source Of raw WOOL cotton and other
Industrial products for the home
country. The French manufacturers
are running the national industry Of
Syria; first the customs privileges
which they enjoy make it possible for
them to compete successfully with
the goods produced by native indus
tries.
Then the system Of French tax
alton in Syria forces the whole popu-
lation to surrender the lions share of
their earnings. Finally, compulsory
French currency has been introduced
in order to wrest the gold reserves
from the population. The numbers
emigrating from Syria bear eloquent
witness to the present situation in the
country: in 1926 $4,000 people were
forced to emigrate.
Syria Broken Up.
From the time Of the occupation
of the country in 1919 the French au-
thorities under the protection of the
occupational army Of 10000 have
been exercising a severe colonial re-
gime. Syria was broken up into a
series of tiny states. This enabled
France to maintain internecine strife
and religious dissension among the
native population to keep back the
economic development of the country.
According to a decree of 1920 Great
Livan was declared an autonomous
state. Desiring to win the support
of the christian population in Syria,
France artificially increased the in
fluence Of christian Livan by enlarg-
ing its frontiers and adding to it
purely Musulman territory.
Spread Thru Country.
This regime of French democracy
evoked in Syria a wide protest The /
revolutionary movement is expand |
ing. The Syrian nation has now been
struggling several years for its in
dependence. The last eruption of the
national movement occurred in 1925
in the form of local rising in the
Djhebel-Druze mountains, which de-
spite the barriers set up by the
French government, spread to the
other parts of Syria. During 1925
the uprising spread from the south
to the north. The French occupa-
ton forces used all means for sup
pressing the rising. In the summer
of 1926 the whole world rang with
the barbarous cruelties of the French
authorities. To the repeated peace
proposals made by the Syrians the
valiant French commissars replied by
bombarding peaceful towns, firing on
the peaceful populations, running
whole quarters in towns, smashing up
whole villages. The French policy
evoked the hatred and denunciation !
of the whole Musulman world. The
Syrian war had toll of $1,000 killed
and the losses caused to the popu-
lation are reckoned at 100000 lire,
the war costing France milliard /
francs and 1900 killed Including
10000 colored soldiers). But repres-
sion was quite powerless to suppress 7
the national movement. More and |
more sections of the Syrian popu- /
lation had been drawn into the fight I
against French imperialism. This /
movement is also participated in by
the toiling masses, who, for the first
time in the history of Syria, appear
ed upon the arena of the social stIug- (
gle.
Together with the peasantry the
workers bear the full brunt of imper-
ialist oppression.
Great Strike Wave.
The regime of terror, the abrupt
fall Of the CURRENCY in 1925 and the
rise of the cost Of living carsed
great strike wave to sweep over
Syria. In the summer of 1926 the
tramway workers in the town of Bel |
rut went on strike. Thf movement |
spread to the workers in other
branches Of labor: the printing indus
try, the woodworking, the tobacco /
and others. The movement then be-
gan to spread to other towns. Two
thousand textile workers downed tools
in Damascus. Here committee for
organizing the trade unions was
formed. 1t appealed to the workers
Of other cities to support the strikers.
Strikes are also proceeding in Hons,
Aleppo and elsewhere. The move
ment is everywhere accompanied by |
campaign for the organization of
trade unions. Together with econ
omic demands, the freedom to form
unions is being demanded.
The labor movement is being born
in the throes Of the struggle. The \
Wrench authorities are attacking this
s&cond front of the labor movement
which goes shoulder to shoulder with
theN Neutrality-suspicious. movement
BY order of the high commissioner
MANY active workers are being placed
underl trial and deported. The police