Evening star., 1948-07-04

Communist threat.
This Communist movement ir
Southeast Asia is not mushroom
growth, It's seeds were Sown long age
and the noxious weed has been put
ting forth visible sprouts for some
time. Only now, however, is 1t shoot:
ing up portentously. And the reason
for this swift acceleration is un-
doubtedly a powerful impulse from
Moscow. even though this be relayeo
through regional and local Com
munist agencies.
Last War Helped Reds
Western intelligence officers ano
colonial authorities are not taken
by surprise. Despite Communist
secretiveness, enough evidence has
leaked out to cause informed OBJ
servers to anticipate serious trouble
in Southeast Asia within the near
future.
To begin with, nuclei of Commu-
mist activity have existed there for
many years. One of the first tasks
of the Communist international set
I'D in Moscow shortly after the
Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 was
the establishment of institutes for
the recruiting and training of Com
munist experts from every part OF
the world. who would then be sent
back to their respective countries
to form the hard cores" of local
Communist movements. And Asia
had it's full share of these Red
alumni, who were always on the
Job, even when circumstances kept
their activities discreet and under
cover.
World War II offered communism
golden opportunities in Southeast
Asia. 1t greatly weakened the west
ern powers, shattered their coloniaI
ascendencies through the japanese
invasions, encouraged native nation
alist aspirations and left the entire
region SO wrecked that reconstruc-
tion was gravely handicapped anc
delayed. This was, of course, ideally
favorable for Communist penetra.
ton.
Communist strategy and tactic:
are fairly obvious. The first move
was to inflame local nationalist
movements, encouraging their lead
ers to seek absolute independence
involving not merely the ousting OF
western colonial authorities but
likewise the confiscation of western
capital holdings and the breaking
off of all economic ties with the
west.
The Plan of Conquest
The Communist calculation was
that such a clean sweep would dc
two things immensely favorable for
the furtherance of the WORLD
revolution. In the first place, il
would deal a body blow to the al
ready weakened economies of the
western powers. But, in the Sec
ond place, the cutting off of al
economic ties with the west would
render impossible the economic
recovery of the liberated" peoples
themselves. Deprived of western
capital, western markets and west
ern managerial or technical aio
and experience, these unfortunate
countries would sink ever deeper
in the morass created by the Japa-
nese invasions and occupations
The newly established native re-
gimes would be too unstable, in.
efficient, self-seeking and corrupt
either to handle such gigantic prob
lens or to maintain their authority
over hungry and desperate popula-
tions. In such an atmosphere OF
increasing chaos and demoraliza-
ton, the way would be clear fol
disciplined, fanatical Communist
minorities to overthrow the ma
tionalist regimes and seize die
tatorial power for themselves
Southeast Asia would thereby be-
come another segment of the Com
munist Empire, and the WORLD
revolution would have taken an
other giant step toward its f1nal
realization.
Such has been. and is, the Com
munist plan of conquest for South
east Asia. Naturally, it has beer
furthered by the southwark prog
ress of communism in China and By
the opening of vigorous Com
munist propaganda offensive II
India. But the factor that ha'
probably decided Moscow to give
the green light for the new cam
paign is determination to paralyzt
Southeast Asia's economic revival
thereby dealing a body-blow to thu
European Recovery Program by de-
priving the western world Of thu
supplies of rubber, tin and otheI
regional products so vitally needed
in western lands. Politically ant
sgategically, a major explosion il
Southeast Asia would likewise serv'
as a diversion of western attention
and energy from Europe, wher'
they are now concentrated to checl
Communist aggression on that con
tinent. This, of course, Is fam1lia
method for communism in genera
and Soviet Russia in particular
which specializes on sudden shift
from one sector to another, thereb'
hoping to confuse opponents ant
throw them off balance.
First Sign of Trouble
- The first intimation that big trou
BILE was in the wind came in tn
shape of reports by western in
telligence agents concerning a
ultra secret meeting of representa-
tives from the various Communis
Parties in Eastern Asia at Harbir
@H.L,r;o Chinese ComnlInis