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About Eugene register-guard. (Eugene, Or.) 1930-1983 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1963)
EUGENE HEGISTER-GUARD, Tufsdiy, Jan. 1, 1063 Page S Leaders in Peking Hear Complaints (EDITORS NOTE: What is life like today in Communist China? Few Westerners are permitted to enter China and they usually have little op portunity to see the country side or talk to the average Chinese. Lately, however, in creasing criticism of Red China's internal problems have been printed in publi cations which find their way to the outside world. In the following article, a veteran foreign correspondent cites some examples of recent com plaints), ' By CHARLES R. SMITH or th United Pren International TOKYO One morning last June, while darkness still cov ered Shu Cheng County in Communist China's Anhwei province, 50-year-old Chang Hsing-chang arose earlier than usual. He stole quietly to headquar ters of the Lofengkang People's Commune and left a letter in the crack of the door. He returned home quickly and prepared for another day of backbreaking digging at the Hsiangkuszu Reservoir, which his production team was help ing build. When commune chief Tzu Ko-ting opened the door to his office that morning the letter fell to the ground. It was for him. According to the official . Peking People's Daily newspa per, Tzu was startled by the unsigned letter because it criticized him, his high-handed methods and commune policies. The letter also complained of "certain" shortages. Tzu did what any good Com munist should, the People's Daily indicated. He indulged in "self-criticism" before the peasants. He "rectified" his thinking and high-handed meth ods. But he also "patiently ex plained" and the peasants un derstood, said the People's Daily the reason for the commune policies that came from the Communist party bosses in Peking. It was only after Tzu did all this than Chang admitted he delivered the anonymous let ter. "Had we known Secretary Tzu was that serious in handling the people's letters," Chang said, "there would have been no need for ma to deliver the letter under cover of darkness." Later in the year, when the autumn harvest was getting under way across the vast China mainland, Chairman Mao Tse- tung and other Communist party leaders ended a confer ence in retting with a com munique. It said: "The actual harvest of summer orops this year has hown a slight gain over that of last year, and the yield of autumn crops is also expected to register an increase." This did not mean, the com munique warned, that food chortagea would end, that things would get better for the nation's 650 million people. "Certain difficulties still ex ist," it said, and will continue to exist "for .a period of time . . ." The members of the Shih Chuang production brigade of the Yungnien County People's Commune in Hopei Province got the message more bluntly. Although the brigade's pro- auction was un during the year. the members cannot expect an increase in income, food, fer tilizer, equipment or supplies aid the Hopei daily newspaper and the Shih-Shih Shou-Tse (Current Affairs) magazine. The stated reasons were the brigade's uneconomical prac tices, failure to follow policies s Mao, Aide (AP Wlrephoto) Mao Tse-tung, Red China Communist Party chief, and his top lieutenant, Liu Chao-chi, wave to people taking part in the celebration of the 13th anniversary of the Communist take-over in China. from above, elsewhere. and greater needs The communique issued at the Communist press confer ence explained the reasons for all this: "The reactionary ruling classes which have been over thrown are not reconciled to their doom. They always at tempt to stage a comeback. "Meanwhile, there still exist in society bourgeois influence, the force of habit of old society and the spontaneous tendency towards capitalism among party of the small producers. "Therefore, among the peo ple, a small number of persons, making up only a tiny fraction of the total population, who have not yet undergone Social ist remoulding, always attempt to depart from the Socialist road and turn to the capitalist road whenever there is an op portunity." If capitalism keeps creeping back, the Communist leaders themselves must share part of the blame. In an attempt to quiet discontent, bolster the communes and the economy, they have injected some fairly liberal doses of controlled capitalism. This includes the encourage ment of private sideline occupa tions by commune members, in centive programs to boost pro duction, expansion of rural trade fairs. , The rural trade fairs, where farmers and handicraft workers are permitted to sell their pri vately produced goodi, under supervision, are flourishing. The youth of China have been (he main target of some of the Peking regime's most spirited recent campaigns. These in clude a back-to-the-farm move ment and a revival of birth con trol. "Many young comrades are now warmly discussing the question of going to take part in agricultural production." the Chung-Kul Ching-Nien (China Youth) magazine said. This perhaps was best illus trated by a cartoon in the June 16 issue of the Kwangming daily showing a young couple with four children, all looking mis erable. A commentary about the cartoon said: "This picture re minds us that many young peo ples, in their early 20's and be cause of their early marriage, have a large number of chil dren. Every day they are tor mented by household affairs. All this misery is brought about by early marriage." Rescue Teams Reach Wreckage AJACCIO, Corsica (UPD Res cue teams reached the wreck age of a French airliner in the blizzard-swept Corsican moun tains Monday and found no sur vivors among the 25 persons aboard. Police reports from the crash site said the smashed plane was located about mid-day high on a slope. Nine teams of foreign le gionnaires, paratroopers and al pine troops took part in the res cue operation. The craft crashed two days ago. It was carrying 21 men and women members . of Corsican basketball teams, 3 crewmen and a 3-year-old boy. The publication of numerous such items in authoritative Red Chinese publications are signifi cant to students of Red Chinese affairs. Combined with information from refugees, visitors to China and other sources, they make it possible to draw some con clusions on life behind the Bamboo Curtain. For instance, Chang's letter and the many others like it gives a fairly clear indication that life is hard, income is low and food is short for the peas ants. Conditions are not much better in the cities. It also can be interpreted as an indication that discontent is widespread, that authorities are permitting perhaps even en couraging some letting off ot steam and reacting positively to criticism in some cases. Along with this, however, has been a stringent clampdown on internal security. There has been an acknowledged shake up of Red China's internal secur ity forces. There has been an increase in training and indoc trination of the militia, which numbers in the tens of millions and provides a ready manpower pool that can be tapped quickly by the regular army in time of need. There also has been an in crease in external security, par ticularly in connection with the border conflict with India and fear of subversion and invasion by Nationalist Chinese forces from nearby Formosa. But, as far as is known here, there has been no increase in the size of the estimated 2.5 million-man regular People's Liberation army. One authoritative paper, the Canton Nanfang Jihpao, alone has published scores of articles in recent months emphasizing the need for tight security measures to guard against sub version by Nationalist Chinese spies or sympathizers, or attack from abroad by any enemy forces. South African Paper Forecasts Violence JOHANNESBURG, South Af rica Ml A warning that South Africa must expect increasing racial violence and sabotage in 1963 is published in the Johan nesburg Post. This weekly for nonwhites has good contacts with sources of information in the African majority. The Post's articles remarks that the last two months of 1962 witnessed three clashes between armed Africans and white po lice. "Political activities in this country have taken an alarming turn," says the Post "There is force, and force is being met by force and the vicious cycle spins faster and faster . . . . South Africa will have to live . . . with i look over Its shoul der in dark streets, with alarm at unexpected noise, with fear." Raids Staged South Africa's top policeman, IX Gen. J. M. Keevy, pledged after the three outbreaks that his forces "will move heaven and earth to wipe out the Poqo terrorists." Raids have been staged, especially in Cape Town's segregated African town ships of Langa and Nyanga, which are believd to be Poqo headquarters. Poqo is an Af rican organization with the mot to "We Stand Alone." Stiff prison sentences have been dealt saboteurs caught and convicted. A 19-year-old Afri can got 15 years on conviction end-of-year snnaDiE CILIEAIEAMCIE Hundreds of pairs of fine fashion shoes to meet every occa sion, all colors, all sizes, all heel heights ... 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