Source: The Militant, Vol. 12 No. 45, 8 November 1948, p. 2.
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A delayed dispatch to the New York Herald Tribune gives an unusually graphic account of the recent rebellion in South Korea against the puppet government installed by American military authorities.
The rebellion began on Oct. 19 when the 14th Regiment was scheduled to go to the island of Cheju “where a rebellion against the South Korean government has been continuous since March.” They were under orders to put down this rebellion.
Instead, the 14th Regiment “murdered all the loyal officers al Yosu and seized an arsenal of American and Japanese weapons” that inclined 2,136 Garand rifles and 500,000 rounds of American ammunition. They commandeered a train and arrived at Sunchori.
Here they ran up the flags of the North Korea People’s Republic and the South Korea Labor Party. They were joined by “about 400 Leftist policemen and armed bands of high-school boys.”
A platoon of troops at Kwangju with American lieutenants as “advisers” was rushed to “put down the mutineers.” But “instead, without resistance, the platoon merged itself with the Communist-led invaders.”
According to the Herald Tribune correspondent, “mobs raided government offices, destroying all tax records and police records. They cut the local telephone wires and put the lighting system out of commission.” The correspondent claims they murdered “men, women and children indiscriminately.”
More troops were mobilized. They succeeded in putting down the uprising in a savage bloodletting, picking off the “mutineers” with carbines even when they advanced with upraised hands to surrender. “Ten fanatical youths tried to seize the post-office and' start the revolt anew, only to be mowed down by government forces.”
More than 5,000 men were rounded up on the playing field of a school for questioning “to find but where they were during the rebellion and how they acted.” Batches were then executed on I he spot. “One of the first sights to meet the eyes of American correspondents reaching here today was a rifle squad of executioners standing over fallen enemies.”
In the terror victims were shot in the city indiscriminately “including women and children who were not Communists.”
The report concludes:
“The four American correspondents at the scene of the fighting have been urged strongly to point out that if the American troops are taken from the area in the discernible future, the whole country is sure to be conquered by organized Communists.”
One of our readers reports hearing an interesting Batavia short-wave broadcast beamed to the United States by the Dutch on Oct. 21. Although we cannot vouch for the full accuracy of the facts, we pass on some of the commentator’s remarks as jotted down.
“The situation in the Republic of Jogjakarta is still rather confused in more ways than one. In spite of the original Republican assertions that the Communist revolt had been virtually suppressed, other reports make it abundantly clear that this is still far from true.”
The commentator declares that the Communists are not strong militarily and are avoiding “large scale clashes.” He then continues:
“The Trotskyists, who are just as dangerous enemies of orderly states and whose leaders were liberated on Hatta’s orders when Musso started his coup, have gained much ground of late in the Republic. They have formed a new party, the Proletarian Party, which is supporting Hatta in his struggle against Musso but is a fierce opponent of the Moslem Masjoemi and the Indonesian Nationalist parties, right-wing parties sunpporting Hatta.
“The aims of the Proletarian Party, which is led by notorious firebrands such as Tan Malacca and Rustom Mesendi are clear; first, help in eliminating Musso and then make a grab at the government itself. So, in spite of its apparent strength in the struggle against Musso’s followers, the position of Hatta’s government is very difficult.”
In addition to the above, the Oct. 16 La Lutte Ouvrière, newspaper of the Belgian Trotskyists, reports that Hatta, President of the Council of the Republic of Indonesia “declared the inquiry in the Tan Malacca case had been closed for lack of any evidence, Tan Malacca not being guilty.”
La Lutte Ouvrière explains that Tan Malacca was arrested iri 1946 through the “influence of the Stalinists, who at that time were collaborating closely with the native bourgeoisie against the revolutionary movement. Our Indonesian comrades conducted a campaign for the liberation of their leader, a campaign which was supported by many workers and poor peasants and which finally succeeded when the definitive rupture and conflict between the government and the Stalinists occurred.” (The revolt headed by Musso.)
This has not prevented Tan Malacca from continuing his “critical attitude toward the government and his struggle against class collaboration and for the complete national and social liberation of the 70,000,000 Indonesians.”
“Comrade Tan Malacca,” declares La Lutte Ouvrière, “founder of the liberation movement of the Indonesian people arid Champion of the anti-imperialist struggle in South East Asia, was, in Lenin’s time, one of the pioneers of the Communist International and participated in its Congresses. He rallied to the Left Opposition front its beginning, that is, from the coming to power of the Stalinist bureaucracy. He created the important Trotskyist Party of Indonesia arid highly distinguished himself during the war in the Indonesian liberation struggle, becoming one of its heroes.”
The Sept. 10 Sinpo, Chinese daily of Batavia, reports that Dr. Muwardi, leader of the People’s Revolution Movement, a “Trotskyist tendency,” was found assassinated at Sounnakarta after being kidnapped by Stalinists.
Last updated on: 29 March 2023