BID FOR POWER IN BURMA BY THE COMMUNISTS

Grey River Argus, 29 March 1948, Page 5

BID FOR POWER IN BURMA BY THE COMMUNISTS

Strike at British Works May Become General | N.Z.P.A. —Reuter Cable]. (Rec. 8.45). SINGAPORE, March 27. A general strike, supported by Communists, is threatening Burma, according to Reuter’s Rangoon correspondent in dispatches which have been smuggled out of Burma. They have been smuggled because of an unofficial censorship on the messages from foreign newspaper correspondents in Burma. The employees of four Britishowned companies in Burma are affected, and in Rangoon the transport has already been considerably immobilised. The correspondent says: “The Communist Party is behind daylong parades being held by the strikers. waving hammer-and-sickle flags. The Communists are increasing their activity, which threatens to result in a general strike unless the Government takes action. All references to the strike are being banned in the local newspapers”. A British business man, Mr A. W. White, of London, who arrived in Singapore last night, said that the situation in Rangoon is tense, with the Government reluctant to have a sliow-down with the strikers, who are well armed. Mr White said that strike pickets are carrying Sten guns ir. Rangoon. The streets are deserted at night. They are • patrolled only by heavily-armed police. Mr White saw two Bren gun posts sited at strategic street intersections. The strike began after the dismissal of an employee of the British-owned Burham Oil Company, and it spread when workers of British-owned sawmills struck in sympathy. The strike is not anti-British, but it is against the Burmese Government, with the Communists manoeuvering to seize power in the country, said Mr White.