ORDER MOBILIZATION OF LABORERS FOR RR CONSTRUCTION; EDITORIAL HITS PEOPLE'S APATHY, NONCOOPERATION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600390225-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 19, 2011
• Sequence Number: 225
• Publication Date: May 3, 1951
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/10/19: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600390225-9
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[Numbers in parentheses refer to appended source]
CLASSIFICATION CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIA
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD NO.
COUNTRY
SUBJECT
China DATE OF
INFORMATION 1950 - 1951
Economic; Sociological - Labor conscription
HOW
PUBLISHED Daily newspapers
WHERE
PUBLISHED Sian; Hong Kong
DATE
PUBLISHED 15 Dec 1950, 26 Feb 1951
LANGUAGE Chinese
TMIS DOCUUENT CONTAIN! INFORMATION AFFECTING THE NATIONAL DEFENSE
OF THE UNITED STATES WITHIN THE MEANING OF ISPIONARI ACT IO
V. S. C.. II AND II. AS AMENDED. In TRANSMISSION ON "I RIVILATIOR
OF ITS CONTENTS IN ANY MANNER TO AN UNAUTHORIZED PERSON IS PROW
HINITID IT LAW. REPRODUCTION OF THIS FORM I/ PROHIBITED.
SOURCE Newspapers as indicated.
The Sian News Bureau reported on 12 December 1950 (1) that the North-
west Military and Administrative Committee had ordered the mobilization of
laborers, for construction work on the extension of the Lung-Hai Railway,
by the Shensi Provinical government, the governments of Chang-an Hsien, the
Special Administrative Districts of Hsien-yang, Pao-chi, Shang-lo, Wei-ran,
and Sui-te in Shensi, the Kansu Provincial governfnt, the Special Adminis-
trative Districts of Tien-shui and Ting-hsi in Kansu, and by all their sub-
sidiary governments. The next of the order follows:
"For the purposec of exploiting the abundant resources of the North-
west, developing industry, improving the economic life of the people, and
strengthening and expanding the national defense, the construction of the
Northwest railway trunk line has become an immediate task of pressing im-
portance. For this reason, the Northwest Enabling Act of 1951 for the Mobi-
lization of Civilian Labor for Railway Construction is hereby enacted and
promulgated. All levels of the People's government are ordered to give
serious study to the order, make careful arrangements for its implementa-
tion, dispatch competent cadres to the towns and villages of the areas con-
cerned for the mobilization and organization of the masses, and from time
to time to report on conditions and progress, to the-:end that the order may
he put into complete and effective execution."
in a lengthy discussion of the importance of early completion of the
Lung-Hai Railway, the main trunk line of the Northwest, an editorial in the
Sian Ch'un-chung Jih-pao on 15 December 1950 (1) discussed the issuance of
the above order and severely criticized the people of the region for theii
apathy and noncooperation in'the project. It stated that, despite the fact
that the Central People's government has done its utmost by supplying funds,
ORDER MOBILIZATION OF LABORERS FOR RR CONSTRUCTION:
EDITORIAL HITS PEOPLE'S APATHY, NONCOOPERATION
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
CONFIDENTIMM
STATE` NAW X~ NSRB DISTRIBUTION
ARMY X AIR FBI
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 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/10/19: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600390225-9
CONFIDENTIN.
CONFIDENTIAL
engineers, materials, and considerable military labor, the laborers of the
region have not %.ome forward in large numbers to carry out the construction,
and as a result, much too slow progress has been made on the construction proj-
ect.
The editorial continued that this situation indicates a lack of understand-
ing of the political and economic significance of this railway by the regional
and local government cadres as well as by the people. It went on to say that
the securing of the needed 30,000 workers should not be a difficult undertaking,
for it is gnly a small proportion of the cumber of laborers available in the
Northwest. The CCP it added has had plenty of experience in mobilizing and
organizing large bodies of men for services, and although the building of a
railroad is more difficult than destroying one, even the comparatively back-
ward people of the Northwest would soon learn how to do it.
The editorial stressed that, in soliciting the aid of the people, al-
though that would accrue to
though it was proper to point our flit eW_u.-,,.~..iC .. ~~~~---- --- -
the people as well as to the country as a whole, this should not be the sole
basis for appeal, lest the workers make selfish demands for high wages and
distribution of large units of land. It advised the cadres to bear in mind
that important reasons for the building of this railroad on to Lan-chou and
beyond are to make the Northwest more available as a hinterland base for na-
tional defense, and to link China with its powerful and friendly neighbor,
the 'USSR.
In conclusion, the editorial pointed out to the cadres that this mobili-
zation implies immense potentialities for political education in Communist
ideology and methods of organization and work; it is hoped that, when their
work is finished, the laborers will return home as native leaders in various
kinds of political reform and social advance.
A Hong Kong dispatch of 25 February 1951 (2) reports that a very reli-
able and influential source at Taipeh definitely stated that the Chinese
Communists on the mainland are now engaged in forcibly conscripting a large
number of laborers. Part of them are now being moved to the Southwest to
work on the construction of what was formerly called the Stilwell Road; the
others are being transported to the Northwest to build the proposed railway
from Lan-thou, Kansu, across Sinkiang, to the Sino-Soviet border, where it
is to be connected with the Turk-Sib Railway in USSR territory. This rail-
way is to extend more than 4,000 kilometers, passing through numerous large
cities such as Hsi-an (Sian) in Shensi, Lan-chou in Kansu, Ti-hua and T'a-
ch'eng in Sinkiang. These projects will require the work of 200,000-300,000
414ve laborers. The objectives are twofold: (a) to fulfill an obligation,
undertaken by China in an earlier Sino-Soviet convention, to build the North-
west railway and thus provide a way of escape in the event of Chinese Com-
munist military reverses;(b) construction of the Stilwell Road to facilitate
attacks on Burma and India.
SOURCES
1. Sian, Chun-chung Jih-pao, 15 Dec 50
2. Hong Kong, Kung-shang Jih-pao, 26 Feb 51
CONFIDENTIAL
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