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Justice
The first act of the Communist Government was the release of hundreds of
criminals imprisoned for the gravest crimes. A new code of conduct was
enunciated for the police under which they were transformed into helpless
onlookers when Communists or their sympathizers openly flouted the laws,
assaulted their political opponents, and violated their property rights.
Large numbers were recruited to the police on the recommendation of the
Communists. Thus, the Communists were effectively placed beyond the reach of
the law.
Education
The Communists passed an Education Act. It was designed to strangle the
7,000 aided schools run by private agencies which had served in the field of
education for over a century. The Christian denominations raised their voice
in protest. For this bill to become law it required the signature of the
President of India. The President referred the bill to the Supreme Court of
India and on the basis of the opinion so obtained asked for suitable
amendments. Meanwhile, the Communist Government attempted to achieve the
objectives of the bill by a series of executive orders. The teachers of
private schools were placed beyond the disciplinary jurisdiction of the
boards. Teachers who were discharged because of immoral conduct in the
schools were reinstated by the Communist authorities.
The Communist
Government published a number of textbooks and ordered the schools to use
them. These books were intended to indoctrinate the pupils in Communism.
Land Reform
The Communist Government sought to abolish all types of tenancy. On an
ordered day called The Peasant’s Day, all peasants were to be transformed
into owners. This was designed to create a land-owning class which would
support the Communist Party fanatically. This was to be done at the expense
of those who had acquired their land through generations of honest labor.
Labor
Labor contract societies were brought into existence formed almost
entirely of Communists and their fellow travelers. Public Works were
entrusted to such societies who were subsidized even before the works were
undertaken. Only laborers in sympathy with the Communist Party were to be
employed by these societies.
The Party inspired
trouble in industries. In some instances Communist controlled laborers kept
the management and staff in illegal confinement for days at a time. The
management was denied all protection of the law.
Bureaucracy
Large number of committees were established providing income from the
public purse for an army of Communists. Where one vacancy arose in the
Public Service Commission of three, three Communist sympathizers were
appointed, thus raising the number to five.
Food
Kerala has always been deficient in food production for its own people.
The necessary rice was procured from the outside through trusted Communist
agencies and the distribution of food became a political weapon in the
interests of Communism.
Breakdown of Law and Order
Within the short period of 26 months there was a complete breakdown of
law and order. A sense of insecurity overtook the entire population. Cases
of violence were reported daily from different parts of the state and the
assailants were invariably Communists.
Communist cells
arrogated to themselves the function of administering justice. These cells
issued polite directives to courts of law regarding cases pending in them.
Communists or Communist sympathizers were appointed public prosecutors.
Public servants were transferred at a few hours notice at the request of
Communist workers if they refused to grant the demands of the Communists
however unjust. Communists were planted in every sphere of government
activity.
It should not be
forgotten for a moment that all this was done by a State Government
operating under a Federal Constitution which it had sworn to uphold. If the
Communists had been completely free in their operations, the horror cannot
be imagined.
Revolt
The oppression of the non-Communist population led to great discontent
and on June 12, 1959, a statewide program was commenced to expel the
Communist administration. The Communists sought to suppress the opposition
by arrests and by policemen swinging clubs. Over 1500 people were injured by
police batons. On one day 1,344 men were arrested, while on another day
2,053 women were imprisoned. The total number arrested arose to 143,000
during 48 days. The police opened fire in several places taking a heavy toll
of lives though not a single case of violence from non-Communists had been
reported. Churches were raided by the police under the inspiration of local
Communists under the guise that they were searching for arms but from non
were they able to recover any weapons. Communists broke into a private
mission hospital at night and caused heavy damage.
A Memorial was
submitted to the Indian President on the 19th of July by a 3-man
delegation of lawyers. It part of this Memorial read:
"Life has become impossible in the
State. Law and order have completely broken down. Internal disturbance of
great magnitude, at the inspiration of the party in power, and very often,
with the connivance of the newly recruited police–Communist–fellow-travelers,
recruited on the recommendations of Cell Secretaries is under way. The
State Government has abdicated its functions in favour of the Party and
their fellow-travelers. The administration is in open violation of the
provisions of the Constitution. Citizens are denied their fundamental
rights. The doctrine of equality before the Law and the Equal Protection
of the Law is to be found only in the letter of the Constitution.
Non-Communists are in a prejudiced position before the Law. Security of
person and property is not available in the State except to the Communist.
Every action of the Government is tainted by discrimination. The State
recognizes the right of the Communist alone to live and he prospers on
violence. In the view of the present administration the non-Communist has
no right to live except in serfdom. To the non-Communist is denied
equality of Status. The Communist government does not recognize the
dignity of the individual and attaches no value to human personality. The
Ministers, who, on assuring office, took the oath promising to "do
right to all manner of people in accordance with the Constitution and the
Law" have so far observed the oath only in its breach. Having come
into the power under the Constitution, for the last twenty-seven months,
they have been steadily undermining the Constitution. Though they accept
the position that they derive their powers from the people, they do not
seem to recognize their duty to exercise their powers for the Common
good."
The Union Cabinet on July 29, 1959,
decided to advise the President to assume to himself all the functions of
the Government in Kerala in the exercise of the powers vested in him under
Article 356 of the Constitution of India. The Proclamation was issued on
July 31, 1959.
Such is the ugly record
of Communism in partial power in the State of Kerala, India.
The Outcome
The Communist Government was expelled from power by the Central
Government and a new election was ordered. The election was held, February
1. The Communists used their superb organization and expended vast sums of
money, but their humiliation was great when they were reduced to 28 seats in
the house of 126.
In the meanwhile many
groups were active. One of these was the group led by K. George Thomas of
the Indian Gospel Mission who commenced publishing the newspaper,
Keraladhwani. This venture was a mammoth undertaking but paid enormous
dividends. The paper has now been publishing for six months. It rallied the
people constantly informing them of the true nature of Communism and urged
then to unite against their monstrous enemy.
A letter recently
received from George Thomas reads:
"It is with a sense of pride and
satisfaction that I write you this letter. This morning a new democratic
cabinet assumed charge of the government of Kerala. Our paper went out
into all parts of Kerala with a full page heading ‘Democratic government
re-established in Kerala’. I have the satisfaction that we have played
our reasonable share in the victory of the democratic parties. During the
election campaigns we gave full coverage for statements and speeches of
the leaders of the democratic parties. We wrote editorial after editorial
bringing before the people the dangers of Communism.
"I am sending
you three issues of the paper, one which came out on January 31st
just before the election. The other dated February 5, after results of the
elections were announced and the third which came out this morning
announcing the good news of the formation of a democratic regime in Kerala.
"Please notice
the cartoon on the January 31st issue of the paper. The man
standing with the ballot box in hand is the Communist leader Mr.
Nampoothiripad who was the Communist chief minister of the State. Before
him are seen the skulls of the victims of the Communist’s firing and
murders. The crowd of voters are depicted as shunting away from the
Communist leader. Behind him is shown China crouching with a gun in hand.
We can fully understand the impact of a cartoon like this.
"Then after the
election results were announced we published a cartoon under a caption ‘What
the Communist Party wanted and got.’ The Communist leader has his mouth
wide open wanting to get all the 126 seats. But the people gave him only
28 seats. This is represented as a man putting 28 on a spoon into the
mouth of the leader. These are just two examples of the way in which we
helped fight the elections.
"Above all the
democratic parties did, I consider the prayers of the children of God
around the world as the main fact which brought the Communists down. I
should be thankful to all of you who have upheld us in prayer through the
past critical months.
"Bill, although
I have given you the bright side of the picture, please don’t
misunderstand that I will be complacent or adopt an attitude of having won
the battle. I am more than aware that the battle is just begun. The
Communists polled almost a million votes more than what they polled in the
last elections. Thus it is very evident that if the democratic parties had
not joined together the Communists would have come back to power. In other
words the danger is still there. If we let go things, we will be engulfed.
So, you can be sure that we will continue the fight will all our might and
I am sure you will also rise to the occasion and be equal to the
challenge.
"With best
personal regards,
Cordially yours,
K. George Thomas"
Now is no time to relax. This paper is
needed more than ever. The urgent needs at present are:
1. $5,000 monthly subsidy.
2. $9,000 accumulated deficit. N.B. We are happy to report that we were
able to reduce this deficit by $1,000 during the month of March.
3. $20,000 for a rotary press. The provision of this press should allow
this magnificent project to become self-supporting within 12 months. Will
you pray and give that this result will be achieved?
ANDHRA
STATE
General elections throughout India are now
scheduled for two years hence. Another state on which the Communists have
fixed their hopes is the State of Andhra. Here the workers of the Indian
Christian Crusade led by Brother Devananda Rao and his father, Dr.
Pushpanadham, are increasingly active. They are achieving tremendous
triumphs for Christ. The picture shows the new recruits for a church
recently established at Kankipadu Village where the Gospel of Christ was
unknown.
What a difference the
love of Christ makes to the life of children. So many children throughout
the world know so little of the joys of childhood. The accompanying picture
of the second child of the Devananda Rao’s indicates a little boy who is
surrounded by love. The hearts of his parents are so large that they have
already adopted twelve orphans and are now proposing to adopt fifteen more.
The distressing thing is, that, of the fourteen orphans they have adopted
thus far, we have foster parents for only one. The publication of the photo
of the boys in our previous News Letter did not produce one single response.
I am printing it again in the hope that some heart will be touched with the
desire to share the love of God and the gifts of life with one of these
children. You may become a foster parent of one of these boys for $10 a
month. Surely there are many who will respond to this call.
CRISIS
IN THE BELGIAN CONGO
The Communist encirclement of America is
increasing daily and almost hourly. Two years ago the Belgian Congo appeared
among the most placid and orderly of the African nations. Suddenly rioting
began and a caldron of nationalism and violence was revealed lurking beneath
this thin crust of order. The Belgium Government is now renouncing its power
and granting independence and Communism has emerged from its hidden places
into the light of day. The impact on the life and work of the missions and
missionaries has been tremendous. The following extracts from three letters
received indicate the situation:
"I am a missionary of the
Conservative Baptist Foreign Mission Society, and have working in the
Congo now since 1949. When I was home on furlough in 1954-55, I received a
copy of your book ‘The Heart, Mind and Soul of Communism.’
"I read the
little book at that time, feeling thankful that in Congo Communism had
still not evidenced itself, though we felt that the day would come.
"It has come
upon us like a flood. Because of reading reports of other countries of
Africa and other provinces in the Congo, I had read and re-read your book.
The simplicity of it amazed me, and made me aware of many warning signs.
This fall, I read it again, as we faced new and warning difficulties in
our Mission. I immediately gave it to others to read. I has given us an
understanding of Communism which we direly need, and others have written
for copies of it and are using it in teaching our Christians.
"Kindly send
material that could be used to help inform missionaries, which they will
use in turn in teaching our AFRICANS. Our people’s language is Swahili.
Is there anything printed in Swahili? Some of them also read French well.
Please send anything which you have – two copies at least of each by
air-mail, and we will order others later."
Signed: (Miss) Marjorie Hudson
"Thank you, in the Name of our
Lord, for the air-mail copy of ‘The Heart, Mind and Soul of Communism’
which I recently received from you. It has already proven of tremendous
help to myself and several other missionaries here – for one of the new
political parties of the Congo – the one most powerful in our immediate
area – has just publicly affiliated itself with Communism.
"Because of the
urgency of the situation in our area, we ask that you please send the
indicated number of copies of this book to the following list of our
stations, in order that each of our missionaries might be better equipped
to fight the enemy just now come among us. Please send these by air, too.
"We would
appreciate any further information you can give us on the availability of
this booklet or similar literature in (1) French and in (2) KiSwahili."
Signed: Don Penney, Sec.
Executive Committee, Congo Field
Conservative Bapt. Foreign Mission Soc.
The following letter shows the
tribulations to which missionaries, who have literally given their lives in
service to the native peoples are subjected. Communism teaches that all
missionaries are against of American imperialism and spies and directs
towards them their venom and hatred. Though they may conceal this in certain
situations, they endeavor to infect the national Christian with suspicion
and resentment towards the missionary by playing on their prejudices and
their national pride. They are frequently successful.
"For some months now we here on the
Conservative Baptist Foreign Mission Society field in Congo have been
wrestling with a sudden burst of accusations, lies and intensive efforts
to get rid of us.
"Some of the
most vociferous attack has come from Church leaders.
"It has become
clear from the associates (and outside interests of those associates) of
these trouble makers that the trouble is sponsored by the Communists.
Captured documents show conclusively that missions are the first target of
this group. So far they are using professed Christians as front men. Later
these men will be the first victims of the whole thing.
"We are
desperately in need of good basic factual material on the nature and aims
of Communism to disseminate in large quantities in Congo. It would have to
be adapted and translated in to the Swahili language, which we are eager
to do.
"If you can get
this stuff to us fast we would appreciate it. There seems to be no time to
lose.
"We operate a
tract of the Month Club in which Africans and missionaries are members by
subscription. We print 100,000 tracts a month with lots of color, size
3" x 5" each page.
"My vision is to
use this groups as a nucleous for a widespread distribution system for
this material. If we don’t act fast we will have another China on our
hands.
"We produce
4-page tracts in color, and excellent printing quality, for $120 in lots
of 100,000 (and doing 8 different ones at once on a big press) (total
800,000 tracts for $1060.)
"If we had the
funds we could supply a new tract every month of 100,000, and do it
indefinitely. As we can produce as many as wanted.
"The first catch
is good facts and the second is funds. If your organization can supply
these we will be able to do a terrific job here.
"These people
are naive and expecting something for nothing. They will get a different
something from what they expect.
"We are
personally investing nearly half our salary in the Lord’s work and just
can’t do more, as missionaries, except use the Tract Club to get this
information out and our printing experience to do a good job of it.
"As of March 1,
we will be stationed at Editions Evangeliques, BP 52, Bunia, Congo Belge,
and can have this stuff rolling inside a month or so.
"I don’t know
where else to turn for information, and I hope you are set up to get the
facts into native hands as far as finances are concerned.
"Trusting the
Lord will enable us to use your experience here, we look forward to a
prompt reply."
Sincerely in Christ,
Signed: Philip D. Claar
The great need on the mission field today
is for financial and strategic mobility. Crisis situations develop almost
overnight and require urgent and sometimes drastic action. Any mission board
that has to wait for an annual budgetry session to provide urgently needed
help is helpless in these situations. For this reason the Christian
Anti-Communism Crusade has had to provide financial help for the projects of
the missionaries of some of the richest and wealthiest mission boards. We
have been able to do this by investing widely and immediately the dollars
you entrusted to our care. One dollar spent while something can still be
done is frequently worth a thousand given too late.
MILWAUKEE
ANTI-COMMUNISM SCHOOLS
Only those present can fully appreciate the dynamic impact of the Milwaukee
School for anti-Communism. This was the greatest of our schools to this
date. In spite of the blizzard that blanketed the Milwaukee area with a
thick blanket of snow bringing traffic to a halt, closing schools and
factories, the sessions of the school did not falter and 800 were enrolled
either for the full course of a portion of it. The faculty was outstanding
and unstintingly gave of their best. Twenty states were represented.
An outstanding feature
of the Milwaukee School for anti-Communism was the caliber of the committee
and its remarkable chairman, Maxine Graham. Never have I seen greater,
unselfish dedication and limitless capacity for hard work than these people
displayed. I hesitate to mention names as so many gave such outstanding
service but cannot refrain from referring to Mrs. Kadi Skogstad, who was
registration chairman, and Mrs. Stan Hoebrecks, who showed such endurance
and amazing strength in handling the great literature display that was such
a feature of the school. A summary of the viewpoint of those who attended
was given in the report of the Rev. T. H. Masters, Pastor of the Bible
Baptist Church of Wichita Falls, Texas, in his bulletin:
"Thanks to all of those who helped
to make it possible for me to go to this school. We had fifty hours of
class work in four days, speeches, films, recordings, question periods,
and speech classes.
"I believe it is
the most profitable week in my whole life. The speakers were tops in their
field. The students included doctors, lawyers, teachers, business men,
Catholic priests, Protestant preachers, and high school students.
"Sometimes I
would lose the trend of thought and my brain would go into a whirl.
However, all the messages were recorded on tape and they are available. I
have ordered some of them which I want the members of the church to hear.
Now I have the job of trying to assimilate all this information and to
learn how to circulate it into a language that the average layman can
understand. We make a mistake in thinking we can understand Communism and
how it works in a few hours time. Pray for me that I will become an
effective tool for the Lord in the fight against Communism."
As this is being written, we are on the
threshold of the School for Anti-Communism to be held in San Francisco where
we expect another great triumph. At this moment we are confronted with
certain financial and other problems. Simultaneously a school is being
conducted each Saturday of March in Houston, Texas, under the direction of
our grand secretary, Bill Strube, Jr. How the hearts of those attending the
Milwaukee School were stirred as Bill outlined what each one could do. His
message is not pure theory as he has done so much himself by the grace and
power of God.
CONCLUSION
The darker the night, the brighter the dawn! The more difficult the problem,
the greater the joy when it is solved! Although the picture is dark, there
is an exhilaration in the struggle for Christ and freedom. So many are
impressed by the need and the danger but lack the joy of expression in a
positive program. Impression without expression leads to depression. There
is work for all to do. The three essentials for such work to be effective
are:
1. A powerful motivating force. The most
powerful motive the world knows is the love of Christ.
2. The equipment of knowledge.
3. A program of action.
Most people want a program of action
without the motivation and the knowledge. Motivation without knowledge leads
to fanaticism. Knowledge without motivation leads to pessimism and despair.
Motivation and knowledge without a program of action leads to frustration.
Appropriate action channeled by knowledge, inspired by the love of Christ
leads to joy and victory.
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