VILLAGE OF NO ILLUSIONS

In Asia, as elsewhere, Communism grows through force and deceit. In IndoChina--where Communist Ho Chi Minh's Viet Minh party is carrying on a stubborn guerrilla war against the French--TIME Correspondent Andre Laguerre found people who understood Communism better than many a "sophisticated" Westerner. Laguerre's report:

IN the primitive, rice-growing villages of the Red River delta, I found a slow building-up of effective antiCommunism. Bai Trang (pop. 2,000) is one such--a village with no illusions.

Its approaches are deceptively peaceful. Water buffaloes patiently drag plows through the flooded rice fields; wiry little peasant women in circular straw hats, chocolate-colored jackets and black trousers pitpat swiftly along the roads in bare feet, carrying produce to market in baskets balanced on poles over their shoulders. As my jeep left the road and followed the twisting, hedged lane that led to Bai Trang, war --or preparations for war--sprang to view. A rough stone wall protected the village. It bore the crudely painted inscription: "Da dao bon pha dinh pha dinh chua ro nha" (Down with the men who make the misery of the people, who destroy the temples).

First & Third Degree. Along the wall a guard of honor was drawn up--a dozen boys and young men in rumpled Stetsons. The smallest, aged 14, whose head barely reached above my thigh, beat a drum; the tallest, who came up to my chin, proudly carried an old but carefully polished rifle. This was a detachment of Bai Trang's Anti-Communist Youth and Children's Leagues.

The village elders, dressed in black gowns over white robes, advanced in greeting, preceded by the ly-truong, or village chief. We sat around a rectangular table and drank hot tea and tepid beer. A sharp-nosed, black-eyed young man called Nguyen Van Tin explained about the Anti-Communist Youth League, which he had founded last fall.

"I used to be in the Viet Minh myself," he said, "before it was an exclusively Communist movement. I was only in what the Communist bosses call the first degree of the movement. All Viet Minh followers are classified by them in one of three degrees. Those in the first degree are taught no Communism; they are sincere nationalists who would be angry if they knew the truth. Those in the second degree are considered promising enough to be given general Communist indoctrination. Those in the third degree learn that world revolution under the total leadership of Russia is their goal.

"But I got books and studied, and soon I understood that Communism was the mortal enemy of our society, which is based first on the family community and then on the village community. I decided that Communism is a terrible thing to fight if you don't know what you want. But if you organize against Communism, it is easy to beat, because it cannot live beside truth in the hearts of the people.

"This is what I teach the members of our league."

To Uproot Communism. Members of Nguyen Van Tin's league have to take an oath of allegiance and swear "to search energetically day and night for the means to uproot Communism." Two hundred men of Bai Trang have taken this oath. A hundred and fifty of them are used to protect the village against Communist night raids. Of these, 90 have only clubs and knives, 40 have rifles given by the French, and 20 have sporting rifles bought out of village funds.

Fifty times in the last year, Bai Trang has been attacked by Ho's guerrillas. Another attack could come at any moment. But for three months now there has been no attack. Says Nguyen Van Tin: "I think they have learned the lesson that in this village we are organized. If one of Ho's men hides his arms, the French soldiers can't tell whether he is a guerrilla or a harmless peasant. But I know them all --for miles around. The Communists we shoot on sight, Mister Reporter. The others, who are only led by the Communists, we try to capture and re-educate."

As I was about to leave, the kids of Nguyen Van Tin's Anti-Communist Children lined up and burst into song: "With the help of the French and the Americans, we shall soon have a big air force . . ."

"Why the air force?" I asked.

"It's a safe thing to sing about," the village chief answered eagerly. "You can't have too many aircraft."

Rifles held in readiness, the anti-Communist youth of Bai Trang stood with their backs to the village, scanning the fields for marauders. The black-gowned notables clasped hands between their knees and bowed from the hips. As my jeep rattled off, Nguyen Van Tin shouted:

"They're easy to beat if you know what you want . . . Please remember to send us rifles, Mister Reporter!"

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