Racism against Asians

An excerpt of the 1944 IWA publication Proceedings of the Eighth Constitutional Convention , including the cover and pages 56, 57 and 58. Over these pages, an uniedentified union member raises his concern regarding members of the Communist Party who also hold union membership, whom he believes are out to subvert the union and use their meetings as covert recruitment venues. In response, a Union member identified as Brother Singh (likely Darshan Singh) calls for the broad tolerance of communists in their midst, explaining that they have his sympathy even though he once feared that he would be persecuted for his religion under communism. Alluding to Martin Niemöller's famous poem "Zuerst kamen sie ...", Singh argues that the persecution of communists almost always opens the door for further persecution of ethnic and cultural minorities, himself included. The meeting is then briefly suspended for a group photo-op, before Union member Brother Alsbury argues that if the Union makes concessions for the communists, then they will end up making concessions for every special interest group and that the integrity of the IWA as a trade union will be compromised as a result.