Another part of Arabia under British influence is the scene of trouble, Five thousands Arab oilworkers, employed by the Bahrain Petroleum Company, began a strike on Saturday 13th of March. Since then there have been demonstrations, clashes with the police, damage to property and vehicles and arrest of 'ringleaders.' The company and the Government, of course, blame the trouble on 'Nationalists', ‘Communists! and 'Baathists', claiming that recent redundancies have been exploited for political reasons.
On March 14th, 43 demonstrators were arrested, after the Government had issued firm orders to security forces to break up demonstrations, After this, executives of the oil company expressed the opinion that pes the strike would collapse. Bahrain is virtually a British possession, and when there was a political upsurge the Tory Government deported the leaders to St. Helena. It is to be hoped that the Labour Government does not emulate them in helping to prop up a completely undemocr= atic and reactionary set-upe Editorial note: Next issue of The Week will contain a background article on Bahrain,