In the first few years after the war, the Malayab Commujist Party(MCP) openly joined the political process, establishing branches in most of the major towns and concentrating on labor activities. The new Labor Party government in Britain was sympathetic to the activities of labor unions, and the communists took advantage of this. Organizing the Pan Malayan General Labor Union in 1946, their plan was to cause serious disruption to the economy through strikes and labor agitation and then ride the tide f the of discontent to power and then to the establishment of an independent. communist Malaya. Chinese schools provided fertile ground for recruitment and agitation by the communists. The abandonment of the Malayan Union plan had ltion 000 convinced many young Chinese that the Malay leadership planned to relegate the Chinese to permanent second class status. Their future scemed bleak, and the communists offered hope. There is no doubt that the post-war recovery was slowed by MCP were activities, but by 1947, it was apparent that its tactics were not generating the d in mass support it needed to take power. Many workers had become disgruntled for by the political nature of the labor movement. In 1947, a general strike was called, as well as hundreds of other strikes. The strike pay was insufficient, and many protesters were facing economic hardship with few concrete results.