Word: communes
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...inhabitants of Wanchai, a sleepy town opposite Macao's inner harbor, were summarily herded last July into 50 bamboo-and-nipa barracks, put to work building roads and a causeway to connect their island to the Red mainland. The Lappa commune's day starts at 5 a.m. when shrill whistles split the dawn. From 5 until 8, the men and women do calisthenics and military drill (with wooden rifles). After a 15-minute break for breakfast, the commune marches off in formation to work on the causeway. With the exception of two other 15-minute breaks for meals...
Until last week, Lappa seemed a normal anthill commune. The docile and resigned women lived in the barracks nearest the water's edge; men lived further removed from the temptation of liberty, and Communist gunboats, constantly patrolling the river, discouraged anyone who might try to swim to freedom...
...after dawn one day last week, residents of Macao's waterfront were wakened by an uproar coming from the commune. Silhouetted against the southern sky, Communist troops were moving on the double across the causeway. Macao people reported hearing the bark of rifles, the chatter of machine guns, followed by screams and a deadly silence...
When the sun rose, citizens of Macao rushed to rooftops and to hilly Luis de Camões Park with binoculars and telescopes, watched a drama that lasted until late afternoon. They could see several thousand commune members, surrounded by soldiers, gathered on a parade ground surmounted by a Red flag. Kneeling before the peasants, their backs to Macao, were three young men wearing black trousers and white shirts and with their hands tied behind them...
...People's Court." It was like seeing a distant silent movie. From Macao, people watched in fascination until a squad of soldiers made the three prisoners rise, march across the parade ground. They were quickly lined up, then a volley of rifle fire cut them down. The commune members dispersed to their barracks...