Eighty years ago this week a relic of French colonialism and the Ancien Regime is voted away

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The French National Assembly passed a law table by deputy Felix Houphouët-Boigny abolishing the corvee (forced labour obligation on Africans) in France's African colonies. This was not just a step in dismantling colonialism but the removal of a custom that had its roots in the Ancien Regime. Houphouët-Boigny went on to become President of the Ivory Coast following its independence. 

The British Cabinet delegation met Moslem League leader Jinnah. They proposed a federal structure for post-independence India in which Pakistan would have considerable autonomy. At first the League accepted this and it seemed that an amicable solution might be possible.

The confrontation between the Chinese Communists and the ruling  Kuomintan forces, which had bubbled under the surface throughout the war with Japan,  got fully underway in Manchuria. Communist forces moved into Changchun the strategic key to the region.


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