SOUTH AND EAST ASIA 5 However, traditional societies were profoundly affected by the coexistence, or rather integration, of the old in the new. The higher social classes or castes turned out to be more fertile ground for the recruitment of the new westernized classes than other levels of the population.8 Doubtless there were numerous reactions from among the traditional elites against the new powers, but fairly rapidly certain sections among them understood that if they wanted to keep their position, they had better enter into the new models. This was generally a minority to which was joined the elements of a new middle class, often formed predominantly by the Protestant Churches who took up middle and higher education much more vigorously than the Catholic Church, particularly in countries like Sri Lanka, China, Korea,4 and Japan. But the liberal ideology combined with the need to free manpower for mines and the large plantations, shattered the traditional structures in Asian countries. In India, for example, the British government abolished slavery; dismantled the juridical structures of feudal property, and as we have seen, promoted education in the English language,8 The first two measures led to plentiful supply of manpower resources for colonial enterprises but also provoked the appearance of the new group of landless peasants, whose numbers have increased to the present day. The last measure led to the development of an anti-colonial nationalism.6 Very similar changes appeared in Indonesia, the Philippines, other countries under English domination, and likewise in China and Korea. China was not subject to direct colonization but had relationships of indirect dependence, while Korea was under Japanese domination. Social Structure Normally, in countries which had not undergone a war of national liberation, the new westernized elites inherited the power of the former colonizers. They had been in the forefront of nationalist movement, and repressson against their activities had been more or less vigorous. However, cultural identity on the one hand and the integration of important elements of these elites into the economic agencies of the former colonizing countries on the other hand, quickly helped to overcome the contradiction on the political level, inasmuch as the power remained colonial, in a faithful collaboration for the neocolomal relations and in the interests of the elites acceding to power.7 In certain countries, these elites had to engage in armed struggles. This was the case particularly in Indonesia.8 There was generally an alliance between the new bourgeoisie and the popular forces directed by the Communist Party, In China and in Vietnam, it was the latter which was successful in joining to the nationalist project a dimension of social revolution.9 In Indonesia, the nationalist bourgeois class took the upper hand by crushing, with savage repression, the Communist Party in 1948.10 In the Philippines, the revolt of the Huks*1 lasted longer but was finally