# Civil War in Nationalist China/Chapter 3

III. THE CHINESE LABOR MOVEMENT
From what has already been said, it will be clear that Chinese trade union movement has played a leading role in the Revolution, and that its importance is constantly increasing. Everywhere we went we gathered the most detailed information about this movement. At Hankow we received our most valuable contact with it. I choose from my note book two items, as being best calculated, in a brief space, to give a correct idea of the trade unions: First, is a brief historical sketch of the labor movement, given me in an interview by Sou Cheu Ging, Teng Tsung-hsia, and Li Li-san, leaders of the All-China Labor Federation; second, is a description of one particular union, the Wuhan Textile Workers' Union.
13. Historical Sketch of the Chinese Labor Movement
The Chinese trade union movement, as a power affecting the national life, dates from 1919. It arose during the great anti-Japanese movement, protesting against the "21 points," known as the "Fourth of May movement." This began as a student movement. Some embryonic organizations had existed previously, as those among the railway workers on the Peking-Mukden line and the Peking-Hankow line, but had not yet become properly a trade union movement. These embryonic groups were transformed into trade unions during 1919.
At the same time in Shanghai there broke out the strikes of textile workers and dockers, who were in Japanese employ, 20,000 in all; while in Hongkong occurred a large metal workers' strike. These were successful, and grave a great impetus to the labor movement elsewhere. During this time the trade unions in Kwantung province made especial progress, in Canton alone their number increasing from 20 to 100 during 1919. This year may therefore be called the real beginning of the Chinese labor movement.
Among the most important influences affecting the ​course of development of the labor movement were the following:
1. The Russian revolution, which was made known to the Chinese masses through several weekly propaganda papers.
2. The rising Chinese national movement which began to absorb masses into its ranks. A seamen's union was organized at that time under the influence of the Kuomintang; there existed the Social-Republican party, and also many anarchist groups. The political movement was especially strong in Canton.
3. The workers had lived through several insurrections which had failed; from these, the lessons of the necessity for strong, centralized organization had penetrated large masses.
4. Organization of the Chinese Communist Party, which furnished a central direction for the movement; this was done through a special organ, called the "Secretariat of the Chinese Labor Movement," with branches in Shanghai, Canton, and Hankow.
After 1919, the trade unions grew steadily. But it was not until 1922, when another wave of struggles broke out, that the First All-China Congress was held. First among the battles of 1922, was the great Hongkong Seamen's strike, which was declared on January 12 and lasted 56 days. Before it ended in the granting of the workers' demands, all Hongkong labor had been drawn into the struggle in a General Strike which included the railwaymen. The successful outcome of this struggle stimulated the workers of the entire country.
The center of the 1922 movement was the Railwaymen's organization, particularly that of the Peking-Hankow line, which had 16 branches with 18,000 members. A successful strike on this line was quickly followed by railway strikes throughout Central and Northern China; Peking-Mukden line, Changchow-Haichow line, etc. Through this movement 50,000 railwaymen were organized into the Union.
In the Province of Hupeh, a General Trade Union ​(Provincial Federation) was established with 23 trade unions and 35,000 members.
In Hunan province, after a long strike of 13,000 miners of An-yuen, the movement was established with 25 unions, in which were 40,000 members.
The Shanghai movement was very active, with strikes seamen, silk filature workers, postmen, and others, All these strikes, except that of the seamen, were, however, unsuccessful, and the movement there received a setback, only 20,000 members being organized as a result of the 1922 movement.
On May 1, 1922, the First All-China Labor Congress was held in Canton, on the initiative of the "Secretariat of the Chinese Labor movement." A membership of 230,000 was represented. The most important resolution of this Congress was that providing for the industrial form of organization.
It had been decided at the First Congress to convene the Second Congress at Hankow on May 1, 1923. But on February 7, occurred the massacre in Hankow of the railway leaders and others by Wu Pei-fu, and white terror reigned throughout China. This massacre and repression was planned and ordered by British imperialists who were financing Wu Pei-fu. The immediate occasion for it was the creation of the General Union of Railwaymen on the Peking-Hankow line; Wu Pei-fu dissolved the union, whereupon a general strike broke out which was joined by all Hankow workers. An All-China strike was imminent. But the movement was crushed by the army of Wu Pei-fu, who executed 43 leaders, imprisoned unknown hundreds, and dissolved all trade unions. Even sympathizing schools here closed, and active unionists were driven from the factories and railroads when not imprisoned and shot. During this reign of terror the entire movement was crushed, except at Canton where the trade unions remained intact.
Until September, 1924, there was a period of reaction. Then the movement began to revive. On January 18, 1925, occurred the beginning of a series of strikes in Shanghai, Tsingtao, and other cities. These were all successful, and ​regained some of the losses of hours, wages, and conditions which had been lost in the period of reaction. This period had been made use of by the workers to assimilate the lessons of past experiences. There occurred during this period a great change among the leaders of the Kuomintang, who finally had come to realize the vastly important role of the working class in the Chinese nation revolution. The masses themselves had achieved political consciousness and learned the necessity of strong trade unions. International relations had been established during the struggle, when the Russian and Japanese trade unions sent telegrams of solidarity, and the Chinese trade unions had addressed themselves to the trade union movement of the world.
On May 1, 1925, the Second All-China Labor Congress was held at Canton, in an atmosphere of a rising movement. More than 600,000 members were represented. At this Congress the All-China Labor Federation was definitely formed; theory, tactics, and organizational methods firmly established, and a recognized central leadership set up.
Quickly thereafter followed the massacre of May 30th at Shanghai, and the Shakee massacre at Canton on June 23rd, by the British imperialists. These occurrances were the signal for a national upheaval. Strikes broke out everywhere. The most notable of these was the glorious strike of the Hongkong and Canton workers against the British, and their blockade of Hongkong for 17 months (which wiped out Hongkong trade and caused the British a loss of over 500 million dollars). In Shanghai more than 300,000 workers came into the trade unions. Great movements sprang up at Dairen, Tientsin, Tsingtao, Nanking, Kiukiang, Hankow, Changsha. Living and working conditions were everywhere improved. In Shanghai a general wage increase of 15% was secured. Not only the industrial workers, but also the artisans throughout China flocked into the movement.
The Third All-China Labor Congress was held on May 1, 1926, in Canton. Already there were 1,200,000 members. Concrete resolutions were adopted on all prob​lems of the movement. The May 30 movement had raised the level of the entire working class. Previously the politcal side of the trade unions had not been firm; now the trade unions were deep in the political struggle and were leading it. Active and permanent contact had been established with the International labor movement. The Chinese labor movement had become mature.
Militarist agents of imperialism still tried to crush the rising trade union movement, especially at Tientsin, Tsing-tao, Shanghai and Mukden. But steady and rapid progress continued, and continues up to today. The masses of all China had been won to the trade unions and for the Revolution.
The Northern Expedition of the Revolutionary Armies was prepared by the great national strike movement following May 30th. This was the basis of the military victories, which resulted in the occupation of the Yangtse Valley, the capture of Nanking and Shanghai, and the drive on Peking. When, for example, the Southern Armies entered Shanghai, they found the city already policed by the Workers' Guards, and an administration jointly established by the trade unions, commercial associations, and students unions, already functioning.
This as a general and very brief review of the history of the Chinese labor movement up to the spring of 1927. Results which in Europe or America would have taken decades to accomplish, have in China taken but a few years. Because even the smallest demands could not be realized without revolutionary struggle, therefore the trade unions have rapidly advanced through the whole scale, from the most elementary economic demands right up to participation in Government and management.
14. Textile Workers of the Wuhan Cities
On April 11th, we visited the Textile Workers' Union, held a meeting with their delegates' council, and visited two of the largest cotton mills in Wuhan. It was one of the most interesting days we have had in China. Crossing the river from Hankow in a steam launch, we were met ​at the Wuchang wharf by about 200 delegates of the Union, their picket corps (uniformed and armed), the children's organization (uniformed and drilled), and a band of musicians belonging to the Union. With them we marched through the streets, accompanied by music and fire-crackers, to the meeting hall.
This hall proved to be an American church, which was the only building in the neighborhood large enough for the gathering. The altar had been transformed with red flags, and large pictures of Lenin, Sun Yet Sen and Karl Marx. The meeting was opened by singing "The Internationale," which was joined in lustily by men, women and children; all knew the words, and in China the tune is still a matter of secondary importance; it is the spirit that is important in singing "The Internationale," and never have I heard it sung even in Russia, with greater fervor.
The Chinese workers are great believers in the committee system. They do not leave their affairs to single individuals. Even a meeting such as this was managed by a "presiding body" of five, of whom two were women. No union meeting is opened without the approval of the presiding body by the members.
After a few hours of speech-making the meeting closed in high spirits, heightened by the merriment produced when we foreign delegates cried the slogans of the meeting in Chinese language.
After the meeting we went to the Trade Union Headquarters. This occupies a modern building, near the largest factory, set in a neat courtyard. It is thoroughly modern throughout, the offices are models of neatness, efficiency, and organization, and would be a credit to any labor union in the world. We were deeply impressed by the thoroughness with which every detail was taken care of, especially when we remembered that this Union has existed only since the occupation by the Revolutionary Army, or less than six months.
From the Union offices, we went to the largest mill, the Hankow Dee Yee Cotton Spinning and Weaving Co. This is a strictly modern plant, erected in 1919, with more than 90,000 spindles, 1,200 looms, and employing 9,700 ​workers, of whom more than half are women in this mill, and about one quarter are children from eight to fourteen years. The machinery is all British, except the engine room and electrical equipment, which seemed to be American. Many of the machines date from 1923, the rest 1920, when the first installation was made. The plant is owned and manned throughout by Chinese. There are no foreigners employed in any capacity.
After visiting this mill and another, the Yu Wah mill with 41,000 spindles and 4,400 workers, we talked with the representatives of the Textile Workers Union about their organization, and about the living and working conditions. The following information was given us by Han Yu-win and Fun Chin-vin, members of the Executive Bureau of the Wuhan Union. The last-named is a young woman, head of the secretarial department and of the women's committee.
The Wuhan Textile Workers Union has 37,096 members. These are organized in 11 branch unions. Six branches are based upon the six large cotton mills in Wuhan, one branch to one mill; two branches are silk workers, one of weavers, one of dye workers, and one of hosiery workers. The last two named are branches of artisans, employed in myriad small shops.
In the big mills, the inner organization of the branch proceeds first, with the organization of a row of spinners (for example), each row or group of machines being the basis of the first unit of organization of the workers. This group of workers elects a delegate to a section committee. The sections of each main department join together to form a department committee. From the department committees the branch is formed.
The Dee Yee Mill, which we visited, has 9,700 workers. Here one delegate is elected by each 50 members to a branch Assembly, which is the supreme body of the branch, electing the standing executives, delegates to higher bodies, etc.
The General Executive Committee for the Wuhan General Textile Workers Union, is elected by a meeting of branch delegates, with each branch represented in pro​portion to its membership. This delegates' meeting is held once a year; but a smaller number of permanent delegates meet every month. The Executive Committee has 25 members, who elect a Standing Committee (or Executive Bureau) of seven, for conduct of the business. Each one of the Standing Committee is in charge of a Department (Secretarial, Finance, Propaganda, Women's Department, etc.).
In the Executive Committee of each Branch, there must be at least one woman and one youth; this is to guarantee that proper attention shall be given to the special problems of women and children. The voting power was stated to be: men 45%, women 32%, children 23%, in the union as a whole; but here, as elsewhere in the world, the men predominate in the leadership more than in the general numbers.
The Union has a Picket Corps of 500 workers, trained under control of the General Union. All but 60 of these work regularly in the mills, and are only called for special service. The other 60 are on permanent duty, the personnel being changed every three months, and the workers being paid by the factory to which they belong. Support of this picket body is one of the obligations of the employers contained in the contract with the Union. Ten of the pickets are armed with rifles.
Another interesting provision of the Union contract with the employers, is the provision of an Educational Fund, to which the employers pay $4,000 per month, for the benefit of the textile workers. This money goes into the general educational scheme of the Hupeh Provincial General Trade Union.
The general condition of the industry is slack, and there is much unemployment. This is due to civil war conditions, interruption of transport, etc. Conditions of labor are bad, but rather above the average of even industrial workers in China, and considerably better than artisans. Hours of labor are 12 per day. In most of the mills there is no lunch time off. Pay is mostly by piece-work. Wages run from 30 to 50 cents per day, depending upon the volume of work available, being now about 30 cents. ​The working week is six days. The six-day week prevails in Shanghai also, but in Hankow the workers get paid for seven days, the extra day being paid for at the average rate of earnings for the week. Conditions and wages of women are somewhat below that of men. The trade union is giving special attention to the problem of women and children, but in the six months of its existence has yet made few improvements in this respect.
A set of demands has been formulated by the Union, which indicate their immediate desires regarding improvement of conditions. These include: 1. eight-hour day; 2. One-hour lunch period; 8. Minimum daily wage; 4. Punitive overtime for night work; 5. Enlargement of lodgings; 6. Improvement of toilets and health conditions; 7. Dining rooms and rest rooms in mills; 8. Abolition of child labor under 12 years, etc., etc.
The few improvements that have so far been achieved in the conditions of women and children are, briefly: women get six weeks vacation with full pay at childbirth; special schools for the children have been established by the Trade Union; factories provide special rooms for feeding children; special departments of the Union have the duty to attend to the needs, demands, and grievances of women and children from day to day.
In the administration of the Union, the women are taking a constantly increasing part. Although women in China are only now emerging from the terrible fetters of feudalism, bound-feet, and double-oppression, they are displaying a remarkable talent which already has given them a position in the trade union movement of China at least equal to that of women in the United States.
This union above described is, of course, one of the best organized unions in the newly-acquired territory of the Nationalist Government. Some unions, which existed before for many years during the illegal period, are stronger and more solid. Others of the new organizations in the trade union movement may not yet make such a good showing. But on the whole, the Textile Workers Union of Wuhan may serve as a good sample of the Chinese Labor Movement.
15. Wages and Working Conditions in Canton
There is so little exact data on wages and working conditions in China, that every bit of information that can be added to the store of information on the subject is of value. Therefore, I have recorded the most important observations made on this subject during a five-month visit covering the Provinces of Kwantung, Kiangsi, Hupeh and Hunan.
Canton (Kwantung Province) was our first point of investigation. This is a city of over a million population, the Southern gateway to China, the center of the Nationalist movement for years, and the only place in China where trade unions were legal before the middle of last year. Canton was the headquarters of the All-China Labor Federation from 1922 to the beginning of 1927. It is not, however, a modern industrial city, like Shanghai or Hankow, but almost entirely commercial and handicraft industries. However, the workers of Canton were enjoying conditions better than we found later in any other place.
There are approximately 230,000 workers in Canton organized in the trade unions. Of these about 10,000 are industrial workers in the modern sense, the rest being artisans, shop clerks, and coolies. These industrial workers constitute a sort of economic aristocracy, their wages and working conditions being much higher than the rest of the working classs. They consist of, in the main, seamen, railway workers, chauffeurs, electric light and waterworks employes, arsenal workers, the employes of a few small textile mills and machine shops, and modern printing plants.
The ordinary, usual wage of workers in these lines is $30 per month. ($1 Chinese is nominally about the same as 1 ruble Russian, or 50 cents U. S., but Chinese currencies are almost universally depreciated about 20% at this time.) This wage allows for no rest days; Sundays are worked the same as other days, this being true in Canton for ALL workers. The railroad workers get a wage somewhat above this average, because, although they also work on Sundays, they now get paid double-time for ​this day. Chauffeurs are another special category; on account of shortage of skilled men they were receiving $60 (Chinese) per month. Almost all of these 10,000 workers have the 8-hour day, nominally, but "military emergencies" constantly cancel this "rule."
The artisans (handicraft workers) constitute the main body of the Canton working class. The principal groups are, the workers in the matting, bamboo work, ivory and bone, silk, tea, metal, herbs, earthenware, fire-crackers, paper, furniture, wood-carving, marble, and precious stones. They generally work, 2 to 6 artisans, in the shop with their employer, who also works alongside of them. These little shops are scattered along the business streets, the entire front being open, the men working next to the street where the prospective customers are passing along. Thy eat and live with their employer, working 12 to 16 hours per day, seven days per week; their only holidays are at New Years, when they have 7 to 10 days. Apprentices work 3 to 5 years for nothing but food and bed; at the end of their apprenticeshop they begin to draw wages, $5 to $7 per month, which gradually increases, up to $20 per month, with a very few highly skilled workers, of course, getting more. The wage for artisans of average skill is about $20 per month when he has been in the trade for 10 years. In addition to his wage, the artisan gets fed a bowl of rice, twice or three times a day, with a piece of pork twice a month; and has a hole to sleep in, or a bench in the shop.
The coolies form a large and important part of the working class in Canton, as everywhere in China. There are several groups, such as rickshaw coolies, warehouse coolies, etc. They perform the labor that in other countries is done by animals or machinery; it is absolutely "inhuman," if that word can have any meaning, as it is almost impossible to believe that human beings can continue to live, bearing such burdens every day in the year, for 10 to 14 hours a day. The rickshaw coolies take the place of horses and automobiles for city transport, and spend hours on end, running at a smart pace, to carry their more fortunate fellow citizens several miles for from ​5 to 10 cents. These coolies not only bear the burden of their physical loads, but also a terrific burden of taxation and middle man. Thus, the rickshaw coolies, even in Canton, pay a tax which, in proportion to their earnings, is doubtless the heaviest borne by any section of the population. Paid in the first place to the Government by the owner of the rickshaw, it is then added to the rent which the coolie must pay; but when it gets to the coolie it is 12 cents per day, instead of five. The coolies of all kinds and grades suffer from the middleman, who contracts jobs and then lets them out to all sorts of sub-middlemen, so that the coolies get about half or less of what has actually been paid for the work. I was told of instances which the Union had investigated, where the coolies had received less than 20%. The average earnings of an able-bodied young coolie is $15 (Chinese) per month—when employed. Unemployment, a terrible scourge for all kinds of labor in China, is especially chronic among the coolies, on account of the constant flow of peasants, driven from the land, coming into the cities. Old and infirm coolies live from hand to mouth on the few coppers they pick up here and there from odd jobs. I have seen in Canton, great heavy carts loaded high with cans bearing the "Socony" (Standard Oil Co. of New York) label, being pulled thru the streets by gangs of men, women, and children, evidently families, starved-looking, gaunt and exhausted, straining with all their might at the ropes—and earning an average of 15 cents each for twelve hours labor, to the greater profit of Standard Oil. It made me understand more clearly why Rockefeller prizes his Chinese business, and why capitalists everywhere are determined that the "Bolshevik" trade unions of China must be destroyed.
The clerks, in stores, shops, and tea houses, form another large group. In Canton about 35,000 are organized in the trade unions. There are still traces in Canton of the semi-slave, semi-feudal conditions under which this class works still in most places in China. The Unions have, however, abolished many of the worst abuses, such as corporal punishment, unlimited hours, etc. Gradually order and system is being brought even into the lives of ​these miserable shop clerks. In Canton, after a long strike, the hours of clerks in the big department stores were limited to 10 per day. In the small stores hours are still 13 to 16 per day. In some of the tea houses the hours are 12, because they keep open night and day and the Union will no longer permit the 24-hour shift that used to prevail, when the workers slept at odd moments when there were no customers but had to be present at all times ready for work. Almost all of them live and eat in the shops, their lodgings usually consisting of a shelf under a counter, or beneath a staircase, and their food the inevitable bowl of rice, with a bit of pork on feast days. They begin work as apprentices, with no wages, which only start with the fourth year. Wages in the small and poorer shops average average $10 per month; in the big stores and the richer establishments, the average is $15 per month.
Women and child labor is even more exploited than that of men. Generally their wages are from 30% to 60% of that of men. Besides ordinary coolie labor, they are found principally in the small factories (matches, hosiery, silk, food preparation, etc.). There are 16,000 women members in the trade unions of Canton, which the union leaders claim is 80% of the women workers. The hosiery workers are 100% organized, the match factories 70%. Women and children have relatively made the greatest gains from trade union organization.
Hygienic conditions are indescribably bad. That is, of course, true for the entire population, including employers, for sanitation in a modern sense is only in its beginnings. Only in the modern industries, the Government plants, big department stores, is there a begining of sanitation and hygiene. These also have dispensaries with modern medical attendance for the workers.
16. Conditions in the Interior
The conditions described above are in Canton, a great city, the most modern in China aside from Shanghai and Hankow, where the trade unions had been able to work openly for several years. What then must the conditions ​be in the interior? We had an opportunity to see at first hand when we began our overland trip to Hankow. A few typical towns along the route will give a picture of the general conditions.
Namyung is the last town on the Pei Kiang, or North River, northern Kwantung Province, near the Tayu mountains bordering Kiangsi Province. It is reached by boat, drawn by ropes and pushed by poles against the current for six days from Shiuchow, the present terminus of the railroad eventually to continue to Hankow. The men and women who perform this labor are strongly organized in the Water Transport Union (originally the Seamen only), and their Union controls all transport on this river. They are therefore among the better-off; they receive 40 to 60 cents a day, working from dawn until dark, and sometimes till ten o'clock at night, stopping 20 minutes twice during the day for food.
Arrived in Namyung, we are lodged as the guests of the city in the public gardens on top of the great old city walls which in former times protected the commerce that flowed here from the North thru Meiling Pass from Kiangsi. These walls, typical of Chinese cities, are still in good repair but in the era of modern artillery useless for anything more serious than parks and tea houses. In the quaint tea houses perched over the city we met a dozen trade union leaders who spent hours with us answering our interminable questions.
Here we learned a peculiarity of most Chinese inland towns; a sort of rough division of labor has, in the course of time, developed between them, so that one town makes a specialty of one line of business, another town of another line, so that almost in each town will be found an industry predominating over the others. Namyung is a tobacco town, a market center for the tobacco raised thru a large district, where it is dried, packed, and shipped to the big cities to be made into cigarettes.
These tobacco packers and shippers in Namyung number 1,300, of whom 500 are women. Their work is seasonal, lasting only six months in the year. How they live for the other six months we could not learn, but when ​they have work, they spend 14 hours per day at it, for which they receive, for men 40 cents, for women 20 cents. The secretary of the Union came to us directly from work, and therefore did not show up until after 10 o'clock at night. He would begin again next morning at daybreak. He told us that the struggle with the employers at the moment was to force them to pay the 40 cents and 20 cents per day in silver instead of depreciated coppers.
Clerks in Namyung are all paid by the year. Apprentices get only "food and lodgings," the fourth year they begin at $20 per year. From that point they slowly progress upward. When we insisted upon knowing what was the very highest wage being paid to any clerk in town, we were told $150 per year. Hours, daybreak until 11 p. m.
Artisans, upon completing apprenticeship, begin to receive wages at $4 per month. The average wage is $8 per month, with "food and lodgings"; the hours are 15 per day.
From Namyung we walked over the mountains to Nananfu, a distance of 120 Chinese li (about 40 miles). Throughout this distance we constantly passed groups of carriers, loaded with great bundles, bales and boxes, transporting the commerce between two great provinces exactly as it had been done for the past two thousands years. Only the character of the commodities has begun to change—again I saw oil cans bearing the "Socony" label. The carriers are about equally men and women. We are told that they earn 30 cents per day, but can get no detailed information.
Nananfu was the first town we had visited in the newly-conquered Nationalist territory. It was the first point in Kiangsi entered by the Nationalist Armies last July when they began their triumphant march northward. Following the advancing Armies had come a sweep of trade union organization, and struggles to ameliorate the terrible conditions of labor. Everywhere it was the same tale of feverish organization activities, strikes, and a few meagre gains which, however, had tremendous significance for the workers. Above all, they realized for the first time the power of organization, for the first time ​they "had something to say" about the course of events. This was the enfranchisement of the Chinese masses, the greatest product of the revolution so far.
The trade unions of Nananfu had about 2,500 members in the city, and 13,000 in the district. The special industry of the town is bamboo and timber, the next in importance being tailoring. The bamboo and timber workers, engaged in felling and transporting raw materials, not in fabricating commodities, work unlimited hours on piece work. They earn $1 per day on the average; we could not get a satisfactory explanation of why these workers can get so much more than the average wage of their district, more than twice as much as the general wage. Tailors, formerly paid 25 cents per day for 14 hours, have cut the hours to 10 and raised the wage to 28 cents, with increase of food. The shop clerks seemed to have made the greatest proportionate gains; formerly, apprentices began without wages, and worked up to a maximum of $60 per year; after several strikes, they now begin apprentices at $10 first year, $20 second year, $30 third year. When we arrived, 20% of the clerks were obtaining more than $100 per year, 50% received from $60 to $100, while only 30% were getting less than $60, which was formerly the maximum. Following are brief tabular notes on other trades in Nananfu:
Carpenters, formerly 25 cents, 14 hours; now, 35 cents, 10 hours.
Confectionery workers, minimum $80 year, maximum $150 year; hours, daybreak to dark.
Wine and rice shops, 30 cents per day, hours unlimited.
Cooks, $2 to $8 per month; hours, 14 to 15.
Jewelry workers, 25 to 30 cents per day, with allowance for food; formerly 10, now 15 cents per day; hours, 14 per day.
Drug clerks, 60 cents per day and food; 13 hours.
Porters, young, able-bodied, 40 to 50 cents; old, 20 cents per day; 10 hours (formerly 14 hours).
Pasing several other cities, not essentially different from Nananfu, we come to the city of Kianfu. This was the first city we had found, where the shop clerks were ​still in the medieval guilds together with their employers, instead of being in the modern trade unions. Yet in spite of the very backward social and economic structure, this was the most advanced spot politically we found in Kiangsi Province. The trade unions, in alliance with the peasants of the district, were under the leadership of the "Left" Kuomintang, which controlled the city at a time when Chiang Kai Shek still had his fingers tight around the throat of the rest of the province. One explanation of this is the fact that here trade unions and Kuomintang had been established illegally in 1924, and the leadership had been steeled in two years of civil struggle under the rule of Sun Chuang-fang.
Wages in Kianfu, under the militarist rule, had been especially miserable, running from 400 to 2,000 coppers per month (equivalent to $1.40 to $6) and always paid in coppers, which are constantly depreciating. The first gain made by the trade unions was to establish wage-payments in silver, and raise the minimum to $8. The average wage, when we arrived, had been raised to $7 per month, plus food and lodging, with three meals per day instead of two. Corporal punishment by employers had just been abolished by the trade unions. In the six months the unions had existed openly, they had conducted strikes in 80% of all establishments in the city, to obtain these gains.
Here we made special inquiries as to the exact numbers of the various trades among the artisans. All Chinese figures seem to be more or less approximations, but we were assured that the following were based upon trade union admittance fees (40 cents), and the monthly fees (20 cents per month) paid by the members. The figures given were: Rice workers, 1,400; Boatmen, 1,200; Tailors, 1,100; Dyers, 1,000; Dockers, 1,000; Masons, 800; Hosiery workers, 500; Shoemakers, 260; Barbers, 120; Printers, 40.
Farther down the river, 150 miles, is the city of Changshu. A smaller city, but with about the same social and economic conditions, only here the right wing Kuomintang hold power and oppress the trade unions. Wages were about the same, having been raised by strikes to an average of $7 per month (daily rates from 10 cents to 60 ​cents per day, varied not according to occupations, but to length of service, etc.). The "specialty" of this town is the preparation of drugs, and the Pharmacists Union has 400 members, out of a total membership in the city of 3,000.
In Nanchang, capital of Kiangsi Province, the reaction of Chiang Kai Shek was rampant. Trade union leaders were in hiding, and their headquarters were guarded by soldiers of a "Left" Army to prevent their destruction by soldiers of the official garrison. Wages and working conditions were the worst we had seen. The artisans were receiving 10 to 15 cents per day; the hosiery industry employing a large number of women, was paying 15 cents per day without food; 40% of all workers were unemployed.
At Kiukiang, on the Yangtsekiang, we again found traces of modern industries. The principal groups and their wages, were ascertained to be as follows:
Railwaymen, 2,300 employed, maximum $15 month, average $10.
Chinese-owned factories, 2,700 employed; 30 cents per day.
Foreign enterprises, 2,000 employed; 30 to 40 cents per day.
Artisans, 20.000 employed; 10 cents to 20 cents per day.
Coolies, number not given; 15 cents per day, without food.
17. At Hankow, Headquarters of Nationalist Government
Hankow is the capital city of Nationalist China. It is the industrial and commercial center of China, having the most modern industry and developed working class of any city except Shanghai, which is in many respects a foreign city. As might be expected, therefore, the labor movement here is the most highly developed. There are 300,000 trade union members in the Wuhan cities (Hankow, Wuchang and Hanyang) which make up one economic whole. In order to have a definite idea of the conditions of these 300,000 workers, it is necessary to examine in detail ​a few separate groups. I have already dealt with the textile workers, who represent those workers most thoroughly brought under the conditions of modern machine production. The rickshaw and cart coolies, who are the least directly influenced by modern methods in their work will balance the picture. These two groups may be taken as the two extremes of the working class in Wuhan. Conditions of artisans here are much the same as elsewhere.
The rickshaw and cart coolies are very thoroughly organized. There are 29,900 members of the Union; of these, 17,000 are public rickshaw pullers, the others being: Private rickshaws, 3,000; Carters, 5,000; Carriages, 600; Automobiles, 600; Lorries, 1,600; Bicycles, 400; Car repairers, 700; Car manufacturers, 700.
The basic group is the public rickshaw pullers, whose earnings set the standard upon which other coolie wages are set. The secretary of the Union informed me that an extensive investigation by the Union (since the Union raised fares) has shown average gross earnings by these men of 2,000 cash (the large copper coin is 20 cash, therefore 100 coppers, which were worth at that time 160 to the Chinese dollar). Out of this, the man must pay rent for the rickshaw, license, tax ,and "squeeze" for one or two middlemen, totalling 1,100 cash (equals 55 coppers). He has left as his net earnings, on the average, 45 coppers, or 900 cash, which are worth 28 cents Chinese silver (equals 28 kopecks Russian, 14 cents American, or 7 pence English). Out of this he must support himself and family. As a result, their living conditions are unspeakably miserable and vile.