The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-07-30
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city under Chinese government, the
French settlement governed by them,
and the International Settlement gov
erned by a municipal, council, com
posed of six British, two Americans
and one Japanese, One Of the Ameri-
cans is chairman.
The strike is confined to the Inter
national Settlement because its police
did the shooting, and to British and
Japanese ships because the British
are the largest and dominant ele-
ment in the International Settlement
and British officer ordered the pol
ice to fire. Also it was the killing Of
Chinese laborer in Japanese mill
that led students to make the speeches
which caused the crowd to gather on
the day Of the shooting.
A Political General Strike.
The labor men of Shanghai are anx-
ious to have the workers Of the United
States understand that this is not a
fight between capital and labor but a
patriotic movement, in which Chinese
capital and labor are for the time be-
ing united for certain common pur-
poses. 1t is general strike, mainly
for political ends. 1t is a protest
against foreign injustice and oppres-
sion and an attempt to get justice
and freedom.
The strike is conducted by the
Amalgamated Union of Commerce, La
Dor and Education. The constituent
bodies are the Federation of street
Unions composed of some 10000 small
shopkeepers organized by streets; the
General Labor Union of Shanghai, a
federated body representing about
10000 workers, about 90 per cent of
whom are in the International settle
ment; the Shanghai Students Union;
the Chinese Students Union, a nation
al body. Each of these four organiza-
lions sends six delegates to central
executive committee which makes the
general policy of the strike, but each
Of them is then responsible for con-
Quoting its own part of the undertake
ing.
The students are the active propa-
ganda force They brought the mer-
chants in to begin with and they kept
them from quitting at the end of the
third week. They stopped all classes
but insisted on staying in the colleges
and schools, as their food had been
paid for. They spend their time get
ting out printed matter, making
speeches and collecting funds.
The Role of the Unions.
The labor unions have the most diff
ficult and vital part of the job. Eighty.
per cent of their membership has join
ed since the strike began. But they
expect to hold most of them after
wards unless extraordinary repression
is adopted. Running strike in Shang-
hal is about as difficult an undertake
ing as in West Virginia or Pennsyl-
vania. No proeessisns allowed, nor
any meetings, not even on private
property. Martial law is in force so
that the Amalgamated Union Daily,
which since the strike has replaced
the Shanghai Workers Weekly, has to-
be printed in the Chinese city and can
be circulated in the Settlement only
secretly. sea
Nevertheless the workers have
made the strike effective enough to
compel the discussion of demands
which would otherwise have been
completely rejected and to lead inter-
national authorities to admit that they
are keeping marines on shore duty not
merely to protect life and property,
but to break the strike-if they can.
Strike leaders claim the following de-