Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-08-06
Organizing Peasantry.

The Chinese Nationalist movement
has been running upon two parallel
lines. One line, personified now by the
Uankow government. declares the
masses OF the Chinese people must he
stirred into revolt by intensive revOlu
tionary propaganda. To this end it
has been arming the laborers and
peasants. organizing strikes and teach
ing that foreign imperialism. capital
ism and all forms of class privilege
must go.
The other line of development, per-
eonified by Chang kai-Shek and his
Marking group, wishes to get rid of
the unequal treaties" and unity
China, but desires to do so without
precipitating a class war.
For the last year the divergence of
the two tendencies has been more
marked than ever. The public separa-
ton of the two, brought about by
Chang kai-Shek's rebellion against
the central executive committee of
the party and by his systematic de-
struction of the radical labor unions
in his area, has annihilated the Ma
tionalist movement in its old form
and in its Sun Vat Sen republicanism.
What remains is the revolution
headed by Hankow and the counter
revolution headed by Marking. 1t
seems highly unlikely any real CO.
operation can be had between the tend
encies.
What Will prevent this is the ire
mendous mass of Chinese labor and
peasant organization, nearly 400 .000.-
900 iiliterates, living under conditions
of appalling misery. who are now for
the first time in centuries being stirred
into activity by their agitators.
Red Revolution Looms.
=.
In motion, and IL the Hankow Gov
eminent reaches Picking. as it expects.
China may see duplicate Russian
revolution on an even vaster scale.
NIikhail Mikhailovitch Borodin, the
remarkable Russian revolutionary,
with a. genius for organization, is the
handspring of the Hankow govern
ment. Borodin's powerful personality
and knowledge of human nature have
enabled him to guide, direct, some
times to control. the forces released by
the last several years agitation.
Eugene Chen, minister for foreign
affairs, exercises little real influence
in party affairs, and has no control j
over any part of the movement out !
side of his own ministry.
He is a foreign-born Chinese of Can
tonese parents, and came to China |
from Trinidad in 1912. His native Ian |
guage is English and he speaks little
Chinese. He can neither read nor
write Chinese, and the work of his
ministry is carried on in English.
Chen is at heart a conservative, and
has little sympathey with socialistic
aims, but he has welcomed the revo-
lutionary technique of the Chinese and
Russian Communists as a means of
stirring up the Chinese people. He is
bitterly anti-British.
Suns Widow i'm Councils.
Madame Sun Vat Sen, the widow of
the founder of the Chinese Republic
and the kuomintang, is a member of
all the highest organizations of the
party and government, including the
Nationalist Government Committee
1.-THE equivalent to cabinet in Europe
or America).
She, too, is a conservative al heart,
but is Influenced by the fact that her
famous husband in his last two years
had gone steadily more under the in
f1uence of the Russian revolutionaries
Wang Ching-Wei. the beloved dis
ciple'' of DIR. Sun Vat Sen, is a fiery
revolutionary orator and arouses I'M
limited enthusiasm among the people
He is likely to develop in the direction
of extreme communism His chief
value is his popularity as a leader of
the crowd.
Su Chao-Jen, minister of labor, is
q communist and a devoted believer
in the world revolution. He was a
Cantonese seaman and helped organ
ize the series of strikes which in 1925
and 1926 made such inroads on Brit
ish prosperity and power in South
China. Su is one of those dragging
the Hankow government in the direo-
ton of complete social and economic
revolution. He controls a larger mass
of people through the labor unions
than any other member of the govern
ment.
Hsu Chen Held Fanatic.
George Hsu Chen minister of JUS
tice, is a Christian and a fanatic diff.
cult to understand. He approves
communist methods, he says. but not
communist aims. No communist is
more fanatic than Hsu CHEN, how
ever, in the execution Of his duties.
Sun Fo, the only son of the late
Sun Vat Sen by his first marriage,
is minister OF communications. He
is n conservative at heart, and is
probably less sympa thetic to the
armed labor and peasant unions than
any other member of the HankoW
government but has remained with
that government because he sees in
It the only organized civilian govern
ment in China.
To these persons must he added, If
the Hankow group occupies Picking
Marshal Feng Yu Hsiang. the Chris
tian general" whose vicissitudes are
wrapped up in the whole Of Chinese
history for the past eight years.
Copyright 1927 in all countries nv North
American Newspaper Alliance