The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-11-15

Europa's captain demands, How
many Chinese is white man worth?"
The ships guns are trained on the
shore and an ultimatum given to the
town of Wan Hsien, that two Chin
csc boatmen must lose their lives to
avenge Halls death, and monument
erected to Halls memory. Otherwise.
the town will be stormed. In vain
the Chinese representatives plead
and try to offer other amends.
On shore, there is CONSERVATION.
The boatman say, why should we
die? We have done nothing. Surely
they can Iot be so cruel. We must
soften their hearts" Their hearts
are full of needles" Woo SCOTS.
They will dare to storm the town.
Their guns have destroyed other in.
nocent villages. We must organize
and fight them. That is the only
way"
Once more the envoy goes to plead
with the captain. 1--WE will appeal
to the socialist Prime Minister of
Great Britain" the envoy tells the
captain 81 know only his Majesty's
Prime Minister" the captain replies.
In real life, and in the Soviet play,
a telegram of appeal is sent to Mac
Donald, but there is no reply. In
the Guild version, the captain pre-
vents the sending of the telegram.
The political significance of this
change is self-evident. 1t white
washes Macdonald and his social
facist administration,
The Chinese envoy tells the boat
men that there is no way to save the
town fro bombardment except to
meet the foreigners terms. The
workman tells them to all stand as
one and fight. The boatmen, how
ever, still uncertain, agree to sacri-
flee two of their members. Lots are
drawn, Pei Flu, one of those chosen
to die accepts his fate stoically, but
the other, Chang, rebels at the in
justice.
Il have worked hard all my life"
he exclaims, why do they kill me?
have little son, why do they kill
me?" Woo standing defiantly, with
arms folded, legs wide apart, ans
wers him: Because you are Chi
nese and a worker"
The public stranguIation Of the
two innocent coolies takes place the
next morning at sunrise. AS the
rope is slipped over Wei Fu's head.
he turns to his fellow workers and
asks, "Boatman of Wan Hsien, will
you forget this day?" Never, they
promise him, 1.-THE time will come
when we will say to them, DO you
remember the two boatmen of Wan
Hsien?'" Before Chang dies, he asks
to see his son. The boy and his
mother pledge to avenge their IA
theirs murder.
News comes that there are revolts
breaking out in other parts of
China. Chang's wife gives the sig
nal for the Wan Hsien revolt. The
cannons' bark from the ship is ans
wered by firing from the shore, as
the coolies and boatmen organize and
march forward to the struggle.
We understand that the Guild
director prohibited the actors from
waving of the red flag in the final
scene, and the actors fatty refused
to use the Komintang flag. This
incident is sufficient comment in
itself on the Guilds outlook on the
entire production.
Under the guise of ''less propa-
ganda and more art" the American
producer has blurred the sharp class
issues in Roar China" Not only has
the play been cut by one third, but
the play has been robbed of much
of it's political character. This has
been accomplished, in addition to
the changes already mentioned by
the introduction of such eXtraneous
elements as British girl who wakes
sentimental over the Chinese, and
by the deletlon of entire scenes
which the Guild director admits
we're stirring and rich" but too
singing or revolutionary in their i'm
port for the Guild to stomach. BY
these methods, the denunciation of
the imperilast system loses it's edge.
The audience is left with the err
roneous impression that it is the
mean-ness of certain individuals like
Hall and Smith which is mainly
responsible for the plight of the
Chinese masses, rather than the sys-
tenn of imperialism itself, including
the socialist Macdonald regime.
Also, there is blurring of class di-
visions within China, between the
workers and peasants on the one
hand, the only real fighters against
foreign imperialism, and the native
oppressors, landlords, merchants and
militarists.
Nevertheless, in spite Of these
shortcomings Of the Guild present.
attn, Roar China" remains stir
ring play which is we'll worth seeing,
provided you can't go to Moscow.
and see the original.