The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-09-08
By r. DOONPING

OWING to the broad appeal OF its
" power and skill as a novel, Nal
rauX's Mans Hate" will probably
be the only source of information
about the Chinese Revolution for
thousands of readers who have not
yet been reached by other forms of
literature on the subject But I'M
fortunately, the information it gives
is false. Whether the author in
tends it or not, it grossly distorts
the history of the Chinese Revolt
ton and the line of the Commu-
mist International and is bound to
add fuel to the dying embers of
Trotskyist lies about the Chinese
Revolution, despite the fact that the
author is not a Trotskyist.
1t is important to note that the
novel was published three years ago
in France and that more reliable
information may have been OBJ
tanned by the author since the
books publication. However, in
order to prevent the book from
being used as vehicle for counter
revolutionary propaganda, the mis-
information that it contains must
be clearly pointed out. This i'm
portant aspect of the book was
ignored by practically all the re-
views that have come to my at
tention, including that of Alfred
Hirsch in the New Masses.
Isidor Schneider in his review in
the Daily Worker august 5th),
correctly pointed out that the
authors individualistic m t h o d,
which allied him to the decadent
writer's of the bourgeoisie, rather
than to revolutionary novelists,
made him unreliable as a portrayer
of a revolutionary movement. He
also correctly criticized the book for
showing one man against the
world, which leads to defeatiSm."
Thus by linking up Malraux's indi-
vidualistic method with his de-
featism, Schneider exposed the basic
weakness of the novel But he
failed to point out clearly the
fundamental historical inaccuracies
in MalrauX's book and got into a
blind all when he tried to explain
the opportunist mistakes in the last
period of the Chinese revolution.
MALRAUX took the Shanghai up
lu prising in March, 1927 as the
theme of his book. One of the main
points in the book is the opportunist
policy of the leadership of the Com
munist Party of China which is al
most entirely imputed to the Com
munist International by making its
representative, Vologin, make the
most opportunist and childish state
ments, such as 'if they workers
guard follow instructions Ito give
up arms, Chang (Kai shek) won't
make a move against the revolu-
tion)," Up. 148). And in another
place Vologin was quoted as saying
to Chen: He (Chiang Kali shek)
will make (counter-revolutionary)
DEGREES and nothing more. His son
is in Moscow, don't forget. And
there is also this: a number of
Galen's Russian officers have not
been able to leave Chiang's staff.
They will be tortured if he is killed.
Neither Galen nor the Russian staff
will contenance it :" (p. 15D.
To anyone who knows anything
about the Communist attitude
toward political problems, these re-
marks are too ridiculous to need
reputation, but their absolute I'M
reality must be pointed out to the
uninitiated readers. To make the
distortion worse, the opportunist
line was not only attributed to
Vologin, but to Moscow directly. On
page 149, the order to the Shanghai
Workers Guards to give up arms
was made to have come directly
from Moscow Even Trotsky and
the most vicious Chinese renegades
dared not make such a charge,
whose clear falsehood glares at
every reader that opens the book!
AS matter of historical fact, it
"A was not the general line of the
Communist International but the
misapplication of it by the leader
ship of the Communist Party of
China, dominated by Professor
Chen Tu-Hsiu, that was opportunis-
tic. In his book, THE Chinese Rev.
olution," Comrade Milf, of the Com
intern, writes: Because of the lack
of proletarian training, of prole-
tartan determination and discipline,
and of an understanding of prole-
tartan organizational principles, the
c. P. c. leadership defed the
discipline of the c. I. and stub