The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-08-25
Tsai Faces
Decision
On Course
General of 18th Rout,
Army Must Back China
Or Imperialism
By R. DOoNPING


valiantly defended Shanghai against
japanese invasion in 1882. will be
IN New York on Aug. %. Will Gen
ersl Tsai support Madame Sun Vat
Sens declaration which was printed
in the New York Herald Tribune
Of Aug. 2, and carry on an uncom-
promising struggle against Japanese
imperialism, or is he going to throw
the glorious tradition of the Nine
tenth Route Army to the dust and
petray the interests of the Chinese
people and the world proletariat BY
shameful capitulation to japanese
imperialism?
Japanese imperialism is carving
on a most aggressive policy in the
Far East. There is no time for Gen
eral TSai to hesitate or evade the
question. The militant and most
advanced section of the workers and
farmers of the United States and
other friends Of the Chinese peoule
are demanding from General Tsai
an unequivocal answer.
General TSai's past record makes
1t imperative for the mass to de-
mand an answer to the above cues
ton. The defense of Shanghai.
which made General Tsai q world
figure, was carried out heroically
by the soldiers of the 18th Route
Army not because of him, but de-
spite his hesitancy. 1t was a vic
tory Of the rank and file in the
army which forced the officers to
act by mass pressure. The Nine
tenth Route Army was not de-
feated, but forced to retreat from
Shanghai, primarily by the treach-
cry of its officers.
A Purging Campaign
After the retreat from Shanghai,
General Tsai, instead of rewarding
the most militant elements of the
army, who by their heroic fighting
made the Shanghai defense pos
sible, instituted a campaign of
"purging," and executed large num-
bers of lower officers and soldiers.
With the remnants of the once
great army General Tsai was sta
toned in Fukien province by order
of the Marking government. Chang
Kai-shek was Matching plans to put
an end to the 10Th Route Army
permanently while Tsai Ting Kai,
always hesitant and unable to sat-
isfy the anti-Japan and anti-Chi-
ang Kai-shek demands of his
troops, was weakening the fighting
power of the 10Th Route Army by
continuous 'purging."
In October, 1888, during the first
stage of Chang Kai-shek's sixth
anti-red campaign, the Red Army
pressed hard from Kiangsi and the
western part of Fukien. In the
meantime Tsai Ting-Kai and his
officers and political colleagues be-
came very much dissatisfied over
their share in the division of foreign
loans allotted by Marking to the
provinces.
Thus, when the Red Army took
Yenping, the most strategic city in
Fukien, and directly threatened the
capital city of the province, Foo
chow, General Tsai appealed to the
Chinese Soviet Government and the
Red Army for peace and expressed
the desire to conclude an anti-Jap-
anese and anti-Chiang Kai-shek
agreement on the basis of the three
conditions laid down in the dec
laration of the Chinese Soviet gov
eminent in January, 1888, which
stated that the Soviet government
and the Red Army are willing to
conclude an agreement with an
army which will stop the attack
against Soviet China, give the
masses democratic rights. and arm
them for struggle against Chang
Kai-shek and Japanese imperialism.
A written agreement was signed on
October 26, 1888, by accredited rep
resentatives OF the Provisional Gen.
trail Government of the Soviet Re-
| public of China and Workers and
Peasants Red Army on the one side
and the Provincial Government of
Fukien and the Nineteenth Route
Army on the other side. Aside from
the above provisions, the agreement
also provides for restoration Of
trade between the two territories.
Action Against Chang Kai-shek
The Fukien government and the
10th Route Army undertook, in the
agreement, ito Immediately begin
anti Japanese and anti = Chang
Kai-shek military operations" Car
ticle g. and both sides undertook
ito conclude within the shortest
possible time, a separate military
agreement regarding a Joint strug-
gle against Japan and Chang Kai-
shek." (Article 81
However, instead of Carving out
the agreement to arm the masses
and to fight Japan, General Tsai
attempted to set up third banner
as against Marking and Soviet
China, and in November. 1899
organized the so-called people,
Revolutionary Government" in Flu.
ken, which rallied around it the
politicians of the Workers anc
Peasants Party, the Third Party
and the Chinese Social Democratic
Party"
Chang Kai-shek started militar,
operations against the new govern.
ment Immediately after its incep.
ton and followed a decisive policy
OF attack. Tsai Ting-Kai agar
hesltated. Instead of mobilizing al
available forces for attack he mere.
ly ordered isolated divisions to the
front and fatty refused to arm the
masses.
Seeing the serious danger of the
situation, the Soviet government adj
dressed a telegram to the Fukier
government and the Nineteenth
Route Army on December 20, 1888
i