Voice of action. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1933-1936, 1934-10-26

Press, $500
2. "A Chinese Testament: The
Autobiography of Tan Shi-
Hua." AS told to s. Tretiakov.
Simon g. Schnster, $500.
3. Mans Fate" Andre NAL
raux. Harrison NTH g. Robert
Haas, s2.50.
4. Chinese Destinies," Agnes
Smedley. Vanguard Press, $500,
illustrated.
8. "China's Red Army March
es," Agnes Smedley. Vanguard,
Press, $3.50. Popular Edition In
ternational Publishers. $3.50.
Tremendous changes are TAX
ing place in China, shaping not
only her own future destinies,
but fraught with significance for
the peace and development of
the Soviet Union and Japan, of
subject peoples in the Orient to
the South and West, and the
very stability of imperialistic
dominance in the Orient.
The establishment and spread
of soviets In China show hearten-
ing indications of the rise of a
new class, the workers and peas
ants, virile and promising. strug-
Cling and able to strike off the
shackles both of age-Old tradi-
tions and encroachment of mod
ern Imperialism.
This growing Soviet China al
ready covers a territory as large
as that of France and embraces
a population of over eighty mil
lion. 1t has well equipped and
disciplined army whose victories
have startled the capitalist world
though labelled in the bOurge-
OILS press as the depredations of
bandit armies) and set a heroic
precedent for oppressed and ex-
plotted colonial masses.
Intervention Saves Imperialists
Victor A. YakhOntoff in the
Chinese SOviets." an admirable
historical and factual summary
of the rise of Chinese dOwntrod-
den from the time of the TAPPING
Rebellions. the middle of the last
century. to the present date,
states and amply shows that
we're it not for the backing of the
money, arms and gunbOats of the
imperialist powers the regime of
Chang Kai-shek and his ilk in
China would collapse over night.
OF the above books being given
mention, YakhOntOff's is the best
revolutionary review of China,
and at the same time is a valu-
able handbook OF the Chinese
Soviet Republic. It's appendices
include the constitution and laws
of the SOviets. 1t is scholarly and
as definite and authenticated as
the limitations placed on the
authors researches would per-
nit.
YakhontOff denies. and think
gives sufficient evidence to prove
his points, that the Chinese can
never stomach MARKHAM econom-
les and theology; that Chinese
family traditions are too strong;
or that essentially the Chinaman
is an individualist (strange
word?) incapable of cooperation,
and an "ivOry-tower sitter"
THE Seattle Star, of course,
would agree that the Chinese are
very fertile ground for Commun-
ism, though from somewhat diff
ferent grounds, apparently, since
the Star has editOrially tagged
Marxism as an 'oriental defeat
list philosophy
Intimate Studies of Revolt
Much more intimate studies of
the upheavals in China are given
in the other four books. There
is the autobiography of a young
Chinese revolutiOnist as told over
a period of months to S. Tretia-
kOv (alsO author of Roar Chi
na"), his teacher in a Leningrad
school. Then the intensely psy-
Geological novel by Malraux,
Mans Fate" depicting the
Shanghai episode of the Kuomin-
tang rise to power.
And finally Agnes Smedley's
two books of China: First, Chin
csc Destinies," collection of
sketches about present-day Chi
ma; and, second, her recent, Chi
mas Red Army Marches" chro-
biological but intimate study of
the vicissitudes and growth of
the army of the Chinese Soviets.
"A Chinese Testament" gives
the story of the son of one of
Sun Vat Sens lieutenants during
the bourgeois revolution in Chi
ma, and in very simple language
Tan recOunts through his per-
sOnal experiences the impact of
the social phenomena which were
changing the life of him and his
fellows. TretiakOv, in the preface,
says of Tan:
He was not Communist, the
acknowledgement of his father was
transferred to him as an inherit
ance. He protested with bitter in
dignation the treason of the Kuo-
mintangs' generals, but he never
left the party. His generation
shows clearly the breakup of the
social energies of the leading
aloooac nf tho aI,l Ol;,o nI.o