Evening star., 1938-05-04
(Fourth of a Series.)
Ry John GUNTHER

bv JUhN UtN HEX.
HANKOW, China, May 4 tNAN.A)
How red are the Reds? On the an
swer to this question a great deal in
the future of China depends.
The Communist army-the 9th
Route Army or the 9th Army Corps,
as 1t Is more properly called-is fight
ing in Shansi Province as an integral
and indispensable adjunct to the
forces of Generalissimo Chang Kai-
shek. 1t is adept in guerrilla warfare
and It's hundred thousand men play
an important role both in blocking
southward advance by the japanese
and in marrying their lines of COM
munication.
That Chang Kai-shek and the
Chinese Communists should be AMIGA
bly, cooperating is enough to make the
mind blink. A few days ago the gen.
eralissimo told me that his relations
with Gen. Chu Teh, the 9Th Army
commander. we're excellent and that
he regarded him as one of his ablest
men. This is as if Goering should
publicly commend Trotsky, as if the
Pope should shake hands with Stain.
or as If Tom Girdler should kiss John
l.. Lewis on both cheeks.
Remember that Chang split with
the Communists in 1927 Remember
that he numerically, remorselessly
tracked down and executed thousands
of Communists for 10 long years
Remember that the Chinese Soviets
set up their own republic in Kiangsi
Province, marched 5000 miles to the
northwest to evade the generalissimo S
pursuing troops, defed him success
fully for a decade and ended up by
helping to kidnap him at Sian.
Two Aims in Campaign.
The generalissimo. his friends tell
me, has-or had-a psychological blind
spot; he thought the Chinese Com
munists were perdition or worse. But
aside from this, the shrewd Chinese
dictator knew that the anti-Communist
campaign served two realistic aims
Cd BY chasing the Communists he
got his own troops into backward and
disloyal provinces, like Szechwan, and
(2) he was in a position to forestall
Japan's excuse for the Chinese war
to save China from Communlsm-by
chasing the Communists himself.
The rapprochement between the
eeneraliSsimo and the Communists
came after the Sian kidnapping, surely
the most bizarre episode in modern
Eastern annals.
of
were forced to the generalissimo ada.
mant attention. First, the Commun-
lists and their friends had him, they
could easily have killed him (and
there was plenty of revenge motive
goodness knows; yet they let him 60
Second. Chang saw that his own
troops would not fight the Communists
any longer. Third, he was persuaded
that the Communists wanted nothing
more than cessation of civil war and a
united front against Japan.
The generalssimo's eyes opened
Sian was a profound moral as we'll as
physical shock
On their side, the Communists be-
haved shrewdly. The generalissimo S
death would have gained them moth
ing. 1t would only have caused more
civil war And they were sick and
tired Of civil war. The generalissimo,
they knew-even if they hated him
was indispensable to their own cause,
since he was the only man who had
any chance at all Of fighting Japan
with a united or more-or-less united
China behind him.
Agreement Observed.
Both sides have observed the united
front agreement carefully. The Com
munists gave up some tenets of their
program, and agreed to abolish the
Red army. ie., allow it to be meta
morphosed into the Eighth Route
Army under the national government
The government agreed to a general
amnesty, to conclusion Of the civil
war and to unity against Japan. The
negotiations leading up to the united
front agreement were oblique and
complex. Very few people know the
whole obscure story. Even those who
do know hesitate to say which Of the
two groups took the initiative in the
final talks Both government officials
and Communists are politely silent or
evasive when you ask them whether
the Communist party is-or is not-a
legal party at the moment. The Kom-
mintang is theoretically the only po-
litical party permitted in China. Yet
the Communists maintain their party
organization intact.
The Eighth Route Army is. almost
every one agrees, no matter what his