Evening star., 1950-08-06

out in a long report by the Com
munist Party's committee, tina
China does not love the Commu
nistS as they would wish. ha
greatly exercised the Nationa
Committee. Mao Tse-tung tool
up this question in two speeches
which have been elaborated by tn,
Peoples Daily, the leading papel
in Peking. The Communist Party
it is pointed out. now numbering
more than 100000 members
contains too many "careerists.
These must be weeded out; tht
style of work of the whole party
must be remolded; many defects
and mistakes must be corrected
especially authoritarianism." or
in plain English. the tyrannica
ways of Junior officials and party
members. Persuasion and swee1
reasonableness must be the guild
ing rule; thus alone can the
Chinese people be won to under
stand and further the aims of the
Communist reformation.
Continual determination is q
conventional precept of commu.
nism everywhere. In China it GER
tainly seems to have been acteC
on, judging not only by the new
agrarian law but by the long list
of tax alleviationS since announced
in response not only to the peas
ant unrest but to strong remon-
strances by a group of leading
Chinese businessmen.
In their eagerness to stabilize
prices, to make good show before
the workers, and to realize then
ideal of the all-controlling benefi-
cent state, the Communists have
pressed the pace too hard. The
burden of Mao Tse-tung's speeches
to the National Committee and tc
the Communist Party was that
they must go slowly, that full So
cialism is still a long way off, that
capitalism within limits must be
not only tolerated but encouraged
and that the aim must be the
New Democracy" a fair coop.
Grafton between state and private
enterprise. And Liu Shao-chi, tht
vice chairman of the Centra
Government, after pointing out
that agrarian reform had not yer
even been attempted in more thar
half China, said, if it could bt
accomplished within three years
that would be very quick.
Domestic Matters First
All this recalls the new eco
nomic policy which Lenin intro
duced in Russia when he saw that
the move toward communism was
going too fast. The NEP was
only for a transition period,
and Stain abolished it as soon as
he felt the time was ripe. The
Chinese Communist leaders may
have similar intentions. However
it does at least seem clear that fol
the present they are fully occupied
with domestic problems, and will
not want to be drawn into foreign
ENVIRONMENTS at Russia's behest.
Indeed, curious feature of the
National Committee meeting Is
that little attention appears tc
have been given to foreign af-
fairs. Mao Tse-tung paid the
usual tribute to Russo Chinese
friendship and to "the great his
toric significance" of the treaty
between the two countries, but
quickly passed on to matters near
er home.
Here it is obviously necessary tt
guard against drawing wishful in.
ferences. At present nothing coulc
seem closer than the tie between
Russia and China, continually
trumpeted by the clique of Mos
cow-trained intellectuals in Pek.
ing. But it may be open te
question whether this enthusiasm
is shared by the Communist gen
erals and others of the party
According to some observers, il
is not. The Russian advisers dc
not seem to have made themselve.
liked in China. and there is posi-.
tive information of two head-or
collisions between them and min
istries in Peking.
China No Satellite
Russia's record in China is no
good, from the treaty of Nerchinsl
in 1887. when she cheated China
over the Siberian frontier ques.
ton. to her monopolizing of thu
Chinese Eastern Railway and hel
palpable maneuvers to seize al
Manchuria early in the present
century. Last June, just before thu
final collapse of the Kuomintane
government, she extracted from il
the exclusive right to fly plane:
and control air stations in Sin.
kiang, a fact on which the treaty
signed by Mao Tse-tung in Mos.
cow last February is eloquently
silent. And under that treaty
loudly as it has been extolled ir
Peking, Russia in plain fact gave
nothing but promises, while the
value to China of the modest loar
then made has since been lessenec
by the revaluation of the ruble.
The one point on which all the
best authorities are agreed is thai
China is too big, too proud, toe
much set on doing things for her.
self in her own way to become
a satellite of Russia. At present
of course. this and all such judg.
ments are bound to be highly
speculative. But the events de-
scribed above certainly seem tt
suggest that China's government
after 13 years of invasion
and civil war, is far more deeply
interested in what happens in.
side than outside the country
What this may mean in the fu-
ture may depend largely on the
wisdom of Western powers. Al
least no effort should be spared liz