Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-06-25
Ferment in China

1t is interesting, although not neces-
sarily very significant, that Red China's
peoples democratic dictatorship" has
recently been tolerating criticism of itself
and that the Kremlin, by indirection, has
suggested that the time has come for a
decisive counterattack" on such criti-
cism.
This situation dates back to a secret
speech delivered last February by Mao
Tze-tung, the Chinese Communist chief
Of state. The text Of the speech, which
Peiping off1cially released last week,
makes fascinating reading. Among other
things, 1t indicates that there is q great
deal Of unrest in China and much hos
tility among the people toward their rulers
in Peiping. Hence, to that extent at least,
Mr.. Macs invitation to the critics ('Let
a hundred flowers blossom; let hundred
schools Of thought contend") seems to
have been aimed primarily at creating
a safety valve for explosive public opinion
and popular discomfort
At any rate, ever since the Mao adj
dress, there appears to have been a
steadily growing volume Of spoken and
written attack, inside China itself, on the
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example, the regimes chief newspaper
printed letter from prominent Chinese
university professor accusing the Peiping
government Of eight years of "perfldious"
rule and declaring that "the masses dare
not believe a word Of the Communist
Party" And the letter went on to say
that 1t would be patriotic to kill the
members Of that party and violently over
throw the present dictatorship II steps
were not taken to correct prevailing evils.
Similarly, and perhaps even more i'm
portant, Peiping's. official news agency
has just revealed that General Lung Yum,
once powerful war lord and now vice
chairman Of Red Chinas National Defense
Committee, has scathingly criticized the
Soviet Union on two counts among others:
~ He has bitterly deplored its failure
to reimburse his country for the vast
amount Of industrial equipment 1t looted
from Manchuria after the Second World
War. And (2) he has accused the Krem-
lin Of gross unfairness in It's economic
dealings, particularly in its efforts to
exact heavy price from the Chinese
Communists for its aid during the Korean
conflict. Moreover, by way of contrast,
he has had exceptionally complimentary
things to say about how the United States
has dealt with its allies.
1t certainly is an extraordinary thing
that statements Of this sort have received
wide publicity inside Red China. True,
the organs of the Communist Party have
begun to hit back at them as examples
of "rightist deviationism" grossly abusing
Peiping's new liberal" policy of inviting
criticism. True, too, Mr.. Mao, while
claiming to be tolerant of dissenting opin-
ion, has made clear that the complainers
had better be careful He has stated the
case this way: what should our policy
be toward non-Marxist ideas? AS far as
unmistakable ounterrevolutionarie and
wreckers Of the Socialist cause are con-
cerned, the matter is easy: We simply
deprive them of their freedom Of speech"
and very probably Of their lives as we'll.
Nevertheless, although General Lung
and other Chinese dissenters thus have
reason to hesitate before sounding of,
the anti-Red criticism has been open and
widespread enough to suggest that Pei
ping has q b0blem Of real ferment on Its
hand,