The Daily Worker Newspaper, July 5, 1924, Page 8

|Soviet Diplomacy in China - N May 8lst, “1924, the great pow- ers of the earth, notably, France, America and Japan have been admin- istered a strong dose of their own pa- tent medicine—a peace treaty be- tween the government of China and the Union of Socialist Soviet Repub- lics (U. S. S. R.) concluded and signed in secret. Dr. Wellington Koo, foreign minister of China, and Comrade Kar- achan, special envoy of the U. S. S. R. in Peking, have gone secretly thru the procedure of signing and exchang- ing diplomatic notes by which both countries agree to the resumption of normal diplomatic relations and to a settlement of the Chinese Eastern Railway question satisfactory to both sides. ; Thus came to a successful conclu- sion a process of peace-negotiations between Russia and China which last- ed for many months and which finally paves the way for a great future be- tween the peoples of the Far East and the workers and peasants of the Sov- iet Union. Why in Secret? Altho openly negotiated and openly arrived at, the actual signing and ex- change of the treaty documents was done in secret. Very much so. The ceremony took place not in the official offices of the Chinese government, but in the private residence of the Chi- nese Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Wellington Koo. Every humanly pos- sible precaution was taken to prevent the leaking out of the news before the signatures were affixed and the notes exchanged. Why? Because the great “peace- loving” powers of our blessed earth were bent on preventing, at all cost, the consummation of peace between Russia and China, Because the gov- ernments of France, England, and Jap- an have been exerting upon China ter- rific pressure not to accept Russia’s offer of peace. Because our own democratic, humanitarian, “open- door” government in Washington has been doing all it possibly could to frighten China away from Russia. The entire diplomatic corps in Pe- king was busy at the thing. Every single embassy in China was hatch- ing plots and conspiracies against the peace-mission of the Russian enemy. comrade Karachan. It was impossible for him to move a single step ahead without the representatives of the great powers immediately stepping in- to the affair and nullifying all his pre- vious efforts. Some three months ago (March 14) the Chinese government had already been on the verge of accepting the Russian offer and signing a treaty of peace. But then something happened. Buttons have been pruned. Wires pulled. And the Chinese government found its hands, all of a sudden, para- lyzed. It was after this experience, we imagine, that Comrade Karachan sat down quietly and decided “to pull the trick.” He must have reasoned this way: I have been trying to do it open- ly, frankly and above-board, before the eyes of the entire world. But they wouldn’t let me. Alright. Then I'll try their own methods and give them a dose of their own medicine. Since they want secret diplomacy, they shall have it. And so it happened. On the morn- ing of May 31st the diplomatic corps in Peking were rubbing their eyes and.murmuring confusedly: Is that so? They signed the treaty, did they? Confound them! Significance of the Event. It is impossible to over-estimate the world-importance of this event. China has been for a long time, and still is, the prize premium of European im- perialism. With its over four hun- dred million population and immense natural resources, it presents a field of limitless possibilities for exploita- tion, enrichment and power. It is the key to a whole continent. For years past China has been kept in subjection by the so-caNed great powers. Every bloody device known to the imperialist game was employed in China with deadly effect to prevent its millions from organiz- ing themselves and asserting their independence, In fact, there is no such thing as an independent China. Since 1840-42, when England succeeded in opening the doors of China to ‘modern civiliza- tion”. by compelling the importation of opium, China is being ravaged con- tinuously by the organized bands of European Imperialism. The richest parts of northern China are practical- ly in the hands of Japanese, English, German and French capital. Since 1921, the entire economic life pf China has been in the hands of an interna- tional combine in which American bankers are playing the first fiddle. Morgan and Co., Kuhn, Loeb and Co., the National City Bank, the Guaran- ty Trust Co., the Continental Trust Saving Co. (Chicago) and the Chase National bank—these are our own American bankers that are “helping” the Chinese to modern civilization. The policy of the world-imperialists with regard to China is practically the same as the policy of the American imperialists with regard to Mexico. First, by creating and encouraging violent disorder, to prevent the exist- ence of a stable native government. Second, by utilizing the “inability of the nations to govern themselves,” to step into the affairs of the country and to take hold of it for foreign, im- perialist ends. Such have been the policies of the European imperialists in China for the last 75 to 80 years. And since the late war our own, the American im- perialists, have actually joined the game and are “pugnaciously develop- ing into a first-rate imperialist factor in the life of China. What do the great powers want in Germany and America were able, since 1911, further to entrench them- selves and to hold the country in sub- jection. And it was only with the beginning of 1918, when it became known in China that the Russian czarist gov- ernment is no more, that the menacé from the north has disappeared, hayv- ing given way to a government of workers and peasants, that the first warm day of light made its Way thru into the lives of the Chinese masses. The oppressed masses of China, and even the nativ8 bourgeoisie, began turning their eyes to Soviet Russia as the only earthly source of hope and encouragement. Capitalism Senses the Danger. The capitalists of the “victorious” countries in the late war were slow neither in sensing the danger of nor in reacting to a possible friendly ap- proach between Soviet Russia and China. We all remember well the Si- berian operations of the soldiery of Japan, America, etc., which were more of the nature of a military cordon between Russia and China than of a serious attempt at overthrowing the Soviet government. The imperialists knew only too well what effect the Russian revolution may have on the spirit, self-consciousness and fighting ability of the Chinese masses. But cordon or no cordon, China was bound to learn what the Soviet gov- ernment stood for in the matter of foreign policies. On July 22, 1919, the Russia Soviet government addresse¢ a note to China renouncing its rights THE DIPLOMATS: Oh my, why did they do it. in secret? China? A free hand for continued ex-|to all privileges and concessions ex- ploitation of its man-power and na- tural resources. That’s what they want. And to achieve this end, they have got to have a China which is unable to stand on its own legs in a political and military sense. That is, they have got to have a divided coun- try, Whose governmental agents are willing to do the bidding of foreign imperialists and whose masses are in- capable of offering effective organized resistance. This is practically the situation as it. prevails in China at présent. With this difference, tho, that a section of the peasantry and the city workers, large numbers of the petty bour- geoisie and thé student youth are in a state of permgnent revolt against the disgraceful position of their coun- try. This nationalist-revolutionary movement against the domination of foreign capital is centered mainly in the southern parts of China. Soviet Russia—The Saviour. It was the successful development of this revolutionary movement that resulted in 1911 in the overthrow of the royal dynasty in China and the formation of a republican form of government. Which in itself was, no doubt, a step forward in the develop- ment of China, since the old feudal- monarchistic regime was seriously hampering the industrial development of the country. But for a while—for quite_a long while, one might say— the foreign imperialists were able to exploit in their own interests even the revolution of 1911. Because the Chi- nese bourgeoisie failed to create an effective central national government, the imperialists of Japan, England, ~ tracted from China by the govern- ment of the czar. In plain and under- standable language, the Russsian masses made it known to their breth- ren in China that they do not in- tend to follow in the footsteps of the czar, but that, on the contrary, they have made up their minds to treat with the Chinese masses on the’ basis of perfect equality, peace and co-oper- ation. The effect upon the Chinese of this pronouncement of policy was tre- mendous. Only those who are fami- liar with the bloody doings of the czar in China, Mongolia and Man- churia will be able to realize what the Chinese must have felt upon learning the contents of the famous Soviet note of July, 1919. It was nothing short of a revelation to them, And when, later on, they have come more to understand the real nature of the new order in Russia, by this very tok- en the basis has been created for an alliance between the Soviet union and the masses of the Far East which will mark an epoch in the life of humanity. Recent Negotiations and the Agree- ment. The negotiations between the Sov- iet Union and China, which resulted now in the resumption of normal re- lations between the two countries, e lasted for nearly eight months. It shouldn’t have lasted more than eight days. As between Russia and China there were realiy no serious differences of opinion to prevent for- mal agreement at an earlier date. The cause of the delay, as already pointed out, were the great powers, chief By Alexander Bittelman among them the government of the United States. We already have heard a good deal about the Chinese Eastern Railway, the disposition of which forms part of the agreement. We shall hear more of that railway as time goes on. Our own Secretary of State, Hughes, had made this railway one of his main reasons for obstructing the Russo-Chinese peace negotiations. Needless to say that this railway, against which Mr. Hughes claims five million dollars for the cost of oper- ating it in 1918-22, is not the main reason for the imperialistic displea- sure at the Russo-Chinese agreement. There are more weighty considera- tions involved. It is the fate of China as a field for imperialist exploitation and conquest that is at stake in this agreement. Well, therefore, may the imperialists of the world feel wor-— ried! Particularly .when they read*the telegrams of greetings sent to Com- rade Karachan by Beputy Koonga in the name of 181 members of the Chi- nese parliament. This menace of con- gratulations creates a spirit of revolt and defiance which augors the com- ing of an entirely new epoch in the life of the Chinese masses. It»fore- tells the coming of a day when the col- onial peoples will finally come into their own and will jointly with the workers of the “superior” races es- tablish the International Soviet Re- public. The Questioner By F. W. 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