The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 13, 1926, Page 12

Chang-Tso-Lin, Manchuria and J apan from Mukden means the loss of that basis upon which he had set up his power. This is not a defeat like that which he sustained in 1922, when he , Was beaten by Wu Pei-fu, or like ; that which Wu Pei-fu suffered in 1924 when he was beaten by the troops of Chang Tso-lin. In these two cases, both Wu Pei-fu and Chang Tso-din ad- vanced beyond the borders of the three Manchurian provinces and had attemp.ed to seize possession of the whole of North China, .Wu Pei-fu, however, had left the central prov- inces of China in order to make him- self dictator of the entire country. After their defeats they ‘both retreat- ed to their provinces, and there reas- sembled their forces in order, after a short space of time, to begin the war afresh. ‘ , The recent defeat of Chang Tso-lin | commenced in the same manner as | that of the year 1922. Driven from | Shanghai, he retreated towards the north. Here then commenced the new feature that characterizes his defeat, simultaneously with the collapse of his basis, there occurred the mutiny of Kuo Sun-lin. What does this mu- tiny mean? It became possible thanks to the regrouping of the material and moral forces among the troops of Chang Tso-lin.. A part of his soldiers had been exposed to the influence of the atmosphere of Shanghai and had become unreliable. The provisions and supplies which were to have been despatched to Manchuria proved to be insufficient. The generals whom Chang Tso-lin had been able to gath- er round him during the eight years of his rule in Manchuria became con- vinced that the policy of Chang Tso- lin constitutes a danger to the ruling clique in Mukden. HIS situation rendered possible the mutiny of Kuo Sun-lin. Kuo Sun- lin does not differ from Chang Tso- lin as regards political opinions. But it is not the opinions of Kuo Sun-lin which are of importance in estimat- ing the situation, but the fact that Kuo Sun-lin, or some other general who succeeds Chang Tso-lin, can no longer base himself upon a resistless Manchuria and upon the apparatus which Chang Tso-lin has created by many years of work, In this sense we are faced with a great change in the situation in Man- churia, which at the same time nfeans a change in the fighting forces of China. Whence did the rule of Chang Tso- lin originate, and what does it mean? Chang Tso-lin is usually represented as being a leader of the robber bands of Manchuria, who, with the assist- ance of the Japanese, has seized pow- er and conducted a policy in the in- terests of Japan. This is the view that is commonly held; but it does not take into account the far-reaching changes which have taken place in Manchuria during the last twenty years. The construction of the Hast China Railway and the Russo-Japan- @se;war constitute the reasons why this most backward province of China has become one of the most advane- ed parts of the Chinese state from the point of view of economics. The | influx of Russian money, which was followed by an influx of masses of people who had to be fed, gave a powerful stimulus to the develop- ment of agriculture in Manchuria. In 1923 Manchuria produced 534 million puds of food-stuffs, of which 390 puds were consumed in Manchuria. The export from Manchuria amounted to 124 million puds in 1923. HIS export—wheat, beans, soy beans, oil cake-which goes to Japan, America:and Europe, is the basis of the industry which supplies commerce and agriculture in Man- churia. The huge number of modern equipped mills, factories and banks which undertake the purchase and ex- port of products, the commercial ap- paratus, which has been set up in Man- churia—all this has completely changed this province. These condi- tions have created the class of com- mercial bourgeoisie, that basis upon which Chang-Tso-Lin relied for sup- port. During the Russo-Japanese war, By KARL RADEK. ye all probability the rule of Chang Tso-lin is at an end. His flight tht j { i Chang-Tso-Lin was as a matter of faci the leader of a division of Hunhuses, | fighting against the Russian army. After the war he entered the service of China and became the chief of the Mukden division, Chang-Tso-Lin took advantage of the decay of the state apparatus of the Manchu dynasty, ousted the two military governors of the two northern provinces of Manchu- ria and united the power in his hands; }. whilst during all these years he em- ployed the money obtained from the country iin order to develop its com- merce and industry. He became one of the chief shareholders of the Japanese bank in Manchuria. A con- siderable portion of the mills and ex- port undertakings belong to him. His attempt to penetrate beyond the Great Wall and to subject to his unfluence the proyince of Shantung, as well as Tchili along ~with Peking, constitutes a combination of the personal efforts of the military clique and of the young commercial bourgeoisie of Manchuria to extend their rule beyond the fron- tiers of the three Manchurian proy- inces. S, apart from the proletariat en- gaged in the coal mines and on the railways, there are no working masses in Manchuria, the basis of Chang Tso-lin was fairly secure, The commercial bourgeoisie, everywhere and at all times, supported the abso- lute power which aimed at extending its sphere of influence. The general staff of Chang-Tso-Lin held in its hands the full administrative power over Manchuria. The limitation of the power of Chang-Tso-Lin was not due to the population, but to Japanese imperialism. After the Russian defeat in the Far East, Japanese imperialism obtained possession of the Southern Manchurian Railway, introduced its troops into this territory in order to protect the railway and, taking advan- tage of the world war, began to oust from North Manchuria the Russian bourgeoisie which, until the war, had imported 60 per cent of the manufac- 75 per cent of the sugar and 70 per cent of the tobacco into this terri- tory. HE cessation of Russian exports in Manchuria, the cessation of the in- flux of Russian capital, facilitated the attempt of Japan to take possession of this territory. As she could not do it openly, for fear of America, Japan supported Chang-Tso-Lin as her tool. But in supporting him she attempted at the same time to dictate her-will to him. The troops of Chang-Tso-Lin were trained by Japanese instructors. The Japanese attempted to penetrate into all branches of the Manchurian administration, and desired at the same time to seize possession of Mon- golia in order to threaten Chang-Tso- Lin’s possessions not only from the south, but also from the north and west. The home police of Chang-Tso-Lin and his dependence upon Japan ren- dered more hopeless every month his efforts to play a role thruout the whole of China. The democratic move- ment is growing in the whole of China. It finds expression not only in the Kuo- mintang party, but also in a number of independent organizations of intel- lectuals and of the working class (or- ganizations of teachers, physicians, en- gineers and workers), in a great move- ment to improve the elementary. schools, to set up a system of people’s high schools, and in the women’s movement. HIS movement is weakest in Man- ‘* churta. The mere fact of the exist- ence of a great number of Russian and Japanese traders in Manchuria pre vented the formation of a broad, com- pact Chinese bourgeois mass. Man- churia was the most backward prov- ince of China from a cultural point of view. It therefore lacks a broad mass of intellectuals which is so character-|. istic of the remaining parts of China. The proximity of Siberia, with its ¢lvil war, strengthened the reactionary tendencies of the bourgeoisie. As a result of all these conditions, the rule of the generals in Manchuria was more obvious than in any other part of China. For the mass of the The Watchman of the World. over Europe. People in China, Chang-Tso-Lin be- came the symbol of the rule of reac- tion. The open arbitrary rule of the Japanese in Southern Manchuria made Chang-Tso-Lin, in the eyes of the masses, a tool of Japan. His efforts to seize possession of Northern China in order to advance into Central China, /p¥as resanded chy #he mass; ofthe peo- tured goods, 100 per cent of the petrol, | ple as an attempt.on,the part of Japan to obtain possession of China. Thus, Chang-Tso-Lin, in his endeavors to play a role in all China, encountered sreater opposition than anybody else. fame defeat of Chang-Tso-Lin renders Japanese imperialism, for whom Manchuria represents a very tasty morsel, very nervous. If Manchuria, with a population of 12,000,000 mil- lions, is able to export more than 100,000,000 poods of wheat, that is one- fifth of the prewar export of Russia. what could it supply with an increase of population? The increase in the. population of Manchuria is very great. Northern Manchuria is 30 per cent larger than Germany. Hundreds of thousands of peasants in China are striving to emigrate to Manchuria. In the event of war, Manchuria would be able to constitute a basis of supplies for Japan. It also contains consider- able coal beds. From this point of This cartoon from the “Proletarska Pravda” of Kiev, Ukrainia, shows America as the Roman guard, his shield made of the dollar, standing watch view the fear of the Japanese. imper- ialists negarding Manchuria is perfect- ly intelligible. But Manchuria does not play a sep- arate role in Japanese policy: it is at the same time a bridge to China. China is in. need of. foreign. capital Thanks to her familiarity: with Chi- nese conditions, : Japan i possésses enormous possibilitiesof development on the Chinese mainland, which, in the event of international complications, . would secure her not only the assis’ tance of Manchuria, but also that of China. But these possibilities cannot be based, exclusively on bayonets, Japan cannot venture on a war with Amer- ica and China at the same time, China, driven into the arms of America, would in the future find the strength to annihilate Japan. Hence, the liquid- ation of the Chang Tso-Lin clique con- fronts the Japanese government with the all-important decision: Will its policy be directed towards winning the friendship of China, towards co- operating with those elements which desire to create an independent China, or will it be directed against China? rr the latter case this would mean the final defeat of Chang Tso-Lin and the beginning of the complete de feat of Japan in the Far Bast. No Bloodshed—No Violence! By HENRY ROENNE, QNLY no bloodshed, comrades, no violence please, That is the bestial way Liberals call wrong; Better the way our “Christian” masters follow, The way that makes the killing slow and long— This is the human way to keep men humble, To stop mere slaves from dying with a song, This is the way to keep their backs bent over, The way to keep the power with the strong. AND till the crisis comes, remember | We have no arms, no sword of any kind— Yet sharp is every bayonet against us, The bullets from each rifle are quite blind. But even should the soldiers join us, comrades, Yea, even should an arsenal we find, O better far to die obedient bondsmen ‘That live as bloody freemen unresigned! For if we die as grateful vassals, comrades, We'll enter into heaven all aglow And pla nice harps forever with the angels And never mind the slaves we left below; While if we knock-our There’s no real telling to what hell we masters from their And when it comes to picketing hell or heaven— It should be heaven every time—you know! ee