The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 24, 1926, Page 8

yewrerees By TANG SHIN SHE. What is the Significance of Feng Yu Hsiang’s Defeat? HANKS to the support of Japanese troops which fought on Chang Tso Lin’s side. in Chinese uniforms, thanks to Japan having prohibited the trans- port of troops within a certain zone, and finally, thanks to the intrigues of Japanese spies, Chang Tso Lin was able to overcome his powerful oppon- ent Kuo Sung Lin and to have him executed. On the other hand, in spite of being supported with English money, in spite of being supplied with British munitions and arms, Chen Shui Ming, the English lackey, was not able to achieve success in his fight against the Canton government. In the same way, in spite of the nu- merous English warships lying at Hongkong, the English director of cus- toms was not able to maintain the blockade of Canton which was direct- ed against the strikers. Thereupon the English, in order not to have similar sad experiences in North China, have joincd the more fortunate Japanese; this is clearly ex- pressed in the fact that Wu Pei Fu (the English lackey) and Chang Tso @Lin °(the Japanese lackey) who had hitherto been violent opponents, are suddenly working together under the slogan of “Fight against the Reds” to combat the people’s armies which are in favor of the national revolu- tion. Altho they have plenty of mon- ey, arms and munitions, and altho thousands of Russian white guardists and Japanese soldiers were fighting with them as auxiliary troops (Feng Yi Hsiang only recently captured 200 Japanese soldiers), they did not suc- ceed in defeating the people’s armies. It was only when the international im- perialists took common action and is- sued an ultimatum to the Chinese government to clear the Taku forts and remove the mines, that the peo- ple’s armies to withdraw. Does this retreat mean nothing but a defeat of Feng Yu Hsiang? No! It is a blow aimed by the international ffiperialists against the whole Chinese movement for freedom, which they are ‘ tryifig to suppress with all the means in their power. Their next aim is to attack from the East the Soviet Union, the headquarters of the world revolu- tion, which naturally sympathizes with the Chinese national revolution. Even now they are using every effort to tear asunder the friendly relations be tween China and Russia and are car- rying on extensive propaganda against Russia in China. This was also the reason why the Japanese, thru their willing tool Chang Tso Lin, promot- ed the conflict on the East Chinese railway. Afterwards they intend to proceed against the revolutionary Can- ton government. Will imperialists Achieve Their Aim? Netty! the people’s armies have lost Tientsin and Peking and will possibly have to evacuate Kalgan, there is no need to be pessimistic, The fate of the Chinese revolution is by .no means: sealed. The Chinese peo- ple is still seething and fcrmenting. The idea of revolution is alfnady deep- ly rooted in the masses and all efforts to tear it up will be in vain. Neither is it now possible completely to an- nihilate the people’s armies, the aux- iliaries of the revolution. They will certainly be able to hold the provinces of Shensi and Kansu and the districts of Sacha-ori and Ghu-Yuan, They can make use of the pause in the fight- ing which will ensue for a short time, in order to undertake the purging and reorganizing of their ranks and to get mid of vacillating elements. Finally, there are still the strong, firm, revo- lutionary troops of the Canton govern- ment in South China, whose influencce already reaches into the Yangtze dis- trict, into Central China. On the other side, there can be no permanent accord amongst the oppon- ents. The interests, or rather the predatory plans of the imperialists in China, clash. There is America in particular, which does not join in everything, but wants by a clever pol- icy of its own, to create the impres- sion of being an innocent angel in order t® win China’s friendship. The Inst of power of the military rulers will also lead to conflicts between them and they will fly a¥ one another as soon as the common opponent is out of their reach. What Great Dangers Are Impending? FTER the retreat of~the people’s armies from Honana in Central China and from Tientsin and Peking in North China the white terror will spread even further than hitherto, Un- less effectual means are found to break its force, the movement for free- dom may even be paralyzed. It is necessary to know how furiously the white terror is already raging in China and how much worse it threatens to become, On March 18, Tuan She Sui, the tool of the imperialists, opened sharp fire on unarmed demonstrators who were protesting against the ultimatum of the imperialistic powers with regard to blockading the Chinese river Peiho; more than 70 persons were killed and hundreds wounded. The magistrate of the international quarter in Shanghai took unwarrant- able liberties; he gave direct orders to the local military ruler Sun Chuan Fang to shoot down, according to mar- tial law, a leader of the peasants and the president of the Shanghai trades council. The murderers have a legal justifi- eation for all such foul proceedings. As already reported, there is in China a law against robbers and a law for protection, which can of course be ap- plied at any time agaiast robbers. Since 1914, thousands of revolution- aries ‘have fallen victims to these laws. If the law for police protection is strictly carried out, any organiz- ation, any association, any meeting can be prohibited and the participants arrested, while according to the law against robbery, any person who is disapproved of can simply be shot. Attitude of International Proletariat. 1S ieee srsgge to say, the proletariat of the whole world and above all of Japan and England must raise the sharpest protest against the interven- tion and the interference of the inter- national imperialists in Chinese af- fairs, against the blockade of-Canton, against the ultimatum demanding the evacuation of ae a an against the employment of Japanese and Russian white guardist soldiers in Chinese uniforms to fight against the Chinese people. It is imperative that they should try, under the slogan of “Hands off China,” to rescue their oppressed Chinese brothers from the clutches of the imperialist colonial pol- iticians. It is well known that the Chinese peasants and workers, who comprise more than 90 per cent of the popu- lation of China are the chief forces of the revolution. They have already proved by heroic fighting how serious- ly they take the revolution. But how is it possible, unprotected and unarm- ed, threatened by inhuman laws, to fight against the bayonets, machine guns, big guns, and tanks of the im- perialists? It is then the task and the sacred duty of the international proletariat to come to their aid and, in a united front with the pacifists, to start vigorous action against the white terror in China. They should also support with all energy the de- mand of the Chinese for a law for protection of peasants and workers. There is at the present moment a good opportunity for the international proletariat to intervene, now, when the international imperialists are hold- ing a conference on extra-territoriality in Peking. Altho the imperialists are guilty of further interference in Chi- nese affairs, in that they are under- taking investigations into Chinese laws and prisons on the strength of the Washington China agreement of 1922, the international proletariat must make use of this opportunity and above all demand the abolition of the inhuman laws against robbers and for police protection and the creation of a law for the protection of the work- ers and peasants. Conditions in China have become inmeasurably more acute since the sanguinary events in Peking on March 18 and since the defeat of Feng Yu Hsiang. It is imperative that the in- ternational proletariat should, without delay, etart a campaign against the white terror in China and come to the rescue of their revolutionary brothers in China, Retreat of People’s Armies [Parisian Workers Put Fascist Deputies on Trial An Impression of Proletarian Paris By GEOFFREY FRASER. (The Paris correspondent of the Sunday Worker—London, _ England—torote this thrilling description of a phase in the- Paris by-election, which occurred recently. It well illustrates the growing revolutionary spirit of the French Workers.) HUGE hall, packed with over 10,000 people; from outside come the sounds of cheering and of revolu- tionary songs from thousands more of the proletariat of Paris that has not managed to squeeze into the Manege Japy, where the two fascist candi- dates, Henri de Kerillis and Paul Reynaud, have, in answer to a chal- lenge from the Communist Party, agreed to come and answer charges brot against them. “Beyond the crowd teeming in the narrow, neighboring streets stand in serried ranks hun- dreds of policemen and municipal guards. Cavalry patrols amble up and down the adjoining boulevard, Garchery, one of the Communist deputies, presides. “Tonight,” he says, “your enemies are coming here, They are coming here as accused, to be heard at the bar of the people of Paris. Let no man interrupt them. Let no man jeer at them. They have come in a spirit of bravado, and, their friends of the bourgeois press will ac- claim their ‘courage’ in affronting the wrath of the people in this hall... . Let us show them that we can be calm and strong. In your behaviour you will vindicate the dignity of the pro- letariat.” Fascism on Trial. FTER him the two Communist can- didates in this Paris double by- election in which, not only the Briand |- - government, but fascism itself, stands on its trial. One is a worker who has subsequently gone into law and whose daily business it is to defend before the criminal courts those comrades whom a vindictive society has chosen to arrest for the “crime” of attack- ing it. The other is a working baker. As the the latter is closing a sudden tremor runs thru the crowd like an electric spark. “Here they are!” Escorted by a small band of picked stewards, the two fascist candidates, Henri de Kerillis and Paul Reynaud, with a small general staff of bour- geois journalists and politicians, march up to the platform. - The whole audience stands and greets these heralds of the enemy with one great, strong song; the In- ternational. Then, suddenly, dead si- lence. Marcel Cachin is on his feet, Cachin’s Appeal. A MASTERLY speech, compact with biting irony and serried argu- ment, driving his opponents inch by inch to the wall. “Henri de Kerillis, Taittinger’s man, Mussolini’s man, the honest broker for the firm of Farman, against whom in official documents stands the damning charge that thru his indefatigable efforts that firm cheated France out of eleven millions for worthless aeroplanes. A model of patriotism ... lucrative patriotism. The man who prides himself on his bombardment of Carlsruhe and the death of men, women and children... And Paul Reynaud, the man of Mil- lerand and the banks. The man who but a few days since said the people of Paris were ‘canaille’ ,. .” Relentlessly Cachin drives his points home, puts his questions, states the case for the people before the tribunal of the people, Again the audience is swept to its feet, and, as the last sounds of the International echo thru the enormous hall, a spare, slight, pale figure, Henri de Kerillis, steps forward. To do him justice he made no at- tempt at eloquence. He took point by point the questions Cachin had put to him and attempted to reply to them. On some personal points he seemed sincere, On others he stumbled and lost himself in a maze of contradic- tions. Only on one point was he as- sertive, almost provocative. “The day you plant the red flag on the barri- cades of Paris,” he exclaimed, “that day I will go down into the street and lead the assault that will tear it down and reinstall the tricolor in its place.” The audience rocked. One could feel the thrill of anger running from seat to seat. But there was not a murmur. The proletariat of Paris were the host tonight, and a host does not interrupt his guests, Then Paul Reynaud, a small, rat- like man, with a pert expression and a reputation for demagogic oratory. From the first he struck a false note. He tried to be honeyed and provoca- tive in turns, He was no fascist, he claimed ... A titter went round, a tactful discreet, but significant titter +». He was sure he would be be- lieved by the “generous proletar- Wise Like a bolt from the blue came the retort from a member of the audience: “The same you called ‘Canaille’ two nights ago.” He flinched. Then, putting a bold face on it, “I never used that word.” “Terrible Discipline.” OM all sides came a storm of cries: “Liar , . . I was there, I heard you...” Garchery got to his feet and secured silence. The rat- like speaker caught himself up. “Well - I merely quoted the late presi- dent Roosevelt....” Anger dis- solved in galling laughter. To the end of a violent, provoca- tive, insolent speech, the audience lis- tened, with but rare interruptions. One ~ of the bourgeois journalists on the © platform leaned forward and whis- pered to a friend: “This is the first time I have been afraid of Commun- ism. The discipline of this mob is terrible...” Cachin replied, very shortly, almost contemptuously. There was practi- cally nothing to reply to. Then the standard-bearers of reaction left the hall with red escort. One cry only interrupted the silence. “Bonsoir, Messieurs les Assassins!” (Goodnight, murderers! ) The minds of all there flew to the hall in the Latin quarter where, two nights before, a band of fascists, armed with revolvers and batons, fell on a handful of Communist students, Placed two within an inch of death, tried to shoot down Sadoul, and wounded a score of unarmed men and women... Once more, furious this time, ag if driven by the wind of a great anger, swelling out thru the open doors, till one would think half Paris could hear it, there pealed forth the “Interna- tional.” - Then Cachin: “You have done good work tonight, comrades. You have listened to the accused. On Sunday the people of Paris will give its ver- dict,” A Second Poll, N Sunday night the figures were announced, Safe reactionary seats, where at last elections the right won hands down on the first ballot, with the liberal-socialist coalition a good second and the Communists, tho poll- ing well, having little real chance. And this time the reaction hag to fight a second poll. Its vote has dwindled down by 22,000. The soctal-_ ists, for the sins of their parliamentary | leaders, hyponitzed by right wing tac- tics, sank to a comparative handful. ‘Their liberal allies were alomst wiped out. Only 9,000 votes behind the right came the Communists, with a solid phalanx of 38,000 votes, prepared to contest the seats a fortnight hence at the second poll, when it is hoped that the entire socialist vote will rally to them and bear the red flag to victory.