The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 27, 1926, Page 12

* - A Pan-Asiatic Congress in Japan By TANG SHIN SHE. = imperialists of Europe wish to convoke a Pan-European Con- gress; those of America intend to create.a Pan-American league of na- tions, while those of Asia have con- vened for August 1 of this year a Pan-Asiatic Congress. These movements did not originate exclusively among the imperialists; the Second International and the Am- sterdam International have also played their part in the matted. Several months ago.the newspapers of the Sec- ond International and the Amsterdam International reported that a Pan- Asiatic Labor Congress was to be con- vyened in Shanghai, and now it appears that a Pan-Asiatic Congress is to meet on August 1 in Negasaki (Japan). As regards the anti-Japanese move- ment in China, in the political sense as well as the economic, which has arisen 'on account of the 21 demands of Japan, the Japanese assume that the antagonism has been produced by American agitation, and fom this rea- son they have long desired to call a Pan-Asiatic Congress. The murder- ous shootings in Shanghai on May 39, 1925, which in reality were caused by the Japaijese, are being used by them to ingratiate themselves with the Chi nese, whose indignation is directed against the international imperialists, Japanese politicians sent repeated del- egations to expreas to the Chinese their “sympathy” with them in their fight against the “whites.” With clever and cunning words they en- deavored to stir up racial hatred on the part of the yellow peoples against the whites. They immediately found adherents for this idea among the Chinese bourgeoisie, and committees were promptly formed in Shatghai and Pekin to prepare for the Pan- Asiatic Congress. The original plan was to hold the congress in Shanghai, but as the revo- lutionary wave in China continued to increase from day to day, and because Such a Congress would meet with great resistance, it was decided to hold it in Nagasaki in Japan. In all there were to be 100 delegates at the congress, Japan and China each sending 26 rep- resentatives, while the remaining 50 should come from India, Persia, Tur- key and other countries. Under no cireumstances is English to be spoken at the congress: French may be ised when necessity arises, It was, however, not satisfactory to the Japanese that, afier all the trouble WE STAND UNITED FOR A, JA-PAN-ASIATIC or NATIO they had gone thru to prepare the con- gress, only those politicians who live on Japanese money and the expelled members of the Kuomingtang -party— all persons of but little significance in China—were willing to attend. They, therefore, towards the end of May of this year, sent a delegation of parliamentarians to Shanghai to invite the chamber of commerce of that city. But as a portion of the small traders displayed an anti-impe- riatist tentlency, while, on the other hand, some of the bigger merchants were under English-American infin- ence, there was little to be done in re to the chamber of commerce beyond inviting a hundred members to visit Japan for the purpose of fos- tering friendlier relations between Japan and China, which invitation was accepted, What is the purpose of the Pan- Asiatic Labor Congress? Last year the Japanese government sent the reformist labor leader, Bunji Suzuki, the secretary of the Japanese Federation of Labor, to the congress of the internationale labor office at Geneva. Shortly afterwards American newspapers published the report that ASIA FOR THE a Pan-Asiatic Congress was to be held in France under the presidency of Suzuki, This plan, naturally, ema- nated from the Geneva labor office and the Amsterdam Trade-Union In- ternational, and with no other object that the disruption of the Asiatic la- bor movement, for it had long been a source of great dissatisfaction to these US. |MPERIALISM bodies that the Asiatic labor organit- zations all incline towards the Red International of Labor Unions or are actually affiliated to it. After his return to Japan—after the shooting in Shahghai—Suzuki stated in the course of an interview with a representative of the Japanese press that the Pan-Asiatic Labor Congress would take place in Shanghai and that its chief aim would be the leveling ap of the wages of Asiatic workers with those of western workers. The reason for the sudden shifting of the scene of the congress from France to Shanghai may be attributed to the fact that the Japanese imperialists needed their reformist leaders for their own purposes and were not dis- posed to have them exploited by any other imperialists. At the beginning of this year it appeared as the the congress would really take place in Shanghai. In consequence, the gen- eral secretary of the Shanghai Trades Council, Li Li San, wrote an article on this subject in April this year in the Guide Weekly: “, . . What attitude should the workers adopt in regard to a con gress of thig kind? “1, We Imve observed how the western working class have been deceived by their reformist leaders, and that as a result they are still today under the yoke of capitalist domination. The reformist leaders are nothing but thé jackels of the bourgeoisie, and no matter what fine words they may utter we cannot af- ford to trust them, “2. During the recent imperialist world war eight million of our fel- low workers were slaughtered under the slogan of defense of home and country, while many millions were crippled for life. Now the-Japanese imperialists want to deceive the working class of the Far East with the same slogan of defense of home and country. We must not tolerate this, “3. The large majority of the peo- ples of the East suffer under impe- rialistic oppression, There is only one way for us: a united front against imperialists! The workers in particular must line up in this front, It must also be their task to see that the Pan-Asiatic Labor Con- gress, which is merely a maneuver of the imperialists and a campaign of lies on the part of the reformists, is prevented. .. .” This single attack served to bury the magnificent Pan-Asiatic Labor Congress. The extension of the British naval base at Singapore, the maneuvers of the American fleet in the Pacific Ocean and the strong revolutionary tendency in China forced the Japanese imperialists to try to bring about a Pan-Asiatic Congress for the bour- geoisie and for the workers, in order to smash the Trevolutionary united front in Asia and to defend their con- flicting interests against foreign im- perialists. Such action signifies noth- ing less than preparation on the part of Japanese imperialism for a war in the Pacific Ocean, NEXT WEEK. Manuel Gomez's article, “China Hails the Philippines,” is held over until next week because of technical difficulties. WISE AND CONSER- VATIVE COUNSEL ole