The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 18, 1926, Page 8

International Weekly Review The Chinese Revolution Advances. dace Chinese people’s revolutionary movement con- tinues to sweep thru the land with an almost In- ¢eredible virility. .The prospects of only weeks be- fore become the realities of today. The fall of the city of Hangchow makes it clear that in the words of the editor of the Peking Leader, Grover , Clark, the Cantonese are “rapidly pushing to what ‘owill be an easy ‘victory at Shanghai.” } "The capture of Shanghai, which is now but a “matter of days, a few weeks at the most, means the actual control of the entire Yangtze valley by the national revolutiondry movement, and the beginning of the drive toward Tientsin and Peking, that is, toward the establishment of the AH-China revolu- tionary republic. This development is conditioned on a series of evehts which are quite likely of ma- terjalization in the very near future. The Cantonese are moving northward from the eapitol at Hankow to meet the Kuominchun troops, geome 30,000 etrong and well-equipped, under Feng Yu-Hstang, in Homan province; the Shantung troops from the east are proceeding towards Honan with the hepe of common action with the thousands of Manchurian troops mobilized by the Peking Alliance of war lords (Ankuochun). Im Honan, probably at Changchow, decisive issue may be taken in the near future between the revolutionaries and the pro-im- Perialist armies with every indication of victory for ¢he former. This victory appears all the more likely when it ts considered that the armies of Chang Kai- ®hek and Feng Yu-Hsiang are not only fresh and with good morale frém their virtually uninterrupted victories, but also tht the population welcomes them wherever they put in appearance. The Shan- tungese and Manchurians are composed, respective- ty, of defeated and disgruntled troops, and of some of the most backward elements in China. Moreover, while General Chang Tsung-Chang moves his Shan- tungeSe very cautiously along the Lunghai railroad, Feng is advancing boldly towards the terminus of the same line, Shenchow, which is practically on the eastern border line of the Honan province. In ad- dition, the Manchurian troops mobilized from Pe- king along the Peking-Hankow railroad line, are fac- Chamberlain and Briand. ing the indisposition of Wu Pei-fu to permit their entry into Honan, despite the virtual threats to the Batter of Chang Tso-lin. While confusion reigns in the ememy camp, and new disaffections of their troops are daily announced, the revolutionaries from @he south and the west aro driving swiftly towards @ juncture. Should the Manchurians and Shantungese fail to etop the armies of Feng, or those of Chang Kai-Shek, ft is not impossible that the juncture of the latter ¢wo armies will be made at Nanking, instead of Han- kow which is the present objectives. With the north- ern armies deprived of Honan-—from which, by the fway, come many of the best fighters in both of the fevolutionary armies; Shanghai taken by Chang Mand this is an immediate objective); and the unity of all the rebel armed forces at Nanking, or even Hankow, the basis for the drive northward to Shan- @ung will have been very strongly laid. The pros- pects for a campaign to Peking are quite good. The 6Shansi province, which borders on the Chih-li prov- fmce in which Peking and Tientsin are found, is de- fended by Yen Hsi-shan, who has stuck to his last and refused to send his troops, sorely needed at home, to the aid of Wu Pei-tu or Chang Tso-lin. While the southerners move onward to victories, and the prospects for greater successes become gore obvious, the imperialists are in the very deuce @f’a pickle. Unable, because of their own bitter quarrels and national interests, to find a common basis for action, and realizing, perhaps, the inadvis- ability of armed intervention in the face ofthe vir- éually unanimous opposition with which the 440,000, 000 Chinese people would meet them, the siiuation fay develop into one in which the various powers may vie with each other in their efforts to grant fecognition -to the Canton, or rather, Hankow, gov- ernment in the realization of what they consider Sts relative permanence and in the hope of getting fm on the ground floor. This is more than an ab- etract thought, and the visit of Miles Lampson, the The Crusader for Christianity. British emissary, to the leaders of the southern government is a confirmation of this Iikely develop- ment. This does not exclude the fact that the imperial- ist enemies of a people’s China will continue to keep a weather eye open for every possibility offered to them to keep on subsidizing counter-revolutionary movements. The steady leftward trend of the revo- lutionary movement assures us of this, and the his- tory of the counter-revolutionary and intervention: ist movements against the Soviet Union is a prece- dent which will hold good for China. nasiidinceteaitetindeninaiee | . * Mexico Stands Firm. HARGBDS and counter-charges between the Mexi- can government on the one hand and the United States government and the Standard Oi] company on the other continue to form the bulk of the news on the Mexican situation. The reported agreement of the Standard Oil company, and one of its princi- pal subsidiaries, the Transcontinental Oil company, to accept the Mexican petroleum law provided Cal- les would grant a six months’ extention of time for filing proofs of titles, has been denied by American officials of these two chief American oil enterprises in Mexico. Mexican officials, on the other hand, point out that the legal representative in Mexico of the Transcontinental and of Huasteca Petroleum; Manuel Calero, had issued a statement in San An- tonio last week saying that the ofl laws would be accepted. In addition, they point out that the Trans- continental, as far back as July 30, had applied for BEFORE and < By Max Shachtman concessions to confirm its pre-1917 title, thereby bowing to the petroleum law. The Association of American Producers of Petrole um in Mexico, in a telegram to Morones, of the Mexi- ‘can department of industry, which includes the de- partment of petroleum, have indicated what the strategy of the American oil interests will be in fighting the Mexican government. Their statement amounts to a specious plea for more time “to con- sider the final form and the definitive terms. of-any proposed confirmatory concessions which the gdv- ernment expects them to accept as constituting’ a valid recognition and affirmation of their existing definite and legal lease-hold rights.” It is hoped in this manner to stall off action until the end of the period for application for confirma- tory concessions on pre-constitutional titles will ex- pire, December 31, 1926. It is a challenge to the government of Mexico to act decisively when that date is passed and enforce the penalty of forfeiture provided by the new law. Should the penalty be enforced, the first of the new year will be a test of the character of the Calles government and an impasse in the development of the U. S.—Mexican conflict. Both sides appear to be inflexible, Mexico defend- ing its sovereignty with practically the whole peo- ple behind the government, and the United States government acting as the agent of Standard Oil. One of the following results is to be expected: 1. The American oil companies may yield at the last moment, or even after December 31, 1926, secure a period of grace, and bow to the Mexican laws. 2. The Calles government may yield, and through compromise allow the American oii interests certain concessions. 3. The U. S. government will break off diplo- matic relations with Mexico, leaving the field open to filibustering expeditions, openly sub The Chureh in Mexico. sidized counter-revolutionary attempts, or lead towards direct American military intervention. Of the three possibilities, the second is the most remote. The third is the most likely. , In the meantime, Great Britain seems to be mak- ing hay in Mcxico while the Americans fall into worse odor every day. With a trick as old as im- — (Continued on page 6) : aera lise te ( —From Pravda. The sign reads: “No Doge or Chinese Admitted” {t le one of the the foreign concessions. The rest is plain ee ge —— +