The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 18, 1926, Page 9

Sia 4 Chinese Lessons for U.S. and the Philippines By MANUEL GOMEZ. R us in America there is one paragraph in the remarkable statement given out by General Chang Kai Shek thru the Associated Press immedi- ately after the capture of Nanchang by the Canton- ese forces, which has a particular claim on jour attention. i “Our attitude toward America,” said the Chinese revolutionary commander-in-chief, “is friendly, but <‘we consider America an imperialist because she has mot give the Philippines freedom. Any ‘country holding territory outside its natural boundaries has _@m imperialist nature and must relinquish claims to such territory.” pens simple statement by a leading Chinese revo- lutionary nationalist, experienced in the ways of imperialism, strips the mask of democracy from the face of Wall Street’s government and’ exposes it as an instrument of finance-capital, using its police power not only against workers in this country but also against weaker peoples abroad. The fact that the United States is formally a°republic does not “prevent it from being ruled by a handful of financ- iers, whose lust for empire is no less imperative than if they were living in what is frankly styled the British empire. General Chang mentions only the Philippines, but the American empire includes also ‘the colonies of Hawaii, Guam and Porto Rico, the protectorates of Cuba, Panama, Haiti and Santo Domingo, and a sphere of influence extending thru most of Central America and far down into South America. THELESS, as is get forth in the resolu- tion on imperialism adopted at the last plenary @ession of the central executive committee of the Workers (Communist) Party of America, “the steady expansion of American capitalism upon an imperial- ist basis is accompanied by the enormous extension of the vulnerable surface which it presents to at- tack. és Nations exploited or threatened with exploitation by American imperialism, are drawn into the polit- teo-economic conflicts of the American’sphere. They strike back at the foreign power which seeks to dominate them, and every blow is a blow against the enemies of the American working class. The American class struggle thus becomes much more complex; it is not simply a conflict of opposing so- cial classes but of classes, races, national minori- ties and subject peoples whose interests are summed tp in the general lass struggle. American work- ers must find a wayrto unite the labor movement im this country with the movements of all opposed | groups thruout the American empire, This requires first of all support for the cause of national independence and self-determination in all Wall Street’s foreign possessions, AT a powerful factor the movements of the op- pressed peoples can become is dramatically pic- tured in the case of China. And now General Chang Kai Shek, whose business it is to fight imperialists, who cannot affort to mistake an imperialist when he sees one, points out the truth concerning Ameri- ean democracy, American labor cannot help but recognize the voice of a friend and an ally. General Chang’s Associated Press statement con- tains a lesson for the subject peoples of the Ameri- can empire no less than for the American labor movement. In this connection it is worth repeat- ing the paragraph quoted from him in my article of last week: “This revolution purposes the downfall of im- perialism, not as it is confined to China alone, but our opposition to it must spread to other countries under the imperialist yoke.” speaking of American imperialism ‘General Chang makes special mention of the Philippine Islands. General Chang is a practical man, The Philippines lie only 620 miles from Canton—certainly not too far away to make every advance of the anti- imperialist forces in China of profound importance to the people of the U. S. island colony. The Filipino people want their independence. Every session of the Philippine legislature adopts a reso lution calling for the immediate, complete-and abso- lute ‘ndependence from American rule, How is this independence to be achieved? It is in the consideration of this vital point that the Fill- pinos will have to learn from the Chinese revolu- , tionary. While recognizing the maturity, experience and wide scope of the Philippine independence movement wt the present time, one cannot fail to note its very serious deficiencies. It is essentially a petty-bour- geois movement growing naturally out of a petty- bourgeois environment. It moves exclusively within the realm of legality; it is immersed in the concep- tion of legality, and therefore really accepts the legal framework of imperialism. ea leaders predicate their activities upon the assumption that thé United States will grant Philippine independence at some time or other. Con- . sequently, the independence movement, for all its noisiness and all its potential power in the national consciousness of the Filipino people, has a certain anreality about it. Sometimes ft speaks the lan- guage of opportunism, sometimes of futile pacifism, Rt is like a parliamentary machine built for perma nent operation under existing conditions, Most of fits time is taken up with justifying itself to Amer- i aivweantton wins ican imperialism. The entire movement leans upon the reed of the Jones law of 1916, promising eventual independence to the Philippine Islands. Yet the reed is already broken.. President Coolidge, in his last message to congress, that no important. section of the American ruling class contemplates the total abandonment of the archipelago. On the contrary, he demands more power for the governor-general at the expense of the Philippine legislature, oo aré not wanting that the Filipino people are beginning to see that the United States will never willingly grant them independence, To anyone who has followed the development of the American empire in the present period it must be apparent that Wall Street and Washington are not giving away anything at this time. Territorial possessions are being added to, not diminished. American im- perialism is on the upward, not the downward grade Inspiration for the Filipino cause must be sought in the revolutionary struggle, rather than in the phrases of politicians at Washington, General Chang Kai Shek’s statement is the most important thing that has happened on the positive side of Filipino liberation in many years. Because of the epoch- making events in China of which General Chang is a protagonist, because of the nearness of the Philip- pines to the mainland, because of the present crisis Proletarian Odes. By C. A. MOSELEY. This Gets Our Goat! _ You flop house dwellers ought know, That some poor critters have a show Of lying down to snooze ‘in ease, Without cold drafts, bed bugs, or fleas, Who do not, in a summer's dark, Stretch out their frames in old Grant Park, But, when the good god Morpheus calls, Repose themselves between four walls, With ceiling lights above the head, And snowy linen on the bed, And bath tub near, in which a bloke } Can take a good old week-end soak. Thig interesting fact | reap From out an undigested heap Of items, pictures, and news-stories, About the scintillating glories And the undying, glorious fame Attached to Army-Navy game, Wherein invading foes do yield Before a ball kicked around the field. This Is the ‘news—just get it right— The Navy’s goat slept well the night Of which the game was aftermath, . in a hotel—with private bath. in the Filipino movement, it is te be expected that the statement will have considerable influence in the islands, The Chinese revolution itself hag had @ great influence upon the masses of the people thera, § yen Cantonese generalissimo’s direct reference te the Philippine Islands will make them feel less lonely. It will tend to give them a new orienta tion, in which China and other oppressed nations figure as basic points of support. His general ree marks regarding the nature of the Chinese struggle against imperialism, should impress at least the most advanced elements with the necessity of mill tant struggle. His conception of world. upheaval should make some of them vizualize the Filipino struggle in the perspective of international politics, Out of such a conception would come a policy quite distinct from that now being followed by the Filipino movement. It would require greater dam ing and more courageous thinking, it might involve greater difficulties, it might still be surrounded by uncertainty. But it would at least have the advan- tage of.standing upon its own feet. It would no& start out by placing itself in the impossible posi» tion of depending upon the bounty of imperialism, (In Comrade Gomez's next article, to be en- ’ titled “The Road to Filipino Independence,” he j will take up the question of a program for the Independence movement). : ene Internotional Proletariat The Curious Christians By COVAMI. For “Jesus sake” they shoot you dead, They fill you full of steel amad lead; They wreck your body, crush your soul, Then pray to God to “make you whole.” They stand fot war—with fervent breath, They bless the instruments of death; They flap the flag, they shout for blood, Then weep beside the crimson flood. They strike the light from woman's eyes, Then “charitably” hush her cries; They slay her husband, take her child, Then tract her on “love undefiled.” They say, “’Tis not by bread alone That mankind cometh to its own”; Then strive to bind the spirit’s wings, The upward sweep of changing things. They preach “good will” and “peace” and “love The “golden rule,” all else above; They teach the brotherhood of man as true, Then turn their wardogs loose on you. Ah, verily, they say and say, And préach and preach; and pray and pray; Yet still the harvest comes as sown, Still by its fruit the tree is known. —Covington Hall, Mena, Ark.,