The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 2, 1927, Page 6

The Common The following article is taken from The Commun- ist International ef February 28. The Communist International is the official ergan of the Executive Committee of the C. I. The Chinese situation is the most important question facing the working class of: the world today and every worker should be informed of its import. This article gives the viewpoint of the Executive Committee of the Communist International on the Chinese struggle and should be carefully stud- ied by everybody who wants to be in a position to explain to his fellow workers what is taking place in China.—Ed, HE Chinese revolution is occupying the centre of the historical stage at the present time, and around it forces are gathering for a mighty conflict between the international imperialist bourgecisie and the international proletariat. The world bour- geoisie has mobilized all the social forces possible against the development of the revolution in China. The proletariat has only just managed to outline the fundamental path along which its activities should develop in support of the Chinese revolution, and in its defense against the military forces of imperial- .ism from without, and against the compromising and wavering elements within. Only the most pre- gressive section of the proletariat, represented by the Communist Party, has yet come forward as the erganized force which clearly understands all the difficulties and dangers confronting the Chinese revolution. It is prepared, in spite of all obstacles, to lead the Chinese revolution as part of the world revolution, to final victory. The complex and extremely important task cf rallying the masses of the working class and of the oppressed nations for the struggle has still to be accomplished. This task should oceupy the centre of attention of all the Sections of the Comintern, the Profintern, and all the trade unions. In order to mobilize all the reserves of the international revolu- tionary movement it is necessary to carry out, with the speed commensurate with the exceptional im- , portance of the matter, the united front under the slogan of “Hands off China,” while at the same time the Communist Parties must act independently and employ all forms of mass revolutionary struggle. The mobilization of the reactionary forces against the Chinese people was carried out under the slogan of combatting the “mob,” “Moscow influence.” ete., i.e., against the leading role played by the working class in the national revolutionary struggle. Im so far as this aim of causing a split in the national revolutionary front, and of reducing the Right bourgeois wing to compromise with imperialism, is the common aim of all bourgeois governments and their compromising lackeys, we may say that the world bourgeoisie has established a united front in its attack upon revolutionary China. This front extends from the Pope of Rome, Pius XI., to the pope of reformism, Ramsay MacDonald. It is equipped not only with battleships, cruisers and aeroplane carriers, but with all other kinds of wea- pons from diplomatic cunning and falsehood to Liberal hypocrisy and Social Democratic treachery. Needless to say, the internal conflict of appetites, conflicts of interest, rivalry and competition, roused first of all by the insatiable greed of the bourgeoisie of each country, continues incessantly within the imperialist camp. To these antagonisms must be added the differences as to the methods of struggle which each predatory imperialist considers most con- venient to employ in the given circumstances and time, from the point of view of the geographicai situation and its strategical and economie positions both in China and out of it. It would-be a fatal mistake if the Chinese revolutionaries failed at each stage of development of the revolution to watch closely the growing acuteness of these antagonisms, the play of conflicting imperialist passions, amd to strive in their manoeuvring to utilize these differ- ences in the enemy camp in its own interests. A breach in the imperialist front in China, where the interests of the imperialists are closely interwoven into a tight knot, has become possible because these interests conflict; but this knot, because it is tied so tightly, can only be cut by the sword of the revolu- tion. At all stages of the struggle the Chinese revolu- tion must proceed along the following lines: (1) utilize the antagonisms among the predatory imper- jialists; (2) utilize the hypocritical declarations of the compromising leaders, who, owing to the pressure of the masses, are compelled to make promises *o the national-revolutionary movement. At the same time, it would be a no less fatal mis- take to assume that the antagonisms among the im- perialists operate automatically by a spring that is wound up once and for all, and that these antagon- isms will not be temporarily put into the back- ground at a decisive moment by the common hatred of the imperialists towards their dangerous class enemy. There are grounds for fearing that we are ap- proaching a decisive moment such as this in China. It is imperative that all the forces of the revolution should be speedily prepared to meet this danger. N all probability the British bourgeoisie will con- tinue for some time to play the part of the pion- eers in the attack against the Chineso revolution. The general collapse of British c:pitalism, as well Enemy CHINESE CAPITALIST FROM COMMUNIST INTERNATIONAL You're Next! as the exceptional power ef the blows which are being rained upon it by the victory of the revolution in Southern China, are the cause of the blind, fren- zied aggression of the Baldwin government. The powerful lever of covert intervention has already been torn out of the hands of British imper- ialism. Wu Pei-fu has been routed, Sun Chaun-fang is also on the eve of defeat. Not because they like it, did the British imperialists create a state of war not only in Shanghai but also in the capital of the British Empire. “Not only are the troops on the move,” writes the “Daily Herald,” in its issue on January 25, “but the war-drums are beating: war talk is beginning.” Commenting on the newspaper report that the “scenes of Portsmouth barracks evoked memories of 1914,” the “Daily Herald” ex- claims “That is a true word.” What is the theatre of this forthgoming war like? “Formerly it may have been thought that the whole business will amount to defending a few streets. Now it appears that it is a matter of a front 21 miles long,” writes one bourgeois news- paper, in pointing out that it will necessary to de- fend Shanghai. “But what is Shanghai?’ asks another newspaper and replies, “It is a head, the loss of which will be irreparable, but for all that a head without a body is dead.” “1914,” consequent- ly, does not apply to Shanghai, but at least to the whole of the Eastern Section of the Yangtse. J. H. Thomas was quite right when, in his speech at New- ton Abbot, he declared: “I do not hesitate to say... I prefer a large army to be sent rather than a hand- ful of soldiers.” The British bourgeoisie has become so frenzied already that it will not hesitate to send a large army to China, and consequently is prepared to begin a serious war unless the British working class and the Chinese people put it in a strait jacket in time. It would be entirely wrong to believe, however, that open violence is the only method British int perialism intends to employ in China. While troops are being despatched the British government is play- ing a complicated proyocative game, with a view to splitting off certain of the leading groups of the revolutionary movement, and is converting them into a support for their rule in China. MacDonald with his feigned indignation against military intervention as a matter of fact is aiding and abetting it, is being used a a bait by the Baldwin government in order to decoy a certain section of the Kuomintang inte its trap. Morever, it is not Ramsay MacDonald alone that has been given the honorable part of a worm on the hook of intervention, ? The “Manchester Guardian” and even the “Ob- server,” are zealously angling for the national ele- ments of the revolution, which are not infected with Bolshevism. “The irony is” writes the “Observer,” of January 23, "that British policy in its substance entirely agrees with Mr. Chen. The real difficulty is that while Mr, Chen agrees with Sir Austen Chamberlain,. they are both hampered by misin- formed pressure from their supporters. Mr, Chen has to save his face before the ‘bag and baggage’ prop- agandists on whose political support he is depend- ent. Sir Austen has to contend with die-hard ig- norance whose natural bend is towards the use of force.” Is it necessary to add that all these inter- mediaries, bourgeois and reformists, guarantee Mr. Chen the complete liberation of Sir Austen from the influence of bad counsellors immediately he, Mr. Chen, breaks his compromising connection with the “propagandists?” This game of double dealing has gone so far that in the height of the preparations that are being —_-2— made for war, Ramsay MacDonald is trying to throw a golden bridge for the retreat of the govern- ment in the event of General Duncan having to re- peat in Shanghai in 1927 the same igndminious man- oeuvre that he was compelled to make in Odessa in 1919. ‘I observe,” declares MacDonald in the “Daily Herald,” on January 25, about the military prepara- tions, “an air quite different from that of the for- eign office communications, that I suspeet that once again we are faced with the problem of whether, in circumstances such as those in which we now . are, the military is to be the servant of the State; or the State the plaything of the military.” Hence, it is quite possible that even after the sanguinary conflict has breken out MacDonald will desire to act the part of honest broker between the right wing of the national movement, if tle latter proves to be sufficiently terrorized to agree to make a treacherous deal with the British government (which, of course, will have no hand in the game of the | military authorities and will remain as pure white as the Alpine snows). Hee tactics of ‘American imperialism contain the elements of the same game, but in different pro- portions. Powerful American capital dees not stand in need of artificially created privileges in order to maintain its domination in China—on condition, of course, that bourgeois “law and order” is firmly established. This explains the “liberal” tinge of American policy in China. Washington adopted a waiting policy with regard to the successes of the revolutionary movement, in the conviction that it will develop along capitalist lines. Wise Mr. Kel- logg, in his official statement, described this policy, which is directed towards subjecting an economical- ly weak country to the powerful pressure of Amer- ican capital, as the United States having “no im- perialist interest in China.” Tf that is the case, then it has to be explained why the Washington government was the first to beat, the alarm con- cerning the colonial conference that was to be held in Brussels, and called upon the Belgian govern- ment to prohibit it. 3 The European press is dazzled with the brilliance of American successes, and is urging their bour- geoisie to. adopt the same “liberal” policy in China. The German press particularly is broadcasting these wise counsels, and is positively gloating at the sight of its neighbor’s house burning. Even the French press is sufficiently imbued with hatred towards England to give her advice in the most friendly manner as to how to rest om a dislocated foot. Sauerwein, the journalist, commenting on the speech of Comrade Tang Ping-tshan, writes in the “Matin”; “The Bolsheviks fear most of all politics of the American type, which strengthen the position ,of the right wing of the Kuomintang. The League of Nations must abandon excessive caution, and seek the means for avoiding a conflict which will be to the advantage only of the U. S. S. R.” This wise counsellor, who recalls to mind the hero of the Russian story who danced at a funeral, fails to observe that the development of the Chinese revolution has reached a stage which is causing American imperialism to revise its “liberal” tactics and to call up infantry for a landing in Shanghai. (Continued next week) HELD OVER! Owing to pressure on our space the second and last installment of proclamations issued by, the Bol- sheviki in the early days of the Russian revolution were unavoidably held over until next week, *