The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 6, 1927, Page 8

British Imperialism in China } — a a (Continued from Page 1) British diplomacy, and on numercus oceasions has led to the use of British gun-boats, before solutions could be found for all of the knotty problems that srose out of the exploitation ef China by British imperialists. This intimate connection between the investor and the flag showed itself in: 1840-42—The First Opium War. Britain took Hongkong. Opened five Chinese ports to British le, 857-60-—Secénd Opium War. Caused by Chinese seizure of an opium smuggler flying the British flag. Coast cities hombarded. Anglo-French troops took and looted Peking. More open ports and un- eqaul treaties. 1862-—Britain annexed lower Burma, a former trib- utary to China. 1886—Britain annexed upper Burma. 11890—-Chefoo Convention. Britain secured control of the Yangtse Valley as a sphere of influence. 1899-1901—Boxer Rebellion. British, and other troops pillaged Peking and imposed a heavy in- demnity on China. A very good summary of these historic episodes will be found in “An Outline History of China,” by H. H. Gleason and Josef Hall, published by Appleton in 1926. In the aggregate they constitute the po- litical subjugation of China by the imperialists, with the British well in the lead until 1914. ty 3.—Japanes and American Rivalry. Previous to the War of 1914, Britain found her economic position in China sharply challenged by the rival empires: Germany, Japan, United States. German hopes were blasted by the outcome of the war, but Japan and the United States remained. In 1913 16.5 per cent of the imports into China came from Britain, 20.8 per cent from Japan, and 6 per cent from the United States. When the war was over, and the costs counted, Britain had 9.6 per cent of the imports (1925); Japan 31 per cent and the United States 14.7 per cent. Meanwhile the Shanghai massacre, the killings by the British at Chameen and the bombardment of Wahnsien had aroused a storm of anti-British sentiment in China that was expressing itself in the Boyeott of 1925. Thus th@British imperialists in China found them- selves face to face with a Japanese rival that must have the raw materials and markets of China in order to survive economically, and an American rival, with swollen coffers and immense surpluses that were seeking an outlet in China, as in every other available nook and cranny of the world. British subjects had made extensive investments in China, and the British government had spent blood and treasure to safeguard and further those investments, only to find themselves face to face with the menace of imperial rivals who were just as ready to steal British ships and colonies in 1927 as British interests had been to steal German prop-' erty in the preceding decade. This was not the only menace to British imperial interests in China. British imperialism found itself face to face with the Chinese themselves: first, with the Chinese business men and later with the Chinese workers and farmers. 4.—The Chinese Bourgeois Revolution. Trade monopolies are very old in China. When the British fi#®t tries to sell goods in China they found that they must operate through Chinese tner- chant. guilds which held a monopoly of trading. By* * wee ee i —Drawing by Fred, Ellis. this could not last. Beginning with the Treaty of Tientsin (1842) the British opened up one centre after another, set up their own shops and did their own trading in defiance of the Chinese merchants and their traditional monopoly. The British went further. They not only took con- trol of the Chinese customs, in conjunction with the other “Powers,” but they limited the amount of cus- tons duties that the Chinese could charge to 5 per cent. Under these circumstances, the British manu- facturer could make and dump goods on the Chinese market below the cost of hand-made native Chinese goeds. This line of action, on the part of British im- perialists, placed the Chinese merchants and manu- facturers in direct economie competition with the British interests. Add the fact that the British busi- ness men refused to pay taxes to the Chinese gov- ernment, and that the British bankers dominated the warld of credit, and a picture is painted of a Chinese business class quite at the mercy of the im- perialists. . “But,” urges some objector, “did not the other imperialists do the same thing?” Of course. The British were no more inherently imperialistic than the others. They merely got to the scene earlier and had more at stake. The prac- tices were those of imperialists the world over. The leaders, in this instance, happened to be British. For years Chinese busines men were forced to put up with this position of inferiority. In the mean- time, they were adapting themselves to the-new busi- ness system. Many went to foreign countries, such as Britain and the United States, and, established prosperous businesses. The Chinese business men continued to exercise great influence in centres like Singapore, Manila and other Asiatic ports. And in China itself they were accepting the new methods of trade and industry, investing their own capital and competing actively with their westerf rivals. The textile industry had been put on a factory basis faster than any other in China. The Chinese control 73 modern cotton mills, with 2,112,154 spin- dles, as against 5 British mills with 250,516 spindles, and 46 Japanese mils with 1,218,544 spindles. In other industrial lines, the Chinese do not occupy so strong a position, but it is evident enough that the Chinese business tlasses like those of Japan, can operate under the westerti methods. Here is a new rivalry for British imperialism in China. Chinese business mén desire to exploit the Chinese workers and the Chinese markets and re- sources. On every hand, however, they find them- selves surrounded by the special privileges and monopolies of the foreign imperialists. It was this group in China that financed and in the main pushed through the Chinese Revolution of 1911. To be sure, there were other elements in the situa- tion than the opposition to the foreign economic in- terests. The new Chinese business classes wanted to free themselves from the semi-feudalism of the Manchu dynasty. But the slogan around which they most easily united was a common opposition to for- eign domination of economic opportunities in China. 5.—Facing the Chinese Workers. British imperialism in China had another bill to meet—a bill presented by the workers of China. Chi- nese coolies had sweated on the docks while Chinese women and children had toiled in the mills, working for less than a bare living, and helping to swell the dividend roll of British investors. The conditions — 4— By SCOTT NEARING under which they.labored had been intolerable. Many of the foremen were foreigners. They neither sympathized with the Chinese, nor did they spare them. Pay was pitifully low. Colonel Malone has recently written a report for the British Independent Labor Party which is published under the title: “The New China.” Part II of this study was devoted largely to a very plain statement about wages, hours and working conditions. Here are some typical daily wage rates, expressed in terms of American money: Cotton industry (men) 15 to 25 cents. Railway workers, 25 cents. Coal miners, 12 to 25 cents. Match factories, (women) 5 to 25 cents; (children) 5 to 10 cents. Silk factories (women) 20 cents; (children) 10 cts. Hours are long. The twelve hour day and the seven day week are common. Many strikes have been called to reduce the working day to twelve hours. Sometimes it is as high as 16 hours. Little time is allowed for meals. Men, women and children as young as eight years work these hours. Working conditions are bad. There is dust. Ma- chinery is unprotected. Sanitation is inadequate. The worst conditions of exploitation in Britain in the early years of the nineteenth century are ex- ceeded in China. Foreign capital has exploited the workers of China under such conditions. Beginning with the Hong- kong Seamen’s Strike of 1922 (Hongkong is Britsh), the movement to organize the workers has spread rapidly over China. Here is another menace facing the British im- perialists in China—the mass movement of the Chi- nese workers. They have been aroused by the ter- rible conditions of work and life that have been enforced upon them. They have begun to” use the strike and the boycott—with deadly effect. These masses have grown anti-foreign through years of suffering and hardship and humiliation’suffered at the hands of the British-led imperialists. 6.—The Soviet Menace. British imperialists face still another menace in China: the menace of Sovietism. Until 1917 this menace was non-existant. Since the Russian Revolu- tion of 1917 it is one of the most serious of the forces that confront British imperialism in China. There are a number of reasons for this: 1—The Soviet system presents a view of social life that is very close to the experiences of the Chinese villagers. They understand the meaning of “committee government” because they have practiced something very like it. 2.—Sovietism offers the Chihese masses a possible means of escape from the worst phases of private capitalist exploitation. What they have known of this system has convinced them of undesirability. 3.—Sovietism is an appeal from a system of ‘sdciéty that rewarded parasitism, to a system that emphasizes the desirability of productive and useful effort. The great mass of the Chi- nese are workers, and again this idea comes very close to their experience. : 4.—The Soviets have been emphasizing and practicing self-determination. In sharp contrast with the imperialists they have been demanding freedom in the cultural life of dependent peo- ples.. The Chinese Nationalist movement is striving for just that freedom. Thus the Soviet system, both because of the time when it is offered to the Chinese and because its character, appeals to the experience of the Chinese, *has already had a great influence in shaping the thinking of the new Chinese Nationalist movement. The imperialists have been appealing with gun- boats. The Soviets have been appealing with offers of co-operation and suggestions that Russia and China make a common stand against imperial ag- gression. 7.—China As A Battle Ground. With the entrance of the Soviet Union on the scene, China become a battle ground across which some of the most important non-military engage- ments in modern history were fought. Military bat- tles were fought, but they were incidental. The major struggle was waged between different levels of social development. Three principal interests were conteding for su- premacy in China: 1.—The imperialists, led by Great Britain. Their watchword was “law and order,” which, in this instance, meant the continuance of the unequal treaties, of imperial control of the Chi- nese customs, of the consular courts, of the ex- ploitation of China by foriegn business inter- ests. This era was ushered in officially by the First Opium War of 1840-42. It continued until the beginnings of the modern Chinese National- ist movement in the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. 2.—Chinese Nationalism found vigorous ex- pression in 1900. It broke out again in rebellious protest in the Revolution of 1911. It developed its most widespread expression in the mass demonstrations against imperialism that occur- ted in 1925-27. The rallying cry of the Nation- (Concluded on Page 7)