SCAPEGOATS SOUGHT WITHIN THE PARTY

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27751, 31 August 1955, Page 12

SCAPEGOATS SOUGHT WITHIN THE PARTY

NEW PURGE IN NEW CHIN*.

[By the Hong Kong correspondent ot the “Manchester Guardian”] [Reprinted by Arrangement}

Numerous reports of arrests, unrest, and counter-revolutionary activity have been coming out of China lately. It is by no means easy to assess whether the unrest is really open or if the reports are spread by the Communists for their own purposes. Trying to sift the news is usually made difficult by the disparity of its origins. Apart from outstanding instances, the mainland papers that are allowed to leave China record little about actual overt unrest but a great deal about counter-revolutionary activity, which covers everything from grumbling to active hostility to the regime. The Nationalist press gives reports of executions and arrests and of uprisings by anti-Communist forces on the mainland. Naturally it tries to show there is considerable resistance to the Communists.

So with one side that plays up counter-revolutionary activity for its own propaganda purposes and with the other that does the same for antiCommunist purposes, the world may easily receive an exaggerated impression of the extent of active physical opposition to the Communists inside China. At present, though, the two stories agree remarkably closely. They show that there is unrest in China. It would be surprising if there were not. The food situation is enough to cause unrest on its own account. Last year China suffered from the worst floods for a century in the Yangtse and Huai river valleys, the most important rice-growing centres. Although the urban centres based on Hankow were saved, the surrounding countryside was not. The extent of the flood disaster is shown by the relief figures for last year. Relief funds issued by the Peking Government were £53.500,000 and agricultural loans which from the context seem to be mainly connected with flood relief, came to a further £133,000.000. The winter was one of the most severe within memory and caused heavy loss of livestock. The spring was unusually dry, and the early crops in some areas were affected. Food Shortages Food is short in China, and even the cities, hitherto reasonably well fed at the expense of the countryside, are suffering cuts and further cuts in rations. In the countryside the position is worse. Forced sales of grain and the agricultural tax are based on a norm, which must be met whatever the harvest, unless there is complete disaster. As a result of these two levies, the rural population, of 500,000,000 is left, as its share, with half the grain crop. Some of the rest goes to feed the 80,000,000 urban population, some is sold back at an increased price to needy peasants or those who grow only industrial crops, some goes to feed the army, and, until recently, the bureaucracy, and the remainder goes into granaries, apart from a relatively small quantity that is exported. Rice in the granaries is going bad. The “People’s Daily” recently carried a photograph showing rice lying in the open on a wharf in Shanghai, being sunned to try to preserve it.

An essential prerequisite for the development of industry is an increase in agricultural output. The Communists are pressing ahead with their plans for collectivisation. Theoretically this should increase output, but, of more practical importance, the Communists are worried that the peasants, having been given their land, will turn into netty capitalists. They cannot afford to allow such an important sector of the economy to remain outside the socialist orbit. At the moment most emphasis is placed on the development of co-operatives, but there is opposition, as the peasants rightly 5" these are* the first steps in filching their land from them. . To realise the first Five-Year Plan, increases in consumer goods are being kept down, agricultural exports must be stepped up to pay for imports of capital goods, and increased food is needed to meet the needs of the cities and the growth of population. Great efforts will have to be made by the people of China, and serious sacrifices accepted in order to pay for the plan. An atmosphere of “struggle” must be engendered so that the people will accept the sacrifices without protesting too much. There is not much chance now of another germ warfare or antiAmerican campaign, so the next best thing is to raise the cry that interna] enemies, some in the pay of external foes are undermining the State. Such a claim gives the excuse for drastic measures and will have some appeal to Chinese patriotism. Trouble Centres

From the Nationalist and neutral Chinese press side, the story of antiCommunist activity in the first seven months of this year runs roughlv as follows. In February five important

officials in Shanghai were dismissed, possibly as a result of a feud with Pan Han-nien, then Deputy-Mayor of Shanghai. Further arrests of officials in Shanghai were reported in April. In May it was reported that Pan had become a figurehead and that the real rulers of Shanghai were the two secretaries of the Shanghai municipal committee of the Communist Party. The next move was the arrest of Pan Han-nien himself, which is likely to touch off more extensive arrests. Manchuria has been a trouble centre ever since Kao Kang was purged, and there have been various stories of conspiracies and even of open smallscale military revolt. Public security forces were reported in June to have taken over police duties in the Manchurian industrial and mining areas, and the local police to have been removed.

There have been numerous reports of executions of counter-revolutionary agents on the mainland and their presence has been reported from almost every province. Some of the discontent has been due to famine or near famine, especially in Kwangtung. Early in June the position was described as one of general social unrest and near chaos. Students have become dissatisfied with the Communist heaven, and seven of them have been sentenced in Shanghai for coun-ter-revolutionary activity. This report was confirmed by the Communists themselves.

The Communist papers have carried reports of executions and there have been the sensational disclosures connected with Hu Feng and Pan Hannien. The most interesting reports on rural discontent have come from members of the People’s Congress who have been making inspection trips. The main areas of discontent lie on the borders round Hunan, and the reports complain of semi-religious associations fomenting trouble. This all boils down to the existence of banditry and to the influence of secret societies. It is the old story again. The Americans, as usual, are also being accused of sending saboteurs ana secret service agents into China to cause unrest.

The Nationalist press declares that a long and carefully planned purge has started or is starting. In midApril it stated that a purge was coming aimed at "leadership cadres," and that many intellectuals who had adhered to the Communists since 1949 would be affected. This report appears to be substantially correct Some 182 high-ranking persons are said to be on a black list, including senior members of the Chinese Communist Party as well as leaders of industrial and 1 commercial quarters. Among those listed are Fu Tso-yi, the Northern warlord who surrendered Peking to the Communists and has since then oeen Minister of Water Conservancy. It is said that a large number of persons who defected to the Communists and were used by them will be included in the purge as they have outlived their usefulness.

A Major Puge That a major purge is in progress is confirmed by the Communists. An atmosphere of tension and suspicion is being created. The prominence given to recent arrests and their timing shews that no minor operation is coming, and the Government emphasises the connexion of these moves with socialist reconstruction. Further, the lav/ courts were given special directions. A conference on judicial work, § resided over by the president of the upreme Court and the official head of the Public Security services, was called in Peking in June. The report on it stated: “It is the fundamental mission and main and constant task of the People’s Courts, through legal proceedings, to suppress enemies, punish criminal convicts, and protect the people so as to consolidate the people’s dictatorship and to ensure the smooth process of socialist construction and reformation.” However much the purge may affect the ordinary individual, it is going to hit the party members hardest. In an editorial on July 16. the “People’s Daily ’ in Peking wrote: “Facts have proved that some of our class enemies, by camouflage and deception, have actually sneaked into . our rank and file. . . . Not only have certain persons of Hu’s group sneaked into the party, but there are also other bad elements, counter-revolu-tionary elements, intriguers, people who do not discriminate between classes and opportunists. . . .” The evidence from the Communists and the Nationalists goes to show that there is unrest and discontent throughput China, but ft does not suggest that it is anything more than a sporadic expression or discontent, and is dis--oJ?anised. -ft is °f no danger to the stability of the regime as yet. but if the food situation gets worse and privations of the urban population have to increased, then the situation could become awkward.