A BOLSHEVIST FAILURE

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, Issue 210, 19 August 1927, Page 4

A BOLSHEVIST FAILURE

Jj'URTHER word from China to-day goes far towards showing the fulfilment of the earlier prediction that the Northern anti-Communi it armie 8 would shortly drive Chiang Kai-shek’s Southern Nationalists from their political headquarters t Nanking. From the preparations that are being made by the European forces at Shanghai, at no great distance from Nanking, it is very evident that it is doubted whether the Northern advance will be stayed at the Yangtsze. Fear is obviously entertained of a repetition there of the disturbances that occurred when the city, some few months back, fell into the hands of the Southerners. However, the forces of the foreign Powers should now be in a muon better position than then to deal with any trouble that may arise. Beyond this, the Northern leaders will probably be little desirous of antagonising the foreigners, so that difficulties are probably apprehended more from the notoriously undisciplined character of the victorious troops than from any active hostility on the part of their commanders. Very little has been heard recently of Mr. Chen and his Communist faction that had set up their Government at Hankow, far up the Yangtsze, and from which Chiang Kai-shek had broken away. It is possible that this is to a great extent explained by a message from Riga that appears in one of the latest numbers of the “Times” to hand by this week’s mail. From this it would seem that the Bolshevik influence in China has just about, run its course, and that the Communist vogue has pretty well come to an end. The message, now just about a month old, tells us that the Ikki, or Executive Committee of the Communist International, had carefully considered the Chinese situation and come to the conclusion that this year’s Communist efforts had met with total defeat and that it was necessary “to begin all over again.’’ The Ikki issued a long statement declaring that the revolutionary part of the Hankow Government is now played out. Following the example of Chiang Kai-shek and Feng Yuhsiang, Hankow has gone over to the enemy and become a counter-revolu-tionary force. The Chinese political bureau and the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party have proved unequal to the task entrusted them by the Communist International and have lately committed very grave blunders. The Communist International had, it says, sent them confidential instruetioin, sharply

criticizing their conduct and threatening openly to repudiate them unless they improved. No improvement followed, and, therefore, the Ikki has now addressed instructions to all the individual members of the Chinese Communist Party, directing them, immediately and without even a moment’s hesitation, to leave the Hankow Government and to cease all forms of cooperation. They are to remain members of the Kuomintang (Nationalist organisation) as long as possible, criticizing the leaders and recruiting adherents to Communism, stirring up the peasantry, supplying them with arms and forming secret fighting detachments. They are to publish a declaration against the Hankow Government, demanding that it shall be punished severely for its unrevolutionary attitude, and to redouble the agitation among the town workers. The statement reviews the whole recent policy of the Com munist International in China; drawing the conclusion that the policy was correct in ail essential details, but the local Chinese leaders proved incapable and timid and the generals and other military officers (whose ultimate “treachery” was regarded as inevitable) openly seceded at an inconveniently early moment. Nevertheless, it says, the situation has shown signs of ! n. creased class hatred and final victory is certain. Above all, it is urged, attention must be concentrated >n mobilizing China’s hundreds of mil lions of peasants and on accomplish ing the agrarian revolution as the next steps towards the Communist revolution.