PROPAGANDA IN CHINA.
I BOLSHEVIK ACTIVITIES. I -r - I SOVIET EMBASSY RAIDED. . £UILT IN FOMENTING STRIFE. j ) jWANY DOCUMENTARY PROOFS. _ M Assertions that the Russian Soviet was ;1 deliberately fostering ants-foreign agi<j tations in China have long been met by •! {impbatic denials on the part of Soviet 'I officials, hut on April 6, 1927, a raid conducted by the Peking police on prern- : ises owned by the Soviet Embassy in the Legation Quarter of Peking pro- | (luced incontrovertible documentary ] proof of the extant and virulence of i Bolshevik activities in China. A memorandum issued hv the Tientsin | British Committee of Information invades facsimiles, with careful transla:l tions, of a number of important docuj jnents seized during liie raid.
i * For a long time pa:;f, it had been quite !'l flear to impartial observers in China ' j that the anti-foreign phase of the jjf Nationalist movement was being directed ■| jind financed by the Soviet, the memoj | yaudum states. It had been known,'also, i * that. Moscow had been supplying arms, ! | jnunitions, money and military and other I advisers to the" "Christian general" in i | North China, and to the Cantonese in I I South China. The extent of this incite- | I pient and support could only be guessed. The Position of Borodin. Soviet officials and press repeatedly and emphatically denied that the Moscow Government was in any way interfering ,1 in China's internal affairs, or directly or f indirectly assisting any of the contending | factions. They had" been equally emj phatic in regard to the position of Jacob Borodin, the chief adviser to the Cantonese Government. They had again and Again denied he n'as in the employment, or in any way under the orders, of the Soviet Government, describing him as a Russian citizen, who in a purely private j, capacity had accepted service under the J Cantonese. In describing the raid on the premises > t>f the Soviet Embassy on April 6 the ii memorandum states the compound which I was entered by the Peking police was if formerly used as barracks for the Russian Legation Guard, which was with■i drawn previous to the Great War, and ; contained the offices of the Dalbank jincl of the Chinese' Eastern Railway, and ' & number of buildings used as residences, 1 os a club, and—as it afterwards transpired —as the -'offices of the Soviet j Military Attache. The police arrested all Russians and if Chinese found on the premises, among them being a number of notorious Chinese Communists. They also seized quan- •| tities of Soviet propaganda in Russian if and Chinese, including flags, banners and • posters with the usual Bolshevik slogans ft and incitements against tho "imperial--4 ists."
Attempt to Burn Documents. » When tho police entered the com\if pound an attempt was made to destroy : the documents in the Soviet Military 1 j Attache's office by fire. They were drenched With-.kerosene and ignited, and ] considerable damage bad been done before the fire brigade was able to extinguisli the flames. The work of sorting them was likely } to occupy several months, but the P initial stages of the investigation brought S'jj to light documents of exceptional imij 1 portaiice. Among, the papers were conli| fidential documents purloined from other I legations, arid elaborate reports regarding jp the activities of these legations from II Soviet spies. Among the documents was an agreeI'f nient written in English for the em ploy - I'l merit of a spy who was among the li Chinese prisoners caught during the raid. If A facsimile of the agreement is repro- | dnced in the memorandum. It reads as 11 follows"With regard to your further ||f employment I came to the following S| resolution: (a) You stay in Peking; (b) 3 I hereafter you will have to get., in touch 3 1 with the Chinese who are in the employ I I of the Japanese, English and American "I Legations, and enlist for our work those If of them who may be used as useful spies; ji ■ (c) your s&lary will be 40 dollars a M month; (d) for each man you manage I J to enlist, after lie proves of use to us, Vv you will' get 50 dollars as a premium; with this premium-money you will cover 15* your debt to us to the amount of 250 If dollars"; (e) if you agree with these con*s ditions, please sign your name. (Sgd.) fj Chang Bo Hua." - " Very Secret" Instructions, Another document of which a facsimile is given was considerably damaged by fire f on one side so that portions are illegible. I It consists of instructions based on a reI solution of the extended plenary session I of the Communist International, and is | addressed to the Soviet military attache | and marked "very secret." The date has apparently been burned away, but it was I obviously written after the occupation of | the British concession in Hankow by the Cantonese during the first week of | January, 1927, as it refers to "events at Hankow" in justification of (he policy adjj vocated. The document reads thus: "We send vou an instruction drafted according to | this resolution, which you will carry out. (1) Every attention must be paid at present to lend to tho revolutionary movement in China an exclusively national I character. To this end it is necessary to | carry on agitation in favour of the Kilos' mintang as of the party of the national independence of China. Use extensively | the events at Hankow, and the position taken up in them by England, as a proof, firstly, of the success of the Kuomintang in the national work, and, secondly, of the indubitable weakness of the European Powers in the struggle against the Chinese revolution. (2) It is necessary to organise anti-European disturbances in the territory occupied by (ho troops (if ( hang lso-lin. (3) It is necessary to discredit the activity of Chang Tso-lin, stigmatising him as a mercenary of the international capitalistic and imperialistic ..... (currents .'), j who hinders the Kuomintang in its work of liberating China from .". . (foreign ?) control. (4) It is necessary to organise agitation against foreign intrusion. . • ■ Anti-British Movement. " I (5) It is necessary to take all measures to stir up the mass of the population '■f, against . . . (Hie foreigners?). .1 o this end it is necessary to have the foreign Powers to resort . (to repressive measures?) in the. struggle with the mob. In order to -provoke the intervention of foreign . . . (troops?) do not shrink he- ', fore any measures, even such as looting and mass . . . (massacre?). In case of (I collisions with European troops tis«» • largely these cases for agitation. (6) Be careful not to carry out at present- the communistic programme, (his might strengthen Chang Tso-iin's position and augment- the split in the Kuomintang. i We h ave categorically ordered Borodin to abstain for the present from too strong '! pressure on the capitalistic elements, having in mind the aim to keep up the present antagonism among Powers. It is especially important to isolate Japan as I the country which can within the shortest time move into China a large number of troops. To this end it is necessary to pay strict attention that. Japanese residents should not suffer during any -riots. | However, ass regards agitation against the | foreigners, the exclusion of Japan might I produce an unfavourable impression. It | is therefore necessary to carrv on the agi- | tation against foreigners in the form :,f an nnti-British movement." Another document of which a facsimile reproduced is an estimate ot funds for | military political work in China for the 1 first half-year of 1925 26, and shows that I exclusive of Canton, where the expenditure must have been exceedingly heavy, it was a proposcu to-spona £/6, ( 86 for propaganda bnd other purposes i u Chma during the ji ■' ' yy-monthftc • .
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New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19676, 30 June 1927, Page 12
Word Count
1,293PROPAGANDA IN CHINA. New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19676, 30 June 1927, Page 12
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