An important document in the history of Chinese Communism. Dutch/Indonesian Communist Henk Sneevliet was secretary of the Comintern’s Commission for Nationalities and the Colonial Question, elected to the E.C.C.I., where based on his work in Indonesia and conversations with Lenin, he was sent as the first Comintern representative to China tasked with helping found the Party there with what were then just a handful of adherents, largely students. As part of that work Sneevliet would develop political relations with Sun-Yat-Sen and the KMT, reformed in 1919. With the experience of Indonesia and Sarekat Islam, the relative size and weakness of the Chinese working class, and, at that time, a very small number of Communist cadre, Sneevliet would propose intervening in the Kuomintang. The C.I. agreed and at a Central Committee meeting in late August, 1922 in West Lake, Hangzhou with Sneevliet chairing, the C.P. voted to enter the KMT, at first only in personal capacities. Below is his initial report after fact-finding for the International. Leaving the CP in 1927, Sneevliet was a leading figure of the Trotskyist Left Opposition until breaking, eventually becoming a supporter of the so-called London Bureau. With the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, Sneevliet went underground and was instrumental in forming one of the first anti-Nazi resistance groups, the Marx-Lenin-Luxemburg-Front. They survived two years until Sneevliet, and the entire leadership, were captured and executed by the SS on April 12, 1942.

‘The Revolutionary Nationalist Movement in South China’ by H. Maring (Henk Sneevliet) from Communist International. Vol. 1 No. 22. September, 1922.

CHINA today presents on the whole a picture of utter confusion. Far off in the interior of the country the Chinese revolution appears to have wrought no alterations in either the political or economic field. The peasantry, making up the overwhelming mass of the population, is taking no part in the political life of the country, and there is no development noticeable in their economic interrelations. The ancient property and family relations still prevail today in the village community which presents a self-sufficient economic entity satisfying all its own wants, and entirely isolated from the outside capitalist world. There are no sharp economic contrasts among the peasants, whose lives have not been affected by the development of capitalism in the industrial centres along the coast. These industrial centres have been the arena of mutual conflict among the various foreign Powers in their search for investments for their capital and of markets for their manufactures. The forces of economic imperialism have been undermining China since the time of the Manchus, and the European Powers, as well as Japan and, to a lesser extent, also the United States, saw to it that this process should go on after the formation of the republic. The perennial civil wars in China have been largely fostered by foreign capital acting through the agency of venal generals and politicians. The foreign loans supplying the means for carrying on these wars have been contracted on such terms as to reduce the independence of China to almost nothing. Japan having taken advantage of the world war, and as the European Powers were too involved to interfere with her activities in the Orient, managed to greatly extend her influence upon the political and economic life of China.

In his book on Economic Imperialism, Leonard Woolf summarises the present day situation in China as follows: “Civil wars have become epidemic in China. Her government is hopelessly corrupt, and her finances are in a chaotic condition; large portions of Chinese territory are occupied by foreign troops and all the Government’s income is pledged in payment of interests on foreign loans which brought the country very little or no benefit, but caused her, on the contrary, an untold amount of harm. By the systematic practice of fraud and violence foreigners got hold of her means of transportation and of a large portion of her mineral resources.

The post-revolutionary period of development following the overthrow of the Manchus has lasted for over ten years now. In 1911 the nationalistic intellectuals, assisted by their friends in the army, succeeded in developing sufficient strength for the overthrow of the Manchus, but owing to the lack of class organisations this political revolution was given no. solid or definite content. No sooner had the revolution broken out than the capitalist Powers of Europe were at work thwarting all efforts to consolidate and centralise the country under the leadership of the Southern radicals, who had been instrumental in the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty. Thanks to the machinations of these foreign Powers the leadership in the revolution got into the hands of the Northern general, Yuan-shi-kai, who served at the same time as the tool of foreign imperial interests. Instead of applying the financial means placed at his disposal by foreign capitalists for the development of the country’s economic resources, Yuan-shi-kai used these means to fight the Southerners. Sun-yat-sen was nominated as the first president of the republic, and he was anxious to bring about the unification of China, in opposition to the foreign powers and Yuan-shi-kai. Eventually the nomination of Sun-yat-sen was withdrawn. The consequences of this were that Yuan-shi-kai, having gradually overcome the resistance of the South, shoved aside the elected parliament and the constitution as well. The first conquests of the revolution were gradually reduced to naught, and it became more and more evident that Yuan-shi-kai was aiming to restore the monarchy and to secure the throne for his own family.

He carried on his fight against the Southern revolutionaries till their Party was dissolved, and its leaders were forced to flee abroad. Only after the death of Yuan-shi-kai did the leaders return home and begin to rally their nationalist revolutionary forces. Naturally, Sun-yat-sen and his friends began by concentrating in the South, where they still found a great number of adherents. The overthrow of the Manchus and the further course of events in China, under the rule of Yuan-shi-kai, served to weaken the nationalist movement among the intellectuals. While prior to the revolution the intellectuals could always be rallied around the slogans: “Down with the Manchus,” it became rather difficult to arouse them to action for any common cause after the overthrow of the Manchus was accomplished. This was due, firstly, to the inveterate antagonism between the North and South and, secondly, to the varying effects of different foreign influences upon the minds of the intellectuals giving rise to diverse viewpoints. The same divergence of opinion prevailed also among the bourgeois elements. Chinese intellectuals usually get their education in the various countries of Europe, in Japan, or in the United States. With the exception of those educated in Japan, the intellectuals are as a rule disposed to favour that particular country where they had received their education. This process of influencing the minds of the intellectuals in favour of this or that particular country usually begins to operate in the early years of the Chinese youth through the agency of the missionary schools.

The Chinese capitalists, on the other hand, associating with foreign firms and launching out upon new enterprises in conjunction with foreign capitalists, are naturally also very strongly swayed by foreign influences. The driving forces of Chinese nationalism are, therefore, not to be found among these bourgeois or intellectual elements, whose minds are under foreign sway, but among the numerous Chinese emigrants in foreign colonies coming chiefly from the southern provinces.

The war years enhanced the development of modern industry in China, and many new industrial establishments were opened by Chinese, but almost always in conjunction with some foreigners. The Chinese emigrants in European colonies, however, were in an altogether different position. The war offered them the opportunity of accumulating. big amounts of capital which they invested mostly in banks, plantations, and industrial undertakings, acting on their own behalf and establishing their own connections abroad through the medium of European concerns and banks in the colonies. These native capitalists have not yet brought themselves to place their large accumulations at the disposal of their mother country in order to help build up her economic resources, on account of the conditions of civil war and foreign intrigues, rendering the situation in the country so insecure and precarious. But they have been interested in things Chinese, maintaining relations with their families in China and readily supporting the efforts of the radical intellectuals of the south to consolidate the country and bring about her independence. It has always been the financial assistance of these people, with whom Sun-yat-sen kept up relations through Chinese seamen and special agents, that furnished the revolutionaries with the necessary means for carrying on their work. It must be emphasised, however, that these big capitalists, in spite of their common aspirations, have remained scattered and disunited, manifesting no common political interests and taking no active part in the life of the Party. As a matter of fact, there could be no accord between these big capitalists mercilessly exploiting native labour in the colonies and the radical intellectuals at the hand of the nationalist movement.

It will not be out of place in this connection to characterise these leaders of the nationalist movement. They are almost all under the influence of socialist ideas picked up during their studies in Japan, France or America, and they are inclined to associate the doctrines of modern socialism with the teachings of ancient Chinese philosophy. Immediately after the Chinese revolution Sun-yat-sen stated in an article in “Le Movement Syndicalist” that the revolutionary nationalists were striving to inaugurate the Socialist mode of production in China. He reiterated this statement and in his work on the economic development of China, published in 1921, he made his viewpoint more definite by stating that China was going to enter the stage of State capitalism leading to the inauguration of socialist production.

It is evident that such a programme did not accord with the interests and aspirations of the owners of large capital, who were giving the Party of Sun-yat-sen their financial support. The propaganda carried on by Šun-yat-sen had therefore to be directed mainly towards the petty-bourgeois, the artisans, the working men, and the soldiers of his army. The programme of the Sun-yat-sen Party, which was, in essence, like that of one of the underground groups that had brought about the overthrow of the Manchus, did not reveal the economic goal aimed at by the leaders. On the whole, the programme was drawn up in such a manner as to make it possible for very different groups of the Chinese population to join the Party. The only three slogans for which the programme declared itself were: (1) Unity and independence; (2) a democratic republic, and (3) a decent living for all. For a long time conditions were such as to force the Party to carry on its work illegally, and only the conquest of the province of Khantung in 1920 enabled the Party to conduct its activities undisturbed within that province. Engaged in military preparations for the overthrow of the Peking government, the Party had no opportunity of discussing problems of tactics or of elaborating its programme.

The Party’s weakest point has all the time been that, acting under the constraint of the foreign Powers, it never put any vigour or energy into its propaganda. Sun-yat-sen and his friends realised well enough that, following the overthrow of the Manchus, all revolutionary-nationalist propaganda would necessarily have to be directed against the ever-increasing encroachments of foreign imperialists. But in spite of all the lessons that might have been learned from the entire course of the post-revolutionary events up to the present time, namely, that there were others besides Chinese responsible for the shaping of Chinese, they still naïvely cherish the vain hope of being able to eventually accomplish the reconstruction without the interference of foreigners, provided they do not antagonise the latter by hostile propaganda.

Owing to the fact that the classes in Chinese society have not yet sufficiently differentiated themselves, the southern leaders are likewise led to resort to the army, seeking to achieve their aims mainly by military means. But in as far as their propaganda has been making its appeals to the masses, it has been of a more or less socialistic nature, which it had necessary to be if it were to enlist the sympathies of the workers, the artisans and even of the petty-bourgeoisie. It is peculiar that the bourgeoisie belonging to the Kuomintang did not object to such propaganda.

The great popularity of Sun-yat-sen among the artisans and working men of Southern China has come to light after the conquest of the province of Kwantung by General Chen-chun-Ming’s troops, when the southern republic was formed, when the Chinese parliament was convened at Canton, and Sun-yat-sen was elected president of the republic. Ever since that time the leaders of Kuomintang were lending their support to Labour organisations and rendered assistance to different strikes, thereby extending their influence among the workers. The trade union movement in the Kwantung province has reached a high stage of development. As a rule, the growth of militant Labour organisations, even in the industrial centres of China is still being hampered by the ancient forms of organisation, namely, the guilds. The workers of the large Shanghai factories, for example, still have their organisations divided into provincial units according to the respective provinces to which they belong. Even the strike movements, in which the workers of different provinces are compelled to act together against their common employer, seldom lead to the formation of trade unions of the modern type.

In the South, however, conditions have been much more favourable. There the sailors, metal workers, and brewery workers already have their trade unions organised on the modern basis, and since 1920 these workers have frequently carried out successful strikes for the improvement of conditions. The Kuomintang leaders supported the striking workers also in such cases when the strikes were directed against Chinese employers. This policy was being pursued, not only by Sun-yat-sen and his friends, but also by Chen-chun-Ming, who later became the enemy of Sun-yat-sen. Protesting against this policy of favoring the working people the bourgeoisie threatened to resort to the weapon of the general lock-out.

The leaders of the Kuomintang have been favouring the newly-formed Labour organisations in many other ways, as well. In the department of education of the province of Kwantung the Chinese Communist, Chen-Tu-chu, former professor of the Peking University, was put in charge of the organisation of educational institutions. During four years this comrade has been publishing The Youth, a periodical whose influence among the young intellectuals was very considerable. This periodical carried on straight- forward Communist propaganda, systematically waking the sympathy of its readers for Soviet Russia and for the Russian revolution. It was due to the interest aroused by this periodical that groups of intellectuals in various sections of the country began to unite for the study of social questions. During his stay at Canton Chen-Tu-chu succeeded in getting the administration of the province to open a school for the training of propagandists. In the evening courses opened in this school, many a worker received the necessary training for trade union activity. Such a policy as this carried on under Chen-chun-Ming was possible only because the bourgeois elements within the Party have not yet reached their political maturity.

Chen-chun-Ming was thus in absolute agreement with Sun-yat-sen regarding economic policy, but with reference to the political course to be followed, the disagreements between them gradually assumed such proportions that these two most prominent leaders of the Party became enemies. Chen-chun-Ming had even been planning to introduce State capitalism in the province of Kwantung and took steps to hinder the development of private capital in the province. With that end in view he furthered the growth of Labour organisations, and declared himself in favour of having socialist propaganda carried on among the workers. But as soon as he became governor of the Kwantung province his political attitude changed. At the time of his being general of the revolutionary army at Fukien, Chen-chun-Ming did not differ in his views from Sun-yat-sen, though the latter was more radical and more determined to act. The conquest of Kwantung was taken up by Chen-chun-Ming only after Sun-yat-sen had urged him to do so. Following this event, however, Chen-chun-Ming wished to go on further. He had to be pressed upon to accomplish the conquest of Kwantung in order to get the revolutionaries of the provinces of Yunan, Kwaitchou, Human and Sechuan into touch with Canton. But in proportion as the plans for a military campaign against the South began to mature and Sun-yat-sen started to recruit his troops in the province of Kwailing, preparing to march towards Human, the breach between him and Chen-chun-Ming became more and more apparent. Almost all the leaders of the Kuomintang sided with Sun-yat-sen, but Chen-chun-Ming declined to withdraw from the governorship of Kwantung, and assumed the command of the expeditionary troops. He declared in opposition to the centralisation of China and in favour of the policy of decentralization adopted by the northern Tuchun, Wu-Pei-Fu. As a matter of course, all provincial governors are in favour of decentralisation which leaves them the possibility of exercising dictatorial power in their respective provinces. While Sun-yat-sen adopted the idea of Party dictatorship, aiming at the centralisation of China and the realisation of his economic reforms, Chen-chun-Ming came out against dictatorship in any form and in favour of democratic government, while at the same time exercising individual dictatorship in his own province. Sun-yat-sen hesitated a long time before he made up his mind to break with Chen-chun-Ming. For this break meant losing Chen-chun-Ming’s troops, i.e., the best part or the Southern army. The assistance from the other provinces was very inadequate, the troops gathered at Kwailing were a conglomerate of men coming from various parts of the country, and fights between individual soldiers from different provinces were matters of daily occurrence. The equipment was very poor, some of the ammunition belonging to the ‘eighties of last century. No financial assistance having come from the other provinces, the entire undertaking was to be financed by Kwantung; Sun-yat-sen and his friends carried on political propaganda among the officers, but the old generals frequently forbade the younger officers to carry on propaganda among the soldiers. It was evident that the troops at Kwailing were no match for Wu-Pei-Fu’s army, even taking into consideration the few divisions which Sun-yat-sen could have had at his disposal in Hunan. The orders sent by Sun-yat-sen to Canton calling upon Chen-chun-Ming to come to Kwailing were laid aside unheeded. At the same time the foremost councillor of Chen-chun-Ming was assassinated at Canton, which widened the breach between him and Sun-yat-sen still more. It was about the same time, too, that the strained relations between Chang-Tṣo-Lin and Wu-Pei-Fu reached an acute state, and war broke out between these two high Tuchuns. Chang-Tso-Lin then declared his readiness to assist the southerners in their fight against Wu-Pei-Fu. In this connection Wu, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, made a journey to Canton, and an open alliance was concluded between Chang-Tso-Lin and Sun-yat-sen. Now, Chang-Tso-Lin never was in sympathy with the southern revolutionaries. Being the tool of Japan, he naturally could not sympathise with the revolutionary and nationalist aspirations of the Kuomintang. This alliance, which must be attributed merely to the military weakness of Sun-yat-sen, was a kind of staking on the chance that the two northern rivals were going to fight on to their mutual destruction, whereby the leaders of the Kuomintang hoped to gain the opportunity of realising their southern aspirations. There has been no controversy in Party circles on the subject of this alliance, as Sun-yat-sen had been invested by Parliament and by the Party leadership with dictatorial powers for the time of the military expedition. Neither did Chen-chun-Ming make any objection to this alliance. At the same time, however, he began to form secret connections with Wu-Pei-Fu. Then Sun-yat-sen, having arrived at Canton, dismissed Chen-chun-Ming from his post of governor, replacing him by the old revolutionary Wu-Tai-Tang. Whereupon Chen-chun-Ming opened hostilities against Sun-yat-sen, who, having been besieged in the Foreign Office, was forced to seek safety in flight. Chen-chun-Ming then dissolved the southern government, and declared his adherence to the political platform of Wu-Pei-Fu, involving decentralisation of the government and extensive provincial autonomy. The fight between Chang-Tso-Lin and Wu-Pei-Fu, as is known, ended in the victory of the latter. Chang-Tso-Lin retired to Manchuria, and the Peking government got into the hands of Wu-Pei-Fu. In the south the fight between Sun-yat-Sen and Chen-chun-Ming is still going on. From the point of view of military strength, the advantage is undoubtedly on the side of Chen-chun-Ming, but the old leaders of the Party stand by Sun-yat-sen.

The seamen’s big strike in Southern China, which took place last January, stands out as characteristic of the connection between the revolutionary-nationalist movement and the modern Labour movement which is now in the process of development. At the beginning this strike was of an economic nature, aiming at a rise in wages for seamen sailing along the coast and in the Indian Archipelago. Very soon, however, they were joined by their fellow-seamen of the open sea, who came out in a sympathetic strike, thus demonstrating the great feeling of working-class solidarity prevailing among the seamen, and making the strike an event of great moment. The port of Hong Kong rapidly became crowded with steamers left by their Chinese crews. Only the Japanese, with their non-Chinese crews, were able to keep up regular service to a limited extent. When the large shipping companies made an attempt to man their ships with sailors from the north and from the Philippine and Malay islands, the Hong Kong dock workers stopped work. The British authorities naturally took up the cause of the shipping companies, forbidding the Strike Committee to carry on its activity in Hong Kong. This forced the leaders of the seamen to remove their headquarters to Canton, where they were heartily welcomed by the Kuomintang. The Chinese Seamen’s Union at Hong Kong was dissolved, and the economic struggle for increased wages was turned into a nationalist struggle against the British authorities in Hong Kong. The leaders of the Kuomintang kept in constant touch with the strikers, providing them with halls for meetings and assisting them in every way. At the same time the opportunity of propagating the views of the Kuomintang among the seamen, which thus presented itself, was by no means neglected. Large processions of striking seamen marched to the graves of those who had fallen in the revolutionary battles, where speeches were delivered by Kuomintang leaders, who exhorted the workers to carry on the struggle against foreign imperialism. This propaganda among the seamen bore very good results, so that the strikers of Canton, Hong Kong, and Swatow all joined the Party. The tactics adopted and carried out by the leaders in this strike resembled in every way those of the revolutionary Labour Unions, and made a strong impression not only upon the seamen, but upon the workers of other trades as well. In consequence of this successful strike, the workers of southern China were drawn into even greater intimacy with the revolutionary-nationalist movement. The British authorities at Hong Kong had to submit to the strikers, and the Seamen’s Union were allowed to resume their agitational functions in that city.

The trade unions of the south are now trying to establish connections with the northern workers and to form a central organisation. In order that the Communists should be able to do fruitful work in these unions we must see to it that the friendly relations between us and the nationalist movement of the south are maintained. In China, where the proletariat is only just beginning to develop, we must carry out the theses adopted by the Second Congress in such a manner as to lend real support to the revolutionary- nationalists of the south. It is our duty to further the consolidation of these revolutionary-nationalist elements and try to give the whole movement a leftward direction.

As has been pointed out, the Communist propaganda carried on by some comrades in China is arousing a lively interest among the young men interested in Socialist doctrines. But this is as far as matters have gone till now. With the only exception of the Young People’s organisation at Canton, all young intellectuals, including even those who call themselves Marxists, are strongly disinclined to carry on any political activity. In the north there are only isolated groups of intellectuals trying to get in touch with the workers, assisting in the organisation of Labour unions, and realising the necessity of political co-operation with the revolutionary-nationalists. The Young People’s organisation at Canton has already reached a considerable degree of development. On the 15th of January of this year this organisation, in conjunction with some workmen’s societies, arranged a Labour demonstration in memory of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Leibknecht. This Young People’s organisation has set itself the task of establishing close connections with the trade unions and to train a corps of active workers from among the Labour unions.

China is the battle-ground where the great Powers are fighting one another for hegemony on the Pacific. The Washington Conference did not change the situation in its essentials. The nationalist leaders do not seem to realise that the Washington Conference did not improve China’s position, but has in reality aggravated it. The quadruple alliance, aiming to force Japan out of the advantageous positions seized by her during the war, is itself going to pursue an imperialist course. For each of these allies is anxious to get as big a share as possible in the rich booty which is to be had in China. This state of affairs determines the inclination among the leaders of the revolutionary movement to co-operate with Soviet Russia, and furnishes the opportunity for the Communists to carry on important and fruitful work in accord with that movement.

*NOTE: This issue of C.I. is only available in German, this English translation is taken from the contemporaneous British Communist Review. Vol. 3 No. 8. December, 1922.

The ECCI published the magazine ‘Communist International’ edited by Zinoviev and Karl Radek from 1919 until 1926 irregularly in German, French, Russian, and English. Restarting in 1927 until 1934. Unlike, Inprecorr, CI contained long-form articles by the leading figures of the International as well as proceedings, statements, and notices of the Comintern. No complete run of Communist International is available in English. Both were largely published outside of Soviet territory, with Communist International printed in London, to facilitate distribution and both were major contributors to the Communist press in the U.S. Communist International and Inprecorr are an invaluable English-language source on the history of the Communist International and its sections.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/sections/britain/periodicals/communist_review/1922/v3-n08-dec-1922-communist-review-riaz-mfilm-OCR-600.pdf