The young Chinese Communist Party’s statement on the May 30th Movement, which saw a massacre of demonstrators against imperialist occupation and wave of strikes in reaction.

‘Manifesto of the Communist Party of China’ from International Press Correspondence. Vol. 5 No. 52. June 25, 1925.

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has issued a Manifesto in which it states its attitude to the Protest Movement in China:

The blood bath in Shanghai is not a chance occurrence but is the inevitable consequence of the imperialist policy in China and the result of its enslavement. The history of China since the Nanking Treaty is a history of bloody suppression. But the tragedy of Shanghai has led to the result that a fresh page has been opened in the history of the development of the Chinese national consciousness.

The imperialists are united in their hostility to the Chinese national movement, but this does not prevent conflict between the imperialists themselves, who are now endeavouring to cast upon each other the responsibility for the events in Shanghai. This is expressed in Japan’s attitude towards England and in the hypocritical declaration of sympathy on the part of Germany for the Chinese students.

The movement which has arisen out of the strike in Shanghai must set itself wider aims than the punishment of the guilty and compensation for the victims; it must pursue not juridical, but political aims, before all the annulment of the unjust treaties of the foreign powers with China and the privileges for foreigners, otherwise there will exist no guarantee for the security of the lives of the Chinese.

The Communist Party has the following tasks:

First, to convert the present movement into a permanent process, the aim of which will be the abolition of foreign domination.

Secondly, to rally together all classes in Chinas by their participation in the national revolution and by attracting the broadest masses of the people into the struggle.

The Communist Party must warn the Chinese people against relying upon diplomatic negotiations and attempts at adjustment, and not to forget that the present Chinese government of Tuan She Sui, is the tool of the imperialists, just as Chang Tso-Lin is a paid agent of Japanese imperialism. A compromise is absolutely impossible. It is better to suffer a defeat than to make use of the enemy as a protector and mediator.

The imperialists are endeavouring to split the movement by asserting that the movement proceeds from the Communists and the Soviet Union. If it be true that the Communists are the originators of the movement, the Chinese people ought to rally all the more to the Communists who represent the interests of the whole of the Chinese people. If it be true that the Soviet Union is supporting the movement, this would only serve to prove that the Soviet Union is the sole friend of China. Unfortunately, the Soviet Union is unable to help China immediately to shake off the imperialist yoke.

The events in Shanghai have shown that all sections of the Chinese people recognise the necessity of supporting the workers and peasants against imperialism. Hundreds and thousands of Chinese heroically faced the guns and rifles of the foreign imperialists which were aimed at them. In spite of Martial Law, in spite of threats and acts of violence, the whole population of Shanghai is unanimously supporting the strikers. The sacrifices will not be in vain. The Chinese people will carry on the cause of liberation to a victorious end.

International Press Correspondence, widely known as”Inprecorr” was published by the Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI) regularly in German and English, occasionally in many other languages, beginning in 1921 and lasting in English until 1938. Inprecorr’s role was to supply translated articles to the English-speaking press of the International from the Comintern’s different sections, as well as news and statements from the ECCI. Many ‘Daily Worker’ and ‘Communist’ articles originated in Inprecorr, and it also published articles by American comrades for use in other countries. It was published at least weekly, and often thrice weekly. Inprecorr is 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/inprecor/1925/v05n52-jun-25-1925-inprecor.pdf