Apr. 26.
We publish in this number a profoundly interesting article by Mr. Rodney Gilbert on the Labour question in Canton. Thi: he' specially went south to investigate and in private letters} ha speaks of it as appearing to, transcend in importance all other political phenomena of the moment. Ihe situation is indeed strange one as it now presents itself. Of the Big Four at Canton, as they might have been called a few months ago, Mr. Tang Shao-yi has wholly dropped} out of political life and it is improbable that he will ever return. Dr. Wu Ting-fang, the wonderful old man of China, appears to have altered his purpose from political to moral reform. There ws a tinge of pathos in the long interview with him by Mr. Gil-bat which we published on Monday. He speaks almost in a tone of repentance, not the conventional and meaningless mea culpa of the Chinese mandarin, but as if he genuinely blamed himself for his share in starting movement that has gone s8o very wide of his hopes. Of the other two General Chen Chiung-ming, who impresses all who come in contact with him so favourably, is relegated at least for the time being to an altogether secondary position. And Dr. Sun, notwithstanding his strangely powerful personality, gives once again the impression of having excited forces which are getting beyond his control. In contrast, this new picture of Labour, awakened, united, self-conscious, and intensely sure. of itself, is exceedingly significant.
One feature remarked on by Mr. Gilbert does not strike one as so novel as it seems to observers in the south, namely, the Cantonese unions' faculty for organization and solidarity. Surely it has always been the great strength of the Chinese masses, when goaded to extremes, that they could and did stand solidly together, and though the force they thus exerted was passive rather than active, its effectiveness was indisputable. The newness of the situation is that whereas in former days they only combined in response—to great pressure from without, they now give signs of acting spontaneously. The story of how they compelled the exchange shops to give the face value of notes in silver is significant. The catchwords that they have imported from Western Socialism have a real meaning for them; and in the account. Mr. Gilbert gives of the man who controlled the Hongkong strike, they have found leaders whom they trust and are accumulating large strike funds. Hitherto the weakness of Chinese labour unions was, and probably still is to some extent, that, not really trusting their leaders, they placed their funds in the charge of five ov six different treasurers and as these gentlemen—commonly employed the money in financing their own businesses, it was not easy to get them simultaneously into agreement in favour of a strike. Now the seamen's strike at Hongkong has shown con-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.