The Hopelessness of C! thine's State—Ideas of Intellectuals—Anarchy a Cure for Lethargy By Rodney Gilbert the time and planations and into careful definition of terms, it is manifestly impossible to write about Bolshevism without being misunderstood. Bolshevism means something different to alinnest everyone who hears or uses the tam, and it is perhaps a word, which one should' avoid using if possible, and which one should carefully define when he has occasion to use it.
It is, therefore, very important that the Chinese conception of Bolshevism be defined, for when} is understood that it has no connexion with Leninism, and its ultimate object is not anarchy but a thorough-going fight for representative government respon sible to the people, it will be appreciated that the Bolshevism which the radicals in China are advocating is not so very discreditable and that it will not be easy for the reactionary force in the Far East to elicit the sympathy of Western democracies for the suppression of such a movement, China is the Jast country in the world in which Leninism. Philosophical Bolshevism, could take a! hold. The industrial proletariat: which the Lenmnist would make the ruling class im every country in the world, is a negligible minority "in China and has neither opinions nor! the organizations through which to! express opinions. There is no land{ question in China; there is no! hereditary aristocracy now, and th capitalists who exploit labour in China are wary few and are very small fry.
Tue Curse or Lernarey.
China's political needs are ap-} parent to every resident in this country. The ruling class, which is now military, is selfish, criminal-indifferent to national interests and has fo: some time been given bartering national rights for personal prerogatives and wealth. This class must be either swept away, or made responsible to the will Of the intelligent and patriotic classes in China. The middle class! im China is the commercial class, and in some parts of the country cludes a percentage of the skilled artisans, The lethargy of this class of vople is Chmna's greatest curse. Something must be done to bring} them out of their indifference, selfishness and cowardice, Their passive complacency is more exas-berating to the Chinese patriot than the positive crimes of the official class.
The lower class in China, the illiterate labourers, farmers and: coolies, have all the fundamental virtues of the unwashed in any country. They are industrious, honest, courageous; pre-eminently fair in their judgements when they understand the premises in any given argument, and emotional enough to respond to a strong appeal to their imaginations, The great weakness of this class is ignorance. A public event in China which concerns the welfare of the whole country is ancient history by the time it is known and understood by the illiterate masses. It is in the character of these people that foreig) observers usually find 1eason for heping that China will some day be a great democracy, and if China's future is dependent won the active participation of this element in public affairs, it is cortonly dependent upon education, improved communications, newspapers which will reach the masses, und upon training in democracy hich will probably have: to begin with local self-government.
Tue Taree Essentiats, Chinese democracy is, therefore, dependent upon the chastisement-he apilitary dictators, the awakening of the middle class, and the education of the overwhelmingly large proletariat. In the course of ordinary evolution and growth, China might potter about and achieve these ends in a century or so. What the intellectual classes in China, who constitute a fourth estate, say is that China has not century or so to spare. The chastisement of the officials, the awakening of the middle classes, and the education of the proletariat must be achieved by some radically {short cut to satisfy the impatience the world. The Occident is impatient of China, and Japen ready to tuke advantage of the ish ness of hey development. The intellectuals feel that China lss very little time to spare. They know that progress jin political affairs is achieved in two ways—through deliberate and painstaking education, ud through suffering. Almost every Chinese who is interested in China's welfare, has decided in his own mind that if this country is going to evolve a responsible government, and at the same time maintain its independence and integrity, it is going to be through suffering. They have decided that the criminal official classes will have to be thrown out bodily; that, the complacent middle classes will have to be dynamited cut of their complacency, and that the ignorant musses will have to eet their political education through turmoil: and suffering.
is for these reasons that the intellectuals are preaching what they call Bolshevism. The Revolution in China was painfully superficial; the warfare among the Tuchuns and the politicians which has been going on for seven or years has brought China no nearer democracy except where it has aroused the impoverished proletariat to interest in public affairs-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.