Constructive Effort by Nanking Needed to Present Movement Spreading Welcoming the reported declaration of General Chiang Kai-shek that the Projector Ha Shik, ik recent bandit-communist problem in Chis mainly administrative and mot military, "The Independent Critic" contributes China. of peas yee of their antagonists are being deft the" northern fronts, Professor Hu Shih makes an, loquent appeal' to informed public opinion to face the situation intel-Tigently, pointing out that. in 1931 the Government. had promised suppress. the bandits in three months and described the solution one "merely of using "troops. From. this view General Chiang Kai-shek's reported statement recent conversation to the effect thatthe problem' is only. three-tenths "military and seven-tenths administrative isa remarkable advance. Only the other day General Chiang Kat-shek also believed to have declared that the existing situation im districts under communist. control" should be refcopnised and that" any further effort should be at restoring old conditions. Professor Hu Shih beterior is of the same opinion and describes this change of Government front as a great advance.
The article goes on to point out that the communist problem in. the countryside was mainly in its origin mies." Its. ¢hi tribution of the land, now maintained that if land were equally- parcelled out the Teal. problem would be solved. Not so long. ago, however, the problem of China w Which" impeded growth of' commeres and industry. Now. the situation is. far more serious. The whole of the economic life of rural China is on the point the country's The destruction of FFientain and Canton by the Japan:
cities like Shanghai,
exe would be a mere fleabite if the economic system of the Chinese Village were left intact. In fact, the "whole. of the' country's energies are, not. devoted toward the preservation of village economy, the principal cities. of China will disappear without the necessity for fany form" of Japanese. contact. With them the fabric of China's, administration will be destroyed. The restoration of rural life in Chinw innet be achieved by merely divi ind. Tt includes, of necessity, provement of agriculture, the provision of fertilizers, the encour-Agement of handicrafts, and. also cheap means of communication Nevertheless, the division of land known in details. Ts is known, how-must be the problem first. to. be tackled by the Government and in districts where the communists have been functioning the Government's idea of recognising present. condi-ions implies recognition of the ex-{sting distribution of land, in. districts and villages now under com-/munist control." Thre exact character of this communist system is not known in detail, It te known, how-lever; that one of the chief principles of the communist axeed is the for-Jeible elimination of the land-owning class. Landowners in Kiangsi, Hupeh, and Anhui know this only '00 well. Consequently, when communists enter a village there isan immediate flight of the leading and-owners. Land deeds are burnt, Doundary marks destroyed, and the communists succeed in Yemoving. the [all the bases of title to property and {follow it up by making a new distribution of land to the peasantry. The method by which this distribation is carried out is not known, nor easily ascertainable what particular documents or landmarks are used to establish the new tenure.
Then there also arises the question whether the land ig divided equally or whether a part is retain-jand Consul Sinclair thought does not appear in the papers. The correspondence may evoke.one jor two trivial reflections. One is that, in spite of the fact that communications were slow—it took about four months for a despatch to reach Whiteh: from Peking—the matter was disposed of with expedition which the [Would compare. quite favourably with official procedure of to-day, making allowances of course for speedier methods of transmission. - Another interesting point is that Sir Frederick Bruce felt it necessary: to explain Lord Russell the meaning of the term "squeeze." Peking would ihave more faith in Whitehall's knowledge of China to-day. for the communist administra tion. "The. obligations imposed om, the' new' land-owners, in spite of their standing with the Soviets are unknown. It is probable that the system is not regularized and Iacks uniformity, There is no doubt, however, that the peasants inthe feommunist-controlled areas have gained definite economic benefits. So if the Government aims at restoring the old conditions and sends back the old land-owners to their fold property, discussion would. inevitably arise regarding right and Wrong, profit and loss. ewer better' to leave: that alone f moment, because there are only two alternatives before the Government, they "must recognise the present. situation or restore the old, This major problem in China to-jay. Tt seems clear that the present situation must be recogals-Jed. Proof of rights of property In the Soviet controlled areas have been effectively blotted out, attempt to restore them would bring Jehaos into the villages. communists "and the Daring. the struggle between the Government the communists have made a claim hav it has been a class war between the workers and peasants on one, side and the capitalists on the other. 'The Ipoicy' of the "Goverment Nanking has, been constantly sailed, with the object of showing that this distinction is justified, The mere fact that the Government [troops have ce-operated. with. the Innd-owners has, been used by the Jcommunists. to. show that the. Government are. in essence capitalist ahd against the peasant and worker. Moreover, when a communist. di Heriot has been recovered by the Gov-returning in old territory ernment troops, the land-owners to have relied soldiers to take on the revenge on their' behalf and get back their land." Thig brought about a situation in which the por sonal enemies of the land-owners became the "heroes of the communists. The land-owners claimed other people's land as, part of their old property, thus taking advantage fof the uncertainty of the This embittered previously. communist, peasants, who became Red." Is it to be wondered at that the peasants swallowed Red. pro-propaganda and became eager" to support the' communists at all So the first requirement in the campaign against. the communists i this faith of the to destroy Beasants, The "Government mut ind a way to convince the peasants Ithat the Government is not fighting for the land-owning, class against the peasant class. The best way of doing this in fo recognise the Dres-fent division of land. the bepinnin of the Russian revolution the Soviet propagandists promised land to the peasants, ter they declared that' the revolutionary plans were not accom plished. Denikin. was their moi midable adversary and the Rut sian people had not given way to the Bolshevik propaganda. But when Denikin's troops had won sub stantial successes and the campaign had reached a critical point, whet
agricultural policy a for Infor after hesitation he stated that, the latter would have to be decided by the legislature, after investigation by. economists and lawyers. The peasants did not understand what legislature was, nor did they know: Whether the economists and lawyers would be independent of the Squire lor land-owner. They decided, therefore, that they had better put their trust inthe Bolsheviks, and they turned "hostile, to Denikin. The peasants of China cannot be expected to act in any other way in the present circumstances. It is to he hoped, therefore, that the Gov-Jeroment will not only recognise exting conditions as a preliminary measure, but, when they put. that Dolicy into force, adopt the simplest Procedure possible. Special officials should be sent to register land holders, so that if, the people of a that a certain piece actually being cultivated by Ching San, then it should be registered in th Tf the people on the spot disagree, the Government should decide, And if decision is. impossible, the land should then be registered as the, Government's In districts where there has been no very firm grip by the com>
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Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.