Two of the correspondents of the "North-China Daily New stationed in Kiangsi at places go far apart as Nanchang and Kanchow write letters appearing:
this issue concerning the recrudescence of Communist activities in that much disturbed province. It will be remembered that the passage of the Canton armies northwards, commencing in 1926, left in its trail the results of the use which Canton made of Red intrigue, and while it was possible for the Southern ers to throw off the friendly hand of Borodin and his staff of helpers once they were established in their objective, ft was not so easy to undo the work which had been done by the propagandists. who accom panied the forces in their victorious march. As a consequence the taint of Communism has persisted in some of the southern provinces, parti: cularly in Kiangsi, and for the past five years little has been heard from that province except of communist and bandit activity. The Government undertook x campaign this year against the Reds with varying success and while it was claimed that there were only "remnants" to be cleaned up, it is now more apparent than ever that if there were any "remnants" they consisted of the few that had not followed the usual guerilla tactics of disappearing into the blue when things got too hot for them, The situation was never cleared up despite very substantial efforts on the part of the Government to do so, and there are ample indications that the movement is as strong now als ever it was. 'The existence of three main groups of Reds in the field is striking enough, but the suggestion that one such! group consists of three armies of three divisions each' indicates a very substantial number of men enrolled under the Red banner. To such a number has to be added the unascertainable total of hard-pressed farmer bandits—men driven to evil courses because of the poverty imposed on them by the distress caused by wars and other outbreaks—so that the grand aggregate of men combined against either the! established—Government, against peace and good' order must give those in' authority furiously, to think. In -central Kiangsi three important towns ave being hard pressed by these gangs of irregulars; in Southern Kiangsi, Yutu, Kanchow and Hueichang have been attacked, the latter being given over to the sword—and reports to hand seem to confirm the impression that if, at present, things are not quite so bad as they were when the Government undertook its much heralded campaign in Kiangsi, there is every indica tion of their shortly becoming }so. Indeed the correspondent writing from South Kiangsi speaks of the Reds being as busy jas bees recovering the territory which was captured from them, sovietising it piecemeal and entrenching themselves more strongly in the minds of the people than ever before.
With the number of important problems which the politicians at Nanking have to decide in the very near future it may appear to be heaping Pelion on Ossa to emphasise the grave danger of the developments to which reference is now made. But the matter is one of prime urgency, Jand it is to be hoped that direct ly the new Government is formed it will devote a portion of its attention to a situation which has been grave for the past three years at least and affords every indication of becoming graver. The presence of these communist areas so comparatively close to the centre of government is serious enough from the point of view of the effect upon public opinion throughout the world, But their danger is very much more material and imminent. They constitute a direct challenge to the authority' of the Government, are by their nature little Soviets within the sovereign jurisdiction of the country and are not unlike an ulcer which if neglected is so likely to spread. The difficulties Jof leading a campaign into the country where they are to be found have been proved by past experience. Much of those difficulties arose from lack of a complete solidarity within the councils of the republic and to that extent amounted to a weakening of the expedition's rear, besides preventing General Chiang Kai-shek from devoting that wholehearted attention to the work which he would undoubtedly have liked to have paid it, At is impossible to relieve that the plight of the loyalists in those regions, many of whom have been put to the sword in wholesale slaughter as a penalty for defeat, will espouse in the hearts of the new Government ed, and from a pu point of view the early liquidation of the present situation in Kiangsi would redound greatly to its credit.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.