THE LIFE & TIMES OF GENERAL TWO-GUN COHEN
By Charles Drage
Funk and
1954, 312 pages, $4.00
A Chinese writer once remarked that the history of a man or nation is sometimes shaped by accident rather than by premeditation. This is certainly true in the case of General Morris Cohen. The fact that a teen-aged vagabond in a small western Canadian town (Saskatoon, with a population of 12,000 at that time) which was as unrelated to far away China as anything can be, should be closely involved in the course of the Chinese revolution and eventually become a general in the Chinese army is entirely accidental. He happened to be in a Chinese chop-suey house when its owner was held up by a robber. By knocking the villain down, Cohen saved the owner from losing a great deal of money. After that, Mah Sam, the owner, and Cohen became close friends, and through Mah's introduction, Cohen was initiated as a member of the Hsing Chung Hui (misspelled Tsing Chung-hui, p. 32) or the China Revival Society if we translate it literally, "pledged to devote my life to the service of Sun Yat-sen, the overthrow of the Manchu Dynasty, and the liberation of the Chinese people." (p. 32) A couple of years later, when Dr. Sun Yat-sen visited Canada, Cohen was introduced to him and was persuaded by his Chinese friends to accompany Dr. Sun as his "body-guard" on his two-month tour of Canada and the United States. Thus, fate brought Cohen and the great Chinese revolutionary leader together.
Cohen came to in 1922 when he was 33 years of age. At that time, Dr. Sun Yat-sen was in . Cohen was soon appointed and of Dr. Sun's A.D.C’s with the rank of Colonel. His faith in and his devotion to his chief was indeed extraordinary for a foreigner. As he says, "There was no discipline in his office in the ordinary sense of the word, but we just naturally treated him with respect and did what he said without asking questions ... We all felt that it was through Sun Yat-sen and through him alone that one could hope for a united China." (p. 91)
When a visitor came to see Dr. Sun, Cohen would make a careful investigation of his life by asking questions such as: "What does he do? Is he a general, a politician or a merchant? Where does he come in the line-up? Is he on Dr. Sun's side? Is he really working for the , or is he just out for what he can get?" (p. 89) He would then commit all this knowledge to memory. When Dr. Sun went back to and started military campaigns against the warlords in the north and the traitor, Chen Chiung-ming, in the South, Cohen was always at his side. Once when they were visiting the northern front in a train, an attempt on Dr. Sun's life was thwarted by the alertness of Cohen. (p. 108)
General Cohen is well-known in for his honesty and loyalty. He cheated when he was a gambler in his youth, but he never cheated while he was in Chinese politics. As an agent of the Chinese Government to buy "sewing machines" (munitions) from foreign dealers, he could have made a fortune for himself, but he never accepted any money that was not his due. It was for this reason that he was asked by Dr. T. V. Soong to take charge of the bullion vaults and the new note issue of the Central Bank at . In the words of Dr. Soong, "He's got to be somebody I can trust and somebody my colleagues can trust and somebody my customers can trust." (p. 170)
As to his loyalty, Cohen was not only loyal to Dr. Sun Yat-sen, his admired leader, but also to T.V. Soong, Sun Fo, Li Chai-sum, Chen Chi-tong and Wu Te-chen, all of whom he served at different times after Dr. Sun's death. Of these men, Li Chai-sum certainly did not deserve Cohen's loyalty. He has since betrayed 's cause and become a tool of the Chinese Communists.
General Cohen's loyalty met with an acid test in the hands of the Japanese. He was in Hongkong when it was attacked by the Japanese at the time of . He saw Mme Sun Yat-sen and Mme H. H. Kung off for Chungking, wartime capital of , at in the last plane to leave Hongkong. He could have left in the same plane, for a seat had been reserved for him. Instead, he chose to stay behind because "there were a whole lot of fellows in Hongkong - of every kind and color - who'd worked against the Japanese under my banner. They were for it when the fortress fell, I couldn't very well leave them to face the music without me." (p. 286) After the fall of Hongkong, he was kept in the Stanley Prison Camp for a long time and underwent untold sufferings. But when he was asked by Taketo, a Japanese friend, to collaborate with the Japanese in exchange for his freedom, Cohen told Taketo "that I'd served for upwards of twenty years and I wasn't going to betray her now in the hour of her adversity and her greatest need." (p. 300) "He who can not be disturbed by poverty, nor spoiled by riches and high position, nor intimidated by physical force, is a great man," said Mencius. General Cohen is truly great in this sense.
General Cohen has led a colorful life; and Commander Drage's book is well written. It is not only a vivid recollection of Cohen's life, but also an interesting account of the story of the Chinese revolution. I hope a few misspelled names will be corrected in the second edition: Tsing Chung-hui should be Hsing Chung Hui as has already been pointed out, Chen See-yen should be Chen Su-jen (p. 88), and Yung Heh-ming should be Yang Si-ming (p. 110).
When I last saw General Cohen in , he was still robust and strong despite his advanced age and his ordeal at the Stanley Prison Camp. The Chinese nation, having won its battles against the Manchu Dynasty, warlords and Japanese imperialism in succession, is now fighting against its greatest enemy, Soviet Russia and the Chinese Communist regime. As Mrs. Judith Cohen sees it: "The time might come when would again have need of him and ... when that day dawned, Morris would go back to ." (p. 312) – TIEN-FONG CHENG
A NATION BETRAYED
By Charles R. Shepherd
Exposition Press, , 1954
167 Pages, $3.00
Impassionate and impartial accounts of the fall of the Chinese mainland are not so many as there should be. In the past few years, documented history of Chinese Communism or even official papers arranged and interpreted in such a way as to bear out the author's conclusions have not been lacking. May of them were published under the sponsor ship of foundations of good standing or respected university presses. Dr. Charles R. Shepherd, a long-time resident in , is among those who know first-hand and have no other interest to serve except exposing the intrigues of international Communism. A British by birth, he is the founder and director of the for Chinese boys in .
A Nation Betrayed is not an "atrocity book," nor a political treatise imbued with the wisdom of hindsight. It is a re-examination of the contemporary history of from the angle of international Communist conspiracy. It tells the plain truth that the Red conquest of did not happen in a short time, but over a period of some 49 years. The book follows closely the major, political developments in since the start of the National Revolution. The author deals briefly with each tactical success of international Communism in that culminated in the loss of the mainland. The whole book is a record of "Machiavellian plotting and diabolical betrayal unparalleled in history." Dr. Shepherd has used a well-selected list of references, including Freda Utley's Last Chance in China, Liu Shaw-tong's Out of Red China; and Stanley K. Hornbeck's Contemporary Politics in the Far East. In a way, Dr. Shepherd's account is arranged in such a way that it is com parable to Dr. Hu Shih's China in Stalin's Grand Strategy, an article in the October, 1950 issue of Foreign Affairs.
The story of the Communist conquest of the mainland, as told by Dr. Shepherd, is a tragedy. It is tragic in the sense that "the patriot Sun Yat-sen, loyal, self-abnegating, trusting, the thousands who died in the struggle to overthrow Manchu tyranny and establish a free republic and the multitudes who through the years laid down their lives in heroic efforts to unify the country under a representative, democratic government were basely, shockingly betrayed." The stage for their betrayal, as the author puts it, was set as early as the start of the National Revolution. The conspiracy was born with the organization of the Society for the Study of Marxism by Chen Tu-hsiu and Li Ta-chao. The Chinese Communist Party, founded in 1921, had been from the very beginning identified with the Communist International. At one time, the successful October Revolution in had a tremendous impact upon those who strove to establish the Republic of . Many Chinese patriots went to to study their revolutionary methods and institutions. However, at the same time, the Communist International made one attempt after another to subvert the Chinese National Revolution. Notable among such attempts were Leo Karakhan's A Manifesto to the Chinese People issued in 1919; the seemingly magnanimous gesture of Soviet Russia in relinquishing all special rights obtained from by the Czarists, and even Zinovieff's promise of continued support of the Third International to the Chinese national movement after the death of Dr. Sun Yat-sen.
For a period of three years (1924-27), the Chinese Communists were actually admitted into the rank and file of the National Revolution until the Russian agent Michael Borodin overplayed his hand. This period of "collaboration" has seldom been viewed in its proper perspective. Even Dr. Shephed gives his readers the impression that Dr: Sun Yat-sen had put too much faith in the Communists. It should be borne in mind that the basis of collaboration was clearly stated in Dr. Sun's famous joint statement with A. Joffe. Dr. Sun Yat-sen had never permitted the Communists to sway the National Revolution from its right course. The joint statement of 1923 explicitly said: "Dr. Sun Yat-sen holds that the Communist order or even the Soviet system cannot be actually introduced into , because there do not exist here the conditions for the successful establishment of either Communism or Sovietism."
The formula of "collaboration," so effectively used by the Chinese Communists, did not die with the Wuhan-Nanking split. The Chinese Communists, cornered at Yenan, offered to "collaborate" with the government again when the Japanese invasion became imminent. Dr. Shepherd says that the government was confronted with a dilemma similar to that which Dr. Sun and his colleagues had faced in 1923. But the difference is that Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek had had bitter experiences with the Communists and saw clearly the danger involved in any "collaboration" or "united front." He is irrevocably opposed to any policy of conciliation towards the Communists whom he regards as satellites of Soviet Russia. Even the coup failed to bring him to terms. He knew that the result would be disastrous if he yielded to those who clamored for immediate war with .
It fitted into Stalin's scheme of things to bring about a peaceful settlement of the affair. The Chinese Communists, who were dissatisfied with the settlement, had to be told later on of the directive from the Comintern - namely, "Ally with Chiang and Resist Japan" for the "larger interest." This brief summary of Dr. Shepherd's account from Chapter VII to Chapter X is important because it helps to throw light on the character of the Chinese leader who is carrying on the fight against the Communists today.
If Dr. Shepherd had devoted more space to the role played by General George C. Marshall in his disastrous mission to , he would have given a more complete story of the Chinese Government's refusal to "collaborate" with the Communists. The author also refrained from commenting on the influence of foreign policy in general upon the situation in . A sympathetic account of the recent history of , the book does not go on to discuss the prospect of the struggle which is still being carried on from . Nevertheless, A Nation Betrayed should be read by all who would like to acquire a better understanding of the real nature of Communism. - ALFRED TAN
HISTORICAL CULTURE AND PERSONALITIES
(In Chinese)
BY T. P. Cheng
New Culture Series, Central Cultural Service,
1954, 158 pages, NT$15.
This volume consists of 27 articles the author has contributed to various periodicals and magazines over a period of twenty years.
As its title indicates, the book deals with culture and personalities. On the cultural side, the articles on "Discourse on East-West," "Since the Fall of Constantinople 500 years Ago," "Neutralism," "The Open Society and Its Enemies," "Queen Victoria and Her Prime Ministers," and "New Liberalism In Europe," to mention a few, are illuminating. Viewed in historical perspective, Mr. Cheng believes that a better world order will eventually emerge from the present chaos and discord.
Of personalities Mr. Cheng's treatment is discriminating. He has two articles on Mr. Winston Churchill. They are an "agonizing reappraisal" of the old warrior who led, together with President Roosevelt, the Grand Alliance during World War II to victory. But Mr. Churchill the warrior is spiritually dead, and what is today left of him is his corpse. As a dying man, Mr. Churchill has not the courage and wisdom to meet the Communist challenge. He now retreats to the line of least resistance, pleading for "co-existence" with the Communists. Whatever may be the final historical verdict on Mr. Churchill, the author's indictment is irrefutable.
Next to come under the scrutiny of Mr. Cheng's critical eye is Harold Laski. In the twenties Mr. Laski was one of the most eloquent exponents of democracy; but steadily he pushed himself, from the thirties to the time of his death, to the forefront of Marxian economic determinism. He even maintained that the people might demand the overthrow of the government by armed force; thus he drew himself away from democracy. More than anyone else, he confused its meaning. It is therefore quite understandable that the Western world should have been indifferent to the passing of the man whose business it was to uproot the very foundations of Western democracy.
The articles on Mr. Ma Shiang-pai and Dr. Lee Dien-fee are fitting tributes to two great Chinese educators, both of whom dedicated their lives to . The writer is gifted with a critical mind. His grasp of Western political philosophy and institutions is fairly sound and firm. To a Westerner, the book should be of special interest. For here is a Chinese liberal unfolding his mind in search of truth. - C. W. CHIU