By Harold R. Isaacs,
Revised Edition, 1951,
Stanford University Press, US$5.00
In the past decades many books have been written on China by foreign correspondents and writers who attempted to give their readers an accurate picture of the exact situation in this country. While some of these books did give a fair picture of the condition in China, many of them were somewhat misleading. Readers of works of the latter category openly confessed on different occasions that they were the more confused about the Chinese situation after they had read those books. One does not need to look far for the reason for such an unfortunate situation. One often hears that well known authors have been arriving in China at one time or another to "collect materials for writing a book on China". They are here for one or two months and then return to their countries with a load of "materials". After a few months out come their books on China!
We can hardly expect the readers to understand what those books are talking about when the authors themselves do not understand what they are writing about. The favorite Chinese subject for foreign authors to write on is the Chinese Communists. Many paint the Chinese Communists as "agrarian reformers" and that they represent the interest of Chinese peasants. So real did they paint their picture that even the United States Government was led to believe that those Soviet hirelings are actual "agrarian reformers" until it is too late to avoid the tragic consequences of such a misconception.
Mr. Harold R. Isaacs is one of the very few American writers who has obtained an accurate understanding of the situation in China as is evidenced by his recent book "The Tragedy of the Chinese Revolution". Before entering into the discussion of Communist activities in China during the last three decades, the author devoted several chapters to make detailed presentation of the historical background of the Chinese political situation. He attributed China's present plight first to foreign exploitation, then to the general dissatisfaction among the rural population and finally to the intrigues and instigations directed from the Kremlin. In the words of the author in the preface of the book, Communist parties in all countries, the Communist Party in China included, have been "Russified" by the policy-makers in Moscow and have been turned into blind tools of Soviet foreign policy.
Ever since the Chinese Communist Party was first organized under the direction of Moscow, it made it its main objective to seize political power in China through the manipulation of mass movements and through the exploitation of the peasant and labor classes. As a measure to achieve their goal they had tried to overthrow the Kuomintang on many occasions through treachery or by force. During the years between 1925 and 1927, so many Communist elements infiltrated into the ranks of the Kuomintang that many important positions in the National Government were occupied by Communists. At one time it looked as if the Kuomintang would be superseded by the Communists. This was particularly true when the Northern Expeditionary Forces arrived in Shanghai and Nanking and when Shanghai was actually seized by Communist-led labor unions. Had it not been for the prompt and resolute action taken by General Chiang Kai-shek in suppressing the Communist intrigues in that year, the latter could have easily seized power from the Kuomintang two decades ago.
In his book Mr. Harold Isaacs described in detail the circumstance leading up to the formal break between the Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang and he related how the Communist tactics were directed from Moscow. The author also managed to obtain a direct statement from Maring, the first Comintern delegate in China in 1922, to the effect that it was Maring who suggested that the Communists should enter the Kuomintang and "use its loose organizational structure as a means for developing the Communist propaganda and contacts among the masses". He also stated that the Communists joined the Kuomintang as individuals in the hope of winning over to their influence the workers who had already been affiliated with the Kuomintang. In such tactics the Communists were nearly successful until General Chiang Kai-shek and other Kuomintang leaders realized that their faith was being betrayed by the Moscow-led Communists.
After the Chinese Communists failed in their intrigues to bring about the downfall of the Kuomintang from within, the author went on to say, they got orders from Moscow to resort to insurrection. Mr. Isaacs devotee a full chapter of his book to narrate how the "Canton insurrection" in 1927 was directed by Comintern delegate Heinz Neumann who went down specially to take charge of the uprising and how the "Autumn Harvest Insurrection" was carried out under the direction of the Comintern.
Throughout the book the author managed to tell his readers that from the very beginning the Communists in China were puppets of Moscow and they acted blindly to the orders of Stalin & Co. In their lust for power, the Chinese Communists have made themselves tools of Moscow. It's a real tragedy not only for the Chinese people but also for the world when the free peoples failed to grasp in time the real significance of the Communist domination of China and its impact on future world relations.
The book is full of documentary data covering the period between 1925 and 1927 and it described how Trotsky and Stalin struggled for power during those years. The book is not only interesting reading material for those who are interested in Soviet intrigues in the Far East; it may also serve as an exhaustive reference book for students of Chinese contemporary history.
Many of the documents listed in the book come from Communist sources and, in certain cases, only the Communist side of the picture is given. This accounts for the critical tune of the author at several places in the book. Nevertheless, the fact remains that "The Tragedy of the Chinese Revolution" in a rather faithful narration of the activities of the Chinese Communist Party in its early days. – Ching - an Pao