893.00B/1127½
Memorandum by Mr. Raymond E. Murphy of the Division of European Affairs
Communist Situation in China
In assessing the real importance of Communism (Stalinism) in China a person may often be led into error by oversimplification and by sentiment over the alleged idyllic existence in the area dominated by Chinese Communists.
In the first place, China belongs in that category of colonial or dependent countries with a scant percentage of skilled workers. As a colonial or dependent country the system of orthodox Marxism is not applicable and the various congresses of the Communist International have laid down programs for work in such countries giving wide latitude and great flexibility to the tactics to be applied. The principal objective always seems to have been to swing the communist elements in the countries concerned into the orbit of Moscow and to make as one of the fundamental duties of those alien Communists allegiance to the Soviet Union, in this respect to force their respective countries to subscribe wholeheartedly to Soviet foreign policy vis-à-vis any other country in the world. Because of the wide latitude given communist leaders in colonial countries a neutral observer can easily be mistaken with regard to the program and role of these parties. Superficially, they do appear to be moderate agrarian parties with a moderate program. The test to be applied, however, is how these leaders stand on various questions.
One would normally expect patriotic nationalist Chinese to be insistent upon major emphasis being given the war against Japan. Not so the Chinese communist leaders. The Chinese Communists saw nothing wrong in the German Soviet pact. On the contrary, the Chinese Communists echoed the sentiments of Communists throughout the world. To them the war was an imperialist war, with the United States and Great Britain as much at fault as Germany. Even after the entrance of the United States into the war the Chinese Communists have deliberately played up the major role of the Soviet Union and have minimized the efforts of both Britain and the United States. The Chinese Communists have never insisted upon major emphasis in the Pacific area and when Pearl Buck,4 in a speech last November or December, suggested that more attention might be given that area she was made the object of a smear campaign by American Communists, and, so far as is known, no Chinese Communist [Page 286] has ever come to her defense. Their whole line seems to be oriented along Soviet lines, rather than along Chinese lines essentially. It should not be overlooked either that the principal reporter for the past ten years on colonial questions has been a person known as Wang Ming, located in Moscow, who has faithfully reflected Stalin’s views.
With respect to the Kremlin itself, there is too much of a tendency to regard the Soviet Union’s chief immediate interest in China, so far as active interference is concerned, as having terminated in 1927. That is a grave mistake. Ample evidence exists to show that after the debacle in 1927 the interest of the Communist International and the Red International of Trade Unions continued actively, with principal emphasis on the presence in China, as communists agents, of nationals of other countries, especially persons bearing American passports. It is ironical, of course, that in the fall of 1927 Earl Browder,5 Tom Mann, the Englishman, and Jacques Doriot (then a French communist, now a Nazi puppet in France) toured China, inciting the Chinese against the foreign element. After that junket foreign agents were used by the Soviets. The raid of June 15, 1931 at Shanghai showed that active agents of the Communist International and of the Red International of Labor Unions had been operating from Shanghai for a number of years, not only against Chiang Kai-shek but also stirring up trouble against the United States and Great Britain and the Netherlands in the Far East. The budget showed that over a half million dollars a year was being spent. The leader of this group was a prominent Russian Soviet agent who assumed the identities of persons known as Noulens and Ruegg. His principal assistant bore an American passport in the name of Stewart. This man actually was Charles Krumbein, an American citizen, who is today one of the most prominent persons in the Communist Party of the United States.
Others active there were James Dolsen, Earl Browder’s cousin, and Margaret Cowl, both American citizens. It appears that this raid temporarily broke up the foreign connections of the Chinese Communist movement, but in 1932 a prominent German Communist, Arthur Ewert, bearing an American passport in the name of Harry Berger and accompanied by another person bearing an American passport in the name of Walsh were in China intermittently between 1932 and 1933 attempting to reestablish contacts. (Ewert is now serving a sentence of fifteen years in Brazil as one of the chief leaders of the revolution in Brazil in November 1935). Even after 1932 there is evidence available showing that the Kremlin, using American citizens and dummy American firms, maintained active interest in covering conditions in China. Consequently, it is correct in stating [Page 287] that the open Moscow maneuvers in China ceased in 1927, but it should always be borne in mind that their undercover clandestine efforts continued unremittingly thereafter.
The Chinese Communist Party is in very close touch with the Communist Party of the United States. The dissolution of the Communist International has in no wise changed the fundamental program of either Party. One of the chief sources for the conveyance of news regarding China throughout this Hemisphere is the Inter-continent News Agency at New York headed by Grace Maul Granich, who, it may be recalled, operated, with her husband, an especially virulent communist monthly at Shanghai in 1935 after Harold Isaac’s venture had been abandoned. Grace Maul Granich is, in turn, the American agent for the Soviet Information Bureau which was started about May 1942 by Third Assistant Commissar of Foreign Affairs, Lozovsky, and is further regarded as one of the organs to take the place of the Communist International.
It is entirely conjectural, of course, but if Moscow feels it in her interest to bring about a cessation to the Japanese-Chinese war it is reasonable to believe the Chinese Communist Party will fall in line, likewise, the Communist Party of the United States. Both are creatures of Moscow today. Neither has ever taken a step contrary to the interests of the Kremlin. There is one school of thought which has made a close study of Soviet foreign policy, which is of the opinion that the Soviets’ ultimate objective was the exclusion of the remainder of the white race from the Far East. Basic documents exist to substantiate this belief. It is known, however, that for short-range purposes the Soviets are guided principally by expedience, if it is in their interest, in the hope of securing major credits for the reconstruction of the Soviet Union. To remain friendly with the United States she may do nothing in the Far East. On the other hand, if she feels that the United States is in no position to help her after the conclusion of the war with Japan, she may strike out on the line long advocated by Lenin and subscribed to at times by Stalin, which is the exclusion of other white nations from the Far East.
If it is thought that the rank and file of the Chinese Communists can be won over from the leadership of Mao Tse Tsung and Chu Teh, it may be worthwhile to try it, but it will be a very difficult task. Probably the greatest missionaries for this purpose would be American soldiers themselves who, upon coming into direct contact with these elements, would prove by their example that all the propaganda and indoctrination of Communists that the United States is an imperialist, self-seeking nation was fabricated.
A very ominous note with regard to future Soviet relations with Chiang Kai-shek is contained in a telegram from the American [Page 288] Embassy at Moscow, no. 838 of July 10, noon, which summarizes an article by a Soviet spokesman from the very authoritative Red Star for July 7, with regard to the Japanese-Chinese war. Principal credit for the resistance of the Chinese is attributed to the “partisans”, another name for the Communists, and no credit is given to Chiang Kai-shek or other political leaders. This pattern is similar to the preliminary one undertaken against General Mikhailovitch of Yugoslavia in July 1942. Since that time bitter attacks have been made against Mikhailovitch on the grounds that he is an Italian agent. Practically all derogatory information from Soviet sources has been distributed in the United States through the Intercontinent News Agency.