893.00/15424
The Consul at Kweilin (Ringwalt) to the Ambassador in China (Gauss)68
Sir: I have the honor to refer to despatch no. 26, dated January 29, 1944, addressed to the Embassy by the Consulate General at Kunming, on the subject: “Study of the Draft Constitution”. It was stated that, although various Government and Party organizations throughout the country were being officially encouraged to study the Draft Constitution of May 5, 1936, discussion groups not authorized by the Government or party were being discouraged.
There is enclosed a copy in translation69 of a leaflet headed: “Our Demands Before the Enforcement of a Constitutional Government”, issued by the “Constitutional Government Discussion Group of the Cultural Circles of Kunming”. These leaflets have received limited [Page 444] circulation in Kweilin and perhaps elsewhere—some have been received through the mail and others have been distributed by hand. Following is a brief summary thereof:
Summary: What the Chinese people demand now is not further study of constitutional government but practical steps for the immediate enforcement of basic conditions for the realization of democracy. The Chinese people have made colossal sacrifices during the past seven years; this is the price they have paid for democracy. In order to proceed along the road to democracy, the following conditions must be realized without delay: individual liberty should be protected; the right to choose one’s occupation and place of residence should be respected; there should be freedom of speech, belief, assembly and the press; officials and students should not be coerced into joining Government-sponsored organizations; there should be legal recognition of all political parties: the secret police should be suppressed; the expenses of the Party should not be paid from the National Treasury; the various people’s political councils should be strengthened; selection of government officials should be based on the merit system; there should be no discrimination against women; the present tax system should be revised; conscription should be uniformly administered; substantial aid should be given to private industry; concentration of the ownership of land should be avoided; inflation should be controlled; the livelihood of the people should be improved; and the balance of power between the Central and the Provincial Governments should be maintained.
This Consulate understands that the leaflet was drafted by a group of professors of Tsinghua University, Kunming, and their immediate friends who in the early months of 1944 met weekly to discuss the Draft Constitution and related problems. The leaflet lists most if not all of the crimes, real and imagined, of the present regime in Chungking. The authors are obviously biased and, in demanding reforms too sweeping to be practicable in this period of national crisis and political immaturity, they may be unreasonable. However, the members of the discussion group are all known to the undersigned, and their sincerity and disinterestedness are not open to question. As far as is known, this is the only serious attempt at criticism of the Constitution that has been elicited since the beginning of the study program. The discussion group is believed to have the informal protection of General Lung Yun, the Chairman of the Yunnan Provincial Government. General Lung, formerly an illiterate tribesman and now an unscrupulous despot, can hardly be considered an earnest champion of democracy or a person of pronounced liberal convictions; rather his sponsorship of the discussion group may be largely due to his delight in embarrassing the Generalissimo and the Chungking regime whom he is opposing with increasing skill, confidence and success.
Respectfully yours,