893.00 Manchuria/12–1147
The Consul General at Mukden (Ward) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 5, 1948.]
The Consul General has the honor to transmit a memorandum dated December 10, 1947,88 entitled “Soviet Participation in the Sino-Communist Conflict in the Northeast”, which has been prepared by Vice Consul Fred E. Hubbard.
While the subject of the reference memorandum has been the subject of much controversy, and no little amount of speculation, Vice Consul Hubbard’s statements parallel those which have been made repeatedly by this office to the effect that while indications of intangible Soviet aid to the Chinese communists abound in the Northeast no incontrovertible proof has been advanced by the Chinese Government of concrete military aid. Among the intangibles not mentioned by Mr. Hubbard is that of Soviet instruction and direction. Much of the strategy and some of the tactics used by the Chinese communists in the Northeast are not Chinese and smack strongly of the Russian, which causes the observer to come to the belief that the Soviet Union has aided the Chinese communists materially through military training, perhaps in military academies in the Soviet Union—if not through the medium of military advisers in the Chinese communist headquarters staff. Furthermore, the Chinese communists have developed a powerful propaganda machine sufficiently potent to warp, as Mr. Hubbard brings out, the attitude of the people in the communist-dominated area towards the United States. This too, there is reason to believe, can be attributed to the inspiration and guidance of the Soviet Union, where propaganda, particularly the inimical brand, has been developed with such success—in any event, the intensity and effectiveness of such propaganda causes one to doubt that it springs from Chinese origin.
The Consul General admits the validity of Mr. Hubbard’s statement in the penultimate paragraph of his memorandum, in which he advances the thought that the Russians are not eager for the Chinese communists to assume control of all the Northeast until these communists [Page 402] have become “sufficiently indoctrinated in the Soviet form of communism”, but it is his (the Consul General’s) opinion that the Soviet Union would also welcome the early seizure of the Northeast in toto by the Chinese communists if such seizure can be effected without the active and apparent military aid of the Soviet Union prior to the time when the Russians feel that there is no longer need to conceal such military aid as may be given by them to the Chinese communists. If the communist seizure of the Northeast follows the pattern of Soviet-inspired communist regimes elsewhere during the past few years, it is more than likely that once the new regime is “in the saddle” the pro-Moscow elements therein will begin their liquidation of untrusted and anti-Moscow factions and persons.
- Not printed.↩