DOUBLETALK ON RED CHINA
WITTFOGEL, KARL A.
WRITERS and WRITING THE NEW LEADER LITERARY SECTION Doubletalk on Red China THE CHINESE CONQUER CHINA. By Anna Louise Strong. Doubleday and Company. 275 pp. $3.00. CHINA SHAKES THE WORLD. By...
...Strong, who read tho White Paper so eagerly, "forgets" to quote Molotov's revelations on this crucial question...
...The perspective of a communist revolution that starts out as a cathartic movement and that culminates in a streamlined (planned) form of, total oppressinon, worries Belden, without, however, changing his basic preference...
...the looting of Manchurian industry by the Soviets disappears behind a smokescreen of indignation over the misbehavior of the Nationalist troops (Belden's chapter "Loot of Manchuria" is as vocal on the second point as it is silent on the first...
...Yet the report stresses that "the outstanding characteristic of the Turkish scene is its dynamism," and that the country's great need is to develop the simplest ' and most basic utilities and light manufactures rather than more heavy industries which have been emphasised in recent years...
...My implication he draws a comparison between his story of Communist China and John Reed's Ten Days thai Shook the World...
...Many reviewers have noted Belden's numerous stories of cruelty: wounding, torturing, and killing, either for political reasons alone or in connection with sex, which ho ties up closely with politics...
...His disparaging remark about the "professional" do-gooders is as reVealing for his ethical standards as is his rejection of sincerity as a key criterion: "Their Ithe Chinese communists'] sincerity is of no import at all...
...And in accordance with their underlying philosophy, they accept this perspective...
...China's Communists do not act like men who believe in personal liberty the way it is understood here...
...He describes with obvious pleasure how Mad Tse-tung's party Anally ceased to hide its real aims: "done . . .the tactical shifts, gone the political double talk...
...Unfortunately both are more eager to put across a political message than to tell their experiences in an orderly fashion...
...The economy must be operated in the interest of the people as producers and consumers rather than in the interest of job-holders and the single-party bureaucratic machine, if it is to be productive of increased wealth and welfare...
...IN THESE SURVEYS the Comm...
...It is Belden's merit to have depicted, in the Chinese instance, the combination of Soviet-inspired civil war and sadism as a workable sociohiitorlcal entity...
...and significantly he names as fighters for the kind of freedom he is talking about, the New York Teachers Union and the American Labor Party (The American Civil Liberties Union is thrown in as a convenient cover...
...He Is editor-inchief and co-author of "The History of Chinese Society...
...The idea of a new intellectual ruling class—significantly analogous to Stalin's theory of the new Soviet intelligentsia — is as acceptable to Belden as it is to the spokesmen of Soviet power...
...the role of the Russian politburo in the fateful Sian affair in 1936 is brazenly disregarded (Mrs...
...The books under review deserve to be rejected critically not only because of the way they treat individual facts, but because of the system of values in which they are rooted...
...and because of their excellent, if one-sided connections, they were able to watch it from close-up...
...Their travel tales are drowned in quasi-systematic surveys of various aspects of the Communist regime (Strong) or of the expanding Communist forces (Belden...
...Both observed the Chinese civil war in one of its most critical phases...
...This is the concluding sentence in Belden's book...
...This is not a prospectto be faced with complete [I] equanimity...
...but it has thoroughly discredited the system itself as a step toward a just (socialist) society...
...The bards of the new Soviet-inspired regimes can therefore no longer proceed with John Reed's naive sincerity...
...They thus divert attention from the real issue: the emergence of a colossal communist axis much more homogeneous and much better coordinated than the fascist axis ever was...
...This however does not place him on the same plane with the author of Ten Days...
...Bekten puts himself in the same class by his recent presentation of the case of the Chinese communists...
...The Comintern- (that js: Kremlin-) dictated change in the Chipese party line in 1935 is gallantly by-passed...
...All persons genuinely concerned about man's basic values will find little cause for elation in this development...
...but they pursuse matters of greater importance...
...The Twentieth Century Fund...
...3.50...
...This ambivalent chronicler of the communist struggle for power wears the tough and tragic garments qf realism which are so suited to certain candidates for the new apparatchik society...
...The intellectuals will be the bosses of the new China...
...The report concludes with a final warning about needed reforms within Turkey: "Li tile opportunity either for the Turks or for American collaborators will exist, however, unless there is a fundamental change In the attitude of those who exercise political control in Turkey...
...Space forbids us to analyse the methods used to this end...
...324 pp...
...As in the case of Deutscher, the reference to the social goal explains — and eventually justifies—everything...
...Belden caters to a different taste...
...Increased local purchasing power must first be created before articles are produced to sell in Turkey, and this means that the whole level of Turkey's rate of output and standard* of living must be raised...
...Belden's case is particularly instructive...
...In view of his final choice, what shall we think of his worries?'Aref hey merely his specific contribution to the art of double talk — an art" he considers a characteristic feature of ' re- . volutionary procedure before victory is achieved...
...And they seem determined to make the social right supreme over the individual right...
...The Stalinist techniques of revolution* and total mass control have presented themselves with ever-increasing frankness In the sanguinary robes of social sadism...
...Reviewed by KARL A. WITTFOGEL BELDEN'S BOOK deals with a world-shaking event...
...Karl A. Wittfoael is director of the Chinese History Project of the University of Washington and Columbia University...
...They expect nothing from liberalism...
...His new study on Russls and Orientsl despotism will be published shortly...
...Belden's blood-dripping tale is lavishly larded with concerns and doubts, but these serve to qualify rather -than negate his approval of what goes on...
...Life is a brutal affair...
...Turkey is a land of violent contrast between "the Turkey of the jet plane, and the Turkey of the oxcart," with the oxcart predominating...
...The fellow-traveler who wishes to harden himself to the brutalities and operational duties of the new "intellectual" ruling class finds here a convenient arsenal of arguments for his own and his friends' indoctrination...
...In Communist China, he concedes, civil liberties constitute a problem...
...The evolution of the Soviet system has indeed marked out new paths to total political and economic control...
...Reviewed by ROGER NOEL JTpHIS SURVEY of Turkey s economy was prepared after the authors I visited Turkey to investigate how American investments and technical skills could best help the Turkish people to improve their economic well-being...
...Belden then produces a long—and thoroughly questionable?—list of instances to show that contemporary America is more oppressive than Mao's China...
...But what about the present situation in the U. S. A...
...BELDEN MAKES NO ATTEMPT to define clearly his key issues—"social right" and "socialism...
...but the two authors expect the dominant political leaders of today to rula monolithically tomorrow...
...By Max Weston Thornburg, Graham Spry, George Soule...
...5.00...
...An Economic Appraisal...
...and revolution aims at power, not liberty...
...Well organized and documented by 43 tables and four charts, it is an excellent reference book for governmental and private agencies, private investors, and students of Turkey and of the Near East...
...Harper 81 Brothers...
...Guide for Investors TURKEY...
...Both authors have an unusual story to telL Strong was with the Chinese Communists in 1944-7...
...Like other apologists for the new development, Strong and Belden tell their readers that Communist China is not a Soviet vassal...
...The two American authors are very pleased with the crystallization of this Eurasian super-axis, whose Far Eastern junior partner enjoys their special but by no means exclusive sympathy...
...nists are presented as one of several parties...
...924 pp...
...They must skillfully camouflage their merchandise in order to sell it to their socialist or liberal customers...
...Following Stalinist usage, he calls traditional China "feudal", although he knows that this is "technically incorrect...
...Does he, in the same way, use the word "socialism", although he knows it also is "incorrect...
...Cheerfully or with tragic mien, they hail the rise of the gigantic new oneparty regime...
...Among the friends of the new totalitarian states, the "best" writers are not those Who display their ideas with the greatest honesty, but those who communicate them effectively without exposing their author's basic opinions...
...Aggressively he indicates his interest in exactly these aspects of the civil war...
...Roger Noel Is a contributor to th* Journal of International Attain...
...Exorbitant and harassing taxes must be reduced, arbitrary and capricious rulings and orders must be prevented, political invasion of managerial responsibility must be avoided, favoritism and discrimination must be ended, before the Turks will be able to make good use of their rich resources or Americans will be able to offer them effective help in doing so...
...In 1949 AAna Louise Strong dramatically revealed her long-time adeptness in political double talk..After her release from a de luxe five-day arrest by the NKVD she submitted an evaluation of Soviet society that contrasted sharply with her generally pronounced views...
...They wish to lead China to socialism...
...His arguments bear a close resemblance to those invoked by Wallace's "Progressives...
...and Belden reVisited China at about this same time (he also made his pro-Communist sympathies clear from the start...
...The difference is obyious...
...Anna Louise Strong emerges as a sort of communist Bible-woman, much less sincere than the popular missionary prototype, but equally fundamentalist...
...Belden does not care particularly for the old fashioned men of good-will and honesty...
...To this end the authors recommend that a greater measure of economic and political freedom be provided for the people of Turkey, that the country be helped with American skill and experience to make productive use of her own resources, and that business be given some regularized standing under the law and protection from the arbitrary decisions of individual officials...
...The Chinese communists may have concepts of liberty different from and, in some respects, inferior to ours...
...The Chinese communists have not yet instituted any loyalty checks against government employees...
...By Jack Belden...
...They have only contempt for capitalist society...
...The relationship between the Chinese Communists and the USSR is recognized as u key issue: Belden as well as Strong make every effort to belittle it...
Vol. 33 • February 1950 • No. 8
