MANCHURIA: CROSSROADS OF IMPERIALISM

...The more plausible are 1. The Nanking government whieh has pledged Itself to remove all extraterritoriality within a period ef ¦*»' years, is "experimenting" on Russia, knowing that the Soviet government a not likely to be supported by the VTesern nations...

...In 1922 in connection with the International Economic Conference at Genoa, the L P. T. 0. convened a special conference In that city, which submitted te the Economic Conference a memorandum embodying its economic demands, "the L F. T. TJ...

...c) Promotlton of international trade...

...Russian and Japanese Stakes Russia's stakes are a heritage of her Osaruvt past...

...The testy and uncompromising words that have passed between the twj nations since have only further irritated the basic rivalries...

...The systematic improvement of agricultural efficiency will help to raise the standard of living of agricultural workers and contribute to the safeguarding and raising of the real income of industrial workers...

...then struggling to build up his Kuomlntang, or Nationalist Party in China...

...In order to keep up Its competitive capacity, every country aad every enterprise endeavors to produce lsrcer quantities of goods st lower costs...

...But with Dr...

...Among the Chinese statesmen of all shades, too, there is a determination to hold and extend all frontiers of control...

...Many observes believe that it has been strengthened sj Chiang's policy of ruthless suppression The raiding of the Russian consuls* in Harbin on May 27 of this year was only another stage in the steadily casting relations between the one-time cess* rades in revolution...

...la the same year an Extraordinary Congress was held in London, which dealt thoroughly with the question of the distribution of raw materials, the debt problem, rates of exchange, and socialization...

...WHAT AMSTERDAM STANDS FOR The Economic Policies of The International Federation of Trade Unions TPHE activities of the I. F. T. U. in the economic field may he best grouped under two headings: those connected with the reconstruction, after the War, of the disorganised economic system, and those centering upon the new tendencies in modern capitalism...

...A friendship was struck up with Dr...

...Workers' Participation in Economic Development The I. F. T. U. strongly emphasizes the fact that international agreements and conventions are of little value unless they are applied and operated whotar heartedly by the nations concerned...

...Russia turned toward China...

...e) Publicity and supervision of badness enterprises...

...Soviet Russia, like Imperial Russia, finds it essential to her Pacific trade...

...China is not imperialistic toward Manchuria, since Manchuria by her own volition has for three centuries been a part of China...

...An intensely nationalist government demands that the three prevlncea remain strictly within the republic...

...In March...

...As a first step to this end, there should be the- fullest publicity for the financial and other details of such organisations, including profits and prices...

...however, that policy has gradually changed, and in the present dispute Russia is assuming the blustering attitude so long associated with the frankly imperialist nations...

...The organized working class does not oppose this process of development...

...Hence the daily struggles of the trade unions to obtain better wages and Improved working conditions and the adoption of the high-wage policy are indispensable to the establishment of a more equitable economic order...

...The Dawes Plan of 1924 smoothed the way for more normal ccnditi-iu...

...The Imperialist Setting To understand these causes we must re-examine a bit of Asian history covering the last 35 years: » In 1894, the youthful Japan, talcing in one big swallow the Christian pretensions and the imperialist practices of the Western world, indulged in a bit of imperialism on her own part by attempting to annex Korea, then a part of the Chinese empire...

...and then like the Mongols who had preceded them, were in turn conquered by the world's oldest culture...

...As is usually the case, all the causes for the trouble will not be brought into focus for years to come, but one uusg is crystal clear', two foolish nations, neither of whom can afford war themselves, are madly flinging lighted material at a powder keg that in its explosion might easily sear the "whole world...

...The Trade Unions >hould further the conscious planning of the development of industries, rational organization into larger units, the reorganization of industrial finance, and substitution of the most modern plant and technique for less modern machinery and methods, provided safeguards against the exploitation of the workers are secured, and provided the standard of life of the workers increases proportionately as productivity increases...

...Without the exports of machinery and other iron and steel products, and textiles, the bustling economic life of Japan would meet immediate extinction...

...In a gesture of chivalry towards a maltreated China, three western nations —Russia, Germany, and France—presented, a joint note to Japan warning her to return the Manchurian peninsula...

...All duties, both national end international, must alike be discharged, and all the various efforts made to discharge them must be co-ordinated into a single harmonious whole...

...Oeneral Feng Yu-hslang...

...1930, the I. F. T. U submitted a memorandum to the League of Nations, urging the need of special measures to deal with the economic confusion resulting from the war, and with the threat ef famine and chaos in Central Europe...

...end the strained political relations gradually became eesier...

...Such public enterprises should therefore . be expanded and extended to new spheres...

...Moscow and Tokio unavoidably conflict, and occasionally meet head on...

...i II i Comprehensive plans ensuring the transfer to other employment of workers who have been rendered superfluous in individual enterprises or branches of industry...

...The Trade Unions also demand representation on equal terms on public bodies existing for the purpose of giving advice on economic questions or of exercising economic functions...

...IV) In the application of rationalism, full saleguards tor the safety and health of the workers...

...and reiterates its demand for the abolition of tariff and customs barriers, which constitute a great obstacle to the restoration of healthy world economic conditions, and especially for the abolition of such barriers in Europe...

...The I. F. T. U. therefore demands the ratification and strict application of the I. L. O. Conventions and their extension...

...Such national authorities should co-operate in any international regulation of monopolies that may be developed...

...When the Boxer rebellion broke out in 1900...

...A condition essential to the establishment of any well-considered economic policy is to give publicity to the activities of industrial and commercial enterprises...

...The I. F. T. U. set forth its attitude to the new economic tendencies through its representatives at the International Economic Conference held at Geneva in 1927...

...Important ss it may be to promote international commerce, the possibilities of full employment for all workers and the raising of the standard of living In the individual countries depend In the first Instance upon the expansion of the home markets...

...Manchuria's fertile plains ss a colony for China's excess millions snd her abundant raw materials as a source of wealth are integral to China's reconstruction...

...of the workers and consumers in all countries...

...The trade unions therefore demand that a wide measure of publicity shall be given to the activities of such bodies...

...Nationally, it is essential that where it does not already exist, a National Economic Council, including representatives of the Trade Unions, shall be established to evolve a constructive economic policy, to secure publicity for all International economic agreements and to bring pressure to bear upon their respective governments to have such agreements and convention* properly applied...

...As a low standard of wages and working conditions prevailing in any country leads to unfair competition or alternatively acts as an incentive to the closing of markets against goods, the I. F. T. U. demands the international adoption ef minimum standards of working conditions, to be effected by means of international conventions for the protection of labor, and international agreements relating to working hours, unemployment insurance, etc...

...It should be the task of the Economic Organization of the Leayue of Nations to carry into effect and safeguard these requirements...

...Indeed, a permanent occupation army is in South Manchuria patrolling the railway...

...AH are rising —it ions...

...The London Congress framed ior the first time an international economic programme, which naturally took into account the special international problems and difficulties then facing the world...

...The port of Dairen is leased to her for a period of 99 years...

...The I. F. T. U. demands the completion of the policy of stabilization, which is indispensable to the restoration of national and world economic prosperity...

...Chang Hsueh-liang, present governor of Manchuria, pledges his loyalty to President Chiang Kai-shek, largely because he prefers the Nanking devil to the Japanese deep sea...

...Manchuria has been considered a part of China...

...Russia lost the war, the railway from Harbin to Port Arthur and Dairen, and much of her prestige in Asia...

...China's stakes, probably the greatest, are historic and sentimental as well ss imperial...

...The artery of this economic life is the South Manchurian Railway that was acquired from Russia...

...whether tat Russians were guilty of propaganda or not...

...The Danger to World Peace Beyond the basic conflict for influence in Manchuria there are several ether possible contributing factors in the ew» pule...

...Russian troops overran Manchuria^ and stayed there...

...The active co-operation of the Trade Union Movements concentrated in the I. F. T. U. in carrying into effect the programme set out above, is therefore a vital necessity to the economic welfare of the workers of all natitons, and to the peace of the world...

...The I. P. T. U. demands that the economic institutions connected with the League cf Nations be developed into an International Economic Office in which the organized working class shall participate in the degree which is due to them...

...but she still retained her influence in Southern Manchuria...

...S. The Soviet government, knowing that the Nanking government is balancing on a precipice, hopes that the present crisis will send it tumbling sot that it will be succeeded by a store friendly, if not communist, regime...

...With regard to rationalisation, the I. F. T. U. requires among other guarantees, the following: (I) The participation of the trade union organizations in the preparation and application of measures of rationalization...

...It is of the...

...Sun Yat-sen...

...The 30.000.000 inhabitants are predominantly Chinese, and their number is supplemented each year by almost 2,000.000 refugees from the fazaine-strieken provinces of Shantung and Chibli...

...Only" a strong public opinion in the different countries can compel the government* to carry out international agreements and conventions, and it is the task ef organised labor te create and maintain that publie opinion...

...These imperialistic Impulses of Nanking...

...As a means of increasing agricultural production the Trade Unions urge especially the establishment of co-operative selling organizations, the systematic organization of distribution with a view to reducing fluctuations in prices, and the expansion of technical agricultural education...

...c) Public enterprises...

...the abolition of import and export prohibitions by international conventions: and uniformity in the general provisions of commercial treaties...

...The peace treaty provided for the "independence" of Korea, md the cession of Lioatung Peninsula, the Southern ttp of Manel urie, to Japan...

...It is fabulously profitable, and flanking it from Dairen to Harbin, and along the branch line from Mukden to Keijo (Seoul), Korea., are excellent paying coal and iron mines, steel mills, oil wells, gas and electric plants, farms, and raisway hotels that can readily be turned into hospitals in case of war...

...The high-hanoal ousting of the Russian managers of the Chinese-Eastern oh July 10...

...Every effort should be made to keep as stable as possible the purchasing power of gold In terms of goods and services and thus help to secure stability of .prices, productive activity, .and fuller employment of the workers:' (g) Machinery...

...The necessary co-ordination should be effected by regular consultations between the I. F. T. U. and the workers' representatives on these bodies...

...In addition, comprehensive official statistics of production and distribution should also be published...

...MANCHURIA: CROSSROADS OF IMPERIALISM Struggle For Economic And Strategic Influence in Worth Asia Threatens To Kindle New World Conflagration By Paul Porter ¦nptXC nations—China, Russia, and * Japan—cross dosfliih n in Manchuria...

...This does not mean that there is any incompatibility between national and international duties, but only that they must b? mutually sup'.ementary...

...Persia, and Turkey, and founded a kinship with these exploited peoples that has frequently been referred to as "the fraternity of the snubbed.'' In more ways than one the Russian proletarians faced the rising sun...

...After the occupation of the Ruhr it was again the L F. T. U. which persisted in declaring that the sanctions pottery could lead to nothing positive, sad that it was essential that there should be a definite settlement of reparations...

...Japanese statesmen of all shades, except for the nominally inconsequential laborites, are determined at all costs to keep and extend these frontiers of imperialism...

...1. Demands in the International Field (a i Intcrnat'cas...

...All have large stakes in the vast, virginal, aad immensely fertile territory in Northeastern Asia, known as the "Three Eastern Provinces" or Manchuria...

...At the Washington conference in 1922...

...AS face upon the Pacific, ¦which in the next century Is destined to replace the Atlantic ss the center of the world's commerce and polities...

...f) Monetary policy...

...India...

...And in that sense Nanking is imperialistic...

...Economic Office...

...70,000.000 brown-skinned, Japanese workers would starve within a few months...

...That is, she has set out to accomplish by a policy of friendship snd co-operation what the other nations have tried by military intervention and hard-boiled diplomscy...

...Chief of these stakes is the Chinese Eastern Railway, immediate cause of the present dispute...

...France gained valuable concessions in Inde-Chlna, Germany in Shantung, and Russia ss compensation for her "friendship" won from a decadent Chinese government the right to build the Chinese-Eastern Railway, as a short-cut across Manchuria, and to extend a branch line to Port Arthur on the tip of the peninsula...

...Although it wants control of the Chinese-Eastern, its real object is to oust Japan and to sever the unequal treaties...

...This expansion can only be obtained in proportion to the increasing production if the trade unions in every land are able to secure a progressive incresse in the income of the masses...

...Russia wanted the peninsula for herself...

...The I. F. T. U. realizing that disputes on economic o.uestions are a continual menace to peace, affirms that all economic conflicts which have not been settled by direct negotiation between the States concerned should be submitted to an international court of arbitration...

...With the aid of Joffe and Borodin and their intimate knowledge of propaganda and military tactics, the Kuomlntang flourished, swept Sort from Canton to Nanking and Shanghai and finally in 1928 captured Peking gag" united China, in name at least, for tat first time In 17 years...

...This process vrac facilitated by the rehabllitaticn of the currency in Germany and ether countries...

...Japan's stakes are those of trade, raw materials, snd colonial expansion...

...Without the imports of soya beans, maize, coal, oil, and metal ore...

...d) Economic courts ef arbitration...

...f) Agriculture...

...Recognizing that currency snd credit policy is of the utmost importance, because of its close connection with the business cycle, the Trade Unions urge that the determination of the national currency and credit policy shall be subject to national supervision to which the Trade Unions participate...

...Employers' attempts tc keep the share of wages in production A saw as possible' sad to force down tht standard of living of the working class must be resisted, and a higher standard of living, in keeping with the increase in productive capacity, attained...

...ie) Equalization of working conditions...

...Sun's death the i ilinssl that had been extended the rnmiimskt propagandists distinctly cooled...

...Communism in China has retained at least « good part of its strength, but it has bats forced underground...

...In a sense...

...Soviet Russia's imperialism, particularly in the hey-dey of Communist influence in China, has been generally the enlightened sort...

...The I. F. T. U. strongly supports the movement now proceeding, on the initiative of the V/orld Economic Conference of 1927...

...Conference held st Rcme a little later discussed and confirmed these demands in their entirety...

...and shortly afterward sit again defined its standpoint at the IntcrnaUonal Trade Union Congress of Paris...

...The railroad, built by the old regime with French capital aid and opened in 1903 during the height of Russia's rest I-s expansion toward the Pacific, is a short-cut for the Trans-Siberian across Manchuria, from Chita to VUdivoatock...

...Many miles of travel was ssved for Russia's rapidly growing Pacific commerce that otherwise would have been shipped via the circuitous main line that runs just North of the Manchurian-Siberian border...

...These stakes are mutually conflicting...

...France had loaned money for the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, and Germany was at that time seeking Russian friendship for her own Imperialist ventures elsewhere in China snd in Africa...

...As for the activities of the I. F. T. U. in the sphere of reconstruction, we desire, without going into the subject exhausively, to point to the fact that the first real post-war International Trade Union Conference, which was held at Berne in 1919 before the reconstruction of the I. F. T. U., demanded that the League of Nations, which was not yet in being, should deal with economic relations between the nations...

...The I. F. T. U. demands that it shall be the duty of the Economic Organization of the League' of Nations to secure' effective supervision of the operations of international trusts, cartels and agreements, in tha interests...

...Deiren is an ice-free port the year round: Vladivostoak is not...

...At the first International Labor Conference, which was held at Washington lb 1119 by the newly formed International Labor Organization, it was the representatives of the International Trade Union Movement who stood for aa equitable settlement of world economic problems and relationships...

...Yet the ambitious Nationalist China south of the Gtaat Wall can never reach her full international stature unless the three Manchurian provinces ere included in her domain...

...generally friendly toward Russia and fictile to Chiang Kai-shek, although In exile retains a strong following at hone...

...All these are owned by Japan...

...possible support should be given by the trade unions to the expansion of thenown enterprises, and of co-operative societies and enterprises...

...In particular, the Trade Unions urge the sociaiisatrton of natural resources, power supply and transport, and the extension of state sad municipal public utility undertaking...

...Collaboration between this International Eccr.cmic Office and the International Labor Office shall be secured by means of reciprocal representation, and the International Economic Office shall also act in collaboration with the national economic councils or similar organizations, such as those proposed in the final paragraph of this programme, already existing or to be created in the individual countries...

...wss simply rubbing salt into a bad wound...

...They are rooted deep in history and commerce, and will be for years the cause of hard words to be bandied about among nations, perhaps the cause of one or more wars starting from some convenient pretext like the ChineseEastern Railway dispute...

...This branch read was lost to Japan in the Russo-Japanese war, but the original Una, except for a period during the early years of the Revolution when it was remained under Russian control...

...Nominally the Nanking Government is in control in Manchuria, but not with the full consent of the Manchurian war lords or the Inarticulate masses...

...however, similar economic problems, though of varying degrees cf intensity, occur in nearly all countries, despite their social and cultural differences, it is necessary to compile an international economic policy laying down general principles, in which the I. P. T. U. defines with brevity and clarity the tasks of trade unionicm in the economic sphere...

...A branch of the Chinese-Eastern was built from Harbin, near the center of Manchuria, to Port Arthur and Oairen on the tip of Liaotung Peninsula, to the South...

...All preparatory steps towards these objectives, should be taken on the lines laid down by the V/orld Economic Conference, these being equally applicable to the colonics of a country...

...IH) In case of delay in effecting this, the granting of unemployment benefit without restriction of time to persons thus thrown out of employment...

...The activities of monopolistic undertakings should be subject to continuous lnvestlgatiton and regulation by an official authority on which the Trade Unions are adequately represented...

...These are calculated to give important assistance to the activities of the International Trade Union Movement and should therefore receive energetic support...

...Moscow's Changing Fortunes Meanwhile, the most far-reaching effect of the World War had occurred with the Russian Revolution, and Russia's definite turning her back on the Western World...

...Political control has almost entirely supped away, but the old culture still rules...

...Demands in the National Sphere (a) Rationalization...

...Japan, who in the Boxer uprising had been recognized as sufficiently Europeanized to join in the looting of Peking, essayed to oust the Russians...

...The policy is classified under two headings, national and international...

...The International Trade Union Movement considers the retention and raising of tariffs to be a hindrance to the normal international exchange of goods The promotion of such exchange of goods by the abolition of protective measures is one cf the conditions essential to the prosperity and progress of the trade and industry of all nat.ons...

...First and foremost, information should be published concerning the number of employees, output and sales, wages and salaries, expenditure for social insurance purposes and general earning capacity...

...Such publicity is a preliminary step to the establishment of any scientific economic system functioning in the public interest...

...The unprecedented concentration of capitalism during the last few years and the increasing competition for new markets and for the control of raw materials call for constant vigilance from the national and international trade union movements...

...Two Imperialist Methods Japan's imperialism of late has worn diplomatic silk gloves, but under those gloves are the old brass knucks of military force...

...Ever since the Manerra barbarians three centuries sgo conquered the Chinese Empire south of the Great Wan...

...2. The Nanking government, threatened with internal dissension, finds tt international dispute a convenient mean of distracting attention from heme troubles...

...g) Home markets...

...b) International trusts, cartels and agreements...

...In 1915, Japan having annexed Korea and grown mad with her new found imperialism, presented her infamous "Twenty-one " demands to China, which when complied with, made most of North China to all intents and purposes part of the Japanese Empire...

...greatest importance that the economic policy of the workers' representatives shall be framed on general international principles, without, however, disregarding the due consideration to be given in each case to the varying national circumstances and needs...

...Ostracized in Europe...

...The promotion of economic enterprises *»i""f)ng to public bodies is calculated to restrict the monopolistic domination of the economic system by private capitalists...

...Since 1927...

...V) Guarantees that the workers shall receive their just share in "the advantages resulting from rationalization by the following means, adopted wholly or in part according to the requirements of the public interest: the reduction of celling prices, the increase of real wages, the shortening of working hours snd the guarantee of an annual holiday (b) Credit and currency policy...

...such measures being essential not only for social, but also for economic reasons...

...In order to assist in securing the foregoing objectives, the I. F. T. U. will endeavor to ensure a close liaison with the workers' representatives . on the Consultative Committee of the Economic section of the League of Nations and on the Governing Body of the International Labor Office...

...Germany's impudence in forcing Japan to back out of Manchuria in 1895 was rewarded with the acquisition of all German privileges in Shantung...

...Sentimentally Manchuria may be a part of China: economically it is a part of the Empire of the Rising Sun...

...Equipped with the latest European methods of mass murder the Japanese ran rxigh shod over the poorly trained Chinese with their primitive methods of warfare...

...But It must resolutely combat the unmistakable policy of the employers to approplate for themselves alone the benefits of mora systematic methods of production, whieh might otherwise be enjoyed wy all mankind...

...The various trade anion centers are urged to place the establishment of such body, if it dees not already exist, in the forefront of their economic programme...

...Following the Nanking riot in March last.' when the left-wing troops looted tlx ait* —killed several foreigners and gave tat imperialist nations of the West a pes-' text to shell the city, Chiang Kai-ihtt, brother-in-law of Dr Sun who had tatceeded him ss party leader, threw tht communists out of the party...

...Japan was made to disgorge part of her ill-acquired "rights...