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ization.† In 1920, Labour Day was first observed in Peking and Canton and the same year the Chinese Communist party was organized in Shanghai. The unions, which had developed out of societies like the Triad rather than the craft guilds, took on more and more a leftish complexion and became frankly revolutionary, nationalistic, and anti-foreign. After the split between the Kuomintang and the Communist party in Shanghai* the unions lost their newly acquired political power and were generally regimented under the Kuomintang to which they became en- tirely subordinate.
37. The Kuomintang established a nationalist government in Nanking in 1927. The dictatorship of the unions was ended and the Communist party driven into opposition and civil war, only terminated with the present united front against Japan. It should be noted in passing that the leaders of the unions were politicians and frequently careerists who were not members of the particular trade which they professed to represent and that there was a lack of qualified leaders from the ranks of labour itself. As a result social amelioration was subordinated to revo- lutionary nationalism, and frequently the funds of the unions were diverted into the pockets of the agitators in control.
38. Once in power the Nationalist Government established a Labour Bureau which was soon incorporated in the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Labour, later known as the Ministry of Industries. The Labour Division comprised three departments for Labour Administration, Labour Protection, and Labour Welfare.
39. Provisional regulations for the settlement of disputes between employers and employees were promulgated in 1928 and later revised and promulgated as а national law. A Labour Union Law developed from the regulations concerning the organization of labour unions was promulgated in 1929, and regulations were passed regarding the organization of special trade unions such as seamen, miners, postal workers, railway workers and telegraph workers.
40. In 1929, a factory law of seventy-seven articles was passed and became effective from 1st August, 1931. The law prohibited the employment of children. under fourteen years of age, with certain concessions to existing circumstances, and regulated the employment of women and children; laid down the principle of an eight hour day, again with certain concessions, and limited overtime to forty-six hours a month; provided for equal pay for male and female workers, and day's holiday in every seven with a vacation of seven to thirty days every year. Articles setting out the conditions governing the dismissal of workmen were included. Pro- vision was made for leave with full wages, or in certain cases half wages, for women workers before and after child birth, and for the institution of factory councils con- sisting of representatives of employers and employees in order to promote harmony between capital and labour.
A factory inspection law was promulgated in 1931 and five periods were set out for the enforcement of the factory law.
41.China ratified the following conventions of the International Labour Office of the League of Nations Nos. 7, 11, 14, 15, 16, 19, 22, 23, 26, 27, 32, and 45, that is those dealing with Minimum Age (Sea), Right of Association (Agriculture), Weekly Rest (Industry), Minimum Age (Trimmers and Stokers), Medical Examina- tion of Young Persons (Sea), Equality of Treatment (Accident Compensation), Sea- men's Articles of Agreement, Repatriation of Seamen, Minimum Wage Fixing Machinery, Marking of Weight (Packages Transported by Vessels), Protection against Accidents (Dockers) (Revised 1932), and Underground Work (Women). The provisions of certain other conventions were incorporated in legislation.
42. It is to be feared that enthusiasm for reform and the pursuit of modernity encouraged the Government to ratify conventions and pass laws before possessing the machinery necessary for their enforcement. The difficulties in applying the
+ It was not until the twelfth session (May 1929) that China sent a complete delegation: it advocated the abolition of extraterritoriality as a necessary preliminary to the successful application of labour laws.
* See André Malraux "La Condition Humaine", and "The Tragedy of the Chinese Revolution" by H. R.
Isaacs.