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of the 8th Route Army several hundreds in number. After
-
the formal ceremony had been performed as scheduled, Chairman
Li began his report the full text of which we now publish
below:-
Our comrades. I have been absent in Nanking for five
months on account of the affairs of the Central Government.
This made me unable to attend to my own duties, and I deeply
regret that I have had to trouble you to preserve the situat- ion in Kwangtung. At the same time I feel very grateful to
you for this.
I am going to give you a brief account of what has impressed me during the several months past as regards the Kuomintang the political and military situations, and the
diplomatic affairs of the Central Government.
Kuomintang Affairs.
First of all I should mention that constant trouble
has arisen in the management of the Central Kuomintang. In describing the Central, I may divide the past several months into two periods. The first period is that before the establishment of the Five Yuens (Boards) and was noted for two bad phenomena, first, violence and secondly, selfishness. Probably our true comrades had been influenced by the corruption of the Communists and though they had not really become Communists, yet in reality they had been in close contact with them. They took particular interest in establishing small societies, such as their so-called Grand Union of Revolutionists and Young Men's Societies which were innumerable. They also published pamphlets of several tens of kinds, making reckless criticisms and attacks. During the 5th Conference, disputes broke out at Nanking, Shanghai, Peiping, Anwei, and Chekiang to such an extent as to be be- yond control, and those at Kong Yun and Wu Shieh in Kiangsu were particularly more serious. Prior to the purification
of