CO885-11 — Page 203

203

سلسلسا

गगग

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :--

C.O.882/11

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO

1

60

4

massacre

4. As I have explained in the enclosure to my secret despatch of the 12th October, 1926, the so-called Shanghai

of the 30th May, 1925, passed almost unnoticed at Canton owing to the bloody doings which at that time inaugurated the Soviet régime in Kwang- tung. But a very carefully fomented agitation, designed to divert the attention of the Cantonese from the reign of terror at Canton in the early part of June, 1925, led to the Shakee incident of the 23rd June, 1925. The history of the last ten days of June, 1925, in Canton has, as its most important aspect, the part played by Russian agents in the creation of this incident; and it is a legitimate inference that the strike of Chinese seamen, which preceded that incident by some days, was due to the same agency. Anyway, the Seamen's Union had By that time taken a definite political line and had forced all its members to follow suit. No "demands" of any kind were put forward on behalf of its members, and no economic justification for the strike of 1925 was ever suggested. The Union took its stand solely on political "slogans" such as "Down with Imperialism" and "Recover Hong Kong!

5. Nevertheless, the Union was permitted to retain its premises in the Colony and from this centre it surreptitiously carried on "Red" "Canton- propaganda, while its principal officials controlled the Hong Kong Strike Committee" in Canton, and organized the armed picket system in order to make effective the boycott against goods of British origin.

These officials, notably So Shiu-cheng (Chinese characters), Chairman of the Seamen's Union in 1922, and of the Canton-Hong Kong Strike Committee in 1925, subsequently reached high positions in the Canton Government, without severing their con- nection with the Seamen's Union or the Strike Committee. Moreover, it is established that the deliberations of both these organizations were directed by Russian advice, and that Russians, controlled by Borodin, often attended their meetings.

6. The insults and indignities which Hong Kong shipping firms then suffered at the hands of the Seamen's Union are set out in my secret despatch of the 23rd April, 1927†; and to that record must be added the case of the Douglas Steamship Company, which, from August, 1925 (shortly after the strike), had manned its vessels with non-union crews. In March last this Company was threatened with a boycott by the Canton Seamen's Union, working together with the Transport Union at Swatow, unless the non-union crews were dismissed. The Company surrendered unconditionally, and, as from the 1st April last, engaged crews supplied by the Seamen's Union. It is not too much to say that during the early months of this year the British shipping firms in South China had been frightened into abject submission to the tyranny of the Chinese Seamen's Union. It has also been necessary recently to prosecute five members of the Seamen's Union in Hong Kong for possession of seditious documents. Of these, one man was sentenced to six months' imprisonment with hard labour, another to three months' imprisonment with hard labour, two were bound over in $100 each, and the fifth discharged.

7. Meanwhile, So Shiu-cheng had transferred himself to Hankow in February, 1927. with the rest of the Nationalist Government and

C. 21189/26: not printed.

+ No. 12.

61

its Russian advisers. But the last few weeks have seen great changes in political planks and platforms in China, and the slogan Down with British Imperialism! has yielded pride of place to "Down with Moscow and Communism! " During April last Marshal Tseung Kai- shek (Chinese characters) carried out his anti-Communist coup, which split Chinese Nationalism into the Nanking and the Hunkow cliques. Canton, under General Li Chai-sum, followed the lead of Marshal Tseung and declared itself anti-Communist and therefore anti-Hankow, 8. The elimination of Communists from Canton having been decreed, the " purging" and "reorganization" of labour unions was taken in hand by the Cantonese authorities. The Seamen's Union in Canton was naturally among the first objects of attack by the anti-Communist régime. It did not yield without a struggle. In fact, it attempted to call a general strike in Canton as a protest against the coup d'état, a move which, had it succeeded, must have meant complete defeat of law and order and the surrender of the city to moh rule. But General Li Chai-sum (Chinese characters) promptly showed that he would be ruthless in suppressing opposition of this nature; the striking seainen scurried back to their ships, and the Chairman, Hoa Loi (Chinese characters), fled into hiding.

9. But even

the most anti-Communist section of the Nationalist Government cannot afford an open break with Labour generally. So rash an act might rapidly bring about its downfall. Consequently, the new Government in Canton issued instructions, not for the dissolution of the unruly Unions, but for their reorganization. The reorganization of the Seamen's Union was first placed in the hands of two leading officials of the Hong Kong branch. Of these, onė, Fung Wing-wun (Chinese characters), took a very truculent part in the matter of the Sun Yat-sen commemoration (see my secret despatch of the 18th March*) and the other, Chan Hang-lam (Chinese characters), was named as one of the chief gunmen in the plot against the lives of prominent Hong Kong officials. Such a selection was, therefore, hardly likely to achieve reorganization on moderate lines; and after a very brief stay these two gentlemen also disappeared, taking with them the Union funds to the amount (so it is said) of $43,000.

10. The Hong Kong branch of the union appears to have shared the political views of its officials and, being safe from the forceful tactics of General Li Chai-sum, announced that it refused to submit to reorganization by Canton and intended to stand on its own feet. At first sight this seemed a step in the right direction, the most objection- able feature of the Hong Kong Union's position in the Colony being its control by Canton. But I was informed by Mr. J. F. Brenan, His Majesty's Consul-General at Canton, that the reorganization of the Union in Canton was in some way coupled with the revival of an older Seamen's Association (the Lün Yi She (Chinese characters) ), which acquired a most evil reputation for intimidation and murder during the 1922 strike, and I began to consider seriously the advisability of proscribing the new independent" Seamen's Union of Hong Kong. 11. While the facts were being investigated, and the opinions of those best able to advise were being sought, the local Union simplified

• No. 7.