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been opened in Canton on the very day of the coup
d'état. It is also stated that the new Government
is seeking to economise on doles to "Hong Kong
strikers" by investigating the genuine number among the 100,000 would-be recipients, of whom Ch'an Fu-muk speaks so tenderly. The number of genuine strikers
still out of work is now said to be about 4,000.
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2.
A certain amount of resistance to the new
order is undoubtedly being offered by the Peasants" Army, the Railwaymen's Union and other avowedly Bol- shevik organizations. The Peasmats' Army is especially formidable having been taught by Comrade Borodin's propagandists to look upon the massacre of landlords and the redistribution of land as the first duty (and first reward) of patriotism. It is a section of the Peasants' Army which has given such constant trouble on our frontier at Sha-tau-kok (see paragraph 3 of my
No 40 secret despatch of the 25th February and references
there quoted). Its strength cannot be estimated even approximately; but, if there is any truth in the attached press report regarding supplies of arms, it will be clear that General Li struck not a whit too
hard nor a moment too soon. I enclose a translation
of a manifesto on the issue between the two sides by General Tsin Tai-kwan, whose repressive actions.while Commissioner of Police and subsequent downfall were reported in my secret despatches of the 14th January (Enclosure No.5) and the 21st January (paragraph 3).
3.
Fighting between General Li's forces and the Peasants' Army is reported in Heung-shan, on the East River and on the North River round Ying-tak on the Canton-Hankow line. The most serious struggle
Enclo. No. 3.
Enclo No. 4.
20
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