CO129-500-3 Canton situation- governor's despatches 29-7-1927 - 1-9-1927 — Page 116

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us that class wars would injure China. At present the

Communists have prevented the Kuomintang members from

getting in close touch with the peasants and workmen;

they have made use of the vagrant property-less classes

to oppress the true peasants and workmen wasting the

hard-earned money of these latter in training Labour

Pickets. Any bona-fide peasant or workman who fails

to pay up his membership fees, is tortured by the Com-

munists and is liable to be tied up, exposed in the

street and treated with every form of cruelty.

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Our Comrades! The Communists have used the

inhuman and brutal labour pickets to keep the peasants

and workmen in bondage, and any local rascal or unemploy-

ed beggar has power to kill anybody so long he has been

allowed to put on a picket uniform. Who of you does not long for improvement in the lot of peasants and workmen?

At the same time we must be careful to bring about improve- ments that are permanent not temporary, The Communists have cheated and victimized our workmen. They have taught them to get their wages increased several times above the old rate, and thus brought about economic bankruptcy and much unemployment. They have also deceived the peasants. On the one hand they depreciated the price of rice; on the other they advised the peasants to make an immediate refusal to pay any rent for the fields, thus depriving the peasants of the money required for tilling their fields owing to the non-circulation of money. Our revolutionary troops have fought for the interests of the peasants and workmen. But their

fathers, sons, brothers, relations and friends at home

have been thrown out of work and prevented from tilling

their fields and living in peace. This is the real

condition