Will they be able to carry out their plan of communizing the entire country? And how long will this take? Will China remain China for the Chinese or, for the first time in nearly five thousand years, will the once free peoples of this basically democratic country be hopelessly enthralled by the yoke of tyranny?
The Chinese have a quality that has distinguished them. This quality is patience. The Communists too have patience, but only up to a point. Beyond that they use force to accomplish their ends.
There are literally hundreds of languages spoken in China—each province speaks a different dialect. Moreover, aside from travel between major cities, there is relatively little transportation and practically no communication between smaller cities in the interior. In view of these facts, is it not possible that the Russians will find their progress slow?
Will the Chinese absorb the Soviets as they did the Huns, the Mongols and the Tartars? Time alone will give us the answers to these questions. Time alone will prove the importance of the incubation period spent in Yenan, and whether or not it was worth the sacrifices made by the Reds. The die is cast. From it we shall learn what the future holds for Asia, for Europe, and perhaps for ourselves as well.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Collectivize means controlled farming, where the peasants are only hired hands.
Chapter III
Communist Personalities
The Central People’s Government of the Chinese Communist Party is the ruling class. It makes the policy, enforces the laws and governs with dictatorial power. Mao Tse-tung, at fifty-six, is Chairman and Supreme Commander—for the time being at least. Directly responsible to him are six Vice-Chairmen among whom is the famous Madame Sun Yet-sen. Under these Vice-Chairmen are fifty-six Supreme and fifteen Administrative Councilors, twenty Ministries and a political Consultative Committee of one hundred and eighty Active Members.
Mao Tse-tung, or Chairman Mao, is a rotund little figure, rather dejected looking, with an undistinguished face, topped by a broad forehead and a luxuriant crop of black hair. Now installed in Peking, he dresses less slovenly than in those earlier days in Yenan when a sloppy appearance was considered a badge of honor.