Page Four PEOPLE’S ADVOCATE September 10, 1937 Position Held — AS JEYHINGS were quiet now, too quiet, and he won- dered what new strategy they were planning. Their ruse having failed, the enemy had retreated down the rocky hillside to the shelter of the stone barricade he himself had helped to build two days ago. = We raised himself painfully. His left shoulder was throbbing from the flesh wound he had received this morning when a bullet ric- ocheted from the barricade and his shirt was stiff and dirty with dried blood. The pain came in waves, causing little specks of light to dance before his eyes. He kept the sights of his ma- chine-2un trained on the rocks from behind which the next at- tack must come and his eye care- folly measured the distance be- tween them and the shallow de- pression in which he lay. It was not more than fifty years at the most. Fifty yards of rocks and sand—and the dead. There were forty-three dead men lyine out there, forty-four, if he counted the wounded Italian. But he had not moved for the past our. Parther down, nearest the stone barricade, the bodies lay thickest. It had been a hand-to- hand struggle there. A score of times he had asked himself, should I leave my gun to bring the Italian in? But after their treachery this morning be could not concede the Mascists any fonor and they themselves seemed indifferent to the wounded man’s suffering. The sand was burning to the touch and he shifted his position again, his eyes still on the barri- cade, There was considerable ac- tivity behind those rocks and he would give anything to know what was going on. He could pick sev- eral of them off if he wished, for they made no great effort to keep under cover, but he did not know how long he might have to hold iis positon single-banded- He must go easy wtih his ammunition. D4 AOR the twentieth time he went over this morning’s events. The enemy must have received reinforcements during the night for they had attempted to rush the barricade in the half-light of dawn. They were mostly Italians with a sprinkling of- Moors. — But their position had been well chosen. The barricade com- manded a clear sweep of the lower Time With China, But Japan Needs Quick V By HARRY GANNES. HILE the battle fronts in China rapidly extend, the inner situation in both China and Japan is begin- ning to engross world atten- tion. The relative military power of the two countries being generally known the complicated problem of the rear looms up as of equal if not major decisiveness. Naturally, news is meagre but trends are quite definite. In China ¢he pro-Japanese faction is being eclipsed. Passage of 2 law for the death penalty for traitors or those who in any way aid the enemy proves that China has learned a Jesson that cost much to be finally grasped in Spain. Economy Centralized. The most significant step or the Nanking government thus far is the creation of the Na- tional Committee to finance the war against China. This com- mittee of 27 prominent Chinese jas been authorized to float a bond issue of $500,000,000 (Chi- nese) or about $150,000000 in Us eurrency. Thus is carried out one of the original proposals of the All-China National Salvation League. The progrant of the Na- tional Salvation Ieague received the endorsement of the Communist party of China. We can look upon the measure as the first of a series to be adopted designed to arouse and mobilize the whole couniry more and more on a demo- eratic basis for the prosecution of the war against Japan. Undoubtedly there will be covert and at times bitter opposition to drawing the peasant, coolie, pro- jJetarian and middle-class masses jnto the struggle, a process that must ultimately rupture the feudal remnants. But China by the exi- rencies of the fight is moving in a direction of national unity which also means national awakening and liberation within. >.< Three Noted Leaders. The three most prominent names contained in the eable dispatches reporting the creation of the com- mittee for the bond issue flotation are of the greatest significance. Leading them is Mme. Sun Yat- sen, widow of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, who has come out of the retire- ment she has been in since the rupture of Kuomintang-Communist unity in 1927. j™. WwW. Soong, her brother, is mentioned, He represented for some time the left section of the Kuomintang which has repeatedly urged national unity to save the eountry from national annihilation. We has the closest connections with the United States. Then there is Sun Po, son of Dr. Sun Wat-sen, who has also for several year's now advocated unity with the Communists as the pre- requisite for China’s salvation by national unity. Other steps yet to follow are hillside and they were sheltered, while the enemy had to advance over eround which afforded little protection. The attack had failed. _ Then the enemy had tried to crawl up on the barricade, but that too, had failed, for they had cleares. the ground of rocks and there was no cover for 4 man. A flank attack might have suc- ceeded, but other machine-gun em- placements at strategic points along the valley prevented that. He had not heard any firing from them for half an hour or more, not since the last attack on his own position, in fact. He frowned and moyed his position again un- easily. Wiiat if the Fascists haye tried the same devilish trick there and succeeded, he thought. Even now they might be moyang to surround him. But no, he was only tortur- ing himself with his own thoughts. There was too much activity be- hind the stone barricade for that. Perhaps they were waiting for re- inforcements, hoping to overwhelm him by sheer numbers... . A shadow swept across his face and he glanced upward, It was only a bird. x H® mind reverted again to the morning’s attack. We could have held that barri- eade till hell froze over, he thought bitterly. Wpon the failure of their attacks the Fascists had withdrawn to the shelter of the shallow trenches they had dug dur- ing the night. After a while a white flag had been raised. The Italians—there must have been a ¥ull hundred of them compared to their own bare dozen—had ad- vanced out of their trenches sing- ine the International, their arms held high in the celenched fist salute of Republican Spain. “Fold your fire,’ Chris, their red-faced, stocky commander from Dorset, had ordered and they had withheld their fire thinking it was a mass desertion. It was not the first time men had deserted to them, although never had the enemy come over to them in such numbers before. Elsewhere, they had heard, whole companies had deserted as strife between the various nationalities supporting Franco increased. Not until the MItalians were within a few yards of the barri- cade did they realize it was only a ruse. And then it was too late. As he mulled it over in his mind a fierce hatred of the men who had murdered his comrades arose in him. He wanted to rush down in one mad onslaught and kill and primarily: the calling of a wna- tional salvation congress: exten- Sion of Civil liberties; mobilization of the country’s man power and wealth to carry the war to a suc- cessful conclusion. ee Nippon Stocks Break. Besides the general reports from Japan of the unpopularity of the war, the stock market tickers reel off a story of fear and concern among important strata of the Japanese bourgeoisie. Despite the fact that the Japanese government is using its funds to bolster the stock shares, prime issues are shooting downward. Even war stocks, which if the fantastic tales of the military-ascists are to be believed should be skyrocketing, are caught on the general tobog- gan. In one month, stocks have dropped from 10 to 30 per cent. Actually they have Jost at least half of their value. And the war is Dut little more than a month old. This does not mean that Jap- anese economy will automatically collapse with the blow-up of the stock market. The military-Fas- cists will close the stock market. Japanese imperialism will resort to state capitalism as a war meas- ure. They. will drain Japan to its very marrow to get the where- withal to run the country. But the fears of the Japanese middle class and smaller industrialists and share-holders is basic and uncon- solable. Briefly, here is what they look forward to: = * Prospects For Japan. (1) Economic eatastrophe and ultimate revolution as the result man ‘ SEE by 2 Fascists Deny elipping sent to me Women’s Rights : this week that the Spanish Fascists are al- ready attempting to eurtail the freedom of women in the provinces they control. This, of course, is only the first move in a campaign to deprive women of all msghts of equality with men and to reduce their status to that of the women of Nazi -on a Spanish hillside somewhere on the Teruel front fizhtine for an ideal that recently had srown clear as the northern. dawns he had watched break over Surprise Lake in the days when he worked on Ruby Creek. eovet, is under the control of General Yen Sih-shan who had de- fied the central government for years. The great national crisis China is faced with has foreed him to fuse with the Nanking regime. It is reported that he was present at the momentous meeting of the supreme war council of China held in Nanking at which meetine his task in the national defense was allotted to him. His army, estimated at 125,000, is om the march, ready to resist the Japan- ~ ese invaders. The two southern provinces of Ikiwanegsi and Kwantung have with- in the Jast year been incorporated into the central fSovernment of China. For Some time, they chose to remain aloof from the Nanking government, but the pational emer- gency has compelled them to unite. The anti-Japanese feeling is particularly strong there and it is only lately that they issued a dec- Jaration of war against Japan. The well-trained troops of these provinces, numbering 350,000 have been well supplied with war equip- ment by foreign concerns. General Pai Jung-tsi, the Mohommedan commander of Kowangsi, is con- sidered one of China’s sreatest military strategists. * A United Country. HE unification of China has also taken place in the other provinces. Sechuan province far into the interior which had recos- nized the hegemony of General Liu-Hsiang has recently come within jurisdiction of the central sovernment. The pacification of the other provinces has heen pos- a a.) by the various Spanish aid funds. We miust participate in anti-Pascist campaigns and use our economic power as purchasers in the boy- ectt of Fascist goods. For, as women; we have all our rights and privileges at stake. : HAT is the dark Spain And side, the Fas- Infant Care cist side, of the 2 Spanish picture. But there is a brighter side in Re- publican Spain where, despite the exigencies and rayages of warfare, marvellous progress is being made in infant care. Every precaution is being taken to see that the fu- ture citizens of the new demo- eratic Spain of the future adequate care. There are 10,000 babies In Ma- drid today under one year of age. The mothers of these children are unable to feed them at the breast. Erven in normal time in Madrid, 10 per cent of the children bom died before they were a year old. Jz this was the average in’ peace time, it is tragic to imagine what recelve™ Tt seemed only yesterday that the old man had walked in and told them he was fired. Fired, after twenty-seven years’ service. His mother had refused to believe it, but it had been true enoush- Then had followed the long search for work and the ever more frequent quarrels until finally he could stand it mo longer - ~ = Hie no longer felt resentment against his father. only against those who had cast him aside when they no longer had use for him. Wis hatred now was directed to- ward these men crouched against the stone barricade beneath the sishts of his machine-gun. Against these men who were bein= used as the blind force to perpetuate all the false traditions and out- wom economies with whose sham Slitter a mighty propaganda ma- chine had bemused them. * A HEAVY rumbling sound of which he had been subcon- sciously aware for some time in- truded itself on his thoughts. His fineers trembled on the trigger of ¢he machine-gun. He had heard that sound before on the Jarama front. No wonder the Iascists had not attempted any more costly in- fantry attacks. They were bring- ing up tanks. , Trarther. down the valley ma- chine-cuns woke viciously to life, but the hillsides there were steep, {oo steep for tanks to climb. No, his would be the position they would try first. The rumbling grew louder and presently, as he watched with a sick feeling at the bottom of his stomach, the first erey snout Joomed high above the stone barv- cade. It stopped and then came on again, pushing aside the Tocks eontemptuously Behind it were two others and below in the val- ley several more. He wondered, as he gazed down the sights of his gun knownig ail the while it was futile and amazed at himself for not running, if his mother had received the letter he had written just before he left Canada. And then the tank was turning back, rock and sand were “flyine about him and the whole scene was obscured, He looked up ta see three planes swoop low across the valley and the clatter’ of machine-guns was loud in his ears. There were shouts behind him, put for some reason or another the haze on the distant hills was elos- ing in. It must be the heat, he thought, as he tried to raise his hand to his eyes and fell face for- ward in a faint. ictory sible largely through the rezogni- tion of the need for united action of the country against Japan. The fruits of this unification process are so apparent that China has in- ereased its military Strensth many times, which is so necessary today. The senseless civil war conducted by -the central government against the Soviet areas and the Chinese Red Army has ceased. For the last 18 months no warfare has raged between them and has permitted of the strengthening and re-equip- ping of the Red Army now sta- tioned in Shensi, Ningsia, and Icansu. The campaign carried on by the Chinese Communist party for a united anti-Japanese war of resistance on a national seale has heen ¢he driving foree in the country. ba Feet of Clay. ype OueHOUr the length and breadth of China in every City, there can be heard the sound of marching feet. All China has been aroused to fever-piteh and the need of exhaustive preparations for national resistance against the Japanese has entered the con- sciousness of the people. The Japanese hopes for a Swift victory and a decisive termination of the war are motivated by her own weak economic base, whicn will be rent by sharp contradic— tions if the war is prolonged. Japan must import most of the vital minerals necessary for war and this will be hampered by her lack of abundant gold reserves. This colossus of the east has “ feet of clay’ which will become in- creasingly apparent to the world. Victoria Post mizht have occurred in wat. But the slozan of the people of Madrid has been “children first.” Tenorance of scientific methods brought about the high infant mor- tality. Convinced that its duties to- wards the babies cannot be fulfill- ed-simply by handing mothers a little fresh or condensed milk, the eouncil has opened centers for baby care all over Madrid. There every mother brings her child. The child is weighed and examined at the center, and a care- ful record made. A diet list is made out, the mother is given the exact formula for mixing the child’s milk and all the necessary instructions for looking after her baby. She is also supplied with powdered milk, , sugar and other necessities. If the infan® fails to gain weight the formula is changed. Every month the Madrid moth- ers are supplied with 40,000 kilo- syams of powdered milk, 6000 of sugar and 3000 of flour. In the near future it is hoped to extend the service to babies ever one year as well. BOOKS reached by the means proposed, THE PEOPLE’S FRONT By G. D. H. Cole. Gollanz. Left Book Club choice. Reviewed by Hamilton Fyfe IKE EVERYTHING Cole writes, this is well-in- formed, well-argued, well- compact. But it has a quality beyond these, a quality sel- dom found in Cole’s prolific output. It is eloquent, it is moving; it does not merely conyince the mind, it stirs emotion. This is to be explained by the deep sincerity, the passion, even, with which parts of the book have been written. Not all of it. The ereatest part consists of the usual surveys, and suggestions. But in the chapter on The Wascist Dan- ger, for example, Cole rises to 2 height of yigorous and stimulating advocacy which I do not think he has ever reached before. Tt is this danger which has created the pressing need for a Popular Front. Cole is convinced that most people—or, at any rate, 3 great many—feel the need, with- out being able to express what 1S in their thoughts. He believes ~ there is in Britain a large body — of unattached voters, “democratic voters,’ who ‘can be won, not yet for Socialism, but for pooled secur- ity and a limited program of demo- cratie social legislation and eco- nomie control.’ “The Labor party, if it acts alone, ‘can hope to reach these voters put slowly at best. They could be and, wtih democracy saved, Social- ism can be established. But ‘today it is the business of Socialists to rally round them everyone who will help to preserve peace and democracy. To fail in that is not to maintain the purity of Socialism, but to betray the people's eause.’ That labor should win the next general election, or even the one after, seems to Cole, as to other well-qualifed observers, unlikely. ‘The real question which tbe party has to face is whether it is eontent to remain in the political wilderness, in the hope of ulti- mately bringing over a majority of the whole electorate to its support, or whether, in view of the immedi- ate urgency of a left victory ik Great Britain, as a necessary pre- reauisite of British collaboration ~— with the left forces in Europe, it is prepared to constitute itself a yallyine point for all the elements of left opinion that can be per- suaded to unite on the basis of a jimited immediate program.’ * HAT long, awkward sentence is in Cole’s worst manner, but with the meaning of it no one who understands the situation here and elsewhere can disagree. Why, then, do not the trade union and Jsabor party leaders act accordinely? In Cole’s view, ‘Bevin and Dalton, as well as Citrine and Middleton, ap- pear to have gone quite mad- For it is sheer madness, with the world as it is, to 20 tilting at Communist windmills, instead of girding up the loins for a fight against the forces of reaction. It is impossible to wage the classavar on two fronts at once.’ What actually happens is that these leaders use their forees to wage class-war on the owners’ and employers’ side. ‘It is not far from jhe truth that the Labor party and the trade union machines have heen incorporated into the capi- talist defences against the “Red menace’’.’ This has been due prin- eipally to the trade union side that is to say, to Ernest Bevin and Citrine. Once Cole and Bevin were close allies. But Bevin is never at ease in the company of minds more” acute than his own, so the partner- ship dissolved. It had this advan-- tage—that Cole knows his Bevin, and here he makes his knowledge public. There is ne overt attack, but the picture of Bevin left on : of a” the readers mind is that powerful personality eramped by narrow intellect who has got Sir” Walter and the Labor movement generally under his thumb. For the moment he is holding ~ it down. And the danger of Was- cism must come nearer to us, Cole says, before the nation perceives it. But he urges work for the Popular Front, immediate and enersetic work, and he outlines the forms it may take. If all understand the erisis and the only non-violent solution that is pOs- sible, will act as he advises, then _the day on which we can adopt the slogan of the USSR—Not mine for me, but ours for us——will brought nearer than it seems to-- day, How Much For Spain? By MICHAEL QUIN The long collection speech is done And now the felt hat goes” From hand to hand its sol emn way Along the restless rows. In purse and pocket, fingers: feel And count the coins by. touch. Minds ponder what they can atford —_— And hesitate .. how much? In that brief, jostled moment when The battered hat arrives, Try, brother, to remember that Some men put in their lives. 4 who &