II. THE UNITED FRONT AGAINST
CHIANG KAI-SHEK
7. The Leftward Swing of the Kuomintang
We arrived in Hankow on March 31. In a few days we had a clearer idea of the new stage of the Chinese Revolution. The situation was reviewed by me on April 10th, in an article, from which I quote a few pages:
With the reorganization of the Chinese National Government on March 11th at Hankow, and the immediately following capture of Nanking and Shanghai by the revolutionary army, the Chinese revolution has definitely entered a new phase of its development. This new phase is a deepening and intensification of the revolution, at the moment of military victory, when all observers concede that it is but a matter of months when all inner-China will be in the hands of the Nationalist Government.
The new personnel of the Government, established on March 11th, includes participation of the Chinese Communist Party. The Ministry of Agriculture is headed by Tan Ping-shan, just returned from Moscow, where he represented the Chinese party at the recent Plenum of the E. C. C. I. The Ministry of Labor is in the hands of Sou Cheu-Ging, chairman of the All-China Labor Federation, chairman of the Chinese Seamen's Union, leader of the famous Hongkong Strike, and member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. Appointment of Communists to head these two posts signalizes a deepening of the social phases, the foundation of the Chinese revolution.
This turn to the left by the Chinese revolution undoubtedly came as a surprise and shock to American, Japanese, and British imperialism. The diplomats of Downing Street and the White House had been flirting with the right wing of the Kuomintang, and undoubtedly thought that their proteges in the Nationalist movement were prepared to step in and seize power just at this moment of military victory. It must have been discon-
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