Twentieth Century Chronicle

Page 147

Faced with the soldiers' outburst, they no longer considered the war or national honor, but rather how to safely return home. At this point, the Russian soldiers' enemies became the officers who were obstructing their return. The officers naturally felt the soldiers' discontent and hostility first, and the uprisings along the Chita-Angangxi railway line proved that the army was already rife with revolutionary propaganda. The generals of Far Eastern Russia naturally sensed the gunpowder around them. Thus, before orders came from St. Petersburg, Kuropatkin and his colleagues had already decided to surrender to Japan and China, intending to use the power of Japan and China to suppress the revolutionary forces within the Russian army.

However, Kuroborkin never expected that the Chinese would refuse to help them suppress the revolutionaries within the Russian army. This was utterly irrational, considering that China was still an imperial state. If the revolutionaries in my country opposed the Tsar, they would also oppose the Chinese emperor and the Japanese emperor—this was the plague of revolution. Even the Germans, who considered the French their enemies, sided with their arch-enemy in the face of the Paris Commune; this was the consensus of monarchical states.

However, there was some good news for the Russians: the Japanese hadn't followed the Chinese in their frenzy and seemed hesitant to intervene and help them extinguish the revolutionary flames within the Russian army. It's just that the Japanese weren't very determined; they wanted to ascertain whether the Russian army could still maintain control of the situation before taking action.

Kuroborkin, of course, wouldn't tell the Japanese that, apart from the troops in Harbin city, the Russian troops outside the city had actually broken away from headquarters' control. Breaking away from headquarters' control didn't mean these troops had all turned to the revolutionary side; rather, their stance was uncertain. But at least one thing was clear: they would no longer unconditionally obey headquarters' orders.

Kuropatkin's current goal is to drag the Japanese into the conflict as soon as possible. As long as he has Japanese support, he can at least regain control of most of the army. After all, although the soldiers are disgusted with the war, they are not yet ready to devote themselves to the revolution. Only a portion of the soldiers have decided to oppose the Tsar and support the Chita Soviet. Most soldiers are still at the stage of demanding the establishment of soldiers' Soviets, which would then take over command of the army.

If the Japanese could help him suppress the revolutionary soldiers, he could restore discipline and organization to the remaining soldiers, and the revolutionary storm in the Russian army would dissipate. Moreover, the Japanese were clearly stronger than the Chinese; even if the Chinese were to break off relations, it would only result in a direct conflict between China and Japan, which would actually be a good thing for the Russian army.

However, while Kuropatkin was sending a telegram to Oyama Iwao, assuring the Japanese commander that he could regain control of the Russian forces should Oyama Iwao send troops to Harbin, a telegram from the northern Japanese army also reached the Japanese headquarters in Siping.

The telegram was signed by Okuyasu, Nozu Michitsuna, and Tamura Iyozo, but it was actually primarily Tamura Iyozo's opinion. This chief of staff of the Northern Route Japanese Army bluntly rejected Ōyama Iwao's request for the Northern Route Japanese Army to enter Harbin, arguing that this was not ending the war but beginning a new one, a new war between Japan and China, and the Republic of Chita.

Tamura made this judgment because the Japanese army on the northern route had already clashed with the Republic of Chita and Chinese militias several times. While the discipline of the Japanese army during this war was actually quite good, at least better than during the Eight-Nation Alliance invasion of China, this did not mean there were no conflicts between the Japanese army and local residents. Under such high-intensity warfare, soldiers were under immense mental stress and prone to resorting to violence to resolve problems. Especially when fighting abroad, even basic moral constraints seemed to disappear. Coupled with the indulgence of imperialist armies, it was easy for massacres of civilians and a series of violent incidents to occur. The army's atrocities naturally provoked civilian resistance. Spontaneous civilian resistance was not particularly harmful to the army, but organized local resistance turned into guerrilla warfare, which became quite troublesome for foreign armies. Unless the army consolidated its forces and controlled the entire region, it could not eliminate this organized guerrilla warfare.

The Republic of Chita and the Chinese army have now become the organizers of these civilian resistance movements. The latter are relatively polite to the Japanese army and restrain the actions of the militia, only verbally protesting against the actions of a few Japanese soldiers. After all, the two sides are still in the stage of alliance. However, the Republic of Chita has no goodwill towards the Japanese army. Their attacks are constantly extending towards the Japanese army's logistics lines, showing no intention of peaceful coexistence.

In a telegram to Oyama Iwao, Tamura reported: "Although these hundreds of thousands of Russian troops have lost their will to fight, they have not lost their ability to fight. The reason why the Russian army has lost its will to fight is not because they think our army is stronger, but because they think it is not worth losing their lives for this unjust war. Therefore, our army's previous advances towards Harbin were blocked by the Russian army, but the Russian army has no desire to counterattack our army."

However, after these Russian troops turned to the Republic of Chita, they displayed a stronger desire to attack under the organization of the Republic of Chita, because they believed that we and the Tsar were birds of a feather, that we had joined the war for land, and that they wanted to defend their homeland…”

-

Chapter 527 Japan Betrayed

While the Japanese were still debating whether to break ties with the Chinese, the British finally intervened. Fu Cixiang's notification to the Beiyang government put Yuan Shikai in a dangerous position—the risk of war with Japan. He felt he was once again being pushed ahead by the people of Wuhan, and that if the Japanese were to truly wage war against China, they would inevitably strike in the Bohai Rim region, an area almost entirely under Beiyang control.

Therefore, he immediately instructed Tang Shaoyi to inform the British of the situation in Wuhan, making it clear that this was merely Wuhan's idea and that the Beiyang government had no such intention. Upon receiving this information, the British Minister to China, Sir John Edward Satow, knew that this matter was beyond his authority and he could only report the situation to London.

Sadao's judgment was correct. British Foreign Secretary Edward Gray also saw the significant impact this event would have on Eurasian geopolitics. Once hundreds of thousands of Russian troops in the Far East became supporters of the Russian Revolution, the already chaotic Russia would be unable to withstand this unexpected military force under the temptation of returning to its homeland. Nicholas II might indeed have been forced to step down.

Once the Russian Revolution begins, the agreement reached between Britain, France, and Nicholas II will be rendered meaningless. Although the British do not fully trust Nicholas II, he is at least a lame Tsar who cannot secure his throne without the support of Britain and France. They are not worried that Nicholas II will go back on his word.

The situation was different for the Russian revolutionaries. To date, the Russian Revolution lacked a true leader, meaning the British were unsure who would rule Russia after its success. Establishing relations with an unknown ruler and gaining their recognition of the agreements signed by Britain, France, and Nicholas was fraught with uncertainty, and it was questionable whether the Germans would grant Britain and France that much time to complete it.

Therefore, Edward Gray immediately concluded that the Chita Republic must not be allowed to gain power; Nicholas II could not fall yet; the dozens of Russian troops in the Far East could surrender, but these troops could not become supporters of the revolution. His decision was endorsed by the French Foreign Minister. Thus, the French and British reached a consensus: the Far Eastern issue could no longer bypass China; China had to be incorporated into the existing international order, and its interference in the Russian Revolution must be prevented.

On the evening of October 14, British Minister to China Sir John Saud and French Minister to China Louis Pasteur met with Japanese Minister to China Yasuya Uchida, Beiyang Representative Tang Shaoyi, and Wuhan Representative Qin Lishan. At this meeting held at the British Legation, the British and French ministers expressed their respective positions to both China and Japan: the Far East war must end as soon as possible. They were willing to persuade the Russian army to lay down their arms and arrange ships to transport these Russian soldiers back to Russia. Britain and France had already conveyed the same opinion to St. Petersburg and Harbin, respectively.

Saudowen also stated that Britain considered the joint statement issued by Wuhan and the Republic of Chita invalid because the Republic of Chita was not a legitimate representative of Russia. However, Britain sympathized with the losses suffered by China in the war, and therefore would persuade St. Petersburg to negotiate with China on the various clauses of the joint statement. Furthermore, Britain suggested that China and Japan could discuss postwar issues in East Asia in Beijing and then incorporate them into the resolutions of the mediation conference held in the United States.

The statements from Britain and France were a slap in the back of Japan's head. Uchiya Kosai listened to Minister Sadao's new peace proposal with a livid face. In his view, the British were betraying Japan's interests. The interests that Japan had gained in China after the war, which Britain had tacitly approved, were now being handed over to the Chinese.

After the meeting, Minister Uchi expressed his dissatisfaction to Minister Sadaoyi, but Sadaoyi, who was always close to Japan and was even considered half Japanese, frowned and rebuked Minister Uchi: "I understand that Japan has the desire to make its country strong and stand tall in the East. I have personally witnessed the tears and sweat that Japan has shed since the Meiji Restoration to change its backward country. I understand and appreciate this."

However, the Chinese people also have the same desire, and they have also paid a heavy price in blood and tears to gain recognition from the international order. Our country cannot push such a China to the opposite side of the international order.

Furthermore, didn't our country provide Japan with assistance and opportunities? Without our support, could your country truly have defeated the Russian fleet at sea? Wouldn't your actions at Cam Ranh Bay have led to France's entry into the war? Please remember that the Anglo-Japanese Alliance was for the purpose of maintaining international peace, not for undermining it. I hope your envoy can convey my views to Tokyo without reservation, completely and accurately, so as to avoid Tokyo misjudging our position…

For Tokyo, the British stance was a disaster. Even the elder statesmen who had always been pro-British were furious upon hearing the news, accusing the British of treating Japan like a prostitute, using it and then discarding it. However, such complaints clearly could not change the British resolve. The elder statesmen knew very well that the British didn't need to do anything; as long as they didn't support Japan, China could force the Japanese army to withdraw from Manchuria. After all, Japan's national strength was nearing its end, and the Ministry of Finance was even planning to levy an inheritance tax to fill the gap in military spending.

Therefore, at an emergency meeting of elder statesmen, Ito Hirobumi argued: "Given the current situation, peace is the inevitable trend. The United States has lost its ability to intervene in the East Asian situation due to the financial crisis. This is both a good thing and a bad thing for our country. At least we don't have to worry about the Americans extending their reach into Manchuria."

Britain, France, and Germany, mutually restraining each other in Europe, could not significantly interfere in East Asian affairs until a victor emerged. Russia, defeated in the war and facing internal strife, was also unlikely to focus on East Asian issues in the short term. Therefore, the crux of the East Asian problem lay with our country and China. If we and China could reach an agreement, peace would be restored to East Asia after the war. If we could not reach an agreement, Manchuria (China), the Russian Far East, and the Korean Peninsula would all descend into instability.

This war has already consumed a great deal of our resources and money, and Russia's current situation makes it difficult for them to provide any compensation to us. Therefore, we need a period of peace to recover our economy and repay our debts. From this perspective, I believe we should accept the proposal from Britain and France.

Itō Hirobumi's stance was essentially about accepting reality and bowing to Britain and France. Before the Russo-Japanese War, this was a guiding principle for Japanese politics in handling foreign relations. However, before the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese generally believed that people of Asian descent were incapable of defeating people of Japanese descent, so bowing to Britain and France was not considered a grievance, and there was no need to explain anything to the public.

However, the Russo-Japanese War had reversed the Japanese people's fear of white people. They defeated white people on the battlefield, not just weak white countries, but the Russians, whom even white people were somewhat afraid of. They defeated the Russians not only at sea, but also on land.

Naval warfare relied on warships and cannons manufactured by white people. Such victories could not completely dispel the fear of white people. However, defeating the Russian army, which was known as the "gendarmes of Europe," on land, and winning such a face-to-face battle, truly demonstrated that the Japanese were not inferior to white people in terms of intelligence and physical strength. This immediately reversed the Japanese people's fear of white people.

After the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese no longer held the Chinese in the same high regard. The harsh conditions imposed on the Chinese in the Treaty of Shimonoseki demonstrated the contempt of the strong for the weak—a lesson Japan had learned from Europe. Now that Russia had also been defeated by the Imperial Army, it was clear that the Russians were also weak. Therefore, as the weaker party, Russia should accept the peace demands offered by the stronger Japan.

If Russia, as the weaker party, refuses to meet the demands of Japan, the stronger party, it would mean that the civilization Japan learned from Europe is false. The current Japan is built upon this dog-eat-dog European civilization, and if this logic collapses, it would mean the collapse of the new Japan established by the Meiji Restoration.

Ito Hirobumi's greater focus on international politics meant he hadn't yet broken free from old societal perceptions. However, Yamagata had already sensed the problem. As the organizer of the army, Yamagata remained highly vigilant about the domestic social situation, a consequence of the Satsuma Rebellion. Despite having completed the overthrow of the shogunate and initiated the Meiji Restoration, the intensification of social contradictions led to dissatisfaction among his comrades who had overthrown the shogunate with the Meiji Restoration. Therefore, Yamagata Aritomo consistently advocated for a high-pressure regime against the lower classes.

Yamagata consistently emphasized repressive rule because he was acutely aware of the oppression suffered by the lower classes in Japanese society. He knew that relaxing control would inevitably lead to widespread domestic unrest, which was the crux of his conflict with Ito. Ito, having been detached from the lives of ordinary people for too long, mistook the idyllic lifestyle of the upper classes for genuine progress for all of Japan. In order to align with international standards, he advocated for the further introduction of European democracy to suppress discontent among the lower classes.

Yamagata knew very well that the biggest discontent among the lower classes lay in the fact that most of their hard-earned money had been taken by landlords and officials. Simply giving them democracy wouldn't work; to resolve their discontent, social wealth needed to be redistributed, but this was clearly beyond his and Ito's capabilities. Therefore, before solving the problems of the lower classes, silencing their voices was key to maintaining social stability and order.

Ito Hirobumi now advocates accepting reality, and Yamagata also feels that this is a reality Japan has to accept. However, he cannot accept this reality on behalf of the army, because he believes the army represents the people, and if the people cannot accept a reality, the army certainly cannot accept it either. Moreover, if the army does not raise objections, in the upcoming Japan-China negotiations, those civilian officials will only further sacrifice the army's interests to maintain peace, which is clearly not what Yamagata wants to see.

Therefore, Yamagata still expressed his opposition. He believed that while peace was the general trend, both Japan and China needed peace, and there was no reason for Japan to make further concessions. Yamagata's argument essentially boiled down to one point: if Russia could not pay reparations, then Russia's interests in Korea and China should be transferred to Japan; Japan could not leave empty-handed.

Ito Sukeyuki, representing the navy, shared a similar view with Yamagata. He was even more intolerant of this reality. It was one thing for the Russians to refuse reparations, but now even seeking compensation from China was impossible. He felt he was being unfairly blamed. Therefore, he proposed a compromise: if the Chinese wanted to reclaim these interests, they should pay a certain fee, similar to the redemption fee for Liaodong. Ultimately, the council of elder statesmen failed to resolve the issue, only giving Minister Uchida a vague reply, instructing him to defend Japan's interests in the subsequent talks.

-

Chapter 528 Political Education

On October 17, Lin Xinyi delivered a speech at the Red Army Military and Political University, discussing socialist revolution and the independence of Eastern nations. The Red Army Military and Political University, formerly the Wuhan Army Officer School, was transformed by the Workers' Party after it gained control of Wuhan. This school, which had trained military personnel for the feudal dynasty, was converted into a military academy training military and political cadres for the proletarian army, and further upgraded into a base for cultivating military and political talent.

By 1907, the number of students had exceeded 7000, and the school system had been transformed from short-term training to vocational education. After hiring German officers and translating a large number of German military textbooks, Cai E's evaluation of the Red Army Military and Political University was that the university could at least educate officers at the regimental level, while the military academy could at best only educate officers at the company and platoon levels.

However, in terms of educating political cadres, the Red Army Military and Political University was actually inferior to the political school Lin Xinyi established in India, because the Labour Party was still exploring political work at that time and had no definite goals to refer to. At Tian Junyi's request, Lin Xinyi took over the revision of the political textbooks for the Military and Political University.

The Red Army Military and Political University did not only train Chinese proletarian cadres; people from Korea, Vietnam, and the Philippines also studied there. Most of these people were nationalists who came to Wuhan to seek independence for their own nations and were exposed to socialism. They could understand nationalism; under the oppression of the great powers, the national consciousness of various Asian nations was rising, and through contact with European culture, nationalism became a banner for Asian nations to resist imperialist oppression. However, socialism was indeed very unfamiliar to them because they had never encountered it in their lives.

In fact, most Chinese people at that time did not know what socialism was, but the Labor Party, under the banner of socialism, resisted the Qing Dynasty and the foreign powers and was not at a disadvantage. This led many Chinese people to believe that socialism was a good thing, just like the Meiji Restoration in Japan.

This superficial understanding of politics led to considerable confusion in the political textbooks of the military and political university. Often, socialism was confused with nationalism and democracy, or socialism was regarded as a means to enrich the country and strengthen its military. As a result, Lin Xinyi had to give several lectures to clarify the errors in the past political textbooks.

These speeches didn't actually contain any profound theories; they mainly popularized some basic political knowledge. However, for Chinese people who rarely came into contact with political theories, Lin Xinyi's speeches seemed to open up a new world for them, giving them a refreshing experience.

This is similar to the New Culture Movement in Wuhan, where many people simply translated foreign literature into Chinese, yet it still caused a sensation. Their translations were treated as their own original works. Of course, the translation work at that time was indeed a secondary creation, but it was nowhere near as highly praised as the media portrayed it, because what they were translating were already classic works recognized by Europeans.

The students at the Military and Political University learned about a new world through Lin Xinyi's speech and indeed became interested in it. As a result, they raised more and more questions after the speech. At first, these questions were rather naive, but as their understanding deepened, the questions raised by the students became more and more challenging.

For example, at the end of the day's proceedings, a participant asked Lin Xinyi, "You said that communism is more advanced than socialism, so what exactly is communism?"

After thinking for a moment, Lin Xinyi said, "So far, no society similar to communism has ever appeared in the world, so it is difficult for us to imagine it. To imagine the future society in isolation from the objective world is utopianism, which becomes the Garden of Eden of Christianity and the Nirvana world of Buddhism."

However, as historical materialists, we can try to understand what communism is. For example, the European proletariat shouted on May Day: eight hours of work, eight hours of life, and eight hours of sleep. What capitalist society requires the proletariat to strive for should be the commonplace daily life in socialist society.

So what is a communist society? I believe it should go a step further than the eight-hour workday, eight-hour leisure day, and eight-hour sleep day. For example: four hours of work, four hours of hobbies and leisure activities, four hours of creating value, four hours of relaxation and entertainment, and eight hours of sleep.

Why do I describe the life of the proletariat in a communist society in this way? Because I believe that from feudal dynasties to capitalism, and from capitalism to communism, all are about the self-liberation of humanity. It's about freeing people from simple, low-value, repetitive labor and engaging them in complex, high-value, and creative work, thereby efficiently transforming the world and allowing humanity to enjoy a better life.

Feudal dynasties only allowed emperors and nobles to enjoy the abundant fruits of human civilization; capitalism advocated that the wealthy enjoy them; communism asserted that everyone has the right to enjoy the fruits of their own labor. This is what I consider the superiority of communism.”

A large portion of the students at the Military and Political University were actually young workers recommended by various factories in Wuhan. Although some party members believed that the Military and Political University should adopt fair examinations to recruit young people, with Tian Junyi's support, the university still reserved a relatively large number of places for the working class to ensure that the working class could grow up as quickly as possible. They were also the ones who could best understand the difference between the eight-hour workday and the four-hour workday proposed by Lin Xinyi.

For groups outside the working class, they can only understand the superficial reduction in working hours. However, for the working class, there is also the concept of increased work efficiency. The labor output created by 4 hours of work in the communist era is equivalent to the output of 8 hours or more of work now. Therefore, the proletariat can certainly save more time to enjoy life.

The working class can naturally understand this concept because improving work efficiency has become an instinct in their work. However, other classes or groups generally cannot understand this concept because such rapid efficiency improvements are impossible in their work and life. Chinese farmers have only increased their production efficiency by one to two times over thousands of years of small-scale farming. Spread over an individual's life, this is hardly noticeable. Therefore, for them, reducing working hours is seen as laziness.

Why did farmers believe that the household responsibility system could produce more grain than the collective commune? Because while the intensive farming of small farmers certainly yielded higher yields per unit area than mechanized agriculture, the latter was hundreds of times more efficient in terms of labor. Moreover, without the road and water conservancy construction organized by the collective commune, small farmers couldn't even guarantee basic agricultural water, let alone talk about labor efficiency.

This is why the working class is the root of the leading class. If farmers were to lead society, they wouldn't increase productivity; instead, they would focus on controlling grain production, driving up grain prices, and making city dwellers work for them. This is the ideal agricultural society.

Therefore, peasants cannot understand socialism and communism, nor do they understand capitalism. For them, no ideology is more important than their own good life, even if it comes at the expense of others. When peasants become landlords, they never heed the cries of the proletariat, even if it is the peasants who have lost their land who starve to death. But when capitalism and socialism begin to shatter the small-scale peasant economy, they start shouting that this is sacrificing peasants for industrialization, as if the small-scale peasant economy of the past thousands of years had never sacrificed anyone else.

When the Wuhan Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Committee promoted land reform in the countryside, many intellectuals representing the peasants came forward, opposing this or that, but ultimately they opposed the expropriation of landlords' land and the shattering of some people's dreams of becoming new landlords. This is also why Tian Junyi insisted on increasing the proportion of the working class in the army and the committee. These workers were indeed less educated, but at least their stance was reliable. The purpose of most intellectuals joining the Workers' Party was actually to treat joining the party as a new era of the imperial examination system.

Tian Junyi entrusted Lin Xinyi with revising the political textbooks, placing his hopes on Lin Xinyi and expecting him to come up with a method for training worker cadres. Judging from the feedback received after Lin Xinyi's several speeches at the Military and Political University, Tian Junyi felt his choice was correct. In fact, after reading Lin Xinyi's speeches, he himself felt he had made considerable progress.

Just as Tian Junyi was planning to have Lin Xinyi's speech compiled and handed over to the Party's propaganda department for political education of Party members, bad news reached Wuhan. Yesterday, the very day Lin Xinyi delivered his speech at the Military and Political University, Tsar Nicholas II, beset by internal and external troubles, issued a declaration promising to "grant" citizens personal freedom and to convene the State Duma as a legislative body.

This declaration received a warm response from the bourgeois liberals, who believed that Russia had embarked on the path to freedom and that the focus should now be on deciding in parliament how to reform Russia's corrupt practices, rather than continuing political strikes and anti-government violence. Some socialists were also misled by the declaration and began preparing to participate in the Duma elections, declaring the cancellation of the revolution.

Bolsheviks within the Russian Social Democratic Party, particularly Plekhanov, argued for the acceptance of the manifesto and called for discussions on social reforms with representatives from all levels of Russian society within an orderly social framework. While Lenin opposed accepting the manifesto, the core Bolshevik forces were either abroad or in exile in the border regions. In major cities like St. Petersburg and Moscow, opportunists, represented by the Bolsheviks, gained leadership, leading to a split within the working class. The previously gradually unifying nationwide general strike was torn apart again, and workers and peasants in various regions began to act independently once more.

Britain and France quickly disseminated the October 17th Declaration to the Far East, and also conveyed the Tsar's order for the Russian Far East troops to lay down their arms and prepare to go home to end the war. The Russian Far East troops, who had previously wavered in their stance on the revolution, decided to lay down their arms under the lure of going home, and accepted the persuasion of the British and French envoys, rejecting the propaganda of the Chita Republic's uprising.

The Russians seemed to have an inexplicable fascination with the British and French. They were still somewhat skeptical of Nicholas II's Declaration of October 17, but after British and French envoys made assurances, the Russians immediately believed that the war was over, the domestic revolution was over, and everyone could go home and live their own lives.

Even worse news for Wuhan is that the Russian Social Democratic Party's Far Eastern Committee and the Chita Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Soviet have wavered because of the October 17 Declaration. Some have even proposed accepting the declaration and canceling the revolution, since the political center of Russia is in St. Petersburg and Moscow, not in Chita. If the Social Democratic Party in St. Petersburg is wavering, how can they continue?

Moreover, after Nicholas II announced reforms to Russian politics, many people lost the will to continue the revolution because they were opposing the incompetent Tsar Nicholas II, not the Russian Empire. Since Nicholas II was willing to give up his autocratic power and Mother Russia had been saved, what was the point of revolution?

If the Sino-Russian joint statement had not been based on the principle of national self-determination, the Slavic nationalists in the Chita Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Soviet would probably have changed their minds and given up long ago. Now, because of the alliance between minority representatives and Bolsheviks, the two sides can only push and pull on the issue of accepting or not accepting the declaration.

Having received the news from Chita, Babushkin could only urgently appeal to the Workers' Party, hoping to gain their support in order to stabilize the situation in the Republic of Chita.

-

Chapter 529 Struggle in Peacetime

Before the Russians arrived, Junyi consulted with Lin Xinyi in the conference room about the impact of Nicholas II's October 17th Declaration on the Russian Revolution and the situation in East Asia, clearly wanting to set a tone for the meeting to come.

Lin Xinyi pondered for a moment. He had been thinking about these issues ever since he received the news. Faced with Tian Junyi's questioning, he finally cleared his mind and said, "I think we should agree to Comrade Xu Xilin's report and resolve the remaining issues in Outer Mongolia. We can't hesitate any longer."

Tian Jun was stunned for a few moments before finally realizing what was happening and said, "You mean, the Republic of Chita can't be saved?"

Lin Xinyi hesitated for a moment before saying, "It's not certain yet, but we must consider the impact of the collapse of the Chita Republic on Outer Mongolia. The Living Buddha and some princes of Outer Mongolia did not willingly give up their power. They had previously shown hostility towards the central government under the temptation of Tsarist Russia. Although they abandoned this hostility under the pressure of the army, it was only to save their own lives."

Previously, the Russian Revolution had a good chance of success, and the Tsarist government supporting these Mongolian Living Buddhas and princes was likely to collapse. Therefore, we implemented a series of reform policies in Mongolia. Without foreign aid, they were unlikely to mount a fierce resistance.

However, if Tsarist Russia were to return to the Far East, even if Tsarist Russia did not actively court them, they would still actively contact St. Petersburg to obstruct our reform policies in Outer Mongolia. After all, our goal is to completely liberate the people of Outer Mongolia from the feudal patriarchal system. If we succeed, the Living Buddhas and princes will lose their basis for existence, so peaceful coexistence between them and us is impossible.

After a moment of silence, Tian Junyi nodded in agreement, saying, "That's true. Alright, I'll meet with the committee members tomorrow and resolve this matter. There shouldn't be any problems sending the Living Buddha and the others to Shannan, right?"

Lin Xinyi said, "There shouldn't be any problems. The terrain in Shannan is complex, and the language is different. Once we get there, we can just disperse them and keep them under our supervision. However, I think these matters should be handled by the Political Security Bureau. There will be many more such incidents in the future."

Some individuals cannot be executed, nor can they be allowed to continue operating freely in their localities. Therefore, they should be relocated to other areas to gradually diminish their influence and reduce local resistance. We need a specialized agency to handle these matters, and I believe Comrade Xu Xilin's position is reliable; he is more suitable to lead the Political Security Bureau.

Tian Junyi immediately understood the hint given by Xinyi. He frowned and asked, "Do you think the domestic and international situation might be unfavorable to us in the future?"

Lin Xinyi organized his thoughts and said carefully, "After this war, Wuhan's position in the country is unshakable. As long as the confrontation between the two major European camps does not ease, it is impossible for the great powers to launch another military intervention in East Asia like the Eight-Nation Alliance. Russia's defeat this time has already shown one thing: any single great power that wants to act arbitrarily in East Asia will inevitably be restrained by other great powers, thus needlessly wasting its own strength."

Therefore, the possibility of external interference in the Chinese revolution will be greatly reduced. The only obstacles to the progress of the Chinese revolution will be the domestic landlord class and bourgeoisie. The landlord class is our overt enemy, which is very easy to identify and deal with. As long as we have sufficient industrial power, the landlord armed forces based on the small-scale peasant economy will find it difficult to withstand the attack of machine guns and artillery.

The bourgeoisie might side with us when dealing with the landlord class, because crushing the small-scale peasant economy is also in their interest. However, once industrial productive forces overwhelm the small-scale peasant economy, the bourgeoisie will attempt to change the nature of the dictatorship of the proletariat and establish its political dominance in order to defend its ownership of the means of production.

As social productive forces develop, and before these productive forces can fully meet the needs of the people, the bourgeoisie's advocacy of using the market to allocate resources to satisfy the people's needs will gain the support of those with the ability. This is an unavoidable reality in the primary stage of socialism, and it also conforms to the socialist principle of distribution according to work.

For example, the United States, throughout its 19th-century history, was a society where distribution was based on labor. By absorbing labor and technology from Europe, it eliminated the Native American tribes of North America with more efficient productivity. Similarly, the Civil War was a case of more efficient capitalism eliminating the slave-based plantations.

However, the United States is a society dominated by the bourgeoisie. Under the model of private ownership of the means of production, American capitalism initially seized land from Native Americans, then used land and other means of production to exploit people of color, and finally completed the oppression of the proletariat through large-scale industry.

Therefore, after the means of production became highly centralized, the American society's system of distribution according to work shifted to a model of distribution according to capital. Native Americans, people of color in the United States, and the American proletariat did not benefit much from this rapid development of social productivity under this system.

We are currently in a stage similar to 19th-century America, where, after the shackles of feudal patriarchal system were broken, social productivity would see significant progress. In this stage, those with more labor and greater intelligence, freed from the constraints of feudal patriarchal system, would be the first to accumulate personal capital through labor and ingenuity.

If there is no system to restrain them, these people will inevitably seek to expand production. The prerequisite for expanding production is to obtain more means of production and labor, that is, to seize land from others and turn the landless farmers into wage laborers. Those who cannot become wage laborers will naturally be abandoned.

The purpose of socialism is to prevent these people from plundering the land of others and to avoid the weak being abandoned by society. From an objective point of view, preventing the expansion of individual capital can also be seen as hindering the development of social productive forces, and therefore will inevitably be opposed by the bourgeoisie and the petty bourgeoisie who aspire to become the bourgeoisie.

Unlike the landlord class, which clearly stands in opposition to us and the people, the bourgeoisie, in addition to standing in opposition to us—such as imperialism—also lurk around us. For example, the compradors in Shanghai and small and medium-sized producers in the city oppose the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which represents the interests of the landlord class, just like us, but they do not agree with our idea of ​​eliminating private ownership.

This struggle will be protracted, and these forces will continue to vie with us for influence over the masses in both ideology and daily life. Therefore, revolutionary terror tactics similar to those of the Anti-Counter-Revolutionary Committees are not suitable for this long-term, peacetime class struggle.

I believe that the Chinese revolution will shift from the stage of armed struggle to the stage of peaceful competition. We need to learn the methods of struggle during the period of peaceful construction, which necessitates strengthening the functions of the political security command.

As for the situation abroad, frankly speaking, it wasn't detrimental to the Chinese revolution, but rather had a negative impact on the world revolution. Because the confrontation between the two major capitalist camps in Europe would draw the proletariat's attention from domestic capitalist struggles to national and ethnic conflicts, causing the European proletarian revolution to enter a low ebb. Without the restraint of the European proletarian revolution on imperialism and capitalism, democratic revolutions outside Europe would lose the support of the main proletariat and also enter a low ebb.

Therefore, I believe that the Russian Revolution has lost any chance of victory. Now, all we can do is preserve the vital forces of the Russian Revolution as much as possible and strengthen the Chinese proletariat as quickly as possible, so that we can await the high tide of the proletarian revolution brought about by the outbreak of imperialist war in Europe, and thus orchestrate the complete collapse of one or two imperialist powers, thereby raising the banner of socialism in the world.

During the time the Russians were there, Tian Junyi and Lin Xinyi exchanged their thoughts, and Tian Junyi finally formed a basic view on how to deal with the Russians' request.

After Babushkin and the other two arrived, although they all showed some anxiety, they remained relatively calm when talking with Tian Junyi and Lin Xinyi. However, they were clearly unable to grasp the future of the Russian Revolution in such a short time, so their request for Wuhan was somewhat unrealistic.

After exchanging glances, Tian Junyi and Lin Xinyi addressed the three men, saying, "You intend for us to refuse the surrender of the Russian Far East army represented by Kuropatkin? Is this the support you want?"

Babushkin looked Lin Xinyi in the eye and replied, "Yes, we believe that Kuropatkin only represents the Tsarist government and not the Russian people. Their plan to lay down their arms and return to Europe is essentially an attempt to disarm the Russian army in the Far East, then transport them back to Europe for suppression. If their scheme succeeds, the hundreds of thousands of Russian troops in the Far East will be brought back under the Tsar's control, and upon their return to Europe, they may become a force for suppressing the revolution. We believe this is not a good option for the Russian Revolution or the Chinese people."

Lin Xinyi nodded slightly to Babushkin and said, "I accept your opinion. I believe that the British and French intervention to persuade the Russian Far East army to lay down their arms and end the war was not for the happiness of the Russian and Chinese people, but for their own imperialist interests."

However, I don't believe we can stop the Russian Far East troops' desire to return home. If we truly had the ability to force the Russian troops in Harbin to lay down their arms and surrender unconditionally, we would do so without your request. But in reality, we cannot do that. The railways connecting Harbin to Vladivostok and Dalian are controlled by the Japanese, while the railways inside and outside the Great Wall are controlled by the Beiyang Army, and the sea routes are controlled by imperialism. In other words, the Russian Far East troops don't actually need our approval to lay down their arms and return to Europe; Japan's consent is enough to allow them to return to Europe by sea in batches.

From the proletariat's perspective, we certainly hope the Russian Revolution will succeed. However, its success does not depend on whether hundreds of thousands of Russian troops can return to Europe; frankly, that only hastened its failure. What truly hindered the Russian Revolution's success was that the Russian proletariat was fundamentally unprepared to organize a proletarian regime.

-

Chapter 530 Preserving the Spark of Revolution

Neither Babushkin nor Balansky or Kurnatovsky offered any rebuttal to Lin Xinyi's outspokenness. During their time in Wuhan, they did more than just examine the city's party, government, and military strength and economic development; they also learned about the establishment of the Wuhan regime.

Although the Qing government in China was much weaker than the autocratic government of Tsarist Russia, the Chinese proletariat was also much weaker than that of Russia. The fact that the Chinese were able to form the Workers' Party based on the revolutionary theory of the proletariat, establish a preliminary proletarian regime in a city that was far less industrial than Russia, and suppress the strong feudal rural forces in the country was a miracle in their eyes.

Compared to the rapid advance of the Chinese revolution, the Russian socialist revolution was like a snail that couldn't find its way forward. Although they felt that the Chinese proletariat's study of socialist theory was still at the stage of simply reading from the book and that they hadn't seen any original socialist theories, the Chinese had truly put socialist theory into practice. Meanwhile, socialists in various European countries were busy criticizing each other and had made little progress in practice.

Lin Xinyi criticized the Russian proletariat for not being prepared to establish a proletarian regime, which is actually a true reflection of the Russian proletariat's lack of revolutionary practice. Compared with the Workers' Party's hasty launch of the army and workers' revolution, which effectively allowed the working class to control this immature revolution, the current political chaos in the Republic of Chita is quite shameful.

However, after a brief moment of shame, Kurnatovsky said earnestly, "Yes, we admit you're right. After Nicholas II issued the October 17th Declaration, there was ideological confusion in the army and the Soviets. But I don't believe Nicholas II will keep his promise. No Tsar will willingly relinquish his power unless he's about to die. If we can buy some time, the Tsar will soon reveal his true colors. We just need time..."

Lin Xinyi interrupted him bluntly: "Yes, you are absolutely right. Reactionary forces will never willingly relinquish their power, whether in the East or the West. Given enough time, the masses will see their true colors. Therefore, Nicholas II's October 17th Declaration was a lie; he was deceiving the Russian people. But why did he deceive the Russian people? I believe there is only one answer: he also needed time."

What did Nicholas II need time for? I think that's a very obvious question: to buy time to unite domestic and foreign reactionary forces and then suppress revolutionary organizations in various places.

The Russian people will soon see the true face of Nicholas II, but the revolution has already failed. While you are still in chaos, reactionary forces in Russia are gathering with the support of British and French imperialism. The fact that the Russian Far East troops have laid down their arms and returned home proves this point. Therefore, what you should be considering now is not how to keep the Russian Far East troops here—no one can stop an army that wants to go home; this will only push them to the opposite side. What you should be considering now is how to preserve the Republic of Chita and keep the spark for the next revolution.

From Cromwell's beheading of the king to the French Revolution, it took over two hundred years for bourgeois revolutions in Europe to establish capitalism. Could the proletariat possibly expect to overthrow the combined rule of the feudal aristocracy and the bourgeoisie in a single revolution? Discard such opportunistic thinking; otherwise, a proletarian revolution will never succeed.