The expected Conference at Which there was to be a trial
of strength between the Reds and the Pinks did not take place this week after. Borodin insisted that the Conference should be held at Hankow, where no doubt he hoped to throw over it a pall of intimidation with the help of his handy mob. Chiang Kai-shek insisted, quite as strongly, that the Conference must be at Nanchang. In the end, however, Chiang Kai-shek agreed to go to Hankow later. But will he go ? The Shanghai correspondent of the Times says that the Communists are now pouring out floods of literature denouncing Chiang Kai-shek and describing him as a " neo-militarist worse than Chang Tso-lin." The weakness of Chiang Kai-shek's position is that he relied for a long time on Russian advice and used the extremists to such an extent when it was convenient to do so that he is now surrounded by wild men who continually try to dictate to him. The interesting question is whether he will submissively drift back to the Left. or be strong enough to disentangle himself. This struggle between Right and Left may last for a long time, but now that it has begun it cannot be stopped and there will be great changes in the internal politics of China.
