Highly Combustible
The Tinder-Box of Asia. By George E. Sokolsky. (Allen and Unwin. 10s. 6d.)
Tins is a valuable book. Its author, described by the publishers as " the New York Times expert on the Far East," knows China well and Japan (one gathers) fairly well. He has lived
through many of the events which he describes and the significance of which he in most cases justly assesses. He has a sense of history as well as a sense of proportion, and his survey of the manoeuvres by which Russia and Japan used to jockey for position in Manchuria shows a nice appre- ciation of ulterior motives. If his writing notably lacks distinction and if he is sometimes guilty of inaccuracy (Tibet
is not " actually under British control ") Mr. Sokolsky has made a workmanlike contribution to the study of modern China.
To summarize the facts and conclusions which are implicit in his choice of so combustible a title would be to cover ground
which is in the main familiar to everyone. The peculiar merit of Mr. Sokolsk-y's book lies, not in his able restatement of the
major issues, but in his illuminating asides—his references to personalities and portents of which he has had first-hand experience. If he does not say all there is to be said about the domestic interplay of political forces which has largely determined Japan's Manchurian policy, he is at least sug- gestive ; the reader is reminded that to appreciate develop..
ments north of the Wall he must keep one eye, and sometimes two, on Tokyo.
The best chapter in the book deals with the vexed question of Communism in China. Mr. Sokolsky traces the growth of this movement from Dr. Sun Yat-sen's telegram of con- gratulations to Lenin in 1918, through the organization of the Young Socialists' Association and the Chinese Communist Party, to the Kuomintang-Soviet alliance. He analyses the reorganization of the Kuomintang on something like Com- munist principles (noting, however, that Dr. Sun's " socialism —the right of the people to a livelihood—bears no Marxian traces ") ; he follows the rise and fall of Borodin, that curious figure, speaking no Chinese yet directing policy at Kuomintang meetings, possessed of an uncanny flair for ability in his subordinates. "Borodin seized upon tne death of Dr. Sun as a glorious opportunity. ... The deification of Sun Yat-sen was the most astute tactical move in broadening the support for the Nationalist cause." Then came the troubles of 1925, and the swift emergence of Chiang Kai-shek as a political leader. In the following year, when he was as firmly in the saddle as any leader can be in China, he turned against
the Russians ; a Red terror was succeeded by a White, and
Borodin fled.
In his estimate of the present strength and influence of Communism Mr. Sokolsky is more specific than the average observer cares to be. To-day, he says :
" the Communists assert authority over more than half of the Province of Kiangsi, Hupeh, and Hunan, and are in the process of conquering Fukien. They have also organized bandit groups in " (six other provinces) . . . " Under Communist domination at this moment (June, 1932) is about 300,000 square miles of territory. inhabited by 90,000,000 people . . . A central Soviet exists in Kiangsi Province. . . Tho Central Military Council of the Red Army controls between two hundred thousand and three hundred thousand troops who are inadequately armed. The discipline of the army is splendid.. . . The Chinese Communist Party is a section of the Third International. . . . Should the Communists occupy any Pacific port . . . they would be enabled to arrange for ship- ments from Vladivostok. This would make their defeat by Nanking still less likely."
Mr. Sokolsky sees the essential political struggle in China as one between Nationalism and Communism. He is far from
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