Will the Chinese revolution from now on become purely a bourgeois movement, ending in the establishment of a unified bourgeois China with workers and peasants suppressed?
The defeat of the revolution is certainly but temporary and partial. None of the problems of the revolution have been solved, and the masses of China are in motion. Nothing can stop the movement of these 400 million people, except the solution of their life problems, which are the problems of the revolution.
It is impossible for the workers and peasants to be eliminated from the nationalist movement. The bourgeoisie of China is too weak to fight against the workers and peasants, and at the same time fight against the Northern militarists and foreign imperialists. It is also divided, because a large section of the city middle classes go along with the mass movement. It must make peace with one or the other: If it makes peace with the militarists and imperialists, then it abandons the national revolution altogether; if it makes peace with the workers and peasants, then it must proceed to solve the land question and improve the conditions of the workers.
Only under the condition, therefore, of the working class playing the leading role, and the peasantry furnishing the main driving force and the city petty-bourgeoisie supplementing this combination with its technical and political aid, is it possible for the Chinese revolution to move forward now to the establisment of a firmly united China proceeding to solve its social and economic problems and holding its own against foreign aggression. And this necessity of revolutionary solution for the problems of existence of hundreds of millions is the guarantee that the Chinese workers and peasants will rise again and again if necessary; and that there is no peace for China until these problems have been solved.
It is in the interests of all workers in America to help the Chinese masses in this most difficult struggle. This means first of all, to understand their problems, to establish close connection with them and their organizations, to
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