China Fights Back: An American Woman With the Eighth Route Army

Light on China

by Agnes Smedley

Text extracted from opening pages of FKSHTt BACK AN AMERICAN WOMAN WITH THE EIGHTH ROUTE ARMY BY AGNES SMEDLEY AUTHOR OF CHINESE DESTINIES, ETC. THE VAH6UARD PRESS HEW YORK VANGUARD PRESS, INC. No part of thh'bo^ may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from th& publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine or newspaper. MANUFACTURED IN THE U. S. A. BY H-WOLFF, NEW YORK To My beloved brothers and comrades, the heroic dead and the unconquerable living of the Eighth Route Army of China ( the Chinese Red Army) Introduction by Anna Louise Strong THE war of the Chinese people against the Japanese in vaders is the fight o one-fifth of the human race for national independence for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness-It is also a war in which hungry, half-armed Chinese farmers hold the front lines of mankind's forward progress, for you and for me, against an imperialism which threatens Asia, America, the peace of the world. The Chinese Eighth Route Army., with which Agnes Smed ley traveled, is important in this war not alone because it is the reorganized Red Army led by Communists, though that fact shows the new unity of China, bringing under one banner armies that have fought each other for the past ten years. It is important because it brings to China's war of resistance certain methods which are being increasingly adopted by the rest of the Chinese armies and the Chinese Government in order to win success. Close cooperation with the Chinese rural population, quick response to their needs and an effective technique for arousing and organizing them against the in vader are the chief guarantee of China's ultimate victory against the superior armaments of Japan. More than that, they Fviil INTRODUCTION . are the guarantee that after the long war is over, the Chinese people will have won not only independence from foreign in vaders but also internal democracy the right of the people to rule in their own land. It is an unbelievably complex struggle. Here is a vast peas ant people, the most populous, industrious and patiently en during of all the peoples of the earth. For generations it has fought with nature at the very frontiers of existence. Creep ing deserts of Asia, ravaging floods of gigantic rivers, doomed year by year millions to death by famine, a doom inescapable as long as the primitive tools and the ancient social system survive. Ignorance, superstition and the vastness of a roadless land enslaved them. Landlords, tax-grafters and a host o corrupt bureaucrats and aloof intellectuals ground the toiling folk further into the dust. The impact of the industrial West broke for a century on this ancient people, bringing new problems, new forms of exploitation, new desires. Foreign imperialisms corrupted na tive officialdom still further with bribes and armed pressures. Against them successive waves for national independence and internal social change swept the country, penetrating ever deeper into the consciousness of the people, from the Taiping rebellion down to the present day. The Empire fell in 1911, releasing the aspirations of millions of patriotic intellectuals, but adding banditry and civil strife to the people's burdens. The patriotic movement of all classes under the joint leader ship of the Kuomintang and the Communist parties swept rapidly across China in 1927, creating new hopes and a new government, but these hopes were betrayed during ten years of dissension and civil wars, in which the Chinese bourgeoisie, led by Shanghai bankers, sought to dominate the country, [ viii] INTRODUCTION while organizations of workers and farmers wefe suppressed. Taking advantage of the internal strife of China, Japanese imperialism attacked the country, seizing Manchuria in 1931, penetrating Jehol and Chahar in the years that followed, hold ing the Chinese Government in Nanking passive by a com bination of bribes and threat

Genres: China, History, Nonfiction

282 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1977

About the author

Agnes Smedley (February 23, 1892 – May 6, 1950) was an American journalist and writer. Well known for her semi-autobiographical novel Daughter of Earth, she also known for her sympathetic chronicling of the Communist forces in the Chinese Civil War. During World War I, she worked in the United States for the independence of India from the United Kingdom, receiving financial support from the government of Germany, and for many years worked for or with the Comintern, frequently in an espionage capacity. As the lover of Soviet super spy Richard Sorge in Shanghai in the early 1930s, she helped get him established for his final and greatest work as spymaster in Tokyo. She also worked on behalf of various causes including women's rights, birth control, and children's welfare. Smedley wrote six books, including a novel, reportage, and a biography of the Chinese general Zhu De, reported for newspapers such as New York Call, Frankfurter Zeitung and Manchester Guardian, and wrote for periodicals such as the Modern Review, New Masses, Asia, New Republic, and Nation.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Ian Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written with an immediacy that is almost breathless at times, this work gives a detailed picture of rural Communist campaigning in 1930s China. It is obviously biased however, but the author does not pretend otherwise. The many anecdotes of Chinese rural life give a substantial historical picture. And Smedley comes across as a generally positive character, except for her occasional fanatical outburst.