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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 36, Number 16. 12th July 1973

An Academic in the People's Struggle

page 12

An Academic in the People's Struggle

Many people may believe that adventure, escape and the rescue of prominent women are the fiction of war novels but Professor James Bertram, of the V.U.W. English Department, who was deeply involved with the China of the Thirties and Forties seems to have found them in fact. In a recent public lecture he outlines his experiences and impressions of China amid wars both civil and international.

Until the Thirties there had been growing discontent with the foreign influence and finance that controlled the Nationalist regime in China. This was highlighted by the embryo intellectual revolution of the 'May 4 Movement' and the formation of the Communist Party in 1921. The left grew and certain units in the Nationalist Army who were inspired by Russian models and the work and constructive policy of Mao Tsetung detached themselves and the Red Army began to build and grow.

Watershed

In the late Twenties and Thirties opposition to Chiang Kai Shek was mounting. Many Soviets (workers councils in charge of a district) were formed in south east China. Mao had already become known as a capable and experienced organiser. Chiang Kai Shek, described as an "indifferent soldier", was losing the people's support through his oppressive government and foreign domination. Despite all his German advisors, he had difficulty in countering the growing political and military opposition.

The struggles of the forces against Chiang Kai Shek had their watershed in the "striking and heroic effort" of the Long March. The March which had started with 300,000 people and ended with 30,000 covered 3,000 miles and took twenty months to complete before ending in Yenan. This area in north west China had the advantage of being impossible to blockade.

A Student in Peking

By 1935—36 the various armies which had marched to Yenan from the south were united. It was at this time that James Bertram arrived in China. While at Peking University studying literature and philosophy he became aware of the student movements against the Japanese. Chiang Kai Shek, now involved with the large problem of the Communists, could not thwart the movement as he had been able to in the past, and the cry came out to fight the invading Japanese. The Communists had already declared war on the Japanese while Chiang Kai Shek had been "pussy-footing around". From the middle of the situation Bertram saw that the cry of all students and patriots was to fight the Japanese. The Communists were doing this but the Nationalists were not.

A Russian Agent?

At this time Bertram James joined a corps of broadcasters and as a result was once mistaken as a Russian 'agent', as the Russian agents were trained to speak in the BBC fashion. The Communist '8th Route Army' had given the Japanese their "first serious defeat" at the end of 1937. Yenan became the centre of resistance with Mao as Chairman and teacher. A university was set up in the district and it became a goal for students throughout China. Every student in China wanted to get to it.

Professor Bertram of the VUW English Dept.

Professor Bertram of the VUW English Dept.

Having written 'Crises in China', the first of his many books on China, Bertram was present in Peking with the famous writer Edgar Snow when the Japanese occupied it. They took a train connecting with a ship to the south with their servant carrying the baggage. Getting through surveillance was difficult but it was accomplished. And so they and the 'servant' (actually Chou en Lai's wife) escaped the Japanese.

First Meeting with Mao

Bertram then got the opportunity to go to Yenan. And after having to hide under rice sacks in a truck for part of the way he arrived in the Autumn of 1937 at the Foreign Office of the liberated district. His first meeting with Mao was the graduation day of the Military Academy. Mao was described in the lecture as "a speaker of racy colloquial Chinese, full of 1 wisecracks and proverbs. He has the audience rolling in laughter yet he is making serious political points. He is a successful mass organiser with intellectual force, flexibility and patience". One luncheon with Mao was memorable. Mao had to sign the chit at the restaurant. He leaned over to Bertram and wrote out an I.O.U. for $100 and got him to sign it, saying that if he were to reclaim it in 100 years that there would' not be enough money in the British Treasury to pay for it.

Army Related to the People

Only one other foreigner was in the area at the time and they both reached the same conclusions about the conditions then prevailing. The mobile Communist army could defeat the Japanese and above all it had the support of the people. "The Army did all the things that you read in Mao's comments". It moved in the countryside and organised the people. When they moved in the people did not take to the hills as they did when Chiang Kai Shek's forces arrived.

Unlike the nationalist army which had become corrupt in the warlord period, Mao's forces stole nothing from the people for they were an altogether new style of army. They discussed all plans in detail at all levels. "I'd never met anything like this before" said Bertram.

In 1938, while Chiang Kai Shek's forces were being rolled back, Bertram went shouth to Hanchow. In Hong Kong he formed the China Defence League to get medical supplies to the north west area. After travelling to England to win support he returned in 1939 to Hong Kong. Meanwhile all supplies for the 'united front' was going to Chiang Kai Shek's forces, one convoy of supplies for the north west ended up in Haiphong.

The war then broke out over a much wider front and Bertram returned to New Zealand, continuing to do further work for the Chinese Defence League. The direction of the Japanese war effort changed to Manchuria and northern China. The United Front came under stress with Chaing Kai Shek keeping his best troops away from the front to blockade the 8th Route Army. The troops 'guarded' trucks from Russia so that material did not reach the Communist forces.

At the end of the war the Kuomintang appeared to have the upper hand for on paper the Communists had no supplies. Civil war broke out with "America thinking Mao had only a few months". Chiang moved into Yenan after the Communists had voluntarily left the area. But, for all their foreign aid, the armies of the Kuomintang exposed their military incapacity even more than against the Japanese.

As for the inevitable clash between Mao Tsetung and Chiang Kai Shek, Professor Bertram put it aptly: "History has given its verdict."

Photo of soldiers and explosions

Attack on Lanchow, the political and military centre of the reactionary K.M.T. regime in Northwest China. In July 1949, the P.L.A.'s First Field Army began its march into the vast expanses of Northwest China and soon liberated all the provinces in that area.