Tom Mann et al.

Protest Chen Du Siu’s Imprisonment

(January 1934)

From The Militant, Vol. VII No. 5, 31 January 1934, p. 2.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’ Callaghan for the Marxists’ Internet Archive.

(The following appeal is made by prominent leaders of the British labor movement. It is reprinted herewith from the Red Flag, official organ of the Internationalist Communists of Great Britain):

* * * *

Save the Life of Chen Du Siu!

We, the undersigned, draw the attention of all working-class organizations to the arrest and Imprisonment of Chen Du Siu, an outstanding and courageous leader of the Chinese workers’ movement, now undergoing a sentence of 13 years imprisonment by the Chinese Nationalist Government.

Chen Du Siu has a long record of service in the struggle of the Chinese people for their freedom. Born in 1875, in his early years he worked mainly in the sphere of editing radical and literary papers and in educating the youth of China, founding for this purpose the monthly The Youth, a paper which played an important role in the development of the Chinese social and cultural movement. During the years 1916-1919 he played a prominent part in preparing the ground for the development of the mass National movement, which began with the students’ anti-Japanese Demonstration of May 4th, 1919. At the height of this agitation Chen was imprisoned by the pro-Japanese Peking Government as the author of a seditious leaflet.

After his release he went to Shanghai where he founded the Chinese Communist Party. Twice arrested during 1921–1922 by the French authorities, his release was secured by the protests of the Chinese workers. From that time until 1929 Chen was General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, playing a prominent part in the National movement of that period. Following upon his break with the leaders of the Communist International, and his expulsion from the Chinese Communist Party, he assisted in the founding of the Chinese Section of the International Left Opposition. The Chinese National Government, under the influence of the notorious Chiang Kai-Shek, long sought his arrest, but they were not successful until October 1932, when he was put on trial for working to overthrow the Chinese capitalist Government.

Obviously, this sentence of 13 years upon a man of 58 is a death sentence, especially under the conditions existing in Chinese prisons. We urge all working-class bodies to join in the demand for the release of our fellow fighter in the cause of the emancipation of the working-class. All protests should be sent to the Chinese Embassy, 49 Portland Place, W.1, and to the Socialist and Communist press.

Signed by:
Tom Mann, C.P.
James Maxton, I.L.P.
Fenner Brockway, I.L.P.
W. Harris, E.C. of N.A.F.T.A.
Alec Gossip, E.C. of N.A.F.T.A.
A.E. Harvey, E.C. of N.A.F.T.A.
Albert Thomas, E.C. of N.A.F.T.A.
Percy J. Johnson, E.C. of N.A.F.T.A.
A.J. Bickell, E.C. of N.A.F.T.A.
J.L. Swift, E.C. of N.A.F.T.A.
C.W. Taylor, E.C. of N.A.F.T.A.
Walter Randall, E.C. of N.A.F.T.A.
John Jagger, N.U.D.A.W.
Dick Beech, Pres. Chem. W.U.
Edwin W. Mackwell, Nat. Org. Chemical Workers Union
Arthur Gillian, Gen. Sec. C.W.U.
Jack Tanner, Organizer, A.B.U.
W. Howell, Engineer, A.B.U.

(A copy of this appeal was sent to Harry Pollitt of the Communist Party and to A.F. Walkden of the T.U.C. General Council. No reply has been received.)

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