Red Dust | Helen Foster Snow

Hsu Hsiang-Chien

“Finally, let us discuss why the Red Army of China cannot be defeated and what power it has. Whether they support or oppose us, students of the political and military situation in China must recognize and admit the following points:

1. The Red Army of the people of China is led by the Communist party. It is supporting the general line of the proletarian class and acting for the liberation of the oppressed races and of the whole of mankind.
2. The Red Army comes from the masses of the peasants and workers, and a part of it has come from the revolutionary soldiers and officers of the White armies who rose against the higher command of the Whites.
3. The Red Army has strict discipline and organization
4. The Red Army has the consciousness of its class; and its commanders and directing staff have the spirit of self-sacrifice and the spirit to struggle to the end. We have absolute faith that the final victory shall belong to us.
5. Because the Red Army represents the interests of the masses, it gets and can continue to get the support of the masses.
6. The Red Army is the most loyal force in China for the thorough salvation of the nation and of society, and it is determined to carry on this mission to the end.
7. The Red Army has the spirit of self-criticism in correcting any mistakes in the process of struggle. Therefore, from the rich collective experiences of its staff of officers, each has the opportunity to express and develop his creative genius.
8. The Red Army has carried on the traditional spirit of the true Chinese Revolution and maintains the revolutionary spirit of the Whampoa Academy of the period of the Great Revolution.

Chu Kuang: “The open air theater such as we are reviving here has flourished for hundreds of years in China, though since the Yuan dynasty the decadent intellectuals have created little that is new and vital. Yet the people have never ceased patronizing the old plays for lack of something better. They have had no education to write plays for themselves until now, and the cultural renaissance will come and is coming form the common people. Their very first attempt is in the theater.”

“We do not usually use the old technique of the Chinese theater in the armies but we intend to develop it… In Szechuan and in south Shensi it was necessary to use the old-style Szeuchuan drama. What we do is to use the old technique but change the content, and to use new words with the old songs and instruments. The people love the old songs, and some of them are very good. We adapt them in every district, and they make effective propaganda.”

Liu Chih – 15 year old actor: “The two boys told me about a special tour of six weeks which they and a group of 46 others had been ordered to make. They had marched on foot every day and played 31 times. The purpose of the tour was to put on open-air plays explaining the new policies of the Yenan government to the Shenai people and to encourage participation in the elections which were to begin July 15 of that year. These elections changed the old Soviet system into Mao Tsetung’s ‘new democracy,’ as it was called.”