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ity and each faction blames the
other for the failures. The bickerings
among the Chinese Communist
chieftains had gone on for some time
and became acute in 1964 and 1965.
The question of who should have
more say developed into an open
power struggle.
To forestall the attempts of his
opponents to overthrow him, Mao
Tse-tung and his supporters launch-
ed the so-called proletarian cultural
revolution. The organization of the
Red Guards was meant to suppress
opposition and to retain power
through mob action. After seizing
control of Peiping and the purge of
the intellectuals, the Red Guards
were branching into provinces to
change the local party and adminis-
trative machines. The anti-Mao forc-
es in the provinces, however, were
much stronger than Mao had sus-
pected. In the ensuing struggle, both
the pro-Mao and anti-Mao elements
had to seek support from the masses.
By so doing, they l--ave opened the
Pandora's box, releasing the latent
anti-Communist sentiments of the
people. The peasants and workers
take advantage of the confusion and
clamor for changing the economic
system.
The Mao group has tried to use
the army in his favor but the army
is also divided. This many-sided
convulsion has thus developed into
a seesaw war among the various ele-
ments whose respective strength is
about even. In the meantime, the
country has fallen into disorder with
production suspended and transpor-
tation disrupted.
TN THE LAST few weeks, the Mao
group seems to have sounded a
retreat of the so-called cultural rev-
olution. Ironically, the heroes of the
Red Guards are suddenly called
hooligans. They are accused of com-
mitting all kinds of excesses and evil
activities, which were once instigat-
ed and tolerated by the Maoist hier-
archy. The bulk of the Red Guards
has been disbanded and asked to re-
turn to the countryside. They are no
longer given free transportation,
shelter and food. Indeed, the young-
sters who were cheated and exploit-
ed have now to fine: their way home
by looting, stealing and begging.
What are the realities? The wild
rampage of the Red Guards against
the Establishment and among them-
selves has brought the country to
the brink of anarchy. The mobilizing
of millions of teenagers, the suspen-
sion of production and the disloca-
tion of transportation have creat-
ed a severe shortage of food and oth-
er daily necessities in the big cities.
They have affected the foreign
trade as evidenced by the inability
of foreign ships to load and unload
in the Communist ports, and by the
drastic reduction of exports to
Hong Kong. The large-scale move-
ment of population and the stop-
page of regular municipal activities
are such that many cities face the
problem of the removal of night-soil
and garbage. In fact, there is a ser-
ious threat of epidemics.
All this, however, is comparatively
less grave, compared with the peril
of a nationwide famine in the com-
ing months. The Communist author-
ities are making frantic appeals to
the people and the army to hasten
with spring plowing. Even they real-
ize that with the country's shaky
economy, a total collapse would be
unavoidable if farming is not resum-
ed right now.
What would be the future devel-
opment on the mainland? The gen-
eral situation could be described as
a scrambled egg which can never be
unscrambled. The so-called cultural
revolution has destroyed the mutual
confidence of the Communists
among themselves. It has intensi-
fied the resentment of the people
towards the Communists by further
alienating the old and disillusioning
the young. The armed forces appear
no longer to be a unified and effi-
cient instrument of the central au-
thority.
However, the leaders and the cad-
res of the Peiping regime, be they
Maoists or anti-Maoists, are all ded-
icated Communists. They are un-
likely to make any basic change of
their ideologies and practices, .espe-
cially in the economic field, since
that would be tantamount to their
abandonment and denunciation of
communism. That being so, whoever
gaining power could not put the
country in order.
The new appeal by the Mao group
for returning to normalcy is seen
as a mere temporary device and will
not be heeded. Peiping will not be
able to conjure the distrustful peas-
ants, the unreliable army and the
disenchanted Red Guards to toil
scorn. In response to the latest pro-
nouncement made by President
Johnson in his State of the Union
message in January, an article in the
"People's Daily" of Peiping dated
January 24, 1967, shrieked: "Pooh,
Johnson, you are daydreaming."
As long as there is a Communist
regime in China, no matter who are
their chieftains, it would never shift
its ultimate goal, namely, the com-
plete explusion of the United States
from Asia and the Pacific. Fortu-
nately, the present power struggle
among the Communists and the pop-
ular uprising generated by this
struggle will bring the downfall of
Communism and the Communist re-
gime in China.
What would be the role of the
Chinese Government now tempor-
arily seated in Taiwan vis-a-vis the
mainland turbulence? The Peiping
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ROMNE Y
FOR
PRESIDENT
By NEIL SHISTER
"IAN IS A creature first of God's,
then of society's," said George
Romney being sworn in as Governor
for the first time in 1962, probably
before he took the idea of becoming
President too seriously. Now five
years later, as he finishes up the
preliminary heats of his race for
the White House, it is a pretty safe
bet that he still regards human so-
ciety as a kind of temporary thing.
George Romney, politician, is a
curious mixture: One-third small
town salesman with shoeshine and
smile, one-third big executive who
looks like he's able to come up with
hard decisions, and one-third walk-
ing messiah ready to give the word
at a moment's notice. He wears blue
serge suits that look like they came
off the rack at Woolworths, one
color ties and black shoes with plain
toes. But when you look at Romney
almost all you see is the glint in his
eye.
And often the glint in the eye is
enough for the way Americans play
at politics.
Take away the sobriety of the mo-
ment, the heated exchanges for the
benefit of the TV cameras and the
Shakespearian-like battles for hon-
or. What remains is a usually smil-
ing, pleasantly 'outer-directed' man
who hopes (by gosh) that you'll let
him lead you with the understand-
ing that he won't take you anywhere
you really don't want to go. Beneath
the buttons and volunteers caught
up in an excited world of ribbons
and bands and placard signs there
is a basic spirit of good-will.
NAIVE AND WELL meaning. There
are the good guys on our side
who just want honest government
doing what should be done and
there are the bad guys in the other
party who will bring everything
tumbling down in financial ruin or
turn the world over to the Commun-
ists or let the poor people starve in
the streets. But few believe their
campaign talk too much and after
the heat of the election has subsid-
ed a lot of the good guys and the
bad guys get together congenially at
the same parties and talk about
college football. And the world is
none the worse for it. This seems to
be the ethic of George Romney. ,
For Romney, more than anything
else, is really an amateur, who plays
the game mostly for the fun of it.
This is one of the reasons, in fact,
why he is so appealing; much of the
country is quite tired of the profes-
sionals who seem to do nothing to
alter the nature of things once they
gain office.
The amateurs can do all right in
the Senate or the statehouse, but
they don't make it on Pennsylvania
Avenue, e.g. Dwight Eisenhower.
Usually the campaign itself de-
feats them for the road is too long,
the tours too exhausting, the press
too scrutinizing to let an amateur
run a national race unscathed.
When you're running for President
you're supposed to have something
you intend to do once you get there
besides look good. You're supposed
to be something of substance. You're
supposed to believe in a society of
men.
Most of the journalists who spent
time on the western trip with Rom-
ney were aware quite readily of his
lack of depth. In Detroit to cover
the state G.O.P. convention, a group
of national newsmen were waiting
for a press conference with Romney
and Sen. Charles Percy of Illinois. to
begin. Drinking coffee and eating
doughnuts in the hotel suite as the
cameras were being set up, they
talked freely about his tour.
"AS LONG AS he was on God and
the gospel he was fine,"' said a
national correspondent for The
Washington Post, "but on real issues,
he is really weak. His refusal to talk
about Vietnam is almost laughable."
A CBS television correspondent'
commented that "amazing as it
sounds, when Romney and Ronald
Reagan are together, Reagan han-
dles the 'issue questions' better."
Romney, for all his distinctive gla-
mour, has little substance behind the
steel-grey hair and the granite pro-
file. According to one state legislator,
who served with him in the State
Constitutional Convention where he
first made his political name and has
watched his subsequent performance
as Governor, "Romney lacks a con-
sistent philosophy with regards to
government. His programs are a sort
of hodge-podge of political pragma-
tism and he ends up selling out what
he said he believed in."
Coming to the state convention in
1961 arguing for a plan which would
enable the state government to do
its job well, he ended up getting
swallowed by conservative G.O.P.
forces there and repudiated his
whole concept of the flexible consti-
tution. He voted for a restrictive tax
clause which sets a 15 mill limitation
on property taxes unless the voters
specifically agree to an increase by
referendum. He started out advocat-
ing an apportionment plan based on
population and ended up supporting
apportionment based on geographi-
cal distribution which over-repre-
sented rural districts and conse-
quently introduced a conservative
prejudice into the government. The
(Continued on page 17)
again for a regime which will surely
turn against them once the crisis is
over. Besides, there are many prac-
tical difficulties, such as the lack of
cash, seeds, tools and animals, etc.,
that are insurmountable.
Spiritually and mentally, the
country is already fragmented. The
fight among the Maoists, the anti-
Maoists and the general public will
eventually resume. It will be follow-
ed by further deterioration of the
economy and the physical fragmen-
tation of the mainland.
MUCH HOPE has been entertained
by the outside world for a
change to moderation on the part
of the Chinese Communists. In the
course of the past year, President
Johnson made more than one appeal
to Peiping to be sensible. Each time
the appeal met with rebuttal and
regime came to power by default,
thanks to Japan's invasion and the
international confusion during the
postwar period. My Government
which was elected by the people ac-
cording to the constitutional proce-
dure was forced out of the-main-
land by peculiar circumstances. Af-
ter suffering 17 years of its lunatic
misrule, the Chinese people have ful-
ly realized that the existence of the
Communist regime is against Chi-
na's national interests.
The eventual return of the Gov-
ernment of the Republic of China is
not "empty rhetoric" as some short-
sighted foreign observers may think
but will be a reality. Our task will
not be a purely military campaign. It
is mainly a political one. The mil-
lions of our compatriots on the
mainland now beginning to rise up
against the Communist regime are-
PAGE SIGHT
APRIL '67 THE DAILY. MAGAZINE APRIL '67 THE DAILY MAGAZINE