893.00/2–2845
The Second Secretary of Embassy in the Soviet Union (Davies) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 13.]
Sir: With regard to the political alignments within the Chinese Communist Party, I have the honor to report certain information on this subject obtained since my departure from China. In view of our meagre knowledge of the internal operations of the Chinese Communist Party it is thought that, however fragmentary this information may seem, it can be of some use to the Department.
While at New Delhi in late January I was told by Dr. Chen Han-seng, one of China’s outstanding intellectuals who is now working for the British Ministry of Information and who has accepted a lectureship at the University of Washington, that the Chinese Communist [Page 247] Party had been split into two factions. One was a Chinese nationalist group dominated by Mao Tze-tung. The other was a pro-Russian clique headed by Wang Ming, formerly Chinese member of the Comintern. Dr. Chen said that Wang Ming’s eclipse (which has previously been reported) signified the defeat of the pro-Russian group. He said that the present leaders of the Communist Party, conspicuously Mao, who has never been out of China, were without strong Russian ties. The Chinese Communist military commanders, Dr. Chen observed, were also without close Russian affiliations and were loyal to Mao.
I remarked that General Peng Teh-huai had seemed to me to be rather cool in his attitude to the United States Army Observer Section at Yenan and that I had wondered whether the General did not have a pro-Russian orientation. Dr. Chen indicated that he believed my interpretation to be in error. He said that Peng hewed to the present party line. It is possible, as I have heard suggested, that Peng was, without being pro-Russian, simply sceptical of American cooperation with the Chinese Communists materializing.
The possibility that the pro-Russian faction in the Chinese Communist Party has been discredited received some confirmation from statements made by the Chinese Ambassador to Iran, Mr. Li Tieh-tseng, in a conversation which I had with him here on February 21. Mr. Li, formerly Chinese Foreign Office Delegate at Lanchow and a young diplomat of the bluntly aggressive school, recalled his Lanchow experiences with the Russians and the Chinese Communists. He detested and feared both. Yet when I asked him to what extent Moscow influenced Yenan’s policy, he stated that while Wang Ming had been openly commended by Stalin some years ago, Wang Ming was now without power and the Chinese Communist Party was dominated by a group, led by Mao, with a non-Russian orientation.18
Respectfully yours,
- In a memorandum of March 16 addressed to the Chief of the Division of Chinese Affairs (Vincent), the Second Secretary of Embassy in China (Ludden), writing in Washington, observed: “Mr. Davies points out that our knowledge of the internal operations of the Chinese Communist Party is meager, but the information contained in the despatch confirms the findings of other observers, notably members of the United States Army Observer Section at Yenan, that the Chinese Communists are essentially Chinese nationalists and reformers without close Russian ties or affiliations.”↩