China after the Second World WarThe civil war is raging in China. On the plains of Manchuria, the troops of Chiang Kai-shek's central government fight for supremacy against the military forces of the Chinese Stalinists. With the generous help of American imperialism, Chiang Kai-shek succeeded in capturing the strategic town of Szepingkai in May. Then the Stalinists were driven out of Changchun, the Manchu capital. The fall of Kirin followed. As of this writing (early June), Chiang's forces are deployed for an assault on Harbin, the last significant Manchurian urban center in Stalinist hands. All these towns had been taken over by the Stalinists when they invaded Manchuria from North China following the withdrawal of Soviet troops. Chiang's easy victories over the Stalinists attest to the military superiority of his forces, largely due to the supply of modern weapons and munitions supplied by the Stalinists. The American imperialists, who also made ships and transport planes available to Chiang for the deployment of his troops in Manchuria. The weapons of the Chinese Stalinists, although supplemented by those seized from surrendered Japanese troops, were no match for the war equipment available to Chiang. This disparity in weapons forced the Stalinists to withdraw from the cities to the open spaces, to avoid frontal combat and, in general, to adhere to the guerrilla methods and tactics that they had been following for 18 years. But more important than this unfavorable ratio of military forces is the fact that the Stalinists have no real political base in the urban centers. In addition, ...... middle of paper ...... Assembly, elected by free, direct and universal suffrage, in order to elevate partial and local struggles to the national level. The revolutionary demand for a plenipotentiary National Assembly, combining both legislative and executive functions, must be sharply opposed to Chiang Kai-shek's plans to convene a hand-picked, and therefore fraudulent, National Assembly. We must also oppose the betrayal of the Stalinists who are trying to form a coalition government with the bourgeoisie. By all these means, the Trotskyists will succeed in winning to their banner the best proletarian militants, the most courageous peasant fighters, the best among the radical intellectuals. Thus will they build the revolutionary party that will lead the tormented people of China to their socialist victory..