is characteristic of the uneven development of capitalism .
The temporary stability of the capitalist world was mainly attained through the US “ aid ,” and at the expense of the Western European countries becoming financially dependent on the United States . The centre of world finance capital had shifted from Europe to the United States after the war . It was only through the import of American capital that these European countries managed to drag along . Thus the United States became the biggest creditor of the world , to whom almost every European country had to pay annually huge sums in debts and interest . Consequently these countries were forced to impose on their own people everincreasing taxes , thereby worsening the material conditions of the toiling masses ; to exact enormous indemnities ( 130,000 million Rentenmarks ) from Germany , which disrupted German economy and increased the number of unemployed in the country ; and to exploit even more ruthlessly the colonial peoples , aggravating the economic crisis of those countries and causing the living conditions of the peoples to deteriorate . All this inevitably intensified the conflicts between the bourgeoisie , and the proletariat , between the imperialists themselves and between the imperialists and the colonial peoples . Resting on such a basis , the stability of the capitalist world could only be temporary and insecure .
A new phenomenon of great significance emerged from these two kinds of stability . A temporary balance of power between the Soviet Union and the capitalist countries ushered in a period of “ peaceful co-existence .”
As there had been no war during this period to weaken the imperialist countries , and a temporary balance of power between the revolutionary and the counterrevolutionary camp had come into 10 existence , the imperialists found it possible to rally greater strength to oppose the revolution of the Chinese people , and to form a temporary but powerful reactionary alliance to strangle it . This caused many difficulties to the Chinese revolution . In fact , the Chinese revolution had to face more difficulties than the Russian revolution before attaining ultimate victory .
On the other hand , the sharpening of the revolutionary crisis in the colonies and semi-colonies was also a special feature of this period . During and after World War I , the economic and revolutionary crises in the various colonial countries had become more intensified , owing to the growing strength of the industrial proletariat and the national bourgeoisie , the spread of Marxism -Leninism and democratic ideas , and the cruel imperialist oppression and exploitation .
The struggle of India and Egypt against Britain , of Syria and Morocco against France , and , above all , the armed struggle of the Chinese people against Britain , the United States and Japan threatened to deprive the imperialist powers of their “ backyards .” That is to say , while the seizure of state power by the European proletariat still did not admit of immediate realization , the liberation of the oppressed nations had already become an urgent problem , as no sign of stability was discernible in the colonies and semi-colonies . The post-war liberation movement of the oppressed nations , and particularly of China , dealt heavy blows to the imperialist rule .
The increasing imperialist oppression and exploitation of China during the post-war period severely impaired China ’ s national industry . Take , for instance , the textile industry , which was the main branch of China ’ s national industry . From 1919 to 1927 , it was practically at a standstill . The following figures show the proportion of yarn spindles , thread spindles and looms in Chinese-owned mills to the total : yam spindles , 53.3 per cent in 1919 , and 57.4 percent in 1927 ; thread spindles , 88.7 percent in 1919 , and 45.8 percent in 1927 ; looms , 40.8 per cent in 1919 , and 50.3 percent in 1927 . From 1922 to 1927 , the proportion of the cotton yam produced by Chinese-owned mills to the gross output of the whole country sank from 92 to 58 percent , while the yam produced by foreignowned mills rose from 8 to 42 percent . From 1925 to 1927 the proportion of cotton cloth produced by Chinese-owned mills to the total output of the whole country fell from 83 to 47 percent , while that produced by foreign-owned mills rose from 17 to 53 percent .
As to foreign trade , the unfavourable balance which had diminished greatly during the war , once more rapidly increased . While the year 1919 showed a near balance , with a difference of only 16,188,270 silver dollars , in 1920 there was a tremendous increase of imports over exports , with an unfavourable balance of 220,618,930 dollars , and an even greater one in the next few years .
In this period the imperialists pursued their old policy of backing up China ’ s various warlord governments and inciting civil wars between the warlords of different cliques . In 1924 there occurred the Kiangsu-Chekiang War and the Second Chihli-Fengtien War , followed in 1925 by the Chekiang- Fengtien War and the joint attack by the Fengtien and Chihli cliques on “ The National Army ’’ which had revolutionary leanings . ( See p . 83 )
Most of the wars among the Northern warlords were staged in such provinces as Liaoning , Jehol , Hopei , Shantung , Kiangsu , Chekiang and Hupeh . The forces mobilized on each side ranged from 100,000 to 400,000 men . Within the period from September 1924 to December 1925 the damages caused to industry and commerce by these
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