71. What were the Chinese Communists like In what way did they
resemble, in what way were they unlike, Communists or Socialists elsewhere The
tourists asked if they wore long beards, made noises with their soup, and
carried homemade bombs in their briefcases. The serious-minded wanted to
know whether they were "genuine" Marxists. Did they read Capital and the works
of Lenin Had they a thoroughly Socialist economic program Were they Stalinists
or Trotskyites Or neither Were they true internationalists "Mere tools of
Moscow," or primarily nationalists struggling for an independent
China Who were these warriors who had fought so long, so
fiercely, so courageously, and—as admitted by observers of every color, and
privately among Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek’s own followers — on the whole so
invincibly What made them fight like that What held them up What was the
revolutionary basis of their movement 72. What were the hopes and aims and
dreams that had made of them the incredibly stubborn warriors—incredible
compared with the history of compromise that is China—who had endured hundreds
of battles, blockade, salt shortage, famine, disease, epidemic, and finally the
Long March of 6,000 miles, in which they crossed twelve provinces of China,
broke through thousands of Kuomintang troops and triumphantly
emerged at last into a new base in the Northwest 73. Who
were their leaders Were they educated men with a fervent belief in an ideal, an
ideology and a doctrine Social prophets, or mere ignorant peasants blindly
fighting for an existence What kind of man was Mao Tes-Tung, No. 1 "Red
bandit" on Nanking’s list, for whose capture, dead or alive, Chiang Kai-Shek
offered a reward of a quarter of a million silver dollars What went on inside
that highly priced Oriental head7 or was Mao really already dead, as Nanking
officially announced What was Chu Tes like—the commander-in-chief of the Red
Army, whose life had the same value to Nanking Who were the many other Red
.leaders repeatedly reported dead, only to reappear in news—unscathed and
commanding new forces against the Kuomintang