China after World War II Civil war rages 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 managed to conquer the strategic city of Szepingkai in May. The Stalinists were subsequently ousted from Changchun, the capital of Manchuria. The fall of Kirin followed. At the time of writing (early June) Chiang's forces are being deployed for an assault on Harbin, the last major urban center in Stalinist-held Manchuria. All of these cities had been overrun by the Stalinists when they invaded Manchuria from northern China following the withdrawal of Soviet troops. Chiang's easy victories over the Stalinists testify to the military superiority of his forces, thanks largely to the supply of modern weapons and ammunition supplied by the Stalinists. The American imperialists, who also placed ships and transport planes at Chiang's disposal for the deployment of his troops in Manchuria. The Chinese Stalinists' weapons, although augmented by weapons seized from surrendering Japanese troops, were no match for the war equipment at Chiang's disposal. This disparity in weapons forces the Stalinists to retreat from cities into the great outdoors, avoid head-on clashes, and generally adhere to the guerrilla methods and tactics they have followed for the past 18 years. But more important than this unfavorable relationship between military forces is the fact that the Stalinists have no real political base in the urban centers. Furthermore,... middle of paper... Assembly, elected on the basis of free, direct and universal suffrage, to elevate partial and local struggles to a national level. The revolutionary demand for a plenipotentiary National Assembly, combining legislative and executive functions, must be sharply contrasted with Chiang Kai-shek's plans to convene a cherry-picked, and therefore fraudulent, National Assembly. This must also be contrasted with the betrayal of the Stalinists who attempted to form a coalition government with the bourgeoisie. With all these means the Trotskyists will manage to attract under their banner the best proletarian militants, the most courageous peasant fighters, the best radical intellectuals. They will thus build the revolutionary party that will lead the tormented Chinese people to socialist victory.