ABSTRACT
On Saturday, 30 May, students and workers protesting about the ongoing conflict in the Japanese mills and the trial of student protestors infiltrated the International Settlement, distributing leaflets. Scores were arrested and taken to Louza police station. By the afternoon an angry crowd surrounded the station, and when police proved unable to disperse it with batons, Inspector Everson ordered that they open fire on the crowd.1 Twelve were killed and seventeen injured as a result.2 Such action by the International Settlement police was not without precedent, yet it proved to be a turningpoint in the fortunes of imperialism in China. Within hours, representa tives of the National Student Union (NSU), the Shanghai Student Union (SSU) and the Shanghai Federation of Street Associations met and agreed to convene an open meeting at 3 pm the following afternoon. At the GMD party affairs bureau in route Vallon a meeting took place at which student and SFS representatives met with GMD right-wingers Ma Chaojun, Ye Chucang and Liu Luyin, the prominent Cantonese merchant, Feng Shaoshan, YMCA leader, Yu Rizhang, and Du Yuesheng and Zhang Xiaolin of the Green Gang.3 Later, Yun Daiying told a meeting of the CEC and Shanghai regional committee of the CCP at Zhang Guotao’s house how indignant the mood of GMD right-wingers was.4 The Communist leaders resolved to call a general strike, or three-fold stoppage (sanba), of workers, students and businessmen to protest the atrocity and to demand proper compensation.5 According to Zhang Guotao, it was agreed that the merchants’ strike should aim to inconvenience foreigners but not cause losses to Chinese business and that workers’ strikes should be confined to foreign concerns.6 The Communists sent a request to the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce (GCC) and other public organizations to meet the next day to consider a joint response.7 They also decided to launch immediately a Shanghai General Labour Union (zonggonghui) (GLU), which had been under discussion for several weeks, in order to lead the workers’ strike.8
