Liberals within the Chinese League for the Protection of Civil Rights (on which see the previous text), such as Hu Shi, believed that the League should work within the existing political system, while radicals, such as Song Qingling, believed that this was a futile task and that the GMD was corrupt beyond reform. In keeping with his earlier position (see Text 21 above), Hu Shi adopted a narrowly legalistic approach to human rights and the League’s work. Since he regarded the GMD as the legitimate ruler of China—especially since the adoption in 1931 of the Provisional Constitution, which he earlier had demanded—he advocated that the League confine itself to seeking the legal protection of human rights. In early 1933, Hu Shi and Yang Xingfo made an investigation of the prison conditions in Beiping. When the prisoners of one prison later wrote an open letter to the League demanding their help and deploring the conditions in the prison, Song Qingling and Agnes Smedley issued a public appeal and demanded “the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners” on behalf of the League. Hu Shi reacted strongly to this appeal, as the article translated here reveals, both because he felt that the conditions described did not match his findings, and also because he felt that asking for the “unconditional” release of all political prisoners was asking too much of the government. The furthest Hu Shi was willing to go on this issue was to seek guarantees that political prisoners were not treated cruely and that legal safeguards were upheld. The majority of the League’s members criticized his position, and when Hu Shi did not bend on this issue, he was eventually expelled.
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