History of China
Kuomintang and the First United Front with the Communist Part of China (1924-27)
8.1.5.2
GLOSSARY
Warlords: Feudal lords in China who were former generals and was associated with military activities against the southern revolutionaries
Yuan Shi-kai (1859 – 1916): Important Chinese general and politician who was the second President of the Republic of China.
‘Twenty-one Demands’: A charter of demands by Japan presented by Japanese ambassador to China Hioki Eki to Yuan Shi-kai in January 1915 it essentially for colonization of large parts of China by Japan.
Sun Yat-sen (1866 – 1925): Chinese revolutionary and political leader who was responsible for the overthrow of the Manchu government and establishment of a Republican form of government in China.
Northern Expedition: Military retaliation of the First United Front and the Kwangtung Revolutionary army against the northern warlords.
First United Front: The alliance formed by the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China for the purpose of defeating warlordism in China.
Mao Tse-tung (1893 – 1976): A Chinese revolutionary, political theorist and communist leader, he led the People’s Republic of China from 1949 till his death.
Bourgeoisie: Members of the upper or merchant class whose status or power come from wealth, education and employment and is distinguished from the aristocratic family.
Communist: The group of people who follow the political ideology that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, class-less society based on common ownership of means of production.
October Revolution (1917): A political revolution in Russia to overthrow the Tsarist autocracy and the Provisional Government and give power to the Bolsheviks (Communists).
OBJECTIVES
The students will
Trace the course of action by the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China.
Understand the ideological differences between the two parties.
Realize the cause of failure of the United Front.
Summary
After the revolution of 1911 and with Yuan Shi-kai becoming the President, it became obvious that Yuan Shi-kai had betrayed the revolution. So Sun Yat-sen launched a second revolution against the dictatorship of Yuan Shi-kai and the Warlords. The Kuomintang Party was formed by Sun Yat-sen with the intention to combat imperialist and feudal forces within the Chinese society. The Communist Party of China too joined the Kuomintang and together they formed the First United Front to fight against the Northern Warlords.
The Kwangtung revolutionary army was on the verge of uniting China but there appeared dissent in the army. Furthermore Sun Yat-sen died and Chiang Kai-shek userped the leadership of the Kuomintang. This sounded the death knell for the First United Front as he was anti-communist. Chiang kai-shek too betrayed the ideals of the Kuomintang and massacred thousands. In the Communist Party too there were disagreements but Mao was able to lead them.
FAQs
1. How did the imperialist forces get a foothold to control China?
The military forces of Yuan Shi-kai got split up into two parts. The post of the President and the capital had been shifting from the hands of one military group to another. These four military groups were under the control of the imperialist powers. Two were under the control of Japanese imperialism; other two were backed by US and Britain.
2. What was Sun Yat-sen’s Three Major Polices?
Sun Yat-sen’s Three Major Polices were
1) Alliance with the Soviet Russia
2) Alliance with CPC
3) Support for the Workers and Peasants Movement
3. What were the areas of reform in Sun Yat-sen’s Three Principles of the People?
The Three Principles of the People changed in accordance with the situation. Nationalism no longer meant the substitution of the Manchu rule because the Manchu rule was no longer there;its new content was opposition to all imperialist control. Another important content was full equality of all nationalities in China. Democracy is to be shared by the common people and it should not be controlled by a minority of people. Livelihood was once more centered in the demand of ‘land to the tillers’ which enabled Sun Yat-sen to make an appeal to the Chinese peasantry. Finally the right of the workers to organization and decent wages and working conditions were also recognized by Sun Yat-sen.
4. What was Lenin’s Colonial Thesis?
Lenin’s Colonial Thesis propounded that the Communist Party or the workers and peasants in the under-developed countries can forge alliance with the bourgeoisie. But they should not merge with it and they should always retain their own initiative and independent course of action.
5. What was Chen Tu-hsiu’s opinion on the Chinese Revolution?
Chen Tu-hsiu maintained that Chinese revolution was a two stage revolution – first was the bourgeoisie democratic revolution and the second was the socialist revolution. Since China at that point of time was in the first stage so this bourgeoisie democratic revolution would have to be led by the bourgeoisie i.e. the Kuomintang and the working class. The Communist Party should play only a secondary role. Only after the bourgeoisie democratic revolution would be the socialist revolution.It was from then on that the working class should come to the fore to take the leadership.
QUIZ
1. The Communist Part of China was born in
A) 1921 B) 1911 C) 1924.
2. The CPC representative in the First United Front was
A) Mao Tse-tung B) Chiang Kai-shek C) Chou En-lai
3. The Chinese revolution should be led only by the working class came from
A) Chang Kuo-tao B) Mao Tse-tung C) Chen Tu-hsiu
4. The revolutionary army was known as the
A) Whampoa National Army B) Kwangtung Revolutionary Army C) Northern Expedition
5.The successor of Sun Yat-sen in the Kuomintang was
A) Yuan Shi-kai B) Chiang Kai-shek C) Chen Tu-hsiu
ASSIGNMENT
1. Trace the origin of the Kuomintang.
2. Discuss Sun Yat-sen’s opinion about the Communism.
3. Discuss the opinion of the Chinese intelligentsia regarding the Chinese revolution.
4. Highlight the ideological debates inside the Communist Party of China.
5. Why did the United Front ultimately dissolve?
History of China
Kuomintang and the First United Front with the Communist Part of China (1924-27)
8.1.5.2
Introduction
Kuomintang Party was not a product of any sudden outburst of Chinese nationalism. It was a product of a number of activities of a number of political organizations, secret societies – all of which contributed in some way or the other to the making of the revolution of 1911. The aim of all these secret societies and organizations was to get rid of Manchu domination and to set up a republican form of government in Chine. The leader of this revolutionary movement was Sun Yat-sen.
The name Kuomintang was introduced after the revolution. Initially it was known as Tung Meng-hui before 1911 and after 1911 it changed its name to Kuomintang. It also adopted the policy of fighting feudalism and imperialism. This aim, policy was quite in agreement with the policy of the Communist Party. So the basis for a united front had already been prepared some time after 1911.
Background
The revolution of 1911 was an incomplete democratic bourgeoisie revolution. It was earlier known as Tung Meng-hui and then it became Kuomintang. But it was not just a change in name. There was also a change in character. The earlier organization Tung Meng-hui was a political and revolutionary organization but the new Kuomintang party brought within its fold not only the revolutionaries but also those who were not revolutionaries. So both the revolutionaries and the non-revolutionaries were brought within the Kuomintang Party.
After 1911 revolution Sun Yat-sen could not unify China which was his main aim. So he resigned his presidency in favor of Yuan Shi-kai. After the founding of the republic Yuan Shi-kai devoted attention to building up a military dictatorship in China. When it became clear Yuan Shi-kai had already betrayed the revolution, Sun Yat-sen launched his second revolution against Yuan Shi-kai, the dictator and he mobilized his army in South China. But this uprising was suppressed after months of fighting. The main reason for this failure was that agrarian demands were not highlighted and not addressed at that time. After gaining victory Yuan Shi-kai also banned Kuomintang Party.
With the outbreak of the First World War, China stood face to face with a series of new problems. Japan fought on the side of the Allied troops in the First World War. Only one battle was fought between Germany and Japan. It was fought in the Shantung Province of China and there Japan came out victorious. Because of the difficult situation prevailing in China at that time, Japan was faced with the prospect of converting all China into her own name (not only Shantung but all China into its own colony). It was in this context that Japanese minister to China Hioki Eki presented the infamous ‘Twenty-One Demands’ to the Chinese government. It implied that if those demands were accepted then large parts of the Chinese territories would be colonized and directly come under Japanese colonial control. This led to a social ferment, an intellectual awakening, a revolution which ultimately came to be known as the May 4th Movement.
Meanwhile political crisis within China had intensified as never before. The weak Peking government enjoyed only nominal power. The military forces of Yuan Shi-kai got split up into two parts. The post of the President and the capital had been shifting from the hands of one military group to another. Those military groups were under the control of the imperialist powers. Two were under the control of Japanese imperialism, another was backed by US and British imperialism and this period in history is known as the period of Warlords or the Age of Warlordism in China. It was the foreign powers that supplied money to those Chinese cliques in Anwhei or Hopei Provinces or Manchurian region. It was through this that the imperial powers exercised much control over large parts of the Chinese territories.
After the death of Yuan Shi-kai, Sun Yat-sen returned to China from abroad and he opposed China’s join in the First World War. He declared that China could only take part in the war that was directed against all forms of imperialist control over China. With that end in view he established his own revolutionary government in Canton. But this government was very short-lived.
Meanwhile changes had also been taking place in the thinking of Sun Yat-sen. By then October Revolution had already taken place. He was mush influenced by the Russian Revolution. From 1921 he started the nature and the implication of the Russian Revolution. The Communist Part of China was born in 1921. This was a new social and political force. Sun Yat-sen started conversation both with the CPC and the Soviet leaders. In this way he drastically revised his own opinion also. He formulated his Three Major Polices which were
1) Alliance with the Soviet Russia
2) Alliance with CPC
3) Support for the Workers and Peasants Movement
Side by side he also revised his Three Principles of the People in accordance with the change in situation. In the changing situation nationalism no longer meant the substitution of Chinese for the Manchu rule because the Manchu rule was no longer there. Its new content was opposition to all imperialist control. This was not there before 1911.
There was another important content and that is full equality of all nationalities in China. Democracy is to be shared by the common people and it should not be controlled by a minority of people.
Livelihood was once more centered in the demand of ‘land to the tillers’ which enabled Sun Yat-sen to make an appeal to the Chinese peasantry. This was not there in the earlier period.
The right of the workers to organization and decent wages and working conditions were also recognized by Sun Yat-sen.
First United Front (1924 – 27)
It was on this basis that the first United Front was formed with the Communist Party of China from 1924 to 1927. A revolutionary government was set up in Canton by Sun Yat-sen. It also established a military academy known as the Whompoa Military Academy with the Kuomintang officer Chiang kai-shek as the KMT representative and Chou En-lai from the CPC. So, both were represented in the Whompoa Military Academy. The main aim of the Whompoa Military Academy was to train commanders of a new type for the formation of a anti-warlord army to fight against the northern warlords. So the port city of Canton became the centre of the revived hopes and aspiration of the Chinese people from then onwards.
Now during that period important changes have been taking place in the international scene, changes which also influenced the decisions of the CPC. In the second Congress of the Comintern which is known as the Third International which was held in 1920 Lenin came out with a thesis which is known as the thesis on Colonial Questions. There he referred to the relationships between the Communist Party or the workers and peasants movement or organizations with bourgeoisie democracy in those countries in the under-developed countries. His proposal and thesis was that the Communist Party or the workers and peasants in the under-developed countries can forge alliance with the bourgeoise. But they should not merge with it and they should always retain their own initiative and independent course of action. That is known as the Colonial Thesis or the Thesis on Colonial Questions.
In the third Congress of the CPC held in 1923 in Canton this thesis was discussed. There were debates in the CPC Congress over what should be the attitude, policy of the CPC towards the Kuomintang which was at that time led by Sun Yat-sen. There were three opinions.
One was represented by Chen Tu-hsiu who was the first Secretary of the CPC at that time. Chen Tu-hsiu maintained that Chinese revolution was a two stage revolution – the first was the bourgeoisie democratic revolution and the second was the socialist revolution. Since China at that point of time was in the first stage so this bourgeoisie democratic revolution would have to be led by the bourgeoisie i.e. the Kuomintang and the working class or the Communist Party should play only a secondary, insignificant role and not the leading role.
It was only after the bourgeoisie democratic revolution be accomplished and the socialist revolution begin, it was from then on that the working class should come to the fore to take the leadership.
The other point of view was represented by Chang Kuo-tao. He represented the left line. Chang Kuo-tao refused to believe that it was a two stage revolution. It was a one stage revolution and the leadership would be given by the working class and there was no need to forge any alliance with the Kuomintang because the Kuomintang Party was a reactionary party. That was the view of Chang Kuo-tao.
The third opinion was represented by Mao Tse-tung, Ho Shu-heng and Chu Chiu-pai that time. They criticized both theses standpoints. Mao Tse-tung pointed out that the first opinion by Chen Tu-hsiu would lead to capitulation to the Bourgeoisie and the second opinion was nothing but Sectarianism. They advocated that the Communist Party should forge an alliance with the Kuomintang but should try to retain their own spirit of action and should also at the same time organize their political cells, their party committees in as many areas as possible. Majority of the leading members ultimately accepted Mao’s proposal and so decision was taken in this way.
We have already dealt with the side of the Kuomintang (Sun Yat-sen’s point of view). Now we have dealt with the point of the CPC. So both the parties agreed coming from their own internal reasons, came to the same conclusion that a United Front should be forged and they should jointly fight against the Northern Warlords.
Meanwhile in the international scene two major developments took place during the period from 1924 to 1927. 1) the attainment of stability in the socialist Soviet Union and 2) the temporary stability in the world capitalist order. So a phase of peaceful co-existence started between the Capitalist countries on the one hand and the socialist Soviet Union on the other. Since it was a relatively peaceful period in the context of China, so the capitalist countries consolidated their position and they started making further inroads into China through the agents that have been operating in many parts of the country.