# Civil War in Nationalist China/Chapter 2

II. THE UNITED FRONT AGAINST CHIANG KAI-SHEK
7. The Leftward Swing of the Kuomintang
We arrived in Hankow on March 31. In a few days we had a clearer idea of the new stage of the Chinese Revolution. The situation was reviewed by me on April 10th, in an article, from which I quote a few pages:
With the reorganization of the Chinese National Government on March 11th at Hankow, and the immediately following capture of Nanking and Shanghai by the revolutionary army, the Chinese revolution has definitely entered a new phase of its development. This new phase is a deepening and intensification of the revolution, at the moment of military victory, when all observers concede that it is but a matter of months when all inner-China will be in the hands of the Nationalist Government.
The new personnel of the Government, established on March 11th, includes participation of the Chinese Communist Party. The Ministry of Agriculture is headed by Tan Ping-shan, just returned from Moscow, where he represented the Chinese party at the recent Plenum of the E. C. C. I. The Ministry of Labor is in the hands of Sou Cheu-Ging, chairman of the All-China Labor Federation, chairman of the Chinese Seamen's Union, leader of the famous Hongkong Strike, and member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. Appointment of Communists to head these two posts signalizes a deepening of the social phases, the foundation of the Chinese revolution.
This turn to the left by the Chinese revolution undoubtedly came as a surprise and shock to American, Japanese, and British imperialism. The diplomats of Downing Street and the White House had been flirting with the right wing of the Kuomintang, and undoubtedly thought that their proteges in the Nationalist movement were prepared to step in and seize power just at this moment of military victory. It must have been discon​certing to them to have events move in exactly the opposite direction. Their chagrin was expressed by the spilling of the blood of hundreds of Chinese men, women, and children by British and American gunboats shelling Nanking and Weichow.
It must be stated that the imperialists had reasons for their reactionary hopes. On March 20, 1926, while the Kuomintang was still confined within the Province of Kwantung so far as power was concerned, under the shadow of Hongkong, symbol of British power in China, the right wing in the party executed a coup d'etat, under the leadership of General Chiang Kai Shek, head of the military forces and the Whampoa Military Academy. From that time on, Chiang Kai Shek assumed supreme power in the party, expelled the Communists from all official positions ,and forced the elected Chairman of the party, Wang-Ching-wei, into exile. British and American newspapers suddenly began to speak in a different and more friendly tone about the Nationalist Government. And when Chiang Kai Shek became Marshal of the Northern Expedition, which swept through China in the summer of 1926, and occupied the Wu-Han cities in November, the imperialists thought the right wing was completely in power in the Kuomintang.
Under such conditions, how was it possible to effect such a radical change as we found on arriving in Hankow? How was the right wing defeated in the Party? To what extent does there exist a danger of military revolt against the Nationalist Government? What are the next perspectives of the Chinese Revolution? The following is an attempt to find the answer to these questions in the expressions of the Chinese masses themselves:
8. The Development of Revolutionary Forces
It was when the Northern Expedition of the Revolutionary Army last year marched from Kwantung, through Honan, Kiangsi and Hupeh, capturing half of China, that the forces were prepared which have now overthrown the dictatorship of Chiang Kai Shek in the Kuomintang. These military victories have been hailed by bourgeois writers as ​"miraculous"; but the "miracle" lay in the revolutionary masses of the occupied provinces, who were only waiting the opportunity to rise against their militarist rulers. In many places, indeed, the army did not have to fight, finding that the mere news of their advance had been taken as the signal for the uprising of the people, who drove out the militarists.
Close behind the advancing army came the organization of the workers into the All-China Labor Federation, and the peasants into the Peasants' Union. In less than a year, more than a million peasants in the Peasants' Union, were mobilized. With this organization began the real process of revolution—breaking down the basis of power of militarism, the landlords, corrupt magistrates and gentry of the villages—and an enormous widening of the basis of the revolutionary power. From Canton, under the guns of British Hongkong and close to the sea coast, the National Government moved to Wuhan (Hankow), having under its feet a solid ground of half of China, with the many million masses organized under its direction. Once more it became possible to openly struggle against the forces of counter-revolution entrenched within the revolution itself.
9. Struggle Against Chiang Kai-Shek
The issue upon which the struggle between right and left began was, strangely enough, the question of moving the seat of Government to Wuhan. After agreeing to the move, Chiang Kai Shek caused the official heads of the Government to stop in Nanchang, Kiangsi, while the majority of the Kuomintang Central Committee were in Wuhan, with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Finance, Communications, and Justice. Delay followed delay in completing the move. The Central Committee members in Wuhan set up a Joint Conference to transact Government affairs. Chiang Kai Shek in Nanchang, after greeting the Joint Conference and making proposals to it, changed his mind and denounced it as an illegal body. After negotiations, it was agreed in Nanchang to move to Wuhan on February 9; when that date arrived, postpone​ment was again made until the 16th; on that date it was again postponed. Whereupon, at an enlarged Joint Conference in Wuhan, it was decided that the Central Kuomintang and the National Government should both begin office to succeed the Joint Conference without further waiting. But Chiang Kai Shek sent out a telegram over the country declaring that the Central Committee had not moved to Wuhan. At the same time, the Kuomintang was circulated with telegrams stating that the Plenary Conference of the Central Executive Committee had been cancelled.
Here was a definite struggle. The Central Kuomintang, openly challenged by Chiang Kai Shek, began to open its ears to the complaints pouring in from the people's organizations against this budding militarist. Suddenly the party awoke to what had been going on. Already, on March 15, the Hupeh Trade Union Executive issued a public denunciation of Chiang Kai Shek. On March 16, the Executive Committee of Hupeh Kuomintang issued a long statement, indicting Chiang Kai Shek as counter-revolutionary. This statement, publised in the Min Kuo Jih Pao, Hankow, March 16, 1927, contains the following declarations:
The party has lost its power, and all the power has gone to the hands of a dictator and the highest organization of theparty has lost its functions.
Help the Central Executive Committee to overthrow the condition of usurpation, to restore the spirit of democracy, to make all party members obey the orders of the party. All political and military affairs should be unified under the direction of the party . . . . . Every person, no matter who he is, should submit to the power of the party . . . . Only the oppressed masses are the supervisor of the party. Only the principles of Chung Li (Sun Yat Sen) and his spirit are the director of the party…
Now it is time for us to manifest the power of the party. Whether our party will even exist depends entirely upon whether we can make the power of the party felt.
On March 25, a special issue of the Kuomintang official daily paper, Min Kuo Jih Pao, for the discussion of the party situation, contained an article entitled: "Arise, revolutionary masses, and unite together to overthrow Chiang Kai Shek." Some paragraphs from this article follow:
"Chiang Kai Shek who proclaims himself the genuine follower of the President, hag proved himself counter-revolutionary. His reactionary movements in the past are too numerous to give an exhaustive account.
Immediately after he left the Whampoa Academy, he colluded with a handful of students to stabilize his own position and power, He secretly helped the Sunyatsenist Association to disturbance ,causing the Chung Shan cruiser incident on March 20, last year, and the departure of Comrade Wang Ching-wei, who is the only successor of the President and who is most respected by the revolutionary masses. He prevented also the Central Kuomintang and the Nationalist Government to remove to Hupeh, monopolizing the party affairs, violating the party organization, frustrating the party discipline and practising dictatorship."
After describing how Chiang Kai Shek had, by appointment, taken possession of all departments of the party through his personal friends, the article continues:
"He secretly employed men to destroy the various provincial, sectional, and overseas party organizations, despatching soldiers to disperse the Canton Municipal Kuomintang, and harboring all reactionary elements . . . . Since the revolutionary army occupied Kiangsi, he has dispersed the Kiangsi Provincial Kuomintang with no reasons, and supported the old and indiscreet Chang Ching Ki-ang and Wong Fu . . . . He has entered into collusion with the Fengtien and Shantung militarists to frustrate the diplomatic policy of the Nationalist Government, disavowing the reclamation of Hankow with the purpose of compromising with the imperailists . . . . He has also changed the diplomatic policy, severing relations with Russia, entering into intimacy with Japan, and defaming the Russian advisors . . . . He intimidated the Central Executive Committee with military force, and secretly ordered Ni Pi, party representative of the First Division, to murder Chen Tsan Yen, chairman of the General Labor Union at Kanchow . . . . He dispersed the Nanchang Municipal Party, and ordered the arrest of its supervision committee, he attacked the Nanchang Students' Union, and ordered the arrest of its committee; butchered four responsible members of the Kuikiang Municipal Party and General Labor Union, devastated the Political Department of the Sixth Army; and secretly ordered the prohibition of the Hankow Min Kuo Jih Pao and Chow Kwong Pao.
… What is the difference between Chiang Kai Shek's murdering the workers at Kiukiang, and Wu Pei-fu's murdering the workers of Kin Han Railway, and between his poisoning party members and Chang Tsung-chang's killing the Nationalists at Tientsin?
To speak frankly, Chiang Kai Shek is no longer a Kuomintang member, for he has fundamentally overthrown the Presdent's policy of alliance with Russia, and the Peasant and Labor policies. He is not worthy to be a follower of the President. He is not worthy to be a man . . . . .
Our present demand is to request the Central Kuomintang to remove him from the office of Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Army, abrogate his authority as Executive Committeeman and as Principal of the Central Politico-Military Academy, and summon him for investigation and punishment.
10. A Chinese "Napoleon"?
Now it had become clear what was the political significance of the struggle between Nanchang and Hankow over the location of the seat of Government. From Nanchang, the reaction could base itself, first upon its control of the Provincial apparatus, and from there, move to its second, and more fundamental base, contact with the imperialist forces in Shanghai and the Northern generals with whom it was negotiating. Hankow (Wuhan cities) on the other hand, is the center of the most intense revolutionary spirit and organization, and already the location from which was functioning the apparatus of the Kuomintang Government, which it was necessary for the reaction to disrupt.
The magic of military glory surrounding the name of the Commander-in-Chief of the victorious Revolutionary Armies was relied upon to sway the masses away from the leadership of the Central Kuomintang. Further, it was expected that again, as on March 20, 1926, military pressure would intimidate the Central Committee, and cause it to submit. The strategy of reaction was the production of a Chinese Napoleon.
Already I have indicated the forces that checkmated this strategy. The Central Kuomintang, through the Northern Expedition, had emerged from the narrow confines of Kwantung Province; there had been an enormous release of revolutionary forces, in the organization of eight million peasants and workers in the conquered Provinces; the masses had learned that their own revolutionary energy and initiative was the basis of the military victories; and ​above all, the army itself had been to some extent transformed, through the work of the revolutionary Political Section, into an army of conscious revolutionists, connecting itself everywhere with the trade unions and peasant unions, so that it could no longer be used as a blind tool by those holding military command at the top.
11. Some Favorable Developments in the Army
In China, in the midst of revolution, the army is necessarily the immediately decisive factor. What was the attitude of the army, therefore, in this inner struggle? A few of my own contacts with the army will indicate what was going on in many places:
(1) At Whanpoa Military Academy, the stronghold of Chiang Kai Shek, the International Workers' Delegation was received by a wildly enthusiastic demonstration of 5,000 cadets, who sang "The Internationale" and shouted in unison slogans which included, "Follow the advice of the Communist International."
(2) At Kanchow, where reaction had crushed the Labor movement by means of an Army Division, newly recruited from Northern deserters, another Division, consisting of experienced revolutionary troops and politically-trained leaders, arriving in Kanchow just a few days ahead of the International Delegation, used our visit to arrange a public demonstration for the trade unions, brought them out of their illegality under the protection of the army, and completely reversed the local situation in a few hours.
(3) At Nanchang, under the nose of General Headquaretrs, the local garrison staged a demonstration for the International Delegation, at which a private soldier spoke in public defiance of the policy of Chiang Kai Shek; later, the garrison protected the trade unions in a mass meeting, violating the martial law proclaimed by the reaction, at which the slogan was proclaimed: "Down with the reaction which controls the Provincial Kuomintang."
(4) On April 8, the Wuchang Political-Military Academy, jointly with the staff of the Political Section of the army, gave a recpetion to the International Delegation, delegates of the Indian National Party, to the new Labor ​Minister, and to the head of the Peasants' Union. The meeting, opened by the chairman of the National Government, cheered the speech of Kou Yu-Han, editor of the Min Kuo Jih Pao, denouncing Chiang Kai Shek and demanding his removal and trial before the party. All assembled soldiers and leaders of people's organization joined in the slogan: "Down with Chiang Kai Shek."
Since writing the above, I attended the celebration of the establishment of the new National Government, the new Hupeh Government, and welcome to Wang Ching-wei, leader of the Kuomintang, exiled last year by Chiang Kai Shek and now returned on the request of the Central Committee. Here also, the slogan was: "Down with Chiang Kai Shek."
Yesterday (April 10) was published a joint statement by Wang Ching-wei and Chen Tu-shiu, secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, issued at Shanghai on April 5, of which the following are extracts:
"The Communist Party of China always has recognized frankly and honestly that the Kuomintang and the Three People's Principles laid down by our late leader, Sun Yat-sen, are the foundation of the Nationalist movement. It is only counter-revolutionaries who seek to overthrow the San Min principles of the Kuomintang, and it is only counter-revolutionaries who seek to split the Nationalist front . . . .
"It is true that the Communist Party and the Kuomintang have different programmes, but the essential points for the members of both parties is that they be guided by the spirit of earnest co-operation in their struggle for a free united China. Those who understand the Communist Party conception of the revolution and the Communist Party attitude toward the Kuomintang, will certainly not doubt the wisdom of Sun Yat-sen in saying that the two parties should co-operate."
A few days after the above review was written, Chiang Kai Shek openly broke with the Wuhan government, massacred the workers of Shanghai, Nanking, Can​ton, and all other cities within his reach, and proclaimed the establishment of his right wing "government" at Nanking. The nationalist armies were definitely divided on a national scale into two hostile bodies.
12. "A Part of the World Revolution"
The atmosphere in Hankow at the time of our arrival, both as regards the heads of the government and the masses of the people, can be described in no better way then by copying a few items from the People's Tribune, an English language daily published in Hankow, which relates to the reception given the Delegation by the government and the masses, followed by the manifesto which was issued by the International Delegation to the imperialist soldiers and sailors of the foreign powers:
Highest Political Body of Revolutionary China Receives And Hears International Workers' Delegation.
On April 2nd, the International Workers' Delegation was received by the Enlarged Political Council of the Kuomintang Central Executive Committee, at its session.
The session was opened by Mr. Hsu Chien, Minister of Justice in the Nationalist Government. Mr. Hsu Chien in his opening address recalled how Dr. Sun Yat Sen had clearly seen and understood the necessity for an alliance with the revolutionary proletariat of the West. Dr. Sun had also clearly understood that the Chinese Revolution was an integral part of the World Revolution. Greeting the Delegation in warm and expressive words, the speaker concluded by saying that at this critical period and in spite of all difficulties and obstacles revolutionary China will continue its struggle for liberation to the end.
Just before the international delegates were given the floor, the Council was addressed by Mrs. Ho Shang-nee, the widow of the great revolutionary disciple of Dr. Sun—Liao Chung Kai. She sketched briefly the early activities of Dr. Sun Yat Sen in the beginning of this century. She greeted the International Workers' Delegation whose presence recalled to her mind those years when the revolutionary party was in its formation under the able guidance of the great revolutionary leader Sun.
Comrade Jaques Doriot then addressed the Political Council, greeting it in the name of the revolutionary proletariat of France and expressng the complete and unreserved solidarity of the millions of workers, he represents with the Chinese Revolution.
​Earl Browder, delegate from America, spoke next. After greeting the gathering as the highest organ of the Chinese revolution, and explaining why the workers of the West have such deep confidence in the complete success of the revolution, he dealt at length with the situation of American Imperialism and its role.
After the speech of the American delegate, Comrade Jaques Doriot, the French representative, announced that the International Workers' Delegation, having cognizance of the most recent provocations of the imperialist powers in different parts of China, particularly at Nanking where more than six hundred Chinese were killed in the unjustifiable bombardment perpetrated by British and American warships, have decded to address a telegram to labor and peasant organizations of the world.
The International Workers' Delegation have also issued a an Appeal to the foreign soldiers and sailors in China (this appeal appears below), calling upon them to refuse to be used by the imperialists as tools of oppression against the Chinese people.
Before the Delegation left the Session of the Political Council, Mr. Sun Fo, the son of Dr. Sun Yat Sen, moved a resolution which was adopted unanimously, greeting the International Workers' Delegation and declaring that henceforth the close contact will be maintained with the international proletariat in the great struggle of the Chinese Revolution which is but a part of the World Revolution.
Fifty Thousand People Greet International Workers' Delegation
Over fifty thousand people filled the Hankow race course on Sunday, April 3rd, to greet the International Workers' Delegation.
From early morning till noon the streets of the city were thronged with eager masses marching towards the race course where four platform flanked the extensive field. It was a stirring spectacle to see this ocean of humanity with countless banners and flags bearing inscriptions that reflected the mood of the masses of workers and peasants at this critical moment which revolutionary China is living through, and manifested the attitude of the Chinese people towards the International Workers' Delegation.
Long after the opening of the mass meeting thousands of people were still pouring into the field. Special trains packed with people could be seen drawing into the adjacent railway station, and discharging fresh thousands of workers and peasants.
The mass meeting was opened by Li Li San from the All-China Labor Federation. The assembled masses were addressed
MEETING OF PEASANTS' UNION OF NAMHIAHSIEN, KWANTUNG PROVINCE.
The armed men in front are of the Nationalist Army, fraternizing with the peasants. Those toward the back who are armed, are the Peasant Union's own Defense Corps, the beginnings of the Chinese Red Army.
INTERNATIONAL WORKERS DELEGATION TO CHINA
Standing, Earl Browder and Sydor Stoler Sitting, Tom Mann and Jacques Doriot.
The great demonstration at Hankow was a further proof of the feeling of solidarity of the masses of China with the workers of the West, to whom they look for aid in their heroic struggle to throw off the yoke of foreign imperialist oppression.
Appeal of the International Workers' Delegation to the Troops of the Imperialist Powers in China.
Hankow, April 2, 1927.
To the Soldiers and Sailors of Great Britain, France and America:
The ruling class of your country has sent you to China. It wants to use you as a servile instrument in its policy of oppression against the Chinese people. It wants to use you to maintain the shameful privileges which it enjoys in this country.
It is the very same ruling class which exploits you, and your brothers and sisters, in your own country. It is the same class which draws scandalous profits and enriches itself from your toil and misery. It is the same class which fights mercilessly against you, soldiers and sailors, who but yesterday were workers and farmers yourselves, and who tomorrow will be workers and farmers again.
Like you, the Chinese people suffer from this exploitation. Like you, they aspire to liberation. Like you, they struggle to improve their miserable conditions.
For two months, our Delegation, consisting of representatives of revolutionary labor organizations of England, America, and France, has visited numerous organizations of the Chinese people. It has studied the situation of the workers, of the peasants, of the merchants, of the students, in town and village. It has found untold misery caused by the oppression of imperialism and its ally in China, local militarism. The International Workers' Delegation are profoundly convinced that the cause for which the Chinese people are fighting is a just cause.
The ruling classes which sent you, sailors and soldiers, here, accuses the Chinese people of hatred against foreigners. You are told that the hatred of the Chinese people is directed particularly against you. Even if this were really the case it would indeed be comprehensible, for, besides the untold misery which the imperialists impose upon the Chinese people, they have periodically, during the past two years, instituted massacres and bloodshed such as the Shamen, Shanghai (several massacres), Hankow and Wanhsien massacres in which hundreds of Chinese were massacred in cold blood. Only the other day in order to avenge the six Europeans who were killed by the paid agents provocateurs of the Northern militarists, the ​British and American imperialists bombarded the city of Nanking, killing over six hundred defenseless Chinese.
However, our Delegation, consisting of representatives of the British, French and American workers, have traversed Southern China, and have everywhere been received with open arms and with the greatest enthusiasm by the Chinese people. Everywhere the workers, peasants, students, soldiers, merchants and artisans have manifested the complete unity of the oppressed peoples of the East with the exploited classes of the West. You, who are of the flesh and blood of the workers and peasants of your respective countries, are being deceived by those who have sent you here as to the true nature of the spirit and attitude of the Chinese people, in order that you may be used as instruments in the perpetration of criminal acts which are unworthy of your class and of yourselves.
We, the representatives of millions of workers of England, France and America, consider it our imperative duty to appeal to your conscience as workers and to reveal to you the horror of the crimes which the imperialists want you to commit against a people which is fighting for its freedom.
It is your duty and in your own interests that you who are yourselves being exploited should not fight against the Chinese people, but on the contrary, you must aid it in its struggle for liberation. It is your duty and in your own interests not to aid those who exploit you; on the contrary, you should fight against them.
In the name of the revolutionary workers of our countries, and fully conscious of the importance of such an act, we appeal to you not lend yourselves to the criminal action for which you are being used.
You are told to shoot and kill the Chinese.
We tell you to fraternise with the Chinese people.
The International Workers' Delegation:
Tom Mann (England) Browder (America) Doriot (France).