Initially a supporter of Chiang Kai-shek and Kuomintang, Li Jishen helped purge and murder Communists in the 1927 Shanghai massacre, but eventually became one of Chiang's top internal rivals. Li accused Chiang of weakness in the face of Japanese aggression and of submission to Western financial interests. The two eventually reached an understanding, and Li went on to hold military commands during the Second Sino–Japanese War. However, after the end of the war, new disagreements with Chiang led to Li's expulsion from the Kuomintang. After this, for a time, he became leader of the splinter Revolutionary Committee of the Kuomintang (RCCK), then switched sides and joined the Communists, collaborating with Mao Zedong and holding political office in the new People's Republic of China.