The First United Front: 1923-1927 HI 168: Lecture 7 Dr. Howard Chiang

May 4th in Context Problems with the Communist story - can the period between 1911 and 1949 be taken seriously? - how about 1949-1976 – a detour? - obscures the rich variety of political alternatives in the May Fourth era: anarchism, guild socialism, feminism, fascism, and liberalism Many intellectuals adopted modest (rather than extreme/radical) rejection of Confucianism Nationalism – take GMD more seriously - 1923-27 – the First United Front - the party to ‘win’ in the initial aftermath Ordinary Chinese did not identify with political parties

Birth of CCP Communist International, Comintern: Gregory Voitinsky; Hendricus Sneevliet (Maring) First Congress of CCP in Shanghai, 23 July 1921, with 13 delegates: Shanghai was represented by Li Da and Li Hanjun; Beijing by Zhang Guotao and Liu Renjing; the Hunan delegates were Mao Zedong and He Shuheng; Hubei sent Dong Biwu and Chen Tanqiu; Wang Jinmei and Deng Enming came from Shandong and Chen Gongbo represented Guangdong. “bloc within” GMD

Rebirth of GMD Chinese Revolutionary Part (1914-19) -> Chinese Guomindang (GMD) since 1919 1923: a joint statement by Sun and a Soviet representative in Shanghai pledged Soviet assistance for China’s national unification Soviet Comintern, Mikhail Borodin Membership: CCP: 1921 – 300; 1925 – 1,500 GMD: 1922 – 150,000

Rebirth of GMD 1923: Chiang Kai-shek’s delegation to Moscow 1924: Huangpu (Whampos) Military Academy Chinese Labor Movement: - May 30th Movement (1925) Sun Yat-sen died on March 12, 1925: - Combined with the May 30th Movement, the contingency of Sun’s death put great pressure on the parties and increased the tensions among them

Chiang Kai-shek

The Northern Expedition National Revolutionary Army Warlord Situation: - Feng Yuxiang of the Zhili faction ruled most of the northern and northwestern regions - Zhang Zuolin of the Fengtian faction ruled most of the northern and northeast regions - Yan Xishan ruled the province of Shanxi - Wu Peifu had control of most of Hubei - Sun Chuanfang claimed jurisdiction over Zhejiang, Fujian, Anhui, Jiangxi, and Jiangsu (1925) - Tang Jiyao controlled Yunnan - Zhao Hengti ran Hunan

Northern Expedition

The White Terror Communists were useful to the commanders of the National Revolutionary Army Chiang was much less sympathetic to the Communists than Sun - struggle for power – March 1927, Shanghai Red Purge, aka ‘White Terror’, into 1928 – an effort to destroy the power of the left and especially the Communists, who had attained so much power through their bloc within party membership Final split in the united front: July 15, 1927 - GMD ordered CCP members to renounce their Communist Party membership August 1928: NRA reached Beijing