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

2. May 4th in Context
Problems with the Communist story - can the period between 1911 and 1949 be taken seriously? - how about – 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 – the First United Front - the party to ‘win’ in the initial aftermath
Ordinary Chinese did not identify with political parties

3. 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

4. Rebirth of GMD
Chinese Revolutionary Part ( ) -> 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

5. 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

6. Chiang Kai-shek

7. 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

8. Northern Expedition

9. 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, GMD ordered CCP members to renounce their Communist Party membership
August 1928: NRA reached Beijing