Kuomintang

“ A people without allegiance to its government and without faith in itself would have been incapable of braving the ordeal of retreat, massacre, and occupation as successfully as have the Chinese. That China fights today as a nation is no small tribute to the National Government of the Kuomintang established at Nanking in 1927. How long she will be able to fight as a nation is a question to be answered only by reference to the national mentality and political institutions which have emerged since the collapse of the Manchu Empire in 1911-1912. ”

“ In this the theory of the bloc of classes, the theory that the Kuomintang is a workers’ and peasants’ party, provides the best possible assistance for the bourgeoisie. When the bourgeoisie later comes into hostile conflict with the masses and shoots them down, in this clash between the two real forces, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, not even the bleating of the celebrated nine-tenths is heard. The pitiful democratic fiction evaporates without a trace in face of the bloody reality of the class struggle. ”

“ 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 . ”

“ We hope that the Kuomintang authorities will stick to their one-China position and their opposition to "two Chinas" and that they will put national interests above everything else, forget previous ill will and join hands with us in accomplishing the great cause of national unification and the great goal of making China prosperous and strong, so as to win glory for our ancestors, bring benefit to our posterity, and write a new and glorious page in the history of the Chinese nation! ”

“ We must concentrate our work and forces upon the consolidation of the victories which the Chinese Revolution has already won, upon the consequent extension of the national revolution, and upon aiding the Kuomintang to broaden the united battlefront in order to complete the national revolution of China. ”

“ The first is the question whether the movement is purely spontaneous, as the Chinese themselves claim, or whether, as the Japanese allege, it is an organised movement imposed upon the people by the Kuomintang by methods which at times amount to terrorism. On this subject much may be said on both sides. On the one hand, it would appear to be impossible for a nation to exhibit the degree of co-operation and sacrifice involved in the maintenance of a boycott over a wide area and for a long period if there did not exist a foundation of strong popular feeling. ”

“ They have, however, successfully organized many rural areas against the National Government. Moderate groups are caught between Kuomintang misrule and repression and [Pg 156] ruthless Communist totalitarianism. Minority parties lack dynamic leadership and sizable following. Neither the moderates, many of whom are in the Kuomingtang, nor the minority parties are able to make their influence felt because of National Government repression. Existing provincial opposition leading to possible separatist movements would probably crystallize only if collapse of the government were imminent. ”

“ On the other hand, it has been clearly shown to what extent the Kuomintang, using the mentality and the methods which the Chinese people have inherited from their old guilds and secret societies, has taken control of the recent boycotts, and particularly of the present one. The rules, the discipline, and the sanction used against the "traitors', which form such an essential part of the present boycott, show that, however spontaneous, the movement is certainly strongly organised.
All popular movements require some measure of organisation to be effective. ”

“ Currently, the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang consists mainly of people who have links with the KMT, have historical and social connections with the committee, or have relationships with Taiwan compatriots, along with specialists in social and legal affairs, and in business relating to agriculture, rural areas, and rural people. ”

“ China will fulfil this task among the island inhabitants of the Pacific, not with fire and sword, but bound up with the process of the revolutionization of the native population. Yet this is not the most important task of the moment. The Kuomintang Party is now confronted with the chief problem of how it can exploit the antagonisms between the powers that encircle China in order to foster the cause of the revolution. America's position makes possible greater maneuvering. The plans of American imperialism constitute a terrifying economic and military-strategic menace to Japan. ”

“ In the meantime, the Communists maintained their separate party organization within the Kuomintang. The Russians found China a fertile field for conversion, and while they assisted the Nationalists they fostered the growth of a Chinese Communist Party. From an academic group which meant nothing in 1921, the Communist Party grew in 1925-1926 to comprise the radical vanguard of the revolution. The Communists assumed the vanguard position because they were less bound by loyalty to the existing groups in Chinese society than were the Nationalists. ”

“ The trade unions and city Kuomintang of Kiukiang had just been burying their dead, killed in a pitched battle with the reactionaries a week before our arrival. Here as elsewhere under civil war conditions we had the experience of the actual street fighting being suspended during our visit while the leaders of both sides talked to us. The tactic of the right wing was always to prevent us from getting information, and to endeavor to occupy all of our time with formalities, banquets, and entertainments. ”

“ Then the movement began to revive. On January 18, 1925, occurred the beginning of a series of strikes in Shanghai, Tsingtao, and other cities. These were all successful, and regained some of the losses of hours, wages, and conditions which had been lost in the period of reaction. This period had been made use of by the workers to assimilate the lessons of past experiences. There occurred during this period a great change among the leaders of the Kuomintang, who finally had come to realize the vastly important role of the working class in the Chinese nation revolution. ”

“ The combination of a patriotic, foreign-trained, professionalized army, a powerful agitation department, and a party organization able to govern after conquest, came to prevail everywhere. Half of China was now under Kuomintang dominion, which operated through a council form of government.16 Then came the schism. Conflict was inevitable between Communists and Nationalists when the Communists proved unwilling to look forward to the establishment of a republic according to Sun's principles, pushing on with the revolution as soon as the Nationalists slowed down or stopped. ”

“ With respect to Western science, the Nationalists had to present few startling governmental innovations, since the need for a knowledge of the physical and technical sciences was widely recognized in China—not only by the Nationalists. That the Western technology should serve to build the new China was obvious; trade schools needed encouragement rather than initiation. As to the old Chinese social and political experience, the Kuomintang stressed study of China's past. ”

“ PREAMBLE The great victories of the Chinese people's war of liberation and of the people's revolution have put an end to the era of the rule of imperialism, feudalism and bureaucratic capitalism in China. From the status of the oppressed, the Chinese people has attained that of the master in a new society and an ew state, and has replaced the Kuomintang's reactionary rule of feudal, comprador, fascist dictatorship with the Republic of the People's Democratic Dictatorship. ”

“ The assistance rendered by the Soviets in the application of tested propaganda methods to a revolutionary situation resulted in vast changes. The Russians found that approximately the same devices could be used in China as in Russia without affecting the fundamentals of Nationalist philosophy. Integration and regularization of the party machinery, formulation of immediate programs to bring large groups into the Nationalist fold, development of large-scale propaganda techniques, and other improvements designed to enlarge and speed up the Nationalist advance were effected within the Kuomintang. ”

“ Origin of boycott.For centuries the Chinese have been familiar with boycott methods in the organisation of their merchants, bankers and craft guilds. These guilds, although they are being modified to meet modern conditions, still exist in large numbers and exercise great power over their members in the defence of their common professional interests. The training and attitude acquired in the course of this century-old guild life has been combined, in the present-day boycott movement, with the recent fervent nationalism of which the Kuomintang is the organised expression. ”

“ Following their defeat, the Communists found a refuge in Kiangsi Province of south China and gained strength as disaffected Kuomintang units came over to their side.211
211 Richard L. Walker, China under Communism (New Haven, 1954) , 111–112; Order of Battle Branch, Office of the AC/S G-2, HQ Eighth United States Army (Fwd) , CCF Army Histories (hereafter CCF Army Histories) , 1. ”

“ The loyalty of all adherents to a common cause is never uniformly strong and discipline is required to enforce unity of purpose and action. Our conclusion is, that the Chinese boycotts are both popular and organised; that, though they originate in and are supported by strong national sentiment, they are controlled and directed by organisations which can start or call them off, and that they are enforced by methods which certainly amount to intimidation. While many separate bodies are involved in the organisation, the main controlling authority is the Kuomintang. ”

“ Here, again, one might refer to the disputes as to the orthodoxy and integrity of the present leadership. The preëminence of Generalissimo Chiang Chieh-shih, which cannot be doubted, is seen by persons friendly to him as a strong and beneficent influence upon the C. E. C. Persons hostile to him charge that he has packed the C. E. C. with his adherents, and controls it as he chooses. 215. An interesting piece of research could deal with the method of recruitment and registration in the Kuomintang before the coming of the Communist advisers. ”

“ In May 1921, the "Chinese Communist Party" was formally constituted. Propaganda was especially conducted in labour circles at Shanghai, where red syndicates were organised. In June 1922, at its second congress, the Communist Party, which did not then number more than three hundred members, decided to ally itself with the Kuomintang. Dr. Sun Yat-sen, although opposed to the Communist doctrine, was prepared to admit individual Chinese Communists into the party. In the autumn of 1922, the Soviet Government sent a Mission to China, headed by Mr. ”

“ This fellow, Li Min, I brought from China with me. He is one of the most faithful servants I have ever known. He belongs to the higher orders of society—I mean that he is not of the peasant or coolie class. He represented to me that he was suspected of belonging to the Reform Association, the enemies of the prevailing order of things, and was obliged to leave the country to save his head. I do not know, I do not know—possibly he may have been sent to watch. They knew in Ping Yang that I was after the emerald Buddha. Who knows? They are an amazing people—an amazing people. ”

“ But there was no danger to the Light Country from Tao, he thought with satisfaction. At least, there would be none when the other cities were rid of Tao's men, as the Great City was now. The men would find their way back all right—
At the sudden thought that came to him Mercer dropped his bit of bread and sat up in astonishment. Tao no longer a menace? He remembered my reasoning in the boat coming down the bayou. Of course, Tao would have no reason to attack the Light Country by force of arms until he was sure his propaganda among the people had failed. ”

“ A few years later a man named Chumong is said to have fled from his home in the far north near the Sungari River and to have come across the Yalu into Korea. The Chinese rule in those regions had become very weak, and Chumong found no difficulty in welding the scattered people into a strong kingdom. It was this man who, it is said, crossed the river on the fish which came to the surface and laid their backs together to make a bridge for him. The kingdom which he founded was called Koguryu, and it comprised all the northern portion of the peninsula. ”

“ No one knew the great tragedy of China’s position save Kia se tao, first minister of the Empire.
The arrest of his envoy called forth from Kubilai a statement in 1261: “Since my coming to the throne,” declared he, “I have striven to secure peace to my subjects, hence I sent an envoy to the court of the Sung Emperor to make a firm agreement of amity. That court, little mindful of the future, has become more incursive and insolent. There is no day in which some of its warriors do not harass our borders. ”

“ On one side is the Kuomingtang, whose reactionary leadership, repression and corruption have caused a loss of popular faith in the government. On the other side, bound ideologically to the Soviet Union, are the Chinese Communists, whose eventual aim is admittedly a Communist state in China. Some reports indicate that Communist measures of land reform have gained for them the support of the majority of peasants in areas under their control, while others indicate that their ruthless tactics of land distribution and terrorism have alienated the majority of such peasants. ”