Communism had been growing secretly and rapidly among the students and intellectual classes in China. A Communist Party had been formed in 1920, and it worked as a secret society because it was not allowed to function openly by the various governments. Dr Sun was far from being a communist; he was a mild socialist, as his famous “Three Principles of the People” show. He was, however, impressed by the generous and straightforward behaviour of the Soviets towards China and other Eastern countries, and he developed friendly relations with them. He engaged some Russian advisers, the best known of whom was a very able Bolshevik, Borodin. Borodin became a tower of strength to the Kuomintang at Canton, and he worked to build up a powerful national party organization with mass support. He did not seek to work on communist lines entirely. He kept the national basis of the party, but communists were now admitted to the Kuomintang as members. There was thus a kind of informal alliance between the nationalist Kuomintang and the Communist Party. Many of the conservative and richer members of the Kuomintang, especially the landlords, did not like this association with the communists. On the other hand, many of the communists did not like it either, because it meant their toning down their programme and not doing many things they might otherwise have done. The alliance was not a very stable one, and, as we shall see, it broke down at a critical moment, and this brought disaster to China. It is always difficult to hold together in one group two or more classes whose interests clash. But while this alliance lasted it prospered exceedingly, and the Kuomintang and the Canton Government grew in power. Tenants’ organizations were encouraged, and they spread rapidly, so also workers’ trade unions. It was this mass support which gave the Canton Kuomintang real power, and it was this which frightened the landlord leaders and induced them to break up the party at a later stage.
Conditions in China bear many resemblances to those in India, although there are many radical differences also. China is essentially an agricultural country with vast numbers of farmers. Capitalist industry is confined chiefly to half a dozen cities and is under foreign control. The millions of farmers and tenants are crushed under a terrible burden of debt. Rents are very high and, as in India, the agriculturists have long periods of enforced idleness when they have little work in the fields. Cottage industries are thus needed by them to fill in this time and add to their income. Indeed, there are many such industries now. There are very few great estates. When such an estate is formed it is soon divided up among the heirs. About half the peasantry own their farms, the other half work under landlords. China is thus a country of vast numbers of small farms. For hundreds of years Chinese farmers have had the reputation of being able to extract the utmost possible sustenance from the land. They were forced to do so because of the small parcels of land they possessed, and so they exercised an amazing ingenuity and worked tremendously hard. They had none of the labour-saving devices which modern agriculture possesses, and this made them work harder than they need have done for the results obtained.
The Chinese Revolution
Even with all this ingenuity and hard work nearly half of them could not make both ends meet, and were half starved through their short and stunted lives, as happens to the great numbers of peasants in India. They lived on the verge of destitution, and calamities came, famines and floods, and swept them away by the million. Dr Sun’s Government, at Borodin’s suggestion, passed decrees giving relief to the peasants and the workers. The land rent was reduced by 25 per cent., an eight-hour working day and a minimum wage were fixed for the workers, and peasant unions were established. It was natural that these reforms should be welcomed by the masses and fill them with enthusiasm. They flocked to the new unions and to the support of the Canton Government.
So Canton consolidated itself and prepared for a tussle with the tuchuns of the north. A military academy was opened and an army built up. An interesting development not only in Canton but all over China, and to some extent all over the East, was the displacement of religious authority by secular authority. China, of course, had never been a religious country in the narrow sense of the word. It now became even more secular. Education, which used to be religious, was secularized. The most obvious examples of this process are afforded by the use to which many old temples are now put. In Canton a famous old temple is now used as a police training institute! In another place temples have been converted into vegetable markets.
Dr Sun Yat-Sen died in March 1925, but the Canton Government went on adding to its strength, with Borodin as its adviser. Soon afterwards, some incidents took place which filled the Chinese people with anger against foreign imperialists, and especially against the British. There were strikes in the cotton mills of Shanghai and a worker was killed in a demonstration in May 1925. A great memorial service was organized for him, and this was made the occasion for anti-imperialist demonstrations by students and workers. A British police officer, with Sikh policemen under him, ordered firing on this crowd—the order was “Shoot to kill”—and several students were killed. Anger at the British blazed out all over China, and a subsequent incident made matters far worse. This took place in June 1925, in the foreign area (known as the Shameen area) of Canton, where a Chinese crowd, chiefly of students, was fired on by machine-guns and fifty-two persons were killed and many more wounded. The British were held to be mainly responsible for this “Shameen massacre” as it was called. A political boycott of British goods was proclaimed at Canton, and Hongkong trade was held up for many months, causing great losses to British firms and the British Government. Hongkong, as you perhaps know, is a British possession in South China. It is quite near to Canton, and through it passes an enormous trade.
After the death of Dr Sun there was a continuous tussle between the conservative right wing and the advanced left wing of the Canton Government. Sometimes one and then the other was in power. About the middle of 1926 Chiang Kai-Shek, a right-winger, became commander-in-chief, and he started pushing out the communists. But still to some extent the two groups worked together, although they distrusted each other. Then began the advance of the Canton army to the north to fight and expel the various tuchuns and establish one national government in the whole country. This northern advance was an extraordinary thing, and soon it attracted the world’s attention. There was little actual fighting, and the army of the south marched on swiftly from victory to victory. The north was disunited, but the real strength of the south came from its popularity with the peasants and workers. A little army of propagandists and agitators went ahead of the army, organizing peasant’s and workers’ unions and telling them of the benefits they would have under the Canton Government. And so cities and villages welcomed the advancing armies and helped them in every way. The troops sent against the Canton army hardly fought, and often went over, bag and baggage, to them. Before the year 1926 was over the nationalists had crossed half China and taken possession of the great city of Hankow on the Yangtse river. They shifted their capital from Canton to Hankow, renaming it Wuhan. The northern warlords had been defeated and driven away, and the imperialist Powers suddenly realized, much to their annoyance, that a new and aggressive nationalist China stood before them claiming equality and refusing to be bullied.
Early in 1927 there was a conflict between the Chinese and the British when the nationalists tried to take possession of the British concession at Hankow. Ordinarily such an aggressive attitude on the part of the Chinese would have led to war and the British Government would have crushed them and terrorized them into giving indemnities, and more concessions. Such had been the invariable practice, as we have already seen, for nearly a century, since the Opium War of 1840. But times had changed, and a different China faced them now, and so immediately, and for the first time in China, British policy underwent a change also and became conciliatory towards the new China. The Hankow concession affair was a minor matter and could be easily settled. But not very far, and on the line of the nationalist advance, was the great port of Shanghai, the biggest and the richest foreign concession
area in China. Enormous foreign vested interests were interested in the fate of Shanghai. The city itself, or rather the concession area, was under foreign control and practically independent of the Chinese Government. These foreigners in Shanghai and their governments became very anxious when the nationalist armies approached them, and warships and troops were hurried to the port, The British Government especially sent a large expeditionary force, consisting partly of Indian troops, to Shanghai early in January 1927.
The nationalist Government, now established at Hankow or Wuhan, were faced with a difficult problem—to advance or not to advance, to take Shanghai or not to do so. Their easy successes so far had emboldened them and filled them with enthusiasm, and Shanghai was a very tempting prize. On the other hand, they had simply marched on and on over more than 500 miles of territory, and had not consolidated their position there. To attack Shanghai might involve them in difficulties with foreign Powers, and this might endanger the gains they had already achieved. Borodin advised caution and consolidation. He was of opinion that the nationalists should keep away from Shanghai and strengthen their position in the southern half of China which was already under their control, and prepare the ground in the north with propaganda. Very soon, within a year or so, he expected the whole of China to be ready to welcome a nationalist advance. That would be the time to take Shanghai, march to Peking, and face the foreign imperialist Powers. Borodin, the revolutionary, gave this cautious advice, because he was experienced in judging the various factors in a situation. The right-wing leaders of the Kuomintang, however, and especially the commander-in-chief, Chiang Kai-Shek, insisted on marching to Shanghai. The real reason for this desire to take Shanghai appeared later when the Kuomintang split up into two. The growing power of the tenants’ and workers’ unions was not liked by these right-wing leaders. Many of the generals were themselves landlords. They had therefore decided to crush these unions, even at the cost of breaking up the party into two and weakening the nationalist cause. Shanghai was an important centre of the big Chinese bourgeoisie, and the right-wing generals counted upon it to help them, with money and otherwise, in their fight against the more advanced elements in their party, and especially against the communists. In such a fight they knew they could also rely on the support of the foreign bankers and industrialists in Shanghai.
So they marched on Shanghai, and on March 22,1927, the Chinese part of the city fell to them, the foreign concession areas not being attacked. This fall of Shanghai also took place without much fighting, Opposing troops went over to the nationalists, and a general strike of the workers in the city in favour of the nationalists, completed the downfall of the existing Government in Shanghai. Two days later the great city of Nanking was also occupied by the nationalist armies. And then came the split in the Kuomintang, between the left wing and the right wing, which put an end to the nationalist triumph and brought disaster. The revolution had ended; counter-revolution now began.
Chiang Kai-Shek had marched on Shanghai against the wishes of many members of the Hankow Government. Both parties intrigued against each other. The Hankow people tried to undermine Chiang’s influence in the army and so to get rid of him; Chiang set up a rival government in Nanking. All this happened within a few days of the capture of Shanghai. Having rebelled against his own Government at Hankow, Chiang now made war on communists, left-wingers, and trade-unionist workers. The very workers who had made it easy for him to take Shanghai and had welcomed him joyously there were now hunted out and crushed. Large numbers of people were shot down or beheaded, thousands were arrested and imprisoned. The freedom that the nationalists were supposed to have brought to Shanghai was soon converted into a bloody terror.
It was during these very April days of 1927 that simultaneously raids took place on the Soviet embassy in Peking and the Soviet consulate in Shanghai. It seemed obvious enough that Chiang Kai-Shek was acting in concert with the northern war-lord Chang Tso Lin, with whom he was supposed to be at war. In Peking, as in Shanghai, a “clean-up” of communists and advanced workers was carried out. The imperialist Powers of course welcomed this development, because it broke up and weakened the ranks of the Chinese nationalists. Chiang Kai-Shek sought to co-operate with the representatives of the Powers in Shanghai. You will remember that it was about this time, in May 1927, that the British Government carried out the Arcos raid on Soviet premises in London and then broke off relations with Russia.
And so, within a month or two, the picture had changed completely in China. From being a united and a triumphant party representing the Chinese nation and, flushed with success, facing the foreign Powers, the Kuomintang had broken up into warring groups, and the workers and peasants, who had been its life and strength, were now being persecuted and hunted down. The foreign interests in Shanghai breathed happily again and graciously helped one group against another, especially in the pleasant and profitable pastime of baiting and harassing the workers. These workers in the Shanghai factories (and indeed throughout China) were terribly exploited by the owners, and their standards and living conditions were miserable. Trade unionism gave them strength and had already forced the hands of the owners in giving higher wages. Trade unions therefore were not approved of by the factory-owners—European, Japanese, or Chinese.
Borodin was strongly criticized in Moscow for the turn events had taken in China, and in July 1927 he left for Russia. With his departure the left wing of the Kuomintang at Hankow went to pieces. The Nanking Government now controlled the Kuomintang completely, and the war against communists specially and against all left-wingers and workers’ leaders continued. Among those who left China, or were driven out, at this stage, was Madame Sun, the revered widow of the great leader, Sun Yat-Sen. She declared in sorrow that her husband’s great work for China’s freedom had been betrayed by the militarists and others. And yet these militarists continued to swear by Dr Sun’s three famous principles— Nationalism, Democracy, and Social Justice.
Again China became a maze of war-lords and generals fighting each other. Canton broke off from the Nanking Government and established a government of its own in the south. In 1928 Peking fell into the hands of the Nanking Government. Its name was changed to Peiping, which means “Northern Peace”. Peking had meant “Northern Capital”, but it was no longer the capital.
In spite of the fall of Peking or Peiping, as we must call it now, civil war continued in various parts of the country. Canton formed a separate government, but even in the north various war-lords did much as they pleased, and carried on personal quarrels, and sometimes came to terms with each other for a while. In theory the so-called “National” Government at Nanking ruled China, except for Canton. There were, however, many areas which were beyond its control, notably a big area in the interior where a communist government was set up. The Nanking Government relied chiefly on the Shanghai bankers for financial support. The large armies of various generals became a terrible burden on the peasantry. Vast numbers of ex-soldiers also roamed about the countryside in search of employment and, finding none, often took to banditry.
Relations between the Nanking Government and Soviet Russia were broken off in December 1927, and, under the patronage of the imperialist Powers, Nanking adopted an aggressive anti-Soviet policy. This would have led to war in 1927 but for the persistent refusal of Russia to go to war. In 1929 the Chinese Government again became aggressive, this time in Manchuria. The Soviet consulate was raided and the Russian officials of the Chinese Eastern Railway were dismissed. This railway was largely Russian property, and the Soviet Government immediately took action against the Chinese. For a few months a kind of war existed, and then the Chinese Government agreed to the Soviet demand to restore the old arrangement.
Manchuria and the railway running through it have led to many international complications, as many interests clash there, especially Chinese, Japanese, and Russian. Recently Japan has gained control over these north-eastern provinces of China, in spite of world disapproval. I shall tell you o
f this in my next letter.
I have referred above to a communist government being set up in some parts of China. It appears that the first communist government to be established was in November 1927, in the district of Haifeng in the province of Kwantung in the south. This was the “Haifeng Soviet Republic”, which developed out of various peasants’ unions. The Soviet area grew in the interior of China till by the middle of 1932 about a sixth of the total area of China proper—that is, an area of 250,000 square miles with a population of 60,000,000—was included in it. This government built up a Red Army of 400,000 men, and this army had auxiliary units of boys and girls. Both the Nanking and Canton governments tried their utmost to crush these Chinese Soviets, and Chiang Kai-Shek led repeated expeditions against them without much success. The Soviets sometimes retreated and consolidated themselves elsewhere in the interior.1
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Japan Defies the World
June 29, 1933
We have followed the dismal story of the disintegration of China, of the revolution that seemed to have triumphed and then suddenly collapsed, and was swallowed up by a fierce counter-revolution. The tale is not ended yet, there is much more to come. The revolution failed because the conflicts of conscious class interests were greater than the binding force of nationalism. The rich landed and other interests preferred to break the nationalist movement rather than risk the dominance of the peasant and worker masses.
Apart from her internal troubles, China had now to face a determined attack from a foreign enemy. This was Japan, bent on profiting by the weakness of China and the preoccupation of other Powers.
Glimpses of World History Page 123
