Chapter 8 Chapter Eight The Shanghai Incident

Chiang Kai-shek was grateful for Sun Yat-sen's kindness to him, and "always tried his best to find supporters, not just friendship."Sun Yat-sen and his colleagues had earlier believed that the "Bang Hui" was useful for the revolution. The Uncle of the Chen Brothers and Banghui helped Chiang Kai-shek rise from poverty...to be the commander of a victorious army.Shanghai's compradors and bankers financed Chiang Kai-shek's establishment of a right-wing government, freeing Chiang Kai-shek from financial dependence on Russia. In the first half of 1927, the brewing conflict between Chiang Kai-shek and the Communist Party finally broke out.

This year was the most chaotic. In the big cities of Shanghai and Guangzhou, as well as in other places, the Communist Party staged several uprisings, but most of them failed.Diplomatic relations between China and the Soviet Union also broke down. Although Chiang was at the top of his game at this time, he was for some time stripped of all his posts in the Communist-influenced Kuomintang "government".Notable events such as Chiang Kai-shek's resignation, Chiang's resignation, and his third marriage also took place this year. In early 1927, there were three major obstacles in Chiang's attempt to unify China under his own banner.

With Wu Peifu and his allies defeated, the only powerful warlord standing against Chiang was Zhang Zuolin in the north.This obstacle is purely military in nature. Political hurdles may be more serious, both the Communist Party, which has not yet been fully reunited, and the leftists of the Kuomintang around Wang Jingwei.After clashing with Chiang, Wang quickly turned to the left. On March 20, 1926, Chiang's anti-communist surprise attack had caused Wang to lose his position and drift overseas. This incident made it difficult for Chiang to gain Wang's favor. Jiang.In the letter, Wang said there was no longer any disagreement between them about what happened in March.Chiang immediately sent Wang a telegram on October 3 in a conciliatory tone.

Chiang said in his telegram that he intended to send two of his colleagues to France in order to invite Wang back to take charge of party affairs. However, Jiang did not know Wang's intentions. Later, he learned that the purpose of Wang's writing to him was to dispel his doubts about Wang and to convince him that Wang would return in due course. Wang did not come back until early April, and as soon as he came back, he began to criticize Chiang. Wang spent most of his time mediating and detente within the party, while Chiang was mainly busy fighting at the front.While he controls the armed forces as commander-in-chief and, through other functions, the party and government, he must also be accountable to the executive committee.

In this committee, those who support him are passive and silent, while his opponents are active and active.This committee is not big, with only 36 members, but 16 of them are opposition members. Of course, only 7 are members of the Communist Party. The rest are either leftists or radicals. The non-communist opposition included Sun Yat-sen's wife, Soong Ching Ling, and her younger brother, Soong Ziwen (he was quite powerful, thanks to American support), as well as the wife of the assassinated leftist leader, Finance Minister Liao Zhongkai.In addition, there are Soong Ching Ling's stepson and several others.One of them, surnamed Deng, had been Chiang's most trusted aide before turning to the radical side and no longer loyal to Chiang.He was finally killed by Chiang.

From October 15 to 28, 1926, the Central Executive Committee held a meeting in Guangdong and adopted a vague anti-Chiang resolution.The resolution denounced personal dictatorship without naming names.The Executive Committee also summoned Wang Jingwei to return to China and agreed to cooperate with the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. In Moscow, the Soviet leaders watched the development of the situation in China with satisfaction and hope.Chiang Kai-shek was pushing the revolution north by force (which is what they needed him to do).They may feel that this opportunity will come to the Chinese Communist Party.Indeed, this was not a luxury for the powerful and strategic Russian advisers and the Chinese Communists in the Kuomintang.

As the Northern Expedition progressed, it seemed inconvenient for the government to remain in Guangdong.Chiang asked to move the capital to Nanchang, because Chiang Kai-shek's troops were stationed in Nanchang. But most members of the Central Committee are willing to stay in Wuhan. In Wuhan, there was discussion about the possibility of military meddling in politics.In addition, both the Communist Party and its leftist supporters know that the support of the proletariat is better in Wuhan, a large industrial area, than in Nanchang. Since most people advocated moving the capital to Wuhan, Jiang made a concession and agreed that the Nationalist government should move to Wuchang, one of the three towns in Wuhan.Before long, he regretted this decision very much again.In fact, the Communist Party and its allies came to Wuchang before the government moved to Wuhan.

Here they established a joint committee of the State Council and the Central Executive Committee, including non-communist leftists and Song Ziwen.But it was the Russian Borodin who really mattered, who was behind it to exert a decisive influence on policy. At its first meeting on December 13, the new committee elected its leadership on behalf of the party and the government.Although the institution was temporary, Wuhan has since become the anti-Chiang center. Anti-Chiang campaigns continued, and Chiang found himself described as a "warlord" or "dictator."His portrait hangs in many places, with Hitler on one side and Mussolini on the other.

What should Jiang do?No one will give in to confrontation.He spent a month in Wuhan trying to persuade the committee to drop its hostility, but to no avail.At this time, the Guangzhou government had moved to Wuhan and began to work on January 1, 1927. The Communist Party thinks they are sure of winning.Over the past year, they have accelerated the pace of revolution everywhere.The CCP is trying to win the support of workers, especially those in large industrial cities such as Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Hankou. This is what they must do as devout Marxist-Leninists.However, they cannot leave the fact that China has very few urban workers and thousands of peasants in the countryside.At first, the CCP and the Russian Communist Party were constrained by dogma when dealing with these obvious facts.

But as early as 1926, the Comintern recognized the importance of peasants, and Mao Zedong emphasized this issue in a March 1927 article. Of course, Mao really understood the peasants, and he was also an organizational genius.Only he can organize those people into a revolutionary force. From 1925 to 1926, the Kuomintang had him as the head of the Guangdong Peasant Movement Workshop, and he skillfully used this opportunity.Later, he served as the chairman of the farmers' association in Wuhan.He wrote a report in March 1927, which was the result of field investigations in five regions of Hunan Province, and the lines in the article were full of strength and emotion for the peasants.He believes that the peasant movement is like a storm, like a hurricane, which can sweep imperialism, warlords, and local tyrants and evil gentry into their graves.

At the time, however, the essence of the question was whether the Communists would take the situation into their own hands, or continue to let the Kuomintang lead the revolution, replacing it only when the Kuomintang wanted to consolidate its position and stop advancing. Stalin and his emissaries told them not to go too fast (the one who disagreed with this statement was Trotsky. He always encouraged his Chinese comrades to sever ties with the Kuomintang and go their own way). If the CCP blindly listens to the Russians, they will be at a loss.The Comintern sent American Earl Browder, Frenchman Jacques Duarte and German Thomas Mann to China. In early 1927 these men gave rousing speeches in Canton and Wuhan, over and above the subject of which was the mutiny of foreign armies. This made the "foreign devils" in the concession no longer feel safe, and an "earthquake" began under their feet.Compared with the Communist Party from abroad, the Wuhan government has little agitation. There have been waves of strikes, and demonstrators held up signs that read: "Damn imperialism."Political pressure began, and "counter-revolutionaries" were forced to pay fines, and some were executed.In Hankou, 27 national banks were forced to close. Chiang was not involved.He unconditionally attributed China's disasters to foreign plunder, but he did not sever ties with foreigners whom he hated so much. In fact, on August 20, 1926, at the beginning of the Northern Expedition, he issued a declaration stating that as long as foreigners do not interfere with the actions of the Northern Expedition and the National Revolutionary Army, regardless of their nationality, their property will be given Protect. Although Chiang's troops had a serious anti-British incident on Jan 3rd after taking Hankou for several months, in general, the National Revolutionary Army carried out this order in many cities. Chiang was annoyed when units of the Sixth Army entered Nanking on March 24, attacking and looting foreign institutions.Among these institutions were commercial companies, the Roman Catholic Church, and the British, American, and Japanese consulates. About 12 foreigners were killed. In order to avoid the soldiers and the retaliatory artillery fire from foreign ships, the people hid at the foot of the city wall. Chiang came to the scene and acted mercilessly against the 3rd Division of the 6th Army, handing over their commandments and executing 30-40 people. The political commissars of the Communist Party were later said to have intervened in the affair, (Writing Chiang) "in the hope of provoking foreign powers to come into direct conflict with the revolutionary army."But as Gilles Metz points out, it is hard to see how the looting of foreign concessions would have benefited the Communist Party, and it was probably just an incident of military discipline. Soon, Chiang got into more serious trouble in Shanghai. With the cooperation of 800,000 workers organized by Zhou Enlai and others, the Nationalist Army captured Shanghai on March 22, 1927. The Communists armed workers' pickets, and brutal street fighting ensued.In the process, about 200 workers were killed and 1,000 workers were injured.They then created a provisional municipal government, turning the situation in their favor. From his headquarters in Nanchang, Jiang watched these events, simmering with anger.First the left established a government in Wuhan, flouting his authority in the Kuomintang; now the Communists have seized Shanghai. He makes a speech, but it doesn't work.He alternates between conciliatory and provocative, and in a speech on March 10, he was both.He said: He had no intention of not cooperating with the Communist Party, and he also advocated pulling them into the Kuomintang.But the Communists have now reached the apex of power and prestige, and if they do not rein in their actions, they will spell disaster for the Kuomintang.He said that he was not anti-communist, and he was grateful for the support and sympathy of the Communist Party, but the Communist Party could not seek advantages within the Kuomintang and suppress the moderates in the Kuomintang. The Wuhan government ignored Jiang's accusations.The Central Executive Committee removed Chiang as a political commissar and placed his commander-in-chief under a new military council. All his important positions in the Kuomintang were transferred to his opponent Wang Jingwei.At that time, Wang was on his way back from France.The committee also condemned him by issuing a public notice.Accused him of being a despot and dictator, saying his rule protected "bureaucrats, businessmen and other opportunists".According to Chiang, it was the Comintern who persuaded Wang Jingwei to return home via Moscow.Despite some incidents between them, Jiang apparently held out hope for Wang's return, thinking that his old colleagues would be reactivated because of Wang's return.In the days following Wang's return on April 1, 1927, Chiang and Wang met several times in Shanghai. What happened next was that, on Chiang's suggestion, a Nationalist surnamed Wu, who was Chiang's loyal follower in the Control Committee, participated in the discussions at the "party purge" meeting. The focus of the meeting was to discuss the issue of "purging the Communist Party".While they were doing this, some landowners and wealthy people who were far from the revolution found themselves saved.Wu gave a report at the meeting in which he attacked the Communist Party and Borodin. On April 5, Chen Duxiu, the leader of the Communist Party of China who came to Shanghai with Wang, issued a joint declaration, reiterating that the Communist Party accepted Sun Yat-sen's Three People's Principles, and refuted the rumors.Because there were rumors that the Communists were trying to sabotage the National Army and attack the concessions, and that the Kuomintang was going to disarm the Communist workers' pickets and expel the Communists from the party, etc. On the same day, Wu and others decided to "purge the party", and they established a committee to study relevant plans. On the 6th, it was an eventful day for Beijing and Shanghai.All armed groups in Shanghai were notified that from now on, they must act in accordance with military discipline, and any opposition actions will be treated as rebellion. In Beijing, Zhang Zuolin sent police to search the Soviet embassy, ​​which surprised the staff of the Soviet embassy. What they found in the Soviet embassy.More than Zhang himself hoped for.Li Dazhao, one of the founders of the Chinese Communist Party, and 35 other Communists took refuge there.Zhang Zuolin's foreign minister at the time announced the severance of relations with the Soviet Union and notified the Soviets to return home. On April 28, Zhang ordered the killing of Li Dazhao and 19 other communists. Chiang still faced the problem of how to break up his opponents in Wuhan. He was dismayed by the news that he had been dismissed from various positions in the Central Executive Committee. Li Zongren was also shocked by the news from Shanghai, so he left the front line in Anhui and came to Shanghai to meet Chiang.When he arrived in Shanghai, Jiang received a telegram from He Yingqin, the commander of the First Army, requesting his resignation. Jiang said: "If the First Army cannot be stabilized, then I will not be able to maintain it." Li replied: "If you don't do it anymore, then things will be bad. The current crisis is mainly the Communist Party's attempt to destroy the Kuomintang." The Seventh Army could be summoned to Nanking and authorized to "purge the party" there, and Chiang accepted his suggestion. On April 6, the day Zhang Zuolin sent police to search the Soviet embassy, ​​Wang Jingwei arrived in Wuhan. The next day, military officers who supported Chiang Kai-shek arrived in Shanghai, and they immediately had secret discussions with Chiang, Li, and Bai Chongxi, commander of the Shanghai Garrison District, to discuss the issue of "clearing the party". On the 8th, Chiang established a temporary administrative committee to replace the temporary city council established by the communist party. On the 10th, Chiang and his supporters (who claimed to be the Invention Committee) held a formal meeting and passed various plans in the form of decrees.All party membership applications are temporarily suspended, any re-registered party members must be subject to a three-month investigation, and each party member must report his political activities to his branch every two weeks.The meeting also decided to abolish the Wuhan government and move the central headquarters of the Kuomintang to Nanjing. With the implementation of the "Inspection Order" justifying Chiang's actions, Chiang began to prepare to attack. On April 11, 1927, Chiang issued a secret order to confiscate the guns of 2,700 Communist worker pickets. On the 12th, Chiang's supporters took action to "purge" simultaneously in Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Nanjing, and Shanghai. Li Zongren played a big role, and without Li's support, the "cleaning" would not have been possible.However, the details of the situation in Shanghai are unclear, and the reports on this matter are rather confusing.There is a theory that the Kuomintang made local hooligans wear workers' uniforms. According to the agreed signal, these fake workers suddenly attacked all working-class organizations in the city and beat them to death regardless of whether they resisted or not. There is also a theory that before entering Shanghai, Jiang had reached an agreement with Du Yuesheng, a powerful casino owner, opium dealer, and secret society leader in Shanghai. Youth gang hooligans are said to have slaughtered thousands of labor leaders and militant workers.The official Communist figures are that 300 were killed, 5,000 were missing, and some promising young Communist cadres were executed during the fighting that day and after the aborted general strike on the 13th. Among those arrested or executed was Zhou Enlai, but he escaped with the brother of a teacher who was a student of Zhou at Whampoa. Chiang Kai-shek himself did not explain these events clearly, and his explanations were euphemistic and cryptic.He said that on April 12, in order to prevent Communist riots, the Nationalist Army, with the cooperation of local trade unions and chambers of commerce, confiscated the guns of the red worker pickets and placed Communist saboteurs under surveillance.The situation in Shanghai had to be controlled. According to the list drawn up by the Kuomintang, the weapons seized at that time totaled 3,000 rifles, 20 machine guns, 200 Mausers, 400 pistols, 800,000 rounds of ammunition, several cart axes and 2,000 spears. So, what is Jiang's relationship with the local gang? Let’s start with the Red Gang, which was established during the “anti-Qing and Ming Dynasty” campaign. It is a regional and political organization that grew out of the Taiping Rebellion. This organization has ties to the Boxer Rebellion.It promotes respect for the elderly and other traditional Chinese values, and is fond of superstitious rituals.Over time, the Red Gang evolved into a sort of rogue gang. The Green Gang developed as a branch of the Red Gang, and soon established its own influence south of the Yangtze River. Its headquarters was in Shanghai.They usually rely on three ways to secure financial resources: selling drugs, opening brothels and gambling. Chiang Kai-shek himself never joined a gang, but he did have close ties with the gang.His early backer Chen Qimei was a member of the gang when he was the military chief in Shanghai.Perhaps Jiang thought the gangs would be of use to him. He appreciated Sun Yat-sen's kindness to him, and always tried his best to help find supporters, not just friendship.Sun Yat-sen and his colleagues also believed that these gangs were useful for the revolution. The main leader of the Green Gang is Du Yuesheng, who helped Chiang Kai-shek.Chen Qimei's nephew, Chen Lifu, was Chiang's personal secretary from 1925 to 1929.With the help of his younger brother Chen Guofu, he led what was known as the "CC faction" on the right wing of the KMT. According to Chinese customs, Chiang Kai-shek regarded the two Chen brothers as nephews in order to repay Chen Qimei's kindness. During the Shanghai Incident, Chen Lifu was Chiang Kai-shek's personal secretary and also managed the Kuomintang Organization Department. On March 20, 1926, he was appointed Minister of the Ministry. When I interviewed him in Taipei in 1974, he told me that he created the Central Bureau of Survey and Statistics (Zhongtong).The Central Committee was later taken over by Chen Lifu's brother, Chen Guofu.As the internal security agency of the Kuomintang government, the Zhongtong has its own agents in colleges and universities, the press and other "cultural" organizations, and the directors of all the newspapers run by the Kuomintang serve the Zhongtong.The deans of colleges and universities also serve the Central Committee.Zhongtong has also set up its own outlets in various cities and provinces. Another similar agency is the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics of the Military Commission (juntong), headed by Dai Li, which is mainly engaged in espionage activities and also manages all secret prisons.It was set up on the model of the Nazi Gestapo, with agents in all sectors of society. Chen Guofu joined the Kuomintang Organization Department from a secret political association called "A·B Group". The "CC faction" and their secret organizations helped Chiang Kai-shek maintain and expand his power. When the Chen brothers' uncle and gang were in Shanghai in early 1920 to help Chiang rise from poverty, Chiang was still living in a windowless house and working as a broker on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.Others who helped Chiang included Qian, the banker, and Yu, the shipowner (who later became chairman of the chamber of commerce). When Chiang Kai-shek returned to Shanghai in 1927, he was no longer a poor youth but the commander of a victorious army. Bankers and gangs financed him with massive "loans."In return, he helped them eliminate the military intrusion, end the shutdown that was still ongoing in Wuhan, and free them from the constraints of the Communist Party's trade unions. There is a belief that Chiang received a loan of 15 million in the process of destroying the Communist pickets, and later a loan of 30 million.The money may only be a nominal loan, and the second tranche seems to be very reluctant.It is said that the businessmen were notified in advance of a "military request for funding", saying that if they did so, they would not be arrested. A well-known industrialist was imprisoned because he was unwilling to contribute 500,000 yuan.After awakening, he was willing to pay half of the money to guarantee his release, and the money was free of charge. Whether voluntary or forced, Shanghai's compradors and bankers financed Chiang's soon-to-be-established right-wing government.Moreover, they freed Chiang from his financial dependence on Russia, which gave him more tactical freedom. The April 12, 1927 coup marked the final break between Chiang Kai-shek and the Communist Party, backed by the KMT's left wing. Since then, despite some temporary superficial cooperation, the rift between the two parties has ultimately been irreparable.Datang Chinese School Scanner