Chapter 19 Great Union of Revolution

This is a fateful step.Moscow was pleased with this, and it was the Comintern's first success in attaching its own label to the Chinese revolution.However, not everyone within the Chinese Communist Party is satisfied. It was the beginning of a new phase for Mao Zedong, who arrived in Shanghai after a period of serious thinking in Shaoshan.He lived in a room provided by the party organization, surrounded by the bustling business district of the foreign concession (the better name is the international concession), and he submitted a report on his work in Hunan to his colleagues. In the summer of 1923, Mao Zedong came to Guangzhou for the first time in his life.The Communist Party of China will hold its third congress here to discuss cooperation with Sun Yat-sen.Mao Zedong said during the meeting: "There must be a great revolutionary alliance, and we cannot fight alone." [19] He soon became an ardent supporter of the alliance with Sun Yat-sen's Kuomintang.

This southern city opened his eyes. There are foreigners here, and there are trading ports that Hunan, which is located in the interior, does not have.Its clamor was a shock to the well-mannered Hunanese.Mao Zedong was at a loss when surrounded by Guangzhou dialect. On the other hand, the city is located in Jiangnan after all.Guangzhou's climate, diet and habits are more suitable for this Hunan native than Beijing.Like the people of Guangzhou, Mao Zedong wore clogs to walk through the streets. Why was Mao Zedong so enthusiastic about cooperating with the Kuomintang? [20] Mao Zedong always believed that the struggle to establish a new China was a struggle against imperialism, and the Kuomintang in 1923 was against imperialism.For the Sun Yat-sen-Moscow-Communist Party triangular alliance that is emerging, anti-imperialism is more reasonable or the only link that can hold the three together.In order to resist foreign aggression, Mao Zedong also tended to form the most extensive alliance of all classes in China.At the Third Congress, Mao Zedong proposed a predictive strategy for the Chinese revolution.But Zhang Guotao disagreed. He thought: "On this special occasion, Mao Zedong was concerned about the peasant movement." It’s all over the mountains and plains.”

When the General Assembly voted whether to hand over the leadership of the labor movement to the Kuomintang, Mao Zedong voted against it at first. Should these vigorously developed trade union organizations be handed over to foreign authorities who only know how to talk on paper? But Mao changed his tune as the majority turned to another path.He wants to agree with everyone, he has to.After coming out of the Changsha base, he wanted to forge his own path in the nationwide Communist Party network. The congress elected him as one of the 14 members of the party's Central Committee, which made him Minister of Organization, replacing the ultraleftist Zhang Guotao.Because of this work, his base moved to Shanghai. In 1923, his articles were mainly published in the party's national journal "Guidance" rather than in Hunan publications.

Mao Zedong was now a member of the national organization, his days of teaching in Changsha were gone, and another comrade took his place at the Hunan Federation of Trade Unions.He counted his luggage and moved out of Qingshuitang, and he will no longer need to live in Hunan for at least half a year. However, two important ties to Hunan remained.Shaoshan still holds a certain place in his heart; Yang Kaihui did not leave Changsha either. At the end of 1923, Mao Zedong learned from the letter that their second son had come to the world, so he discussed naming his son "Anqing" (meaning the bright shore).But a shadow appeared in their marriage.When he left Changsha, Mao Zedong wrote a poem to his wife, "It's even more sad to face each other, and to repeat the bitterness. The corners of the eyes and the brows seem to hate..." The end of the poem reads: "We love each other, and Yunzhu."

Mao Zedong's handwriting of "Congratulations to the Bridegroom Farewell Friends". Mao Zedong lived in Shanghai for most of 1924.This is the place where the Communist Party of China was born, and it was the city with the largest number of proletarians in China at that time.In Shanghai, imperialist forces are as ubiquitous as sirens on the Huangpu River and peddlers hawking in the streets. One day, Mao Zedong ran into a classmate who had just returned from studying in Europe.Mao Zedong was wearing a faded old Chinese gown and straw sandals, while this student was wearing a suit and leather shoes. "You'd better change your clothes," Mao said contemptuously.The classmate was puzzled.Mao Zedong continued, "I will take you to see it and you will understand." [21]

He and this friend walked along the pier to Huangpu Park.On the big iron gate of the park is a sign with park management regulations. One of them prohibits folding flowers, another says that dogs are not allowed to enter, and the third says: "Except coolies, Chinese are not allowed to enter." The gap between Mao Zedong and this friend who returned from a work-study program has not been filled.Mao Zedong, who grew up in the mainland, could not get used to the Chinese bowing down in front of Westerners in this treaty port. In the winter of this year, Mao Zedong went south to Guangzhou again, this time to attend the first National Congress of the Kuomintang. * The once distressed Sun Yat-sen is now pro-Russian.During and after the meeting, Mao Zedong worked more enthusiastically for the Kuomintang than before.Mao Zedong, who had just entered his thirties, made his debut on a broader political arena other than the Marxist faction.At the meeting, Mao Zedong defended Sun Yat-sen's vague and non-Marxist "Three People's Principles".He was one of 10 Communists elected to the Nationalist Party's authority.At the same time, together with two other Communist Party members, he was elected to the 19-member Kuomintang New Party Constitution Review Committee.

* The Kuomintang was established in 1912, and its predecessor was the Tongmenghui.However, it became a well-organized party with its own congress only after reorganization under the Sun-Yue joint declaration. In the Kuomintang institutions in Shanghai, Mao Zedong was entrusted with important positions.Within a month, he was the organization minister of the Shanghai branch of the Kuomintang. In the early spring of 1924, Mao Zedong returned to Shanghai in a happy mood.He handles the organizational documents of the two parties separately.After being expelled from Hunan, he had a fresh start.In the days when the Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang formed a united front, he felt complacent.

Mao Zedong had new working partners, including Michal Borodin and the Advisory Group of the Comintern led by him. When he came to work in China in 1923, Borodin was not yet 40 years old, but he knew Lenin and had a high reputation.In the united front, he became an adviser to both the Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang.Visitors are required to show an enamel badge with the Kuomintang flag on a gold chain to enter his villa in downtown Guangzhou. Borodin was a tall man with long, soft brown hair and a sideburn.He was wearing a Chinese tunic suit and high boots, and he was pacing in the luxurious office.He does not speak Chinese, but speaks fluent English (his American wife is a relative of Buster Keaton). [twenty two]

In Guangzhou, Mao Zedong sometimes talked with this Russian who was addicted to cigarettes and liked to speak and gesture.He listened carefully to the carefully crafted theories and Soviet proposals.But he was so far removed from Borodin's worldview that nothing the eloquent Bolshevik said could impress him. [twenty three] Very few Russians can speak Chinese, and they don't know much about China.Indeed, the October Revolution was the spark of world revolution, but can these mortal messengers complete the task of spreading the revolution? If Mao Zedong, like Li Lisan, was not in awe of the "missionaries" of the Communist International, he, like Zhang Guotao, was not against them.He remained detached from the vivacious young adviser from Moscow.Another Asian Marxist in Guangzhou at that time was deeply influenced by Borodin.This thin, tubercular young man in a European linen uniform was a frequent visitor to Borodin's dacha.He was kicked out of French Indochina, where Chinese nationalists offered him refuge.This man is called Ho Chi Minh. [twenty four]

Mao Zedong also got acquainted with some Kuomintang leaders.He had a quick meeting with Sun Yat-sen in Guangzhou.Sun Yat-sen, who was once a hero in the eyes of young Mao Zedong, is now in his dying years, and his words seem to be long-winded. "He does not allow others to argue with him, or put forward their own views." Mao Zedong complained. [25] In Shanghai, the two senior Kuomintang officials Mao Zedong saw more were Wang Jingwei and Hu Hanmin.Both were able and talkative politicians.Compared with them, Mao Zedong looked a little rustic, and he himself realized this. In Mao Zedong's view, both Wang Jingwei and Hu Hanmin were conceited and boastful, and both of them (plus Chiang Kai-shek, the military general in Guangzhou at the time) were likely to be Sun Yat-sen's heirs.They also talk about the "national revolution", but if these people become politicians in the new China, I really don't know what will be new.

If Mao Zedong still had doubts, so did the entire Communist Party organization. Professor Chen Duxiu's relationship with the Kuomintang does not seem to be that close. He is the number one figure in the Chinese Communist Party and was once the most influential Marxist to Mao Zedong.Chen still maintains a frank and honest image, which is rare among Russians and vain people in the Kuomintang.But what Mao Zedong didn't understand was: what is the edge of Chen Duxiu's opposition to traditional ideas. There is a detail with deep meaning: Chen Duxiu is wearing a suit and leather shoes, while Mao Zedong is wearing a coarse Chinese-style gown. Mao Zedong during the period of cooperation between the KMT and the Communist Party.After the "Three Great Congresses" of the CCP, Mao Zedong joined the Kuomintang in his personal capacity and began to participate in the preparations for the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. When the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China met in Shanghai in April, Mao Zedong was absent for some reason.Zhang Guotao said in a dissatisfied tone that Mao Zedong was busy with "the work of the Kuomintang." [26] At that time, Mao Zedong seemed to be on his way back to Hunan, and stopped at the Anyuan Coal Mine on the way. At the same time, Mao Zedong never mentioned his doubts, and the work of the Kuomintang attracted him.Mao Zedong was so dedicated to the cause of the Kuomintang that Li Lisan ridiculed him as "Hu Hanmin's secretary". One step taken by the Kuomintang in February that was particularly to Mao Zedong's liking was the establishment of the Ministry of Peasants.The Chinese Communist Party has never done this before.This gave Mao all the more reason to be keen on the united front.After the Ministry of Agriculture was established, there was a lot of work to be done, and Mao Zedong embarked on a new and important path. In 1924, Mao Zedong visited Hong Kong.He and Zhang Guotao went to this British-administered island adjacent to Guangdong because of the labor union.When they took a boat from Shanghai through the rippling South China Sea, a group of hooligans cornered Mao Zedong and Zhang Guotao behind the deck, brandishing knives and demanding money.Mao did not want to give in but wanted to fight (which shows his courage and combative character).Zhang Guotao persuaded Mao Zedong that it was not worth risking his life for a few small money. Due to the disparity in strength and the persuasion of others, Zhang Guotao persuaded his hot-tempered Hunan colleague. [27] Mao was less left politically than Zhang Guotao, but he was more irritable than Zhang Guotao when personally challenged. During 1923-1924, Mao Zedong wrote articles that reflected his life path.He published several short articles on current affairs in the Communist Party's mouthpiece publication "Guide". The articles were sharp but lacked theoretical analysis. Two points stand out in the 1923 article.Mao Zedong saw merchants as the key to the national revolution.People will ask, what does his younger brother who works in the Hunan Federation of Industrial and Commercial Unions think about this?He has always insisted on opposing imperialism. *In the article "On Cigarette Tax", he mocked the Beijing government for trembling in the face of imperialism and begging for mercy from foreign powers. "If our foreign master farts, it will be very fragrant." He sneered in the article. *Mao Ji I, p.98.When Mao Zedong gave a speech to the peasants, in order to get the strongest effect, he always shouted "Down with foreign slaves" instead of "Down with imperialism".Li Rui: "Comrade Mao Zedong's Early Revolutionary Activities", p. 248. But these essays do not dig into historical roots or rise to philosophical heights.Nor did he touch on the theme of emancipation, and his agency work made him pay more and more attention to details rather than how to be a liberator. However, there is a thread running through it.Mao Zedong has always believed that the people are the most important force, and only by proceeding from the interests of the people can businessmen be qualified to become a revolutionary force (this is what Mao Zedong hoped for). Overthrowing imperialist rule was ultimately Mao's primary concern.Mao believed that, if nothing else happened, a united front with the Kuomintang might be the first step toward a "great unity of the people" that might bring China back to life. The peasant issue is like a cloud in the sky, it does not occupy a place in the theme of the May Fourth Movement.The peasants, who make up 85% of the country's population, are still a silent majority, which the Chinese Communist Party has not yet noticed.Until 1924, not a single peasant appeared to be a member of the Communist Party.No one in the world at that time believed that peasants had the ability to revolutionize. Mao Zedong had spent 14 years in the city, where he had been active among students and workers.As part of his new life, the rural lifestyle had all but been wiped from him.There was nothing within the Chinese Communist Party that would have inspired Mao to think about the peasants. The first sign of the Third Congress of the Communist Party of China in Guangzhou was that Mao Zedong began to consider the peasant problem politically.He urged his still skeptical colleagues to make the peasantry a necessary part of the revolution.He even cites Chinese history to illustrate the glorious tradition of peasant uprisings instead of talking about the revolution in the Soviet Union.